Catching Up

Wow, it has been a long time since I updated this blog. Sorry for the delay everybody!

I’ll try to keep this as concise as possible while at the same time getting you all updated on the significant events of my life recently.

First of all, Scott is here! It’s really great to hang out with him again, and he has certainly brought a lot of energy with him (as always)! So that was last Thursday.

Friday: I can’t remember. I know in the evening we had a rehearsal, which I seem to remember going fairly well. I think we also stopped by at the Lighthouse for some dessert.

Saturday: Ok, this day I remember. Saturday Megan and I went to Windhoek for a rehearsal with Afroshine and the band at the Warehouse Theatre. Garth and Michelle went up in Garth’s car and Romano and Dollar came with Megan and I in the car that I rented. It was actually a really cool drive. I’ve done it a couple times now having been on the two previous Africa tours, but it’s a different experience when you’re not on a big tour bus. It’s especially interesting seeing the desert slowly transform into the semi-arid terrain that covers much of the country. It’s also especially frustrating getting stuck behind huge trucks that can only go 80 km/h on the super skinny highway. But it’s also super fun driving on the wrong side of the road – it’s a bit of a mental adjustment, but really not bad at all. We also saw three giraffes, six warthogs, and tons of baboons! We got off to a bit of a later start than we wanted, so it was already getting dark when we got in. But we managed to navigate through town and met up with Garth and Michelle before checking into the Aerobush Lodge (which koko members from the last Africa tour should remember). After we were all settled we went into town for some dinner with Garth’s brother, Jerome, who was a very nice fellow.

Sunday: This was the day of the rehearsal. We went to the Warehouse Theatre at 10am to meet up with the band. The Warehouse is basically just a bar/concert venue kind of like the Starlite Room or the Sidetrack Café was in Edmonton. The band were all nice guys who picked up the music very quickly. The rehearsal was supposed to go until 2pm, but we were done by 12:30pm, so we met back up with Megan and Michelle who had been wandering the shops all morning and had some lunch. After that we met up with Afroshine’s eccentric but cool French producer, Chris, because the guys wanted him to hear the song that I wrote for them. It seemed like Chris really liked the song, and what was supposed to be 5 minutes to play him the song, turned into almost an hour of practice and harmonization and tinkering. I think if we had stayed any longer he would have had us start recording then and there. I found out afterwards that Chris used to be Santana’s producer! But, by this time it was getting well into the afternoon and we had to go or drive most of the way in the dark. In the end, about the last hour and a half of the drive were in the dark, but we got to see a really beautiful sunset, and the traffic wasn’t bad so it was all good. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back though.

Monday: Monday was the beginning of Megan’s last week in Swakop so in theory we should have started doing all kinds of touristy, adventury type stuff. In theory, communism works. What we really did was pretty much nothing. I returned the rental car, and I think we got some groceries. We also had a rehearsal in the evening, but for the most part we just relaxed. It was nice though, after a couple busy days.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we visited Haageneni (sp?) Primary School and MYO. People who were on the last Africa tour will remember Haageneni as the school that we performed at during the sandstorm (the one where we arrived white but left golden). Michelle had had a bit of a correspondence going on with a girl at the school and wanted to visit her and bring her a book, so this was our chance. We went and visited a bunch of the classrooms, and you’ll be happy to hear that they all remember Kokopelli very fondly. Even before we said anything some of them started yelling “Kokopelli!” when they saw my jacket! So, we left some sweets and pencils and stickers with the teachers to give out, and then Michelle met up with her friend in a very heart-warming reunion. One of the teachers even put us to work – she had an origami book, and she wanted to see if we could do something simple to teach the grade 5’s. We ended up showing them how to make cranes! In retrospect, I’m pretty sure the teacher just saw that Michelle was Asian and thought, “She MUST know how to do origami!” After that we went over to Mrs. Venter’s for another lovely lunch, and then went to visit Engelhardt at MYO. MYO (Mondesa Youth Opportunities) is an after-school program for gifted children, and does some really great things for these kids (Lex worked there for a year, so I’m sure she could tell you the whole story). While we were there Engelhardt was teaching a hip-hop dance class. It was really fun to watch as some of the kids were really good dancers. Also, Engelhardt had made up the whole routine himself! I was very impressed. We also talked to Lindsey for a while (she’s an American who’s been working for MYO for a couple years and singing in Mascato) and she told us some more details about how thinks work at MYO.

Wednesday: We (Megan, Scott, Michelle, and I) went quadding in the dunes! This was something I had never done before, and I know it supposedly ruins the ecology of the dessert, but it was so much fun! And besides, the ecology in the places that we drove had long since been destroyed. The only disappointing part was that we were stuck with one very slow woman that we had to keeping waiting for. She was very nice, but very, very slow. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go again with only fast people. Later in the afternoon Megan roped me into going horseback riding, which I wasn’t especially opposed to, but didn’t go so well for me. I would recommend going if you have been riding many times before and are used to extremely uncomfortable British-style saddles, but for me, it was pretty horrendous. I was kind of peeved because it was just the two of us, and we had two experienced guides, but when I was having problems and asking questions, the only person answering was Megan! I got virtually no guidance from the “guides” whatsoever, and they seemed to just assume that I knew what I was doing. Oh well, Megan did enjoy it, and it was mostly for her benefit anyway, so it was fine.

Thursday: In the morning Megan and I drove (so nice having access to a vehicle now that Scott is here!) to Walvis Bay to climb Dune 7 (tallest sand dune in Namibia). Unfortunately, when we got there it was way too windy to climb. But, while we were in Walvis Bay, we went down to the waterfront to book a pelican cruise for Friday (we did this cruise on both African trips, but Megan had obviously never done it before and I thought she would really enjoy it). So we did that and then drove back home to Swakop and had lunch at Mrs. Venter’s, where I also got fitted for a Mascato uniform for our concert on Friday night (more on that in a second)!!! In the evening we had a rehearsal with all the old people to practice the music for the concert (most of which I [and Megan!] will be faking my [our] way through). Also, it was Engelhardt’s birthday yesterday, so we got him a couple little things and a cake and drove him home.

Friday (today): Today we went on the cruise. It was lots of fun what with the pelicans, seals, and dolphins. It was kind of nothing new to me, as the guides recycle the same jokes and the whole trip is far more scripted than it appears the first time around. But it was still lots of fun, and Megan really enjoyed it. When we got back into town we went with Scott to the Village Café for some lunch, and I’ve just been blogging ever since. Tonight we have a concert with a university choir from Pretoria, which promises to be quite good. Unfortunately, the choir was in Windhoek yesterday, and were having a group picture taken, when someone grabbed a bunch of their bags and took off in a car. And, as luck would have it, in one of the bags taken was all they’re passports and money!!! So they apparently have spent the whole day at the embassy trying to figure out what they’re going to do. But the show must go on, so hopefully their spirits will be raised somewhat.

But now I have to iron my pants for the concert!!!! More to come later.

Continued . . .

Friday Evening (post-concert): So Megan and I just performed in our first (and for Megan, probably her last) Mascato concert. We just opened the concert with four pieces – the real attraction was the University of Pretoria Youth Choir. Don’t let the word “university” throw you – they’re actually all 14-19, but the choir is run through the university. But, just by listening to them you may never guess that they weren’t a university group, because they were fantastic. They actually reminded us a lot of Kokopelli! They did some familiar repertoire too. Tomorrow night we’re going to have some sort of social event with them, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to share some tunes in a less formal environment.

Coming up: Apart from the event with the choir tomorrow, the main events that we have upcoming are the Afroshine concert in Windhoek, a Mascato performance in Walvis Bay, and Megan’s departure. On Sunday we’ll be headed up to Windhoek again early in the morning for another rehearsal for the Afroshine concert in the day, and then the concert itself at night. Then, on Monday morning (8am!) Mascato is performing in Walvis Bay for a government function, which will be attended by the President of Namibia! And finally, on that same Monday, Megan will be leaving from Walvis Bay airport at around 1pm. So, after the concert we’re probably going to try to make it up Dune 7, since we didn’t get the chance the other day. And then Megan will be off the Spain for the rest of the summer!

-Joel.