From one motherland to another...

I have a sneaking suspicion that some people are expecting an update. Well if it pleases you, then blog I shall ;)

One of my main objective before the three-month sojourn was to get my MasterWorks Festival 2010 audition videos done. I auditioned for the role of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker which will be performed during the last weekend of the festival. Megan helped me with a run through mid week last week, but I was wasn't sure who'd be able to find helpers to play the other three roles. That mission was fulfilled on the eleventh hour, thanks to Asher, Skye & Megan. I had no idea how He was going to provide, so it means a lot that it got done. Here are the fruits of our labour: Irene as Annie Sullivan & Irene as Helen Keller. Enjoy the drama! :D

I arrived Melbourne on Sunday, and re-shot my Saint Joan Monologue (another audition monologue for the festival) for my bewildered house mates. I managed to get Rich Swingle (co-director) had a look at the audition videos, and found that my facial expression were hidden in the dark in the Newcastle shoots. Fret not, I sent out an SOS! email to former theatre ministry friends in Melbourne. And the very next day two of them came & blessed me with an hour of their time. Isn't God good?! Thank you, Chris and Jess!!! Here are the re-shoots: Irene as Annie Sullivan - New & Irene as Helen Keller - New. Sadly, the one for Annie turned out blurry because the camera went out of focus. But He's provided for my every need! I'm praying that the videos give both of my directors John Kirby and Rich Swingle sufficient information to cast me in the role He's prepared for me this Summer!  

The day before I left for Taiwan was a mini madness. I stayed up till 2am getting most of my luggage sorted on Friday morning. Managed to get up for brekky with an old friend, had lunch with Jayden (my almost 10 month old nephew) & his Mum (my sister Jen), visited a friend who's expecting in September, and celebrate my brother Ben's birthday (a couple of days in advance) over dinner. This is your typical 'Irene tried to pack too many things in & shouldn't ever do that again' kinda day. But hey, it worked out okay. I even managed to pick up Ben's cake and prepare a salad for dinner. He's quarter of a century old now :) Congrats, Ben! 

I flew into Tao-Yuan airport on Sunday at 5.35am (local time is a couple of hours behind Sydney) with the heaven a-drizzling, my body aching, and the city awakening. I haven't seen Taipei this quiet before. Dad's in Shanghai on business, so I caught a 6.10am bus into Taipei, and hopped onto a taxi to get to the doorsteps of the family studio apartment in a back street lane way in a busy business/shopping district. On the way I saw several large sized temples, including a very famous temple called 'Xin2 Tian Gong'. My translation is 'Path to the Heavenly Pavilion"... Oh, and something else also caught my eye... A red business banner that offered face reading (clairvoyance) for pets!!!! It was a jaw drop moment in the spirit for me. I took pictures. I had to remind myself: "Okay Irene. Nothing's weird. You've seen it all before, haven't you? You lived here for 10 years!") Only I realised I'm not seeing things the same way I used to... 

My gran greeted me around 7.20am. Normally, she'd be doing some dancy exercise at the Sun-Yat-sen Memorial Hall down the road. It is sweet to meet her on the other side of the hemisphere. After some R&R time Aunty Carol (my step mum) shouted my gran, my Aunty May (who lives in Seattle) and I to a Japanese feast at Mitsui Cuisine. She said that the meal was to help me 'Jie Fung'. The literal translation to help receive / catch the person's wind. Haha, wait! Let me explain! When a person is going on a long journey, people would politely say 'Ju4 Ni3 Yi Lu4 Shuen4 Fung', which means 'Have a smooth sailing (winded) journey'. Make sense to you now? I imagine the root of this saying must've come when ships provided the main mode of long distance travel. 

I'd show you pictures of the foooooooooooooood but how about tomorrow?

My cousin Karen whom I grew up with in Melbourne and her hubby Marco came and picked me up for a Cantonese style dinner (menu's like Yum Cha). I've missed them. We used to hang out every other weekend in our Melbourne days. I wasn't hungry. But I still ate. This is probably going to be the norm until I head for the USA mid June as there are many, many, MANY lovely relis to catch up with. Good times!!!