The Filifest... my friend and I, and our two daughters, drove out to the Hutt to see this. I drove because she claims she always gets lost out there. Don't we all? We hit an inexplicable and most unfortunate traffic jam going round the Bays, so the journey took longer than expected. We had a fast Indian meal in a nearby restaurant, fascinated by the way the waitress spilled curry sauce on the trouser leg of a man at the next table, then dropped all our entree dishes on the floor as she cleared the table... we then drove to the theatre, but Lower Hutt is the most irritating town for negotiating, and the Town Hall, library and so forth, are all located on a large block that is curved, with miles of empty ground, none of it allocated for parking. We finally parked beside another car beside a hundred year old set of gravestones... fortunately close to the theatre. We were late and our friend was waiting, dressed up in a white satin dress, hair up, high heels, looking most amazing, Filipino style!

The concert was great, featuring styles of dance through the years, first a set of Highland Tribal dances, then a set of dances influenced by the Spanish takeover, this was followed by a group of Mindanao dances, influenced by Thai and Bali, and finally a lively bunch of dances based on life in the rural village. My Filipino friend's two daughters were in a number of dances, including one where you balance a glass of drink on your head while you dance, and one where you leap in and out of clacking bamboo poles! Many dances involved courtship, a minefield of behavioural perplexity in the Filipino culture! Other dances reflected the customs and activites of the country, seed planting, bird and fish life, coconut plantation work, rice harvesting, all that sort of thing.

It was colourful and fun, and we had a good time. On the way home we stopped for a coffee (hot chocolate for the girls) at Oriental Bay and just enjoyed being out.

Now it's Sunday night. School tomorrow. Not ready for that. No. No way. We had Asher's Open Day at his college for next year this afternoon. It took ages but it was worth it. He's really keen to go there now. It's the brother school of where I work now. And I used to work with the Principal and the Chaplain out at Stream about twenty years ago LOL! Small world, Wellington.