My name is Ryan Lopez DeVinaspre, but I usually just go by Ryan Lopez. I know, it's not very Scottish. If it'll make you feel better, call me MacLopez :-). I was born on what was probably a cold, blustery day November 14, 1978 in Boise, Idaho (which is in the northswestern portion of the U.S. for those who may not know, and is in no way related to Iowa, which is it's own respectable state in the midwest). Many people ask me why I play the bagpipes (I know that in some part of their minds it's because my name is Spanish and they can't fathom the connection), and I sometimes find myself asking the same question. The primary answer is actually quite simple: both of my parents play. My mom (Joyce Lopez) was in fact playing the day before I was born, and my father (Ron Lopez) is the Pipe Major of our band, the Boise Highlanders, and has been since the late 60's or so. Both of my parents have been playing since the early- to mid-60's, and in fact that is where they met (isn't that cute?). So I grew up in the bagpipe band and I suppose it was just destined to be. For a long time I didn't particularly care for the pipes (being the son of the pipe major can be a real inconvenience in a young kid's life), but it grew on me and eventually, by means of a long, involved story, I picked up this crazy instrument and now I'm stuck. I began playing in the summer of 1992, and began teaching somewhere around 1996 or so through the community education program that my dad runs in the Boise School district here (feel free to contact me if you're interested in that), but I didn't start teaching steadily until around late 1997 or early 1998 and have pretty much been doing it consistently since then.
I finally graduated from Boise State University in December, 2002, with a degree in English, Secondary Education. Afterwards, I spent a semester as a substitute teacher doing a number of one-day jobs as well as a handful of longer (two to eight weeks) positions, waiting to find out whether my dream of going to Japan would come true. As it happens, I have been accepted by the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program to teach English as a foreign language, and I will be leaving on August 1, 2003. It looks like I will be teaching in the Junior High level, and I have been placed in the city of Niitsu, in the Niigata prefecture (which is like a state or province). If you are at all interested, I have set up a web page at www.geocities.com/iskiinme where you can check out pictures I will be posting as well as read some journal-type entries from me. Yes, I do plan on taking my bagpipes with me, so I may have some interesting pictures eventually. In all likelyhood, I will only be there for a year, but I don't yet know what I will do after I get back. During this time, I probably won't be maintaining this site too much (as you might imagine), or responding too well to emails, sorry. |
