BACK IN BUSINESS

I didn’t realize it was back early September that I last posted here. Ooops !
No excuses though, apart from being busy with all sorts of stuff.
It’s been some hectic months.

Work started first week of September again. Same job, same school, same routine. Got nine different groups this year. Most of them 3rd and 4th year’s students. In general it seems the kids this year are a bit more eager to learn, but test results are far from sufficient. Oh well,… We’ll just keep trying to challenge them and hope for the best.

With the corps we topped the National Championships (see below), and placed third at the Drum Corps Europe Championships held in Rotterdam last weekend of September. A record of eight countries were represented on the competition field. What a great event! After a short break we have now started working on the ballad for the new 2008 repertoire. In the meantime we kept rehearsing the 2007 production for we had a very interesting invitation for mid-December: Malaysia !!!

The committee organizing the international championship to be held in Kuala Lumpur invited Jubal when their representative saw us in Italy last July. We were to keep the invitation secret until we got a green light. Unfortunately it was never realized. The local committee (which was to pay all the expenses) could not give us the guarantee we needed. It was tough to find enough seats on planes to fly to Malaysia. Too bad. That would have been a spectacular trip!

Oh well,.. I have done quite a bit of travelling so far this year. And it’s not over yet!







Right now I am on my way to Portugal preparing for an international exchange project for our school. I have never been to Portugal before. Did go to Spain quite a bit, so I expect it to be pretty similar. It’s sort of the same type of trip I took to Sarnico (Italy) earlier this year. Unfortunately my good friend and colleague Jurrie who was to join me again on this adventure had to cancel his trip at the very last moment. That’s too bad for he was looking very much forward to this trip as well! Jur,… Best Wishes and a speedy recovery for your wife !!



Mid October I went to Paris (Yes,… AGAIN!) with my good friend Lisa from Delaware (USA). It has been exactly 20 years since I lived with her in the States for three months when I marched the same corps she did. I knew she loves Paris too, and since she had to be back in Edinburgh for work and I had a week off from school (fall vacation) it was a great opportunity to spend some time in Paris together. What a great week we had! I got to see quite a few things and places I had never visited before on all those previous trips.

Other things on my agenda of the last few months?
Well,… the mardi gras band picked up the training schedule, and we’ve had a few performances too. The best fun so far was at the Oktoberfest of colleague band Bar Gebeure. Their theme of the festival was “Oriental Party”. We brought in our own mobile wok-kitchen and not only created a great atmosphere, but also some good food. The garlic really did its job alright. The organizers complained the room still smelled of garlic a week later.
Last week was the annual inauguration of the new Prince of Carnaval in town. One of the board members was unexpectedly announced Prince. We played at that party too.

Yesterday Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands. Our band plays at a lot of parties different companies organize for the children of their employees. Hard to explain the Sinterklaas phenomenon to people abroad. Here is a good explanation. Our band is dressed as the good old man’s black helpers, so we wear black make-up on our faces. One of the best periods of the year. Unbelievable how much little children enjoy this. For us it’s a good period too, for we make a few bucks to cover the expenses we have during the Carnaval weekend.

A very sad period on the other hand too these last months. I had four funerals! Some of them friends I knew through the music scene and my aunt passed away totally unexpectedly last month. Enough funerals for the rest of the year I hope.

Christmas is approaching rapidly. Looking forward to that! Haven’t made any plans yet. Neither for New Year’s Eve. You might remember that Wild West Party I threw at my place. Might do a different theme this year. A Tropical Beach Party sounds nice. I am not sure if I would dump sand on the floor in my living-room though.

Enjoy,

HK