Orientation
China looms near. In six hours, if all goes well, I will wake and drag my suitcase across campus to the board the bus that will take me to the plane that will fly me to Beijing! I'm sure there will be little, and potentially not so little, stresses along the way but for the most part I'm feeling good about the next week. It's such an honour to be chosen to go and total cake that I happen to be going with a bunch of friends.
First the good stuff. We are definitely not going to be overworked while we're there. It looks as though we have most of our mornings free. I hope to use that time to see the sights, buy some gifts, and take in as much of Asian life as I can. We get to attend a college while we're there and exchange classes. Something tells me that their work ethic is going to be admirable. I just hope they aren't all crazy flexy dance monsters that make us look dumb! Our hotel looks gorgeous from the pictures I've seen on the internet and is replete with a gym, pool, sauna, and a steam room. Lastly, and fittingly Asian, is the karaoke bar that is open nightly until 2am! Songs will definitely be sung. Memories that will beg to be forgotten will most certainly be made!
The bad. I'm worried about jet lag. I am accustomed to treating my body reasonably well and I don't dance well under stress. I am already feeling a bit under the weather and fourteen hours of recycled air never did anyone's respiratory system all that much good. Add to these elements the very likely probability that I will get some sort of upset stomach from foreign food and you have the equation for a less than pleasant dance experience. Hopefully I stay healthy. Other than my health is the worries about the ever-changing, physically exhausting, and mentally challenging dance we are expected to perform gorgeously in front of 5000 people. I won't even get in to what worries me about that. Though there is one thing that has been bothering me particularly. I feel it deserves its own paragraph.
We are attempting to execute this piece as a team. We rehearse together all the time and have been talking, especially recently, about how to keep our energy positive and the dance looking great. Of the eight of us, six seem to really be on board. We all provide encouragement, share in successes, and help our peers through low points. Sadly there are two guys in the piece who really don't seem to want to have anything to do with the group experience. It seems they are always the last to show up, the first to leave, and concerned mainly with their own problems. It's so incredibly hard to dance to your breaking point in an attempt to finish the piece under the 10 minute time limit we've been given when the guy next to you is marking it as if nothing matters at all. It just doesn't seem right that these non-participators get to share in all of the glory and be given this great opportunity when they aren't willing to put in the long tough hours it takes to make a dance great. I'm giving my all and berating myself for every little mistake whereas they are skimming and couldn't seem to care less how the dance looks. It is going to be a challenge for me to maintain civil towards them. I don't want the situation to descend into a shit-flinging, finger-pointing, fight, but I want them to step up and join us!
Phew. Got that one off my chest. Maybe I really am ready to go now.
Things to look forward to: Gifts for friends
Asia
Great memories
First the good stuff. We are definitely not going to be overworked while we're there. It looks as though we have most of our mornings free. I hope to use that time to see the sights, buy some gifts, and take in as much of Asian life as I can. We get to attend a college while we're there and exchange classes. Something tells me that their work ethic is going to be admirable. I just hope they aren't all crazy flexy dance monsters that make us look dumb! Our hotel looks gorgeous from the pictures I've seen on the internet and is replete with a gym, pool, sauna, and a steam room. Lastly, and fittingly Asian, is the karaoke bar that is open nightly until 2am! Songs will definitely be sung. Memories that will beg to be forgotten will most certainly be made!
The bad. I'm worried about jet lag. I am accustomed to treating my body reasonably well and I don't dance well under stress. I am already feeling a bit under the weather and fourteen hours of recycled air never did anyone's respiratory system all that much good. Add to these elements the very likely probability that I will get some sort of upset stomach from foreign food and you have the equation for a less than pleasant dance experience. Hopefully I stay healthy. Other than my health is the worries about the ever-changing, physically exhausting, and mentally challenging dance we are expected to perform gorgeously in front of 5000 people. I won't even get in to what worries me about that. Though there is one thing that has been bothering me particularly. I feel it deserves its own paragraph.
We are attempting to execute this piece as a team. We rehearse together all the time and have been talking, especially recently, about how to keep our energy positive and the dance looking great. Of the eight of us, six seem to really be on board. We all provide encouragement, share in successes, and help our peers through low points. Sadly there are two guys in the piece who really don't seem to want to have anything to do with the group experience. It seems they are always the last to show up, the first to leave, and concerned mainly with their own problems. It's so incredibly hard to dance to your breaking point in an attempt to finish the piece under the 10 minute time limit we've been given when the guy next to you is marking it as if nothing matters at all. It just doesn't seem right that these non-participators get to share in all of the glory and be given this great opportunity when they aren't willing to put in the long tough hours it takes to make a dance great. I'm giving my all and berating myself for every little mistake whereas they are skimming and couldn't seem to care less how the dance looks. It is going to be a challenge for me to maintain civil towards them. I don't want the situation to descend into a shit-flinging, finger-pointing, fight, but I want them to step up and join us!
Phew. Got that one off my chest. Maybe I really am ready to go now.
Things to look forward to: Gifts for friends
Asia
Great memories