So sleepy
Alright, so it's 1:30 AM in Handa City. That puts us at 12:30 PM in New York. I slept 6 hours from New York to San Francisco...and maybe another hour or so from San Francisco to Nagoya. I didn't sleep at all the night before...so 8 hours in two days means that I should feel like I'm about to crash. And I do.
The food thing was even weirder. I had NO idea what meals I was eating anymore. It feels like I've had about 15 meals in the last two days...and all of them have been dinners. They fed us one small meal from New York to San Francisco...and two big ones (plus a few snacks) from San Francisco to Nagoya...none of them were breakfast-oriented.
Then, when I landed in Nagoya, I was picked up by Michi, Hatchan, Kio, and Umeo. Immediately time for dinner...again. :) After looking around the airport for a bit, they took Chris and I to a Korean restaurant where they give you the meat raw for you to cook yourself on an oven on the table. We had squid, scallops, pork, chicken, and a few types of beef (one type being from the stomach...better than I thought it would be). The most challenging part of this was the use of chopsticks. I've tried before and sucked at it EVERY SINGLE TIME. Michi tried to give me a fork but I told him, "I will learn to use chopsticks...or I will starve to death!! I'm not using a fork or spoon while I"m here!"
They all declared that Chris Gow was the greatest American chopstick wielder they'd ever crossed paths with. I asked if I was the worst. They laughed and looked at eachother nervously for a moment. Michi encouraged me, "Some Cavaliers just used fork."
This reminds of the scene in Elf when Buddy (will Ferrell) calls himself a "cotton-picking ninny muggins."
"OH NO!" they elves jump to his defense, "You're not a cotton picking ninny muggins. We all have different talents, Buddy."
"Well...the thing is...it seems like you all have the SAME talents."
"Remember the time we needed to switch the battiers in the fire alarm? You were the ONLY one that was tall enough. AND, you'll have to check them again in another six months! Triple A's, Buddy!"
After dinner it was time to go to rehearsal. First custom faux pas was when I almost walked outside with my rehearsal sneaker on. Major no no. You can only use those rehearsals sneakers on the actual marching floor. Not even in other rehearsal spaces. I'll have to buy another pair of sneakers for running, but no problem.
At rehearsal I met up with two ex-Cadets. Takeshi (who I marched with 2002 when he was affectionately known by some as Mr. T and forced to say phrases like "Cut the jibba-jabba" and "I pity da' fooooool.") and Kaori (Cadets 2005 and 2006). They showed Chris and I around the rehearsal facility and introduced us to important people. (I'm completely oversaturated on names I can't spell, by the way). The rehearsal facility is HUGGGGGGGGGEEEEEE...I'll take some pictures soon. Incredible...every drum corps should get one. Nine medium-sized practice areas and one giant indoor marching room where the actual "field" is. And that's all I saw today...who knows what else is here.
Rehearsal itself was fun! Exciting music arranged by the multi-talented (and avid Matt Haines blog reader/editor) Gordon Henderson. The head horn instructor does know some english, so he made sure to say the important stuff in both languages. I was worried about not understanding instructions as far as where to start and stop, but Hiro (the guy I was sharing a stand with) pointed it all out for me.
A few funny things happened during rehearsal.
1.) They introduced Chris and I in front of the entire brass line. I think Uichi (our contact to the group through email these last few weeks) was giving our bios to them. At one point he started flapping his arms like a drum major would conduct and they all went "waahhhhhoooohhhhhhh" so I think they were impressed by my amazingness.
2.) One of the times the head horn instructor was giving some information in english to Chris and I, we both yelled "HAY!" (that's "yes" in Japanese and something the other members had been yelling all night) after he was done speaking. Everyone laughed and seemed to appreciate it. At one point he said, "I'm sorry my english isn't very good." I responded, "I'm sorry my Japanese is much worse." I think he liks us.
WUH OH...I JUST REALIZED THAT MY COMPUTER CHARGER HAS THREE PRONGS. THE ONLY OUTLET IN THIS ROOM HAS TWO PRONGS! MY BATTERY IS ABOUT TO DIE...SO HERE'S WHERE MY BLOG ENDS FOR TODAY. WE HUNG OUT WITH KAORI AND TAKESHI AFTERWARDS...THEY TAUGHT US SOME JAPANESE...SHOWED US AROUND...THE END!
Goodnight!
The food thing was even weirder. I had NO idea what meals I was eating anymore. It feels like I've had about 15 meals in the last two days...and all of them have been dinners. They fed us one small meal from New York to San Francisco...and two big ones (plus a few snacks) from San Francisco to Nagoya...none of them were breakfast-oriented.
Then, when I landed in Nagoya, I was picked up by Michi, Hatchan, Kio, and Umeo. Immediately time for dinner...again. :) After looking around the airport for a bit, they took Chris and I to a Korean restaurant where they give you the meat raw for you to cook yourself on an oven on the table. We had squid, scallops, pork, chicken, and a few types of beef (one type being from the stomach...better than I thought it would be). The most challenging part of this was the use of chopsticks. I've tried before and sucked at it EVERY SINGLE TIME. Michi tried to give me a fork but I told him, "I will learn to use chopsticks...or I will starve to death!! I'm not using a fork or spoon while I"m here!"
They all declared that Chris Gow was the greatest American chopstick wielder they'd ever crossed paths with. I asked if I was the worst. They laughed and looked at eachother nervously for a moment. Michi encouraged me, "Some Cavaliers just used fork."
This reminds of the scene in Elf when Buddy (will Ferrell) calls himself a "cotton-picking ninny muggins."
"OH NO!" they elves jump to his defense, "You're not a cotton picking ninny muggins. We all have different talents, Buddy."
"Well...the thing is...it seems like you all have the SAME talents."
"Remember the time we needed to switch the battiers in the fire alarm? You were the ONLY one that was tall enough. AND, you'll have to check them again in another six months! Triple A's, Buddy!"
After dinner it was time to go to rehearsal. First custom faux pas was when I almost walked outside with my rehearsal sneaker on. Major no no. You can only use those rehearsals sneakers on the actual marching floor. Not even in other rehearsal spaces. I'll have to buy another pair of sneakers for running, but no problem.
At rehearsal I met up with two ex-Cadets. Takeshi (who I marched with 2002 when he was affectionately known by some as Mr. T and forced to say phrases like "Cut the jibba-jabba" and "I pity da' fooooool.") and Kaori (Cadets 2005 and 2006). They showed Chris and I around the rehearsal facility and introduced us to important people. (I'm completely oversaturated on names I can't spell, by the way). The rehearsal facility is HUGGGGGGGGGEEEEEE...I'll take some pictures soon. Incredible...every drum corps should get one. Nine medium-sized practice areas and one giant indoor marching room where the actual "field" is. And that's all I saw today...who knows what else is here.
Rehearsal itself was fun! Exciting music arranged by the multi-talented (and avid Matt Haines blog reader/editor) Gordon Henderson. The head horn instructor does know some english, so he made sure to say the important stuff in both languages. I was worried about not understanding instructions as far as where to start and stop, but Hiro (the guy I was sharing a stand with) pointed it all out for me.
A few funny things happened during rehearsal.
1.) They introduced Chris and I in front of the entire brass line. I think Uichi (our contact to the group through email these last few weeks) was giving our bios to them. At one point he started flapping his arms like a drum major would conduct and they all went "waahhhhhoooohhhhhhh" so I think they were impressed by my amazingness.
2.) One of the times the head horn instructor was giving some information in english to Chris and I, we both yelled "HAY!" (that's "yes" in Japanese and something the other members had been yelling all night) after he was done speaking. Everyone laughed and seemed to appreciate it. At one point he said, "I'm sorry my english isn't very good." I responded, "I'm sorry my Japanese is much worse." I think he liks us.
WUH OH...I JUST REALIZED THAT MY COMPUTER CHARGER HAS THREE PRONGS. THE ONLY OUTLET IN THIS ROOM HAS TWO PRONGS! MY BATTERY IS ABOUT TO DIE...SO HERE'S WHERE MY BLOG ENDS FOR TODAY. WE HUNG OUT WITH KAORI AND TAKESHI AFTERWARDS...THEY TAUGHT US SOME JAPANESE...SHOWED US AROUND...THE END!
Goodnight!
posted by Matt at 10:17 AM
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