Fairytale.

NEW YORK CITY

Sunday, March 30, 2008 12:23 AM

New York City! Manhattan! The Big Apple! ((: I should probably record down everything that I've done this past week at the other side of the globe for these memories are indeed special enough to savour for life. ((: It's kinda murky `cause it didn't occur to me to bring a travel journal. XD

22 March/23 March

The band at Changi Airport Terminal 3

I boarded the plane amdist many well wishes that caused my phone to vibrate non-stop. (: Thanks for those who wanted to come but couldn't make it. The plane was long, like duh. 23 hours of sleeping and waking and eating and sleeping again. I couldn't do anything else because my remote couldn't transmit the signals or something, so no movie marathon. We all failed in our mission to stay awake. We supposed to stay awake for 12 hours to avoid jetlag but haha. We all fell asleep in the middle of some random movie. Apparently our matching pullovers made us look like a bunch of kids going on a school trip; the air stewardess gave us this bag of freebies(powerpuff toy-I think it's Buttercup, poker cards, handphone pouch and this inflatable cushion thing). I find that pretty amusing.

Daybreak over somewhere in Europe

Frankfurt Airport looked sanitised, like it's all white and gleaming. And I saw real snow for the first time in my life! Just little flakes raining down outside the glass surfaces, the interior is quite warm though.

Saxes in Group B ((:

German!

Was wide awake on board the second flight when we were supposed to sleep. XD I can still remember my excitement when I glimpsed the brown landscape of New York through the frozen clouds, Alyssa and me shrieking in shock when the first blast of cold air hit us in our faces when we stepped out of John F. Kennedy Airport, and rushing down to Sheraton Manhattan Hotel to confirm the Broadway tickets, pointing and gasping at all the buildings around.

I guess the major bummer of the whole trip was missing out on the Broadway `cause the tickets were sold out. It totally made my first day in New York crappy, tired and pissed off. Zoned out through band practice immediately after touchdown. Basically free time and dinner on our own. I just stuck to the first group pf people I could find, even though we still managed to lose them out in the streets. Our first walk through the streets of Manhattan was seriously a test of surviving skills. Everything looked so foreign and big, you could see nothing except for buildings and buildings, the roads are congested, the cafes and restaurants looked intimidating in the night light. In the end, almost the whole band settled on this nearby pizzaria S Barro. The pizza slice was humongous, like every other thing in the USA and one slice was more than enough.

It looks small in this picture O.o I should have compared it with something.

My bad mood was further sullied by the company, complaining throughout dinner about how the trip sucked so far and they shouldn't have came. But of course, it was just a remark triggered by fatigue. We gave up on the big big slice of pizza and followed the lights to the M&Ms building. The flashing billboards and signs are just plain sticking out.

M&Ms!

Bought a few random stuff here and there and Du Chen and I went to buy I LOVE NY shirts. There was miscommunication and that was when we lost the rest of the group and both of us lost our way. It was a damn horrifying experience. We were late reporting back to the hotel when we finally found the hotel and my whole section had to wait in the lobby for me. Oops. Oh! The water from the tap actually turned yellow! Some rooms actually got their water supply cut off. Like huh, this is New York, not some third world country. Poor Swee Jin didn't get to bath. And Americans don't use kettles, we realise it now.

24 March
The water became crystal clear again, much to our great relief. Breakfast was at Macs. Like how spastic. Travel half the globe to eat Macs. But their pancakes are different. More stuff, orange juice was a bigger bottle too. Then we went to explore the city. Somehow the city doesn't look as intimidating as the night before. Probably `cause there more people in the group. My camera was switched on every minute, we would walk down one street and something was have us taking out our camera to snap a picture of it before it disappears again. This happened so often that we ended up just clutching the camera in our hands. Got influenced by Edna and Phyllis and ended up buying 2 huge bags of chocolates because "they can't be found in Singapore". XD Basically we just kept walking and going into every shop possible, coming out with yet another bag to bring back.

The New York Duck!

Lunch was at this Majestic Delicatessen place. Sandwiches and salads. Like expected, everybody couldn't finish the sandwiches. Central Park! We didn't get to see the petting zoo; the place where we went to was just trees and trees, beautiful ones without leaves. ((: The perfect spot for camwhoring.

Saxes at Central Park! ((:

The performance was uhhhh, poor due to the cold weather but nobody took it to heart? After that was the mad rush to dress up and head for the Hudson River Dinner Cruise. VJCSB got split up into separate buses and we were supposed to interact with the other American participants but mission failed. I remembered the bunch of us shivering at the port with the spring wind blowing and huddling to keep warm. Most of the time on the Spirit Cruise was spent camwhoring, with the magnificent view of the lighted skyline and the Statue of Liberty. XD

The skyline from the cruise.

((:

Statue of Liberty at night.

Dinner wasn't that fantastic. Dancing with a whole bunch of people was an enriching experience. (: If you call jumping around in circles dancing. :P I stopped after a while and just admired the people jumping around on the dance floor. The embarrassing thing was that Edna, Rachel and I fell asleep on the dining table. Even with the rock music blasting out behind us. That was such a Kaili thing to do. This day was way better than the first day; everybody's spirits were higher, there was shopping and tons of camwhoring.

25 March
This morning began with a not-so-tasty breakfast at some Chinese restaurant near Carnegie Hall. We just looked at the food and went, " This is Chinese food?" No further elaboration. After that was further exploring the city with the same group of people. NYC is totally amazing. Every avenue and street looks different and there are treasures waiting to be found at every corner. Managed to stock up on Ghirardelli chocolates and bubble gums and candies not found in Singapore. (: The coins were so confusing. In the end I just dumped on the coins I have on the counter and let the cashier count themselves. I forgot to get a copy of The New York Times though. More pictures of the tall buildings. :P

WOODBURY COMMONS! It's this cool little neighbourhood outside the city area dotted with houses selling branded stuff at way low prices! We looked at the map and there were Nike, Addidas, Aeropostale, Kate Spade, Puma, Guess, Esprit, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfinger etc.I didn't even know that some of them existed. 2 hours was totally not enough. Edna, Rouhui and I skipped lunch so that we could shop more, and we practically ran from shop to shop, wow-ing at the range of accessories and designs. I think I became a shopaholic right then and there, grabbing all the tops and blouses off the shelves since they were so cheap. USD$9.99 for a Nike shirt? Okay take. Even though it was pretty big. I got a rather big shock when I realised that their changing rooms can't be locked. And you so can't barge into one fitting room and occupy it like in Singapore. You have to approach the person in charge and have a tag fixed onto your changing room door. The 3 of us were late, lost our way and missed lunch and dinner as a result. Nevertheless, we were happy people at the end of the day `cause ll of us brought back about 6-7 bags each. Look at the long long receipts and you will faint though. Can you imagine how much we each spent? Band practice was horrendous. My best reed disappeared, appeared, and died out on me. I was in panic zone by then. Thank goodness for Eric's many spare reeds.

26 March

Carnegie Hall! The Issac Stern Auditorium. So pretty!

Adjudication day! Sound check at Carnegie Hall. Dressed properly in our school uniform and blazers, walking into the hall that every musician would die for - And I dropped my court shoe. It was so embarrassing when the World Projects people laughed. I think I would forever remember the moment when we played our first Bb major chord, and there was this wonderful reveberation. "WAHHHH!" XD Memory lapse between the sound check and the adjudication itself but I guess nothing important happened. Lunch at this different pizza and burger place. Typical American-sized, tasteless burgers that nobody could finish. Oh! We got to watch the other orhestras perform. The performances were good! Especially the Collegedale Academy from Tennessee. The girl violin soloist totally rocked. We missed the only other band's performance as we had to get backstage to prepare. The waiting time was different from the other competitions. It was so totally nervous-free. I guess I can say that performing at the Carnegie Hall is already enough an achievement. And so, we went on stage and totally brought the whole house down. Cheers and applause and standing ovations. ((: Despite the many technical glitches. Through section V of Macchu Pichu, when goosebumps popped out from our very expressive playing and transcendental performance, it was already clear to me that the results did not matter, for I already know that I have played my best under performance stress. (: Compliments from the other bands had us grinning from ear to ear. ((: A little shopping at another street in the city before heading down to Carnegie Hall again for the showcase concert. Two bands, from Illinos and UK. Edna and I fell asleep, sad to say. But their gorgeous sounds didn't escape my ears even when I was asleep. Then the big moment - results. No heartthumping, no butterflies. Just a bit more of satisfaction when the emcee announced our gold. And Matthew's repetition of "OMG! WE LEFT BEHIND A LEGACY!!" The Oxford Academy's conductor came over to congratulate us, and endless praises. Even the World Projects personnel, Amy, came over and went, "You guys rock!" The little celebration outside Carnegie Hall in the streets would probably be in my memory for the rest of my life, singing the Victorian Anthem and screaming the VJ cheer, taking turns taking pictures with the plaque and Mr Tan. I dare say that this is definitely more worthwhile an experience than the SYF last year.

((:

27 March
Last day in New York. ): Breakfast at that imitation Chinese restaurant, then rushing to pack our much enlarged luggage and checking out. At least I did get to savour the famous strawberry cheesecake from Carnegie Deli, credit to Weijian and Daniel's gang. City tour. Although we didn't get to visit much due to our tendencies to dillydally. We went to the United Nations headquarters! And I sent a postcard to myself. (: So did other people. (: We wanted the United Nations stamp you see. I shall pretend to be pleasantly surpised when the postcard arrived. ((: Loads of pictures again of the buildings and bridges.

Nice!!

Then came my last meal in New York. At Olive Garden. It was the best meal in the whole trip. Salads as appetisers, the lasagna as the main course and chocolate cake as the dessert! Last tour was the visit to Liberty Island. On the ferry, everybody was scrambling to take pictures with the Statue of Liberty as the backdrop before the ferry sails away. It was hilarious when everybody rushed to the starboard side and the ferry dipped to the right and everybody went WOAH! but still wanted to crash the picture. There was nothing much on the island though. Just bought 3 huge postcards that looked like stamps. The unfortunate thing was that Phyllis, Clara, Ingmar and Khaizar got left behind on the island! It was scary okay! We didn't get to see them return safely to the group `cause the group B people had to rush back to the hotel to take our luggage and go to the airport - we were already one hour late at that time. Emo-ed throughout the bus ride to the airport. Couldn't believe that we had to leave New York so soon. It was saddening when some of us murmured our farewells to New York. The plane ride back was uneventful except for turbulence; the good part was that I managed to catch movies. August Rush is a superb movie.

Well, thus concludes my New York trip. Will have to become a full-time mugger, like Meiyi said, for these few weeks to catch up and make up for my horrible common test results but I am reeeally glad I had the opportunity to go on this trip! It was really worthwhile, not only for the memories and the experiences, but for the opportunities to talk to people I had never talked to before, and to forge stronger bonds with friends. I will really miss waking up in the mornings with parched lips, gasping whenever I step outdoors into the cold, spending money like water and wow-ing at everything in sight. It was much too short, agreed.

I LOVE NEW YORK!!