Fuzhou

Once we got to Fuzhou, we had an extended bus ride to the city.  There was an accident along the way so it took about 45 minutes longer than we expected. The farm land and new construction was great to see though.  Our Hotel is in the resort-ish area of West Lake.  Our hotel is being updated so only a couple of floors are even open.  Our breakfast and our room service is from the hotel next door!  There is major construction (actually destruction) going on right next door and it begins at 6:30 am and goes until 8pm at night!  Not good when you don't get to sleep until 2am in the morning! The first night we walked along the lake a saw a wonderful water show with great music!

The theatre is right next door, so that's nice.  And the posters and programs are beautiful!

I went to an area called Wuyi Square where the center of Fuzhou is.   Behind there we found the White Pagoda and beautiful Buddhist temples of Tian Jin Temple and a meandering park.

We found a roller rink/arcade one day while walking around Fuzhou.  The floors were warped and they even had holes in them! But we survived! On the 8th we held our own Troika "Special" Olympic event.  Matt and Greg were partners in a paddle boat race and were dressed up as Zeus and Posidon and they won the Golden Duckie - first place!  I think they had great costumes too! We then we ordered Pizza form Papa John's and  prepared to watch Opening Night on TV.  Elaine found a wonderful old Neighborhood, Sanfeng with VERY old (Qing and Ming Dynasty)  and picked up pieces of old china and pottery.  It's cool having pieces that are so old! While in Fuzhou I received some pictures from one of the photographers in Guangzhou.  We found out we will be traveling to Xiamen by bus (4 hours) and staying the night there so we can fly out to  Macau!  We saw a lot of the country side and we stopped at the McDonalds! We got to our hotel, and guess what?  It was beautiful, spacious, great internet and had great food.....AND we only got to stay here ONE night! Go figure! 

Guangzhou

We bussed to Guangzhou from Shenzhen, it was about 2 and a half hours, so not so bad. While we were waiting in the lobby for our room keys Donavan brought out a cake for Nathan for his birthday, so the whole hotel new we arrived when everyone sang for him!  The following day we had a press event out in front of the magnificent Theatre- Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Memorial Hall. Guangzhou has a lot of orphan's  homes, so we spent a day at Shiaman Island. It was a very cute shopping area with a percentage of all the profits supporting the orphanges!  Great excuse to shop!  Matthew even enjoyed the area.  

Opening night went well and Mr. Chow, the presenter, greeted us at the hotel with all of his friends that came to see the show. Mr. Chow also hosted a wonderful cast party for us. Matthew has definitely turned into a teenager!  He was getting pics with all of the girls! 

In the past towns  we were mostly on the outskirts of town, here we were right in the middle of the downtown area and we FINALLY SAW THE CHINA WE'VE BEEN WANTING TO SEE.  It was a neighborhood behind the hotel where people live and work and play! We walked through this neighborhood everyday.  We bought our newspapers here so the all got to know us, it is our favorite "chinese" spot from the whole trip!

We gathered in the morning of the 2nd in the lobby to bus to the airport and then fly to Fuzhou.  On the plane they served wine and champagne for Tiffan's and Dillon's birthday! The wine in China is called Die Nasty! It really is; and you can get a head ache just smelling it! (Actually it's call Dynasty!) So needless to say none of us really drank any! 

Shenzhen

Our our long flight to Shenzhen was uneventful (that's a good thing!) We were all afraid to see the hotel because the Nanning hotel was the best ever! The people were great, our room was great... but a lot of the rooms were moldy-ish! The first morning the kids had a press event/photoshoot at the hotel. Then w took off to check out the city.  We found a Mexican restaurant called Amigo's; it was pretty good! And then we found a ColdStone!!!  Yeah!  We found a subway station and went to Windows of the World. It was great  We took a tram around it to see what it was all about, we saw all kinds of miniature villages from around the world!  We spent quite a bit of time at the Alps, an indoor skating rink and skiing "hill"!  We ended the evening...where else...at the arcade! 

 Opening night was VERY special because they had some children who were victims of the earthquake give flowers to our kids at the end of the show! The kids were in several newspapers!

Saturday morning the kids were bussed to a press event for one of the presenters. They sang two songs answered a couple of questions and then came home.  There were 2 shows that day and 2 the next so we were extremely busy! When we had free time we walked around the city but saw nothing much new anymore!

Monday was a "Golden Day" - no press, no play! So we took off for "The China Cultural Center".

We took a tram through part of Shenzhen to the Center.  Once the kids found the water park, there we stayed most of the day! We went to see "The Dragon and the Pheonix", the most spectacular show that I have seen since I saw  Cirque du Soleil "O".  It had everything in it from dancers to acrobats, fire and water (falls and rain and fountains) and horses and unbelievable costumes and great music!  we bought the CD to show you guys!

Matthew's been doing a math program this summer, and he been very diligent since we've returned to China, trying to do math three days a week between the shows, the press, and sightseeing.  On the last night in Shenzhen we had a cast and crew meeting.  We all found out that we would be returning home once again on August 22!! Broadway Asia couldn't book us for six weeks but had 10 weeks booked later in 2008 into 09. The Company decided to close this leg of the show until then.  We're all invited back but since Matthew is pushing 5'6" as we speak, I'm not so sure he'll be an appropriate Friedrich in 3-4 months!!!! But we'll see! We can't wait to get home though!

So after the meeting we all discussed our mixed feelings about the announcement then left for Guangzhou the next morning!

Nanning

Nanning has been wonderful!  From the minute we arrived at the hotel (a Best Western) it's been a treat.  Our rooms are great and  the hotel has a huge pool and they kept it open late for us because we didn't arrive until close to 10pm.  We had huge picture windows with great views. Thankfully we got to spend a lot of time in this great hotel here in Nanning!

On the 9th the kids had a press event at one of the local schools. The kids participated in a music class as well as a Chinese class!  (I videoed some of it so you could also hear what was going on but I separated the videos from the pics in case it's hard to download - be patient, with the videographer also!!)

Matthew's birthday was also today, he had a wonderful day, "the best birthday ever"!  Shawn, Jack and the kids managed to send flowers to the hotel! Emily managed to sneak in a gift right under Matt's nose!  Caitlin and an gave him a CD of Erhu music and some of the other cast brought him some candy, cookies, pool toys!! The party continued with pizza, fruit and soda's out on the back patio!  I had ordered 2 cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla from the local Walmart (that was the best I could do on such short notice since the Walmart was right next door) and they we're great! Then the hotel made a beautiful cake for Matt and THEN the Presenter sent over a cake with his hospitality group from the theatre!   So Matthew ended up with 4 birthday cakes!!!  It was great to have a Broadway type cast sing "Happy Birthday" to you!

The best part of the night was when Amy (our resident Trumpet player) gave Matthew his gift.  She had carried the Erhu  from Harbin, through the airport as one of her carry ons and we carried her carry on. Matt even helped her with what he thought was her trumpet several times!   He had asked for an Erhu since Chengdu, even when we were home he mentioned several times that he hoped we were going back so he could get an Erhu! He was so excited to got it!

The crazy part is that our Presenter Mr, Sheng is a VERY accomplished Erhu player and just returned from playing a concert at the National Theatre in Beijing,  He gave Matthew Erhu Lessons!!!! Mr. Sheng began Erhu at the age of 13, so he really pulling for Matthew to do well.  We went a second day, for 2 hours each day!  It was very generous of him to give us his time like that! He is the head of several National and Regional Arts agencies! After the lesson we went around downtown Nanning. Check out this Majong table!

We only had 3 shows in Nanning, it was a very old and musty theatre.  Opening night, I sat with Peggy, the 5th grader that was Matthew's translator at the school event.  She brought gifts for all of the kids and Maria and Capt.  Also one for me!  How sweet.  She gave Matt and extra special gift, a Chinese characters writing book, a special paint brush and some ink!  He was thrilled because we had seen this at the school! I'm sure Nanning will be one of Matt's favorite cities in China!

Around Harbin

The Harbin theatre was great.  It was attached to the hotel, the stage door leading to backstage, was in the hotel lobby! Opening night was exciting because the cast was ready to get the show up and running again. It was amazing to see how much Matt grew over the hiatus! I managed to film Elsa and Max's songs..I love them and they are not in the movie.  It's funny how the Chinese do not respond to these songs because they are not as familiar as all of the others, but they are really clever and entertaining...(the songs not so much the chinese!) We were in the second row so I attempted to film the last scene, which is practically in total darkness. After the show we went to MceeDee's! Woohoo! And had a very eventful after show event! (hehe)  We walked around Harbin but  Tom's World (arcade heaven all around China!) was a hit the next day.... 

On Friday the 4th of July we went to see the Siberian Tigers.  It felt like entering Jurassic Park but it was filled with all kinds of cats! Matt got to hold a baby Tiger, it was the highlight of the day!  We all gathered in the morning to take a bus to the Tigers. It was a wee bit cheesy entering the park but once we were in, it was compared to Jurassic Park (according to Matt!)  We saw Five year old tigers, Mature tigers, African Tigers,  lazy  Jaguars,  Leopards, and LIGERS!!!  Matt even fed a tiger! That's ok to watch but if your week in the stomach ( or if you simply love ducks) don't watch the following....Duck vs. Tiger!    Guess who wins! We loved seeing the tigers "Safari Style".  On the way home we stopped at a large park.  We couldn't stay that day but we returned on July 7th. It was a fun filled day. We just happened to get the best taxi driver in Harbin and when I started to take pictures on the way to the park, he decided to give us a tour and show us extra items such as another Russian orthodox Church, a Mosk, a very ancient prison as well as the first cinema in all of China! Then we went on to the park which included some fun and games for Matt as well as a cable car ride over the Song River, driving around the park in a rented coup and taking a ferry back over.  We ended the evening eating at a great Russian restaurant!  The kids happened to make the newspaper a couple of times.

We're Back!

Hello all,

We made it to Harbin after a great trip to Beijing -only to find out THEN that we didn't have tickets to Harbin!  Our bag tags said Harbin, our confirmation said Harbin, and my receipt said Harbin... just Air China didn't have us anywhere in their computer!!!  It only took 4 hours to straighten out the mess.  So, we left Friday morning at 6 am from Logan and got to our Hotel at 10 PM Saturday night.  That's like 30+ hours! It's crazy.  But it was better than what the rest of the cast had to go through. Due to delays in Shanghai some of them didn't get in until 4 am on Sunday and they left Friday from the States too!  The kids started rehearsals Sunday at 1 pm.  Us parents walked around Harbin.  It has a lot of Russian influence so it is different from the western cities that we have been to. We visited beautiful St. Sophia Church, which was located at Zhaolin Park, which is where Harbin holds their annual Ice Festival it is so famous for.  Next to the church there are these two "bird ladies" that sell food to feed the pigeons.  The also have trained to pigeons to fly up to the stoops of the church as well as fly in a group around the park.  The funny thing is there is NO pigeon poop around! HHMM?  We walked toward the Songhua Jiang (Songhua River) down Toulong Jie (Toulong Street) to Stalin Park which runs 26 miles along the riverbank so needless to say we only saw a small portion of it.  However, we did see the Flood Control Monument, which was amazing because it represents the height the floods in the 50's reached!  We went back to pick up the kids for their dinner break and we went to an absolutely delicious Dumpling house!  The following day, the kids had rehearsal again from 11-6 so we just went around town... always the adventure!  The buildings are really pretty here and you understand why Harbin has been called "Little Moscow" and "Paris of the east" in the past.

Chengdu News clip

Matt's been trying to fit in as much friend and family time as possible; it seems we've been in vacation mode since we've been home.  A party every day!!

We're almost packed and ready to go!  Vivien found this news clip from our show in Chengdu.  It's revving us up for our trip.  Also, here are a few clips from the show.  Hopefully you can download them!  Enjoy!  Next blog will be from Harbin, China! 

0n the road again!

Matthew and I are headed to China again on June 27th!  Our adventure continues! We will begin in Harbin.  "The Sound of Music" will be the closing  event for the 29th annual China Harbin Summer Concert (go to "No.29 Floor" on the link). According to one of the other parents, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra will be the opening event, the festival happens every two years and it includes artists and groups form all over the world!  We're excited to get packing especially since Stephy (Elita's mom) sent us some pictures from the first 3 cities!....and away we go.......

UPDATED SCHEDULE

UPDATED As of 6/10/08
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
08 March  NY Studio Rehearsals 
17 March  CHINA Chengdu
08 April  Chongqing
15 April  Wuhan

28 June  Harbin
07 July  Tianjin
14 July   Shenzhen
24 July  Guangzhou
01 August  Nanning
10 August  MACAU
31 August THAILAND

13 September INDONESIA/PHILIPPINES
29 September TAIWAN Taipei

27 October  KOREA

News from Chengdu

Matthew and I received a beautiful letter from a friend that we met at the Chengdu Foreign Language School and by coincidence ran into her again at The Wenshu Temple. After the earthquake, I was thrilled that she let us know she was ok. With all due respect and with great fondness in my heart I would like to share with you part of her message:  

"Hi,Matthew Hi,Kyle

I'm so sorry that I reply to you so late.These days I'm incredibly busy.

Very happy to tell you,fortunately every one is fine!

But definitely,we are terribly frightened.I've never experienced such tremendous catarstrophy.At that moment,every

thing was upside down,earth trembling that I failed to stand on my feet.My mom and I were together at that time and we were on the 11th fioor,she was shivering terribly that I had to hold her hands tightly and tell her to calm down ,"it will stop.everything goes well" .Till now,I still think it's a miracle that we are all alive.Every time I stay with my parents,my friends now,I appreciate God,appreciate life tons.

  Almost half of the Asia is influenced by the earthquake and you know the center of the earthquake is near Chengdu.Till now,about 70000 Chinese died.And we've already had more than 10000 after-shocks.We've been stopped to have class for haif a month.A lot of buildings collapsed,quite a lot of people were buried.A lot of people loosed their children,and a lot of kids loosed their parents.A lot of people got homeless.They had nothing to eat,couldn't escape from the shadow of the disaster.They cried until no tears to cry.

  However,to everyone's great relief,our government did really really a good job.The whole China is touched by the government,especially premier Wen Jiabao.They go to great length to save every life.They never give up.They never care about themselves.And we've got quite a lot of volunteers from all around Sichuan,all around China,all around the world.Everything really goes well."

To have first hand knowedge how hard these kids work at learning English, and to be able to continuously see how proud their parents are when they speak English, I feel sorry for   kids who don't have a passion for SOMETHING, ANYTHING such as the kids that we've met. She is so proud of her  government...I'm really happy for her.

"LET IT OUT ON ME"

Matt video taped another Paul Yalen song while we were home; it's called "Let it Out on Me". ENJOY!  ( I know I did!)

Thanks and Prayers

Thank you to all of you who emailed Matthew and myself worrying about our where-abouts this past Monday after the horrendous earthquake in Chengdu. By a stroke of uncanny luck, before the quake, the cast and crew of "The Sound of Music" Asia we're given the option to fly home for a couple of weeks or take the cost of the flight in cash and stay in China after the Wuhan show was extended and the Beijing show was cancelled! (See what I mean about going with the flow!) Matthew and I decided to fly home and go to Florida for some much missed and desparately needed sunshine! We are scheduled to fly back to Shanghai in the beginning of June, but.... we'll see. So thank you again for your concern and please, please say a prayer or two for our new friends in Chengdu and Chongqing. We have heard from Candice and Belinda (in the pic with Matt) Yay!

Beijing

We flew to Beijing from Wuhan to catch a flight home with tim for a short hiatus.  We stayed in a beautiful Hilton ( I posted a variety of pictures for Kendra's viewing!)  They had a wonderful restaurant with a very entertaining tea "somolier".  In the morning, on the way to the airport, we had the driver take us to see the Olympic Stadium.  There seems to be a ton of construction left to do, but it was awesome to actually be there and see it as well as the aquatic center and other buildings.  The Beijing Airport is huge and beautiful.  The flight was uneventful (thank heavens!)

Wuhan

We flew Tuesday April 15 to Wuhan and got to our Hotel a little after 2 pm, with just enough time to wait for our room assignment, throw our suitcases in and be at a press conference by 4 pm!  Needless to say we we're pooped! The Wuhan Holiday Inn has a great Western restaurant so Matt was thrilled to have a ribeye and french fries!!! After dinner we thought it wise to run to a store to get snacks for the week! That ended up taking a while as we went exploring through a Chinese Wal-Mart!  The next day Matt had Classroom hours 12-5.  Afterward we went for a walk behind the hotel along the Yantze River! What an adventure that turned out to be!  We found a park with the story of Yu and how he conquered the floods of the Yantze.  We ended up reading (walking) the story from end (Gun's life, Yu's father) to beginning (all about Yu), but still the parks in China are sooo nice it didn't matter.

Thursday we walked across the Wuhan Changjiang Bridge over the Yangtze River and made it to the Yellow Crane Tower which had incredible views and other pavillions to visit. On the walk home evening came fast and beautiful.  Friday the kids went to the theatre after school for a sound check a quick rehearsal/meeting for opening night in a new theatre, the boys were thrilled to have their own dressing room.  After the show the presenter put on a fabulous dinner for the cast and crew.

Monday was a "Golden Day"...No school, no play, no travel...YAY!  Tiffany and Emily took us (along with Zachary and Uncle David) to East Lake which is a National Park of China and we got a peek at Moa's summer home.  When we got there we rented a bicycle built for two and rode around.  We went into an "ice house", Matt, Emily and Zach went on a roller coaster, drove go-carts, fed coy fish, tried to walk in a hamster-ball on the lake, saw some women rehearsing dance, and played in the park (which happened to be full of exercise equipment...little did they know!)  We also visited a museum about Qu Yaun one of the most famous Chinese poets. Tim came out the last weekend and enjoyed the show.

Chongqing Theatre

 The Chongqing Theatre was very special. We were the first event ever in this new building which was built for government assemblies. Opening night was a success! Mad Dawg asked me what a typical day was like... well, we haven't had the same day twice since we've been in China.  After a show technically, there can  be no school or press for 12 hours. So if the kids show is over at 11 that means school starts around 11 the next day;  sometimes 12 and it lasts for up to 4 hours.  The kids are suppose to get at least 16 hours of school a week.  Sometimes there is more and they bank the hours, sometimes field trips or press events count as school depending on how much "Chinese culture" there is to offer! We are suppose read a notebook that is kept at the front desk of the hotel every night before we go to bed to see what the next day's bus call is, or how laundry can be done in that particular hotel, or how the master schedule's coming along!  Touring is definitely NOT for the planner, or the "need-to-know-er" (What the heck am I doing here?)  The best plan is to not make a plan and just be at the bus on time!!!

Welp... back to the adventure! The kids made the paper quite a bit!  On Sunday April 13, we had the busiest day yet!  Field trip, Press Event, voice lesson then a performance! We started out going to the Flying Tigers Museum  by way of  subway/tram.  It was really interesting! And the Chinese are doing a lot to keep that "friendship" alive! Then the presenter sent over a small bus and brought us to an ancient village.    Then we went to the other presenter's Condo community for a press event where we met with the winners of a promotional contest hat they held earlier on called "The Happy Family" contest. Monday James Haugland played Capt. Vonn Trapp on closing night. After the last show the kids had to say goodbye to Candance, their wrangler. Matthew became quite close to her and misses her quite a bit (like he misses his sisters!) So now we're flying off to WOOOhan! Wuhooooo!

Chongqing

I'm a little late with my blog on Chongqing... it has really been a whirlwind.  The kids had very little time to explore this city but they had some really great press events and stayed in a 5 star JW Marriott! So Monday morning we headed out on the busses for our 4 hour ride.  We stopped a couple of times to use the squatty potties, otherwise it was uneventful until we got to the exit off the highway where we pulled over until the other bus caught up to us AND the police escort with 8 or 9 of the presenter CHERY (a make of car here in China)which escorted us into the city.  When we pulled up, what a surprise!  Children from one of the local schools were there to greet the kids with flowers and a wonderful welcome sign... not to mention the gorgeous hotel!  The kids had about two hours before their first press event; some of them went straight to the pool, some of us went and had dinner! 

The next day was truly one of the best days so far (how many times have we said this? That's a good sign!) we went to visit one of the local primary schools of art and creativity! What an event!  We were greeted with a Marching band (which Matt got to conduct) and the red carpet treatment!  The school's children presented our kids and us parents with gifts. Matt received 2 large scroll with Chinese proverbs on them and I received hand crafted Chopsticks! Matt and the kids then enjoyed watching and participating in ballroom dancing, exercises, music class with traditional Chinese instruments, paper cutting, and calligraphy. Matt even got pulled aside for a TV interview!  Then we had tea in the teachers lounge and on the way out Matt was easily swayed into ping pong... we literally had to drag him away;  it was a long goodbye.  Matthew was exhausted when we got home.

 

Leaving Chengdu

Closing night at Chengdu was bitter sweet; we are excited to move on but we know the "tour"part has now really begun! After the last show and a couple more fans, we saw the load-out trucks start backing in to move the set and the equipment...it was amazing to see the 6 18-wheelers getting set to haul everything to Chongqing.  We went to Mc Donalds and some people there had gone to the show, so Matt and Zach's midnight snack began with autographs!

We had Monday  (April 7th) off. We went to Le Shan to see the Great Buddha.  It was the most incredible place we've ever been to (so far!).  Matt said it was his favorite thing in China (so far!) We loved every minute of our 8 our excursion. I hope the pictures justify the greatness of what we saw.  Matthew's new theme song is..."I like big buddhas and I cannot lie..."  So now we're off for Chongqing (a 4 hour bus ride).......

Random Pics

I received more pictures from Pam; some from the Panda Press Day, some from CFLS, and others from the Wenshu Monastery and Science Museum field Trip.  Also if you google Sound of Music Asia Tour you can find some clips from other SOMAers and possibly some news clips (here's one if you can pull it up).  I will post some snippets from the show as soon as I get them! There are also newspaper articles that you can use google's translation : Here's one (???-It's hard to literally translate into English!)

I do hope all of you know to click on the blue words and you can see related pictures. Ok I think we're all caught up now! We hope everyone is well and will keep in touch!

Invited Dress and Opening Night!

Wow, It's  been crazy since our last blog! Monday, April 1st was an Invitation Only Dress rehearsal!  It was soooooo good!  Tuesday morning we high tailed it back to visit the Pandas so Matt could hold one!  And then Tuesday night was Opening night!  Matt got a flower delivery from home - Birds of Paradise (memories of FL!!). Trokia sponsored a cast party that was a blast! It was truly an exciting day for Matt. But we had to be on the bus in the morning at 8:30 am (yes, we all thought it was an April Fools joke) to go update our visas. Wednesday night was the Presenter's night and we had a send-off dinner for Zacary's mom Pam, I'm really going to miss her.  Plus, the Chengdu Children that won the Do-Re-Mi contest sang at the end of the show.  Matthew made friends with Friedrich  (Oscar) and Louisa (Betty). We are excited and exhausted.  Matthew is still having girls come to the back stage door bearing gifts!  5 more shows in Chengdu and off we go to Chongqing!

Working Hard

Matthew's been working hard. They've had 2 run-through a day, some with costumes .  Everyone seems thrilled with the production.  Today the children that won a local contest (500 auditioned!!) to sing "Do Re Mi" at the end of opening night rehearsed today in costume.  They were fabulous, the youngest one is 5.  Matthew introduced himself to the "Chengdu Friedrich", nice kid!  We found out the company is starting to finalize more of the schedule...and some new COUNTRIES could be added!  Woohoo!  Today they went on a field trip to Wenshu Monastery. Kevin, the tutor had a questionnaire for the kids to do, the kids had a blast.  We were walking through the Monastery when we heard, "Friedrich" and there was Laura from the Chengdu Foreign Language School with an exchange student from Florida!  She's very sweet. 

Today's paper (3-27-08)

I'm still amazed to see how the traffic flows...although flow isn't quite the right word for it!  Today's paper had a photo of our kids answering question in the 7th grade advanced english class yesterday.  If you notice, the last paragraph has Matthew's and Michelle's name in English a couple of times so I tracked down one of the backstage translators to translate the paragraph for me..."After performance, the actors of Sound of Music were surrounded by Chinese students. The oldest blonde boy Matthew was the most popular one.  A girl gave him a gift box which contained a towel in it.  There was an English name "Michelle" on his towel.  Matthew was surprised and said, "you should know my name.  I am Matthew, although it doesn't matter!"  "Sorry...Michelle is MY name..."  Matthew showed an embarrassing expression and then the whole class was full of laugh!  The reporter asked him, "Have you ever accepted any gift from our fans?" He winked at the reporter, said "This is my first time."

Now, Matthew swears he never winked!!!

Chengdu Foreign Language School Press Conference

What a great event!  The kids got to visit the Chengdu Foreign Language School.  It is a 5,800 (!!!!) student school from 7th through 12th grade.  Most are residential but some are commuters from Chengdu. They put on a fun and entertaining show for the kids. Our kids sang "Do Re Mi" the students were disappointed that our kids didn't sing more, but we didn't have Maria, Lisl nor Louisa with us and most of the songs are full of their parts too!

After the show...well, all I can say is...Matt was a Rock Star!!!! He was very personable and comfortable with the press as well as the students.  As one girl put it "He's beautiful and he's famous all over China!" One girl Michelle, was so sweet, had a gift for Matthew and the press ran with it!  I was so proud of how he handled it!  He's beginning to realize how special this opportunity really is!

Panda visit news clip

Carter (Zachary's Dad) found he television news clip of our visit to see the Pandas.  It loads a kind of slow and the SOMA part starts at about 3:30.  Enjoy! 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! The kids had rehearsal this morning but then had a surprise.  Radar Rabbit, the Stage Manager, showed up with a basket full of American Easter candy! he kids were thrilled.  Then after a quick lunch we went with the American Commercial Consul's family to "Military Park"  The kids had a ball playing Frisbee and baseball with other expats (ex patriots, aliens, we're the foreigners).  They would have stayed there all night except we had to get home to see the Chines Opera a type of variety show with several traditional skits and music.  We were pooped when we got home!  Then Monday was Move-In-Day at the main theatre. It's huge and beautiful, the theatre and the set.  I've never seen the amount of sound and light equipment that was around, and the costumes were aplenty!

Chengdu News

Here are some newspaper articles that have come out since we've arrived. It's great!  We'd be walking down the streets and people will point and say "DO, Re, Mi"! And we smile and say "YES!!!" "Neehow" (hello) It's so special! The kids have been on the news station several nights, either singing or being interviewed. The Sound of Music is only the 2nd Broadway Musical to ever come to Chengdu...Cats was the first! Can't wait until opening night!

Wenshu Monastery

Yesterday (March 21, 2008)  the mom's got to go see the Wenshu Monastery.  Now I feel like I'm really in China!

Wenshu Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in central Chengdu and is dedicated to the God of Wisdom. Wenshu and was founded during the Tang dynasty that lasted from 618 to 907 AD. Most of the buildings date back to the 17th century and at present Wenshu Monastery is the biggest temple in Chengdu with almost two hundred buildings within the complex. These temples feature works of art, carvings and over four hundred Buddhist statues. More eccentric exhibits comprise a Bodhivista embroidered from human hair, books written by 19th century monks using their own blood and the skull of Xuan Zang who was a famous Tang dynasty Buddhist master." We weren't really allowed to take pictures so I only have pics of the buildings and gardens but the Buddist Statues were amazing.  I'm hoping we have time to take Matthew to see this before we leave.

Matthew has had rehearsal every day including today (Saturday) from 10-1, lunch is 1-2, and then school is 2-6ish.  Yesterday the press came to take pictures and interview the kids about their schooling.  Hopefully it will be in the paper tomorrow! Today the kids will be going to the local Science Museum.

Chengdu Press Conference

So it's Monday morning, we slept 12 hours last night! Woohoo! It's a good thing because the kids have a  We met the American Consul's family; nice kids. The kids news conference.  started school today also.  The mothers all walked around Chengdu.  It's very smoggy around here, I hope someday we'll see the sun! Crossing the street is sooo scary. Drivers do not stop if they take a right so when you walk across the street you are truly taking your life in your hands, come to think of it they don't stop when they're taking a left either! Plus the bikes and mopeds (and there are tons of them)have their own lanes so it's like crossing 3 two way streets at a time and clearly pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way.  I'm not sure if they even have lanes unless there are cones up!

Pandas and more Press!

Today the kids had rehearsal and got to go see the Pandas.  Matt really wanted to hold one but we ran out of time (and we were at the mercy of the press) so we hope to return another time to hold one.    The moms have been walking around Chengdu trying to see as much as we can the people are really nice and love to try out their english.  We get Kit or Kat (yes, those are their names) our company interpreters to write messages down for example for us to hand a taxi driver, or to the news stand people when we're looking for a specific paper) and it's amazing how many of the older generation don't read. The current chinese written language was simplified in 1949 and many of the older generations don't know how to read it!  I am currently trying to learn Chinese script and Matthew is doing the Rosetta Stone program in his class.  Both are very difficult!

Arriving in Chengdu

We're here! It was interesting checking in our bags and it was quite the plane ride, 16 hours from JFK in NYC to Shanghai and the 4 a four hour flight to Chengdu after a 4 hour layover ! When we got into Chendu airport the press was there to meet the cast! The buses were great too!

The hotel's pretty nice. The room is much bigger than any room in NYC! he time difference is 12 hours so when we're getting up around 7:30 am our time you all are just finishing dinner the night before! Amazing!

Getting ready!

We're getting ready for the trip and it's a bit overwhelming!   I think we bought enough to start a small pharmacy and grocery store. We just have to be smart packers!  So far Matt has  heard from "Brigitta" from Texas, "Kurt" from Alabama, "Louisa" originally from Northern California but now from New York, Marta is from Ft. Lauderdale...and there's more to meet!  Last night Matthew's friends gave him a bonvoyage party...we learned that we need a lot of practice with Chopsticks!  Also, people brought a few of " Matt's favorite things".....Kendra (his sister from NC) and her boyfriend Dave  was the biggest surprise plus Macaroni Cheese, Life Is Good back pack full of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and games, a velvetee soft travel pillow, and a scrap book put together by his sister Janel with family pics in it... just to name a few things!  We're really looking forward to meeting the whole VonTrapp family in just a few days!!!!

Hello to All!

Hi All,

If you're reading this, CBandKyleR - Matt (CB...cheesyboy) and I (Kyle-Matt's mom...the R is for Robertson!) have invited you to follow our trip through Asia. We origionally we're going to use face book then realized most of Matt's friends aren't leagally suppose to be on it so we've gone the gmail route!
As soon as I get our itinery I will post it. We will let you know where we are and what we're up to! Matt is sooo excited for this new adventure and we both super appreciate the opportunity to visit Asia. It will be alot of work, we know, (actually -we don't have a clue what we're in for) but the trade off of seeing China, Taiwan, The Philippine Islands and Macau is immeasurable. Our adventure is scheduled to begin March 9 and run though November 9 of 2008! Don't forget if you need a dose of Matt singing to his cousin Brennan (and who doesn't!..hee,hee) watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdlOZ8UPTA
So, keep in touch!