Two months

Hello dear friends.  I just noticed the date and subsequently realized that we hit the two month mark a couple of days ago.  We've definitely learned a lot in our first couple months and we're continuing to feel more and more comfortable.  Life here is very enjoyable with built in time everyday for oneself.  When a singer in the opera house is rehearsing a show, as Brenda is now, they generally have a rehearsal in the morning from 10-1 and a rehearsal in the evening from 6-9.  They are not to exceed 6 hours of rehearsal a day or they will get paid overtime.  Its really quite nice since Brenda has the ability to come home after her morning rehearsal, eat lunch, work on music, take a nap, run errands, etc.

My schedule is even more open at the moment as I approach my final performance of Lear.  I have a meeting with the Intendant (General Director) of Oper Frankfurt scheduled for October 30th.  I'm not sure what we're going to discuss but keep your fingers crossed for me.  We're approaching the big audition season in Germany so I plan on contacting agents and opera companies to request auditions.

This may sound silly but we have really been missing Mexican food.  We haven't come across any Mexican restaurants in Frankfurt and even the grocery stores don't have much.  We have been able to buy beans (Bohnen) but forget about refried beans or plain old pinto beans.  The pinto beans we have found are usually bottled in some mysterious sauce.  Cheese isn't hard to come by, especially brie and gouda, but cheddar cheese is a rare find.  And then there is salsa.  Salsa here tastes nothing like salsa in the US.  It tastes kind of like runny ketchup with tiny chunks of peppers in it.  There are avocados in the grocery stores but you wont find cilantro anywhere.  On the plus side, every grocery store we've been to has had basil plants and fresh mozzarella (for only 59 cents one place).  Also, pesto is commonplace so we're really covered on the Italian front.  I guess that makes sense since we're a heck of a lot closer to Italy than we used to be.

This upcoming weekend should prove to be a nice one.  This Saturday is the last Lear and on Sunday we are attending the premier of Lucia di Lammermoor.  We hope that you have a wonderful weekend!  Ciao!