A Kiwi Cellist in China
The life & times, ups & downs, of a Kiwi / Australian cellist in Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Culture Shock
Yesterday, at 7am, I left Australia invincible. I boarded the plane endowed with a mental fortitude and adventurous spirit worthy of Shaw or Polo. Other than the slight pang of leaving my beautiful girlfriend, Colleen, to fend for herself in the murderous streets of Melbourne, I was thoroughly prepared. I had my cello, two translation books, my passport, and a Kilo of finest Brazilian coffee. What could possibly go wrong?!
Yet somehow, by 10pm Shenzhen time, I found myself huddled in the corner of my new lodgings feeling utterly lost, incredibly lonely, completely dejected, and altogether sorry-for-myself. How could this have happened? At what stage did the famed Kiwi thirst for adventure and travel leave me? I not sure I know the answer, although part of it can be ascribed to one thing: Chinese Accommodation.
Having been promised a 2-3 bedroom unit complete with all furnishings; couch, TV, Kitchen, bathroom, I was somewhat surprised at the unit I found myself in. Yes there were three bedrooms (at least I think so - one is locked and apparently off-limits), but certain other things were markedly absent. Namely the TV, Kitchen, phone and almost everything else. What I have is three beds, one set of sheets, two air-conditioning units, and that's about it. For a first taste of life with the Shenzhen Symphony this wasn't a good start. I was assured that this was temporary accommodation although exactly how temporary they wouldn't say...
So, in the mean time I can console myself with lots of practice (I wont be rehearsing with the orchestra until later this week when they start work on Brahms 4), my all consuming quest for a quasi-decent coffee (since I don't have a stove and cant prepare the stuff I brought over), and the ongoing process of getting to know my musician colleagues, which so far include 3 beer-guzzling Australians, a Russian Double Bass player who calls me "brother" and is insisting on cutting a CD with me, and a Turkish Bassoonist who broke his hand in a friendly fist fight last night...
Posted By charlesbrooks at 1:06 PM
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Friday, May 26, 2006
From Mao to Margins of Error
With only two full days left in
That said I have actually organised one or two things to do with the move. I called my mobile phone carrier and changed my plan to "extort". This new exciting plan allows them to charge me obscene fees from any number of new and exciting countries. Some people would call this a "roaming" plan however the word roaming has about as much relevance to my phone as the word Virgin does to my credit card, which has been so abused it would feel more at home in one of Shenzhen's many "massage parlors" than any house of Vestals.
My wallet is also abundant with strange new currency. In one half we have the quietly contemplative face of Chairman Mao. The other is full of
I’m still not exactly certain what I'm heading into. I picked up a brand new Lonely Planet guide yesterday which kindly informed me that "Shenzhen is China's richest city" with a "population of 785'000". Now that differs slightly from the official population in the Chinese guides of 5 million, which is fractionally under the wikipedia.org estimation of 16 million. Those more astute readers will note that this falls slightly outside the scientifically acceptable margin of statistical error (p<0.005), which would lead me to seriously question the counting methods of all three.
I've also been privy to some of the internal workings of the orchestra, where it seems one Australian player was promised a contract, offered a different contract, asked to re-audition, given their original contract back, then wound up playing in a different position to what was stated on either of the contracts. It sounds suspiciously like the orchestra's working off John Howard’s new Australian Workplace Agreement legislation.
Despite all this I'm extremely excited and optimistic about the whole trip. The city sounds very interesting, and regardless of any contract woes all the Australian players assure me that they're loving the experience. The only downside is the amount of time Colleen and I will have to spend apart, however we're both musicians and knew that something like this was inevitable sometime during the relationship.
Right now I'm off to buy tissues as I've recently been informed that, although this is a huge modern city of 785'000-16 million people, there is not a roll of loo paper in site... adventure awaits!
Posted By charlesbrooks at 11:19 AM
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Friday, May 19, 2006
Hello Kitty
With the move just a week out I've been furiously sending off emails to anyone with the misfortune of being in my contact list (which for some reason includes the entire staff of the Central Bank of
One of those replies stood out as being great filler material for this embryonic blog. It was from my good friend Barnaby Ralph (early music specialist and recorder player extraordinaire). He sent this after I suggested that his move to Japan was soft in comparison to what I was about to do - I believe my exact phrase was "Japan is a move for sissies, a camping ground for pretentious luddites too sacred to leave the comfort of their 147 TV stations."
His retort was as follows:
Hah! Do radioactive lizards stalk the land? Does Hello Kitty glower down from every neon street corner with an air of mouthless menace? Do hordes of ravening schoolgirls snatch innocent English teachers and lock them away as reluctant sex toys in tiny
Actually, you are a braver man than me. I want water I can see though and a more or less stable political environment. I hope they are paying you a pleasant amount of money as well. At least you are not off to
In any case, congratulations on your new appointment.
Richly deserved and full of fun! I hope that you and Colleen won't find the distance too difficult to deal with.
Barnaby
Maybe I should take up English teaching in
Posted By charlesbrooks at 10:03 PM
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Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Moving to China
In a recent episode of BBC's Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson stated that owning the best model of a certain unnamed car wasn't necessarily a good thing: "It's like saying I've got Syphilis, the BEST of the STD's." So when I was told I'll be playing with the BEST orchestra in Guangdong's Special Economic Zone that exact phrase leapt to mind...
Nevertheless 3 weeks after receiving the phone call I am just a few days away from jumping in a plane and heading into who-knows-what! My tickets are booked, I have a myriad of injections to get tomorrow, my visa application is in, and this blog is online...
So on the 29th of May I'll board a Cathay Pacific flight direct to Hong Kong armed with my cello prowess (ahem...), my raffish charm (splutter..), and my enormous Mandarin vocabulary: "Fat", "Bugger", "Coffee", and "Mapo Tofu"
Wish me luck!
Posted By charlesbrooks at 2:42 PM
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