THE REST OF JAPAN,OREGON, AND OTHER STUFF

[huskydrew]

so my last update about japan was right before we marched the parade. it was pretty sweet. before it started we got to mingle with some of the other bands. the amount of pictures that the japanese people took of us was insane. if we were just standing around, they would take pictures of us. if we actually did something, there would be swarms of them. the baritones had fun. we did some of our rituals, including the mantis! it was awesome, i have pictures. the parade was really hot! i think it was like 90 degrees. my only big problem was that my pants hung down too low so my legs rubbed together and got pretty raw. but it was fun! the crowd really liked us. whenever we werent playing we were waving at people. we stopped 6 or 7 times along the parade route and faced each side of the street and played some stand still songs and danced. that was fun. i would compare it a to the portland rose parade. lots of people. not as long though, which was nice. we were all so beat afterwards. that night jenny, matt bach and i did karaoke with some piccolos. that was really fun. i tried some sake not from a box and it was better. my voice was really sore after singing so much though. the next day was the music festival which was really cool because we got to meet all the bands in the parade and take pictures with them and exchange trinkets and stuff. it rained really hard at one point, but it was still really fun. i have lots of pictures from that. the next few days were spent in himi, a relatively small rural town about 4 hours from osaka. when we got there we got to see the junior high marching band rehearse. they were incredible! i cant even describe it. and junior high kids! man, the japanese know how to do it. that was also our first night with our host families. my host family was really nice. there was the mom, dad, 14 year old daughter from the junior high band, and her friend and friend's mom were there too. the dinner they made was really cool, kinda like fondue but with dipping meat so it got cooked. i did a really bad thing apparently though when a trumpet player also staying in the house handed me a piece of meat with her chop sticks and i took it with my chop sticks. they didnt like that much at all. they were pretty nice about it though. after dinner we gave them our gifts, which they really liked and then we all took turns showering. then the girls went to bed and the guys stayed up and drank sake with the family. slept really well that night. got up early the next day and in full uniform went to a mall for a while. i went to mcdonalds and the lady walked all the way around the counter and handed me my food and bowed a bunch. it was funny. all the locals were really excited for us to be there. after that we performed at a school. it was a full school assembly. they all sang and their band played. they were really good. then we performed africano which rocked in their gym. then we walked downtown with all the school kids who got let out of class to see the small parade we were in. my host mom followed along with a video camera, that was pretty cool. i should be getting a dvd of that and our performance that night in the mail. our concert was us with two other school bands that night. it was amazing. we performed our field show that we prepared and then had a combined concert with them. it was so hot by the combined concert. i have never sweat so much in my entire life. awesome experience though. i will never forget it. that night our host family took us out to a japanese restaurant where we took off our shoes and sat on the floor and all that. i was kind of uncomfortable because my legs are so long and i cant cross them. but the food was amazing! they brought us chicken after chicken after chicken! chicken skewers, chicken meatballs, chicken legs, chicken wings. and lots of beer, too much for the other guy staying with us it would turn out. the company was good too, it was everyone from the first night and the friend's dad and some other guy from the band that i never really could figure out. none of them really spoke great english, but when they all worked together to say something or interpret something it worked out. had more “relax time” as they called it when we got back to their house and then went to bed for a few hours before we had to be back at the school the next day to ride back to osaka via kyoto. our host family was sad to see us go. they were so nice. they gave us a bunch of gifts as we left and the dvd they video taped is in the mail. kyoto was pretty awesome. we visited a couple of temples, took lots of pictures, and bought a bunch of cheap souvenirs. then it was our last night in osaka. we did karaoke with some sousaphones and others til about 3:30 am. that was fun of course. the next day was interesting. there were come complications with the airline and it almost caused a few of us to miss the flight. we actually had to run to catch it. so i guess the people on the plane were a little annoyed with us even though it wasnt our fault. one of the flight attendants was really upset with us for our little playing along to the safty instructions (clicking our seatbelts etc.). as she walked to the back of the plane she flipped us all off. it was unbelievable. not the best service for the 9 hour flight. there was also some nasty turbulence. but i got a little sleep. flight back from san francisco was good. went to the volleyball match back here at uw that night even though we were super tired. it was fun. then it was onto oregon the next day...

oregon trip started off lame. the trombone baritone bus didnt show up, so we had to cram onto other buses. our performance at columbia river on the way down went really well, and my parents and mallory and her brother were there! then i got to have dinner with them at our stop at janzten beach. it was nice to see them and be able to start talking about japan and stuff. by then our bus had shown up so we tested the rookies on the lyrics to bow down to washington. kinda hung out for a while in our hotel in corvallis and then went to bed. the game the next day sucked of course, but we did really well and were received really well by the hostile crowd. my mom and dad and aunt and uncle were there so they got to see our performances. so even though we lost super bad it was still fun. that night was fun too. we went to kfc for dinner and then stayed up pretty late at the hotel. it was cool, i got to meet a bunch of new band people. i stayed behind when the band left the next morning and my parents picked me up on there way back up to vancouver. it was only one night for me in vancouver, but it was cool. mom and dad took me out for mexican and i got to show them and mallory my japan pictures and then i got to hang out with mallory. so i was grateful for the one night. mom drove me up the next morning on her way to bellingham in time for my class. then i had a little crisis...

i was overwhelmed with all the stuff i had to make up from missing japan. i had a history paper i did not know about due the next day and my extension request was denied and i was behind in way too much reading and even if i did manage to catch up i knew the rest of the quarter would kick my ass with band. so i dropped my history class. i thought about it all day, called a bunch of people and visited a counselor but i knew i had to do it. so with my parents approval i dropped my first class ever. it felt weird, but i also felt an immediate sense of relief. it was the first time i have ever really done anything to make things easier on myself. i am a lot calmer now and feel like i can be successful for the rest of the quarter.

wow, long update. i started writing it at the laundry place where there is wireless internet and now i am back at my apartment. anyway, thats all for now. thanks for reading. go daWgs!