The Past Few Days

Friday, June 27th, 2008. Aunty J & I visited my Jonah House today. It’s a non-profit organization that seeks to nurture these orphans until they are of age to be independent or until their rightful mothers are capable of taking care of them - a refuge for orphan children. There currently are 18 kids living there. When I arrived, I didn’t expect the welcome we received. The kids were so excited to see me again! My goodness how some of them have grown! I mean, one child was a baby when I met him last year and now he’s a walking mischievous toddler… haha! Crazy how fast kids grow yo.

Later that evening, Mascato was opening for the Pretoria University Youth Choir concert. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They did a commendable job and looked very sharp in their Ethiopian uniform tops. The Pretoria Choir was awesome in their own merit. For a youth choir, their unified sound, musicality, and volume was definitely praise worthy. Haha… Scoot kept point out this short guy on the stage who looked like Eric Meen when he sings. He actually did too! Haha… so funny! I got to see the Namib Marimbas perform live for the first time too. They were captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed their rhythms and groove. So good. One simply can’t sit still when they play. =)

Saturday, June 28th, 2008. There was a Mascato rehearsal today at Namib High. It was to prepare for our morning performance on Monday for the Teaching Ministry here. I was relieved to know two out of the five pieces. Haha… we didn’t really practice all the pieces. We just sung through each one once or twice. Eeek… nothing like being on the fly. As everyone was singing away and I was trying to ad lib the African lyrics, Mrs. Venter kept whispering to me, “Don’t worry. Garth will help you.” Ok then. We’ll see how Monday goes.

After rehearsal, the bunch of us drove out into the dunes to participate in a drumming circle with the Pretoria Youth Choir. For those who have been to the dinner in the dunes in previous years can imagine the setting. The only difference with this social gathering was that there was no tent… we all just sat around bonfires under the star-filled dark sky. The pathway to the enclosure was romantically lit with candles. The drumming space was a big circle of chairs surrounding four blazing bonfires. Thanks to that, we were warm. Otherwise, the dunes are known to be very chilly at nighttime. Anyway, we were all served some lovely stew for dinner. During that time we also got to walk around and socialize with everybody. Then we all broke up into instrumental sections (i.e.: djembes of different sizes, sticks, and wooden horns). The Namib Marimbas conducted the drumming session and the rest of us had fun making a ruckus! Good times.

Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Afroshine, Joel, Megan & I made the trip up to Windhoek again today. We left Swakopmund early in the morning and arrived at our destination at around 11:30am. Hah… because of Garth’s speeding tendencies, our car naturally arrived in the city first, so we made arrangements with the other car to grab lunch in our separate ways. The practice with Afrodisiac was at 1pm, so we didn’t have too much time.

Garth & I had lunch at Spur – a scrumptious place for a hearty burger. It’s actually a pretty cool restaurant with a First Nations theme. Interesting huh. When we finished our meal and made way to leave one of the waitresses approached Garth and asked him for his autograph. Wow, I almost forgot that these Afroshiners are famous here in Namibia! So surreal to be dating a popular musician, but hey, Garthy will always be Garthy in my eyes. I took the opportunity to encourage the waitress to check out the evening’s show and to invite all her peeps. Heehee… I’m making myself the marketing manager of the group while I’m here… yup! Anyway, off Garth & I went on our merry way.

So fast forwarding the day now… practice session over, sound check over, dinner time. We went to KFC for dinner. Freakin’ crazy pants… when we got there, the lineups were so long and slow moving. When I finally got to the front, Garth & I had a hoot trying to order our stuff. The items that we first wanted were not available, then we were told that our next choices would take 5-10 mins to prepare. Oy vey! We went ahead and ordered anyway and decided to wait. My goodness, almost a whole line went through and we still didn’t get our food. Seriously, from line up to the time we got our din din, it must’ve taken over half an hour! Note to self: fast food restaurants in Africa and not typically fast. How ironic. Whatevs… at least we got two free ice cream cone out of the ordeal. Heehee… and that was compensation enough. Oh such an easily pleased kid am I. ;-p

The Afrodisiac/Afroshine show in general was stellar! Never minding the fact that the Warehouse did a poor job with advertising for the event, the performers still busted out some rad vocal chops and upped their stage performance. The crowd really enjoyed these guys’ energy and charm. One woman in the audience actually drove all the way from Walvis Bay to see Afroshine perform live! Now she was an avid fan. Sigh, I was really impressed and proud to be associated with the group. And kudos to Joel and his reggae-man roots yo! He did a stellar job bustin out the tunes on his guitar. Woot! Go Joel, our Canadian guy!

The event ended at 10pm. Urg… and we still had to make the drive back to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay! Now that sucked! Megan and I did most of the driving in this part of the trip because we wanted the guys to get some rest after the show. Plus Garth had to work in the morning. I must admit that I had heck of a time trying to stay focused and awake. Haha… my Asian sleeping genes came back! Yep, I even have the power to fall asleep at the wheel. But no worries… I didn’t this time around (ahem… though I did swerve off road during a few of my zoned out episodes… eish). The threat of wild animals running onto the rode pretty much kept me alert. And when I felt myself dozing off, I just kept slapping my face and pinching myself all over. Haha… and I fidgeted a lot. My my… I must’ve looked like quite the driver. Anyway, Joel & Megan arrived in Swakop by 2:30am. All of us Walvis Bayers got home at 3am. Oy vey… Garth works in the morn and I must perform with Mascato as well at 7:30am. TIRED! To bed we go!

Monday, June 30, 2008. Garth & I obviously had a heck of a time getting up this morning… with less than 4 hours sleep! But whatevs… the sun was up and bright, so that helped. We quickly got ready and off we went on our separate ways.

The Mascato performance for the Teaching Ministry was at the Pelican Bay Hotel. We were there at 7:30am and didn't finish until after 10:30am or so. Haha... and we only sang 6 songs. Most of the time was due to waiting. But whatevs... it was still cool to chill with the Mascato peeps. Apparenly, I made Mascato history today in being the VERY FIRST ASIAN TO SING IN MASCATO!!! WOOT WOOT! *Sound the gongs!* Represent yo! Haha... you should of seen some of the faces in the audience gawking at me as I sang in their African languages and danced along with the Mascatos. They probably thought, "African... African... Asian... African... wait a minute... wha?" Since Joel had already left to see Megan off (she's heading to Spain next), I naturally stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha... I enjoy shocking people apparently.

At noon, Aunty J went to pick up Granny Joel at the bus station. We all call her Mammie. Haha... Garth is going to be so stoked to see her... heehee... or not. I always tease him saying that she's strict because she cares and that he's really her favorite grandson. Haha... he says, "Yea right!" I like Mammie anyway. She is strict but she's very wise. And she has a naturally tendency to rhyme all the time. Haha... perhaps I should try rapping with her some time. ;p Nothing like quality bonding with Granny.

Anyway, that should be all for now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with all my daily happenings. Heehee...

I hope all is well back home in E-town!!! LOVE LOVE TO ALL!!!

and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!