Eth-Noh-Tec

Our teaching schedule has continued to be quite demanding, with some 6th grade classes meeting with us for the first and only time, while others from last week continue for a 3rd session. For these we are now ‘coaching’ their pieces. Some are travelogues, others original poems, while others are monologues the students have written from parts of a book entitled ‘Seed Folks’ about a Vietnamese teenage girl coming to live in Cleveland, and the Chinese Language classes are telling folktales in Chinese. Now that’s been challenging, since we don’t speak Chinese. We ask them to paraphrase the story in English first but then they tell it in Chinese. We do our best!

By Friday Nov. 18th we landed and after amazingly long lines to take a taxi to our web-found hotel, we were walking the streets of Beijing again. We landed at night and as the downpour of rain began, we zig-zagged our way through flooded tight alleys of a hutong (traditional, old style Chinese neighborhood). We were starving since United fed us 2 tiny meals 11 hours apart, and so had our first evening meal of steamed dumplings (jiaoza), a dish of snow peas, red bell pepper and garlic, and a sliced chicken with chive dish.

Eth-Noh-Tec is grateful for all our friends who responded so generously to our fundraising effort, who are our giving volunteers, and for those who support our programs. Your belief in our mission and faith in our work has warmed our hearts. We have been able to pay for this month’s office expenses and next month’s rent! Thank you, thank you, thank you for kindness in our world.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, we asked “What are you thankful for?” The outpouring of responses has been truly inspiring.

On November 5, 2011, at 7pm, Eth-Noh-Tec presents a special Salon: An Evening of Siberian Music and Stories, featuring Chirgilchin, the Internationally Acclaimed Tuvan Throat Singers from Siberia. “Chirgilchin”, whose group names means “miracle” in Tuvan language, is a quartet of visiting musicians and singers from Siberia. They will be presenting their musical lore of horse fiddle and jaw harps, with the singing of vocal polyharmonics, the throat singing made famous by the independent film, “Ghenghis Blues”.

Eth-Noh-Tec Salon! You’re On! presents Tales of Terror, honoring everyone’s most favorite, very-scary holiday. This salon with feature kinetic story theater by Eth-Noh-Tec, film by Nara Denning and by Matthew Abaya, installation art by Amy Ho. Join us at Eth-Noh-Tec Studio, 977 South Van Ness Ave in San Francisco, between 20th and 21st Streets.