Snow, Performances, and Basketball

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First snow came to Jiujiang on the fifteenth of November. We got roughly 5cm over the course of about 10 hours, and then it switched to rain, leaving an unpleasant remmnant. In other words, much like most Seattle snow.

Seems like it changes from Summer to Winter in Jiangxi Province, no fall to mess around with. One week, its muggy and hot, seven days later long-johns are required. It might be a bit tought to adjust, I haven't had a proper winter in two years!

I was recruited into a musical performance. First my friend Laura had me do some back-up clarinet to a vocal piece about three weeks ago. A third-year student (English name Elva) saw this small performance, and asked me to do a song with her on the main auditorium stage for a production by the art department. Once she heard my singing voice, my role went from clarinet to clarinet and duet. And then, of course, clarinet, duet, and dancing. We practiced for awhile on the corniest song known to humanity- A Way Back to Love. Funny thing is though, after some practice, the song started growing on me.

The production was delayed until tuesday of last week. I did not feel nervous until five minutes before stage time. And then it hit me all at once. "Am I really about to perform to 1,000 Chinese college students?" A similar feeling to the one I get about half-way through an international flight. "Am I really about to go take my chances and live in India/New Zealand/ China?"

At any rate the performance, just like my travles, went well, aside from some initial microphone problems. One step closer to my dream of being a scholar/rock star. The busking experience certainly helped.

I've also been recruited by my Chinese teacher to play on the Foreign Language Department basketball team in an intra-college tournament. No skill, but my height helps, especially on defense. We lost our first game to the mechanics deparment (last year's champinions) but won yesterday against the college administration team. I even scored a few points!

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Photos

Music Makers
Elva and I, after our performance.

Stage
I'm up there somewhere....

Basketball Uniform
190 Centimeters of American Pride.

Comments

[FG]

hey
miss you Bren.

[FG]

hey
miss you Bren.

[Mary O]

You look freakishly like your brother!

[Devin]

One of us! One of us!
I'm not sure how I feel about the proximity of the words "freakishly" and "brother."

[Eileen]

agreement
I'm catching up with your blogs today and have to agree with Mary with how much you look like your brother in these photos.