Dizzy's Place: Day 16

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Day 16

Hey everyone! Wow the time sure is flying!! I've only got 4-ish days left!! WOAAAAAAAH.

Today was another interesting day...we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel - which was 100% japanese. Yay for seaweed wrapped rice and miso soup in the morning!

We traveled to an elementary school to see the TKWO play for a little assembly they were having. Needless to say, the concert was fabulous. They played some kid-friendly pieces and ended with a ROUSING rendition of "Tequila!" Oh joy. The children were adorable, and it was fun to watch them. In general, what they say is true about Japenese schooling because i've seen first hand that the elementary aged school kids CAN sit thru classical wind ensemble assemblies and not squirm, chat, or giggle. I'm sure you'd say i'm crazy for saying it - but it's true, my friends. They were also wearing some interesting clothes. Note the pictures below.

The members of the TKWO were again very gracious to us. They were happy to see us again, recognized us, waved to us and some came to talk with us again. We have all been so stunned by how welcoming and warm these people are. Lisa Christensen keeps saying she just needs to move to Japan "where people are...nice." We were all guessing that had this been some high-profile American ensemble they might have acted differently. Who knows! It was great to build a little bit of a relationship with them. Interstingly enough, we learned today that one fo the reasons they were so kind and willing to meet with us is one of the directors (not conductor, but guy in charge of the ensemble's doings and such) dated a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints back in the 70s, and she helped him to quit smoking and she was a great influence and basically changed his life. Soon after, he came to Utah for a day or two and had such a positive experience at temple square that he expressed the desire to do whatever it took to give us the same hospitality and graciousness that he felt in SLC. Cool!

Sadly, it feels like most of what weve been doing here in Japan is traveling. When the bus came to get us we drove back to the hotel, picked up our bags and lugged it thru the train station again for another 4-6-ish hour ordeal to get to Nagoya, which is a beautiful city. On the way we were able to catch glimpses of Mt. Fuji! Hooray for Japanese landmarks and stuff!!

We got - can you guess? Burgers and fries on the train. The members of the church have been providing lunches for us here. They'll meet us at the station and drop off bags of food (which is so kind and great!!) buuuut...it seems to always be burgers and fries. I've had more "American" food in Japan then i've had in America in a long, long time. There is some mild frustration among the group, actually, that we're not really getting to experience the culture here in terms of food (or sightseeing, for that matter - tons of time spent on trains!) Oh well. It's beautiful and it's very easy to appreciate everything here since people are so kind and helpful and such.

We got to Nagoya, dropped our stuff off in the hotel (which is a little bigger than last nights, but i think it's a higher star hotel because this internet in the front lobby is costing e 100 yen per 10 minutes! POO! Oh well..it's worth it :) ) and we went to eat in the marriott (the twin marriott towers are pitured below!!) and that was pretty delicious. Now, its ten minutes to 8 and we have FREE TIME! Which, luckily, means a shower and sleep and hopefully healing 100% from my dwindiling sickness. Bleh!

Thanks for reading this blog, by the way.

Have a lovely day!! Love you all!!

Children!!

TKWO

Tequila!! Hehe...he's a horn player.

(Man, whoever designed this shirt took the words RIGHT out of my mouth :) )
Though i love the gorgeous dress for parties,
I love the boy-like everyday style
I want to bold even the clothes of the usual times cool
But it is my style not to decide too much well.
Boy-Like Everyday Style.