a night out

I had an experience last night that still has me feeling slightly boggled. Did it really happen? 10 of us, 4 canadians, and 6 youth from Bastion, all caught a bus last evening and went off to a concert, a symphony concert! Turns out that Guayaquil has a symphony orchestra and this is the beginning of their new season, and last night's concert was free, and so we went! And in the space of a few minutes, I was transported from this new world in which I now live, a world of poverty, noise, dirt, and endless blaring salsa music EVERYWHERE, to a slice of my old world. A quite nice concert hall, plush seats, cool, dry, quiet, and Mozart! The transition was too fast, it took me some time to make the adjustment, and it just seemed too incredible to me. Very weird. But very enjoyable. The first half was Mozart, a very familiar piano concerto, followed by Mahler. Then out we went, back into the other world, of pouring rain, flowing mud and smelly buses, all of which we experienced on our way home. And then to climb into bed and wonder if that was just a dream. Wow!