I'm back!

I have returned from Singapore!  The trip went really well and aside from the hours upon hours of plane rides it was a really good experience.  I wish I could have spent more time actually being a tourist, but with roughly 6 hours of rehearsal a day with the International Youth Wind Orchestra (IYWO) I didn't have much time to go sight-seeing.  Here's a run-down of the trip though:

Day 1 - July 8th-July 10th
First I had the short flight from San Antonio to Dallas (DFW actually) and then from Dallas we flew to LA.  From LA we had a 17 hour flight to Singapore in which I watched 4 movies (Million Dollar Baby, Hitch, Sahara and Man of the House), read some, knitted some and slept some.  We arrived in Singapore at 4am local time on Sunday the 10th (Saturday the 9th was lost somewhere over the Pacific... losing a day really messes with your head).  After arriving we went to my parents' hotel where I took a shower and checked to make sure my bass hadn't received any damage during the flight.  We then poked around Chinatown for a little bit before finding lunch in one of the many underground malls in the city (the ENTIRE city is basically one big mall).  Singapore is very, VERY clean.... so clean it's almost scary.  It feels more like a theme park than a city.  Chewing gum is illegal, and littering carries a big fine (or you might even get caned, who knows).  I finally made my way to the hostel where the WASBE convention was providing our accomodations (icky icky icky.... not a fun place at all) and later that evening we had our introductory meeting with the WASBE/IYWO organizers and got our music, ID badges, etc.

Day 2 - Monday July 11th - First day of WASBE Convention
I woke up around 5:30am because I couldn't sleep (stupid jet lag), so I went ahead and got showered and whatnot before sitting downstairs until breakfast.  Instead of a morning rehearsal they took us on a grand tour of the convention location (a concert complex called The Esplanade - which apparently looks like a fruit of the area called a Durian because the outside of the building is all round and spikey just like the fruit - I'm taking the natives' word for it).  After that a group of Americans from the ensemble went to Little India for lunch.  I couldn't even pronounce most of the items on the menu, so I just ordered the "rice of the day" which ended up being green and spicy.  I took a picture of it for proof because no one I know will believe that I ate this... whatever it was.  After lunch we went and saw the Merlion fountains in the harbor and I took a lot of pictures.  There's some big local story about how they combined the idea of a lion (which is important in Asian culture) and a fish (since it's a harbor city) to create a Merlion and it became the symbol of their city.  I think San Antonio should have a Merlion down along the River Walk, they're really neat!  After the Merlions we had our first of many 3 hour rehearsals, although we did run into Mr. Oltman before rehearsal.  He was running a little late though, so we didn't have time to say much more than hello.  At the rehearsal we met both the conductors (one Swiss and one Japanese) and ran through all 5 pieces.  Following the rehearsal I had dinner with my parents in their hotel (which is so much nicer than the stupid hostel, I can't even begin to describe it).  After that we caught the bus back to the hostel and even though most of the other IYWO people went out to various bars, I was tired so I went to bed.

Day 3 - Tuesday July 12th - 2nd day of convention
It wasn't a terribly exciting day, although it was busy.  There was a total of 6 hours of rehearsal (3 in the morning and 3 after lunch).  We did get to wander around the Suntec Mall and the Suntec towers, which are right next to the Esplanade.  We wanted to go on a Duck Tour, but there wasn't enough time.  At the end of the second rehearsal we read through a student work composed by our principal oboe player (who is from Miami and who reminded me A LOT of Ryan... only this kid was a diva in a BAD way).  The piece didn't totally suck, but it certainly wasn't my idea of a good ending to a long day of rehearsals.

Day 4 - Wednesday July 13th - 3rd day of convention
Yay for more rehearsals!  Six more hours of them in fact and by this point my teeth and lip were really starting to hurt.  A funny thing I noticed was that the Swiss conductor says "SEEparate" instead of "separate" and for some reason he uses that word fairly frequently.  The Japanese conductor says "rizm" when he means "rhythm", "packishen" when he means "percussion", and "moderation" when he means "modulation".  We got to rehearse with the Boston Brass quintet this morning (we're playing a concerto for brass quintet and they're the soloists) and they are amazing!  For lunch we went to a Pizza Hut in the Suntec mall and I got sick from it.... doesn't that just figure? It's the WESTERN food that made me sick.  The lesson learned: Eat the local food even if you don't know what it is because, unlike American/Western food, it's the stuff they know how to make correctly.  By this point I'm noticing how different music-making in other parts of the world is.  For example, most of the Asians in the IYWO have absolutely unbelievable technique.  I'm serious, I've heard professionals who aren't this good at technical stuff, and these kids were sight-reading this music at that quality.  On the other hand, they've got about as much musicality as a rock...  and the tuning was rather iffy as well, but that could have been because they were used to a different pitch level/frequency of A. 

Day 5 - Thursday July 14th - 4th day of convention
6 more hours of rehearsal!  Our morning rehearsal today was open to the delegates of the convention, so we had a rather large audience.  We rehearsed our piece with the Boston Brass and it went really well, but then we switched conductors and started playing the Japanese pieces and they weren't so hot.  It was partly because we haven't been given as much time with the Japanese conductor as we've gotten with the Swiss one, but also the Japanese music was more difficult as well.  It wasn't a complete disaster, but it was somewhat embarassing.  After the rehearsal Kevin (also from BW) and I were taken out to eat by Mr. Oltman (it was a really nice restaurant too!).  At lunch we had some really good conversations with him and he said a lot of things that REALLY made me happy (the details of which I won't go into in a public journal *wink wink*).  I do have to say that I've never seen that man in such a good mood.  Sigh, I'm really going to miss having him for a conductor.  Following lunch we went on a Duck Tour with my parents which was a lot of fun.  They're called Duck Tours because the vehicles they use go both in and out of the water, so we got a tour of both the bay/coastline and part of the city too.  After the tour we poked around some of the malls again and we found a neat anime store, but they didn't have any of the series I like (well, they did... but they were parts that I already have).  I did pick up some Merlion-shaped chocolates from a candy store though.  I really like the Merlion :)  So all in all, aside from the rehearsals, it was a really good day!

Day 6 - Friday July 15th - 5th day of convention
This was the longest day yet as far as rehearsals went... 7 and 1/2 hours worth altogether.  I'm also getting really tired of eating out and the local food (I've had rice like 4 times already this week).  With all the rehearsals there wasn't much time for anything else, so I went to bed early in order to wake up early for the concert on Saturday.

Day 7 - Saturday July 16th - 6th and final day of convention
Concert day!  We had our sound check in the morning followed by the concert from 1-3.  Considering the fact that we've only been rehearsing for 5 days and we got the majority of the music upon our arrival, I'd say that the concert went really well.  It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was still good.  I'm very proud to say that I got to stand up for one of my solos (that's right, bass clarinet solos - plural! And I got to stand up... in Singapore! For a solo! As you can see, I'm pretty happy about this)  Mr. Oltman complimented me on my playing and then commented that this should make up for all the times that he forgot to have either Tiffany or me stand up during orchestra concerts during the last few years.  After the concert we did get some pictures taken with Oltman.  A big group of IYWO people went down to Chinatown for more shopping (I do love to shop) and after that I bid them farewell and took all my stuff over to my parents' hotel room.  While we were at the hotel they were practicing a fireworks show out over the harbor (Singapore's having a big independence celebration in August and they've been rehearsing for it every Saturday for weeks already) so we got to watch it from the 16th floor.  It was pretty darn cool.  We had dinner in a New York type cafe after that (which was actually good at making American food, even though I didn't trust it enough to eat much after what happened with Pizza Hut) and I got an ice cream drink called an e=mc^2.  It was made with chocolate chip ice cream, chocolate-flavored soda and Hershey's syrup. Very very good :)

Day 8 - Sunday July 17th
Since the convention officially ended on Saturday, my parents and I packed up and relocated to a resort on Sentosa Island (the southernmost island of Singapore - it also contains the southernmost point of continental Asia).  The entire area is absolutely beautiful... I love rainforests.  First, my mom and I took a short walk around some of the beaches and through some of the forest trails.  Then we retreived my dad from our room at the resort so we could go see the giant Merlion in the center of the island and the orchid garden.  Back at the resort I saw a peahen with her three chicks... they were so adorable!  The peacocks and peahens (collectively called "peafowl") roam the island like they own it... they're all over the place and they're mostly tame.  We fell asleep rather early because my mom and I plan on waking up early on Monday to go to the beach for real (instead of just walking by it).

Day 9 - Monday July 18th - Last day :(
My mom and I woke up early as we planned and went down to the beach where we were the ONLY ones there!  It was around 7:30 or 8am and the beach was empty, it was wonderful.  My mom went swimming while I mainly collected shells (of which I found some really neat ones).  Shortly after we returned from the beach (around lunchtime) it started raining.  We waited out the rain and then went to the big aquarium on the island called Underwater World.  For the most part it was kinda weak, but they do have a creature called a Dugong, which is a manatee-like animal that is pretty endangered.  In the evening we saw the laser/light show at the Musical Fountain (which involved the giant Merlion shooting lasers from its eyes).  For dinner we went back to the resort and my mom and I tried Singapore Slings (not my favorite alcoholic beverages, but hey, we're in Singapore, so we may as well try one, right?).  I'm very sad to say that we haven't seen a single monkey though.  There's supposed to be a troop of about 40 or so that roam the island and hang out around the resort, but they haven't shown themselves while we've been here.  I'm rather disappointed :(

Day 10 - Tuesday July 19th
Many more hours of travel.... On the way to Singapore we lost Saturday, but on the way back we managed to gain an extra Tuesday (which messes with your head more than losing a day does).  After a 6 and 1/2 hour flight we had a layover in the Tokyo airport where I changed some of my leftover Singapore currency into yen to add to my coin collection and then did a little shopping while we waited.  Then we had a 10 hour flight back to LA, followed by another 5 or 6 hour flight to DFW and an hour back to SA - none of which were very exciting.  We finally made it home around 11:30pm, still on Tuesday.  I really must say that jet lag sucks.  It's going to take me a while to get back into Texas time.

All in all the whole trip was an amazing experience though.  How many people my age can say they've played in an international ensemble in a country on the other side of the globe?  This was my first trip out of the US (well, technically my second, but the first was to some beach resort place in Mexico and I was too young to remember it) and I must say that it was a memorable one.  I really hope that in the years to come I find time to travel because even with the long plane rides and the culture shock, it's really a fun thing to do.  I am glad to be home again though.  I missed my puppies, my own house, my personal space and of course my Scotty.  I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything, but it's still good to be home.  I've still got more stories from the trip though, but this entry is already long enough as it is... so, until later!