Mikes Travels Email #2

Hello everyone ,

I have been in the USA for 2 weeks now. Life is great and everything is finally starting to settle down into normality. Merin has started back at work after taking a 2 week holiday to be with me and show me around Portland and my real hunt for employment has started.

I have applied for a work visa and thankfully it will be processed in 6 weeks , the only problem with that i that I have to now find employers that are willing to take me on as an under the table worker untill my visa comes through. Its a little bit of a worry especially since illegal workers in the USA is a big topic on the news right now, its mostly aimed at Mexicans but its still going to be difficult. Once I can seriously look for teaching positions before that I will have to scrounge for what ever I can.

This weekend past Merin and I went for a drive up to Vermont to visit her step father Jay and step sister Beth and her family . It was a really great trip I got to meet a few of Merins family and saw a few of the places where Merin grew up it was a fantastic weekend. The place we were staying in Vermont was called Middlebury its way up in the mountains and survives by the students that attend the university.Jay ( Merins Step Father) showed us around the campus and told me that for one years tuition at the school it was $40,000 USD totally unbelievable. The athletic department at this college had three stadiums that were better than anything we have in New Zealand for all the sports they housed. The swimming pool and dive pool were beautiful . When I was there it was set up as a 20 lane 25 meter pool with a bulk head in the middle, just fantastic and the stadium around it was just wonderful full seating on sides and ends. We walked out of the swimming pool complex and literally across the lobby was the entrance for the Ice Hockey Rink I have never seen such a beautiful complex just astounding. The Football ( Gridiron Field ) was equally impressive. It sure would be nice to send your children to a college that had those type of facility's. The thing that shocked and impressed me was that even though they have such a fine tuned athletic department this school DOES NOT give out sports scholarships and are not allowed to because they are a level 2 school ( levels are established by the size of the school ) , only level one schools such as Stanford and Harvard can give out sports scholarship. The only scholarship you can go to Middleburry on is an academic one.
I was able to sample some quality maple syrup and Jeremy Beth's husband invited me to come back up and gather maple syrup when I had time as well as invited me to come help out on the dairy farm. I was pleased with the invite and I would love to give it a try some day.

On Monday I went in search of a barbershop group. It was really good fun. The chorus are called the Downeasters and the members were warm and welcoming. It was my first visit there and already I have a buddy to work on songs with and have had a welcoming to the group it was truly a great feeling being welcomed into the group. There are about 30 members and they range in age from 40 - 60 some may be older. Just my luck I have entered the chorus just before a concert and if I am to participate I should know 8 tunes in about 3 weeks so I really have my work cut out for me.

I have also been "hired" as the lead singer in a Jazz band. I have met Doug , of the "Doug Emery Band" and have practiced with him twice. Its a really cool kind of music I guess you might call it a jazz rock fusion band, with a lot of Coltrane influence.The stuff we are sining has a kind of a Doctor Hook feel to it. Its really cool singing in a different style and with someone who is so wonderfully skilled on the guitar. The one thing I am not quite used to is improv , Its kinda skat "diddly diddly diddly doo" stuff I'm getting better at it but will have to improve on it. Doug has the plan that in the next 3-4 weeks that we will be able to get together as a four piece , Myself on vocals, Doug on Guitar and a Bassist and Percussion, to record a c.d to promote our sound to the club owners, from there who know what will happen , we could be performing in front of 3 people or 300 people it really does depend on how the people like our sound, I'm really excited about just getting up on stage in the USA, lucky for me I have found a set of skilled musicians to learn from.

So that's about it for now , No more news but I will keep you posted, I love you all so much I hope 2007 is starting out well for you where ever you are ...

With Love

Micheal Babich