Good news: We made it home safe and sound from Bali and have been enjoying being back into the swing of life.
Bad news: We got food poisoning the last couple of days in Bali and made it home in a bit of discomfort. No worries though! Here are some final shots of the trip. My favourite of which involves a wild monkey on my head. The other is the art that I bought and have yet to get mounted.
So, moving on from that, the day after we returned Sharon and I did some final shopping and cooking to get ready for and epic, once per year, if not once in a lifetime kind of crazy event called the "Dinner En Blanc". Otherwise known as a white party.
It was sponsored by an alcohol company and as such you had to purchase the alcohol through them, however, I cannot drink wine or champagne, so I brought in grape juice and hoped it looked like a fancy red wine. I guess the waiting list for tickets was about 10 000 people and I got one of the 2000 seats overall. I have to thank my good pal Diana who used her friends connection with advertisement in Singapore to get us all VIP seats! If she hadn't invited me, I honestly wouldn't have known what it even was!
The premise of the party is to take your own table, chairs, place settings (white and not plastic), platters, and center pieces to a meeting point. From there you meet your group and after introductions board a boat that takes you to an otherwise unknown location. It's all very intricately planned and also a huge amount of work for an afternoon in the sun as transportation begins around 4:30pm when the sun is still up. I tried to make myself look fancy and then by the time I'd walked ten minutes to pick up Sharon in with my white table and chairs trailing behind me, I was already sweaty enough to pretend I hadn't put anything on at all. Alas. but, I pinned back my hair and just played the confidence card.
The party itself was awesome. You're meant to introduce yourself to tables around you and make friends. You're also supposed to share food and/or wine where applicable and it's a fun time all around. They had fun entertainment in the form of singers/orchestra/acrobats/flying saucers/and fireworks and I was highly impressed and entertained by all of the spectacle.
The evening ends with a dance and everyone packs up to board buses back to pick up points. The worst part was that it was raining at the end and not everyone had thought about undergarments... realizing we were all wearing white. It was an unfortunate shame for some...
Here are some photos of the event!
Post holiday and back to reality: I began rehearsals for my upcoming show "Little Red Riding Hood". I have to say, it's a bit unfortunate because the Singapore Repertory Theatre is also putting on little red, and they are doing a very professional job of it, where as ours is very... um...community based theatre. There are some pretty large inconsistencies in the script and I have almost run out of acceptable amounts of suggestions without being a know-it-all. I'm still having fun, but despite the strange style of writing, missed jokes and non professional feeling of this show, they are incredible sctrict with rehearsal time and there is no time for tomfoolery. Which actually kills the mood a little.
Once I get the lines down, I'll feel a bit better I think, but they are putting the show together in a very short time and I think, overall, it's setting us up for a rough run. That being said, artists are notorious for pulling amazing things together at the last minute. I should trust the art!
I think I might not do too many pieces with this particular group again. I'm looking for something with a little bit of a higher standard, however, there really isn't a lot in Singapore other than full time paid theatre. YET. So I'm keeping my eyes open and networking where I can.
At school, we've been doing report cards, portfolio's, getting ready for parent exhibitions and planning a new unit on top of that. I feel like I am just never ahead at all, which is a strange feeling from someone who is typically organized and prepped a couple weeks in advance. Regardless, I'm working hard and praying about getting a better handle on this year.
I'm still training for my race on the first of December. It's going to be a but of a push, but I'm ready. I can run 12K right now, so I'm basically a solid 9 K out from the goal. I found a gorgeous running path though relatively near my house so that should make training a bit more fun and a bit more beautiful!
This past weekend I volunteered with the parents council at school for their haunted house. They throw an absolutely insanely large halloween bash, which took a whole week to decorate for. The haunted house is just one small corner of the overall party. They also have a trunk or treat in the car park, high school dances going on two separate floors of the high school building, magicians, shadow puppets, talent shows, a maze made out of cardboard boxes... etc... etc.. etc... huge amounts of work for the parents, but they seemed to do it enthusiastically.
I was asked to be a witch. I had been hoping to dress up as granny Ritz, however, it appears she will have to come visit another time as I was supposed to be ghoulish. So, I got my creepiest stoich head tilt and eery crackly voice out, and I was crawling along the floor if I had their attention, as that was much more scary than just jumping out at them, which they would expect. We made a few cry, but mostly it was fun. They gave me coloured contacts, which I had never worn but which are incredibly uncomfortable, and did my make up very effectively. There were several people, TA's and Teachers alike from my teaching team who did not recognize me and had to ask who I was.
here is a photo:
In any case, life continues to move forward. Hopefully between training, learning lines and getting work done, I can find time to have a few more adventures on the weekends and see a few more sights in Singapore!
Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment