It’s still stinking hot here but we had a touch of relief with a rollicking thunderstorm that came and went in a wild melee before leaving an even greater humidity and stillness. It’s a damp, enervating slough we’re in and we’re wondering when it will end: damn this global warming! Even though our weekend has been uncomfortable weather wise, we’ve managed to assuage the feeling a little with equal doses of culture and cross cultural wonderment, refreshing drinks and comfortingly predictable weekend activities.We were invited to an art opening on Friday night at a very flash art gallery in Neihu. As the school’s board was throwing a party for the teachers at the American Club later that evening, a bus was arranged to whisk us from school to the gallery then straight onto the party afterwards. It was certainly one of the flashest art openings we’ve been to and one with a twist. The artist was none other than one of our Year 6 students! On these pages a while back I described a fascinating dinner that we attended, hosted by some extremely rich people. These same people have two sons, one of whom I’ve taught and had a fair bit to do with over the years here. Andre has a real and rare artistic talent and his family’s position meant that he was able to enhance his skills with teachers and resources at his disposal. The works were a touch naive, but bold in their use of colour and fresh in style, certainly not conventional or copied. We were really impressed with the scope of the works, Andre painting massive canvases dripping with oils, each subject matter treated just a little differently. It was quite an amazing experience. Cass enjoyed some exquisite champagne from the Koo’s private chateau and vineyard in France and of course the hors d’oeuvres were excellent and served by a bevy of eager attendants. We both really admire this family: they are so lovely and unassuming, and the kids are quite delightful, I imagine a task difficult to achieve when such wealth is available.
Onwards to the board party where a slightly lesser (!) quality of food and drink was available, but a very pleasant night was had by all. The various faculty bands got a chance to impress their captive audience, people drank and chatted and caught up around the pool. Later on in the evening, the tradition of dunking some of the administrators continued, the new boss proving she’s a pretty good sport by “allowing” herself to hit the drink! A good crowd of us went back to the green bar for a few more and so subsequently when Mum rang on Saturday morning, I was still dead to the world, but luckily Cass heard the phone and had a bit of a chat.
The surf has been flat for weeks, so once again that trip was not an option, so we had a pretty quiet day escaping the heat before venturing out to an early dinner at Café Grazie, just over the bridge in Shilin. It’s a great meal there and really good value meaning that the place is always packed solid. Our early start meant we were just able to sneak in and when we left our seat, they were ushering people into our seats before we had even paid the bill. Cassy missed out on her favourite gorgonzola and spinach pizza as they had run out of the ingredients, but managed to find some pretty good substitutes.
Today, we enjoyed getting stuck back into some clippings from the Herald that we received from Mum late last week and finally felt like we back “to normal”. It always takes us a while to fully assimilate back in: it’s an awkward time for us on either end of our big trip, both back in Australia and back here. We went and saw “The Invasion” with Nicole Kidman, but both were inclined to give it a B+ only. Nicole probably pulled it up from a C+ actually as she was really quite mesmerizing, but the plot (based on “The Bodysnatchers”) was fairly predictable. Still, it was a nice diversion for us and a good outing, made even better for Cassy when she made a purchase of, what else, a pair of shoes, on the way out!
Cass and I are both walking to and from school; even in this heat and I’ve enjoyed the experience. I’d got really slack last year and had been going on the scooter, but I still find I can do a bit of boxing and weights in the afternoon as well as do the walk home without getting too exhausted. Cassy has had a few mishaps recently and has been a bit of the walking wounded after taking a spill on her brand new patent leather shoes down the drive, where they were like ice skates and cutting her foot and hurting her knee. She’s a very good healer though and seems to be getting better very quickly. (I’m required to report that the shoes are fine despite a small scrape on the toe of one!)
Photos today are of the art exhibition, the board party and the green bar.