Thursday, October 24

Today was a pretty boring day at school. We had a test in PE (Algebra), which I always like because I actually understand algebra. After school we had to stay until 4:30 for sports. I had been in volleyball, but I really kind of hate volleyball, so today I changed sports to track. Instead of just standing around like we do in volley, we actually ran and did exercises and I feel like I got something out of the hour and half. It was a lot better and I actually like sports now. After school, I came home and put on nicer clothes and redid my makeup because Sally had invited me to some fancy concert thing with her dad. I ate dinner (completos which are like hot dogs but with tomato and avocado instead of ketchup and mustard), and then waited for my dad to come home so he could drive me over to Sally’s house. When I got there, I sat down with Sally’s family so they could eat dinner while I drank some tea. Then Sally changed her clothes and we left. Her dad explained what we were doing on the way there because neither of us understood the first time. We were going to the new theater in Rancagua to see the national police concert band perform. Sally’s dad got tickets because he is a retired police chief. When we got there, it was obvious that this was a dignified event, with press, and lots of uniformed police officers, and important people. Sally’s dad introduced us to a few people he knew, and it was really interesting to meet and get a chance to talk to such important people. Then we sat down (in the front row) for the concert. It was really amazing. The performers were all in full uniform, and they are all the best players in Chile, so obviously the music was fantastic.

It touched a special chord in my heart because seeing an orchestra playing made me miss playing my flute in the band. It also really made me appreciate how talented these people were. After the concert, the mayor of Rancagua, and the current Rancagua chief of police came up and gave speeches.

Then the concert was over and Sally’s dad ushered us into this back room for a reception with the mayor, the chief of police, a few other people I didn’t meet, and all of the performers in the band. Sally and I got coffee and awkwardly talked among ourselves for a little while, feeling super out of place in out Rotary blazers, until Sally’s dad came over to us and asked if we wanted to take a picture with members of the band.

We agreed of course, and some of them lined up to take a picture with us. After we took it, I was feeling pretty brave, so I asked which one of them was the flute player (they had played My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, and I absolutely fell in love with the flute solo). They all laughed a little and yelled for a guy to come over. I told him that I played the flute too and that his solo was absolutely perfect and how I envied him a lot. He was super nice and actually surprisingly young, and we talked for a while like we were actually friends. I feel like talking about music really does unite people. We talked about the flute, flute brands, drum corps, marching band, John Williams, and the piccolo, so I guess you could say we had enough in common.

It was a little awkward though because the whole time we were talking his friends were laughing and making fun of him and taking pictures of us talking. What else can you expect from young guys though right? After a while Sally came to get me to tell me it was time to go. I said goodbye to the nice people I’d met, and we left. Sally’s dad drove me home around 11:00. I had a great time at the concert, but by that time I was dead tired, so I went straight to sleep.