The Rise Of The Family

Breakfast was as usual. This time, being the second time, and of course being the smarter me, avoided sausages and bacon stripes. Why? Because they just taste too good. Theres no reason for me to go on a diet... but i really had to avoid them. Again, for those who missed my first 2 entries on this Sydney trip, please turn back now... its still not too late.

Rehearsal wasnt as tight as before. Im not sure if they knew, but i realised that the first run through was perfect. Nothing is perfect, so... almost. I found it the best performance so far, but well everybody didnt seem to react to their own performance. I might be too sensitive, so i just sat on my seat... listening to MikeChiang's comments. The rehearsal lasted till lunch, which was most dreadful. I thought of staying at the hotel to just eat whateva cockroaches i can find, but too bad... its a rule, ive to follow them to lunch.

Its hell again, with its mistress' malicious cooking. We took our seats, but this time we're relieved that it was MrChiang who spefically told them what to cook. Im kinda happy that they're only 3 dishes this time though, however, thats so much better than 5 dishes of imp food. Sadly, as much to my expectation, the food tasted like it would, or it should. For those who would wanna know where its located, i'll explain it to u. U see, from CrestHotel, by crossing diagonally by the right side, we'll be at Coles, and by walking straight by the road, u'll see this nice looking Chinese restaurant. The location of this restaurant makes it so romantic at night, with a beautiful city view through the skyscrapers. But sadly, its really some horrible shit cooking.

After suffering through lunch, MrChiang told the students to go get some food. He understood how we felt, and he was willing to sacrifice the next rehearsal's time for us to go get a bite elsewhere. He complained to the management, and Karen, one of the teacher in charge was disturbed too by the good food that they're providing us with. Its our adjudication day, and being fed with dog food really shouldnt be the way. Anyway, it doesnt matter much, because we're all fine people. I know, it doesnt make any sense. Pretend it does, it'll make better sense. I know it still doesnt. It will, though.

Its time for departure for SydneyTownHall. Remember my first day at Sydney? I went walking around, through Sussex Street, down George Street? That was then when i stumble across this 2 beautiful historical building, one being St.Andrew Cathedral and another being SydneyTownHall. The hall is actually part of the cathedral, so i didnt realise that we're heading for that same building i saw 2 days before.

All the guys pulled up their sleeves and prepared themselves to move a huge amount of heavy instruments down the hotel to the main road. The girls were just walking around, forming chat groups as well as carrying their little instruments. But, they were told to, so... Anyway, i was afraid that i'll stress my fingers too much, so i made sure that i dun carry any heavy instruments all by myself. I helped out mostly with the drums and i left the GeHu with the other stronger guys to carry. The most troublesome drum would by the JianGu, which is physically related to the Japanese TaikoDrums. We had to move it down the hotel by lift separately with its stand, because its too tall. It takes around 4 guys to each carry the JianGu by its side to move it. As for the stand, it has wheels.

It was through the moving of instruments that i got to know more guys. KaiWen and GuoWei became the few out of the guys who i talked to most. Its late in the afternoon, and the first bus left first, being mainly the girls. Its kinda not organised, since the truck left first, the guys should leave with the first bus instead of the girls, because we'll be responsible for shifting the instruments out of the truck. The girls should have waited for the second bus which took quite some time to arrive.

We were there, with Janette, the second teacher in charge, bubbly and spoke with clear diction, troubled with the driver where to allow us to alight. There was MrPringles who kept wanting us to alight at Bathurst Street. In the end, we did alight there, but had to walk 2 blocks down. Its not as far as Janette thought it was, so it was alright.

While walking through the cathedral, i was subdued by its clarity. Its walls were all so well designed. Ive noticed that im just standing at where i was a few days ago, and walking into the town hall made me more excited. Firstly, the sight of those pillars was just awesome. Walking into the lobby brought back memories of old movies. My ears were greeted with music, which was unclear then... but sounded like church music. If its at night, im sure Dracula would appear somewhere later.

The insides were just another feast to the eyes. I couldnt resist, i had to let my camera free. I snapped many shots of its ceilings, which were all so detailed. There was this huge ballroom kinda lighting hung from the ceiling. I cant recall what they're called, but well... u can imagine it, right? I thought that the music was produced through some speakers, but later... i got to realise that its actually anothe group on stage having their sound check. Goodness, they sounded so good! Its SembawangWindOrchestra, which is one of the 3 groups from Singapore. The second would be ACJSBand. Familiar? Its my primary school band! I noticed them on the first night of the performance at the OperaHouse. I even had the chance to speak to the principal, PeterTan. He took the position as the principal in year 2000, which was my last year, so... im not really close with him. We exchanged our regards and left the OperaHouse, nothing else. SembawangWindOrchestra sounded good, and i loved their performance that night. They were the last group to perform, which woke me up from my slumber. I liked the Saxophone piece, though many would think of it as some cheap piece. Overall, i liked them.

In the MarconiRoom, we stored our instruments, took some time to go to the restroom or to take some pictures around. We entered the cathedral hall, and moved the heavy instruments out of the cargo lift. I was stunned by the graceful appearance of the hall. Theres huge space for the sound to travel. The charming design took over me while i occupied myself with extreme photo taking. Divine, thats how the organ looked, theres really nothing to compare to the OperaHouse even. I think any of those in Singapore would be just too immature to even stand with them. I was so affected with the acoustic, how elegantly the sound embraces the listeners.

We took our seats and watched the next sound check, by ShangHaiAmericanMiddleSchoolOrchestra. Yes, its the SAMSO, which would be having an exchange programme with us at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, SCM. Anyway, they were shocking. Not really in a good way, but the conductress shook really hard like those ive seen in the hospital during one of my visits back then. I really had no idea what she was doing, but i knew... i dun think she was trained properly. Im really glad that nobody from NYPCO burst out of laughter, though i knew that most would gladly do so if they're allowed to. Disciplined, thats what i think.

Dinner was provided, and again... its some Chinese food. We're kinda bored of Chinese food already. Imagine, ur in Australia but still eating Chinese food, what the hell? Whats the purpose of that? By the way, its already the third day, and eating Chinese food again really embedded this bad impression on cuisines in Australia. Seriously, i think the food in Australia really doesnt attract me at all. Ive heard from David and gang that their Chinese food in Chinatown really sucked badly. Though our dinner tasted really good to me, probably due to the torture chamber where we had our lunch, my tastebuds were all working strangely. Abnormal buds like those would taste good for anything other than those from that hell restaurant. SembawangWindOrchestra entered the MarconiRoom, started blowing away... and thats when i met Natalie. She was surprised to see me, but ive seen her on the first night performing, so its kinda alright. She looked so much better after graduating.

They were going to have their rehearsal, so they chased everybody out of the MarconiRoom. Now, thats something really unorganised on their part as organisers of this festival. Im talking about the WorldProjects, the organisation for this festival. When its our turn, the chairs were not arranged properly. But, we cant blame them... because we're the first Chinese orchestra ever to attend their festival, therefore... they were all ignorant to our unique arrangement. However, thats not the problem. When our time started running, we found instrument cases, bags, shoes and other belongings amongst our seats. They belonged to another band group who came to claim them slowly. They took our their cases and disassemble their Clarinets and stuff infront of us, which they could just take it to some corner to fix. MrChiang was very polite, he stood there quietly and stared at the students, with a smile of course! We waited for really long, and started tuning. We were relaxed as hell, as for me... im alright because the Pipas were all tuned already and ive nothing else to worry. Thats my duty, and nothing more but to play my best of course.

Absolutely, theres always wierd problems arising at critical moments. The LiuQins were horribly out of tune when we're having our sound check previously. MrChiang asked if i could fix it, but well... i analysed the problem and found it quite impossible to fix, thus we had no choice but to let the weaker players play that LiuQin. Moreover, almost all the LiuQins are... really badly out of tune. Its just abit to their ears, but really sensitive to mine.

We moved backstage, where we got ourselves ready to move on stage after another band. I heard from MrChiang that the SembawangWindOrchestra was giving some bad attitude to NYPCO. Well, im sure this kinda things are always happening all the time. Australians are known to discriminate Asians, and if our own people are discriminating each other, whats left in this world for us? Before doing on stage, Geneviene dropped her Pipa. That drop flashed back memories of my own mistakes. It dropped hard on the carpeted floor. I dropped a Pipa once on a carpeted floor too, it broke. But Geneviene was really fortunate, it was still intact. MrChiang was really worried, and he looked down from the stairs above. I was relaxed, trying to calm down Geneviene though she didnt cry or anything. I put my Pipa down on the floor, picked up the dropped Pipa and tuned it. It was perfectly fine. Well, it was an accident because she was helping KaiWen to carry his ErHu while he was moving the YangQins.

A shock, but a really relaxed performance. On stage, the crowd applauded while we tuned our instruments. When the lights were on us, its show time! Our last piece knocked the whole cathedral down and immediately the cheers from the audience went shooting around like rockets and fireworks. For the first time in my life, ive had a standing ovation. The enthusiastic public reception was really worth to die for. The loud and prolonged applause kept us standing for a long time while MrChiang had to bow again and over again. From the audience, i knew... we were the best group, no doubt.

Im not siding anybody or stuff, but its really hard to believe that we've done it. Its completely a different heavenly feel. Its no more those happiness when u cut ur cake or recieve ur good grades. Its literally a floating joy, just pure bliss. Backstage, while keeping our instruments, everybody started chirping incessantly about the performance. I was wild as a hot dog inside, but kept myself calm and asked if they're happy. Well, it shouldnt be such a childish joy to me, because i gotta get used to this kinda scenes. MrChiang didnt look abit bothered, and he ordered everybody to quickly pack up and get ready to watch the performance, as well as some of the guys to get ready to keep the heavy instruments back into the truck.

I didnt feel like watching the rest of the adjudication, so i moved the instruments. Our old EVCO member, Brandon came to watch us... After moving back to CrestHotel, its supper time! Its time for a wild celebration. Before this day, on our second night, a few of us celebrated by drinking red wine at MrChiang's room. He bought a bottle for us to share. As for me, i didnt bring my glass because... u know, im not a drinker. We stayed in his room, chatted till late. We talked about many things, discussed many things, heard many secrets and shared many experiences. Its a good night which led to this good day. At night, Brandon brought us out to Sydney's must try pancakes. Its Pancakes on the Rock!

His car looked... pathetic, but well... its still driving fast! He had to drive 4 times to fetch us all there. We waited till the last to leave, being MrChiang, 2 more others and i. Brandon was born in HongKong, he migrated to Singapore, and is currently working and studying in Sydney. Great life, isnt it? I wish for myself to have a normal life like that, but well... theres too much to sacrifice.

Pancakes werent my favourite, u know. So, i ordered a bad one. It turned out that ChaiXia's order was so much better. They had chocolate pancakes! I was about to faint when i realise that they really do have a unique variety of different pancake stuff. Well, im gonna open one in Singapore!

Sitting on the long table really aint quite a good position for everybody to talk together. So, i only talked to people around me, because i chose the most corner seat. GuoWei, ChaiXia, Jasmine and XiuHua became my chatting group that night. Its then that we came up with a series of really chidish name calling games. Im known as XiuHua's husband, being GuoWei's Dad. ChaiXia became my second wife, and Jasmine being the maid. And by the way, XiuHua has powdered milk while ChaiXia's is yogurt.

This game continued for the rest of the journey in Sydney, and it extended with the help of KaiYi and gang. Anyway, after eating... we walked to the habour side to enjoy a scenic view of the HabourBridge as well a the OperaHouse. We then started talking photos, but i was starting to freeze then. I was wearing just a shirt and a pants. Imagine, no jackets! And a pair of slippers. Not exactly ur winter wear, i know, but i didnt expect myself to start freezing because it felt really fine at first. Why isit so cold? Because we were at the habour, wind there blows mercilessly.

YanJun, MiYan, MrChiang and i were the first to be driven back to the hotel. Thanks to Brandon for the night out, and i returned quickly to my room. Took a shower and headed to bed fast. When YiRui and KaiYi returns, the game went on. Jasmine, the maid was named AhFongLongSong while YiRui, innocently became the male servant, AhBongLongSong. I know, the names are ridiculous. Its really stupid! Im too lazy to wait for the rest to happen, let me just tell u now, KaiYi became grandpa, my father and my grandmother was LiYi, quite a horrible choice. What a sad family!

The night grows deeper and deeper. Its not as noisy as the weekends, but music from BadaBing knocks hard on our window. Ocassionally, we'll heard sirens, either from the police of the firefighters, but well... it makes me wonder, how peaceful it is in Singapore.