my new love

It's not like i don't have enough instruments to keep me occupied (piano, guitar, violin arriving in 4 days!), i've decided to take ErHu lessons. The Erhu is "a two-stringed fiddle, one of the most popular Chinese instruments in the Hu-qin family, where Hu stands for "foreign" or "the northern folk" in Chinese, and "qin" is a general name for all kinds of string instruments".
See for more explanation.

I've had one lesson with Teacher Zhang so far, and after hearing him play so beautifully and sensually, i feel that i should give it a fair shot. It seems a bit like i'm starting the violin all over again, where the first few notes are torturous to the ears, we'll see how long it'll take to actually play a melody.

What's also great about learning from Teacher Zhang is that I'll be able to practice my Chinese a lot more. Right now i understand maybe 25% of what he's saying. The rest is just speculation and body language and facial expressions. But i can tell he treats the ErHu with real passion and respect and when you watch him play, his whole being is involved. A true musician at heart.

Have been getting ready for the great Taklamakan Desert Rally competition that we've entered, from May 1-10. Our sturdy Beijing Jeep has been to the shop to get fixed up, but there are still a few minor things left to do (ie, fix the fuel guage). It's gonna be one helluva adventure, 100 cars competing, lots of bumpy off-roading, camping in the desert with the other competitors and also the spectators at night. I'm to be the first ever female to compete, haha. I'll be given my own private training (because i need it in English) on how to use the GPS, read the maps, etc. I'm quite looking forward to this once-in-a-lifetime experience, definitely gonna load up on the Immodium.... just in case. I have horrible visions of being sick at both ends in the middle of the desert, ugh, a faint reminder of a time long long ago in northern Ghana where one of my colleagues had a similar experience, although not in a desert but in the back of a fast-moving truck amongst other disgusted local passengers and a handful of chickens, goats and guinea fowls.