CHIJ CONCERT BAND : GOLD((:

BeiJing trip was so much of a blast! I don't wanna come back, seriously. It was so fun over there despite some hiccups.

Tuesday, June17

Arrived at the airport on Tuesday with the NCO shirt, then changed into the comm shirt:D Ahs, it was pretty messy at the airport, we were all wearing the orange jackets and bendemeer had their yellow band shirt. Peter Koh was super funny, in the end he just went "I give up trying to find you orange" LOL Yeah. Bassoons are in Group B:D Seats in the aeroplane were random, managed to seat by the window cause Shalyn was willing to exchange seats with me. HEH. When we arrived, went for dinner and then to the hotel. Roommates: MANDY AND FRANNY:D The toilet's disgusting. The room was like some couple room. It was just a piece of glass and a mat that separated the room and the toilet. Even with the bamboo thing there, the toilet was still visible from the outside. See no evil. Mandy and I slept on the Queen sized bed and fran on the single. Gave up the idea of hugging Mandy to sleep, we had extra pillows, LOL:D Oh yes, Bendemeer and Riverside were staying in the same hotel as us, so we saw them pretty often((:

BASSOONS(:                                                                               LOVE((: 
 

Dawn didn't wanna sit down):                                                Our aeroplane's behind!:D
 

Airport:D                                                                                      A man swiming in the lake
  

Our room:D                                                                                 The other side of the room
 

Roommates:D                                        Mr Money (Our tour guide)
 

Wednesday, June 18

All our instruments were detained at the airport so no band rehearsal after breakfast. We went to the Temple of Heaven and everyone was kinda suan-ing me cause I was wearing sunglasses and a cap when there wasn't much sun. I had to use it since I actually brought it! LOL Took a lot of photos, invaded many people's pictures. Tried looking for PeiXin for photo taking but I don't think we managed to find her. Masterclass after lunch. We got to know the other bassoon players, they're all super nice and friendly((: Riverside: Michelle, ChungCheng: Lynette and Clara, Bendemeer: PeiXn. Plus IJ: Clarise, Dawn and Liana. Yep. 7 of us. GIRL POWER:D All of us didn't have our instruments, so we kinda just saw demonstrations. Took bassoon photo after that:D After that, kinda just stayed to watch a china band rehearse for the opening cermony, yeap. ChungCheng performed for the opening ceremony as well, don't know what got into us, but we shouted GO BASSOON real loudly. HEH. And there was this group of guys who performed, man that guy playing the sax was so cute with his small eyes. HAHA.

YAY:D                                                                                           HUGHUG:D
 

PETER KOH (:                                            Spore's friendliest gang:D
  

Temple of Heaven:D                                                                 Double Basses + Cello + Bassoon
 

Bassoons plus fran(:                                                                  Guess who:D
  

I'm actually tall, I was squatting!          The bassoon master
  

BASSOON PLAYERS<33

Thursday, June 19

Happy 22(: Sightseeing and the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square was so so killing. Why is the place so so big, It was really really killing having to walk on those uneven steps in converse. I think we went to the Summer Palace as well, our section's crazy, yeap. The bassoons bought the princess hairband thing:D We were clowns there, but ohwell:D It was fun fun fun((; Exchange program with Riverside and a china band was super fun. We were interacting and talking to Michelle throughout. Oh we got to know KangMing and SiYing:D And it was so so funny when Liana fell off the chair while trying to sit further away from me. LOL And everyone started asking if she was okay, which made it even funnier. HAHAHAHA. Lent Dawn's bassoon and my reed to Michelle cause they didn't get back some of their instruments yet. Yeaps. I can't exactly describe it but it was super fun:D The band played pretty well, unexpectedly. We played merry widow with so much spirit I think it gave us even more confidence. I guess everyone was too happy to get back their instruments that we all.. just played well. HAHA

Friday, June 20

Tour of the great wall. Okay, fine, we didn't exactly walk up. HAHA Everyone chose to pay for the slide up and down instead. HEH. We had to like wait for Mr Money(Our tour guide) to get the tickets, so the whole band was kinda lined up at the steps. Yep, the usual us, Dawn, Liana and I started welcoming the people going up to take the slide. LOL We said random Hellos to the ACS junior band members, LOL Super cute. I like that clarinet boy:D And unexpectedly, saw Martyn with them. I was totally like. "OMG, Why are you here? You're still in primary school?!" YEAH. Okay. So the seniors actually tagged along to help the primary kids for the performances. Went to Chang  Ping No. 2 Middle School for a performance. The organisation was pretty screwed, and that stupid chair was so so annoying. We were like gonna fall any moment. Okay, performed IJ Heartbeat (by the Percs) and Hot Latin. We could only watch Riverside and ACS junior's performance. Had to leave after that. Blur Dawn claimed she left the vasoline in the tuning room, so we had to go find it before we left. Bendemeer was inside tuning luh. Omg, super embarrassing when we went in, it was super noisy but people started shh-ing each other and then it was total silence, as if we has important news to tell them. Then Dawn just went "Err, sorry, can I find something?" LOL It was so funny. And we were looking looking. HuiLi and Peter offered help((: Peter was like, where did your friend leave it? And when I went, I don't know, he just went, GO ASK HER! LOL He's super funny. AND Guess what. In the bus, Dawn was like "Okay, If I find it in my bag, I'm gonna scream" So she searches her bag, and yep, it's there -.- So much for the embarrassment. According the schedule, we were supposed to have a buffet dinner at the school, but there were some problems, so no buffet there. Oh well. Rehearsed at some hotel at night, yep.

Saturday, June 21

Had the soundcheck and then it was the competition right after lunch. For I don't know what reasons, I wasn't that scared. It was so different from SYF and Genting, somehow, I was pretty confident. The band said the band cheer and we started singing Our Director and Merry Widow after lunch. LOL We were a crazy band, I'll miss the IJ spirit):  OH OH. We went down to the toilet and this china guy saw my sash and started taking quite a number of photos of us. LOL Super funny, we just started posing for the photos. HAHA. And just when we were waiting for our turn, just behind the doors of the stage, that same guy took photos of us, and we happily posed. HAHA. It was such a relief to hear the comments from Mr Alan Mills, or is it Dr. Okay, yeap. And then we watched the other bands perform after that. Riverside played Der Vogelhandler and ChungCheng played Merry Widow. Such coincidences huh. HAHA. Yeap, they announced the results pretty abruptly, I didn't even know what the numbers meant until I manged to link it to the results after some time. LOL CHIJ Concert Band: 8.6, 8.5, 9.3, 7.65. Total : 34.5, Average : 8.51/10 :D And we were all like, okay is that Gold, is that Gold? There was the thai band, played super well! We were like, okay, they're gonna get 9.9. LOL But they did really well still, around 8.8 I think. HAHA. I asked Sir and he said Gold's 8 points. Yay(: Okay, so we went down to take a group photo. The thai band was super super friendly! Too bad they don't have bassoon players): While we were walking back up, this thai man came up to me and was like, "You play bassoon?" "Err yeah." "You good musician!" "Oh, thanks" And everyone around me started laughing-.- Found out from Sir last night that he's the Thai band conductor=/ Performance for the closing ceremony was pretty sad, I think only maybe Bendemeer was there watching, don't know where the other bands vanished to): They were super supportive though, started standing while we played Sway. Thanks Bendemeer((: Oh yes, we saw ACS junior outisde while waiting for the bus. The little clarinet boy's JianHao:D Heh. Michelle's super super sweet. She called my room and came over to give me like notes and sweets((: And then it was my turn to write love letters to the bassoon players, LOVE Y'ALL!((:

IJ Band commitee with Mr Tang<33                                   Riverside Secondary(:
 

Chung Cheng Main(:

Francesca Chan<3                                    Mr Tan, Dawn and I:D
 

Sunday, June 22

Happy Birthday Celestine(: We had a workshop with Dr Mills, he's so tall! Like slightly taller than Sir. HAHA. I guess our playing kinda disappointed him a bit cause we weren't as spirited as on the comp day. Went to some tea house and gave Dawn all the tea I was supposed to drink:D I LOVE THE PEE PEE BOY! Was supposed to give one to Peter, but ahh): Anyway, Went back to pack and then we were off to shop:D Kinda shopped with Dawn, Liana and Fran, but Liana went missing after that. We bargained for those colourful bags, we got it at like 30 RMB, cheapest ever. The shopkeeper kinda flared up at us cause we wanted to go look at other shops before coming back to buy tha bags. And so Dawn purposely went to many and told them about the price, everyone was like, damn it. HAHA Then it was the award cermony, funniest ever. There was some scandal in the cornet section, so Dawn and I kinda tried to take advantage of the situation. Anyway, saw the thai band rehearse, and everyone was like saying, GO (SECTION). And we just went, GO BASSOON when there wasn't any bassoon. We also went, "GET A BASSOON!" HAH! We sat upstairs at the sides, then we saw Lynette and Clara. Started taking pictures of each other and blowing kisses. HAHA It was super funny. And I had to tell them my hp number by showing numbers using my fingers. HAHA. And I don't know, some misunderstanding kinda surfaced. Nothing serious though. Met both of them downstairs to take pictures and talk talk:D After the announcements of the results, we had to leave. We were supposed to stay and cheer Bendemeer on, but didn't expect that we had to leave so early)): Sorry! Ahs, yes. So off to the airport, and everyone was complaining and all sad cause we didn't wanna leave. THE TRIP COULD JUST CARRY ON.

IJ+ChungCheng Bassoon players<33                                  Sir, Dawn, Fatin, Clarise, Liana(:
 

Roslyn and Michelle:D

Monday, June 23

Happy Birthday Twin!((: Flight was at 12am plus plus. Sat with Kimberly. Managed to get a window seat cause Zena wanted to exchange with me. Dawn was saying I'm like some kid who wants her window seat. LOL Yeap, was sleeping the whole while. I MISS BEIJING. I miss the Michelle, Lynette, Clara and PeiXin! I miss saying Hi and waving at any random Bendemeer, Riverside, Chung Cheng, ACS junior and Thai band members)): I miss the waving at the JianHao. I miss talking about the guys and deciding which is hottest. I miss teasing Dawn. I miss suaning Liana. I miss telling Franny to stop getting high. I miss instant noodles breakfast with Mandy and Fran. I miss taking lots of peektures of people and places. I miss the whole trip already. I miss sir's jokes, quotes and dancing): I'll miss IJ Band, y'all better not rejoice when I step down. LOL A week more to stepping down date):

As what the shirts said, I LOVE BEIJING(: I love my section:D I love you Dawn, Liana, Nianci, Christabel, Shimin and all the other juniors((: Y'all are the funniest ever! Go double bassoon cello((:

And hello Clare, here's your name:D
Also, liana says (4:54 PM):
write I LOOOOVE LIANA

HEH:D