Wandering Part Deux

I have eaten myself slightly silly. Since I've been here I've had Japanese (three times - there are a gazillion Asians living here), Chinese, Italian, German (I drank my first full glass of beer!), Modern Australian, Greek.....an extensive list. Somehow vacation always brings along with it a free food pass - as if no crappy, bad-for-me food counts. To that end, I've had wine most days, dessert every day, and lots of forbidden snacks. I sometimes get bored at home, but when you're somewhere different with all sorts of new options, well...I just can't help myself.

I was on my feet all day and they hurt like the hey hey when we got home last night, but it was worth it. I stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art and breezed through an exhibit on film, video and moving images. Most things were pretty bizarre, but one installation in particular caught my attention. The room was completely black, except for five television screens on one wall. A documentary filmmaker had interviewed her own mother, an extremely devout Irish-Catholic woman with eight children ranging in age from teens to 30's. The mother was on the center screen, but only her hands, a rosary and a Bible were shown. While the woman talked about prayer and went through her daily prayer rituals for her children, the faces of her kids were featured on the remaining screens as they reacted to hearing her pray for them and talk about them. It was fascinating! Reading all of their reactions and figuring out each child's relationship to their parent by interpreting even the minutest flicker on their faces was incredibly engaging. They were alternately agitated, moved, entertained, bored, empathetic - I had a hard time tearing myself away.

It was fun to get a feel for the fabric of a city. I ate lunch in a food court with only locals, no tourists, and just watched and listened. Office workers wear a lot of black in Sydney. I looked around me and felt like I missed out on the memo because I was wearing too much color. I pretended I was Australian for a little while, too. An American family asked me a question and my answer came out heavily accented, so I went with it. Once an actress....

If you ever get the chance, you have to see my favorite Australian show, the mockumentary-style Summer Heights High. We rented We Can Be Heroes the other night, another show written by and starring the fabulously talented Chris Lilley. Also funny, but doesn't trump Summer Heights High. You can see episode number one here.