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| Glen at the beach...Newport Beach? |
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| enjoying a Balboa Bar |
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| there were sailboat races that day |
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| this is as close to Disneyland as Glen and I got |
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| saw some wild burros |
Intro:
Glen was asked to drive the instrument van for the music department down to southern California for the Heritage Festival. We drove down on Thursday to our hotel which was in Irvine, the Festival was at Fullerton College on Friday, and Disneyland in Anaheim was on the schedule for Saturday--which, because Glen and I were coming home on Saturday and not Sunday like the rest of them, I'm happy to say that Glen and I were going to miss Disneyland (I have NO desire to go to Disneyland...especially for 15 hours straight). The instruments would no longer be needed after Friday and we had things to do and 4 children waiting for us back home.
We had told the music teacher, Kathy, way back when that we weren't comfortable driving in the big city and she said that was fine, she'd take over when we got close. Turns out that that didn't help as switching to the bus was maybe just as stressful if not more so than it would have been to try and drive the van...but if I had been planning on driving the van, I would have printed out all sorts of maps and directions and it probably would have wound up being less stressful for me. Didn't look like anyone had real maps (there was one hired greyhound-type bus, 3 school vans and I think 2 parent vehicles in our entourage on Thursday), but many had GPS systems. As far as I'm concerned that wasn't good enough.
Chapter 1: Thursday morning
Getting loaded was a stress as we didn't know how we were going to fit 61 students on the 54 seats on the bus (with seats 55-57 being used by adults) when some of the vans (like ours) were not allowed to take students. Some parents wound up driving their kids that weren't originally planning on having kids in their vehicle... more on that of Friday morning... Don't know how, but they got loaded and we left.
So, Glen drives us, 1 set of parents, Kathy, and some instruments to Bishop. I take over in Bishop and Kathy switches over to drive another van (since the driver said her legs hurt and she didn't want to continue driving). I do not like following people when I go somewhere, but it's a big green bus and the road is straight and we have cell phones. We are told we are stopping in Adelanto next and that's where we'll switch drivers. We are the tail of the caravan and start to lose them in Adelanto as there are many stop lights. Just as soon as I'd almost catch them we'd hit a light...which then meant more cars were now in between us and the bus.
Then we pass through Adelanto and are now in Victorville. We can't see them in front of us and didn't see them pulled off anywhere, but since we have cell phones I'm not too stressed yet. Then we leave Victorville and are in the next town and I start to stress (the 3 towns flow one right into the other). She said we were stopping in Adelanto and that was 2 towns ago. So we try calling Kathy and get no answer. So the couple in the van with us, the Morgans, text their daughter who says they haven't stopped yet. That was a bit comforting, but had they turned off and we missed it? Anyway, they now call their daughter and she tells us that they are just now pulling in somewhere. So in a few minutes we are all at the same gas station. There was some switching of drivers going on. Glen and I are now on the bus as we head to Irvine. We get to see most of "Tangled" (which is absolutely adorable) and that was OK. One of the 2 toll booths made me question the intelligence of the bus driver, but no real stress there. Until we try to find our hotel...
I would have really thought that as a bus driver he would have done a little homework and would know exactly how to get us to the hotel. Even if he didn't know exactly where he was going before that morning so he could do a mapquest, why didn't he have maps of LA? (actually I don't know if that really would have helped us find the hotel, though, and he did have a GPS but I'm starting to not be thrilled with those for big city driving). He said he wasn't allowed to look at maps while he drove. No, but others could have. And he could have while we were stopped. I wished we had a mapquest map.
He was a bit testy with the kids. He told us he doesn't like driving in LA. So why is a man who doesn't seem to like kids or driving in LA driving a bus load of kids in LA? He pulls into the wrong hotel and then almost can't get the bus turned around to get back out again...meanwhile I am VERY stressed (and so was the driver) and Glen probably has a bruised leg from me holding on in my anxious state.
The plans for dinner that night changed 3 times (in a 15-30 minute window) from "the bus is taking us somewhere to eat" to "we're all ordering in pizza and the music teacher is paying for it" to "you're on your own, check with your chaperons to see if you are leaving the hotel and walking somewhere or just staying in." Of course with 61 kids, the changes in the messages didn't all get through to all of them (or through the chaperons) and it was a bit crazy for a while.
(The music teacher was told by the bus company that morning that the driver would be able to be on duty later than the bus driver said to her that afternoon that he was allowed to be on duty, so hence the first change of plans. The second change of plans was due to Glen telling the music teacher that she needed to be more careful with her money and not buy pizza for everybody like that...due to hiring a coach bus instead of taking 2 school buses, they now have to do more fund raising to pay for this trip...and that bus situation is a whole nuther story which I won't go into here as I'm already too long winded...)
Chapter 2: Balboa Park Friday Morning
Next morning was worse...not all the vehicles were going to Balboa Park. STRESS. How were all the kids going to fit? It finally got worked out. Not sure how. After dropping us off, Kathy (and the accompanist) went to go sign us in at the Festival (and go to a director's meeting) and at Disneyland and would be back later--at least that was the original plan. Once we set off, we get to Balboa with just minor stress. We have 3 hours. There's the beach and some shops. I found that 1 hour would have been enough for me (I'm not into shopping...or the beach...I'm such a party-pooper, I know--poor Glen). The music teacher called to say that they weren't making it back to Balboa as they weren't done with their errands yet. So now we have 3 people (Glen, Joy--a translator for a deaf student on the trip, and me) who need to find a way to squeeze onto someone else's van. We find someone with 3 extra seats. Relief (which would be short-lived).
Then it's time to go. Turns out there are too many kids on the bus--though there are the same number as on the way there, but apparently the driver missed that there were 3 to a seat in one spot and 4 on the back bench instead of 3, and the driver kicks 2 of them off (we took off girls whose parents were on the trip and they took the 2 spots that Glen and I thought we were going to have). Thought we were going to have to squeeze too many people on one van, but it turns out another van hadn't left yet and they had 2 spaces, so Glen and I took those seats and "all was well" --except that I was stressed out. (I wonder how many times I've use the word "stress" so far and I'm only half-way into the trip.)
The Morgans, who were now the bus chaperons, mention to us they now know what we mean about the driver (the previous night when asked about our bus stint I told them it was a trip from you-know-where --only I was so stressed I used the real word and not "you-know-where").
Chapter 3: The Festival at Fulleton College Friday afternoon and evening
We make it back to the hotel and the kids have a few hours to get cleaned up and get ready for the Festival.
Major stress come now. 1-The bus driver assures us he knows how to get to the college...and of course it later turns out he knows how to get to the college, but not where they need to be at the college so there was a little shuffling around later. 2-The mother who drove to Bishop in a school van with her 2 sons and then had Kathy take over does not want to drive in LA. Someone told me she said she hadn't driven past Carson City before, I don't know if that was true, but I have to say, I couldn't picture her driving in LA. So I want to help because I'm really worried about this mother driving, but I don't want to drive in LA either...plus I wasn't sure if I was approved to drive students--I knew we weren't to have any on our van, but could I drive them in a different van??? Anyway, I felt like I was leaving her to the wolves and got in the van I was supposed to go in.
Kathy drives us and she is going a different route to the college to try and beat the bus there...only it didn't work and we arrive after (which wasn't stressful, but a bit funny). After a little bit, the mother I was worried about shows up and I am greatly relieved.
First up, the choir has a 30 minute practice then they are on. Can I just say, someone needs to throw out the music for "Nellie Bly" so I don't have to listen to it ever again? (they've been performing that piece for how many years now? I never even liked it to begin with) My favorite piece was about a wedding and it was fabulous.
Now the previous school had sung 3 songs for a total of 15 minutes, so then they got 15 minutes of professional instruction on how they could improve their performance. Our group sang 5 or 6 songs (we had 2 choirs mixed together...not all sang all the songs...I wonder if that is why we sang so many songs) which left them maybe 10 minutes for instruction. And they were done.
So in my mind, as for real value, the 9-10 hour drive one way and total of 4 day trip and all that money (and stress and frustration) was all for 10 minutes of instruction. Really. Later on the band went and then the strings.
Glen and I think the whole festival is a bit of a "racket"...they had 60 schools that weekend and it was the 7th of 12 weekends of the festival. Although it's a competition (or at least I think it is), everyone "wins" something. Of course the kids got to go to the beach and got to go to Disneyland and raised their own money, but I think they should raise less money and hire a professional to come in and give them real feedback.
To make it more of an educational opportunity, in my mind, the kids should sit through a lot of other performances and hear the professional's advice to the other groups. There was a little bit of that going on, and I was outside with the instrument van for a bit, so maybe the kids got more instruction than I'm thinking they did. But really. What a waste. Of course, the kids might not think it was a waste. I wonder what the parents thought (we didn't have any of our own kids there, though Hannah is planning on taking orchestra next year so it might apply to her then).
We make it back to the hotel with very little stress...we missed our exit (Glen had the GPS and someone else was driving and twice I thought we were supposed to turn and we weren't, so the 3rd time I didn't say anything and it turned out we were supposed to turn...so we missed our exit) and of course the GPS just takes you to the next exit and we finally made it home but for a while we wondered where on earth the GPS was taking us 'cause it didn't seem to be taking us in the right direction at first).
At night we took the kids' cell phones and room keys as that is going to be the new rule for our district. Can I just say it's only mildly helpful. I said to one student what prevents a student from bringing 2 cell phones and only handing one over, and she confessed that she knew someone that did just that. Where there's a will...
Chapter 4: Leaving on Saturday
Relatively uneventful trip home. :) We had seen 3 wild burros right next to the highway on the way down, so Glen had the camera ready in case we saw them again...and he did only they were way off the road, but he managed to get a photo.
Now some positive comments about the trip:
the nice people on the trip
being able to read "Catching Fire"
arriving home safely
Sorry for a miserable trip. I love Newport and Irvine and Balboa. I went to UCI and lived on Balboa Island my senior year. . . not that I am a beachy person or enjoy the traffic down there.
ReplyDeleteI too wonder about *festivals* and the worthiness of them. I know the kids around here join the music department simply for that pay off. So perhaps the biggest benefit is that kids that might not have a musical influence may gain a love and/or appreciation for music?
As far as lack of organization and miscues. . . I suppose we all need to cut each other slack and wait for time to pass so we can roll our eyes and laugh. (easier said than done.)
Did you enjoy Catching Fire?
you are funny...glad I wasn't there!
ReplyDeletePhew! You made it! 'Glad you're back. I like LA, but my mom lives there, and we don't have to do a fundraiser and ride buses. My mom will also give longer and better advice for free. :)
ReplyDeleteYuck! When I was a junior our choir went to the Heritage Festival and Disneyland as well. But we flew, had a greyhound bus from LA. That didn't stop him from getting the bus stuck in the hotel parking lot or from trying to take us to San Diego after the festival, because he thought that when we said our hotel in Santa Monica (I believe), he thought we really meant San Diego.
ReplyDeleteWe avoided all of your other catastrophes by having a choir director who has gone to the festival thousands of times (that may not be an exaggeration) and keeping everyone on our one greyhound bus - so maybe next time it won't be so bad?
I think that the Heritage Festival is only fun and a good idea if you want to go to Disneyland for two days. We watched several other choirs perform, but that was because we were last for the day. And I think our professional instruction time was closer to 30 minutes, but it could be time that is making my memory haszy.
And everyone wins a prize, but the levels of prizes are really confusing. There is First Place Bronze, Second Place Bronze, and Third Place Bronze, with two Bronze honorable mentions, and it is like that all the way up to First Place Gold, which is the highest prize (which we won, thank you, thank you.)
So yeah, I agree that if you don't care about spending three days in Disneyland (going to the Festival gives you a three day pass to both parks) then it is of more value to go to a more local festival with longer professional instruction.
Phew! I was stressd just reading about your trip! This is what I think about when I am stressed..."Denise, have you ever been part of ANYTHING that did not work out some way or another? Answer: NO, so why do I think that THIS won't work out too?" Then I just try to relax and have faith! :)
ReplyDelete