Hullo All-

it's been almost 5 months since i have been home from Macau. but just last week i returned there for one last visit. in the 14 months that i was working in Macau my mother was never able to come out and visit- so last week i took my mom on our first vacation together and we traveled to Macau via Hong Kong to spend a week visiting my friends and all the places i loved and missed in Macau. it was quite a trip and i must admit that i am very happy to be back in NYC. but i do think it was really good for me to go back there one more time and really put it all to rest. it's been a whirlwind of a 5 months home with traveling all over the country to see my friends that i missed and trying to find work in a difficult time, planning a move to Berlin in July and starting a new relationship. i definitely have a new perspective on all of life since living and working in Macau and sometimes i find it very difficult to live in America and i'm very excited to be starting a new chapter in my life in Berlin!
Going back to Macau however was a little trying for me but also helped me realize that i am glad that i moved on to start new projects and new adventures. it was definitely the right time to go. it was great seeing my friends again who are still there tho! not many Americans are left however, with major lay-offs and people just fed up and wanting to go home. but my pinoy friends are still there working harder and harder everyday under stressful situations but for them it's how they need to make a living and despite all the hang-ups they are beautiful people that work very hard and truly put on great shows! they have changed a lot of the shows since i have left and i really enjoyed seeing what everyone is able to do around the mall now. they were great! they even called my mom and i up on stage one night and we sang "o sole mio" with them and then i cried a lot! i really do miss them and i miss performing as the infamous "sofia" but i tell ya i don't miss the politics ONE BIT!
the Venetian threw an amazing full moon party last friday at the pool as an after party for the John Legend concert. it was AMAZING! best party i ever went to in all the time i was in Macau. my friends were dancers and my stilt walker friends were in brightly lit robot costumes. it was quite a spectacle! i was very proud of Anton and the other managers that pulled off such a successful event. the only thing that got to me was me. i have been waiting for an awesome party like that in Macau and when they finally throw one 1. i don't live there anymore 2. i'm not drinking anymore 3. i didn't really feel like dancing and 4. i'm not looking to meet anyone. i suppose it's good that i'm not there anymore if i don't have any desire to drink, dance or date because that's all there really was to do there i realize.
Of course i went back to all the old bars and had dinner at all my favourite places and hung out with the same ol gang! i even took my mom to get mani/pedis (her first EVER) and got her an awesome hair cut! it was a lot of fun watching her get pampered. And i do think all in all she had a good time and really got to experience what my life was like in Macau.
the trip back to Hong Kong and getting to our hotel for the night before our plane left in the morning was very difficult and stressful and i sadly admit that i totally lost it by the end and yelled and swore in front of and at my mother. (not something that happens very often in front of my mother) but it did happen and she took it well and once i calmed down i sent her to talk to the receptionist again and figure out the missing details that set me off the deep end. everything worked out fine and we had a fairly nice easter and in the morning we got to the airport just fine and made it safely home. we both agreed tho that our next vacation would NOT be to China and preferably for me at this time NO WHERE NEAR ASIA. honestly i really just need a break. i love south east asia and i have every intention in the future to return there and i wouldn't mind working in Singapore and someday i want to take my mom to Seoul Korea where my grand parents did their mission work and i have aspirations to be a super star in Tokyo! but for now i think i'm happy making my next big adventure in Europe this time!

So until then i hope you are all happy and well and look out for new journal entries as i make my way from NYC to BERLIN!

love-

johanna

so there it is my friends- the end of my journey in Macau. i have spent 14 months in Macau and now it has come time for me to return to the states. i will be arriving in Newark airport next Saturday, November 22nd.

it's hard to believe that the time has come for me to leave this place. i am very sad to leave my friends and my apartment and all the little things that have made this place my home for the last year.

i will miss the foot massages at my favourite Chinese place where they hardly speak english but always smile when we come in and we have our favourite girls.

i will miss Depil House and the lovely pinoy women Tina and Nellie that give us our mani/pedis and wax us.

i will miss Sky who i just discovered as the coolest Chinese hairdresser!

i will miss Kitty who sold us our first, second, third cell phones and became so much more than just the lady that gives us our minutes every week.

i'll miss the door people at my apt that smile every time i walk into the building or get off the elevator. i'll especially miss the night woman that said goodnight to me and smiled when i walked into the building well after midnight almost every night. (i often wondered what she thought i did for a living).

most of all i'll miss OTT and Rascals. they were my bars and the people in those places became my friends and my family. i can't remember the last time i have paid full price for anything in those places. when i had my goodbye party last weekend we closed down OTT and then we went to Rascals and they stayed open until we wanted to leave and gave us many a free shot in honour of my leaving. perhaps it's saying something about me that my favourite places were those two bars but everyone in those places are trying to get somewhere better and after a hard days work we gathered there to share, to vent or just to unwind amongst each other. it's where all the gweilos from all over the world met each other. it's the Cheers where everybody knows your name. and those that work behind the bars are my friends and when they were blue i would go visit them and we would sit in the bars til close just so they would have friends to talk to. i can't begin to tell you how important all those people have been to me in my stay here and they will be forever missed. some of them i hope to see along the way in some other place doing some other thing but others i know i will never see again. My pinoy and indonesian friends will be missed and thought of the most. it's hard to believe that i now have near and dear that will be so far away from me in just a short time. i have learned so much from them and their struggle for success and survival of not only themselves but their families. to those that work at the bars or as nannies or maids hoping to make a better life for themselves i respect them so much. and to those that married or will marry a gweilo i understand and wish them all the best and hopefully there is true love there, especially for Martin and Michelle (my lovely ex-roommates).

to my filipino (pinoy) friends that i worked with at the Venetian i will cherish for a life time. they are so talented and they don't know what they are worth. i hope one day they will learn to stand up for themselves and truly know that they have value in this world. Especially to Brian (my pogi), Nazer (my non sexual life partner) and Karen (part of the triangle of best friends) i leave my heart with them until i see them again. we are doing are best to get Karen to the states and someday i hope to return to the philippines and work with Nazer at his arts school.

To sara and tom i leave my motivation to. they too will someday leave this place and i hope to see them many times on my journey thru life. they have become my family, my life support and my happiness. Sara from Vegas came all the way over here only to find heartbreak but thru her struggle slowly finds herself and i wish her all the best on her self discovery until she is ready to move along. as she puts it she is our ground and mali and i are her wings in which to fly!

tom has become my best mate- i love him to bits. a troubled boy from London who has been here with his sister and dad creating something for all of us. his dad gave us Rascals and tom brought over tom number 2 and sam and even his cousin sarah for awhile. the best bar tenders and the worst but when the 3 boys were behind the bar there was always something to look forward to. now things have changed and girls rule the bar! but i'll never forget tom number 1, tom number 2 and sam! but as for tom now he truly has become my family. he's always there when i need him and i'll always be there for him. through all his beautiful girlfriends and fist fights and whatever else he can get himself into i'll be there for him. i've seen his dog rascal grow up from just a little pup to the ripe ol' age of one and i can't wait to see him a few years from now. no other dog could get away with having a mohawk than Rascal- tom's dog!!!!

of course all the people i have worked with over the past year have changed my life and left an imprint on my heart. some of my dearest of friends, Cassie, Anton, Lukela, Wyatt- i will think of them daily. there are so many others but these 4 are among the best that are still left. they were there to listen to my every problem and to give some of the best advice i have ever received in life. there were many hard times that we overcame and it only made the friendships stronger. i believe that in years to come when i'm seeking advice and friends that know me the best these 4 will still come to mind. they have inspired me and taught me and loved me through it all. we may not always agree and sometimes there may be distance but i will love them and miss them and i await their return to the states.

much love to my two mom's Zarah and Mel that gave me the motherly hugs, words and tears that i needed when i my mom couldn't be here. they both have kids at home that they miss dearly and i was happy to be the step-in daughter for both of them.

and to my current roommate Jayson. although i've only been here a few months he was exactly what i needed when i moved in. if i was staying i know i would learn a great deal from him but even so, in these last few months i have learned a lot and plan on carrying those lessons with me on my great travels.

and the person hardest to leave of them all is mali... she has been my best friend from day one! we sat next to each other on the plane over to China and we've done it all together. we have fought and cried and screamed at each other but only because we love each other the most. we are 2 parts of a whole- soul-mates. if we're not together someone always asks where our other half is. for a long time people thought we were "together" and now people keep asking us if we're sisters. it is true, the longer you spend with someone the more you start to look alike. i have never met anyone like Mali and i doubt i ever will. from the moment i saw her i knew i wanted to be her friend and be more like her. she has changed my life the most. from her i have learned to be more me. we inspire each other's style and i can't tell you how many things we own alike. we even have mismatched rain boats so we each could have one of the others. at one time we were going to invest in filipino property together but we decided against it. we talk about what it will be like when we're old ladies sitting on a porch together remembering our lives. she taught me how to stop saying sorry all the time and we fought over almost every man that came our way. we both have best friends at home but this friendship will always be set apart from the rest. even our other best friends here, like Karen (the completed Triangle) and Sara say there is something different about us. sometimes we want to kill each other and she has definitely been one of my biggest challenges here but i also don't know what life would have been like without her. we planned on leaving together and heading off to Europe right after this. we still plan on getting to Europe it just won't be on the same train. i love her so much and i know life will be hard without having each other close by everyday. sometimes i felt like i lost my identity because we were so much 2 pieces of a whole but we have managed to have our own lives as well. i will miss her the most. also she has introduced me to some of her other great friends from back home in Vegas when they were in Asia and i'm so grateful for those friendships now as well. Maldog and joey best friends for life!

making the decision to leave before any of my other close friends was a big leap for me. i believe that in leaving now i will inspire the others to find the right time for them to leave. i don't know how i'll get on a plane knowing i am leaving them all behind but i know it's the right time for me.

on this journey i have faced my biggest demon- myself. although i still found myself making decisions based on what my friends wanted in the end i finally made this choice for me. mali and karen speak of me abandoning them but we all know that we have to do what is best for ourselves first. my time is done here and theirs will come. i will still be a point of the triangle- i will just be further away. tom,sara and i have decided that this place is Neverland and we are all lost boys. there is no age or time here and one never really grows up. i have friends of all ages and all nationalities here but in this place we are all the same. the only difference between me and them is that i am not lost anymore and therefore it is time to face the world again.

i could never explain to all of you what this place is really like or what my time here has really meant to me but i hope in these final goodbyes to those i love you back home may have an idea of this place and it's significance in my life.

in just one week i leave this all behind and come back to a place i once knew so well. i can't wait to see my friends and family back there. when you see me i'll be different but also just the same- maybe even a little more like me. thank you all for being there when i needed to connect to home. thank you for reading my journal even if it wasn't once a week or once a month like i promised. i loved sharing with you my thoughts and adventures and struggles. i'm scared to come back but also excited. i can't wait to see all your faces and hear about your lives. understand that i can't possibly share all that has happened because there has been so much but every experience throughout this year has changed me. my eyes have been forced wide opened the things i have seen and experienced and learned will stay with me and will inspire who i am and what i believe.

i have just returned from Siem Reap Cambodia 2 days ago and it was the best holiday i have been on in my life. i saw one of the ancient wonders of the world- Angkor and we took a boat tour of a Vietnamese floating village and i encountered dozens and dozens of begging children. this place is beautiful and also tragic. i have seen much on my travels through Asia but this place just did it for me. there are smiling faces on everyone you see and it's dirt cheap. the town is quaint and by far the best cross between East meets West in my opinion. they really just get it right! i truly believe that anyone that can should go to Cambodia. this is a place where you really see what's going on in the world. one can not possibly see all there is to see of the temples in just a few days. there are organizations there also that are trying to help the children and change their lives. they are the smartest kids i have ever encountered and yet they barely go thru 3 or 4 years of schooling. they need help and better education and money to get them off the streets. girls as young as 10 are thrust out into the streets to sell themselves. they are beautiful children but they need parents that aren't children themselves. there is an entire generation of adults that are missing- dead, killed off and what is left is a population of children trying to survive. i want to go back- we all do. there is tragedy in the world- the likes i have never seen before but on their faces are smiles and i was grateful to have met them and seen them and shared with them.

love from afar but soon to be near-

johanna

hullo all!!!!

last night i just returned from a business trip to Tokyo!!!! seven of us were lucky enough to be chosen to go on this trip and we were there from Thursday, September 18-Monday, September 22. the event was a trade show called JATA (Japanese Association of Tourist Agencies, i believe is the correct long version). the entire convention center was filled with booths representing different countries all of the world!!!! the trade show was designed to show Japanese Travel Agents and the general public what other countries have to offer for tourists. we met and worked with people from all over the world! it was quite amazing! our job was to represent the Sands Corporation and specifically the Venetian. we also performed at the Macau booth as well. As performers of streetmosphere at the Venetian Macau we performed several shows a day at the two booths and strolled around the convention center 10 minutes before each show with flyers getting people to come see our show! there were performers there from all over the world doing similar things and it was truly an amazing experience for all of us! we felt extremely appreciated and everyone who came to see the shows were very happy and impressed and the people at the other booths really liked us and were also a little jealous i think that our booth had such good representation! the Sands Corporation did a wonderful thing mostly emphasizing the entertainment that the Sands Corporation has to offer guests rather than the casinos. the marketing team that was there from the Venetian was very happy with us as well and all in all our booth was very successful! the Macau booth was very nice with a cafe inside a structure that looked like senado square and they were very happy with our performances as well! it felt great to know that we were doing such a good job and that people really loved what we were doing at the Venetian Macau!

at the Sands booth there were three women from Japan giving people information and we became fast friends with them! i was the only girl of the seven of us from Streemosphere so i was very happy to have the other girls there to talk to once we got to the event! being with the guys was great though and i can't imagine a better group of co-workers to travel and work with! it was just wonderful and we worked so well together! usually we perform a 12-15 person show including the instrumentalists so to only have 6 of us and our music director was a different experience and very rewarding! there were 2 singers, Brian and myself, 2 VAs and 2 instrumentalists. it was a very intimate show that worked perfectly for the event!

every night we explored Tokyo together and found it to be a spectacular city! one night Yuka came out to meet us all for dinner and brought her friend Yuko. they were great to have around and ordered all the best sushi! Yuko instantly became close with all of us and on Sunday when we finished work early she came and met us and took as all around Hirashuku and Shabuya the entire day! we had only met her the night before and she decided to give up her free day and take perfect strangers out on the town for one of the best days of my life to date! we went to a temple that was straight out of movie. it was breath-taking and everything you imagine a temple in Asia to be like. as Steve described it "the day was like poetry!" in the evening the women that worked with us at the booth and the other managers from the Venetian met us for one last dinner at a beautiful sushi restaurant and we sat around a table with our shoes off, sitting on cushions and 5 different languages flowed around the table from English to Japanese, Manderin, French, and Tagalog. it was simple enchanting to listen to!

every place i have been to in Asia has been amazing and Tokyo did not disappoint. i have decided if there was ever a city to work in it would be Tokyo. it was so advanced, and clean and orderly and just simply efficient! in the years to come i hope i get to vacation more in south asia and one day work in Tokyo! and the best part of the trip is that we got PAID to go there and work!

i definitely plan and staying in contact with all of the new friends i made and Yuko and i will hope to visit each other whenever we can! she is great and it's nice to have a Japanese friend! we have found it hard to make good friends with the Chinese here in Macau so i'm excited to at least have friends in Japan that i can visit in the future!

on another important note: i have decided to finish out my current contract with the Venetian and then come home! my contract ends October 31st and i plan on being home in mid November after my first roommate Megan and i do some traveling! Megan has also decided to come home and we will be flying back to NYC together where we both live! my managers now officially know that i have decided to leave and although i am very sad to leave my co-workers and friends behind i feel it is time for me to face my next adventure in life. this job has certainly opened the door for me and i know that from this job many new, great opportunities will come! the last few weeks have been wonderful here and i know it will be hard to leave this place but i know it is the right choice for me at this time. i have decided that it is better to leave a place when you are going to be greatly missed than to leave when they are wondering why you haven't left already. i know i will be missed by my managers, co-workers and friends i have made all over this town and in other asian countries where i have friends that i will soon be very far away from but they will be greatly missed by me as well and i hope to come back as often as possible while my friends are still there. i know i will never forget this experience and it has truly changed my life.

coming home will be hard and strange but i am excited to see the faces of those i have not seen in a year and hug and kiss the many friends and family that i left behind a year ago. i hope you can all welcome me back with open arms as i journey back to a now foreign home that i used to call my own.

love from not so far away-

johanna

hullo everyone!

i know i just wrote everyone last week about my birthday but this week i wanted to update you all about what is going on at work.

as some of you may remember this contract is up October 31st. we just had meetings this week regarding renewal contracts. in our opinion it is too early to be asking us if we want to renew or not but we really didn't have a choice but to go to the individual meetings. we have new contracts for this next renewal now that we will officially be working under the Venetian Macau opposed to Best Agencies. our new contracts are quite different from our last 2 contracts but overall perhaps they are not as bad as they originally appeared. i do not wish to get into all the details with you but certainly note that we are not in America anymore and we have no rights! all that being said- as of right now i do not have a job to go home to in America and i know the American economy is not looking so good right now and neither is the world economy for that matter but the point is i have a job in which i get paid to sing everyday and until i have secured a better job that allows me to do that as well i have decided for the moment to tell my managers that "yes" i will sign on for another year. if i actually go through with that statement i will definitely be coming back to the states to visit first and whether i stay the whole year or not is a question of how well i put myself out there to get another job. on the plus side i was able to negotiate slightly and i will finally be getting paid to wash and style the wigs that i have been working on pretty much since i have arrived in China.

this place is certainly not my favourite place and if i could get into all the politics of this place i know many of you would be appalled but the bottom line is i get to sing everyday as my day job and i make people smile and i don't count down the hours until i go home everyday. i love the people i work with and we have become a very close family and when i'm on the floor with the guests i'm usually happy to see them all! mismanagement is a whole other story but as i am discovering no place is perfect and that is just the reality of working for a corporation. i am good friends with many of the cirque du soleil techies and they have a really hard time as well and that is my dream company so even there i would have to deal with unpleasantries.

our motto for the next few months is "plan to stay, hope to leave!" i am going to work hard at finding another job and if i can not i have set goals for myself for the upcoming year. i have started composing songs and i want to put together an album and i have told my music director that i will learn new arias for the floor. i think if i have to stay another year i will still make the best of it and continue to grow and learn and save money and hopefully leave with a few new skills!

i'm trying to stay positive in all this and while i'm secure here i will work at putting myself out to the world. up until this point i have of course worked hard to get where i am but also have relied a lot on fate. fate always needs a little push and i realize that i can't be discovered if i don't put myself out there for the world to see!!!!

i love you all and think of you from across the world!

i hope to be home soon to see familiar faces and places!

kisses-

johanna

hullo everyone!

well it has only been 3 weeks since i last updated you all so i think that's pretty good considering last time it was 3 months!

ok- so i decided that i wanted to have a great birthday adventure this year! 7 of my friends and myself went to kuala lempur, malaysia the weekend before my birhtday! it was so much fun. the city is really great and the people are so nice. we rocked out all weekend. the first night we got there 5 of us travelled together and the other 3 had arrived earlier during the day. it was very late when we got there so we found a hostile and kept it low key. the hostile was really neat and we had two bunk beds to share amongst the 5 of us and the showers, sinks and toilets where all in a line just down the hallway. there was a large living area with a big screen tv and a pool table and big couches and then off to the side there was a small library where we sat just before going to bed and talked with one of the workers there. he was great and gave us lots of useful information about the place and about some surrounding islands as well. the next day we met up with our other friends and they had found a very nice hotel just across the street for us all to stay in for the rest of the weekend. the hotel was great and very affordable! if you ever want a cheap vacation malaysia is definitely one place to think about.

on the first day my friend danielle guided us through a walking tour of the city and we saw lots of beautiful buildings and took tons of fun pics. we went into a mosque- which i have never done and we had to where robes and head scarfs to enter. the complex was spacious and beautiful and the people were laying in a big empty, open space that had large pillars. we were not allowed to enter the space but we could walk around it and see the people. they seemed to peaceful. i had never seen anything like that before.

as we continued on our walking tour we heard this incredible thunder that swept over the entire city. as we reached the lake garden park we were hit by these huge raindrops. it was amazing! we headed to dinosaur park and discovered that it was a huge, wonderful playground with dinosaur hedges scattered around. all the kids had just ran off the playground because of the rain and headed for shelter with their parents so it was our turn to have a blast. we all became 6 yrs old kids again and went on the teetertodders and the swings and the slides. it was wonderful and we got soaking wet in the process. i don't think i have laughed that much and smiled so hard since i have been here.

after we dried off and napped for a bit we went to the hard rock cafe for the first of many birthday dinners! it was awesome and our waiter rocked! everyone sang happy birthday to me and we had flaming shots in which my straw started melting and i only tasted burning plastic! the live band started playing at the end of our meal and we had been told by a few friends who had just come back from vacationing there that we had to see them. so we went home to change into proper going out clothes and came back and rocked out all night to one of the best cover bands we have ever heard! they were from thailand and they really knew what they were doing. it was soooo much fun and we totally were the ones who started dancing first and then everyone got on the dance floor with us. we met lots of people from all over the world that night!

the next day we slept in after rocking out so much and then headed to reggae bar which is a bar dedicated to bob marley! we had great pizza there! the whole place is decked out in rasta colours and has pictures of bob marley all over the walls and tables. there are also lots of quotes from him everywhere. it was a really neat place. i have found that the southern asian countries love bob marley! in thailand, philippines and now malaysia i have seen restaurants and bars dedicated to bob marley. after the pizza we went to see two temples that were right down the street from the reggae bar. one was a buddhist temple and it was closed and the other was a hindu temple. as we got there they were just starting a ceremony. we walked in and at first we were just observing but very soon after we found ourselves becoming a part of it. by the end we walked out in silence and james and tj eventually said that that was the most spiritual experience they had ever had in their lives. it really was beautiful and as i stood there taking in everything that was going on around us i realized how important it has been for me to be in asia. the spiritual experiences i have had here in the various temples that i have gone to have also been some of the most spiritual experiences of my life. their rituals embody them and you feel the spirituality all around you and within you. after some moments of reflections we headed into china town- which was also right near by and we looked at all the things they had to sell. malaysia definitely has the least impressive market place i have seen so far. the night bazaar in bangkok is the most amazing market i have seen thus far with seoul korea's market coming in a close second. after walking around a bit we headed back to the hotel to get ready for a surprise birthday dinner. my friend danielle had said before we left macau that we were to make no plans for sunday night but to dress up. by that night everyone knew where we were going but myself. we all got dressed up and got in taxis. well we ended up eating in the tower. now in macau there is a tower with a restaurant that turns 360 degrees while you eat so you can see the whole city. it is also the tallest bungee platform in the world- if you recall when i jumped off that a little more than a month ago! well in kuala lempur they have the same kind of tower- which you can also bungee from but that was not the agenda for the evening. instead we ascended to the top and had a beautiful buffet dinner at the rotating restaurant! the city looked so beautiful and kuala lempur is famous for it's twin towers and we could see them in all their glory from the windows of the this tower. there was a piano player there and he sang happy birthday to me and also "i did it my way!" it was a great evening and the food was awesome! after that we headed to the twin towers and took pictures! then we went back to reggae bar where they had a dj playing and we danced the night away! we were apparently the first americans to be at the bar! that was pretty cool. there were people from all over the world again and we danced and talked with all of them. there was actually an aussie that had yelled out his cab window as we were going to dinner that told us he was going to reggae bar and we actually saw him there later that night! he had a green glowing pen that shown under the black lights and my friends wrote on my back that it was my birthday! i got another shout out by the dj at the bar for being my birthday and the birthday madness continued! we partied all night and then quickly packed our things and got on a 6am flight back to macau! thankfully i had megan- my old roommate cover for me monday and i slept the entire day!

the birthday goodness continued later that monday evening when my good friend anton took me and my other friend rea out to the nicest restaurant in macau. it's the only 5-star restaurant in macau and it is called don alfonso's and it's in the grand lisboa. it was absolutely beautiful inside and there was only one other table with people. anton dressed in a suit- which he wears everyday because he is the gondolier manager and rea wore a beautiful black dress and i wore and very 40s style creme dress. we looked very classy the 3 of us and i think it's one of the most dressed up i have been since i have been here. dinner was amazing and the company was perfect. and to top the evening off don alfonso himself was visiting from italy and came out to greet us twice! they also made a special birthday dessert for me! we ended up being at the restaurant for over 3 hours!

now to the actual birthday which was tuesday, july first! it was my first day back to work after being on vacation and i was happy to be there with all my friends! well- i don't think i have ever had happy birthday sang to me so many times in one day. at the meetings they would sing to me, at ever canal they sang to me and even the chinese ended up singing to me on the floor! it was absolutely fabulous! at one of our breaks the cast brought me a hagen daas ice cream cake (the official birthday cake of streetmosphere!) and sang once more to me! after that my friend jess took me to 3 monkeys for lunch and it was one of the waiters birthdays as well so we kept saying it to each other and then they gave us free peanuts, strawberry soda and birthday cake! the cake was presented to me by a dancing monkey while a very cool version of happy birthday was played over the loudspeaker and a guy at the bar played the drum! i got up and danced with the monkey and it was so much fun! the night was lots of friends bbqing on the beach in coloane! it was my friend megan's birthday as well (not my old roommate) and we celebrated together with food, drinks and eventually guitars and singing! we put our feet in the south china sea and we enjoyed looking at the stars. my friend lukela later in the evening wrote a song about me on the spot that we have on video and i sang a song that my friend kyle and i just wrote. the whole 4 days was just amazing. i would have to say one of the best birthdays i have ever had! it certainly wasn't the same without all my best friends from home and my mom but it meant so much to me that so many people here wanted to celebrate my birthday with me. we really have become a family here and it really touched me.

the fourth of july was also spent at coloane bbqing! we love it out there and when it's not raining- which it often is we are trying to get there after work bc it's just so peaceful and nice. the beach doesn't close and their are guards there in case anything happens. it really is a little paradise just outside the casino towns that are macau and taipa.

now that the holidays are thru- oh and it was a chinese holiday on my birthday as well so there were lots of people at the venetian that day. but anyway- now that that is all over with it's back to the same ol same ol. we are supposed to tell guy by the end of next week if we want to resign our contracts again. i have been thinking about this a lot and i have also been blessed lately by a lot of insightful talks and thoughts by some dear friends here and my mom at home. i am going to tell guy that i will resign in hopes that by the end of this contract i will have worked toward something better. our motto for the next few months is going to be "plan to stay, hope to leave." i have decided that i can not just come back to nyc with no job. i have worked too hard to save money to pay off debts and have money for the future and after speaking to several friends back in new york i know that if i go back there now i will just spend all my money just trying to live. the new contracts are not good but we are still getting paid well to sing and live in a foreign country. i came here with the hopes that this job would be a jumping point for me. it is my first singing job outside of college and i can't just leave it and go backwards. i have built a foundation and now i have to work toward the next goal. i am going to work hard to either get into cirque, dragone, or blue man group. i think i am ready for these jobs and now i have to really make the effort. i realized yesterday that if i don't put myself out there how will anyone ever know that i exist. i can't just wait around and hope something will come along- i actually have to show people that i am here and i'm who they want to hire. i have also started writing songs and i have my first song recorded. it's really a big deal that i have finally done this and i'm going to keep trying to do this. i have played it for almost everyone here and everyone likes it and my friend ryan, who is leaving to go back to the states because he got a record deal heard it and said that if i make an album people will want to buy it. that really meant a lot to me because i have never really put my own music out there for lots of people to hear but now i think it's time to work towards that goal as well! also more and more people have heard that my friend nazar and i want to start a school in the philippines and we have lots of support now. there was maybe a time recently where i thought i would just walk away from this project but now knowing that not only would i let down nazar but other people that think it's such a wonderful idea i know that i'm supposed to follow thru with this. we aren't going to really get started for another couple of years but i think i need to keep my heart in this project and wherever else life leads me in the next few years i plan to come back to the philippines and get this project off it's feet!!!!

well i think i have written enough for now. i hope everyone is well and surviving. always feel free to drop me a line. i think i have decided to put all my pictures up on either photo bucket or snapshot so people will just have access to my pictures if they want to see them and not my facebook or myspace accounts. when that happens i will let everyone know.

i will say that i never dreamed that at 26 i would be singing in china but here i am and i hope the next chapter of my life will be just as challenging and rewarding. i continue to discover more about myself and try and grow everyday! i have also started taking up classical guitar and it's great to be practicing something again. it helped to remind me how much i love playing instruments and how much i like to be engaged in music and thought.

love from afar-
johanna

Hullo everyone....

it's been almost 3 months since i have let you all know how life has been treating me in Macau. well i am sorry that i haven't kept up with all of you because actually a lot has been happening to me lately which is why i haven't had the time to write unfortunately. i have many wonderful things to tell about but i think for the sake of just getting it all out there i am just going to shortly run down everything that has happened and later on or when i talk to you individually i can elaborate on all of these things.

so..... No 1. i went to the Philippines with my friend Nazar at the beginning of April. Before he had this job he was a theatre director and teacher at a theatre school that his very close friend founded 10 yrs ago. the weekend we went to the Philippines the students from the school were having their annual end of year gathering where past and present students join together for an end of year celebration. i instantly became one of the family and i fell in love with all of them. it was a complete awakening for me and i came back to Macau completely revived. i now have a Filipino sim card and the students text me and i text them back. i truly found a new family there. we also went to Nazar's meditation group and i met a whole other set of people that were wonderful and enlightening and the whole experience was more amazing then i could have ever dreamed of. Nazar has plans to open an arts school in the Philippines when he returns and i'm hoping to be a part of it. i really love it there and am planning to invest in  property  in Manila if possible. two of my friends just bought a pent house there that will be ready in 2010. Manila is about to have it's own casino strip very soon so to get in now is the time.

the trip was also wonderful because i was reminded of how important our lives were before we came to Macau. we have often felt worthless here and it was amazing to see how much these students cared for and loved and gave their successes to Nazar. i couldn't help but cry at the beautiful experiences we were having with all of them and i miss them all so much.

No. 2 my housemate and his now fiance got a beautiful husky puppy. she is a handful but is so loving and adorable. my friends have been giving me lots of advice on how to train her because i have NO Idea what i am doing but she's finally peeing and pooping on the paper so we must be getting somewhere with her. she was sick off and on in the beginning but she seems to be a healthy growing puppy now! i really do love having her in the apt but she also is a lot of work and i don't like to spend much time in my apt so i have had to dedicate some of my nights to Eris hang out time.

No. 3 i just got back from Seoul Korea this Tuesday. what little we saw of the city was wonderful. for such a bustling, big city everything is so calm. very unlike Macau. everyone was so friendly and mostly all spoke english and the city is very clean. very much like japan i was told. my girl mali said it's the best kept secret in Asia. it's definitely a city to visit and i'm planning on going back there with my mom when she comes to visit me! the reason why we went to Seoul was because mali is very good friends with some of the band members of the blue man group and they are doing a world tour right now and they were stopping in Seoul for about 2 weeks so when she found that out she desperately wanted to go see her friends from home so she was kind enough to let me come along for the ride and it was once again an incredible vacation! her friends are awesome and i love them and the show rocked and it was just an all around great few days and i'm still spinning from the trip!

that being said- i have gone on 3 vacations and all 3 vacations have ended with me having terrible problems with the flights home. i'm convinced it's a sign from the gods that they don't want me to go back to Macau after i go on these eye opening, amazing vacations because each trip has offered me something so great that i will take with me for life and then i ultimately have to go back to Macau where the energy is negative and jarring and nothing compared to the paradises that are so close to where we live and work in Asia.

No. 4 while we were gone phase I was offered their new contracts. oh- wait- there's a back story......

some of you might have known that we were hired through Best Agencies in Vegas. our contracts were negotiated through the USA and although we worked for the Venetian Macau we were still technically associated with the agency. basically around march i believe Best Agencies was "let go" and we have been working directly under the Venetian Macau ever since. we have all been on edge waiting to see what that meant for all of us and now it's becoming more clear. they agreed to honour our existing contracts until they were up for renewal and then upon renewal we would be offered new contracts under the Venetian Macau. one good thing that happened to us was that instead of having the streetmosphere program and the gondolier program under 2 different management teams we were finally combined with all of the entertainment that happens at the Venetian, Sands and eventually the entire Cotai Strip all under Entertainment Management which is now run by Tom from Australia. there were many good things that have come from this change and some of our very good managers and music directors have been given big raises and they deserve them and we have been having auditions for different job opportunities as new casinos and other such things are about to open up. the real deal is that this place is about to explode in the next few years and if we stick around there will be plenty of work. HOWEVER- the new contracts were as such...... one year contract, a pay cut, 6 days a week, and no housing stipend. there are of course some good things like PTO and sick days and holidays blah blah blah but as for me, as of right now, after spending the weekend with the blue man group that gets treated pretty well i should say, and they say also, i can't sign on for another year under that contract. and to boot i have been doing the wigs again and still am not getting paid extra to do the extra work. this is a great place to work and i am so grateful for the opportunity and the last month or so has actually been really great to do the job. we have a bunch of gondoliers training to do streetmosphere so there's new people (that we know) and more people and the job is fun and exciting again but the politics are what they are and i know that although this has been a great job for me i truly believe that the next big job will come my way when the time is needed.

No. 4 i am taking a small group of my friends to Malasya at the end of the month to celebrate my birthday a few days early. it's going to be a blast and hopefully very relaxing! i think it's going to be a great way to bring in the new birthday year!

i could write so much more but i hope this at least gives you a little bit of an idea of what has been going on in my life. if i think of more i will write again. until then...... i love you all and miss you all very much. i still have no idea when i am coming home. even if i don't sign on for another year i do feel deep down that my traveling days aren't quite yet over. please keep me in your hearts and thoughts as i do with all of you.

love from afar-

johanna

well if you had asked me 6 months ago if i would ever resign i honestly would not have known the answer but the time has come and 2 days ago all five of us that came over with phase 2 have resigned for another 7 month contract putting us home October 31st.

it's really hard to believe that it has been 6 months already. i wonder how it feels for all of you? time goes by so fast here because we work so hard and everyday is the same with weeks breezing by and you didn't even know it.

6 months and i know i have hardly been in touch. i'm sorry for that and i can't really promise that it will be much better in the next 7 months. today i have dedicated my day to reading emails and writing this journal and doing other such things on the computer. do you know that i have unread emails dating back to december 20th!? i'm really bad at this internet thing if you couldn't tell already. for me life is just so interesting and ongoing that i find it difficult to sit down and be on the computer when i could be out and about socializing or whatever else. however- i know it is important to keep up with these things so i have decided to try and set up a routine for myself that in the mornings i dedicate a little time to the computer so i don't have to spend a whole day catching up. (those who have lived with me before know that this is a constant promise to myself but i will try yet again to keep up with emails until i get busy again and i have to start all over with a catch up day...)

anyway- i'm sorry to all who have written me emails and i have not responded because i have not been online in weeks.

on with other news.....

i believe i mentioned that in my last journal entry we were waiting for our new manager to arrive. well- she is here!!!!!!! she is full of life and spunk and is just what we needed around this place to make us want to stay. she is a no nonsense, get-it-done kind of woman and we have already seen changes in the few weeks she has been here! she is also a crazy cat and likes to party and socialize which is fun too so we have all had a chance to try and get to know her on a personal level as well. i personally still miss dan but i was one of the lucky ones that had a close professional relationship with him but i know there are many that are glad he is gone. :( many thought dan played favourites but i believe dan played talent. he used people in a way that best suited them and the company needs. charmaine is trying to give everyone fair play, although she does have her favourites so although she is wonderful there are some problems arising that are trying to be fixed immediately before it becomes a major problem but again all in all i think she is a better for the entire program and will hopefully help make the Venetian see that we are worth keeping. as of now we are a bare bones group and we are getting totally overworked. we are tired and need vocal rest and she notices and is trying to get mall management (who knows nothing of singers and VAs) to understand our plight.

more exciting news.... i am going to the philippines april 5th-10th with my friend nazer who is from there. we are going to have a great time and i am going to meet some of his old students and we are going hiking and we are going to relax on the beach! it's just the sort of thing i need right now so i can't wait and i'll tell you all about it when i get back!

what else- we have a maid for our apartment now. it seems so luxurious but very common here. she is a friend of my roommate's who needs help so we feel very happy that she's here and getting out of the house and making some money!

the cirque du soleil performers have arrived although i have not met them yet. my roommate is working very hard to get me into cirque or dragone so here's hoping! i have taken a lot of footage since i have been here so we are going to put together a demo and send it out and see what happens. being friends with all the cirque people has been great and you learn that like all theatre companies there is stupid politics to deal with and incompetent people that you wish you didn't have to work with but that's life and you are thankful that you have the job as well and do the best you can and try to make as big of an impact as you can.

i had a beautiful conversation with my friend nelson the other night. he is from the philippines and is actually a pretty big name in the singing world over there and he got is undergrad at westminster choir college and his mm at illinois. well it turns out we have a few mutual friends in the opera world so we reminisce about the people we know and it helps keep me connected to home. anyway- he told me the other night that one of the main reasons why he took this job is because he met me.... so sweet. i was the first person he met at the airport because i was there picking up my girl tracie and he had just arrived. He said that he was a voice teacher in the philippines and i had told him how desperately we needed voice teachers here and that i was sure that people would want to study with him. well he wants to coach me and get my rep up to speed. he says that he really believes in me and says i have great conviction. it was really touching and just the conversation i needed to have at the point of deciding whether to stay or go. so along with many other reasons to stay i hope to work with him and learn new rep and be in a place to really take off when i leave here.

also i don't know if i have mentioned this but since i have been here i have lost 20 lbs, i am taking pilates, eating well and plan to go hiking once a week. i am in the best health i have been in all my life and physically i feel great although often tired from work. i have also cut my hair very short and often rock a faux-hawk. other plans include getting up early before work and going on an adventure to see all the places that i have not yet seen in macau and to also visit hong kong more on the weekends so i can feel connected to a big city again. if we let it this place can become very monotonous. daily life can consist of sleeping til noon getting ready and going to work then hitting the local bar where everyone knows your name and staying out til all hours then doing it all over again the next day and the next. some of my friends are continuing to do this but myself along with some others have decided to take charge of our lives and start to be productive and feel good everyday about the things we did outside of work. it's time to start really taking advantage of this place. i feel like i live here now and now it's time to really start living!

i miss you all and will keep you updated as much as i can.

i am planning a trip to come home at the end of may to tie up some loose ends now that i'm staying. i'll try and see as many people as i can but it will have to be a short trip as we don't have enough of us to cover shifts at work.

remember, always feel free to write me. it lifts my day to hear from people even if you don't hear back from me right away.

love from afar....

johanna

hullo all-

it's been just over 2 months since i wrote to everyone letting you all know how i am. i am terribly sorry that i have been so completely out of touch. i could not possibly recount all that has gone on here in the last 2 months but i'll try and give some highlights....

Christmas was wonderful! a few presents were exchanged amongst close friends and we gathered for Christmas eve night at one of the apartments and had food and homemade eggnog and holiday music and movies. Christmas morning another friend had people gather for breakfast and then many of us had to work at the Venetian during the day but even that was nice and we had big crowds to listen to our Christmas shows! later that night we went to the mansion and had a pot luck party which was also quite nice. there was some drama that surrounded the mansion party but those who went had a lovely time and it was nice to be with everyone here because we all missed our loved ones back home so much:(

New Year's Eve was pretty fun and many of us did the countdown at the Venetian because some people had to work so we wanted to be there with them. The Pussy Cat Dolls performed in the Arena and they had a large screening of the countdown by them in St. Mark's Square where we all perform. There were lots of people at the Venetian and it was fun to be with everyone and then we went out to the clubs and had a blast.

My best girl Tracie came to visit me from the states the day before New Year's Eve and right after the New Year we went to Thailand!!!!!! we were there for 5 days and it is just PARADISE there! we spent a day in Bangkok and had a blast at the night market and saw the most beautiful traditional puppet show! after we headed to Chang Mai which is in northern Thailand where they are known for their elephants! for those who don't know this- i am a little obsessed with elephants right now so i was super excited! Chang Mai is just a wonderful place and we stayed at this great guest house for very little money and we walked around the inner city and saw all the temples (of which there are many) and then we shopped and shopped and shopped at the night markets and sunday market! we had to buy an extra bag just to get everything we bought home with us! we also took a day trip to Dei Su Tep which is the famous temple in Thailand. It is up in the mountains and it was breath taking! i took very few pictures because the lens could not possibly capture the beauty and spiritual nature of that sacred place. i spent a lot of quiet time there searching for answers and peace. on our way back from the temple we stopped at an "evil" waterfall where the legend of the place was certainly true. it was a very dark place and Tracie even wondered off and fell in the waterfall and almost went over the fall. there is much to tell of that whole experience if anyone wants a more detailed account of that strange place. the next day we went on adventure day! we went hiking through the jungle, stopped at a small tribal village, ate an authentic Thai lunch, rode elephants!, went white water rafting in which our guide jumped off the raft in pursuit of a snake that some locals were trying to catch for their dinner and he caught the snake! and it was a constrictor and he brought it back on to the raft to go to the other side of the bank to show the other men and then swung it around his head by the tale, by instruction of one of our guys, and then slammed it onto a rock in order to be someone's dinner later that night. it was CRAZY and then we went bamboo rafting and headed home! it was an amazing day and we had so much fun with the people that we went with that we met up with them a few hours later to have dinner and one last bit of fun! getting home from Thailand was a nightmare because we missed our connecting flight in Bangkok because of plane delays that Air Asia promised us would not be a problem and it was the last flight of the night back to Macau and my stamp expired that day and i was afraid i was going to get detained once i got back to China and Air Asia wouldn't give us a refund so we bought tickets from an agent at the airport, which was a little shady and got on the last flight to Macau from Macau Air that got in a little after 1 am the next day (which meant that my stamp expired) and at immigration i flashed a cute smile and said "i know" in that worried but innocent tone and the young officer gave me an extended visitors stamp and we were home! the cab ride back to the hotel was quite another experience in itself but despite all that the vacation was simply wonderful and so beautiful. i want to live in Thailand for sure!

let's see- what else......

phase 1 left at the end of January and most of the original Streetmosphere cast has gone back to the states. there are just the bare bones left right now and we have been working hard to pull together and create a new environment that is all our own. we are awaiting new management and in the meantime we have fill-ins and we have been manning ourselves a lot. there is good positive energy in the remaining group but it has also been extremely frustrating and stressful and tiresome with some awful politics but what job isn't filled with it so we just try and perform and do our best and not let the rest of it ruin the vibe on the floor. there has been some personal issues regarding the politics and a possible promotion for me but until it all gets worked out i'll leave you all out of it.

but just to put it in a perspective a little- we are not getting any more Streetmosphere people in as of now and possibly there will never be Americans sent out to work again BUT on the Gondolier side of things they just got out another 22 kids and are expecting another 30 in 3 weeks all from America. Oh the politics......

i moved into an apartment at the beginning of february! i am living with one of the lighting techs from Cirque du Soleil and his name is Martin and he's from Australia and he's great. it's a really laid back environment and i'm living on my favourite street in Taipa and i have internet! and a washer and dryer! it's pretty great!

phew! well i think that's all the news i can think of for now. now that i'm have access to the internet much more easily i will try and keep up better like i had in the beginning. i still have trouble finding the time to sit and keep up with everyone because i'm always running about but i know it's important to so many of you to know that i'm alive and well and let's face it...... i miss everyone so much and want to let you know that i miss you all whenever i can!

love from afar-

johanna

hullo lovely people-

it has been 5 weeks since you last heard from me and there has been so much that has gone on here personally and professionally. The last time i wrote i mentioned that i had had 2 major insights that i wanted to share....  i will share them now quickly. 1 you can tell a lot about a person in they way they play chess- some people are quick to be aggressive while others calculate their every move and can manipulate and draw you in without you even seeing it and others are always on the defense, etc...very interesting. we play a lot of chess! 2 as an employee of the Venetian Macau i am NO better than any other worker here. we are all a team and further more a number in a factory. i believe that we as americans feel that there is a certain way everyone should be treated as an employee and because of that we are expecting certain standards that frankly are not thought of here and by wanting to be treated justly we actually come off as wanting to be treated better instead of dealing with the facts of the job and embracing that everyone at the Venetian is treated the same and we must live by those standards. that being said however i know that many of us want all quality of work to be higher and want it for all employees at the Venetian but i think sometimes instead of seeming like equals to our fellow co-workers they see something else. i have decided to embrace the struggle and ride it along with everyone else but if i really thought we could change things here i would and i would do it for all not just the americans! this revelation came at a point where we were about to go on strike! yup- it's been an interesting time over here.

anyway i just wanted to say those things and now tell you about life here in Macao.

let's see..... Thanksgiving was beautiful! Wednesday night our friend Tara invited everyone over to her new apt to have a pot luck thanksgiving dinner at midnight! well it was absolutely perfect! there were about 40 people that showed up and everyone brought wonderful food and then our other friend Adina cooked a turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and baked mac and cheese and all the other things you associate with thanksgiving and it was soooooooooooooooooo good! there were people from 6 different countries that came out and for a lot of them it was their first thanksgiving (obviously) and it was just magical. i was just so thankful to be there and to be sharing it with everyone. i think i am most thankful for the Phillippinos (sp) because they are just so wonderful and caring and talented and  it has been such a great experience to learn about a new culture and place and people.

what else.... there is just so much..... well i was the wig and make-up designer of streetmosphere for a little while and then last week my duties were revoked in order to keep me from doing so much overtime. dan, our entertainment manager (who is actually a very good director in the states) asked me to help with the make-up and wigs and i gladly accepted and i did get a lot accomplished and we were able to finally get supplies and make everyone look more period and unified and i designed a lot of clown characters and have gotten pretty good at making cheap synthetic wigs actually look quite nice but i was working 9-10 hours a day because i felt like i had to and then people started needing me for everything and i was going crazy running around all day and still performing 6 shows a day and trying to make myself look presentable so now i'm not doing that anymore and it was heartbreaking because i love doing it but now they have all learned something and they are putting the make-up on themselves and pinning their wigs and i feel like my work wasn't done in vein! dan  i think is just a wonderful person and we totally see eye to eye so when it came for him to ask me to stop it came from a very caring place and we both think that we will work together in the future where our efforts can be appreciated more. that being said he also told me that i was a wonderful performer and he wasn't the only one noticing and to just keeping concentrating on myself while i'm here! and that is what i am trying to do now!

in terms of performing our track has become the special track. we do all the big shows and special events now. a few weeks ago we had two japanese models come and perform with us while there were tons of press filming and taking pictures! our picture ended up in a magazine for a master card add! also yesterday we had a promotional shoot with a director and camera crew that was interesting and we also sang for a 50th anniversary of this beautiful indian couple and it was a big ta-do and they didn't know we were going to be there and it was a nice surprise for them and everyone was in black tie and beautiful dresses and saris. and on friday we are doing 3 special events for these dinner parties that we know nothing about yet but i'm sure it will be fun and interesting as always.

for the most part i'm starting to like my job. other people really hate it here and have lots to complain about. we are treated so well by dan and mall management and we work really hard and really well together as a team of 6 and we don't know what goes on with other people so much during work because we are busy doing our own thing and making people happy when we can. the other week we were practicing for our new christmas show and i'm singing "o holy night" as a solo and i remembered why i sing- why i do what i do. i just had a moment of really connecting with the song and with my voice and with my actions and i almost cried because it felt so good. i don't think i have sang that way or felt that connected since college so it was really amazing. i'm trying not to simply be an entertainer but an artist and i think most people in my track feel that way too and that's why i love them so much and why coming to work everyday isn't so bad anymore. i have really been trying to keep a positive attitude here because so many people are negative and i have never been able to live my life that way and i don't want to get sucked in now so i'm grateful for my track and grateful the friends i have made who also struggle everyday to find the meaning and purpose of our being here.

speaking on that........... this place has been an amazing place for personal growth and discovery. i am learning so much about myself and my own hangups and have met some amazing people that are struggling just like i am with the meaning of life and purpose. i don't think i have known so many people like this all in one place which continues to make me believe that we were all sent here for a reason and we are here to help each other grow so when we come home we will be in new places and will have really learned something about life. saying all this i almost wrote in my journal today that although i love and care for you all and it means so much to me that so many people care about me and are reading this but i won't be writing anymore because i am on a personal journey of seclusion and isolation in order to have personal growth and i'm sorry but i'll tell you all about it when i come home because i'm on a spiritual journey but i have gotten over that feeling and will continue to keep in touch when i can. i will say that it has been awfully hard for me to even read emails let alone post and i am sorry for that but a lot of that came from doing wigs and make-up as well as performing and just being completely overwhelmed and exhausted and now that those duties have been relieved i am trying to get back into being in touch not just with all of you but with my friends here as well that i had been neglecting.

i don't think i have much else to say right now...... sorry i have been M.I.A.  just know that the experience here continues to be a struggle but in a good way- a very personal way and i can't wait to come home once i have figured it all out. there will be many experiences to share and others that only those of us who were here could appreciate but i miss you all and think of you often and will continue to reveal to you what i can when i can.....

love from afar-

johanna

well Hi there everyone!

again i don't have much time because i have call in about 30 minutes but i've had lots of thoughts to share and events that took place that i think you will all enjoy hearing about!

first off- Halloween was GREAT! almost everyone got dressed up in our group and went out to celebrate! we had to do make-shift costumes and be really creative but i think that is what made it so great for all of us! we didn't have the means that we would in the states so we threw things together and ended up with really fantastic, creative costumes! my friend Mar and i went as two demons! she is a really good make-up artist too so we put our talents together and ended up with a really awesome end product. her name was Lilith and i was Lola and i wore a red dress with a black belt and black shoes and she wore a black dress with a red belt and red shoes and we wore the same devil horns that we had found earlier that day. then we both did crazy red, black and white devil make-up and everyone loved it! as soon as i can up load pics i'll show you all! but everyone looked great. there was little red andt he big bad wolf, alvin and the chipmonks and their girlfriends!, eddy izzard, hello kitty, roman warrior, wolverene and jane grey, 3 burlesque girls, a jazz singer, devils, angels, calvin and hobbs and more! (sorry for all the misspellings). it was great fun and we went to the british bar and then off to sky 21 which is a dance club in macau. the best part is that even those we didn't expect to get dressed up and go out did and i think we all felt like a whole that night! some even said it was their best halloween ever- it was definitely up there for me!

second- i went to Hong Kong Disney yesterday with 6 other of my friends! it's the happiest place on earth or at least this side of earth! we had a blast!!!! it's small compared to Disney World and Disney Land but so cute and so much fun. it's only 2 years old. there are lots of shows to see and our friend Emily has a friend in the Lion King show and he was lots of fun. we also figured that every single one of us were qualified to work there so if we ever wanted something to do after the Venetian we joked about going to Disney! but actually for me i think it made me appriciate my job a little more. i don't think i want to be a disney character but they definitely have it better than us- perform in a show about 4 times or so a day and then stand  in one place and people line up and individually take pictures with you and you are under a pagoda in the shade and there are at least two handlers with you. Belle didn't look happy while she was taking pictures and we said give her ONE hour in our job and see how happy she is to be a disney character! she doesn't have to man the crowds like we do.... oh well- it was still lots of fun. what i did see in their pormances that i think has happened to us sometimes as well is that going through the motions kind of performance. when you are performing 4-8 times a day the same 15-30 minutes show day in and day out it's hard to remember that although you do this all the time it's always a new show to the audience and they don't want to see a tired performance but sadly it does happen. every show has to be something new and exciting for the performer and the audience. my favourite parts of disney were the winnie the pooh ride, space mountain, buzz light year ride and my most favourite- PhilharMagic!!!! we bought year passes so we are going to go back for christmas and really anytime we are feeling down because it's just that easy to go to Hong Kong Disney! YAY! happiest place in my heart while in China!

3rd- i only was able to go to one Asian Indoor/Outdoor event but it was great and i'm glad i at least got to do that. we saw the short swimming races! there was this woman from Hong Kong who was the most graceful swimmer i have ever seen and the Kazakstani men were so amazing and fast and in shape. they just rocked every time they were in the water. and the relays were my favourite. the next day we tried to see another event and the arena was kind of far even thow it looked like it was right behind the venetian and when we got there the event was over or something but it wasn't there so we hiked it back to the Venetian to go to work and it was quite a walk but i was with megan and jason so it was a fun walk and yet another adventure to add to my list!

i have LOTS more that i want to write about but i have to eat and get ready before my day starts but look out for another journal this week talking about the 2 maybe 3 major revelations i have had this week, my new show, the japanese press and other things concerning work.

love you all and thinking of you from afar-

johanna

  

 Well the adventures continue..... Let's see.....

first of all i neglected to tell you all the best thing that had been happening in Macao when we first arrived- i suppose i was too wrapped up in telling you all about the food....... anyway- right before we arrived in Macao they had started the 19th Annual International Fireworks Competition here in Macao involving fireworks from France, Taiwan, China, Japan, USA, Australia, UK, Portuguese, Phillipenes and i believe one other country that i did not get to see because we hadn't arrived yet. i was lucky to see 4 of the shows. the nights that it occured they had two teams, one at 9pm and the other at 10 pm. Megan and i went out on a quest to find the best place to see the fireworks without spending any money to go over to Macao but instead to watch from Taipa where we live. well we found the place right at the foot of one of the bridges where there was a little sitting park. we sat on the end of low wall directly across from the tower where the fireworks were being shot off below. They were SOOOO incredible. the night that i fell down the stairs- remember- another girl Mali and i went over to Macao to seek out the fireworks because it was the festival of the Moon and we were told there might be a dragon dance but no such luck but we found another great place to watch the fireworks right on the water and there were people lining the banks as far as one could see. my favourites were Taiwan, France, and Japan! they were all THE absolute BEST fireworks i had ever seen and they were all different and innovative and i just couldn't pick which one i liked best. i just sat there in complete awwwwww. pretty much the coolest festival i have ever heard of. apparently there was music for every show as well but we were never in a place where we could hear it but we didn't mind. i don't know who the winner ended up being but it doesn't matter- it was just so amazing!

other news for the week....

well this bit of news is a little more gross actually- tuesday morning Megan all of a sudden started feeling really sick to her stomach but we went to work anyway and while we were sitting, eating breakfast (i had brought her some toast to munch on) she just couldn't hold it in and very discretely got sick in my cereal bowl at the team member dinning room and i quickly took her to the clinic on site and asked a group of english speaking women to please watch my tray. i came back and managing not to get sick myself threw out the remnants in my cereal bowl and headed up to the rehearsal room. Megan came to rehearsal a little while later feeling slightly better and the doctor- who was very nice- asked what she had done in the morning and she told her she had eaten an apple the hotel had left for us along with some other fruit. the doctor asked her if she had peeled the apple and of course she hadn't. 

so we learned a valuable lesson that day----- ALWAYS peel your fruit here- washing it isn't enough. Megan finally felt more like herself today- on her first day of work!

i too had a bad night this week and learned that the pizza hut pizza doesn't sit too well with me here. instead of being greasy it's oily and my stomach doesn't seem to like that too much but it's ok because i'm trying to avoid that kind of bad for me food anyway....

what else, what else.... we tried on temporary costumes this week. the costumes we are having made for us got sent out from Vegas today and hopefully will arrive soon but in the meantime we are wearing old Vegas costumes that are 100 years behind the period we are using here in Macao for our shows but we don't mind too much. Megan and i acutally love the temp costumes we have. She thought her character should be in purple and the only costume that fit her was purple! and i thought my character should be in red and the only costume the fit me is red! and it's really cool with an open skirt revealing pantaloons underneath. very fun for a courtasan! Megan and Hunter had their first day today along with Mali and Jason (our visual artists) and i start Wed. i can't wait to start working but the shedule needed their learned tracks before mine so now i have 3 days off and have been reading a book and getting a lot of sleep! 

all the gondoliers in our phase started work today as well. some had started last week and the rest started today! i think everyone is extatic that training is finally over and now we really get to do what we came here to do- which is frankly to entertain like at a disney theme park- but it's a job and we get to sing so i think we're quite happy for that! 

i got in a little bit of trouble this week for standing up for some of my fellow gondoliers to my trainer in streetmosphere but in the end it was good and the heads that are staying on with us really are looking out for us and trying to take care of all of us the best they can!!!! our two trainers in streetmosphere left for Vegas yesterday and i heard that they got delayed at the airport because of a typhone on the mainland. hopefully they are safely flying now- they were really great to us...

our friend David had his 30th birthday Saturday and we went to the most amazing Brazilian Steak House in St. Mark's Square where we work at the Venetian. It was The best food we had had in a long time and David and i took to the salad bar which was incredibule and huge while everyone else enjoyed the dozens of meat that came around on a stick. the drinks were great and the desserts were to die for and they had live entertainment as well so it made for a lovely outing and a great birthday for David!!!!!!

now that the International Fireworks Festival is over we have entered into the International Music Festival! so last night David and i saw Rigoletto! it was performed by the Australian Opera with the Prague Chamber Choir and the Macao Symphony Orchestra. it was simply beautiful. the girl playing Gilda was AMAZING! she made the whole production along with the man who played Sparafucile- who is world renowned. the set was so cool- it was a two story rotating set and the grand hall was spectacular. it's the kind of set you dream of performing on! it was set in the 40s i believe with amazing dresses and tuxedos on the men and i was just so happy to watching it. lots of us had gone to see it throughout the weekend and all had come back with raving revues and on friday some of our friends got to meet the cast and they said they were just so nice! i think this festival actually might be what people were talking about before i left about the Macao Opera because one of the names that was mentioned to me as being the producer of the company was indeed in the program and his bio mentioned that he had produced several operas for this festival. i hope to see more productions this week if i can. there is going to be a mexican cabaret show and a piano concert and i'm not sure what else.

i definitely LOVE the festivals here! and LOTS of poeple come out to join in! 

well i think i have covered everything this week. i will say that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were filled with Drama but what can you expect in a world filled with artists!!!!!!

oh- and for all those i have been talking about seperately about how difficult it has been to just try and figure out how to live- never fear- this week we went grocery shopping, found a laundry place, a friend bought us the correct converters for our computers and cell phones and all has been pretty easy going since then! oh- plus one of our trainers gave us a great guide book that has bus schedules and talks about the post office! 

still no word when we are moving into our apartments- first we heard thanksgiving and then we heard october 15th because the indoor/outdoor games start and the hotels we live in are booked but until i know for sure i will wait to give a mailing address so please bare with me.

also- phase 3 is finally flying out and should be arriving this week i believe!

i will try and write once week i have decided so please check again next week for another "Adventure in Macao"

love from afar.....

johanna