Woke up this morning after dreaming about Monk. I think it was pretty much distorted, as dreams usually are, because somehow I ended up at Kamiakin, my Jr. High school, and everything was scary and confusing. I can't remember if I was Natalie, or if I was just observing her (it was mostly about her).
Anyway, all my stuff was pretty much together, and it's a good thing, because it was almost 8am. I put my suitcase and horn on the bus and then ate a very quick breakfast, as it was closing in 2 minutes, and then made it to the lobby in time to pick up my train ticket from Brad, as well as the other three tickets for the other three girls in my cabin. None of them were there when he called our names. They eventually made it down and I distributed them and let them know what the numbers meant.
Musica Grato, from the Green Band, who we visited in 2005 on the Japan trip, were performing outside the hotel, sort of as a send-off for everyone. I went right outside to hear them after I got rid of all the tickets. They performed Pirates of the Caribbean and a Husky Band tune among a few others.
We then packed on the buses and headed for Beijing at 9:30. We arrived at our lunch stop around 11am. I must say this: this lunch was probably my favorite Chinese meal so far. There was breaded fish and tasty beef and onions. I was very full afterwords, but Natalie and Brian and I went to McDonald's anyway, in order to have normal food in our packs in case our "boxed dinner" on the train ended up being more bean paste bread. The group took off right after we got our McyD's, and headed for a great, big, condensed mall, with five levels that sold clothing, electronics and lots of jewelry. Everything was so packed in - there was hardly any room to walk - and the vendors were... a little forward. Natalie actually had her arm grabbed by sales people three different times, in order to try and get her to stop and look at their product! So we quickly went up all the levels, looked as we passed on a circuit, and then went right back down.
We had four hours to spend and nothing to do, so we sat down on the floor, next to a post, and played a game of cards. There were no chairs. I quickly got tired of sitting on the floor, so I convinced Natalie to leave with me. KFC turned out to be a couple of doors down, so we each got an ice creme and searched for a seat. Both floors were full of people! But when we came down, we finally found one that someone had just left.
After a while, I thought it would be fun to explore the street a little more, so we wouldn't be bored out of our minds. We walked for 15 minutes without finding anything, so we turned back. The sun had come out, so Natalie started to feel uncomfortable again. We then stayed in KFC until the meeting time.
This has been the worst planned day so far. It would have been a complete loss of a day, but Natalie and I were able to have a nice chat to ourselves, and we played a lot of that crazy slapping card game that she calls "Egyptian Rat Screw". KFC became a mini hang-out for some Husky Band people by 3 o'clock. Rachel and her boyfriend Chuck arrived, and Chuck joined in our game. Both he and Natalie won games, respectively. I did improve though...
We did leave on time, so that was good, at least. Unfortunately, we were leaving for the train station, where we had to wait another couple of hours. I read in my German history book, and in a story about WWII England called "Good Night, Mr. Tom" (it's been made into a movie).
When the call came to check in and board, everyone in the over-crowded waiting room jumped into motion. We were all a little tired of sitting. This was a sleeper train. We boarded at 7 pm and we arrived in Shanghai a little after 7 am. The last time I took a train, except for short subway rides, was when I was a little kid. The family took a train from Washington to Minnesota, and all I remember is that it was long, I got sick, colored in my coloring books and thought about digging for dinosaur bones in the sides of rock that flashed past my window.
So, it was exciting for me, since I haven't done it for about 15 years or more. There were four to a cabin, and I was with my roommate, Angela Chin, and two trumpets, Allison and Kerri, who are both very fun people. They and their friends even respected my not wanting to talk about sex stuff during dinner and my wanting to go to sleep instead of a "party". I'm such an old stodge, I know. I enjoyed getting to know them; it can be hard to meet people from other sections in band if you don't "party".
I was in car 15, cabin 2, bed 7, which was one of the lower beds! Yey! There was not that much space! We stuck Angela's and my suitcases under the cabin table, flat on the floor. The other two went in the overhead storage above the hallway, along with my mellophone and straw hat. The two trumpets were hidden under the beds. After we had stowed everything, I went to see Natalie in car 14, and happened to come when they needed packing advice.
Once the train started, we went to car 9, the dining car, to buy cold water. Soon after, the stewardesses delivered our boxed dinners to our berths. It even turned out to be pretty good; there was even was even some shrimp. I then wanted to sleep, because there was nothing but darkness out the window and my eyes were heavy. They all left to go "party" in the next room, so I left one side of the lights on for them, put on my sleeping blindfold that I take on trips, and fell asleep, jeans on and all. What the heck, it was only for one night.
Jp
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