Tea, biscuits, and blogging!

Hi!  I am sitting here drinking a cup of delicious tea (that I am of course dunking bourbon biscuits into) and thinking of all of you lovely friends and family stateside.  I thought I'd write a little bit about what I actually do over here. Like, for a living...

So besides teaching a zillion adorable little kids (and lots of older kids and adults too!), I get to do fabulous gigs every once in awhile.  Okay, by fabulous, I mean, slightly strange.

The gig was for a jewelry expo (there was a security guard for each mannequin dripping in diamonds) and the event was held at a wonderful French restaurant called The French Window.  It acquires its name from the giant wall of glass that serves as a wonderful view out over the harbour.  I will share the pictures FIRST.  So etherial looking (as is appropriate for a French restaurant).  And take note of the camera men filming me on the third picture down.  So glamorous.  It looks like fun!  But looks can be deceiving...

So despite the mood lighting, candles, and ambience that was just ever so- this gig was not at all what I was expecting!  I should have known when they wanted me to arrive 3 hours early for hair and makeup.  I got stuffed into a room with loads of models (which also sounds glamourous, but trust me, it's not) and spent hours waiting around to perform.  The ordeal was so highly managed by event planners due to its high priority client status; I had no idea event planners paid attention to so many details!  Before the event, they needed the dimensions of the harp, the color of the harp, and the color of the harp bench and music stand.  AND they even provided me with a dress because they didn't trust me to wear the exact perfect shade of cream!  It was wild!  Details, details, details!  All of this for just 30 minutes of harp music!  In addition to all of this mayhem, I couldn't leave when I was finished performing because we couldn't strike the harp until all the guests had left.  This logistical problem was in part due to the fact that the harp was tucked into a small hole in the wall (literally) that they had especially constructed to have me play in.  Two doors sprung open when I started playing and a spotlight shone down on me while I played in a hole literally covered in football field turf, which I presume was supposed to create a feeling of being at a French garden party.  It was a trip!

All in all though, hopefully I don't sound like I am complaining, because I love having these "crazy harp gig" stories.

One more thing!  Hong Kong Harp Services is trying to upload new youtube videos every few weeks which means there are a few videos of me up if you care to check them out.  Click here for the most recent video of me playing the harp solo from the opera Lucia di Lammermoor by G. Donizetti.  If you look to the side of this video there are also two additional links that will take you to videos of me playing a French work by Tournier and a popular well-loved harp concerto by Handel.

Enjoy.

Time for a refill on tea :)

xx
JB

Rookie Mistakes

I'm trying new things on this great continent!  Translation: lots of opportunities for me to make a fool of myself.  I've come to call these little mishaps my "rookie mistakes".  Here are some highlights:

Food (always with the foooood!): I had my first dim sum experience not that long ago.  It was my "welcome lunch" at my work, so luckily I was with many people who knew all the right things to order.  The food just kept coming- dumplings, fried tofu, various seafood, fish balls, more dumplings, veggies galore.

This photo doesn't really do it justice, but such is life.  Notice in the picture,  that the chopsticks are the normal "wood" color.  For dim sum, what are known as the serving chopsticks are a different color.  In this case, they were black.  It is impolite to use the chopsticks you eat with to serve your food with.  So, black sticks for serving with, plain sticks for eating with.  Being the newbie that I am,  here was my error.  Halfway through the meal, one of my co-workers looked at me, shook his head and muttered "rookie mistake".  It took me a minute to process what he was talking about. I looked down and noticed I was eating with the black serving chopsticks.  Whoops.

Sport:  I've been talking a lot about food- so I need some way to stay in shape, yeah? Thus, I started going to the squash club with a group of people.  It is very very cheap to rent out the courts and you don't have to be a member, so it's a great athletic option.  I always go with Brits, who seem to all play squash, like some sort of national past-time. It's not really a popular sport at all in America, and to make matters worse, I've never really played any racquet sport.  Or any sport at all, now that I think of it.  Unless you count playing soccer when I was 6- aka picking dandelions on the sideline during every game.  Anyway, needless to say, I knew I was in for a walloping.  They tried to be nice to me, but I was still complete crap my first time.  Now my roommate is "training" me so that I don't make such a fool of myself the next time I play against people.  Despite my complete and utter lack of skill, the pictures sort of make it seem as if I know what I am doing.  And that's what matters most, right?

"Seeing the sights":  And here it is.  My biggest rookie mistake as of yet.  I have one day off each week and I decided, why not go see some other parts of Hong Kong?  Great idea.  Andy had forwarded me an email of the "10 Best Hikes in Hong Kong".  I like nature. I like hiking.  Done.  This was going to be my day off adventure.  I copied down the directions to the trail head that were on the internet, I packed up my granola and 3 liters of water, and set off.  I had to take a 30 minute ferry to the island where the "trail" was.  So far, so good.  I arrived at Mui Wo, which is a rural town on the east coast of Lantau Island.  It is a popular area for hiking, so I figured there would be decent signage for the trails.  Wrong.  Everyone in the main city area of Hong Kong seemingly speaks English, so I thought if worse comes to worse, I will be able to ask for directions.  Wrong.  I started off on what I assumed was the correct trail because it looked like a path and seemed like it could correspond to the directions I had.  However, since Mui Wo is rural and you can only access the houses and shops via bicycle or on foot, every road looks like a path.  No cars or motor vehicles are allowed in the heart of Mui Wo.  Alas, I kept dead-ending at squatters' homes and would have to retrace my steps and try again.  Many of these squatters had viscious dogs, and in one instance, I was chased.  Who is dumb enough to do this alone?  Me.

So after 2 hours of being lost- I finally found a nice Irish man who pointed me in the right direction.  I had asked the other 3 people I happened to come across, but they either didn't speak English, or had never heard of the trail I was after.  That's what I get for trying out a road-less-travelled-sort-of-trail.  The Irish man sort of just shook his head at me and said "Wow, you're a really long way off.  You're not even close".  Cheers.  Thanks for the encouragement.  Only another half hour of getting lost and being scared by wild animals,  and I finally found my trail.  YAY!  Except not.  Because I was stupid enough to attempt to climb a mountain in 100 degree Fahrenheit weather with 77 percent humidity.  I only climbed for about 1.5 kilometers before I couldn't breathe and had to turn around.  The humidity made me feel like I was breathing in straight water.  No more hiking for me, until about November, at the earliest.  For now, I'll try to stick to the sight-seeing that involves air conditioning.  

No Roads!

Fire beaters along all of the paths in Mui Wo

The Asian version of a "scare crow"

Banana Tree!

Conveniently located "lavatory".  Lovely.

xxJB

MORE FOOD! I should have used wordpress.. Sorry for the sloppy layout.

Hong Kong Entertainment

                                                    
                                                 Victoria Peak

In my first week in HK, I went up the Victoria Peak- which is a hill slash mountain in the middle of HK that you can take a tram car to the very top of and look out over the city.  It sounds like it would be calm and picturesque, but there are millions of tourists and shopping malls galore at the top.  The view was beautiful and the air is significantly cleaner up there (HK has some serious air pollution).  However, I wish it was a bit cooler out- seeing the sights in 100 degree weather isn't exactly as pleasant as it could be.  Hong Kong is as crowded as NYC (maybe more) but with the weather of Houston, Texas.

I suppose HK does look pretty badass from up this high..

More Food

This week I went on two food endeavors.  (My blog is becoming a bit food obsessed.  A bit pathetic.)

The first was to honor my Houston El Meson family.  There is a tapas place a few blocks from my flat and I wanted to see how the tapas made in HK by HK natives compared to the awesomeness at the El.  I had some of my usual faves.  It was actually quite good, but made me miss Houston, and having constant access to world's best black beans.  Oh and how I miss the garlic...  

Pollo al ajillo, sangria, patatas bravas, tortilla espanola, chorizo, calamares- all the old faves....

My second food endeavor was not quite as successful...  My roomie took me on my first real Chinese food excursion to have "Congee".  This is basically a dish where vats of rice are cooked for hours upon hours until it is liquified and then different ingredients such as pork, vegetables, fish, beef, etc are added to the liquified rice.  This wasn't my favorite- the texture really bothered me.  A bit slimy.  We also had an appetizer that was basically a donut inside of a rice paper roll.  At first taste, I enjoyed it, but it was an odd feeling to get used to the fact that I was eating a donut wrapped in rice.  But when in Rome... The upside- authentic Chinese food in HK is vair vair cheap.  Approximately $9 US dollars for 2 bowls of Congee, the donut appetizer, and 2 sodas.  woohoo.  

 

Emo photo credits to Andy Gilmore..

Anything to make you smile; it is my better side of you to admire.

It is really no surprise that I am not being very diligent about updating my "blog".  I have been here almost 2 weeks and so far things are going swimmingly.  I am doing work-related activities much of the time, but I have managed to find a few spare moments to enjoy myself.  This enjoyment naturally comes in the form of food and drink related activities- but maybe I should start to reign this kind of activity in so that I can still fit into all of my harp performance gowns.  Hmm..

I've been to many a high tea thus far.  Take note of fabulous cheese cake and macaroons.  And the tea cup that is actually the size of a soup bowl.  This is at the Shangri-La Hotel, a first class Hong Kong hotel, where I also had a crazy six course lunch the first day I was here.  Wine was involved.  It was a welcoming "business" lunch.  My boss says if we keep eating like this, she is going to have to roll me back onto the plane when I eventually return to the States.  Let's hope not...  My roommate and two of his British friends have promised to teach me how to play squash and there are many wonderful hikes around the hills outside of Hong Kong that I plan on embarking upon- so hopefully this physical activity will allow me to keep up my food habits :)

Tomorrow I am giving a solo recital in the Shui On business center where the harp store/studio is.  Please keep posted for possible video uploads of excerpts from the recital on the Hong Kong Harp Services youtube channel.  For my non-computer savvy family members, just click on the word "youtube" and it will point you in the right direction.


xoxo

Adventure can equal true happiness

"Adventure can equal true happiness"... this is what my fortune in my fortune cookie said on my 16 hour flight from Newark, New Jersey to Hong Kong!  Must be a sign.  Or maybe they just use that same fortune for everyone who is on a plane....  Just settled into my very VERY small apartment and have to wake up for work-related things at 9:30 am.  So much for getting over jet lag!

I am safe and sound, however, and that is what matters most.  I need to get a camera, because there are some wonderful sights I cannot wait to share with everyone.  Hopefully within the next few days I will get some pictures posted!  Tomorrow morning I am helping audition cellists and flutists for the chamber group I will be performing with.  Vair excited.

Love.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So I am not really one to blog.  Not that I have a thing against blogging,  I just normally think I am not interesting enough to write something that people "follow".  But here I am, moving to Hong Kong, and in the past few days, I have realized that there are people who actually care about me enough to want to follow the things I do day to day.

So for those who do not know the details:  I am moving to Hong Kong for a year to play harp at different venues in the city as well as teach.  The move is for approximately a year.  I have no idea what to expect, and I am a mix of sad, excited, scared, and thrilled.  My biggest fear is that life will go on here in the States and I will not be able to put it on pause:  I wish I could make all of you put your lives on hold and not resume them until I returned from my adventure.  I am so excited to have this experience of living abroad, but terribly saddened by the thought that I won't see some very important milestones when I am gone.

One of my absolute closest childhood friends came to say goodbye to me this evening;  I am missing her wedding while I am gone and it breaks my heart that I won't be able to share in that joy with her while I am abroad.  Samantha- I want you to know that I think you are one of the most incredible and amazingly beautiful people I have ever met.  You have the dreams to help anyone and everyone, and you're one of the few people in the world who I think may actually be capable of doing so.

Enough sentimentality for me for one evening- please contact me via facebook or email (Juliana.Beckel@gmail.com) or comment here if you would like to stay in touch!  If you care enough to read my lame blog for half a second, then you probably at least partially like me.  Yeah?   My next post will be when I land safely in China!