Nihon wa, doko desu ka?
Ben said to me about a week ago that I should do an lj post just before I leave, to put in writing all the things that I expect and want to do in japan, and then a post when I get back, see how it compares. Now is as good a time as any, thought i wouldn't get time (and to be honest I really should be re-checking my suitcase), but hey, i think this is a good idea.
The strange thing is, I'm not really sure what I expect. Every time I've gone overseas before I expect to get there and everything will look totally alien but of course it doesn't. Also we often do the really touristy things so we're there with a whole lot of other foreign people. I don't know whether Japan will be different - whether it will look totally different, or what. I also don't know how many tourists there will be there (it is cherry blossom season, so I guess a lot), but then we do have a lot of workshops with universities and schools, so there I gues it will be us and a lot of Japanese people. I hope it is like that, cause this is one place where I really want to get immersed in the culture. Apparently it's a possibility that they'll serve us western -style food in order to make us feel more comfortable (mainly on the homestays), but I hope that doesn't happen - I want to try authentic Japanese food. It's such a polite culture that they will try to 'Westernise' stuff for us, but I hope they don't. I want the experience.
We have more free time than I originally thought. I actually went though our 'bible' (day to day schedule with specific timings, what to wear etc), and often we'll be busy through the day but then have time in the evening with our groups to buy dinner and have a look around. Our groups are done pretty well - a supervising parent, a staff member and 6 kids between the ages of 12-18. My group's pretty good, One girl who's probably the stupidest human being I've ever met but that's ok, I'll try and get through 2 weeks without murder. The person you're rooming with is in your group so at least I've got Michelle (who sleepwalks chronically, might I add. In Europe, she got up, walked around for a bit, came back to her bed and said clearly "has someone been sleeping here?" Amongst other things). So groups are all good, we do EVERYTHING in groups, including going to the vending machines - the kids can't go to one without a supervising adult (which I'm stoked about, by the way, I'm so excited to see their vending machines, I've been told so many stories about the completely random things you can get like heated hot chocolate in a can...the things they come up with, really. Pure brilliance).
Ok so things I'm excited about: HIROSHIMA. I haven't really done my research as to what everything looks like but I'm just so excited, I've made so many cranes over the years (mainly out of my own boredom) but hey, it was sparked out of an interest for this place. I tought all the kids how to make cranes one rehearsal, which was an absolute failure cause you really can't learn how to make a crane in 5mins. Hopefully there's enough of them that know how to make cranes to help whoever's sitting next to them. The idea is to make cranes while we're over there and leave them at Hiroshima. I don't know whether to take some of the strings that I made years ago... i don't want to draw attention to myself. And there's suitcase space to consider. Have to decide about that today...
Also looking forward to the 2 nights that the kids have homestays, it's like out time off, I think for both days we have the morning free and then in the arvo we have rehearsals/performances. Evening free, I hope, because I REALLY WANT TO TRY SAKE. I proba won't even like it. But I really want to try it. That and traditional gren tea, we are going to a tea ceremony so I'm pretty happy about that. I'd love to see a geisha in al their get-up but my doctor told be it's really unlikely.
Disneysea will be good, we're on the main stage which is massive, instead of being tucked away in a corner like we were in Eurodisney. No pressure or anything. I'm excited. And the rides will be awesome. And our combined performance in Ube? (They're the sister-city of newcastle, it's been 30 years so we have all sorts of important people coming with us). They've sold 1500 tickets, now they're selling standing-room tickets... HOLY SHIT. I hope they're good. Of course they will be, what am i talking about.
That's the other thing. When we've competed overseas before I always excpect the other bands to be amazing and perfect and waaay better than we are (cause there's sooo much work we could still do, I think we're all far from happy about where our pieces are at). The thing is, a lot of the time we see them and really we actually are a similar standard. the thing with japanese bands though is that they actually do have a reputation for being perfect. They're the best in the world. They have a reputation for playing entire concerts from memory. It makes me nervous, cause we think we can get away with our normal standard but we're really, really going to have to lift our game. i don't know if the kids recognise that, I just hope we do ourselves justice.
Now because I could never remember to whoever I've been talking to - our itinerary is Tokyo - Hiroshima - Ube - Osaka (we go on sightseeing to Kyoto, and Nagoya to workshop with the uni ensemble). And then home again.
I'm not sure what else. I guess i just really, really want to experience the culture and not end up doing really touristy things all the time. I'm going to miss Brad ridiculously, it'll be the longest time ew've stayed apart since we've been together. Had a bit of a cry last night a) cause I was stupidly tired from our night of drinking the night before and b) because I kept thinking of having 2 weeks without him (which is silly, comsidering I'm going to be having a brilliant time, but I'm going to miss him).
Saw Lenore last night for the first time in forever, had a nice dinner and evening with her, she gave me her little travel elephant which has just come home from Bali - I wish i travelled as much as he does.
It hasn't really sunk in that Im leaving tonight. I'm still not entirely packed, I'll do that in a sec, I'm wearing the shoes I usually perform in to work so i can't really pack until I get home from work. I haven't decided whether or not to sleep, depends on what time I finish... if I finish at 11 that's 4 hours until I have to leave home, but I think it'll be a later night than that. I don't know. I feel so unorganised. Which i think means that it's time to end this post and go re-pack? And I'll see you in 2 weeks. :D
The strange thing is, I'm not really sure what I expect. Every time I've gone overseas before I expect to get there and everything will look totally alien but of course it doesn't. Also we often do the really touristy things so we're there with a whole lot of other foreign people. I don't know whether Japan will be different - whether it will look totally different, or what. I also don't know how many tourists there will be there (it is cherry blossom season, so I guess a lot), but then we do have a lot of workshops with universities and schools, so there I gues it will be us and a lot of Japanese people. I hope it is like that, cause this is one place where I really want to get immersed in the culture. Apparently it's a possibility that they'll serve us western -style food in order to make us feel more comfortable (mainly on the homestays), but I hope that doesn't happen - I want to try authentic Japanese food. It's such a polite culture that they will try to 'Westernise' stuff for us, but I hope they don't. I want the experience.
We have more free time than I originally thought. I actually went though our 'bible' (day to day schedule with specific timings, what to wear etc), and often we'll be busy through the day but then have time in the evening with our groups to buy dinner and have a look around. Our groups are done pretty well - a supervising parent, a staff member and 6 kids between the ages of 12-18. My group's pretty good, One girl who's probably the stupidest human being I've ever met but that's ok, I'll try and get through 2 weeks without murder. The person you're rooming with is in your group so at least I've got Michelle (who sleepwalks chronically, might I add. In Europe, she got up, walked around for a bit, came back to her bed and said clearly "has someone been sleeping here?" Amongst other things). So groups are all good, we do EVERYTHING in groups, including going to the vending machines - the kids can't go to one without a supervising adult (which I'm stoked about, by the way, I'm so excited to see their vending machines, I've been told so many stories about the completely random things you can get like heated hot chocolate in a can...the things they come up with, really. Pure brilliance).
Ok so things I'm excited about: HIROSHIMA. I haven't really done my research as to what everything looks like but I'm just so excited, I've made so many cranes over the years (mainly out of my own boredom) but hey, it was sparked out of an interest for this place. I tought all the kids how to make cranes one rehearsal, which was an absolute failure cause you really can't learn how to make a crane in 5mins. Hopefully there's enough of them that know how to make cranes to help whoever's sitting next to them. The idea is to make cranes while we're over there and leave them at Hiroshima. I don't know whether to take some of the strings that I made years ago... i don't want to draw attention to myself. And there's suitcase space to consider. Have to decide about that today...
Also looking forward to the 2 nights that the kids have homestays, it's like out time off, I think for both days we have the morning free and then in the arvo we have rehearsals/performances. Evening free, I hope, because I REALLY WANT TO TRY SAKE. I proba won't even like it. But I really want to try it. That and traditional gren tea, we are going to a tea ceremony so I'm pretty happy about that. I'd love to see a geisha in al their get-up but my doctor told be it's really unlikely.
Disneysea will be good, we're on the main stage which is massive, instead of being tucked away in a corner like we were in Eurodisney. No pressure or anything. I'm excited. And the rides will be awesome. And our combined performance in Ube? (They're the sister-city of newcastle, it's been 30 years so we have all sorts of important people coming with us). They've sold 1500 tickets, now they're selling standing-room tickets... HOLY SHIT. I hope they're good. Of course they will be, what am i talking about.
That's the other thing. When we've competed overseas before I always excpect the other bands to be amazing and perfect and waaay better than we are (cause there's sooo much work we could still do, I think we're all far from happy about where our pieces are at). The thing is, a lot of the time we see them and really we actually are a similar standard. the thing with japanese bands though is that they actually do have a reputation for being perfect. They're the best in the world. They have a reputation for playing entire concerts from memory. It makes me nervous, cause we think we can get away with our normal standard but we're really, really going to have to lift our game. i don't know if the kids recognise that, I just hope we do ourselves justice.
Now because I could never remember to whoever I've been talking to - our itinerary is Tokyo - Hiroshima - Ube - Osaka (we go on sightseeing to Kyoto, and Nagoya to workshop with the uni ensemble). And then home again.
I'm not sure what else. I guess i just really, really want to experience the culture and not end up doing really touristy things all the time. I'm going to miss Brad ridiculously, it'll be the longest time ew've stayed apart since we've been together. Had a bit of a cry last night a) cause I was stupidly tired from our night of drinking the night before and b) because I kept thinking of having 2 weeks without him (which is silly, comsidering I'm going to be having a brilliant time, but I'm going to miss him).
Saw Lenore last night for the first time in forever, had a nice dinner and evening with her, she gave me her little travel elephant which has just come home from Bali - I wish i travelled as much as he does.
It hasn't really sunk in that Im leaving tonight. I'm still not entirely packed, I'll do that in a sec, I'm wearing the shoes I usually perform in to work so i can't really pack until I get home from work. I haven't decided whether or not to sleep, depends on what time I finish... if I finish at 11 that's 4 hours until I have to leave home, but I think it'll be a later night than that. I don't know. I feel so unorganised. Which i think means that it's time to end this post and go re-pack? And I'll see you in 2 weeks. :D