Charlie Brown.

CMae and I went to a Charlie Brown concert today. The American music director, Abby, is an old acquaintance of mine. She knows that I'm a musicologist and that I play several musical instruments. So when she put up this concert 6 months ago, I was in the must-come guest list. Why, she even invited me to the dinner party after the concert!

The day started weird. Hubby had to go to the observatory, and I didn't have a ride to the concert hall which was in another city. I was grumpy for about 20 seconds and decided to hire a cab, instead of going by public transport. I thought it was better that way. I didn't have to worry about the location because that's what cab drivers do. They pick you up and drop you off where you want to go.

But this particular cab driver was from Turkey. When I told him I wanted to go to Walstraat (wal is pronounced with a short "a") , he took me to Waalstraat (pronounced with a long "a"). Walstraat is in the heart of the city. That's where the concert was held. Whereas Waalstraat is in the suburbs. About 16 kms away from the theater! But he was Turkish. I can't possibly blame him for his ethnicity.

When he dropped us off at the city center, he instructed me to just follow that street and said that I would find the concert hall at the end of it. Needless to say, we were lost! But I tried to stay calm, and dismissed the whole thing. We asked for directions, and finally after walking around in circles for 30 minutes, found the place.

The hall was jampacked. Their repertoire included broadway hitsongs from Man of La Mancha, South Pacific, Hair, Grease, Cats, etc... Songs like The Impossible Dream, Some Enchanted Evening, Summer nights, Memory. Songs that are very familiar to videoke-lovers Filipinos. Songs that CMae and I are also dying to sing!

So imagine us surrounded by refined Dutch audience! It felt like we were gagged. You see, Dutch people are a bit uptight. Like their English neighbor, they too try very hard to show no emotions. Oh yes, they are frank and straightforward. But when you show your true emotions, you are immediately labeled as "common" or "simple". Meaning, an uneducated person. And believe me, even for this tiny country of 16 million population with 98% literacy, I assure you that noone here would like to be the simple guy. So, a poker face is a face of someone who has attained Dutch-hood. LOL

When intermission came, CMae and I decided to get something to drink. Some people had cola, jus d'orange, hot cocoa, and milk. Yes, milk! lol While others had beer, red and white wine. A cup of tea cost one euro fifty cents. A glass of red wine costs 2 euros. We should have opted for a glass of red wine, right? But it's cold outside and we're Asians, so we had tea instead. LOL

The second part, was from the You're a good man Charlie Brown musical. It went very fast. I guess, I was having such a great time! The performers were not exactly what one would call professional singers, but hey, they tried their best and the costumes were nice.

So I give them an "A" for the effort! (my friend Mica says, A for A-ffort! hahahaha)