A Very Very Long Practice Day

Well if the kids weren't tired yet I am sure they are after today. They had a two hour morning practice, a 4 hour afternoon practice and the percussion had a two hour evening practice from 7:30 to 9:30pm tonight. They have and 8:30am report time tomorrow on top of the late practice at which time they are going to walk about a half of a mile to the new practice ground just outside of the wall of Grand Epoch City. Tomorrows practice will be the first practice as the entire 2008 member orchestra all together since arriving in China. There are two practice session one at 10:00am and one at 2:00pm after lunch. The group is now so big that the grounds do not have enough space to hold everyone so they are forced to use the parking lot outside of the wall, which is equivalent to an amusement park parking lot. I will be trying out my video taping skills tomorrow.

The weather today was actually beautiful. There was a nice breeze and the humidity was bearable until late in the afternoon. This was also the first time we actually saw blue sky, until today it was either smog or clouds. Even then it only lasted a few hours and then a nice evening breeze kicked in. There have been many new stories that I have heard from kids regarding the people they have been meeting, such as learning what a wombat is from a kid from Australia, to one kid from Queensland wondering if was legal for any of the kids in the US to own a gun. Which some of them do such as .22's and hunting rifles. This was the oddest question I think anyone has heard yet. Overall the kids are finding it very different yet interesting in the ways of the "World". The show that they will be practicing tomorrow is the show that has been set for the performance in Tiananmen Square. This performance is set for Sunday August 3rd, 2008, here in China. They are telling us that there will be media coverage but as to how much and which country's news agencies are invited to broadcast it they haven't said. Since this is the first time that a foreign group will be performing in Tiananmen Square it is HUGE so I'm sure that there will be worldwide media coverage.

The afternoon practice that was done today involved all of the red and green hub musicians together for a run-through of their music. The sheer volume and number of performers and the perfection of which they performed the music made it so there was not a dry eye in the crowd among the proud parents of the performers. This to me is one of the greatest joys there is knowing that our kids are down there being part of history in a way that transcends all cultural as well as language barriers that the world is faced with. The power of music is so awesome in this aspect that you can only gain a greater respect for any person who chooses to pursue this career. Proud does not even begin to describe what we are feeling right now it doesn't even come close.

Some of the parents made a special "Shopping" trip into Beijing today and found some very good deals such as, ipod nanos for $30.00 us and strings of genuine pearls for around $32.00 us. So place your orders now. The prices here in Grand Epoch City are a little higher but they are not above negotiating. The only thing that is not negotiable is the Olympic memorabilia, as the price has been set on everything by the Chinese Government. They have a beautiful golf course here surrounding the city. We went on a price gathering journey that involed an awesome electric car ride to the golf course office. The electric car holds 7 passengers plus the driver and is of the open golf cart design with the back seat facing backwards. This proved to be the perfect opportunity for Jenn and Joanie to practice their skills at the Chinese language. The entire way there all you could here coming from the back of the cart was nin hao, nin hao, nin hao (Hello). They must have been doing it right because they had alot of nin hao responses from the passers by. Once we reached the golf course Dennis crow went inside to try and communicate as to what the price structure was. After about a half an hour he emerged with all of the information written down. After some conversions performed by Mike Kavarian it was discovered that at $120.00 us for 9 holes of golf per hacker was not even close to being affordable, so we decided to pass and go on a bowling outing. Myself, Jenn, Bobby, Kevin (Jenn's brother) and Dennis Crow went to the bowling alley. Dennis and I were merely spectators to this fiasco. Jenn was the unanimous winner over Bobby and Kevin so much for macho men (You go girl!). Well we have a pretty early day tomorrow so I better sign off. Before I go though I passed on the Overly's comments as well as Samantha's love for her sister Krystal and all of the other comments left yesterday on the blog. I am so glad that so many people are reading the blog it makes me feel that I am contributing to the program. Well goodnight to all the readers. . .