China Town and Salsa

Growing up in America through the end of the cold war I never heard anything good about China's communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong. The only time I ever heard him mentioned in a positive light was when I was reading about the life of Frida Kahlo. She always had a picture of Mao in her bedroom. I also love the Warhol piece of him in the Art Institute...looks like Mao with lipstick on. Besides those two semi-positive things Mao was always depicted in a less than flattering light to me. Just last week my friend Julie who recently returned from working in China was telling me about laws he instated that still affects China negatively. So it was definitely a new experience for me to visit this restaurant in Melbourne's China Town (which dwarfs Chicago's China Town by far) where Mao was obviously loved. I asked our waiter to take a picture and propped the menu up to show a picture of Mao on the menu. The waiter went one better and plopped a big golden bust on the table. He later guided us upstairs for a photo shoot with pictures and a long written list of virtues of the Chairman. The place may have been covered of pictures and statues of Mao but it was his master chef that was the real star of this China Town restaurant. The chef who ran the place had trained under Mao's master chef and if this is how Mao ate...Mao ate GOOD!!!

After dinner we went to HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE to see Miss Saigon. Matt was able to get amazing seats on the first row. We could see right into the orchestra pit and we were so close to the actors we could see their spit when they enunciated in song. I am a sucker for a big Broadway musical and Miss Saigon definitely did not disappoint!! The lead voices were fantastic and the costumes were wonderful (especially some of the masks). By far the most incredible affect was the in the evacuation scene. Through projection, sound and flawless staging it truly felt like there was a helicopter in the theatre. And of course I cried at the end. Even though I knew the story...I knew exactly what was going to happen in the end I still cried. It is always so embarrassing to cry in a crowded theatre especially when you are trying not to and and up making some weird choking squeaky noise when you try to hold it all in.

Matt and I have gone to 2 salsa classes now. It's funny, Angela and I traveled to Spain to hang out with Irish and English...I have to come all the way to Australia to really learn Salsa! Terry, our teacher, is incredibly sweet and great fun to learn from. He is also in the GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS for dancing 147 hours straight. Dancing is one of the only "exercises" I ever enjoy....an hour of dancing is pure heaven compared to 5 minutes on a treadmill!

Last night I made dinner for Matt and his wonderful friends Alan and Cheryl. Cheryl was nice enough to take me shopping in the afternoon. Australian shopping centers are WAY better than American malls!! Everything is all in one building. Jewelers, clothing stores, regular grocery stores, pharmacy, fancy butchers and bakers...it's all there. I guess the main difference is the grocery and other food stores in the shopping center. There just seems to be much more variety and alot more available in one building. Cheryl and I spent a good amount of time in the baby store picking out cute teddy bear slippers and bed sets. She and Alan are expecting their first child in 3 months.

Sunday, Matt and I are making the drive to the capitol city of Canberra to see a collection of Otto Dix's work!! YAY!!!

I will post more on that later.

CB