Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Musician?

So being in China, church is not exactly around the corner. We hire a driver every week to take us an hour and a half to church, he waits 3 hours for us while we are at church, and then takes us the hour and a half back home. We pay about $55. Ya, I wish that was yuan, but no, that is 55 US dollars. So a four Sunday month cost about $220. Good thing five Sunday months are only a few times a year, right? The only other alternative is to take the bus. And by the bus, I mean three buses and a taxi. Total travel time one way would be around 3 hours. Keep in mind we have a 6 month old. Right. Hence why we hire the driver =)
Anyway, so one Sunday our driver was playing a CD that struck us as a little odd. It was of famous songs like Edelweiss, and Carmen's theme, as well as songs from composers such as Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven. But the funny thing was the lead instrument. Sam and I kept discussing what it was. Maybe a rare Chinese gourd-flute? Or ancient Tibetan reed pipe? Perhaps one of those small pottery flutes found in ruins? Could it even be a sting instrument? But no matter how we tried to pretend otherwise, it just sounded like someone whistling. Whistling to a full orchestra accompaniment, mind you. So after listening to this same CD over and over again the whole way up and the whole way back, we finally asked our driver. And yup, turns out it was some guy whistling with full accompaniment. Not sure who does that for a living. I mean "I play the whistle, as in, I whistle well" sounds like a pretty ridiculous resume. Oh and don't worry, as though we had not enjoyed enough whistling the first day, the following week our driver treated us to another concert of whistling, although different songs this time. Which makes me wonder even more. One CD of whistling wasn't enough? Who makes a whole medley of whistling? Oh well, to each their own. Some people like acoustic guitar, some cello - our driver just happens to be a whistling connoisseur.

3 comments:

Laura said...

Can I put that on my resume now? Talents and Abilities: Whistling. That's hilarious Amy. You really do have such a way of telling stories.

Sarah said...

hehehe!!! and how'd you like to be that guy who didn't make get that job. i can see the strenuous audition process and then getting cut at the end because you couldn't whistle as well as the guy next to you, who then became famous and had numerous whistling albums. you were SO close to fame, but you "blew it." (okay, that last pun just popped into my head at the last second. i'm a lame-o.)

love your stories amy!

curtis5crew said...

I can't believe that somebody beat me to recording an album as lead whister. I promise I have discussed this idea with more tha just my mission companions. But hey, if there's one profesional whistler, there's got to be room for another, right? - Maybe w could do duets.