TAIWAN!!!

Hello world. Welcome to Barry’s first foire into blogging. Also, to referring to myself in the third person. Anyway, I am halfway through my stay in Taiwan and it has been really incredible…and overwhelming. We were off to a rocky start, missing our first flight to LA but once we got to our amazing hotel (we each shared a honeymoon suite, huge bed and a window into the bathroom. Kroks know romance). A quick gig for the Bilsky’s and Krok alums (quite a mixed crowd) and then off to Taipei. It was certainly the longest flight I have ever been on but it really didn’t feel it. Cathay is amazingly comfortable and Dan arranged it so I could have a window and a seat empty next to mine. Each seat had like 40 movies and 50 TV shows, a ton of CDs (Sweeney Todd and Adele! So good) I tried to do the in-flight trivia and break Rachel’s self-proclaimed record of having won her flight and succeeded! (though I should mention I was the only playing one on my flight. Also – I’m really smart). We had a layover in Hong Kong, where Dan snuck me into the first class lounge, where they had tons of free food, booze, and a shower.

Anywho we made it to Taipei, Taiwan where we stayed at the dorms of the catholic high school (cue chorus of spoiled bitching Kroks). Highlights include: “toilet” = porcelain hole in the ground. Squatting while pooing = not fun. Best breakfast moment = eating “Unbelievable! This Is Not Butter!”.

We each got paired with 2 guides from the high school who took us around the town and porcelain museum…which is pretty much what it sounds like. Iris and Michael were incredibly sweet and their English was unbelievable (only been studying for 3 years! I started spanish in kindergarden and my skills are pretty minimal. Moral: Asian schools are crazy). Later we sang for all 1500 studetns in the school, which was also crazy. After the show we were literally mobbed as if we were the Beatles. Girls asked me to sign their shirts…as in, not the Krok shirt they just purchased but the one they came to school in. I told them I would only do it if they promised that their mother wouldn’t be mad. It was great practice for when I exit the stage door of all the Broadway shows I star in.

Afterwards we went to a dinner hosted by a Harvard grad, featuring what we realized was really the elite class of Taipei. Amazing to go from performing for hundreds of schoolchildren to a small audience of wealthy businesspeople, each equally excited to spend time with us. Most had studied in the states (one woman went to Wharton, but then got bored with business and opened a cupcake shop, the only in Taiwan!). When we went back to the dorms, the kids were still up and some insanity ensued. They literally just walked into our rooms, regardless of our state of dress or undress, and demanded photos. “so, you’ll be in the photo too, right..? No? Just of me? Ok…can you hold my toothbrush?”

Then we were off to Xinsu (sp?) to sing at Chris Lo’s high school. Afterwards we got divided into homestays. Where do I start on my homestay? Such a crazy and humbling experience. 5 of us went to dinner with these 5 girls who had graduated the day before and came back to school just to host us. And they were so excited just to be with us. They pre-planned a huge dinner at a restaurant, where they just kept bringing out food (a later quote: “we didn’t know how much to get! You are all boys and from America so we figure you eat a lot.”). They wanted us to go into town, but we explained that all we wanted was to sleep so their families came to pick us up and take us away (being separated = very scary). But then I realized how nervous my host, Candy, was. She and her sister and I were staying with her aunt because she said her house was too small to fit me, she told me. And she was terrified because her sister and aunt had never met anyone from Harvard before and Harvard is “the best school in the world.” The whole family was unbelievably nice and so accommodating. They literally had thought of everything they could possibly do to make me comfortable in advance (a full set of toiletries, tons of snacks, an English newspaper). I really just wanted to sleep but also felt responsible to entertain them because they clearly had been looking forward to my arrival so much. So we played their Wii and ate fresh lychee! (crazy looking fruit. I’d never had it not in a can or bubble tea). Then for breakfast they got every type of pastry known to man and her aunt’s friend came over to meet me as well. When I woke up they were all watching the DVD of our spring concert that she had purchased at the show the day before.

Truly, the entire experience was overwhelming. That they felt so much respect for me simply because of the school I went to is amazing. They constantly asked questions about how much work I do and how I have time to sing and what students at Harvard do for fun and what we care about and if we even know where Taiwan is (I explained that I’m from the Midwest so geography is important to me…unlike you jaded coastal bastards). They just kept buying me things and taking pictures of me doing EVERYTHING (ok, so that asian stereotype really is true). In all, I got 3 meals, a cup with my name on it in english and Chinese, a nice pen, and a set of brushes and ink for doing calligraphy, and a book of stamps featuring the new president (a Harvard grad). I felt nervous because they were all so anxious to please me and make sure I was happy. But it was really amazing meeting them and hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did. It’s daunting feeling like you are representing something that is so much outside of yourself. Really, the whole experience just reinforced that Harvard is much bigger than I, or any of the Kroks. It’s been amazing being so supported and well-received and I look forward to our future stops.

For tonight, we’re off to Taicho to stay at the Fresh Springs Hotel Stay tuned for future updates and PLEASE email if you get a chance!!!

Sorry this was so long. It’s been a crazy few days.

~Barry

bshafrin@fas.harvard.edu

NEXT:

So I’m writing from our hotel in Taicho. S-i-c-k. It’s a hot springs hotel. And there is a bathtub with a hot springs in it. In dan and my room on the 9^th floor with beautiful views. We just had dinner and asti to celebrate chris being done with his MCATS (yay) and now I’m pirating the FREE WIRELESS (such a luxury!!!!).

also - i have bubble tea twice today. it was a good day. they call it "pearl milk tea" here.