Madison, Wisconsin -- La Salle-Peru, IIlinois

It's almost the end of my trip, so I think I should write down bits and pieces of experience I had here.

It's been a wonderful trip, I have to say, mainly because of the superb hospitality that Chien and Jenny provided for me in Madison. The host family in Illinois, Jim and Chris Coughlin were also great hosts that gave us a lot of convenience.

I had so much fun in Madison, not because there were much to do here, simply because it's so relaxing here. Had so much time spent with Ka Ming, one of the nicest chaps and budding violin virtuoso.

Chien brought me to his favourite acitivity: Fishing.

That the first time in my life fishing for real, it was fun! And Chien told me that I learned very fast.

So I went to shore fishing, fly fishing, and boat fishing. We might go to cat fishing, because he wants me to take a picture with a big fish before I go home.

If Madison is relaxing, then La Salle-Peru, Illinois, would totally stop human evolution.

It's almos an all-white town, u hardly see one Asian there. People are very nice and also conservative and religious.

The Maud Powell Music Festival was alright. My job was basically playing in the pit orchestra and also playing in the institute orchestra, helping the kids to play in an ensemble.

I found good food in Peru: Grilled chicken with Bourbon sauce from Mike's Place!

I'm not exaggerating, that was one of the best chicken I ever. Anybody that tried it would be hooked by it!

In the festival, my improvisational skill came to use, when Dr David Becker, our conductor found out that I can improvise and asked me to improvise in the encore piece, Hoedown. It's a country song, and I had to play bluegrass style!! Oh my fuckin' God, I failed an audition in New York before because I couldn't really play bluegrass,and now I'm asked to play it IN FRONT of a bunch of MIDWESTERNERS?!!

I took it anyway, and it turned out well.

Also, the man-in-charge of Powell Festival, Dr Kevin McMahon, also asked me to fill in for a group that cancelled their performance in the final day outdoor performance. I wrote two very simple tunes to play with bassist Dave. I used all the gimmicks I know, like bow chops and electric guitar sound, because I know people here have never even heard of jazz violin.

It was effective! They loved it and wondered how the hell can I do all those sound.

Funny thing was I played right after the great violinist, Rachel Barton. Later she asked me how did I learn all those things... I didn't know how to answer her, hehe...