First real day...

Today mostly went well- the morning began with our orientation meeting, followed by seven hours of rehearsals. We mostly got off to a good start, but it was uncomfortable at first getting used to everyone's playing. Fortunately, this was all punctuated by some excellent meals! Beef with noodles for lunch (plus a few other small courses) at a pretty fancy restaurant, and dinner was a buffet (lots of tempura choices and delicious fruit) at a different place. Breakfast has also been consistently excellent- a combo Japanese/Western buffet at the European-style restaurant ("Camellia") at the hotel. They've got huge windows looking out on an enormous and tranquil water garden, complete with a waterfall backing up to the trees. Apparently, this is the rainy season- seems a lot like a typical summer day in Scotland, actually!