HA. That title is actually somewhat funny because the two main subjects of this update are 1: A Singing Competition and 2: Climbing a Mountain. (If you don't get it, you need to watch Sound of Music. Right now.) By the way, one thing I forgot to say in the last post is that NO ONE here appreciates a good pun. I've decided that it's because I'm one of the only Americans, and we have a different sense of humor than Europeans or wherever else people come from. I guess it makes this place a little more lonely… not that there's not some funny moments going on. I know Sifu has a good time-- we always seem to make him laugh.
Anyway! Tuesday night seems like a long time ago, but my past self was pretty smart and typed up a summary of the night while it was still fresh in her mind.
So during dinner, Arianne said that Wei Sifu had asked her to find three other people to go with them to a 'singing competition' in Qufu that night, and I thought it sounded interesting, so I volunteered. Hair Sifu also went. If you're counting, we actually fit 6 people into a 5 person vehicle without any qualms of conscience. Love China. By this time pretty much everyone knows I like to sing (curse you, echoey showers), and seemed to think that I should join in the competition. But lucky for me it really wasn't that kind of competition, man. It was really more like a fashion show.
Actually, it was hard to tell what it was gonna be like when we first sat down. For one thing, they really needed a better sound guy because the before-show asian pop music was just THUNDERING in your ears. But despite all the noise, a nice Chinese boy came and sat down next to me and started talking to me. He said he wanted me to help him learn an English song, and of course I agreed, but was a little bit lost on how I was supposed to do that. But first, I guess to prove his worth, he got his friend with a guitar to come over and they serenaded me with a Chinese song. He wasn't bad; a little pitchy maybe. In the end I listened to him sing every word of "Apologize". I wasn't sure what to tell him at first because he was singing all the words correctly, but ended up giving him a few tips on the accent (stuff like, dropping the "t" off the end of a word). Then I think he was trying to get me to commit to more lessons, but I explained that I was learning Kung Fu and didn't have a lot of extra time. Phew!
Presently, the show began. It started with about a dozen Chinese girls coming on and doing a little catwalk thing individually so it took way longer than it needed to. I'm not any sort of expert on modeling, but… they really weren't any good. And some of the dresses fit poorly.
When that was over, the first girl started in with a Chinese Opera song, and you haven't heard anything until you've heard Chinese Opera. I decided in the end that she was pretty good because you need some sort of breath support to get that kind of vibrato, but it was impossible to tell if she was in tune or not because of said vibrato. When that was over, me and the three other people from the School were giving each other stricken looks, like, "is this how it's gonna be the whole time?", but luckily it wasn't. Of course they somehow thought it necessary to put on the bubble machine for every song. And the fog machine. And they didn't manage to get a different sound guy.
Everything in between acts was in Chinese, so I didn't understand what they were saying. But at one point I kept hearing the Loud Announcer Guy say "gong fu" (meaning, "kung fu"), and when he stopped talking, I looked over at Wei Sifu, who was like, "okay, let's go up". What! So we all filed up onstage and ended up giving a bunch of girls some prizes and bouquets. Wei Sifu said he didn't know anything about it. Whatever, man.
The guy who got me to teach him how to sing in English ended up being one of the backup singers in one of the acts, and I got a little bit of video of him then. A few acts later we left a bit early because it was still a training night. Wei Sifu and Hair Sifu stayed until the end, I guess. I think the Loud Announcer Guy was his friend or something and put him up to bringing a bunch of foreigners.
Wednesday was normal. Thursday it felt like I was coming down with something, so I didn't end up training. I wasn't exactly heartbroken over not having to do power training.
Friday was fun because we all took a field trip!
Thursday night most people went out to get themselves materials for a sack lunch. I ended up getting too much food, as I found out during the field trip. Oh well? Friday morning we still had Tai Chi, and left at 8:30. We had two "buses", which were a bit more like large vans.
The field trip was to check out the location of the new school, which hasn't been built yet but will be by May 2012, when they've said they're moving in. It's right next to a GORGEOUS mountain, which we climbed. There are stairs all the way up to a pagoda at the top, which looked like it would take forever but really only took like 40 minutes. I was expecting a much more difficult hike. But on the way there were pavilions, lookout points, a granite slide, a temple, and a lane with a bunch of zodiac statues and ropes-course type things. Unfortunately my camera died partway through, but I'm planning to nab photos from other people.
So, we basically had from 9:00 until 1:00 to hang out, climb, eat, try out the slide, and enjoy the view. It was so pretty. We were supposed to stay in groups of at least three people, so when me and a couple of other guys got to the top, we stopped just before we reached the pagoda (which was partially hidden by some rocks), and started yelling at the mountains to hear the echo. There were some pretty wicked echoes going on, so we stood there and yelled like idiots for a good five minutes or so. When we were satisfied that we had made enough noise, we climbed up to the pagoda, only to find that at least twenty people from the school were sitting there already, just quietly listening to us. It's moments like that that make you feel really cool.
We didn't actually see the location of where the school would be. But man, it's WAY out of town. Seriously. It'll be harder for the students next year to get away from the school, unless they want to hike up the mountain. I would totally do that every weekend. I almost want to come back to the school so I could next year.
Young Sifu didn't come and climb the mountain with us (because of his foot), and neither did Nelly or Joy. Pretty much everyone else did, though, including the Ai Yis and Sifus and Shu-shu.
Anyway, for some reason we then went to a nearby golf course and stayed there for about an hour. For some reason I decided not to play golf. I really should have, I think. I would've been less bored, and besides, I've never played golf before and it would've made a good story to say that the first time I played golf was in the middle of Nowheresville, China. (I wonder what the Chinese equivalent of "Nowheresville" is?) But really, I was pretty tired out because I hadn't slept well the night before. When we finally got back to the school I took a nap. Then we went out for hot pot, which I sort of talked about in the last post. I ate a squid, and without anyone daring me to!
Then Saturday morning I went out to the supermarket and got a pumpkin and a few other things, carved said pumpkin, and trained a little bit because Grading is TOMORROW. AH. It's always on the last day of the month, I guess. I'm a little nervous because my sweeps are kind of sketchy. But if I concentrate I know that I won't mess up any of my forms.
I should be fine.
*cringe*
Until next week,
Sarah
PS: Sorry, guys. I totally finished this last night, but then didn't end up uploading it/sending it out. But it's 'kay, right? Wouldn't want to spoil you with two updates in one day...
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