ASOY Graduation, Sister Trip, and 80/35 Music Fest

We’ve been back in Iowa for about a month now, and so far we’ve had a wonderful time relaxing with family and friends. Before I launch into our summer, though, I want to start with some photos from the American School of Yaoundé’s graduation in June.

There were 19 students in the senior class this year (yes, ASOY is tiny!); the flags behind them represent all their nationalities.

The ceremony was held at a local university. Here is the high school chorus singing a farewell song.
I’ve mentioned before that Brian and I have signed on for a third year at ASOY, and we’re seriously considering staying for a fourth, as well. Here are just a few of the students who make this school such an amazing place to work. (Many of them have lived in Yaoundé for years, but I’ll still put the country where they’re originally from, so you get a sense of the diversity in our classes.)

Samrah (India)
Hermann (Cameroon)—The guy on the right is Sean, our friend who teaches science at ASOY.
Carine (Cameroon), Mati (Cameroon), Eloho (Nigeria), Yi-Wei (Taiwan)
Ludwe (South Africa) and Amadou (Mali)
Lydia and Elsa—These girls, both from Cameroon, were my saving graces this year—the yearbook would NOT have been finished without them!
Charles (Cameroon/England)
We will miss these and all the other seniors next year—good luck, Class of 2010!

Last summer was full of incredible travels, but that meant we didn’t get as much time at home; this summer, therefore, home has been our priority. I did take a short trip to Chicago in early July for a teachers’ conference, and it worked out for Emily to come along. We hadn’t taken a sister trip for years, so this was a real treat! To make it even better, we stayed with Abbey (Swalwell) and Eric Henderson in Naperville for the week. (I got a lot of reading done on the train into Chicago each morning.) My conference went until 4:00 every day, so Emily usually met me downtown, and then we’d wander around Chicago together. We spent one evening exploring Naperville’s main street, which was really cute, and had a delicious dinner at a little Italian spot. Here’s a photo of us near Naperville’s river walk later that night.

Both Brian and I grew up in Des Moines, and it’s been fun to see how it continues to develop each time we’re home. This year was the third annual 80/35 Music Festival (those are the two interstates that meet in Des Moines), and it was the first year we’ve been able to attend. The festival took place over two days and featured artists on three stages around Gateway Park downtown. We were really impressed with the mix of local and national groups the organizers managed to schedule.

Of the three highlights from Saturday’s line-up, the first was William Elliott Whitmore, a blues singer from Iowa.
The second highlight was a good old-fashioned rock trio from Brooklyn called Earl Greyhound. If you’ve never heard of them, look them up—they were amazing!
Their bass player was the kind of person you watch and think, “Wow, I wish I were even half as cool as she is.”
Saturday’s headliner was Spoon, but they took a while to get set up. Here’s a shot of my brother, John, and I waiting patiently.
Spoon was definitely worth the wait. Here’s their lead singer…
…and here’s their other lead guy playing the piano. This photo is a little blurry, but I like it because you can see the horn section in the back. Awesome live show!

On Sunday, we saw several good bands, the first of which was a local group called Christopher the Conquered. This group is so entertaining and upbeat, and to make it even more fun, two of our friends from Ames are in it. (You can see Nate dancing around in this photo—he’s the one in the suspenders.) :)

The lead member of the group is ridiculously energetic, and you never know what he’s going to do during a show. At one point in this performance, he wheeled out a big stepladder and directed the band from the crowd.
You can see our other friend in the group, Kate (third from the left), in this photo. Some random guy ran onstage with a flag—it was the 4th of July—but the band just laughed and went with it.
Kate and Nate were in several bands throughout the day. Here they are playing with Kate’s band, Pennyhawk, on the Des Moines Social Club’s stage. (Some of you may know of Leslie Hall from the crazy Leslie and the Ly’s YouTube videos—she was playing drums for Pennyhawk and was hard to recognize without her wild makeup and gem sweaters.)
Kate is an amazing musician—in the three photos I’ve posted here you can see her playing the saxophone, the guitar, and the accordion, and that’s only the beginning!

Later in the day, Brian went with Adam Holt to see The Cool Kids, and John and I saw Dar Williams. She was really charming and sounded great.
One exciting new band we discovered at the festival was The Heavy.
They’re from England, and their lead singer had the crowd absolutely mesmerized.
We hadn’t heard about them until they played here, but I found the video of their January David Letterman performance (click HERE to watch it), which is where most people saw them for the first time. I’ve never seen Dave tell a group to just keep playing like this—hope to see more from them soon!

Sunday’s headliner was Modest Mouse, and while we were farther back than we’d been for Spoon, we had this nice view of Des Moines’s new downtown library and the Principal building. We love this city!
Here’s a closer shot of the stage. It had been raining a lot that day, and the air was still a little misty, which made the lights look kind of ethereal.
Here’s Brian showing off some of his signature moves during the Modest Mouse set.

And a fist pump. :)
John and I were quite entertained (and fairly soaked).
After we took this photo, the guy behind us asked excitedly if he was in it. At first glance, we didn’t see him, but look closely and you will. Creepy, funny, or both?