3 Instances of Idiocy

I wouldn’t, under normal circumstances, consider myself an idiot. I think that for the most part, I’m pretty responsible, aware, and capable. Last week was quite an exception, though, and now I have three instances of idiocy to share with you. All three were pretty mortifying in the moment, but now that some time has past, I think they’re pretty funny. Hopefully you’ll get a good laugh as well.

Instance One:

When spending the summer performing concerts and operas, a musician’s folder of music is maybe the most important thing for them to have with them, other than their instrument. Doesn’t matter if you are early to the performance, dressed in your concert black, and warmed up for the performance, if you don’t have your music, you are pretty much dead. All conductors would be upset awith a musician without her music, but some definitely know how to make you feel like a certifiable idiot more than others. And just our luck, that is exactly the kind of conductor we have. Here’s what happened: Last Friday, we had the entire day free until our opera performance that didn’t start until 9:00 pm. So a bunch of friends caught a train to Lubeck to spend the free day. We got back to Eutin with time to spare for changing into our concert clothes, warming up and “preparing our desk,” as our conductor calls it. After I had changed, I realized a terrible terrible thing. I didn’t have my music with me! And the show started in less than 20 minutes. I asked every cellist in the orchestra, and no one had their extra part. I asked the librarian, and she didn’t have an extra part. I tried to use the copy machine to make an extra part, but the copy machine was broken. With ten minutes until show time, I had to tell the orchestra personnel manager, and he had to tell the conductor. The temperamental, ornery conductor who knows how to ruin lives. The first thing he did was look me straight in the face and say “Well, that is stupid!” Then he told me that if I didn’t have my music, I couldn’t be in the show that night. Then he thought about it, and changed his mind, since I am the principal cellist, and have two big solos that he didn’t want to risk giving to anyone else at the last minute. Then he said I needed to pay for a taxi for the orchestra personnel manager to go to my hotel room, find my music, and bring it back, In the mean time, I had to talk to the last chair cellist, tell her that because of my stupidity, she wouldn’t be in the show that night because I needed her music. And if Carols got back in time with my music, she could play the second half. After bursting into embarrassing tears in front of Carols, and giving him all my extra euros for a taxi back to the hotel, I talked to cute little Heireim, who was cool with skipping out on the first half, and sheepishly walked back to the pit to play the best first half of the opera that I’ve ever done- I couldn’t afford to miss any notes that night!

Instance Two:

Intermissions here in Germany are crazy long, and I kind of love it. In America, intermissions are usually about 15 minutes. Here, they are at least 30 minutes so that audience members have time to visit the beer tent, the crepe tent, the bratwurst tent… what ever sort of refreshment tent they please, and enjoy the second half of the opera with a full belly. Isn’t that a great idea? And it gives the musicians time to rest up, grab some good tea, and be refreshed for the second half as well. The same night that I forgot my music and made Carols search my apartment, and Heireim skip the first act, I felt like I especially needed some good tea during intermission. So I headed to the café, and spent an entire 1.50 euro for a bag of caramel rooibos tea, and sat down to let it steep in the scalding hot water. While I was waiting, guess who sat down at the same table with me- none other than the ornery conductor who ruins lives! I don’t know if he wanted me to explain why I had been an idiot earlier, or if he was making a good will gesture to make me feel less stupid, or what, but he just sat there and made small talk about how I felt about the festival, and the music, and Germany blah blah blah. And while we were talking, somehow the sleeve of my jacket caught the edge of my tea mug, and the entire mug of burning brown liquid spilled all over the table and onto his cream colored suit coat. It also spilled into my lap, but that didn’t matter, cause he was making a huge fuss about being burned and how his jacked was ruined and it was his only one that he brought with him, and he stormed off to the costume room to see what they could do about it. He was gone before I could even apologize again, and I stood there laughing with the other people who witnessed the mess, until my laughing turned to crying, and I had to go. Bad night, right? Just my luck. I don’t think the conductor has looked at me or acknowledged my presence all week. When he gives cues or has something to say to the cello section in rehearsals, he looks over my head. And he definitely steers clear of my anytime we are in the café together. Don’t worry though, his cream jacket was pristinely clean for the second half of the show. I wish I could have enjoyed my expensive tea.

Instance Three:

Back at the café, a few days later- The days when we rehearse or perform, we get free meals at the café in the opera barn. I ate my lunch, visited with some friends, and then went to put my dishes away. They have three different bins set up for us to return our dishes in, one for silverware, one for cups, and one for plates. The plates one is always full, and precariously stacked high. Without even thinking, or looking at how high the stack had become, I set my plate on top, and walked away. After about two steps, I heard a huge crash behind me. I turned around to find an entire bins worth of plates smashed on the ground, and an angry woman speaking fast German at me. I stood there, not knowing quite what to do or say, and everyone looking at me, until the café worker came to see what happened. Thankfully, he spoke English, and I was able to explain what happened. He told me not to worry about it, and it was their fault, not mine. And that I should go so I didn’t get cut. I walked away, while the German woman glared and my orchestra friends tried not to laugh. I felt like a disaster zone!

Hopefully the adage is true, and bad things really do come in sets of three! It’s been a few days now, and I’ve managed to keep myself out of trouble. I only have 4 more days left in Germany, 6 more days until I’m back in Utah! 2 operas and 1 final concert, 1 bus and 3 airplanes. Hopefully zero more horrible terrible mistakes before this crazy whirlwind of an adventure comes to a close!

Pictures from the Germ'

I haven't had a lot of time to blog. Last week we had a crazy rehearsal schedule for Don Giovanni, including a public dress rehearsal, and then it opened over the weekend. Also, since Saturday, we have been preparing our second show, Hansel and Grettel, which will open this weekend with the dress rehearsal on Wednesday night. So a typical day is this: wake up around 7:30 am, catch the bus at 8:15, breakfast at the Barn Cafe at 8:30, practice until rehearsal starts at 10:00 am. Rehearse from 10:00 to 1:00. Lunch at the Barn cafe. Then a nice long break to do things like practice, grocery shop, laundry, nap, walk around the city, check email, facebook, blog, eat dinner, etc. Rehearse again from 6:00-10:00 pm, catch the bus at 10:15, get ready for bed, and then do it all over again the next day. Now that the opera has started, we don't have anything on the weekends until 8:30 pm. But then we play opera well past midnight. Here are some pictures that I've taken so far.

This is the market square in Eutin. It is super cute. The light show is actually a rock concert that was going on to celebrate and welcome the American musicians. When I took this picture, the German singer was belting out "Forever Young" in wonderful German/English.

This is my violin friend Brecklyn and I in the market square.

This is my stand partner Jessika and I in the pit of the outdoor theater where the operas are performed. I kind of feel like I'm in a cage every time we are in there. The pit has a lid that goes over it for when it rains or gets too cold.

This is the view from my seat.

This is a peek into my little bedroom here. It's cozy.

This is the shortcut path we walk every day from our hotel to the opera Barn. It's beautiful!

These are the German sheep that live on the path above. They "maaaa" at us every day.

This picture was supposed to be me in the rose garden in front of the lake. And then this guy walking his dog decided to jump in the picture too. Crazy. But it's a good representation of the Germans and their dogs. Every German has a dog on a leash.

This is one of the two beautiful lakes that we are close to. We pass this one every day.

These are our hard core German opera fans. The weather was freezing and rainy, and they still showed up to watch the Don Giovanni dress rehearsal. I love how they sit there in their ponchos and blankets, sipping wine and watching opera.

This is me.

And this is also me. I bought that black summer scarf that is on my head. And I love it. Summer scarves are all the rage here.

These nasty huge slugs are EVERYWHERE! You have to watch your step. I've squished 3 so far. And it's a terrible feeling.

This is Brecklyn and I in the pit on opening night.

This is my favorite house in Eutin that I've seen so far. I took this picture from the bus window. Houses here are so charming!

Sometimes we are on our own for dinner, and as I mentioned, ordering food in German is a tricky adventure for me. We found this turkish restaurant that is particularly tasty. That in the picture is a "doner falafal" I think... and inside the wrap is falafal, french fries, cabbage, saurkraut, salad, bell peppers, tomatoes, spicy sauce, yellow sauce that I think is curry, and white sauce that I think is some kind of yogurt sauce. And the whole thing is only 3.50 euro. GOOD DEAL! I definitely can not finish the whole thing.

Concert in a Barn

Since I last wrote, we've been crazy busy with double rehearsals every day- for the premiere of Don Giovanni that starts next weekend, and for our opening concert that was TONIGHT! Our conductors and the director of the festival told us that the success of the opera festival was pretty much riding on the success of the opening concert. No pressure, right?

This was definitely the strangest concert venue I've ever played. It was a barn. And not a barn like the nicely renovated barn that we rehearse in. But more like a barn that you'd think housed horses and cows earlier in the week. I'm talking dirt floors and thatch roof. But there was a stage, and they had set up over 880 chairs. And we filled the entire place- plus people standing in the back- I'd guess more than 900 people were at this concert. I was really nervous.

But they LOVED us. Seriously, they loved us. This festival has been played in the past by the Frankfurt Symphony, so I know they had high expectations. At the end of the concert, we got three standing ovations, and the owners of the barn, or the festival, or someone, got us each a rose that they passed out while the audience kept clapping. I don't think I've ever played for an audience that was THIS enthusiastic about the music.

I guess my solos went ok too. 3 down, 2 to go! And we still have 15 shows left to play. :)

Also of note- know what is super scary and stressful?? Ordering food when you don't know the language. You can't read the menu. You're not sure what's in each dish. You can't pronounce it to the waiter, and it was hard. (Whine!!) Grocery shopping was also tricky, but it's easy to identify familiar food- blueberries, bananas, mint tea, bread, nutella, Bluebell cheese. I think I'll stay home and eat. Until I get more brave. Or learn more German.

It's past 1:00 am here. And I'm not tired. When will I feel like sleeping at regular times??

Hello From Germany!

I've been gone for five days, and finally today I found an internet connection that works! And by found, I mean my roommates and I bought a months worth of wifi from the hotel and we're splitting it. So finally I can tell my friends and fam what I've been up to since Saturday- I'm sure you're all dying to know! So far, I wrote down thoughts at the end of each day in a word document. I'm just going to go ahead and copy and paste that here. Enjoy!

Saturday, July 2: Flew to Chicago in the morning and then connected to Frankfurt for the rest of the day. Almost threw up on the airplane during some light turbulence, and had to mentally talk myself down from it. Flying with a cello in the seat next to you has its perks. Cellos don’t care if you drape all over them as you sleep mid-flight. Cellos don’t mind if your leave your blanked, pillow, book, headphones, shoes and snacks on the part of their seat that they aren’t using. Did you know that cellos have to be buckled in with a special seat belt extender? I didn’t. Also, cellos do not need a passport of their own for international travel- that should be obvious, right? Sometimes airport workers don’t know that. A grumpy man in the seat in front of my cello had a fit at me on our flight to Frankfurt, because my cello was preventing his seat from reclining all the way. I should have been grumpy at HIM for smashing my thousands of dollars instrument with his seat, right? Our plane to Frankfurt was a double-decker! I didn’t know those existed! But there was definitely a set of 16 stairs leading up to somewhere cool. I slept most of the time on both flights- without even needing sleep-inducing drugs! This day seems like it melted away in a cloud of uncomfortable sleep, tasty airplane food, confusion about connecting flight gates, chapters of “The Help” and late-night Glee reruns on the airplane TV.

Sunday, July 3: Got to Frankfurt early in the morning, and then connected to Hamburg. The flight was nice and short and I just slept some more. Then we got our luggage, and took a charter bus to our little city, Eutin. THIS PLACE IS GORGEOUS! So many trees and charming houses, and a town market square with shops and a fountain- exactly what you would imagine a little German city would look like. When we turned into the lane that leads to our hotel, everyone on the bus did a collective gasp, because the hotel is RIGHT on a magical looking lake, and the view is breathtaking. Our accommodations here are MUCH nicer than I was expecting. Back in Kansas, a few friends and I signed up for a 4 person room, which I thought would probably be like a dorm room at best, maybe with 2 bigger beds that we would have to share. But we are in basically an apartment on the top floor of a house that is behind the main hotel. We have two separate rooms, each with two twin beds, a desk, a armoire, and a sink. The walls are painted a cheerful shade of spring green. The view from our room is of a cute little courtyard with a rose garden and sculptures. So far, the weather has been kind of chilly and rainy and overcast. But it’s still beautiful. Especially in the morning, everything is misty and it looks like it’s straight from a fairytale. We also have a bathroom of our own, and a smaller “WC” down the hall. And we have a living room, which I don’t think anyone else has- with a sink and fridge and dishes and a couch and kitchen table and a TV! This place is very much not like a hostel- and I am very much happy with it. J That night, after a good long nap, our bus took us over to “the barn” which is actually a really nice building housed in a renovated barn, which is like the opera festival headquarters. We had an introduction meeting, which was all in German, so I’m not even quite sure what was said. And then we ate delicious dinner at the cute little café inside the barn. Then, even though it was still light outside, it was already 10:30 pm, so we went home, showered the two days of travel off ourselves, and went to bed. Jet lag is a strange feeling!

Monday, July 4: Happy Independence Day! My little jetlagged head popped off the pillow at 5:30 am, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I just laid there, with the sun already risen, in our cute room until the alarm went off at 7:15. German breakfast is delish! Soft rolls, scrambled eggs, slices of cheese, and peppermint tea. I had seconds. Then we had rehearsal for our opening concert. We rehearsed from 10-1 and then again from 4-7. I think all 4 of my daunting solos went ok- and my self esteem was boosted when people I don’t even know told me that it sounded good. Between rehearsals, we walked into town and found a market, because Brecklyn forgot her toothbrush. Life is tricky when you don’t understand anyone around you, or even what products say on them in the store. Ha, I didn’t foresee that. We also found the library. And a cool WWI monument. After rehearsals, we went back to the market square where the city hosted an independence day party for us. There were free bratwursts and beer- instead I had orange fanta and a baked potato. A nice man that understood English asked me if I wanted meat, and when I said I was a vegetarian, he ran to the market and bought me a salad. Who says Germans aren’t nice?? The city leader was saying stuff in German that I don’t understand, and then he had all the orchestra players for the festival come up and sign the city guest book. They gave us some very tasty chocolate covered marzipan gift boxes. It was kind of fun- I think the whole city might have been there. And the festival people had arranged Jazz music to be played- cause It’s so American. J After we were done eating, a lot of us non-drinking folk walked back to the hotel and skipped out of the rest of the party. But from people’s stories the next day, sounds like it got pretty wild. I appreciated the good sleep.

Tuesday, July 5: More rehearsals today, but this time for Don Giovanni. Our favorite German maestro that we met in Kansas conducted us today, and that made the day less long, and more fun. Between rehearsals, I went back to the hotel, and slept for a good 2 hours. I’m still not quite on a normal German sleeping schedule yet. Now it’s 10:30 pm and the sun is just barely setting. Weird, huh? Speaking of the sun, it came out for a little while today and warmed things up a bit. That’s probably about the most exciting thing that happened today. I really love walking to and from rehearsals. It’s about a 20 minute walk, but it’s partly through woods, and partly through a cute part of the city. In the woods, there is a pasture of sheep close by, and they “maaaa” at us everytime we talk by. Makes my day- these German- speaking sheep. Also, it seems like everyone here has a cute dog. And the dogs speak German too. I’m sure that if you told a German dog to “sit” he wouldn’t know at all what to do. But what ever the Germans say to them, the dogs here are so obedient.

I think I'll call it Anxiety

I took some lovely pictures of our garden on my phone. And I have tried more than 3 times to send them from my phone to my computer so I could post them to my blog. But still no success. So this post is not about our garden.

It's about how I'm leaving to Germany in 4 days. FOUR days.

And I'm feeling nervous.

I feel like I need to spend every moment with Nathan- clingy much?

I feel sick of not wanting to practice.

I feel like summer is going by too fast.

I feel like I need a cute black summer scarf.

I worry that I will be allergic to Germany.

I worry that I won't be able to find pseudophed in Germany.

I'm nervous about our "hotel" that I'm pretty sure is more like a hostel.

I'm nervous that the food will make me sick.

I'm nervous that I don't speak ANY German.

I feel like I'll probably snore and my roommates will hate me.

I'm nervous to do my laundry and have to hang-dry my undies.

I hope I don't feel lonely.

I don't like flying- 15 hours is a LONG flight.

I stress about having to carry a suitcase, a carry-on, and a cello through foreign airports.

I know I'll worry about things at home.

Things like health and housing and husbands.

And gardens.

I hope Nathan will be okay to can the tomatoes while I'm gone.

Hopefully he'll make them into salsa or pasta sauce.

Maybe he'll get a new job!

I should have already submitted my curriculum plans to my team teacher.

Maybe I should quit that job?

Nobody wants to team teach general music and orchestra.

I feel like the summer is going to end this Saturday.

And that feels too soon.

I want to feel excited.

I really do.

But even as I'm typing this, I know that I always turn into a little worry wort right before anything big and unknown. I'll probably get to Eutin and love it. And once I figure things out a bit, I'm sure the stress will stop. And I'll really enjoy myself. At least I hope. Pretty sure I'll still be able to blog from "the Germ'. Bis Spater!

A Work In Progress

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you... our new home. This is the living space, in the basement of the house that was my grandma's, that used to be Uncle Jeff's nasty smelly cave dwelling, which we are trying to make into a cute and happy place to be.

With some new deluxe bolt installation, our cute shelves are back in business! And they are strong enough to hold our favorite dishes. This bright red paint made me nervous when we first put it on the walls. It felt like it made the room literally glow bright red. But now that things are up on the walls, it looks less intense. And I really like it.
Notice the awesome cabinets, counter, and sink that Nathan expertly installed himself. Isn't he great?
This is our front room. You can see a corner of one of the curtains that I sewed- in fact, that was the very first one I did.

And this is our new cute TV stand, also expertly built by Nathan. I'm looking for one of those home decor quotes to put on the wall above the TV. You know, one that says something cute and clever about home or family or something like that. I've seen them in people's homes, but where do they get them?!
Ann Marie, this picture is for you. Evidence that the gun cabinet did get painted white. And it looks great, huh?
And this is our bedroom. It's looking pretty boring right now, but like I said, work in progress! You can see another one of my curtain creations up in the corner. Let me testify to you of the awesomeness of the solar curtain panel. That window there faces west on a busy street. And in the morning, when the sun comes up and the commuters are heading to work, the sun shines in bright and warm, and the cars are super noisy. But we got these solar curtains that claimed to block out heat, light, and noise. AND THEY WORK!

And there you have it. A little look into our summer project. Our work in progress. Our home.

Thoughts on Tolerance

It's been a while since I blogged. Life is kind of low-key right now, so it won't take long to catch up. We're still working on making our new house feel like home. I had a lovely sewing lesson with my Mom, and then sewed a few curtains. And if you don't look close at the seams, they even look pretty good! 2 windows down... 4 more to go! I feel so domestic! We're also still keeping up on our cute veggie garden. And this week, we made a pumpkin patch. I pulled out weeds the size of small children, and Nathan tilled, furrowed, and planted. When it comes time for jack-o-lantern carving, hopefully we'll be all set. The shelves that we built in the kitchen pulled out of the dry wall, and two of our wedding present tea cups fell off and shattered. Our kitchen looks significantly less cute without our dishes on their shelves. But until we can figure out how to make the shelves not fall down, they have to stay in the pantry. And that's what's going on in our little world.

Also this week, I (as part of my graduate quartet duties) am coaching young chamber music groups for the University of Utah chamber music festival. It's actually tons of fun. I pretend to know exactly what I am talking about, and then try to inspire young musicians to believe in my ideas. And it usually works. :) It's a good boost to my teacher confidence.

Yesterday, at a presentation on how to deal with Performance Anxiety, I heard an interesting adage. If you read me often, you may remember that I declared 2011 as my year to develop tolerance. (Boy, if I had only known what tolerance-challenging experiences would be coming my way...) But when I heard it, even though it was in reference to distractions in performance, it perked up the little tolerance corner of my brain. And I have been thinking about it all day. The adage said "That which we oppose persists; that which we allow dissolves." Hmm. I'm having an internal battle over this one. I really like the sound of that. And the zen-ness of it. There are definitely things that I strongly oppose, but I'm not so sure that they would dissolve with allowance. There are things that I'm simply not willing to allow. But for the most part, I think this might be true. In my quest for greater tolerance, I'm going to let some things go- that's not exactly what I mean. I'm going to try to not let some things get under my skin as much. I'm going to try to control my reaction more than others actions. And maybe instead of persisting, annoyances will dissolve.

Speaking of tolerance, I want to give a shout out of love and sincere gratitude to those who have been particularly tolerant of ME lately. I've been kind of stressed out and moody and needy and ornery. And people who love me have put up with a lot. I'm glad I have people in my life who are willing to love me, and are also willing to tell me when I'm being a brat. I think I'm ready to be a better person now.