16th Annual Cultural Crossroads Crossroads Mall - Bellevue
as narrated by Ryan (unedited)
pics by SarubeSan
Salve came over and we were going to head out to the Cultural Festival at the Crossroads mall in Bellevue.
I reluctantly get out of bad (as usual) and we head to Bellevue. It was about noon and we were both hungry, so we went to Piroshky in the mall and got some Russian cuisine. I had the Chicken Cutlet with Mashed Potatoes and she ordered the Lula Kabob with Rice. The chicken cutlet was pretty good, but she didn't seem too pleased with the Kabob. I think she was expecting it to be a Shish Kabob style, but instead it was more like meatloaf.
After that we walked around looking at the cultural merchandise that was being sold until the Filipiniana show started at 1:50pm. The show started out with a male and a female, wearing what I think she explained to be traditional clothing, often worn at weddings (baro't saya - salve) . After that three women wearing colorful clothing danced on stage carrying what looked like blankets. They completed and then 2 males with feathers on their heads danced as if they were birds while the women danced around them (igorot dance - salve). Then the 2 males switched to playing the flute and percussions while the women danced with baskets on their heads, which they placed on the ground and danced around.
Another one of the dances was with 4 women carrying large 'U' shaped flower reefs danced in a circle, at one point they gathered together, backs facing each other, and it looked like a large flower spinning in a circle. And then there was a dance where the women stacked multiple pots onto their heads and danced (palayok dance - salve). Half way through the dance they stacked more pots, one woman having a total of 8 pots stacked without any falling over. Finally they did a dance where the males held 2 bamboo poles and would rhythmically tap them on the ground and then together while the women would jump between them and then back out just before they closed again (tinikling dance - salve).
Then came the German Bavarian group. Most of the dances involved the males slapping their Lederhosen and shoes and stomping their heels to the accordian music while the women twirled in circles around them.
And lastly was the Indian dance (which mostly consisted of white people dancing, not Indians :). They wore a lot of metal so when they moved it would make a rattling noise. They danced very fluidly and gracefully, but I missed part of it because I was falling asleep during the performance (not because it was boring, but because I suffered from a lack of sleep during the work week :).
After all the dancing was done we walked through the merchandise booths again, Salve bought a large pink ring (I think she said it was quartz), and I bought her a blue jewel cross necklace.
baby blue cross necklace
(from Ryan)
oversize rose quartz ring
(bought by Salve for Salve)
Then we left the mall and started the drive, home.
Apparently it had been raining quite heavily during the time we were inside the mall and at a couple spots on the road there was a few to several inches of standing water which cause the car to hydroplane a little bit. But we managed to make it back safely.
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*Ryan, though likes to read my blog, is actually not into blogging. Yes, I forced him to blog about what transpired earlier - Salve
"Who shall I wear today?"
