Night at the Opera

Thursday night, Mr G hosted us for an informal farewell banquet as we are leaving Hefei on Friday. It was pretty much like the other banquets only with paper napkins and drinking glasses full of VLL (vs the fussy shot glasses).

Afterwards we attended a Chinese opera down the street.


The opera, while in all Chinese, was quite entertaining. It covered a host of universal themes --- husband losing all the beans gambling; wife mad etc. A government official in the audience participated in one of the duets and did an outstanding job.

Singing, I think, is a prerequisite to success in the government and corporate sectors of Chinese society.

I made the mistake of saying I needed some of the shoes featured on one of the acts. The next thing I know they had led me off mid-show out the building. We walked down an alley and up 5 flights of stairs to an apartment where the costume maker lived. He pulled out a whole host of shoes and I felt compelled to buy some even though there were none my size.

Perhaps my lovely and fashionable wife can start a new trend back home (better not wear on rainy days though):