Rigoletto!!

Oh my goodness. Wow.

Well, first I just have to start off and say that the cloud is gone!! Well, it's not gone gone but it's not over my heart anymore. It's more like, I know it exists but it's not affecting my mood or day or anything! :) Thanks for your prayers!!

Now, on to telling you about the AMAZING day I had yesterday!!!

I have to start from the absolute beginning...

I woke up because someone was snoring...but ended up going back to sleep until 11:00! Then I woke up and skyped with my dad, but he could tell I wasn't in a very good mood (this was before the cloud left) so we didn't get to skype for long :( But, then I got to skype with my mom and that was fun, too.

Well...the cloud grew heavier BUT it got a little bit better when I realized that LaChelle and I were going to make pancakes, toast, and eggs for breakfast!

After eating breakfast, getting dressed up and fixing our hair LaChelle and I headed out for our day in the city to celebrate both of our birthdays!! However we didn't end up actually getting outside until about two hours after we planned on leaving...

And the second we stepped outside it started raining...yikes! So we grabbed some umbrellas and started walking. But then we discovered that the bike path to the train station was closed...so we just walked the long way through some neighborhoods.

Sweet God held off the heavy rain until we got onto the train so we weren't soaked! And after figuring out our train situation we made ourselves comfortable on the top floor of the train. We spent the whole hour-long train ride listening to music and looking out the window which was very nice. At this point the cloud was getting to an all-time high of heavy-ness...

After getting into Sydney Harbor we discovered that it was pouring down rain! So we shuffled around the shops that were close by and under cover. I got some FABULOUS souvenir shopping done too!

Now, this is when the cloud pretty much disappeared! Do you know what I realized? So...you know how people are always like, "God is the only one you need, his grace is sufficient, etc."? Well, don't get me wrong that's fabulous and I agree BUT I always took that with the picture of me being alone, not needing anyone else, being self-sufficient and not seeking comfort in anyone but God. But, what I realized is that yes, God is enough and his love heals...but I think that he heals me with his love IN people. Like LaChelle, she really really helped me through the hard time I was having yesterday - and it wasn't her, it was God in her. I really really think that when I say that God's love is all I need, it's true - but I need His love through other people too. I don't know...I could totally be on the wrong track...but I don't think so. :)

Anyways, after finally feeling better we were both starving! We had some grandeur ideas of eating at an expensive restaurant overlooking Sydney harbor before waltzing into the opera house to watch Rigoletto; however, we realized that our wallets didn't match up with our ideas. So...we ate at Hungry Jack's (AKA Burger King). But...it was still overlooking the harbor! :)

After eating we wanted to walk around the city but since it was raining we really couldn't without getting soaked - and of course we didn't want to mess up our makeup! So, we found a cafe called "Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe", got a table by the window, ordered some cappuccinos and talked...and talked...and talked. It was amazing! We talked for almost two hours...I think...maybe it was more, I don't know we lost track of time! :) By the time we looked down at our clocks it was almost 7! So we walked over to the opera house, got our tickets and took our seats!

We decided that we would try to act demure but we were just too excited! We asked basically everyone to take our picture every five seconds! LaChelle even got teased by the usher for her accent...:)

We sat next to a lady from London who was just traveling around by herself for vacation - how wonderful! I love the idea of taking a vacation by yourself and seeing an opera just to see an opera! Oh, did I mention that we were in the nose bleed section? Seriously, we were one row from the back...but somehow we could see EVERYTHING and hear amazingly as well!!

After about twenty minutes of waiting in anticipation the lights went down and the orchestra started...and then...IT STARTED!!

Oh my oh my oh my...I LOVED it! I want to be wealthy enough when I grow up to A) have fresh flowers in my house all the time and B) go to the theater, ballet, or opera at LEAST once a month!

I will try as hard as I can to not sound incredibly lame and overly emotional but seriously...something in my heart came alive! The lights, the costumes, the sets, the music, the singing, EVERYTHING excited me! It was like my eyes wanted to drink up everything and the more I opened them the more I saw until I realized I was sitting on the edge of my seat looking like a dear caught in headlights, but I didn't care! I wanted the music to keep ringing in my ears and the Italian words (did I mention that everything was in Italian...?) to swirl around my ear drums like wine!

There were times when a man, and a woman would be singing at the same time along with the orchestra and you couldn't distinguish which was which. It was like they all blended together to create a creamy and delicious sound.

So, you know that verse in the Bible that says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good?" well, even though not one thing went into my mouth I felt like I tasted and I saw that the Lord is good! He's so creative, and incredible!

Did you know that for every pitch there's a corresponding color that is actually produced that we can't see? Can you believe that? I so wish that I could have eyes to see those colors, especially last night. I'm sure it would have been even more beautiful than the largest rainbow in the world! Can you seriously believe that our God is that creative? Honestly, He didn't have to make music or voices or color or instruments but he did! Even though Rigoletto was incredibly depressing it was at the same time incredibly uplifting just because of how beautiful it was!

Oh and don't even get me started on the characters. I love acting with all of my heart, even more so than music, and wow did that show captivate me.

My heart literally wept for the character of Rigoletto. He wasn't even the good guy and I still loved him! There's this one line that he said in the first act that brought me to tears. He said, "To be deformed — the buffoon to have to play! Whether one will or not, to be obliged to laugh. Tears, the common solace of humanity are to me prohibited!" Oh my goodness...I wanted to run all the way onto the stage and just hug him!!! I wanted to tell him that I'd cry with him, I didn't think he was ugly, I saw that his jokes were merely a defense mechanism that he used in order to not get hurt...but then I got a hold of myself and realized I was watching a play...and maybe going crazy a little... :)

But, seriously. The characters were so captivating. EVERYTHING was captivating!!! However, after three hours of that deliciousness we had to leave. :(

But while we were walking by the harbor with our cute little umbrellas we realized...we just saw an opera, in Sydney Australia...what the heck?! And then as we passed by that cute little coffee shop again I said, "I wish we didn't have lectures tomorrow so we could go back in there and chat over a cappuccino again!" and then we looked at each other and decided that we only live once!!

So we found another cute little table and talked again over cappuccinos until the shop closed! Then we hopped on our train back home and didn't get back to the train station until past midnight!!

After stepping off the train we realized...hmmm, we live in the ghetto. We're two young girls walking alone in the ghetto. We're two young girls walking alone in the ghetto at 12:45AM and the safe bike path is closed so we would be two young girls walking alone in the ghetto of the ghetto in pretty dresses at 12:45AM. So, we called a cab. :)

After we arrived back at the base we were on such a coffee high that I couldn't get to bed until at least 2! Then...there was yet another orchestra that evening...the orchestra of SNORING! Seriously, it was ridiculous. LaChelle even had to go and sleep on the couch in the media room. And I didn't get a good hours sleep all night. But it was ALL worth it! And I woke up even more excited than I went to bed!!

Oh my goodness yesterday was fabulous. I just can't even express how fabulous it was!!! I LOVED every single part about it, even the rain! If it wasn't for the rain we never would have gone into that coffee shop and discovered such great conversation and cappuccinos! :)

Well, now we have another full day of lectures and LaChelle and I are both jut running on adrenaline and caffeine! :)

I'll blog again later! Thanks for you prayers!

G'Later!!

Oh, PS I'm going to announce "The Doozy" tomorrow to the whole DTS so you'll get to find out soon! :)