DAY FIVE, PART TWO:

I love being on stage. I love the lights, the smell, the feel of it; I don't even care if there's anyone in the audience. I love being backstage, waiting breathless behind the curtain to make my glorious entry. I love being on the risers looking professional, being professional. I love making our (quite difficult, sometimes) songs look easy. Even during a dress rehearsal I get a thrill. At concerts I really come alive. Since we'd been out all day, we had to go to a dressing room to change into our concert attire. I had all of my stuff, despite the near miss with the shoes (I told Camp I was forever in his debt. He said no problem.) and Ash french braided my hair. She always yells at me for moving around, and yanks really hard. It looks good, but man, does my skull ache afterwards. Anyway, how am I supposed to sit still with all sorts of stuff happening? Another girl switched vests with me because hers was too big and mine was too small. Ash thought of it. Yay! My vest looked pretty frumpy 'cause it was all bunched and junk. We got a snack, but I gave most of my cookies to Ann and Ash. Or anyone else, for that matter.
The halls were MURDER. There were so many people it was insane. They had a ton of risers set up because the entire group was going to have to get on them. Even then we were squashed. We had to wait a long time backstage because our section wasn't until the second half of the program. There were four or five group songs that we sung in the mean time.
Henry Leck is a VERY good conductor. I mean, that thing I was talking about that sounded like the force is strong in him. Although I like Mrs. Jay as a teacher better because Henry Leck makes fun of stuff. Plus talks about singing in colors. ??
The audience was quite large, which I wasn't expecting. I kind of think that in America the only people who come to the concerts are related to the singers. Or friends or something. Backstage we were dancing silently for fun, trying not to laugh, until Maggie came over and chewed us out. I'm not sure why. She said the audience could see through the scrim, which was not true. I saw it, and anyway why would they make a scrim you could see right through? Like I said, all was quiet until ICC came backstage. I don't know if it's because they were the largest choir or what, but they were LOUD. During a concert, even! We couldn't even hear the Chinese choir at all!
There were some really nice girls from the Hawaiian choir who said we had a lot of energy (our choir, not just me and Copper who was also talking to her) which she said was good. I said that their hula-ing looked really nice and I wish I was that coordinated. "It's a lot easier than it looks, you could probably learn it fast," she said kindly. Pretty soon we were on.
I only had to switch for Rhythm of Life which is good since I hate having to move around. I always end up in the wrong place, somehow. You'd think Mrs. Jay would just keep me in one place, seeing as how I mess it up all the time, but noooo. She has to keep moving me around. *sighs*
Thankfully, the World Premere of Someday Soon composed by David Pettit only got messed up a little bit, and that was NOT us anyway. I think it was Red Rose, but I could be wrong. They did the same (wrong) thing in every rehearsal, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was them.
When we were on our way back to our bus after the concert we waved to all the other buses, but they didn't wave back. Oh, wait, the Hawiian kids did. They were nice. They handed out oragami swans. I got one. Ha.
After the concert was the Farewell Dinner (some of the choirs had been there for a while before we had) and ICC and Henry Leck were going back home. We had Peking Duck which was REALLY GOOD. The sauce you could add was not so good, but whatever. There was a Chinese band (the girls all wore really pretty dresses and they all played old instruments). They played Mo Li Hua, which was a song we had all sung at the concert so most everyone sang along. It was fairly spiffy. We all clapped for Adam Weaver because this was going to be the last night we saw him. The next morning he was going to take us to the airport and *sniff*
LEAVE US FOREVER!! *sobs*
It was a bittersweet evening, but oh well. We were as tired as a dog by the time we got back to the hotel.
Too bad that mayhem ensued when Ann and I weren't quite ready for the bellboy to get our stuff. We were busy packing, and Ash was visiting, when we heard a knock. I, thinking it was Kris, raced Ash to the door shouting "I'll get it, I'll get it!" We both hit the door at the same time (making a huge whump) and I pushed her out of the way, yanking open the door.It was the bellboy, looking mighty amused. My mouth dropped open. Ash slipped out quietly to go finish packing her stuff. Ann started rushing around the room, trying to shove more stuff in her bag. I stuffed mine full, sat on it, and tried to fit just a little more in. Since it wasn't folded efficiently I had trouble shutting it. Ann was throwing stuff on the bed and trying to stomp her luggage shut. She was in her pyjamas, and her long shirt trailed behind her as she rushed pell-mell through her packing. The entire time we both said "We're so sorry! I'm sorry! Just a minute!" The bellboy just laughed at us and said "No problem, no problem." Except it sounded more like "No ploblem."