(A special treat is in order for today's posting. We take a break from the mundane musings of a crazy man and hear from the offspring of said crazy person. Warren has posted information on his trip to Yokohama, Japan that he took last month. Enjoy and feel free to submit a comment, I am sure Warren would appreciate the feedback and it might encourage more of the Dudley clan to submit their postings.)
I was selected to be one of the members from SSIS band to attend the AISA Band Festival (Association of International Schools in Asia). The AISA festival was being held this year in Yokohama, Japan. So I got the chance to go to another country and get another stamp on my passport that my Dad doesn’t have (Singapore and now Japan, one more and I overtake him).
All of the students that were going to AISA Band Festival had to be at Singa Plaza (Western Places to eat at) by 4:00am. From Singa Plaza we rode to school to pick up breakfast. For some odd reason when we got to school there was no food and the guards do not know why we are there. So no breakfast at SSIS, we never even got off the bus instead we headed to direct to Shanghai. When we finally get to PuDong International Airport it is about 7:45. It takes us about 30 minutes to get checked in and get through security and customs. On the airplane (Delta) the food was dinner but for us, we wanted our breakfast. The flight was about 3 hours, with no in-flight entertainment on the seats, just a movie playing on the little screens. It was an English movie but I was more interested in eating and sleeping. When we landed in Japan and get our bags, we each had to go buy Air Bus (the name of the bus line, not the airplane) tickets that were 3,500 Yen to Yokohama, Japan. This bus would take 2 hours to get from Tokyo to Yokohama.
When we are about 30 minutes away from the bus station in Yokohama, there are many police out on the road due to the upcoming APEC meeting that President Obama would be attending. From the bus station we had to take a taxi to Yokohama International School. This school has been open since 1947. We had an hour to tour the school before our home stay families came to pick us up. So, we went to a little garden across the street from the school. Most of the home stays lived pretty close to the school but there was one person who home stay family lived in Tokyo. My home stay family was from China and they have lived in Japan for many years. For dinner that night we had curry with vegetables and rice, not good like what I’m used to. All of the Suzhou Singapore International School students had to call the teachers by 10pm to make sure that we were ok.
The first morning for breakfast I had a bagel, with slightly cooked bacon, boiled egg, and spicy sausage, with pulp orange juice and milk. One thing that I noticed is that the kid that I was with had more of everything, which was a little odd. After we finished eating we had to go to the public bus stop to go to school. The public buses in Japan are not jam-packed full of people, everyone normally has a seat and there is room for more people. When we get to school we have no idea where to go and I felt like we got lost with a student that went to the school. By the time we get to the place where we were supposed to be we missed the introduction and it was time to play. The Jazz Band went to the main school building and the Concert Band stayed where we were. The school was in several parts of the city but they were all within walking distance. We rehearsed for 90 minutes and then we had a short break then we had another 60 minutes to practice. After that we went out to lunch at a place that was about a 45 minute walk from the school. For lunch we went to a mall type place but it looked like a prison from the outside. Once again there were many police officers outside due to the APEC meeting going on. When we were walking back to school after lunch we had to walk slow due to the Pre-School getting out at 2:45. When we got back to the school we went into sectionals; that is when everybody goes into a room with the group. During this time you could see how much everyone else practiced before they got to AISA. This lasted about an hour, and then we played one time though everything as a group then it was time to go. When our home stay family picks us up she says that we are going to go to her favorite restaurant; which I’m not sure what that would be. Turns out that the place that we went was Red Lobster.
2nd day in Japan. We had to be at school at the same time as the day before. We practiced for 90 minutes and then we had break, which was muffin with Japanese tea. Since I am not a big fan of tea I did not like what was to drink, but I drank it anyway. After break we practiced for 30 more minutes and then we went to lunch in the area that President Obama was suppose to be in during the APEC meeting. All of the Suzhou people went to this cheap Japanese place that looked like someone’s home with many table. At this restaurant they had sushi and other Japanese meals that I’m not sure of because the menu was all in Japanese. I had sushi for lunch. When we got back to school we had one last run through then we changed and then we played for the last time. After the big concert the school had a banquet for all of the concert band members, which was curry from all over the world. Not the best curry I have ever tasted (my favorite one was in Beijing at the Ganges restaurant), but I ate it anyways. When the banquet was over everyone waited on their home stay families to pick us up and during the wait my band director asked if I wanted to bring my instrument to my home stay with me or leave it at school I said leave it at the school so we had to walk a block to get to the gym where everyone kept their instruments for the night.
3rd day in Japan. This day we did not have to be up at school until 9:30, so we got to sleep in and it was the only major day we got to sleep in which was nice, but I was still up at my normal 6:00. The home stay family took us to school at about 9:15 and we where the only ones there, so we thought we where in the wrong spot, then slowly all of the other SSIS students started to show up. After all of the SSIS students showed up we left the school and went to the Subway Station, to start our long journey to Ito, Japan. The subway ticket to the train station was 1,650 Yen. From the train station we took another train to another station and then we hopped on one more train for about 30 minutes and then we made it to Ito, Japan. During our long journey to Ito, Japan we got on a faster train which cost 1,500 Yen more so we had to get off at the next stop, were we where in the middle of nowhere is how it felt. We had to wait at the stop for 20 minutes until the next train had come that was the one that we could get on. On our way to the Hostile we got lost and our director got a map and we still got lost, so he went with our Japanese girl in the group to go talk to a couple of these bikers (Motor Cycle Club) where this place was and they had no idea where it was so they went into this little shop where the store owner took us there and made sure that all of us got there and we could get in. When we got in we had to take off our shoes and of course me having big feet none of the shoes could fit me. So I walked around in my bare feet for the day. The people showed us around and then we brought our bags to the room and went out to lunch. We walked for about 3 blocks not getting lost this time and ate at Mos Burger I had a burger and bad fries. After we all got our food and finished eating, we walked around and our band director picked out a shirt from a store for the other teacher that went with us to Japan. If you knew my band director you would know how odd this was. While they were doing whatever (looking for clothes); we saw a couple of cats and this Japanese guy walked up to us and started to talk to us in English which was funny because none of us were expecting it. He asked us where we were from and what we were doing so far from home. Then we walked down this side street and found a Japanese Casino; there was one kid in our group that got a video of it although we were not suppose to take photos. Then we walked back to the Hostile and dropped off our stuff; got changed if we wanted; and then walked to the beach which was about a 10 minute walk from the Hostile. We walked around the beach for 30 minutes or so; then we walked to the 100 Yen store to get dinner. We had to make our own dinner and breakfast at the hostile. For dinner we made noodles with vegetables and some Korean thing. During dinner we watched the ‘’The Last Samurai’ (Tom Cruise movie). It was a good movie, I learned one Japanese word from it “MeMe” (ears). After the movie we had to go to bed; the girls went straight to bed and all of the guys played cards until about 1:00 in the morning where we said “Ok this is boring” and we all fell asleep.
Last Day In Japan. The next day we did not have to be up until 9:00 and we had to make breakfast. We also had to go down to the hot spring down stairs to shower. We showered and sat in a hot tub and I am one of those not so smart people who would not read what to do before getting into the hot spring. I was wondering why all of the blood rushed to my head and it said to keep the small towel on your head, which I did not do. So when I got out of the hot spring I walked right into the wall due to all of the blood rushing to my head. After everybody got out of the hot spring and packed all of their stuff up we walked to the train station and did the same thing we did the day before plus an additional 2 hours 30 minutes going to Tokyo, Japan. Going to the airport was the most boring ride ever. There was nothing to do nothing to watch, so I fell asleep because I was bored and tired. We got to the airport, checked in and got on a plane to Shanghai, China. Food on the airplane, it was Delta so not all that good. We get to Shanghai and we could not find our band director, we thought we left him in Japan. Then we found him with all of our bags. We found the SSIS bus driver and were on our way back to Suzhou. It was midnight by the time we got to Singa plaza. Then the next day all of us had to get up and go to school in the morning.
All of the students that were going to AISA Band Festival had to be at Singa Plaza (Western Places to eat at) by 4:00am. From Singa Plaza we rode to school to pick up breakfast. For some odd reason when we got to school there was no food and the guards do not know why we are there. So no breakfast at SSIS, we never even got off the bus instead we headed to direct to Shanghai. When we finally get to PuDong International Airport it is about 7:45. It takes us about 30 minutes to get checked in and get through security and customs. On the airplane (Delta) the food was dinner but for us, we wanted our breakfast. The flight was about 3 hours, with no in-flight entertainment on the seats, just a movie playing on the little screens. It was an English movie but I was more interested in eating and sleeping. When we landed in Japan and get our bags, we each had to go buy Air Bus (the name of the bus line, not the airplane) tickets that were 3,500 Yen to Yokohama, Japan. This bus would take 2 hours to get from Tokyo to Yokohama.
When we are about 30 minutes away from the bus station in Yokohama, there are many police out on the road due to the upcoming APEC meeting that President Obama would be attending. From the bus station we had to take a taxi to Yokohama International School. This school has been open since 1947. We had an hour to tour the school before our home stay families came to pick us up. So, we went to a little garden across the street from the school. Most of the home stays lived pretty close to the school but there was one person who home stay family lived in Tokyo. My home stay family was from China and they have lived in Japan for many years. For dinner that night we had curry with vegetables and rice, not good like what I’m used to. All of the Suzhou Singapore International School students had to call the teachers by 10pm to make sure that we were ok.
The first morning for breakfast I had a bagel, with slightly cooked bacon, boiled egg, and spicy sausage, with pulp orange juice and milk. One thing that I noticed is that the kid that I was with had more of everything, which was a little odd. After we finished eating we had to go to the public bus stop to go to school. The public buses in Japan are not jam-packed full of people, everyone normally has a seat and there is room for more people. When we get to school we have no idea where to go and I felt like we got lost with a student that went to the school. By the time we get to the place where we were supposed to be we missed the introduction and it was time to play. The Jazz Band went to the main school building and the Concert Band stayed where we were. The school was in several parts of the city but they were all within walking distance. We rehearsed for 90 minutes and then we had a short break then we had another 60 minutes to practice. After that we went out to lunch at a place that was about a 45 minute walk from the school. For lunch we went to a mall type place but it looked like a prison from the outside. Once again there were many police officers outside due to the APEC meeting going on. When we were walking back to school after lunch we had to walk slow due to the Pre-School getting out at 2:45. When we got back to the school we went into sectionals; that is when everybody goes into a room with the group. During this time you could see how much everyone else practiced before they got to AISA. This lasted about an hour, and then we played one time though everything as a group then it was time to go. When our home stay family picks us up she says that we are going to go to her favorite restaurant; which I’m not sure what that would be. Turns out that the place that we went was Red Lobster.
2nd day in Japan. We had to be at school at the same time as the day before. We practiced for 90 minutes and then we had break, which was muffin with Japanese tea. Since I am not a big fan of tea I did not like what was to drink, but I drank it anyway. After break we practiced for 30 more minutes and then we went to lunch in the area that President Obama was suppose to be in during the APEC meeting. All of the Suzhou people went to this cheap Japanese place that looked like someone’s home with many table. At this restaurant they had sushi and other Japanese meals that I’m not sure of because the menu was all in Japanese. I had sushi for lunch. When we got back to school we had one last run through then we changed and then we played for the last time. After the big concert the school had a banquet for all of the concert band members, which was curry from all over the world. Not the best curry I have ever tasted (my favorite one was in Beijing at the Ganges restaurant), but I ate it anyways. When the banquet was over everyone waited on their home stay families to pick us up and during the wait my band director asked if I wanted to bring my instrument to my home stay with me or leave it at school I said leave it at the school so we had to walk a block to get to the gym where everyone kept their instruments for the night.
3rd day in Japan. This day we did not have to be up at school until 9:30, so we got to sleep in and it was the only major day we got to sleep in which was nice, but I was still up at my normal 6:00. The home stay family took us to school at about 9:15 and we where the only ones there, so we thought we where in the wrong spot, then slowly all of the other SSIS students started to show up. After all of the SSIS students showed up we left the school and went to the Subway Station, to start our long journey to Ito, Japan. The subway ticket to the train station was 1,650 Yen. From the train station we took another train to another station and then we hopped on one more train for about 30 minutes and then we made it to Ito, Japan. During our long journey to Ito, Japan we got on a faster train which cost 1,500 Yen more so we had to get off at the next stop, were we where in the middle of nowhere is how it felt. We had to wait at the stop for 20 minutes until the next train had come that was the one that we could get on. On our way to the Hostile we got lost and our director got a map and we still got lost, so he went with our Japanese girl in the group to go talk to a couple of these bikers (Motor Cycle Club) where this place was and they had no idea where it was so they went into this little shop where the store owner took us there and made sure that all of us got there and we could get in. When we got in we had to take off our shoes and of course me having big feet none of the shoes could fit me. So I walked around in my bare feet for the day. The people showed us around and then we brought our bags to the room and went out to lunch. We walked for about 3 blocks not getting lost this time and ate at Mos Burger I had a burger and bad fries. After we all got our food and finished eating, we walked around and our band director picked out a shirt from a store for the other teacher that went with us to Japan. If you knew my band director you would know how odd this was. While they were doing whatever (looking for clothes); we saw a couple of cats and this Japanese guy walked up to us and started to talk to us in English which was funny because none of us were expecting it. He asked us where we were from and what we were doing so far from home. Then we walked down this side street and found a Japanese Casino; there was one kid in our group that got a video of it although we were not suppose to take photos. Then we walked back to the Hostile and dropped off our stuff; got changed if we wanted; and then walked to the beach which was about a 10 minute walk from the Hostile. We walked around the beach for 30 minutes or so; then we walked to the 100 Yen store to get dinner. We had to make our own dinner and breakfast at the hostile. For dinner we made noodles with vegetables and some Korean thing. During dinner we watched the ‘’The Last Samurai’ (Tom Cruise movie). It was a good movie, I learned one Japanese word from it “MeMe” (ears). After the movie we had to go to bed; the girls went straight to bed and all of the guys played cards until about 1:00 in the morning where we said “Ok this is boring” and we all fell asleep.
Last Day In Japan. The next day we did not have to be up until 9:00 and we had to make breakfast. We also had to go down to the hot spring down stairs to shower. We showered and sat in a hot tub and I am one of those not so smart people who would not read what to do before getting into the hot spring. I was wondering why all of the blood rushed to my head and it said to keep the small towel on your head, which I did not do. So when I got out of the hot spring I walked right into the wall due to all of the blood rushing to my head. After everybody got out of the hot spring and packed all of their stuff up we walked to the train station and did the same thing we did the day before plus an additional 2 hours 30 minutes going to Tokyo, Japan. Going to the airport was the most boring ride ever. There was nothing to do nothing to watch, so I fell asleep because I was bored and tired. We got to the airport, checked in and got on a plane to Shanghai, China. Food on the airplane, it was Delta so not all that good. We get to Shanghai and we could not find our band director, we thought we left him in Japan. Then we found him with all of our bags. We found the SSIS bus driver and were on our way back to Suzhou. It was midnight by the time we got to Singa plaza. Then the next day all of us had to get up and go to school in the morning.
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2 comments:
Good job Warren. You need to do it more often. Don't be afraid to do it because you a did great, especially for basically your first one. Keep up the good work. Love you.
Warren,
Very well written.
Woody
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