So there’s not too much too report for the past couple of days. We’ ve just been rehearsing like mad! 6 hour rehearsals everyday! I don’t know how they all do it.... they just get a small snack for supper in between too! (They’re supposed to bring their own food but nobody does. So either Scott or Mrs.Venter pick up apples, oranges or energy bars.)
It’s slowly but surely coming together. We did another complete run-thru yesterday. It went pretty well. Today the rest of the instruments are coming which should be interesting! (The marimba group is playing as well as a string quartet and a French horn)
Other than rehearsals I really haven’t been doing to much... I bought some black pants and black shoes the other day. Been doing some reading and arranging.... that’s about it.
The past few days have been the coldest here though in a long time. Scott said yesterday that was the coldest he’s felt. It’s sunny today so hopefully it’ll start warmer up! I should’ve brought along more warm clothes!! Why do I always believe it’ll be warmer this time??
Oh well...I’m surviving. We’re off to Windhoek on Sunday and it should be a little warmer there!
And make sure everyone posts tons of pictures from Lucy and Matt’s wedding on Saturday!! I can’t believe they get married in 2 days!! Have fun everyone!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
the past couple days...
Karl Jenkins is taking over Africa! I don’t think I’ve stopped singing his music since I’ve gotten here! Haha – at least it’s good!
Saturday was another marathon rehearsal for Mascato but it actually went really good! So far all last week we had been rehearsing with the CD (even though Joel and I were there to play) But Saturday night we did a full run through WITHOUT the CD! It was great to finally hear Mascato sing! (We were getting really worried that they weren’t going to be able to sing while dancing because they’ve been relying on the CD so much)
But yay – it was great! Well, a little shaky at parts but that’ll come. We have one week left of rehearsals in Swakopmund and then we have a week of rehearsals in the theatre in Windhoek.
Saturday night was Michelle’s last night here. :( After rehearsal we drove around with Scott, Joel, Dollar, Garth, Michelle and me trying to find a restaurant for supper. Everything was either closed or full! But, we did happen to stumble upon a movie set! Apparently they’re filming another Van Diesel movie here (They were filming one last year too!)
It was really cool though – they had put a whole bunch of red lights up on the buildings (just a half a block from Swakop Primary where Kokopelli did their concert!) It didn’t look like they were going to film anything any time soon so we headed off to search some more for a restaurant!
We ended up going to Venita (sort of a suburb of Swakop) to a lovely little pizza place! It was great!
We were going to drop Garth and Michelle off at the taxi ring in Mondesa but when we got there around 10:30pm we were getting a pretty sketchy feeling. After we al got out of the car to hug Michelle bye, Dollar told us to get into the car. He over heard them say “What are all these white people doing here? We’re already broke” Which I guess meant that they were thinking about mugging us. They could have easily over taken us because there were probably about 10 men crowding around the car. So we all got back in and drove off. Michelle and Garth decided to stay the night at Scott’s instead and head back in the morning!
Mrs.Venter gave Mascato Sunday off but the jazz choir decided to rehearse that afternoon. They are sounding great! We worked on Kiss From A Rose, Even the Pain, and If It Could Be. Afro Shine has a concert the Sunday after our last performance of the musical in Windhoek. We’re going to sing backup for Ti Mama and a new song, Everyone. Then we’re going to one or two songs (Definitely If It Could Be! They sound great on that!)
Joel may have come up with a name for the jazz choir yesterday! We’ve been trying to think of one and Scott was saying how we’re like Ninjas because we’re so sneaking always having a 20 minute rehearsal here and a 30 minute rehearsal there – whenever everyone can be there! So Joel decided on Ninjazz!! Heehee...so great!
Well...I’m off to another marathon rehearsal! Hope you’re all enjoying the rest of the summer!
Saturday was another marathon rehearsal for Mascato but it actually went really good! So far all last week we had been rehearsing with the CD (even though Joel and I were there to play) But Saturday night we did a full run through WITHOUT the CD! It was great to finally hear Mascato sing! (We were getting really worried that they weren’t going to be able to sing while dancing because they’ve been relying on the CD so much)
But yay – it was great! Well, a little shaky at parts but that’ll come. We have one week left of rehearsals in Swakopmund and then we have a week of rehearsals in the theatre in Windhoek.
Saturday night was Michelle’s last night here. :( After rehearsal we drove around with Scott, Joel, Dollar, Garth, Michelle and me trying to find a restaurant for supper. Everything was either closed or full! But, we did happen to stumble upon a movie set! Apparently they’re filming another Van Diesel movie here (They were filming one last year too!)
It was really cool though – they had put a whole bunch of red lights up on the buildings (just a half a block from Swakop Primary where Kokopelli did their concert!) It didn’t look like they were going to film anything any time soon so we headed off to search some more for a restaurant!
We ended up going to Venita (sort of a suburb of Swakop) to a lovely little pizza place! It was great!
We were going to drop Garth and Michelle off at the taxi ring in Mondesa but when we got there around 10:30pm we were getting a pretty sketchy feeling. After we al got out of the car to hug Michelle bye, Dollar told us to get into the car. He over heard them say “What are all these white people doing here? We’re already broke” Which I guess meant that they were thinking about mugging us. They could have easily over taken us because there were probably about 10 men crowding around the car. So we all got back in and drove off. Michelle and Garth decided to stay the night at Scott’s instead and head back in the morning!
Mrs.Venter gave Mascato Sunday off but the jazz choir decided to rehearse that afternoon. They are sounding great! We worked on Kiss From A Rose, Even the Pain, and If It Could Be. Afro Shine has a concert the Sunday after our last performance of the musical in Windhoek. We’re going to sing backup for Ti Mama and a new song, Everyone. Then we’re going to one or two songs (Definitely If It Could Be! They sound great on that!)
Joel may have come up with a name for the jazz choir yesterday! We’ve been trying to think of one and Scott was saying how we’re like Ninjas because we’re so sneaking always having a 20 minute rehearsal here and a 30 minute rehearsal there – whenever everyone can be there! So Joel decided on Ninjazz!! Heehee...so great!
Well...I’m off to another marathon rehearsal! Hope you’re all enjoying the rest of the summer!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Ants
I love Mrs.Venter!
The other morning I got up for some breakfast and noticed a bunch ants crawling on the counter. Stinkin' ants get EVERYWHERE – especially if you leave food out (or even a couple of crumbs) Now, I’ve never seen them in Mrs.Venter’s house before and instead of being all upset and curse them like most people would she just stays nice and optimistic! “Isn’t Nature wonderful?” she says. She had left some koeksisters on the counter the night before (Which are kind of like twisted deep fried dough soaked in honey – super super sweet stuff!) “They just know where to find the sweets!”
Cute!
Yesterday was pretty much the first rehearsal I’ve been to now. Joel and I worked on music all day (basically just coping out parts for the strings to play.) Apparently there’s going to be a French horn playing now too – so we have to come up with parts for that!
In the evening we headed off to rehearsal – thinking we would just watch (They’re still working with the choreographer!) But we ended up playing for some of it anyways – which was a little scary because I didn’t have my music. And they’ve also made TONS of changes to the music since last year!! Yikes! That’s what I’m going to be doing today – figuring out my music!
Anyhoo – I think I’m gonna go check out Mr.Price a bit! Haha – I’ve had an itch for cheap clothes! W00T!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37013&l=9d199&id=505442150
Here's some pictures from my first full day!
The other morning I got up for some breakfast and noticed a bunch ants crawling on the counter. Stinkin' ants get EVERYWHERE – especially if you leave food out (or even a couple of crumbs) Now, I’ve never seen them in Mrs.Venter’s house before and instead of being all upset and curse them like most people would she just stays nice and optimistic! “Isn’t Nature wonderful?” she says. She had left some koeksisters on the counter the night before (Which are kind of like twisted deep fried dough soaked in honey – super super sweet stuff!) “They just know where to find the sweets!”
Cute!
Yesterday was pretty much the first rehearsal I’ve been to now. Joel and I worked on music all day (basically just coping out parts for the strings to play.) Apparently there’s going to be a French horn playing now too – so we have to come up with parts for that!
In the evening we headed off to rehearsal – thinking we would just watch (They’re still working with the choreographer!) But we ended up playing for some of it anyways – which was a little scary because I didn’t have my music. And they’ve also made TONS of changes to the music since last year!! Yikes! That’s what I’m going to be doing today – figuring out my music!
Anyhoo – I think I’m gonna go check out Mr.Price a bit! Haha – I’ve had an itch for cheap clothes! W00T!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37013&l=9d199&id=505442150
Here's some pictures from my first full day!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
don't worry - no fish pictures!
Yay!! It’s so great to be here! I feel like I’m home again! It was fantastic seeing all of Mascato last night – even though it was only for 15 minutes or so. (I didn’t need to stay for the rehearsal because they’re just working on choreography this week)
But I should back up a bit. Starting where I left off yesterday – the boys came to get me to climb Dune 7. We also had Michelle, Nathalie and Katelyn. Oh gawd I’ve forgotten how freakin hard it is to climb those things! Let alone the tallest dune around this area!! Ow..my calfs!
After that we hit up the Village Café!! Oh how I’ve missed thee! It was still the same – same atmosphere, same waitresses, same wonderful homemade bread! Mmmmmmmm
I worked on a bit of music after that… Mrs.Venter wants the string players to all have their parts by the end of the week! Luckily Joel has copied out almost all of the tunes already!
In the evening we went to the school for rehearsal! The choreographer they brought in from Scotland is originally from Ghana. She seems fantastic and has that choir moving like nobodies business! (I guess it helps that they can pretty much be the grooviest things ever on their own anyways!)
Because none of us had to be there we headed back to Scott’s place after watching them stretch and warm up a while. I arranged a bit more music and then they taught me and Michelle to play Puerto Rico. That’s a pretty fun board game!
Today Scott, Nigel, Joel, Nathalie, Katelyn, Richie, Linus and I went to Spitzkoppe. It was so nice to go back there!! If I keep this up every day I’m not going to fit in my wedding dress! w00t! haha
Well, more new adventures await tomorrow! Hope you’re all having fun in the sweltering heat at home!!
But I should back up a bit. Starting where I left off yesterday – the boys came to get me to climb Dune 7. We also had Michelle, Nathalie and Katelyn. Oh gawd I’ve forgotten how freakin hard it is to climb those things! Let alone the tallest dune around this area!! Ow..my calfs!
After that we hit up the Village Café!! Oh how I’ve missed thee! It was still the same – same atmosphere, same waitresses, same wonderful homemade bread! Mmmmmmmm
I worked on a bit of music after that… Mrs.Venter wants the string players to all have their parts by the end of the week! Luckily Joel has copied out almost all of the tunes already!
In the evening we went to the school for rehearsal! The choreographer they brought in from Scotland is originally from Ghana. She seems fantastic and has that choir moving like nobodies business! (I guess it helps that they can pretty much be the grooviest things ever on their own anyways!)
Because none of us had to be there we headed back to Scott’s place after watching them stretch and warm up a while. I arranged a bit more music and then they taught me and Michelle to play Puerto Rico. That’s a pretty fun board game!
Today Scott, Nigel, Joel, Nathalie, Katelyn, Richie, Linus and I went to Spitzkoppe. It was so nice to go back there!! If I keep this up every day I’m not going to fit in my wedding dress! w00t! haha
Well, more new adventures await tomorrow! Hope you’re all having fun in the sweltering heat at home!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
NAMIBIA!!
I made it to Namibia!
I survived the 10 hours layover in Frankfurt – mostly by sleeping. They have these nice sort of lounge chairs around. I stalked them until someone finally left and had a good snooze!
I went to the Air Namibia counter then when they finally opened to check my luggage and get my ticket. The lovely lady there said she was going to upgrade me to Business class but I would still receive an Economy class meal. That really didn’t mean anything to me so I headed on through the security area and went to my gate.
They finally started boarding us and as I walked through the 1st class section I pinned for those lovely 1st class lazy boys (as I always do).
Then I arrived in the business class and find my seat. It’s the EXACT SAME as the 1st class!!! OMG I was freaking out – but just on the inside – I didn’t want to scare the people near me!
It was amazing though – the chair reclined almost completely and had a leg part come up as well. We even had real pillows!
Best sleep on a plane ever.
My luggage and I arrived at the Windhoek airport at 7:30 am. I bought a SUPER cheap phone (081 398 3789 if ya wanna call)
I made it into Windhoek by 9am and was picked up by Barvely and her boyfriend. We went back to his place so I could freshen up a bit. It was lovely to have a bath after traveling for 3 days!!
It was so nice to visit with Barvely for a bit – I barely got to see her at all last year!!
Her boyfriend and his dad made a little braai for lunch, which was super nice. But it was unlike any braai I’ve seen before!! They cooked a fish – a WHOLE fish! Scales, tail, eyes, teeth and all! I’ve never eaten a fish like that before in my life! It was surprisingly good though!
They dropped me back off at the bus terminal at 2. The ‘Town Hopper’ took me to Swakopmund. I arrived just after 6:30pm. It is SO great to be back! And a little weird too! For some reason I thought I would have forgotten more stuff but it’s still exactly the same! I can point out everything just like last year!
Mrs.Venter came to pick me up. We went back to her house and had a huge dinner with Scott, Nigel, Joel, Michelle and Garth! It’s so crazy to have so many Koko people here too! Nathalie and Kaitlyn are here as well staying at Engelhardt’s place (but I haven’t seen them yet)
I went to bed last night around 10:30 and slept straight through till 8:30 this morning! I don’t even feel like I have jet lag!! I guess having a good sleep on the plane is worth it!
I went shopping this morning for a few things I’d forgotten (like toothpaste! What the crap! I never forget toothpaste!)
Now I’m just waiting for Scott to show up. I’m going with the boys to climb Dune 7! Wedding workout – here I come!!
I survived the 10 hours layover in Frankfurt – mostly by sleeping. They have these nice sort of lounge chairs around. I stalked them until someone finally left and had a good snooze!
I went to the Air Namibia counter then when they finally opened to check my luggage and get my ticket. The lovely lady there said she was going to upgrade me to Business class but I would still receive an Economy class meal. That really didn’t mean anything to me so I headed on through the security area and went to my gate.
They finally started boarding us and as I walked through the 1st class section I pinned for those lovely 1st class lazy boys (as I always do).
Then I arrived in the business class and find my seat. It’s the EXACT SAME as the 1st class!!! OMG I was freaking out – but just on the inside – I didn’t want to scare the people near me!
It was amazing though – the chair reclined almost completely and had a leg part come up as well. We even had real pillows!
Best sleep on a plane ever.
My luggage and I arrived at the Windhoek airport at 7:30 am. I bought a SUPER cheap phone (081 398 3789 if ya wanna call)
I made it into Windhoek by 9am and was picked up by Barvely and her boyfriend. We went back to his place so I could freshen up a bit. It was lovely to have a bath after traveling for 3 days!!
It was so nice to visit with Barvely for a bit – I barely got to see her at all last year!!
Her boyfriend and his dad made a little braai for lunch, which was super nice. But it was unlike any braai I’ve seen before!! They cooked a fish – a WHOLE fish! Scales, tail, eyes, teeth and all! I’ve never eaten a fish like that before in my life! It was surprisingly good though!
They dropped me back off at the bus terminal at 2. The ‘Town Hopper’ took me to Swakopmund. I arrived just after 6:30pm. It is SO great to be back! And a little weird too! For some reason I thought I would have forgotten more stuff but it’s still exactly the same! I can point out everything just like last year!
Mrs.Venter came to pick me up. We went back to her house and had a huge dinner with Scott, Nigel, Joel, Michelle and Garth! It’s so crazy to have so many Koko people here too! Nathalie and Kaitlyn are here as well staying at Engelhardt’s place (but I haven’t seen them yet)
I went to bed last night around 10:30 and slept straight through till 8:30 this morning! I don’t even feel like I have jet lag!! I guess having a good sleep on the plane is worth it!
I went shopping this morning for a few things I’d forgotten (like toothpaste! What the crap! I never forget toothpaste!)
Now I’m just waiting for Scott to show up. I’m going with the boys to climb Dune 7! Wedding workout – here I come!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Frankfurt
I made my first long leg of the trip a-okay! Very uneventful - unlike last year! I unfortunately didn't get too much sleep on the plane but I did watch a few good movies! (What Happens In Vegas, Iron Man, and Kung Fu Panda)
I'm very tired right now (it's 4:30am at home right now... 12:30 Frankfurt time) but unfortunately I can't check in yet! My flight doesn't leave until 10:40pm and the check in counter only opens two hours before that! So I'm dragging around my luggage trying to find a place to snooze... not working out so well so far! Ug...it's so hot in here too! Last year it was FREEZING!!
Well - the only sort of eventful thing that's happened so far was just going through the security check point in Edmonton. They scanned my purse twice because they were looking for a "fork thing". I had no idea what they were talking about until she pulled out my tuning fork! hahaha..they almost took it away! I had to hit it and explain that it's for musicians to give a note. I still don't think they believed me by the time I left - but they let me keep it anyways!
Well - if anyone is on skype or facebook chat early in the morning look me up! I'm sure I'll be online for a lot of the day! (But it's 8 euros an hour! OUCH!!)
I'm very tired right now (it's 4:30am at home right now... 12:30 Frankfurt time) but unfortunately I can't check in yet! My flight doesn't leave until 10:40pm and the check in counter only opens two hours before that! So I'm dragging around my luggage trying to find a place to snooze... not working out so well so far! Ug...it's so hot in here too! Last year it was FREEZING!!
Well - the only sort of eventful thing that's happened so far was just going through the security check point in Edmonton. They scanned my purse twice because they were looking for a "fork thing". I had no idea what they were talking about until she pulled out my tuning fork! hahaha..they almost took it away! I had to hit it and explain that it's for musicians to give a note. I still don't think they believed me by the time I left - but they let me keep it anyways!
Well - if anyone is on skype or facebook chat early in the morning look me up! I'm sure I'll be online for a lot of the day! (But it's 8 euros an hour! OUCH!!)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
a new Africa adventure about to begin!!
alrighty - so... I'm going back to Namibia tomorrow! I guess it's about time I start up my whole blogging thing again!! It's 12:30 am, the night before I leave, and of course I haven't packed one thing yet. I have a love/hate relationship with packing! I love packing for other people but hate packing for myself! I'm really good at finding tons of space but it's just so much easier when it's someone else's stuff!! argh...
But I've had some other little panic attacks tonight to deal with first...
I bought a lovely little external hard drive to bring along and had a few scary set backs with it that I won't go into detail about now! Turns out its going to be alright though.... *whew*
also - for about a half hour I couldn't find my passport. But no worries - I found it! *whew*
hokay... so I need to quit stalling and actually get to it! I do want to sleep before I leave!!
there will be much more to come in the next month so check back (probably daily...cuz I'm lame! But cooler than Joel because I'll actually update my blog!)
But I've had some other little panic attacks tonight to deal with first...
I bought a lovely little external hard drive to bring along and had a few scary set backs with it that I won't go into detail about now! Turns out its going to be alright though.... *whew*
also - for about a half hour I couldn't find my passport. But no worries - I found it! *whew*
hokay... so I need to quit stalling and actually get to it! I do want to sleep before I leave!!
there will be much more to come in the next month so check back (probably daily...cuz I'm lame! But cooler than Joel because I'll actually update my blog!)
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