Forgive us, but despite a six-year posting in the United Kingdom realm, we were never royal enough to know how to properly pronounce Balmoral, the Queen's favorite vacation castle in Scotland. And even here Down Under, the Balmoral beach and suburb in Sydney's North Shore bears a certain poshness that makes commoners hesitate to say it's name out loud (that, and the local twang makes me question how many syllables there really are in every English word)
But, seriously, you can just call the place bloody beautiful -- in any language.
I've been at post just over a year, which means I'm now onto my second lap of the Sydney diplomatic/consular reception circuit. All the events remain thoroughly enjoyable, even the ones I've now double-dipped.
Korea - Korean Opera (K-Op?) and They Gave Me a Plus One this year
a very hot plus one
Lord Mayor of Sydney - Cool Threads and a Big Organ
Thailand - Beautiful Dances and They Gave Me a Plus One just like last year
AUS-PHL Business Council - Sneak Peek of Noli The Musical and some Lennon Carolling
Sri Lanka - Not One but Two Beautiful Exotic Dances (but, unlike last year, no professorial lecture on rocks)
Serbia - A brandy(?) so potent it had to be served in teeny tiny shot glasses...
...and even then the Russian consul was joking "don't have more than two of these, they are dangerous", and when after barely finishing mine I went back to the bar to ask for water to re-hydrate the Serbian bartender was all "no, have this" and he handed me some half-and-half glass of orange juice and vodka(?), and when I needed to re-hydrate from that, the Serbian bartender was all "ok, have this"
water?
I may not be able to remember other receptions anymore
