We Are Family!

It was nine thirty when the Express Train pulled in Taoyuan Station. Eric Chou of Grand Club and Daphne Wang of Peace Club helped me carry luggage full of costumes. Reifon Tong, Yu-chi Hung, Jane were waiting for us at the station. As soon as six of us arrived at ChinaTrust Hotel, we started the rehearsal of Mamma Mia again and again without any delay at the Cambridge Room. Eric shouldered the responsibilities instantly to offer the last minute advice for Welcome Hula Dance, Aboriginal Dance and the Dance of Honey Honey. It was 12 noon when we left the Cambridge Room, the splendid venue of Joint Anniversary Ceremony and Dinner Party Saturday, October 11th.

The Joint Anniversary Ceremony

At 1:30PM sharp, the music of opening dance was on. Five young and energetic dancers (four female students and one male student) of Yamakawa Toastmasters Club performed an eye-opening Rock 'n' Roll dance to the most popular Taiwanese rock song. Following by the Recital of Chinese Poetry lead by Master Sun, more than a dozen members from Pacific and Peace Toastmasters Clubs recited two famous poems related to Kumamoto.

I left the ceremony venue and went back to Room 1416 to get prepared for the evening program after chanting with the poetry recital group on stage. It was indeed a pity that I missed almost the entire afternoon ceremony program. Fortunately the joint anniversary was videotaped, and I hope I could have the chance to view it in the future.

Room 1416

Thanks to Toastmaster Masaki Oshiumi of KitaKyushu Toastmasters Club, we could use his single room 1416 as the headquarters for dinner party rehearsal from the morning till the evening. Just imagine his room crammed with a dozen dancers, his bed covered with rundown sheets, clothes, flowers, sewing equipment, bells, anything you could think of for the dinner party.

Fortunately the housekeeper did a wonderful cleaning job at 8PM upon request. When Masaki accompanied me to his room to fetch my black dress for Ode to Joy finale, Room 1416 was tidy and neat.

Golden Ladies' Full Support

Trini arrived at ChinaTrust Hotel at eleven o'clcok and rushed to join our rehearsal of Mamma Mia for one hour before we all retreated to Masaki's room on the 14th floor. She didn't leave the room till five thirty in the afternoon to get ready for the evening show. Trini helped me sew the costumes and accessories till the last minute.

Lydia and Cecilia came to Room 1416 around three o'clock. While Cecilia rehearsed Mamma Mia with Trini and me, Lydia learned to display the powerpoint slide show deligently. When Masaki came back to Room during the intermission, Lydia and I rehearsed Ode to Joy with Masaki on the 14th floor. After the dinner party program, Cecilia drove us back home in Taipei and Trini gave Eric a lift to Taipei Train Station. It was a hustle and bustle day full of joyful moments for golden ladies and friends.

The Spirit of Teamwork

I wish I could stop the time to present the Joint Anniversary Dinner Party at its best to Japanese and Taiwanese toastmasters. In the past decade, many toastmasters from Japan have attended D67 Spring and Fall Conventions, but the party programs were mainly tailored to English speaking toastmasters clubs members. Therefore, I had a dream. I wanted to organize a super dinner party program for Japanese speaking toastmasters only. I admit I had a high expectation of myself to showcase the spirit of Japanese speaking toastmasters in Taiwan. And we made it happen with the encouragement and support from toastmasters in D67 and D76.

Before the dinner party, I felt like an octopus. I saw many directions at the same time, but I only had a pair of tight hands. Gratefully, I received a lot of helping hands and understanding hearts from Toastmasters members to build an order in the chaotic situation. Daphne Wang took my place to go over the entire party program with her party master partner, Toastmaster Inuzuka of Nagoya club. Trini took my place to explain the love story of Mamma Mia to Inuzuka and his role as Sam. They rehearsed on their own. Reifon shouldered the responsibilities to explain the roles of her three possible dads, Toastmasters Azuma, Inuzuka, Lee, in "Thank you for the Music". Toastmaster Tu and Eric helped me with the logistics on the spot. All golden ladies stood by me for any last minute instructions. Together we demonstrated the teamwork spirit to ourselves as well as to other Toastmasters friends.

The Joint Anniversary Dinner Party

It was ten past six. The welcome hula dancers were standing by in two separate rooms at two ends of the stage without an intercom. Just imagine what it was like when the Hula music was on, a bunch of flowery Hawaiian dancers ran on stage bare feet, dressed with colorful lei on necks and hands, wrapped with pink silk tapa around the waists! We wowed anybody in the audience.

Beautiful Daphne and handsome Misao walked on stage and welcomed everybody to the dinner party. After the Joint Toast by Success, Kumamoto, Pacific and Peace Club Presidents, the evening program began with exciting shows one after another, including folk songs, folk dances, magic show, quiz, bingo. Toastmaster Miyajima donated four songs with her bamboo flute and invited members from the floor to sing along.

Mamma Mia Musical

I didn't deny that I had a big ambition to tell six love stories in a musical of 15 minutes and 23 seconds, i.e., to arrange six couples to sing "I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do" together on stage, including Donna and Sam; Tanya and Harry; Bill and Rosie; Sophie and Sky; Lisa and Beach Boy X; Ali and Beach Boy Y.

I thought I was cleaver enough to arrange 8 songs in sequence, 1. Overture / Prologue by Sophie; 2. Honey, Honey by Sophie, Ali & Lisa; 3. Money, Money, Money by Donna, Tanya, Rosie; 4. Thank you for the Music by Sophie, Sam, Harry & Bill; 5. Mamma Mia by Donna, Tanya, Rosei; 6. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do by Sam & Donna & five couples; 7. I have a Dream by Sophie & Sky; 8. Dancing Queen by Tanya, Rosie & Donna. All singers and dancers could take turns changing costumes.

Between the 5th and 6th songs, I reserved TEN seconds of silence for the wedding ceremony scene. Sophie and Sky decided not to get married and pursued their futures first. While Sam proposed to Donna, everybody sang on stage to encourage Donna to accept Sam's proposal. I was too optimistic about what we could do in ten seconds. It was alright during the rehearsal. But, do you know what it turned out to be?

Nobody was on stage, when the song "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" was on. I wish I could stop the music immediately, but I couldn't (In fact, I could. I learned a lesson this time. I should have arranged a sound track assistant standing by in case we were behind the schedule or everything could possibly take place). Donna, Sam, Tanya and Rosie rushed to the stage to finish two thirds of the long song. So, in the end, I was only successful matching one Toastmasters couple in the musical on stage.

The Dancing Queen took the audience to a new height. Trini, Cecilia and I put on our own handmade dazzing bell bottoms. Everybody stood up and danced with us from the floor. Before the music came to an end, all singers and dancers got on stage to thank the laudable applause from the audience. What a crazy and joyful Saturday night fever we had together!

Ode to Joy Finale

It was the most breath-taking moment of the dinner party. When all lights were off, the videoclip of Kitakyushu Freude Chorus played on the big screen. Two hundred and fifty members sang the fourth movement of Ode to Joy for less than one minute. I saw the energy and power transmitted from the screen to all toastmasters members. Everybody held their breath with the eyes and ears wide open. Everybody was enchanted by the great melody of Beethoven and passionate lyrics of Schiller. It was simply phenomenal to see all toastmasters were united as brothers and sisters at the single moment. Masaki's impeccable tenor accompanied by two altos (Lydia and Sherry) behind him won a big round of applause. Not to mention the total joy when the trio invited everybody to sing Ode to Joy in Mandarin. We made it, to take the audience to the climax of the day. Viva, Masaki!

Till We Meet Again

Be it a small dinner party of 60 people, it was the most rewarding one I'd ever attended. I would brag without reservation that most participants would echo my comment. There were many first cross-districts 67 & 76 activities during the dinner party. Two party masters, one from Japan, the other from Taiwan; ten singers and dancers in Mamma Mia with two actors from Japan; the gorgeous trio with Tenor from Japan, and many other joint singing and dancing activities brought toastmasters members together. There was no more geographic distance, no more language gap, no more culture shock, only a moment of joy, happiness, and contentment. And our collective memories will last for a long time till we meet again!

PS: I've got a habit to document everything I produce in Toastmasters. But I didn't take any photos of the dinner party program nor did I videotape any performance. I didn't know what had been on my mind. Don't laugh at me if I tell you that I was hoping the dinner party could finish as soon as possible, so that I could go home and have a good rest!