Rehearsals! ...Or so we thought.

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  New Pudong Area, International
Friday, April 22, 2011

We
woke up to a less than cheerful morning. The sky was so gloomy like the day
before, and the rain was still drizzling. I can't remember we had any
breakfast. If any of us did, it was most probably something we bought from
Family Mart. I remember already having a few RMB on me, when most of the
others didn't have. We could've also eaten take out from last night's dinner
at Manabe. 








Gloomy,
foggy skies. But at a distance you can see the China Pavilion, Japan
Pavilion and the EXPO Culture Center or what we like to call the Mothership.



 We
were told that this day would be our rehearsal day for the Soft Launch of the
Philippine Participation for the Expo, which would be held the next day, April
22. Despite having only one agenda for the day, we didn't think of anything
else for us to do , well because. 1) We just got there and we knew nothing
about anything in Shanghai, 2) Even if we did, I doubt we would be allowed to
go exploring at that point in time, and 3) We were just dead tired from the
previous day and the weather wasn't all that welcoming anyway.  What else was there to do but bum around
right? 








Watching
whatever available english channels on TV












Morning
Faces: Ate Wennie, Baki, Me, Ate Rej. Doing our best to keep warm.



 Later
on, Sir Edru called for a meeting at their apartment across the hall. Their
apartment was a little bigger than ours; a bigger kitchen and a bigger living
room. The other nice thing about it is it also had quite a view of the Expo
site, something I appreciated even through the fog of that morning. He just
got the information about our day's work, and in turn informed us. Word was we
were to leave in the afternoon..    








Troop
1's first group photo in Shanghai: There's me (and ate Jil) looking
unprepared. My excuse? I was the one who set the camera on timer. The space
behind the couch wasn't as spacious as I thought it would be.



 Dressed
up, in our extended winter get-ups, coats, mittens, double/triple layers,
jackets, the works!  Went
to the loby, get our boxes and luggage, loaded to the cart. Off to entrance.
The entrance was not an exit, sadly. Hauled everything back. Sat with just one
butt. Drove to other gateway. Others pushed boxes. Waited and waited. Military
exercise, ate tati take picture. Whoops.    Mr.
Liu driver, off to the oother side of the river. Got our first glimpse of the
whole expo site from Lupu Bridge. And the Philippine Pav. With all the hands..
Went to the heart of shanghai. Went through an alleyway of old school
buildings I've always only seen on TV. Back to main road when mr. Liu called
me. He knew I could understand a little chinese, what i failed to to make him
understand that i knew littler than he thought. He kept pointing at a building
and kept saying piaoyan, i couldn't remember what the word meant, so i had a
hard time understanding him, all i got from that conversation, iif you even
call it a conversation was that you will go there, (i thought, at some point
in time we will, or he was suggesting that it was something we can go to
afterwards.) the word perform did cross my mind, but I didn't conder it
because, hey why would we perform in a "urban planning museum"? I
only realized that my first hunch was actually right when he started parking
in front of the building.. And I was like... Aaaaaaaaaaaaah, piao yaaaaaaaaan.
:-|       As
per usual, had problems with the instruments where to take them.. Nothing
usual, and yes we should've gotten used to it, but it's really quite
frustrating, nauto si mr. Liu. Used service elevator.. Full
of haibaos, got to __ floor, people preparing for tomorrow's event. Tarp /
backdrop setup. Embassy. Waited and waited, meantime set-up at the side.
Waited and waited. Wanted to rehearse a bit on stage. Not possible, people are
working. No coordination. They didn't even know why we were even there. Much
less know that we needed to rehearse. Fail fail day. Clean up instruments,
stored in cupboard thank god, we don't need to haul them back down. Waited
for coaster, had photoshoots and impromptu lessons in chinese and showtime
dancemoves. Hhuge
huge gold structure/ exhibit of the best of the best achitectre of shanghai.
Model of shanghai business district, two side of the river. Haibaos,
and more haibaos.     first look of the city at night, museum,
theatre, expo.  Back
home sound.