Dear Haydn,

Have you ever wondered what you would say to someone you've always wanted to meet when you finally get to meet them? Trust me, I have a ginormous list of people I can't wait to meet in the next life. Most of them consist of really cool dead royalty and composers. For instance, I want to ask Mozart what he was thinking when he wrote the D major concerto and stuck that high D right at the start for four measures. I need to know if Richard III was a killer or just wildly unlucky, although if it's the first I'm sure the chains from the underworld for murdering his nephews will be a dead give away... I also want to ask Bach if he's ever killed a kitten. However, today I decided what I will tell Haydn should I ever meet him.

Dear Haydn,
Thank you for writing symphonies. I like them a whole heck of a lot. Second, thank you for adding flutes into your symphonies. Finally, thank you for sounding distinctly like yourself. I probably will owe my passing of the first midterm in music history due to your original sound and your use of the flutes, since I can pick them out with one ear tied behind... oh never mind. Anyhow, way to write good music.
The end.

Big Mouth

With the beginning of summer, since Utah has finally caught on and it's actually warm now, sun bathers are cropping up everywhere. I can't blame them. I never turn down a nap in the park or on the grass on campus. However, there are those who really worked to get a good base tan before it got warm, and they look like this:



It's all I can do not to follow them around singing the Oopah Loompah song from the first Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.

IIIIIIIII'm Baaaaack!

Prepare yourselves for a torrent of posts. They're coming. But not today. Or tomorrow. They'll probably start showing up Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. We'll see. Until then I'll be a little busy. We're taking Trent to the MTC on Wednesday, so I'm trying to squeeze in as much time as possible with him before Wednesday.

But, just to whet your appetite, here are some things I've been up to:

*Climbed about in cool tombs from the last Chinese dynasty.
*Purchased two bamboo flutes.
*Got a mission call.(To Phoenix Arizona, Spanish speaking for those who may not have heard yet. I leave September 15th and couldn't be more excited).
*Learned to read the Chinese music notation system while trying not to pull my hair out. It was more than a little humbling after playing music for nearly 2/3 of my life now to not be able to quickly read and play simple pieces.
*Attempted to begin to understand the Chinese ornamentation system. If my reading skills made it to being an 8 after three weeks then my ornamentation understanding tipped the scales at a 3 out of 10. This stuff makes baroque ornamentation look like child's play.
*Learned to play said bamboo flutes. Or at least to make a good show of playing them. For three weeks I don't think I sounded too shabby.
*Ran around Tianjin.
*Took a weekend trip down to Hong Kong.
*Played more on my flutes.
*Explored a little of Beijing
*Came back to America.
*Chopped off my hair. (It's way short and I love it. Aaaand contrary to what everyone thinks, I didn't do it for my mission. I did it for me. I wasn't thinking at all about getting a "missionary hair cut" I wanted a Nicole sanity hair cut, aka short and easy. I don't leave for three more months people, puh-leese missionary hair cut. Not a chance.)
*Came up to Idaho.
*Cheered for the little brother while he finished a half marathon.
*Visited America's first Nuclear reactor.

Over the next few days we'll be visiting some more family so Trent can say good byes, going to Manti for the day, and dropping Trent off at the MTC. Should be lots of fun, and I'll have plenty for you after that. Till then, adieu.

Tianjin

Tomorrow I head out on my "foreign" adventure for the summer. I put that in quotes because I've been in China for a few weeks now, but I feel like tomorrow I'm really heading out into China. Living in an expat community with my family makes it super easy to get around and to communicate. Starting tomorrow I'm on my own, in an unfamiliar city, and I'll have to try and make this all work. I think it'll be harder than Paris was last year, because Paris really was so easy. So much of what I experienced in Paris reminded me of living in Europe as a kid, right down to the black currant gelato which reminded me of drinking Rubana at my old piano teachers... but I digress. Paris, really was an easy experience. French and Spanish are close enough that I could fudge my way through reading some things, and the rest of the time we were in touristy enough areas that I didn't worry too much. Also, classes were easy because, with the exception of my harmony class with Mr. Bonet, all classes were in English. The dorms were also easy because it was the Spanish house, so I could fudge my way through that with out too much trouble. Tianjin, well, I think that things may be a little different.

I'm excited to get to see China through different eyes. Living in the dorms, potentially with other students (I'm not really clear on that yet) will be really a new experience. There will probably be some culture shock on my part as I've not lived in a situation like this before. I'm also thrilled because so much of this will be covered by my grant from BYU. For anyone who ever might even think they might possibly have something they'd want to do that an ORCA grant could help fund you really ought to apply. The application is really easy and the proposal you need to write is pretty short and straight forward. I've also been lucky because I really hit the jackpot as far as a faculty mentor goes. Dr. Saville is going to be in Tianjin at the same time as me, and while I don't expect to necessarily see him every day or anything, it'll be nice knowing someone there. I'm also really thrilled to be able to study with Dr. Wang. I heard him perform Fall semester and absolutely loved listening to him, and now to get to spend a few weeks studying with him and learning about Chinese flutes will be so cool. He already has two picked out for me, so I expect I'll be able to get up there and get to work. I don't have a lot of time, and this is really a rare opportunity so I want to get everything I can out of it.

While up in Tianjin hopefully I'll be able to do some exploring as well. I'll miss having a group to travel with like last summer when we went around Paris and explored Versailles and Chartres. However, it'll be really fun to explore around Tianjin and also to go into Beijing. Apparently there is a new train from Tianjin to Beijing that was just opened that cuts the trip down to an hour. That's pretty impressive, and I plan to take advantage of that one. Tianjin itself was heavily colonized by the Europeans, and I've been told it's pretty cool to bike around and visit the different sectors. The architecture in each sector relates to the nation that colonized it, so there should be lots of cool things to see.

The bad news for all of you is that I can't access blogger up in Tianjin, so you'll just have to wait with bated breath until I get home. I plan on writing the posts, because I've found my posts from Paris to be a really entertaining journal, but they just will all get posted much later. I may end up down in Hong Kong for a few days at some point, so if you are all very very lucky there may be a few posts then, but don't count on it. Bigger chances are that you'll get to read far too many posts after I'm back.

I think that makes for most of what I know about what I'll be doing up in Tianjin. I'm not really sure what to expect, but I'm excited to get started and I'm sure my time up there will fly.

Here at home things have been busy and fun. I've made two trips to the orphanage; bought a skirt, some watches and some jewelry; played countless games of dominion with the boys; watched more tv than I should; practiced a little less than I should (however, I've spent every minute of that practice on Chant de Linos, and in my mind one good hour of Chant de Linos is like two hours of regular practice, just sayin'); went swimming with Morgan; helped officiate (or something) at the coldest track meet in the history of Suzhou; watched a Living Legends concert and ran into none other than Kory at it (we were both rather surprised to see each other in China); aaaaaaaand enjoyed spending time with my whole family together before Trent goes into the MTC. What a list, and that only catches part of what we've done. The time has flown, I thought I would have all sorts of time here, but boy, it really wasn't very long at all. It's kind of weird to have Trent going into the MTC. As the oldest child I've done a lot of the firsts in the family, and so it seems odd that he's going first for everything with missions. Well, first for now since I'll probably beat him home.

So, there you have it. The events of the last week or so, and something to make you want to come back and see how things go for me up in Tianjin. See you all in June!


Here's an image of the Tianjin news tower, I thought it was pretty, and since I don't yet have pictures of my own, I figured I'd have to settle for swiping them.

Wuge heizi?!

Traveling as a westerner in China makes you somewhat of a spectacle. In a sea of Asians you stick out like a pointy nose (or is that because of your pointy nose... probably both). You stick out even more when you have at least 8 inches on the average population, and more on a whole lot of them. If you really, really want to stick out, perhaps you should travel in a group of seven, and it'd be really cool if you could find a family of seven where one is a blond and five are all six feet or taller. Then you've become the tourist attraction.


(This is swiped from our trip to Beijing but you get the idea.)

Believe me now? Pictures like this are often accompanied by exclamations of "wuge heizi" (pronounced(ish) oo-ga hi-tzsa) which translates as "five children" or other phrases commenting on just how many kids are in our family.

We end up taking photos fairly often with the locals, and you know, it's always fun to feel like a celebrity, right? I came out relatively unscathed, although a speedy Korean kissed me on the cheek... not quite what I wanted, but considering the four marriage proposals I got last year from really awful smelling locals, I figure things are getting better, slowly but surely they're improving. *gag*

For May holidays (think spring break for some non American schooling system... I think the Brits) we went down to Yellow Mountain. It was spectacular.




To look at.


You see that lighter line beneath the tree branch, it looks almost like it could be a stream or something. Actually, it's more stairs. And we climbed all the way down to them and all the way back up. Because we're awesome like that.

Climbing itself, well, I'd describe that more as exhaustive and a little terrifying at times.


Exhaustive for everyone but Trent, who had the heaviest pack and yet managed to be the least sore. Rude.

These stairs were literally just attached to the side of the cliff. I stayed as close as I possibly could to the cliff side, not that it would really help if the pathway decided to plummet, but it made me feel better, so I went with it.

And what goes up...


Must come right back down.


I think this guy had it all figured out... 150 RMB and someone else does the hiking for you. However, in some of the hardest stretches we didn't see any of those chair guys, so I'm guessing they really knew what was going on.


Some of the best views though did come when we had climbed all over those mountains. It was really really incredible. It was like hiking through Chinese paintings.



Basically it was pretty awesome, although I was so very sore for the next few days after. I think those stairs have subtracted ten years from my knees. But really, it was incredible. If you go to China, and are feeling masochistic, or you're like Trent and are a cross between a sherpa and a mountain goat, then this really is a must see. If you're not, you should still go, but perhaps you should train, because it's exhausting.

I'd upload more pictures, but at the rate this is going I'd be here until next week, so enjoy the ones I put up, and maybe I'll post more later.

I was gonna post...

I actually have a marvelous post waiting for you about are escapades as Yellow Mountain, however, pictures aren't working, and trust me, you want to see these pictures. So, here is a short blog post to tide ya'll over.

1. Mission call still M.I.A. We're hoping it will show up really soon, but as yet I've heard nothing.

2. National Flute Convention letters still M.I.A. I'm sensing a pattern here. I'm also hoping these will show up soon. If both letters don't come soon I just might start going a little crazy... just a little...

3. Morgan and I made a fiendishly delicious carrot cake with my sister yesterday. Because it has carrot and raisin it's healthy, so I've eaten it as fast as I can. Plus, junk food, when eaten at your parents house as a college student, should not count.

4. Mom and I are going to the orphanage tomorrow. Should be fun. Those kids need all the attention they can get.

5. I've become a Chant De Linos fiend in the last week. Only I'm waiting for it to decide it likes me... because currently it's just a lot of groveling on my part.

6. The trickiest thing about being home is college has really turned me into a decided night person. I'm a night person living with six morning people. I did okay for the first few days here when my internal clock was still lost back over the pacific, but in the last two days it's really come back and found me. As far as I'm concerned anything before 7am in an abomination. I think I may need to fix this problem pre-mission... we'll see how it goes.

7. BYU's Living Legends is performing here in Suzhou on Monday, we got tickets. I'm pretty stoked. It should be a fun concert. Now I'm just left to wonder what language they'll do all the narration in...

8. I'm gonna call it a night... it's "late" but really it's that family prayer is gonna come way way early tomorrow. So I need my beauty sleep... or something...



This will be me circa 6am tomorrow...

Yikes!

Wow, the last month has flown. I just realized it's been almost a month since I last posted. Sorry. Sooo much has happened in the last month. It's been the best/hardest/fastest/longest month ever. Not that I'm feeling contradictory. Really it has been a crazy month. I'm gonna use that as my explanation for why I've disappeared for so long.

So what's made it such a crazy month? I wish I could list everything for you. But I'd keep you long beyond your endurance and interest. My life isn't that interesting. In the last month I've played tons and tons of concerts, taken a bazillion tests and written soooooo many pages for my classes, spent a whole lot of time with someone tall and wonderful, finished mission papers, quit my job, decided to leave for china early, and took up underwater basket weaving in my spare time. Okay, so that last one was an exaggeration, but the rest, pretty much the whole truth and nothin' but.

This semester has really been an interesting ending because I'm leaving for two years and so many of the people I care about will be gone when I get back. I feel like I've tried to cram in so many things with so many people that I just don't know when I'll see them again. Is that part of growing up? Saying goodbye more, I mean. If so, I'm not sure I like it. Today was the hardest goodbye of all. Yuck. And there are so many people I never got to say goodbye to, I feel bad not having been able to catch all the people I wanted to get.

It's just so weird. I feel like I just got to Provo, and then I poke myself and remember that I've been here for three years. It feels like just yesterday that I was moving into the dorms, then moving south into my current abode... so many things have happened and I'm not sure how it happened. I don't really feel like I'm old enough to have mission papers in and a mission call coming, yet so many girls I know from freshman year and from around campus are one missions, I just never realized I would get there.

Gosh I'm sentimental today. It's raining and I'm running on only a few hours of sleep, so I'll blame that, or something.

It was interesting though, because today was really really hard, and I decided last minute that I'd run up to the temple, I needed a little extra strength and I was reminded just again of how awesome it is. If my call comes in time I'll get to go through with my little brother. I really, really hope it works out. I can't wait to be able to go through.

I've had a lot of time recently to think, a lot, and I've really realized how our lives our shaped and we are led. So many things that have happened this school year had to happen in a certain order and at certain times. Until last night I didn't realize just how many things had to happen at very specific times, but it was amazing to realize. It makes me excited to see what is in store for the future. If things thus far have worked out so well, and so much better than I could have ever planned on my own, it only makes me excited and curious to see where I'll go.

Speaking of going, tomorrow morning I fly to China with the favorite little brother, so I gotta try and finish packing and getting my stuff moved back up stairs into my apartment from last summer. I'm pretty excited to be living with Tia again, that girl is awesome. So, until June I'll be in China, and then I'll be here in Provo, and then who knows where in the world I'll be. For those of you who wish to place guesses feel free to do so, cause I'm not sure how much blogging there will be before I get my call.

Almost There...

You know it's the end of the semester and you're exhausted when:

~You have to bribe yourself to get out of bed by promising yourself a nap at lunch time.
~You plan your days around cramming in the most practicing and paper writing possible.
~You make fun of those who had spring break because they still have over a month of school left.
~Making fun of people with spring break no longer helps, you just want to be done.
~You are counting down the number of days left in any given class.
~Your professors start sending out "you can do it" or "just hold on" or "I believe in you" e-mails to try and motivate your class.
~Your professor spends an entire lecture making fun of the way Americans speak because he doesn't want to be in class either. He supplements this form of amusement with dancing to the music being studied and telling random stories.
~You start wishing your classes were pass-fail.
~You begin contemplating the viability of getting all your food and nutrients through an IV to save time.
~The highlight of a week was dropping all of your spring term classes, and now your contemplating getting the same level of joy from dropping your summer classes.
~Even after 8 hours of sleep in a night you need two or three naps to function.

The makings of a good week...

Yes, I know, it's not even Friday yet, but this week has been pretty good.

1. No all-nighters, as opposed to last week where I pulled two and wanted to die.

2. I'm running regularly now since the weather has decided to play nice. I feel sooooo much better when I run, but I'm too much of a baby to run in the cold. So if it is cold you can count me out.

3. The favorite little brother opened his mission call. The lucky stinker is going to Manchester England... speaking Mandarin?! I'm really, really, really jealous of the location, the language not so much. It was a little weird to watch him open his call, because I realized that I will be the one opening a mission call in just a few short months. Wow.

4. I went to Evening of Concertos with Tia thanks to getting two free tickets from Danielle. The concertos were awesome, and I loved listening to all of them, however my favorite by far was the Barber Piano Concerto. Love, love, love, love, love. And Jackie never disappoints, she's a fantastic performer.

5. We had scale day in masterclass. The completion of scale day would make any flute major happy. Ode to Taffanel Gaubert #4, how do I love thee...

6. I finally figured out my summer. I received an ORCA grant from BYU this year to go study Chinese flutes up at the Tianjin Conservatory (semi near Beijing). I'd been struggling with when to go, but after talking to my faculty mentor I decided to go at the same time that he does. So I'll be spending two and a half weeks in May running around Tianjin and playing bamboo flutes. If you weren't jealous before, feel free to be jealous now. I am so incredibly excited. Aaaand as the double dose of icing on the cake, I got to drop my spring term classes (excited, moi?) and I'll get to spend some time with my family and my brother before he goes into the MTC. Yep, I'm excited. Can we just fast forward to May now? Pretty please?


I'm gonna get to play flutes like this!!! *cue manic grinning*

Why I love the HFAC

Today I overheard this conversation:

Music Nerd 1: What is that obnoxious buzzing noise? (referring to the gosh awful noise emanating from something near the ticket office)
Music Nerd 2: I believe it is an "E".


Oh how I love this place...