Bethan Thomas

BethanT

Bethan Thomas

I am travelling to New Zealand on 3rd February to teach music for 6 weeks and do some travelling followed in the summer by a big tour to California and the West Coast of USA





Europe » United Kingdom » England » Surrey July 20th 2009

Less than 24 Hours! Ok, so i'm getting very excited now! It is less than 24 hours until I jet off to the US for 3 weeks of singing! I'm pretty much all packed and organised although i'm sure there will be things I forget! Just writing this now is making me think of more things I need to pack! I also think my bag might be a little heavy but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it! So - a basic itinerary - I start in San Francisco for about 10 days - we have 4/5 days of rehearsing at San Fran University before our first concert in Grace Cathedral and then we move on to Salt Lake City - TV broadcast from the Mormon Tabernacle and then its off to San ... read more

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Surrey June 28th 2009

It's nearly that time to go travelling again! I can't wait to be honest. Work is becoming a chore and I really miss singing properly. The past few months since I arrived back from New Zealand have been busy however; as soon as I returned home I had about two days off before rehearsals began for Bach's Matthew Passion with Alex Stobbs conducting. This was one of the most memorable events of my life so far. - here is a link to the website about the project Following an amazing week with Rodolfus choir, I had barely enough time to recover before I set off to Reading for National Youth Choir. This promised to be a very exciting eight days with a long visit from Eric Whitacre and an intensive CD recording to finish our world ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Invercargill March 21st 2009

Hey hey guys! Well I made it all the way to Invercargill via Queenstown and Dunedin - Queenstown was interesting, it is a mega extreme sports place and having just arrived there on thursday i wasn't really up for that so there isnt much to do and i didnt know anyone at all so a pretty quiet day - i found somewhere lovely to eat my lunch and caught up on some adminy things. Friday saw the start of my Bottom Bus tour, on the bus i met two guys - Andy from Devon and Scot from Scotland (Awesome i know)and we spent the entire day chatting, Andy is a DJ and therefore has a wonderful appreciation for music! Our driver Rob drove us to Dunedin (the Edinburgh of the South - Dunedin is in fact ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Bucklands Beach March 18th 2009

Thats it... Finished school. I was so incredibly sad to leave today, I have made some incredible friends with the staff and the children are simply amazing. They all kept coming over for a hug before I left :( Well, it can't be helped, I had to leave and I always knew this was a temporary arrangement as well as a trip of a lifetime. And now onto my next mini adventure! Queenstown tomorrow, here I come! B... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland March 14th 2009

The end of week 5 is upon us! I can't believe i've been here for over 5 weeks. It's scary. So as not to disappoint, this week has been just as busy as any other! The week began waiting for fruit. Again.Once it turned up 45 minutes late we were presented with apples, nashi pears and rock melons. Seeing as it was late, we logically counted out low maintenance fruit (ie it didn't need chopping up) as quickly as we could and had just started sending it out the classes when Susan, the deputy head walked in saying that she had just received a phone call asking that we use the melon as it wouldn't last until Tuesday. And so, we had to recall all the apples and start speed chopping melons! Eventually that was completed ... read more
Choir in assembly
Pasifika
P1020163

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland March 8th 2009

It's that time of the week again! Well it's Sunday afternoon/evening and yet again it has been one crazy week! Last Sunday evening was finished off with the Mission Bay Jazz festival which was a beautiful end to the week and included fish and chips (or Fush and Chups as they say here - battered Snapper... mmm) amazing music and beautiful scenery! This week began with a laugh! After arriving at school every morning, we go and help to count out the fruit and distribute it to each class ( I think i have explained before that the government here provides the school with free fruit everyday - nice!) Well some of the parents also come to help get the job done quicker. One mum of a girl in the reception class is usually there with ... read more
SOUSAMAPHONE
Gemma
View of Waiheke Island

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland March 3rd 2009

Just a short little anecdote for the afternoon! Following work, Milly and I decided to stay on the bus after work and get off in town to sort out a new bus pass as our monthly ones expire this week. We managed to find a shop that sold them but the shop man told us that we couldnt renew them until the old one ran out? Strange man. Anyway, we set off back to the hostel via the bookshop so that i could get the third installment of the trilogy i'm reading. We walked halfway up the main road and past our favourite cookie shop but resisted the temptation to buy one as we would be having dinner soon after we got back. We saw that a bus was at the bus stop and so after ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Newton March 1st 2009

It's that time again! Blog time! This week has been another crazy one with SO much going on i'm not entirely sure where to start! Firstly I would like to thank you for the post I received - it is SO nice to get post when you are this far away from home and I am starting to rival Milly (my roommate) for weekly post! Last Sunday night as i mentioned we all headed over to Annette's (our organiser over here in Kiwi Land) for a BBQ. Having found her house after a bus trip we met her husband John and were then shown next door where Annette's lucky neighbours own a 25m long swimming pool in their back garden!! The weather was beautiful and we had endless fun attempting to climb onto an inflatable Killer ... read more
Swimming pool
View from the Sky Tower
Another View from the Sky Tower

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Newton February 22nd 2009

Firstly, I apologise for the complete lack of communication/updates to this in the past week! It has been relatively busy but not such that I shouldn't have updated this. My excuse is in fact the book that i'm reading! 'The Magician's Guild' by Trudi Canavan. A lot better than I initially thought it would be. Unfortunately it is the first in a trilogy - the sequel to which I don't own and can't find in any book shops in Auckland! Right - The past week: Monday was an interesting day. I arrived to be told that Nicole, the receptionist at Owairaka, was ill and could I possibly fill in for her for the day? Ok I thought - I can do this! It's one thing being a receptionist in a school you went to for 13 ... read more
21st Feb 1
21st Feb 2
21st Feb 3

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland » Newton February 21st 2009

Hello All! I do apologise for the lack of updates on this in the last week! Its been a busy one at school and various other activities going on. I will attempt to update this properly tomorrow but now I have to go as we are going to see the 'Starlight Symphony' in Auckland Domain - a big outdoor classically concert type thing I think! Love to all... I still reeeally like post: BK Hostel, 3 Mercury Lane, Newton, Auckland 1010, New Zealand :)... read more




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