Francophonie Week in Brunei

When was the last time you've been to the circus? I haven't the foggiest notion when MY last time was. I’ve been to freak shows which you pay P5.00 per entry or horror booths that scare you off shitless (this must've been eons ago) but none of these would ever compare to what I saw last Sunday at the Jerudong Amphitheatre. Dubbed as Francophonie Week, the French Embassy hand in hand with The High Commission of Canada, Embassy of Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos came up with a full week of activities that covers an Art Exhibit, Latin Jazz Concert and a Family Day with a Circus as the main high-light. It will run from the 5th to the 10th of April. To note, all these were for free. That being said, I sorted out my uber packed week to make sure to get to all these events.

April 06:

I went to the exhibit the day after it was launched. What I saw was the remains of a rainy night and the sculptures or whatevs were wrecked by the mean weather. Hence, there were no photos taken. I was pretty hopeful to catch the other 2 events anyway.

April 10:

Phare Ponleu Selpak is a Cambodian based group composed of 7 buff men performing jaw-dropping stunts on stage that kept the 4 thousand plus crowd in complete awe. They clowned for everyone, walked on tight ropes and did some rope skipping (with the rope on FIRE), juggled, did some acrobats and other amazing stuff that sent my stomach in a knot. Patrick Erard, a French musician, was featured playing the hurdy-gurdy (at least that's what it say's on the program). The music was done by the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports.

We had an awesome musical treat the previous night (April 09) as we went to the Mini-Amphitheatre to catch Dominique Fillion & Co. as he enthused the crowd with his very own compositions. Along with two other travelling musicians: Brett Hirst on drums and Nic Cessire on bass guitar, the trio rendered songs which were like a breath of fresh air to an already windy and rainy night. Good thing the slightly bad weather did not deter the audience from seeing these world-class musicians perform live. There was a mention of local singers who will do a couple of songs with the trio. The program read: Brunei will experience an unusual performance. I am quite lost here. Did they mean the Jazz Trio or something that happened when we left? Well anyways, it was a delightful 5 days. I wonder when's the next French Film Festival?

I am Charity and I am Charitable

Unlike in the Philippines, garage sales are a trend here. If you are to take a walk down Gadong, you'd notice a wall with various post-its announcing rooms for rent, massage parlors with services rendered, there are cars for sale, there are even dire hirings for a house help with specifications of either Indonesian or Filipino. Amongst all these mephistophilean posted ads, one will always come across a post announcing a garage sale. Although we have the very known Ukay-ukay (rummage sale) back in the Philippines, I have never come across a quote-unquote garage sale like the ones they have here or on some foreign countries as shown on Teevee ha-ha (that's because I always buy my stuff at the rummage sale near the public market and never in someone else's house where it's almost abashing to leave empty handed).

 It is a smart way of getting rid of ones heap of  junk and earn from those DVD's that sat too long on the shelf and occupied too much space, or those shirts whose colors and style you've outgrown, God knows those books you thought you'd read but left to accumulate dust instead, are worth something. You can even sell trinkets at a low price instead of chucking them into the bin (now I know what to do with these keychains I bought from K.L. K.K. Vietnam and Thailand. P.S. Travel dates are far apart from each other and yet nothing saps out my will to buy these as souvenir items from my travels ... when later on my most effective "souvenir" is my credit card bill and the heartache it incurs.)

So yeah, I went to 2 garage sales yesterday, smiled at my money and handed it to whoever is calculating after the stuff I picked. What I payed for could've cost me a book and a drink at coffee bean. But it's all for a good cause. One can always count on me being charitable. ha-ha  

note: I was stuffed up from lunch, hence i'm having a hard time bending

The cool stuff I bought from the garage sales:

My favorite is this shirt with a hoodie & modern print in primary colors