The performance opportunity of a lifetime...

So, um, we performed in the Opera House last night- what a thrill. Yesterday morning was a little chaotic, with visiting Featherdale Wildlife Park (I got to pet a koala, lots of very full kangaroos (too many people were feeding them) and a wombat!) and a trip to the top of the Sydney Tower (I think I could see to LA from up there...), but in the end we arrived on time, had our sound check and ate some dinner in a green room the size of a food court before our chance to be on stage.

Playing that piano was like playing pure gold. It was a Steinway full grand and had a much better touch than even the one at B-W (and I thought the B-W piano was capable of hiding all mistakes!)- how incredible! The kids sang so well, with crisp consonants and bright eyes and excitement- we were all so proud! The other groups that performed last night were also great-- I wish the Minesota Boys Choir could sing me to sleep every night-- what a delicious sound they had! OH! And Kathy gave me permission to sing on the final number performed by the 500+ choir, since we were already on stage sitting with the group-- which means that I sang at the Opera House as well as played. Definately a once in a lifetime experience. We got back to the hotel late, and everyone was exhausted, but it didn't matter- we were all on a pretty big high. I'll have the chance to hear the second concert of this festival from the audience perspective tonight, so I'm also looking forward to listening in that great space. And I hope to get a good picture (with no flash, of course, so the ushers won't take my camera away) of the inside as well.

For those of you who aren't music nerds, I'll switch my music-nerdiness off now. :)

Today is our last full day in Sydney, which makes me sad. Tomorrow we fly to Rotorua, New Zealand, then to Aukland, before departing for The States on Saturday morning. Since I don't know what internet opportunities will be available when we get there, I'll leave you with some of my "firsts" and impressions and random facts about Australia:

Chinese is the second language here. We see their characters all over the place. It seems a little strange to us, since romantic languages are used more widely in the Western Hemisphere. :)

The toilet doesn't flush backwards, for those of you who were dying to know. But, since Australians consider themselves very "earth-friendly", there are "half" and "full" flush options on almost every toilet. Use your imagination. :)

Everyone who rides in any vehicle in Australia must wear a seatbelt, so even the charter buses have them. I never really got used to that.

Sydney is much more Americanized than I expected. We saw all kinds of familiar store-fronts: IGA, Gloria Jeans Coffee, BP/Shell/Seven-11, Aldi, IKEA (ohmygosh, IKEA! Sweedish flags and all!), even FOX 8.

I've tried lots of random foods: vegimite (a salty, black, yeast paste. not as hideous as I expected, though I could live without it), turkish delight (chocolate covered gummy candy, sort of), crocodile jerky (started out well, had a funny after-taste). I'm interested to see what's popular in New Zealand and how they're different...

Alrighty-- I need to inhale some breakfast before collecting my girls for the morning. I don't even know where we're headed today- haha.

Hope to post again soon... Otherwise, I'll see you all on the other side of the Dateline! :)

---

---