And So it Begins...

Hawaii. Some call it paradise, some call it a vacation spot... for me, it is all of these things, and in addition to that, it is now home. Now that I've officially graduated from Stanford University (receiving confirmation of my degree conferral through email), packed up my things in my room, moved out of my room, and purchased a one-way ticket to Hawaii, I've now moved to beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii- a place which I'll be calling home for at least the next year or so.

And so it begins...

Now in case you don't already know, I've decided to pursue taiko as my career. Not exactly a money-making career, which comes as a shock to many who know I come from Stanford and with a degree in Symbolic Systems- one of the highest paid majors right out of Stanford (and also one of the least known majors). Believe me, it's not easy to pursue a performance art as your career, and it's definitely not easy to tell your parents that you want to do something that's gonna make you broke, especially after graduating from Stanford. My reason for pursuing taiko is really quite simple. I love it. I love it more than you could possibly imagine, and the joy I receive from other people loving taiko after one of my performances, especially if they've never seen taiko before, is really quite unimaginable. So, Hawaii is the beginning of my taiko career. I applied for a year-long fellowship with a group called the Taiko Center of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii under the direction of Kenny Endo, one of the most renowned taiko artists in the United States, and guess what? I got it! (Cause if I didn't get it, I wouldn't have a story to tell). So, back to the story...

The journey to Hawaii on my $130 one-way flight on Hawaiian Airlines began with a rough start. I brought three successively smaller rolling suitcases with me, one of which ended up being 10 pounds over the allowable weight limit. I ended up stuffing a bunch of books from that suitcase into my carry-on, and paying the $25 oversize fee for my (after removing the books) 70 pound bag. After saying goodbye to my parents and heading to the gates, I made the mistake of putting my boarding pass in with the rest of my stuff through the conveyer belt at the the security check. So...when the guard at the metal detector asked to see my boarding pass, all I could tell him was that I had sent it through with my carry-on items. He subsequently made a face, and told me to stand aside, where I stood for the next 10 minutes until another security guard happened to see my boarding pass on the other end and asked who it belonged to. Waiting at the gate wasn't much better. There were so many people swarmed around the entrance that there weren't enough seats. So, people were sitting and sleeping all over the floor with luggage everywhere, and everything in general chaos. I felt like I was in the airport of a third-world country. I took a seat on the floor near the boarding entrance thinking that I could get a head-start on everyone else when they called my section of people, but instead, they called my section of people and by the time I got my things together, the line already stretched beyond where I was standing. So...instead of being the first person to get on, I was the last.

Yep...lots and lots of people.

there are people sleeping behind me. I took this picture from the floor.

So far so bad...and I'm not even on the plane yet. The ride over wasn't terrible...but wasn't great. I luckily had reserved the window seat, but unluckily sat next to a rather large man who took his space and most of mine. As a result, I was confined to a single pose the entire 5 and half hour flight over, else I'd be rubbing elbows with him. However, we did talk during our one meager meal on the flight, and we was a really nice man...just...rather large.

Beautiful sunset over my final glimpses of the mainland. Goodbye Mainland!!

With all of these events happening, going to paradise doesn't seem very pleasant....and it wasn't it. But, I eventually did make it to Hawaii with all of my baggage (thankfully), and I got picked up at the airport by Chizuko Endo, the wife of the Sensei (teacher) I will be training with for the next year. Chizuko took me to the practice space, an old chapel on the backside of Diamond Head (for those of you from Honolulu, this should mean something to you), and I watched the Cherry Blossom Festival Queen Candidates having a workshop with my teacher, Kenny Endo. I am indeed in paradise.

Afterwards, Chizuko gave me a short tour of the area, and took me to my new home in Honolulu- Yoko and Kelsey's apartment. Both Yoko and Kelsey are fellow fellowship recipients (what a mouthful) and were nice enough to let me stay with them, at least for now. I'm living in the living room (how fitting), and on that first night we completely rearranged the furniture to give me a private space and separate the "living room" and "kitchen" portions of the room from my "room".

The apartment is not too bad. There are 2 bedrooms, one rather narrow bathroom, and a large living room. The living room contains the kitchen area as well as my "room". The landlord actually lives upstairs (his name is Andy), and he's a really nice guy (he gave us champagne on my second evening in the house). We have WiFi internet which Andy pays for and free utilities (Andy pays for that as well). There's also a washing machine downstairs in the house, as well as a cute little BBQ outside with chairs and a table.

There are...however...some unwanted guests (the occasional roach and gecko), which get caught in the "Trap-A-Roach" traps we have scattered about the house. Other than these buggers, things aren't bad in my new home.

As far as the rest of paradise is concerned...the weather is warm. It's consistently 80 degrees here and only goes down to about 70 at night. It rains at some point almost everyday, not in downpours like in California, but for a few minutes or even just a couple of seconds in light showers. Often times the sun will be completely out when it rains, and it makes for almost daily rainbow sightings.

I've been to the beach once so far, and they are just as I remembered them being from my trip several years back with Stanford Taiko- white sand, clear water, and big waves. It's beautiful. There's always a nice breeze at the beach, and there are postcard-esque scenes everywhere- light breezes causing the palm trees to gently sway and waves of white foam crashing against the sand. I've been fortunate enough to go snorkeling and kayaking on my second day here with my roommate Kelsey and her father (who is visiting the area). Just simply awesome experiences all around.

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures to show you, but I will get some up when I get a chance. I want to get them up as quickly as I can so I can make all of you jealous. hehe.

But of course I didn't come here for the beach (believe it or not), or the waves, or the ocean, or the island breeze, I came here for taiko. As far as the taiko side of things are concerned, I've already performed twice (small parts, but still twice), and in my second performance I played auxiliary instruments for pieces I don't even know. =P I've actually only had one practice so far which I didn't really participate in because the practice was for a concert that the group will have on Kauai later this week (Which I just found out moments ago that I'm participating in). We have practices on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays, and no practice is more than 2 and half hours, making it a little shorter than practices with Stanford Taiko. It definitely isn't less of a time commitment than Stanford Taiko, however, because there are more performances as well as classes to teach and equipment to upkeep. Although I haven't been to a real practice yet, I hear that pieces need to be learned on one's own time. So...I need to start studying up so I can be ready to perform.

Sensei (Kenny Endo) is a nice and funny guy. He's so famous and respected in the taiko community that (for taiko players at least) it creates this amazingly intimidating aura around him. However, he's very down-to-earth, and downright quirky at times. Yesterday, we were performing a yearly cleaning of the practice space and somehow he got his feet trapped in one of the super sticky rat traps lying around the space. I saw him in the doorway shaking his legs to no success trying to get off the rat traps that were stuck on each of his feet. Sensei also puts you into parts of songs he thinks you'll be capable of doing, regardless of you having even heard the song before or not. So, at the second performance, I was thrown into 3 parts about 10 minutes before the performance. Yes...I have lots of work to do.

It's scary to be just thrown into parts you've never played before or pieces you've never heard before, but in the end, it's these things that make you stronger. If I ever want to get better, I need to put myself in the position where I'm not the strongest...where I'm least comfortable. In the end, that's what will make me a better taiko player. So...even though it's pretty darn scary to be thrown into something you've never done before, it's really a challenge you should take. I'm hoping to embrace those challenges in the coming year with an open mind, a beginner's mind...