Trying new things

Last night I went to a thankyou concert at the Sydney Opera House put on for volunteer workers. It was the first time I have been to see opera. Luckily, they were just slices of the best of a number of operas. They were annotated up front by one of the opera singers who explained what the story behind each of the pieces were. I closed my eyes and I felt mysel get choked up with emotion. It made me realise that now that I am awaking from my slumber of depression, how important it is for me to take advantage of all of the amazing things that Sydney has on offer.

I turned to the guy next to me and asked, "Are you with big brother-big sister?". He told me he worked for Aspect, a charity that raised money for Autism. A strange synchronisity as my close friend S is a primary school teacher working with kids with autism and aspergers. I tried to continue on with the discussion after the concert, however, his friends wanted to move on and our chat was cut short. I was proud of myself for trying to speak to a stranger. 

It was a good feeling looking around the room seeing hundreds of people in Sydney of all ages and types who give up their time to either support a charity or volunteer. It was kind of a restoring feeling. Perhaps not all people are bad afterall.  

The Sydney Opera House is the most amazing building, I walk past there every night on the way home from work. It is amazing within and without. Definitely a place to visit if you have an appreciation of architecture.

"The performance has finished. The wind drops and evening’s purple dissolves into the swirling waters of the harbour. Crowds have dispersed and you are left to your own devices. John Olsen’s mural tribute to Kenneth Slessor’s poem ‘Five Bells’ stretches out into the darkness beyond. Suddenly, the whole panoply of human endeavour raises its mighty yearning edifice before you with its intolerable cruelties, its inexplicable greatness, imagination’s parallel universe moulding itself through the sculpture whose stairs you descend towards home. Mahler and Shakespeare are echoing in the shells, lithe limbs reaching apotheosis in the Rose Adagio, with cheering, waves of applause, first visits and last glimpses. Before you, above you, around you, is the winged victory of human aspiration made visible in concrete, steel and tile. The Sydney Opera House stands, not phantasmagoric, something inspiration, technology and sheer hard work brought forth at the cusp of city and ocean, yacht sails and ferry lights disappeared in evening".(Australian poet, Peter Nicholson).

After the opera, I walked back to the Dendy cinema at Opera Quays and saw a film set in Mongolia called The Cave of the Yellow Dog. What a contrast from the opulence of a traditional cultural experience like german, italian and english opera with the spirituality in the simplicity of life in rural northern Asia. The three children in the movie are gorgeous intelligent beings. It is evident how central family, appreciation of one another and affection are within this family unit. They hunt and trade to get by and move on as they need more, packing up their amazingly complex huts/dwellings and loading up their bison.

I have booked in dinner and theatre over the next two weeks with my Canadian friend and am looking forward to soaking up more new creative experiences. They are the perfect counterbalance from the dry corporate world I am working in. They are also experiences that will stay with me long after a missed televsion show, or missed daudle through a shopping mall.