Anime Matsuri Report -Day 0-
Before everything i've absorbed goes away...
...which is happening. Pretty fast. It's almost like everything was a dream...
Anyway
i attended Anime Matsuri 2009 as Translation staff.
We had 4 sets of guests and 2 available translators.
i was assigned to be translator for one of the big groups... but i think most of the time was spent with the group's overseer (i won't call him "manager" because, well, he's not. i don't think.) rather than the vocalist or his band. (Besides, they all knew some English from doing gigs here in the States. ^^;;; )
Everything was chaos, but somehow it all worked out.
The Convention Director put it nicely, "I know God intended for everything to work this way."
Day 0, Thursday
The trouble began when i got to the Convention hotel on Thursday afternoon, around 4PM. i was thinking we were going to go from the hotel to the airport to pick them up. When i saw no sign of the Convention Director (John), i called him...he then proceeds to instruct me to "meet [him] somewhere between the Woodlands hotel and the airport" because it's too late to go to Planet Zero (where he was) then leave for the airport. So, i wait for John at a gas station right before the airport, waiting on him to get there when i get a phone call from the overseer saying that they're at baggage claim, and they're waiting on us to meet them. Oh no. We're not even AT the airport yet. Frantic, i call John again and receive my next set of instructions to go to the airport myself and escort the group, and their luggage, to the limousine. As soon as the overseer notices that i'm there, he tells me he needs to get "CARNET" taken care of. i had no idea what that was (i do now), and neither did the clerk at the info booth at the Terminal A baggage claim. John was still not at the airport. So after a quick introduction amongst everyone, the overseer gets the vocalist and the band (and me) onto the limo (stretch Hummer) to get them checked into the hotel.
At the hotel, we try to get everyone checked in...only to realize the rooms were not reserved in their names. Not only that, there were only 4 rooms available under John's name when we needed 9. To make things worse, since incidental charges were not allowed in any of the rooms (understandable because some volunteers were getting a free room and we wouldn't want them to incur charges), none of our Japanese guests could charge their rooms for any meals or internet usage. Bad. That wasn't what Anime Matsuri had arranged with the group. And i have no authority to make things happen. John arrives at the airport and straightens the rooms situation out, thank goodness. But apparently no room charges, because i got an angry phone call from the overseer that the band couldn't charge their room for breakfast the next morning. But that'll be mentioned in more detail for Day 1.
After everyone was situated, we meet in the lobby to walk over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Brian followed us as security; overseer asked me "Who is he? Is he a hitman?" i told him Brian was there for security.
Oh Brian. Why did you have to be married... *AHEM* Anyway, moving along. Again, a problem occurs...John had made a reservation for patio seating, but since it was about to rain, Cheesecake Factory decided they weren't going to seat anyone at the patio anymore, hence canceling our reservation. John and i frantically searched for nearby restaurants and checked their wait time... which are all long (30 to 45 mins), so we kept our name on the waiting list for Cheesecake Factory, hoping that they could get us a seat quickly because we did have a reservation. We were able to get a table there, and dinner goes well. It was more like a double-checking on schedule, but i think it was ok. A couple of band members talked about wanting to go to a shooting range and whatnot.
There was still some time after dinner, so a couple of guys went to a bar while John, the other translator (Hajime-san) and i took the rest (minus the hair and make-up artist...she went back to her hotel room to rest) of the group to Wal-Mart. My feet were in terrible shape because of the sandals i wore (next year, i'll wear only tennis shoes...or flip-flops >.< ) , but walking around was fun. We picked up a couple of memory sticks for the video camera, an iPhone charger and cable (didn't know the charger already came with a cable, so we ended up with two cables...), and the overseer bought some water, beer and allergy medicine. The overseer told us he was shocked to find out there are seasonal allergies in the US as well. (Well, duh. Where there are trees/pollen, there's going to be pollen allergies, no?)
ugh, time to go to bed...will post more in the following days. ^^;;
...which is happening. Pretty fast. It's almost like everything was a dream...
Anyway
i attended Anime Matsuri 2009 as Translation staff.
We had 4 sets of guests and 2 available translators.
i was assigned to be translator for one of the big groups... but i think most of the time was spent with the group's overseer (i won't call him "manager" because, well, he's not. i don't think.) rather than the vocalist or his band. (Besides, they all knew some English from doing gigs here in the States. ^^;;; )
Everything was chaos, but somehow it all worked out.
The Convention Director put it nicely, "I know God intended for everything to work this way."
Day 0, Thursday
The trouble began when i got to the Convention hotel on Thursday afternoon, around 4PM. i was thinking we were going to go from the hotel to the airport to pick them up. When i saw no sign of the Convention Director (John), i called him...he then proceeds to instruct me to "meet [him] somewhere between the Woodlands hotel and the airport" because it's too late to go to Planet Zero (where he was) then leave for the airport. So, i wait for John at a gas station right before the airport, waiting on him to get there when i get a phone call from the overseer saying that they're at baggage claim, and they're waiting on us to meet them. Oh no. We're not even AT the airport yet. Frantic, i call John again and receive my next set of instructions to go to the airport myself and escort the group, and their luggage, to the limousine. As soon as the overseer notices that i'm there, he tells me he needs to get "CARNET" taken care of. i had no idea what that was (i do now), and neither did the clerk at the info booth at the Terminal A baggage claim. John was still not at the airport. So after a quick introduction amongst everyone, the overseer gets the vocalist and the band (and me) onto the limo (stretch Hummer) to get them checked into the hotel.
At the hotel, we try to get everyone checked in...only to realize the rooms were not reserved in their names. Not only that, there were only 4 rooms available under John's name when we needed 9. To make things worse, since incidental charges were not allowed in any of the rooms (understandable because some volunteers were getting a free room and we wouldn't want them to incur charges), none of our Japanese guests could charge their rooms for any meals or internet usage. Bad. That wasn't what Anime Matsuri had arranged with the group. And i have no authority to make things happen. John arrives at the airport and straightens the rooms situation out, thank goodness. But apparently no room charges, because i got an angry phone call from the overseer that the band couldn't charge their room for breakfast the next morning. But that'll be mentioned in more detail for Day 1.
After everyone was situated, we meet in the lobby to walk over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Brian followed us as security; overseer asked me "Who is he? Is he a hitman?" i told him Brian was there for security.
Oh Brian. Why did you have to be married... *AHEM* Anyway, moving along. Again, a problem occurs...John had made a reservation for patio seating, but since it was about to rain, Cheesecake Factory decided they weren't going to seat anyone at the patio anymore, hence canceling our reservation. John and i frantically searched for nearby restaurants and checked their wait time... which are all long (30 to 45 mins), so we kept our name on the waiting list for Cheesecake Factory, hoping that they could get us a seat quickly because we did have a reservation. We were able to get a table there, and dinner goes well. It was more like a double-checking on schedule, but i think it was ok. A couple of band members talked about wanting to go to a shooting range and whatnot.
There was still some time after dinner, so a couple of guys went to a bar while John, the other translator (Hajime-san) and i took the rest (minus the hair and make-up artist...she went back to her hotel room to rest) of the group to Wal-Mart. My feet were in terrible shape because of the sandals i wore (next year, i'll wear only tennis shoes...or flip-flops >.< ) , but walking around was fun. We picked up a couple of memory sticks for the video camera, an iPhone charger and cable (didn't know the charger already came with a cable, so we ended up with two cables...), and the overseer bought some water, beer and allergy medicine. The overseer told us he was shocked to find out there are seasonal allergies in the US as well. (Well, duh. Where there are trees/pollen, there's going to be pollen allergies, no?)
ugh, time to go to bed...will post more in the following days. ^^;;