Cirque Du Soleil/Surf Camp

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I went to Cirque Du Soleil last Thursday. The touring show Varekai came to town so clearly I had no choice but to spend $150 on a ticket, CD and program. The only way to describe this show is 'amazing'. It blew my mind. It wasn't so much the crazy things the performers were doing (I'm very familiar with Cirque so I was expecting that part) but it was the fact that this whole show is one big piece of art. Everything is so incredibly beautiful. The lighting, the costumes, the set, the choreography, the music... amazing! I could watch that show every night from a different seat and never ever get bored. I can't even describe the show itself as my words will just not do it justice. However, if you ever get the opportunity to see any Cirque show... DO NOT MISS IT, even if the only seats left are the ones way in the back (that's where I sat and I was still only about 20 feet from the stage). I saw contortionists, Russian swings, triple trapeze, Georgian dance, juggling, little kids with water meteors, aerial straps... If you are still in any doubt how good these people are a girl at the popcorn stand told Jaret that some of the artists are 4th generation circus performers. These people are the best in the world.


For the rest of the weekend I went to surf camp. Well sort of. The International Office arranged a trip for all the exchange students to go learn to surf and I was supposed to go until I broke my foot. I was really not looking forward to the weekend in rez all by myself all weekend and then Trey from San Diego called me up and asked if I wanted to rent a car with him and a few other Americans who had not signed up for the camp. I immediately said yes and we got the car and followed the surf camp bus up to Seven Mile Beach in Gerroa. We got there pretty late and had neglected to book a cabin beforehand so of course everything was closed and Trey and Sean ended up sleeping on the beach and Dominique, Kelly and I crashed on the floor in one of the surf camp cabins. In the morning, surf camp was on the beach by 8:30. Trey, Sean, Kelly, Dom and I were not actually part of the camp so we went for breakfast and parked ourselves on the beach for the morning. Trey and Sean rented some boards and did a little surfing. The wind was cold and blowing hard so the beach was pretty unpleasant and every part of my body was full of sand so I spent the afternoon kicking back in a hammock at camp. That night the surf instructors took everyone to a pub up the road. When we got there it was pretty empty, there was a terrible karaoke worthy singer and the few patrons were pretty old creepers. So we all ordered drinks, sat down and started a drinking game where there is a coin that when dropped into your drink means you have to scull it. There were like 40 of us and one coin so you never knew where the coin was. After that went on for a bit we decided to take over the dance floor and madness ensued.

Dolphins in the waves; Dom, me, Jake and Kelly at the pub.

The next morning the surfers were in the water by 8:30 again but the rest of us didn't roll out of bed until 10. It was a beautiful day and the beach was calling us. We lied around until about 3:30 when surf camp ended. Everyone had a blast and everyone was standing on their boards catching waves by the end. I can't wait until I get my cast off so I can go surfing too. It really hurt my heart watching them all out there in the waves with the dolphins. I can walk okay now with my cast so I'm trying to get lots of exercise to keep my leg strong. Only 2 more weeks left and I'll be surfing too!