DAY THREE:

Because I pretty much hit the sack the night before, Thursday morning wasn't so bad. Ann got the wake-up call and took her shower, I either slept or watched TV. Actually, I just slept. The breakfast was pretty good, but better than the breakfast was the chance to sit with some kids from ICC. They were nice to Ann and I (even though we were the only kids from our choir sitting at their table) and we played 10 Fingers. If you have never played this game, I'll explain it.
First you put all 10 fingers out in front of you. The first person to go says something they either have or have not done. If they say, for instance, "I've never seen a cow," and you have seen a cow, you put one finger down, and vice versa. After breakfast we had our second rehearsal.

I forgot to tell you about Prof. Yang in my last post. I don't know how I could have forgotten him, because he was so great. He directed the China Children's Choir (CCC) and he was adorable. When he directed his made quick, darting motions near his chest. He was probably in his late 70s (I think. I'm awful at judging ages.) and he used a cane. When he directed us during rehearsals he had a chair he sat in. At one point he stood up and did a little dance. I was the cutest thing ever. I think the pianist was his wife, and she rarely (if ever) watched him, which resulted in us singing one tempo, and her playing another. when that happened, he would stop us with a quick motion and tell her something in Chinese. His English was so heavily accented that we could barely understand him. He would try to hum things so we would know how to sing them. We were usually pretty confused. Fortunately, he was cute. Not only was Prof. Yang cute, he had Einstein hair. It was crazy-go-nuts.

I also forgot to mention that one of the songs we were supposed to sing together turned out to have been arranged by two different people. CCC sung one arrangement, and the rest of us had learned the other. Henry Leck said this was a good chance for us to learn to "sing with our ears." This was a fancy way of saying he didn't have enough music for us all, and couldn't get enough before the concert. I don't know about you, but I usually sing with my mouth.
While we were discovering the fact about our differing music, I commented to the girl beside me "Is it just me, or are they singing in way more parts than we are?" It wasn't just me. In addition to our parts (three) there were four other sections singing some other parts. Melody, descant, soprano 1, alto, alto 2. And our alto 1 and 2. It was ultra confusing.

The concert hall was air conditioned, so we didn't mind being imprisoned (ha ha, joke) in the place for a while. We were better off that CCC, who were all still in school, and couldn't come to the second rehearsal. This made it rather difficult to practice the commissioned piece, since all the choirs had a different part to sing.

I bet all of you people out there are getting pretty tired of choir talk, especially if you don't sing in a choir, so I'll get on to the more interesting events of the day. After lunch (which was good, but I really don't have anything to say about it, except that I think that was the lunch we ate with the good doctor, not the one on day two, but that's not so very important), we were supposed to see the Temple of Heaven, but it was closed for renovation, like most of Beijing. I suppose now would be as good a time as any to mention that Ash is allergic to soy nuts, and she had to eat at the vegetarian table for our Beijing segment of the trip. She finally got the tour guide to understand that she was allergic to soy, and not a vegetarian in Hangzhou, so after that she sat with us.

The Summer Palace was very pretty, but also a lot like the Forbidden City architecture-wise.

The one cool thing was the HUGE hallway. I think it was actually called the long hall, or something like that. We had a boat ride, and we were so hot we all wanted to take a dive into the water. I didn't get to sit with Ash because she was on bus 1, and I couldn't get to where she was sitting. The boat ride took a while, but the scenery was pretty. We pretty much just walked around to the boat at the Summer Palace.

We went back to the hotel for a while, and I went with Ash and Ann to get a Chinese shirt. I succeeded in my goal, and Ann got a pretty dress. Ash had already gotten her dress. Mine was shimmery aqua with pretty red and gold dragon designs. It was a little tight on top (It was and xx large, and it was the size of a normal medium or even small! Lots of girls couldn't get them because the bottom half of a shirt would fit fine, but the top was too small. Chinese women are petite.) but other than that, it fit nicely. I was so happy. I decided to wear it to the B minor mass the Masterworks Chorale was singing at.

When we went to eat, a dumpling splashed sauce on the front of my shirt, and it was not my fault at all. I had it on the chopstick perfectly, but by some freak it hopped off. I was upset about it. It was my new shirt! Plus I didn't have another shirt to change into. I guess I was preoccupied with that, and I left my camera under the table. Actually, my mother's camera. Actually, her digital camera. That also happened to have at least $50 dollars in it. I realized about five minutes later. I told Mrs. Waters, and she told Adam.

Good old Adam. He called the restaurant. They said that someone had taken it. At first I thought he meant stolen it, but he actually meant someone from the other bus. I worried about it the entire way to the concert. I walked down the path trying to contain my panic, flanked by Ann, Kris and Camp all trying to help me contain my panic when I saw Ash.

Holding the strap to my camera bag and grinning widely. I ran over and hugged her. "You saved my life!" I gushed. Turns out the bus driver for bus 1 saw the camera bag; he gave it to Mrs. Jay's son, Rick, who was on the tour with us; Ash saw it, and got it for me. I was close to tears, I was so happy and relieved. Little did I know...

Halfway through the concert I felt the zipper to my shirt slip down. The zipper was under my arm, so I figured I'd unclasped it accidentally or something. I asked Kris (who sat next to me) if she'd zip it up. "The zipper's off track," she whispered. "I'll fix it for you in the bathroom during intermission." I nodded, and turned back to the music.

It was gorgeous. I closed my eyes a few times to let the music wash over me. Then I looked down my row. Steve, I knew, hadn't even waited for the concert to start before falling asleep. All the other people in my row were either asleep or close to it. Kris was leaning on one arm, her eyes shut, her mouth slightly open. The front row was even worse. They were all asleep, and leaning the same way! Mrs. Jay (who is in Masterworks) told them jokingly that they could at least stay straight so people wouldn't notice.

While all the other members of my choir were asleep, I chould feel the zipper sliding lower and lower. I finally tucked a program under my arm (they were huge, or else I wouldn't have gotten away with it) and waited for intermission. Kris, Ann and Ash all came to the bathroom to help me fix my "wardrobe malfunction."

Do you know what the worse words to hear are? I'll tell you. "Whoops." You know what's bad to hear after that? "The zipper came off." Yeah. That tops the chart. It took 5 agonizing minutes for Kris to come back with a sweater, compliments of the choir managers. I was so very happy. I zipped it up, and went back to my seat for the other half of the concert.