syrenjoey: Better days in Macao

 Well the adventures continue..... Let's see..... first of all i neglected to tell you all the best thing that had been happening in Macao when we first arrived- i suppose i was too wrapped up in telling you all about the food....... anyway- right before we arrived in Macao they had started the 19th Annual International Fireworks Competition here in Macao involving fireworks from France, Taiwan, China, Japan, USA, Australia, UK, Portuguese, Phillipenes and i believe one other country that i did not get to see because we hadn't arrived yet. i was lucky to see 4 of the shows. the nights that it occured they had two teams, one at 9pm and the other at 10 pm. Megan and i went out on a quest to find the best place to see the fireworks without spending any money to go over to Macao but instead to watch from Taipa where we live. well we found the place right at the foot of one of the bridges where there was a little sitting park. we sat on the end of low wall directly across from the tower where the fireworks were being shot off below. They were SOOOO incredible. the night that i fell down the stairs- remember- another girl Mali and i went over to Macao to seek out the fireworks because it was the festival of the Moon and we were told there might be a dragon dance but no such luck but we found another great place to watch the fireworks right on the water and there were people lining the banks as far as one could see. my favourites were Taiwan, France, and Japan! they were all THE absolute BEST fireworks i had ever seen and they were all different and innovative and i just couldn't pick which one i liked best. i just sat there in complete awwwwww. pretty much the coolest festival i have ever heard of. apparently there was music for every show as well but we were never in a place where we could hear it but we didn't mind. i don't know who the winner ended up being but it doesn't matter- it was just so amazing! other news for the week.... well this bit of news is a little more gross actually- tuesday morning Megan all of a sudden started feeling really sick to her stomach but we went to work anyway and while we were sitting, eating breakfast (i had brought her some toast to munch on) she just couldn't hold it in and very discretely got sick in my cereal bowl at the team member dinning room and i quickly took her to the clinic on site and asked a group of english speaking women to please watch my tray. i came back and managing not to get sick myself threw out the remnants in my cereal bowl and headed up to the rehearsal room. Megan came to rehearsal a little while later feeling slightly better and the doctor- who was very nice- asked what she had done in the morning and she told her she had eaten an apple the hotel had left for us along with some other fruit. the doctor asked her if she had peeled the apple and of course she hadn't.  so we learned a valuable lesson that day----- ALWAYS peel your fruit here- washing it isn't enough. Megan finally felt more like herself today- on her first day of work! i too had a bad night this week and learned that the pizza hut pizza doesn't sit too well with me here. instead of being greasy it's oily and my stomach doesn't seem to like that too much but it's ok because i'm trying to avoid that kind of bad for me food anyway.... what else, what else.... we tried on temporary costumes this week. the costumes we are having made for us got sent out from Vegas today and hopefully will arrive soon but in the meantime we are wearing old Vegas costumes that are 100 years behind the period we are using here in Macao for our shows but we don't mind too much. Megan and i acutally love the temp costumes we have. She thought her character should be in purple and the only costume that fit her was purple! and i thought my character should be in red and the only costume the fit me is red! and it's really cool with an open skirt revealing pantaloons underneath. very fun for a courtasan! Megan and Hunter had their first day today along with Mali and Jason (our visual artists) and i start Wed. i can't wait to start working but the shedule needed their learned tracks before mine so now i have 3 days off and have been reading a book and getting a lot of sleep!  all the gondoliers in our phase started work today as well. some had started last week and the rest started today! i think everyone is extatic that training is finally over and now we really get to do what we came here to do- which is frankly to entertain like at a disney theme park- but it's a job and we get to sing so i think we're quite happy for that!  i got in a little bit of trouble this week for standing up for some of my fellow gondoliers to my trainer in streetmosphere but in the end it was good and the heads that are staying on with us really are looking out for us and trying to take care of all of us the best they can!!!! our two trainers in streetmosphere left for Vegas yesterday and i heard that they got delayed at the airport because of a typhone on the mainland. hopefully they are safely flying now- they were really great to us... our friend David had his 30th birthday Saturday and we went to the most amazing Brazilian Steak House in St. Mark's Square where we work at the Venetian. It was The best food we had had in a long time and David and i took to the salad bar which was incredibule and huge while everyone else enjoyed the dozens of meat that came around on a stick. the drinks were great and the desserts were to die for and they had live entertainment as well so it made for a lovely outing and a great birthday for David!!!!!! now that the International Fireworks Festival is over we have entered into the International Music Festival! so last night David and i saw Rigoletto! it was performed by the Australian Opera with the Prague Chamber Choir and the Macao Symphony Orchestra. it was simply beautiful. the girl playing Gilda was AMAZING! she made the whole production along with the man who played Sparafucile- who is world renowned. the set was so cool- it was a two story rotating set and the grand hall was spectacular. it's the kind of set you dream of performing on! it was set in the 40s i believe with amazing dresses and tuxedos on the men and i was just so happy to watching it. lots of us had gone to see it throughout the weekend and all had come back with raving revues and on friday some of our friends got to meet the cast and they said they were just so nice! i think this festival actually might be what people were talking about before i left about the Macao Opera because one of the names that was mentioned to me as being the producer of the company was indeed in the program and his bio mentioned that he had produced several operas for this festival. i hope to see more productions this week if i can. there is going to be a mexican cabaret show and a piano concert and i'm not sure what else. i definitely LOVE the festivals here! and LOTS of poeple come out to join in!  well i think i have covered everything this week. i will say that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were filled with Drama but what can you expect in a world filled with artists!!!!!! oh- and for all those i have been talking about seperately about how difficult it has been to just try and figure out how to live- never fear- this week we went grocery shopping, found a laundry place, a friend bought us the correct converters for our computers and cell phones and all has been pretty easy going since then! oh- plus one of our trainers gave us a great guide book that has bus schedules and talks about the post office!  still no word when we are moving into our apartments- first we heard thanksgiving and then we heard october 15th because the indoor/outdoor games start and the hotels we live in are booked but until i know for sure i will wait to give a mailing address so please bare with me. also- phase 3 is finally flying out and should be arriving this week i believe! i will try and write once week i have decided so please check again next week for another "Adventure in Macao" love from afar..... johanna