(no subject)
nov 23 part 2/nov 24 part 1
let's see what i can remember. ooh i forgot to include in my last post that when we went to the palace with the nat'l fork museum there were hordes of school groups between the ages of about 10 and 17... and they must have been from far away (seoul is a fairly cosmopolitan place) because they were pointing and staring at me and kate and yelling 'hello!!' at us. and also making incredulous gestures about the size of my nose. i know i have a big nose kids, this doesn't mean you have to point it out... ;) i suppose particularly compared to the typical asian nose it is pretty striking though.
anyway. so after my nap yesterday afternoon, had sound check/concert. the hall was huge (sat 3000 i believe?) and was pretty full. the crew from our plane came to watch the concert and waved to us from the balcony, which was cute. concert overall was okay, people are kind of dropping like flies with illnesses -- one violinist in my section sat out the entire concert, and the asst. principal viola sat out the second half. a cellist left her cello sitting out with the end pin sticking out, and a bassoonist tripped over it, knocking it over and breaking the bridge. brutal. anyway. the soloist also discovered backstage that i actually can play the mandolin while standing (although it's not as comfortable as sitting, the thing slips around like you would not believe, stupid old-fashioned rounded back) so i may wind up walking around the audience with him while he serenades the ladies for the next couple concerts. we'll see what happens. concert apparently was broadcast live on tv... whee.
post concert went back to the hotel and spent over an hour repacking my suitcase, hopefully now it's effectively put together so that everything i'm not going to use any more is on the bottom... also all food is taken out in preparation for going to australia where apparently they won't let you bring anything in at all unless it's sealed etc by the manufacturer. blargh.
nov 24 started at way too early, woke up half an hour before my alarm (which was set to go off at 6am) because of wacky dreams. has been happening a lot lately it seems?? probably just the stress of travelling so much and being away from home compounded with extreme fatigue. am also starting to get sick -- my throat is pretty sore. i think it's partly just the dryness of the air (extreme) but i think it's also at least partially some virus, it seems like everyone in the orchestra is getting something or other. anyway, eventually got on the bus (which arrived late -- ironic after they made a point of emphasizing that we had to be on the bus five minutes before scheduled departure because i guess arriving late at our first refuelling stop means an 8 hour delay) and to the airport which amazingly had free wireless. if i ever own an airport it will have free wireless. not that i would ever have a reason to own an airport, if they are even owned by anyone other than the government, but hey.
so now we're on the first leg of our very long trip down to melbourne, australia. we stop for fuel in manila, philippines, and darwin, australia, effectively bringing our entire travel time up to something like 14 or 15 hours. eurgh. on the bright side, this is the second last flight we have to make with the whole orchestra! almost no more of the ridiculous amount of waiting in line... sweet.
transit so far: 3.5h
flying: will calculate later
there is some very exciting things that happened after i wrote this. have to type them up, will post later... just to keep all of you in suspense. muahahahahahaaaaaaa
let's see what i can remember. ooh i forgot to include in my last post that when we went to the palace with the nat'l fork museum there were hordes of school groups between the ages of about 10 and 17... and they must have been from far away (seoul is a fairly cosmopolitan place) because they were pointing and staring at me and kate and yelling 'hello!!' at us. and also making incredulous gestures about the size of my nose. i know i have a big nose kids, this doesn't mean you have to point it out... ;) i suppose particularly compared to the typical asian nose it is pretty striking though.
anyway. so after my nap yesterday afternoon, had sound check/concert. the hall was huge (sat 3000 i believe?) and was pretty full. the crew from our plane came to watch the concert and waved to us from the balcony, which was cute. concert overall was okay, people are kind of dropping like flies with illnesses -- one violinist in my section sat out the entire concert, and the asst. principal viola sat out the second half. a cellist left her cello sitting out with the end pin sticking out, and a bassoonist tripped over it, knocking it over and breaking the bridge. brutal. anyway. the soloist also discovered backstage that i actually can play the mandolin while standing (although it's not as comfortable as sitting, the thing slips around like you would not believe, stupid old-fashioned rounded back) so i may wind up walking around the audience with him while he serenades the ladies for the next couple concerts. we'll see what happens. concert apparently was broadcast live on tv... whee.
post concert went back to the hotel and spent over an hour repacking my suitcase, hopefully now it's effectively put together so that everything i'm not going to use any more is on the bottom... also all food is taken out in preparation for going to australia where apparently they won't let you bring anything in at all unless it's sealed etc by the manufacturer. blargh.
nov 24 started at way too early, woke up half an hour before my alarm (which was set to go off at 6am) because of wacky dreams. has been happening a lot lately it seems?? probably just the stress of travelling so much and being away from home compounded with extreme fatigue. am also starting to get sick -- my throat is pretty sore. i think it's partly just the dryness of the air (extreme) but i think it's also at least partially some virus, it seems like everyone in the orchestra is getting something or other. anyway, eventually got on the bus (which arrived late -- ironic after they made a point of emphasizing that we had to be on the bus five minutes before scheduled departure because i guess arriving late at our first refuelling stop means an 8 hour delay) and to the airport which amazingly had free wireless. if i ever own an airport it will have free wireless. not that i would ever have a reason to own an airport, if they are even owned by anyone other than the government, but hey.
so now we're on the first leg of our very long trip down to melbourne, australia. we stop for fuel in manila, philippines, and darwin, australia, effectively bringing our entire travel time up to something like 14 or 15 hours. eurgh. on the bright side, this is the second last flight we have to make with the whole orchestra! almost no more of the ridiculous amount of waiting in line... sweet.
transit so far: 3.5h
flying: will calculate later
there is some very exciting things that happened after i wrote this. have to type them up, will post later... just to keep all of you in suspense. muahahahahahaaaaaaa