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Published: October 18th 2011
25 hours after getting on a plane in Christchurch, we finally made it to Houston, Texas. Im not a great flyer, but somehow this trip wasn't so bad... The only problem was being extremely bored!
The chorus are staying at the Crowne Plaza, complete with free internet, a pool, onsite bar and restaurant and home to our rehearsals for the next ten days. As our shuttle pulled up to the hotel, we had a singing welcome from all the other chorus members who had checked in the day before, which was heartfelt and really lovely.
Day two started with an early wake up to find breakfast and then some shopping. Half the chorus had the same idea, as we found many of them at Macys. In fact, at one point, about a third of the baritone section were all in the changing rooms parading round in the jeans they were trying on, deciding which pair looked best!
Houston has very few eateries/shops on the street and we now know why. A series of tunnels run underground hosting an array of food outlets and stores- its just like being in a mall but with no windows. The tunnels are
complimented by multiple sky walks above ground, connecting the major buildings together. - We wondered if this is due to the heat.
Did I mention it is HOT here! 30 degrees in Autumn, I cant begin to imagine what it's like in Summer!
The entire chorus & supporters had a social evening out at a steak house.. now I know what you are thinking.. a vegetarian at a steak house?! Well...It had an expansive salad buffet (I was so full!) and waiters coming to the table serving freshly cooked meats, 13 different types - Check out the photo, it was a lot of fun. We sang to all the other diners and had a blast.
We have had a few days of rehearsals now with a couple of our American coaches. It's amazing how much more focussed we are here, we have learned and retained so much in just a few days.
We had the opportunity to see the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Idina Menzel (the lead in the Broadway production; Wicked) in the Houston Theatre District. She is so incredibly talented and the Orchestra was amazing.
The chorus put on a fundraising concert for the
Christchurch City mission on Saturday night and also sang at a show which included all the non-American Chorus's on Sunday night. We received a standing ovation as the MC mentioned how happy they were to have us here after all we have been through.. a few chorus members had to fight back the tears and they were flowing in the audience. The Houston chorus gave each member of the Christchurch City Chorus a T-shirt as their token of support.
We are all very excited to see what the next few days bring, we'll keep you updated!
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Ardele
non-member comment
temps
good to see you're enjoying your trip so far. never been to houston before. we had temps around 33* in vegas this last weekend, so you won't be seeing a break from the heat for a while. will probably cool down the day you leave.