AMIS--High School Honor Orchestra

This winter has been busy!  (And my non-posting on the blog is the result).  

This past week Alice and I flew to Shanghai (a 2-hour flight), to participate in the 

Honors Orchestra for International School students.

When we moved from Iowa, Alice was sad that she would not have the opportunity to try out for 

All-State.  That event not only gives you the feeling of being a quality player, it is a lot of fun (going with other high school students and staying at a hotel for a couple of days).

In October, Alice auditioned for the AMIS festival, and was accepted. 

 "Excited" would be an under-statement!

 AMIS--Association for Music in International Schools. And in French it means "friend".

 102 string players from 18 schools in Europe, Asia and Africa.  Twenty-four violas!  A director from Ireland (with a nice baritone brogue), all coming together at Shanghai.

 We arrived on a Wednesday afternoon and since we had only been back 2 days from our trip to Israel, It was really nice to just relax at the hotel.

Thursday was a rehearsal day with an evening visit to an acrobatic show 

that was very professional and amazing.  

Friday was another rehearsal day, but the moms weren't needed so we organized our own outing, exploring Shanghai a bit.  From the left, Christine (Scottish) living in France while her husband works for the UN in Geneva; VeJiah (Indian) living in Nigeria; Liz (American) living in Zurich, and Crystal (American) living in Amman, Jordan.  And then there's me, American living in China.  We had fun stories to share!

The group had a night-time visit to a pearl market area and some excellent Chinese barbeque.  The others wanted something authentic, and it was delicious.

Already it was Saturday!  Short nights and busy days made the time fly by.  After a morning rehearsal, the group went to Yu Gardens (which I found out later actually has a garden, but we never made it there--we spent the time shopping).  It was fun to be able to help people get decent prices for the things they wanted.  Alice and I were in great demand--is this a quality piece?  What do you think of these pearls?  Should I get this silk jacket?   And so on.

 As it was still during the Chinese New Year time, decorations abounded.  And by the way, this is the year of the Snake, and I was born in a year of the Snake.  (So if any Chinese know that, they know my age).

Alice and her friends, (L to R) Neha (Indian), Emilie (Scottish), and Eleni (Hmmm, I'm not sure how to classify her--her father is Ecuadorian, her mother is British and she is living in The Hague, Holland).

Each of them came as single students, so they came with a parent chaperon instead of a school director. 

 Saturday night performance!  Each participating school was introduced in the course of the evening, and Alice got to stand up all by herself, to applause.

The program was 90 minutes, and that's a lot of music to prepare in three days!

Adagio in G Minor (Albinoni)

Divertimento in D Major (Mozart)  (3 movements)

Serenade for Strings in E Major (Dvorak)  (5 movements)

The kids worked very hard.  The Serenade was tried a few years ago, and they could only get 2 movements ready.  This year, all the music was played.  And it was so lovely!

On the first day, someone came up to Alice, "Are you Ellie Bailey's sister?" It was Julia Liu, who moved from Cedar Falls at the same time we did.  She had been in Suzuki and NIJO with Ellie.

It's still a small world!  

Alice had a dress made for this--black Chinese dragons on black, with a Chinese neckline.

It was VERY nice and should last her at least through high school.

 I just had to include the hotel lobby Chinese New Year tree 

that was probably a Christmas tree a month ago. 

 We traveled by bus back and forth from the hotel and the Puxi campus of Shanghai International School where the festival was held.  These same buses also picked us up at the airport--just Alice and I in this huge bus, riding across the city.  It was a little strange feeling!

 We scheduled our return flight for mid-afternoon on Sunday so we could attend services in Shanghai.

I got detailed instructions on how to get there--we could go by taxi (40 minutes) or by subway (who knows how long?  probably an hour.)  So we did the taxi.  It ended up being about $20 to church, and another $20 back to the airport.  We also had to take our luggage to church. But it was great to be there.

There are two Shanghai expat branches.  They meet in a beautiful tower, in the conference center.

People were very friendly and welcoming.

We met a friend of Catherine's (from San Antonio) who had moved there a year ago.

***

I'd have to say that Shanghai compared to Tianjin is like Paris compared to Newark, NJ.

It was so clean and nice looking--more European, I suppose, but also wealthier-looking in that the buildings looked like they were well-built.

Along with that was the nicer weather--some trees had leaves, daffodils were about to bloom,

flowers were everywhere.  Here in Tianjin, there's still ice in shadowed corners.

So, it was a great 5 days!  Alice is already looking forward to next year, 

when the festival is held in Dusseldorf, Germany.