A day late and a post short

Merry 5th day of Christmas everyone! If you're wondering, Brenda did indeed give me 5 golden rings. I hope your holidays are going well and that you have exciting plans for ringing in the new year. We are planning on going to a party at a friend's house which should be a step up from last year when Brenda was sick, lying on the couch wondering if she should go to the hospital - which we eventually did.

You may have noticed that today isn't Monday, or as I like to call it, Blog day. Well, once again, Brenda and I were out last night painting the town red and I wasn't able to complete my Blog duties. If we keep up this Monday night socializing thing, I may have to rethink which day should be Blog day.

Last Wednesday, Brenda performed in La Bohème for the second time. It was another great performance that I enjoyed by way of the speakers in Brenda's dressing room. I like hanging out with Brenda during her performances. I feel kind of like her boxing coach; she comes back to her corner after each round and I give her water, massage her shoulders and bandage any wounds she may have gotten while on stage.

The day of the performance, Brenda got an e-mail saying that the guy who plays her on-stage boyfriend was sick and he was being replaced by someone else for the performance. The new guy hadn't done the role in almost a year and had 5 hours notice to get the lines and staging back in his head. Now, in an ideal world, a performer would get ample rehearsal, much of which would be on-stage and with orchestra, and would perform with the same cast members for the sake of continuity. You know what to expect when you're performing with the same people. For this production of La Bohème, however, Brenda didn't have the luxury of much rehearsal nor performances with the exact same cast. In spite of these less than ideal conditions, however, the show went really well. Brenda has one more performance of La Bohème on the 8th.

Brenda in her costume for La Bohème.

Christmas came and went last week and, other than all the stores being closed for 3 1/2 days, it felt a lot like Christmas in America. On Christmas eve, Brenda and I went to the English speaking church around the corner with our friends, Barb and Michael. Barb was scheduled to sing a duet at the service but wasn't feeling her best and asked Brenda to fill in for her in singing "What Child Is This". After the service, Barb and Michael had us over for a really nice home-made Italian dinner. They made an amazing baked ziti and served it with equally amazing garlic bread. We had a really great time and, since we're all natural talkers, we ended up staying till the wee hours of the morning.

Brenda opening a present and, seemingly, liking it.

Barb, Michael and me on Christmas Eve. And the amazing baked ziti.

Looking at this picture is making me hungry.

We've been doing a lot of socializing lately but, after the new year, we'll be getting down to business. Brenda has been working on Orlando Furioso more and more lately and will start staging rehearsals on the 4th. My German class will be picking back up on the 4th, as well, and it looks like I'll be starting rehearsals for a small role in Parsifal with Frankfurt Opera mid-way through February.

That gets you caught up with us. I hope you have a very happy New Year and I'll talk to you next week!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Hey All! Frohe Weihnachten, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, and Merry Christmas! I hope the heavy snowfall in recent days and weeks hasn't thrown a wrench into any of your holiday plans. It is certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas around these parts. One of the major, and regrettable, signs of the coming holiday are the ever-dwindling closed doors in our Advent Calendar.

The other sign of the season is the snow. Oh yes, we got snow and it was beautiful. It's not very obvious in the picture I posted below but the snow was actually coming down pretty hard. That's the view from our balcony, by the way.

Since the temperatures today rose into the mid 40s, a lot of the snow has already melted. Brenda and I are both hoping for a little cooler weather on Thursday and Friday so we can have a real white Christmas.

Last Friday, my language school threw a holiday party. Brenda was kind enough to make a batch of chocolate shorts, which I took in to share with all of the other Deutsch learners. I enjoyed sampling the diverse home-made foods that the students and teachers made, as well as visiting with students from different German classes. Brenda made an appearance late in the party and got to show off her German chops. My classmates were impressed.

On Saturday, Brenda sang Musetta in La Bohème. She went into the performance with very little rehearsal and without ever having a full run-through of the opera. Not really an ideal way to make a role debut. As you might imagine, however, she was outstanding. I know I say that about all of her performances but it's true. Every time I've seen her perform here she's been truly exceptional. I promise I'll tell you if she ever stinks it up. My German teacher and her boyfriend came to La Bohème with me. My teacher had never seen an opera before and she seemed pretty impressed. She laughed, she cried and she clapped. What more can you ask for from an opera?

Last night, instead of writing a blog entry like I should have been, Brenda and I ate dinner with our friends, Marlar and Florian. Florian is one of Brenda's colleagues at Oper Frankfurt and also happened to sing in La Bohème on Saturday. After we enjoyed some delicious potato soup that Marlar made, Brenda helped Marlar decorate their Christmas tree while Florian and I cheered them on.

Proof that Brenda and I have friends in Germany.

Brenda and I made our last visit of the year to the Weihnachtsmarkt today. I have to admit, I'm sorry to see it go. My waistline, however, is breathing a sigh of relief. I now have 11 months to lose weight in preparation for next year's Christmas market.

Brenda and I have made plans with some friends for both Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. While nothing can compare to spending the holidays with our families, we are very excited to be celebrating with great friends. We hope that your holidays will also be filled with loved ones and happiness. Until next time, have a very Merry Christmas!

Good posts come to those who wait

Hey All! Brenda and I had a lovely Monday in Frankfurt am Main. Because of our fun-filled day, however, I am unable to write the high-quality blog entry that you deserve. Therefore, you will have to check back tomorrow to hear about the most recent goings-on in FFM. Until then, I hope you have a great night! Tschüss!

Cookie fever

Hello everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend. I'm assuming that your lives, much like ours, are being filled with more calories the closer we get to Christmas. Over the past week we have had several occasions to throw calorie counting to the wind and indulge. First and foremost, we made another trip to the Weihnachtsmarkt. We want to buy some cups but each time we go they're sold out and they tell us to come back another time. Each time we go back, however, we aren't able to resist the delicious treat options all around us. Below I have included a couple of pictures of the market.

The sky scraper in the background is the Commerzbank Tower which is the 2nd tallest building in Europe.

In this picture, Brenda is standing in front of a stand that sells Schneebälle or, in English, snowballs. They are basically balls made out of hardened dough that are filled and covered with various delicious things. We bought one dipped in chocolate, covered in nuts and filled with chocolate nougat. My parents no doubt remember Schneebälle from our trip to the picturesque Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

On Friday, Brenda had a performance of The Magic Flute at Oper Frankfurt. She hadn't sung the role since October of 2008. She was given a day of rehearsals two weeks ago, as well as a couple of coachings, but other than that she was on her own. I had the pleasure of seeing the performance and she was, of course, fantastic. I wish you all could have been there.

On Saturday, Brenda and I went to a friend's place where Brenda made cookies and I played Wii tennis. I'm sure that my many matches (most of which I lost) cancelled out the dozens of delicious cookies I inhaled. We followed the cookie bake-a-thon with a get together at another friend's place where Brenda got to see me eat authentic home-made Swedish meat balls. Yesterday, we went to a friend's 40th birthday party which had all kinds of delicious things to eat. I'm telling you all of this so that when you see us next, you'll know why we've gotten so fat.

These social engagements have been most welcome. It is good for us to get out of the house so we can resist total hibernation. I really don't think, however, that Brenda has the option of hibernating at the moment. She is singing her first Musetta in La Bohème on the 19th and, on top of that, rehearsals for Orlando Furioso will be beginning soon. Earlier today, I was able to catch Brenda in the midst of deciding between a nap and learning music.

In order to help Brenda stick to her work, I made her a delicious dinner. If you can't tell, the words "I Luv Broy" are spelled out in cheese on the top of the casserole. Broy is one of my many nicknames for Brenda.

As you can tell, the dinner worked.

You are, once again, caught up with us. I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are. Until next time, have a great week!

Weihnachtsmarkt: Round 2

Hello all and Happy Laura's Day! "What's Laura's Day?" you ask. Well, Brenda and Laura decided that they each needed their own special day at some point during the year. I'm guessing it has to do with the whole twin thing and that they are forced to share a birthday. Brenda's Day was a week ago or so. I wish I could tell you that we celebrated accordingly but, believe it or not, Brenda forgot about her own day. Sad but true. I'm hoping Laura hasn't forgotten about her day, but if she has, maybe she'll read this before it's over. Either way, Happy Laura's Day!

Now that Brenda and I have moved on to year two of Chenda in Germany, I am forced to look back on previous posts to see what I wrote about last year. One of our outings this week was a welcome rerun; we went to Frankfurt's Christmas market. Let me give you a quick reminder of what the Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) entails. There are tons of shops set up over a couple of pedestrian blocks in downtown Frankfurt. Some shops sell food, others sell various holiday-friendly items and many, many shops sell Glühwein.

I like to think of our trip to the Christmas Market last week as merely a scouting mission, which is to say, we will be going back in the coming weeks. We did, however, get the answers to many pressing questions, such as:

Are all the same shops still there this year?

Answer: Yes.

Should we eat the cheese fondue before we eat the cheese crepes?

Answer: Let's dip the cheese crepes INTO the cheese fondue!

Does the Glühwein still taste good?

Answer: Yesh it doesh...hic!

The Christmas Market is really quite enjoyable and it arrives in Frankfurt at a much needed time. As I've mentioned too many times to count, Frankfurt is grey from November until April. The Christmas Market provides people with a place to go that is decorated beautifully and is extremely festive. And everyone is happy! I've never seen so many smiling Germans in one place. Unfortunately the market will close around the 22nd of December. In my opinion, they should keep it going until the sun comes back out in April. If you care to read more about the market and/or see some pictures click here.

In other news, I have been cooking a lot lately. In the last week or two I have made lasagna, rice and bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, and something vaguely titled Tuscan Casserole. All of these these dishes have demanded several trips to the grocery store and that is why, on Saturday, Brenda and I went to the big grocery store. In order for you to get an idea of how big the big grocery store is, I want you to imagine the biggest grocery store you've ever seen. Now imagine the cat food aisle in that grocery store and that is approximately the size of the big grocery store that we went to on Saturday. Ok, I may be exaggerating a bit but the next time you go to a grocery store in the US, think of us and how much we wish we could buy ranch packets and shredded cheddar cheese.

A very special thing about the big grocery store is that they have an international food aisle and, oh yes, US cuisine is represented. Foods imported from the US include, and are pretty much limited to, marshmallows, Oreos, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, ranch dressing in a bottle, Arm and Hammer baking soda, Pam, and Mac n' Cheese. We happily bought the last three items for about 300 times what we'd pay in the US.

Not only did the big grocery store have products from the US but they also had people from the US! We must have spotted at least a half dozen Americans wandering around the store. One guy was wearing a sweatshirt that said "Hoboken" and a New York Yankees baseball cap. People don't really wear baseball caps here. Another guy was wearing sweatpants and tennis shoes. People here definitely don't wear sweatpants. It was fun to see other Americans and it reminded me that we aren't the only foreigners in this foreign land.

Well, that's about all I've got. Brenda has some singing coming up this week which I will tell you about next Monday. We will also be making an effort to take more pictures to post on the blog. It will be as if you are here drinking Glühwein with us. Until next time, have a great week!

Brenda wants a dog

Hello all! Its me again and I'm back with a full edition of the weekly Chenda web log. This past week was filled with quite a bit so let's get to it.

The hotel that is our apartment hosted a special guest last week named Lola. Unlike some of our other guests, though, this one was very high maintenance. She demanded to be fed, walked and petted multiple times a day. That said, we loved having her here and would welcome her back any time. Lola is a beautiful little dog who belongs to our friend, Elaine. She is a really friendly and well-behaved dog who loves to be near people. In fact, every night when we got into bed Lola would climb right in and each morning she'd still be there waiting for us to wake up and play with her. We loved having her for those few days and she further convinced us that we need a Lola of our very own at some point in the future.

You may not remember this but last Thursday was Thanksgiving! On Thursday morning Brenda and I got a call from our friend Elza van den Heever who is one of Brenda's fellow sopranos at Oper Frankfurt. That morning, Elza decided to make a Thanksgiving dinner and invited us and our friend Richard over to enjoy it. We found out that, in addition to Elza being a truly incredible artist, she is also a heck of a chef. It was a great evening filled with lots of laughs and even more calories.

On Saturday we had our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner which was also a lot of fun. Brenda had to sing in a gala at the opera house that night so she was only able to enjoy some of the party. Don't worry, Brenda got her fill of rolls and stuffing before she had to head to work.

In Germany, in the weeks leading up to Advent, stores are fully stocked with chocolate-filled Advent calendars. There are dozens of choices and the prices vary greatly. I'm under the impression that most people get Advent calendars in Germany. Since they are so popular, by the time Advent actually roles around most stores are sold out. Last year, Brenda and I tried to find a calendar a few days into Advent but all we found were a few rather shocking calendars that showed Santa with numerous bikini-clad helpers. We assumed that a calendar like that wouldn't be sold based on the quality of the chocolate and so we went without last year. This year, however, we planned ahead and, after thoroughly examining all of our options, we bought a Lindt Advent calendar filled entirely with dark chocolate. The calendar is quite big as you can see from the pictures below. We had our first piece of chocolate from the calendar today and it was delicious. It was sour cherry, chili pepper, mousse flavored.


As I mentioned in my post yesterday, Brenda and I went to La Bohème last night. It was quite good and I'm looking forward to seeing it again in a couple of weeks when Brenda takes over one of the roles. After several weeks with little to do, Brenda will have a lot of opera running through her head in the weeks to come. She will be performing roles in La Clemenza di Tito, La Bohème and Die Zauberflöte as well as learning a role in Orlando Furioso. When it rains, it pours and Brenda is starting to see the clouds roll in.

Well, that does it for us. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Until next time, have a great week!

Sleep > Blog

Hello All! Happy 2nd day of Advent. Today's blog is going to be a short one. In fact, I prefer to think of it as a teaser blog. The real deal will come tomorrow after I get a good nights sleep. Brenda and I went to La Bohème tonight at Oper Frankfurt and met up with some friends afterwards. Thus, I am far too sleepy to write a respectable blog entry. I will, however, give you hints as to what tomorrow's entry will bring. There will be an adorable dog, opera, chocolate and, of course, food. Until then, have a great night and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

Gobble Gobble!

Hello Everyone! I'm sure you're all getting ready for Thanksgiving this coming week. I have to say, I'm a little jealous of all of you in the US. This may come as a shock but the Germans don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Crazy, right? Apparently they didn't have pilgrims in Germany. Or Native Americans for that matter. Who knew? Anyway, Brenda and I will be attending the same wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that we attended last year. It is hosted by our friends the Marshes and, if memory serves, this is their 11th year acting as hosts. We're really looking forward to it.

This past week was a little busier for Brenda. On Friday, she took a day trip to Hamburg for an audition. Hamburg is several hours away so most of her day was spent on trains. On Saturday, Brenda had her first Einspringen, which is the German term for "jumping in" for a fellow opera singer that is unable to perform. It was in the opera "La Clemenza di Tito", an opera Brenda has already performed this season, and it was at Oper Frankfurt. I think its pretty cool that she got to jump in and save the day.

I went back to the dentist on Friday and got my cavities filled. It ended up being 3 instead of 2 since part of an old filling had broken off. I got there a little early and ended up waiting 20 minutes or so for the dentist to appear. It was beautiful on Friday, a rare commodity these days, so I was content sitting in the dentist's chair staring out the window at the sunny sky. After a while the dentist and her assistant came in and got all set up. When everything appeared to be ready, the dentist turned to me and said, "Do you want to try it without novocaine?" "Um, do you recommend doing it that way?" I asked a little shocked. "Well, we can try it and if the pain becomes unbearable just let us know." she said. "Uh, ok." I replied.

In my defense, she presented it in such a way that I assumed all of her patients went without numbing their mouths. I didn't want her to think of me as her wimpy patient and besides, if other people could handle it, then so could I.

The good part was, that after I left the dentist's office, my mouth wasn't numb at all. The less-than-good part was the sensation of having 3 of my teeth hollowed out with a drill. It wasn't outright painful, just extremely uncomfortable. It felt kind of like scraping my fingernails against a chalkboard except inside my teeth. I don't think it helped that I was incredibly tense, either. Every once in a while I would remind myself that I needed to breathe and maybe even unclench my fists.

After the dentist had finished filling two of my teeth I had the chance to ask her a question that had been running through my mind. "Do most of your patients do it this way? You know, without numbing their mouths?" "Oh, no." She said. "Most people ask for novocaine."

As I said my goodbyes to the dentist and her assistant I couldn't help but get a weird vibe from them. Maybe it was the whole 'we speak different languages' thing, which often makes situations uncomfortable. Or maybe they were looking at me strangely because they couldn't believe I had let them take a power drill to my mouth without any kind novocaine. Whatever the reason, I was happy to get out of there and enjoy what was left of that beautiful day.

Once again you are caught up with Brenda and me. Actually there is one more little story I think you'd enjoy but it is Brenda's to tell. I will encourage her to make another guest appearance on the blog. I, however, have said my piece for the week and bid you all a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!

Remember to floss

Hello all! I hope you had a nice weekend. Ours was pretty quiet although we did go to a birthday party on Saturday night. One of Brenda's colleagues has reached the ripe old age of 37 and celebrated by inviting a bunch of people over and cooking them delicious Indian food. Seeing as the birthday boy is married with two kids the party had a rather high number of children in attendance. As all of the kids ran around the apartment with reckless abandon, I was reminded of how lucky I am to get a good nights sleep most nights.

On Thursday, Brenda and I went to the dentist. I was nervous going in because I hadn't been to the dentist since I was in college. When I arrived I was greeted by a very friendly receptionist who, it seemed, was the same woman that I had spoken with on the phone when I set up our appointments. Speaking in a foreign language over the phone is about ten thousand times harder than speaking in person. You don't get any of those handy non-verbal cues (i.e. facial expressions, gestures, etc.) to help you along. The receptionist had been very sweet on the phone, if not a bit giggly at all of my mistakes, and was just as nice in person. She led me into an examination room, plopped me down in a dentist's chair and had me start filling out forms that were, of course, in German. I did alright on the forms. I guessed at the meaning of a few words but I think I got the general idea of most of the questions. There was one question, though, that confused me. I asked for clarification and the kind receptionist explained that it was asking if I wanted a local anesthetic. As I was trying to figure out how to say in German "If you're going to pull out all of my teeth, then yes, I would like an anesthetic." the receptionist said I wouldn't have to worry about it today.

The dentist arrived a few minutes later. She is a nice woman in her late 30s or early 40s with a very calm demeanor. She looked over my forms, asked me a few questions and then began poking around in my mouth. I half expected her to gasp in horror and ask me how long it'd been since I'd last seen a dentist. To my surprise, however, she said that things looked pretty good and she'd like to take some x-rays. The x-rays indicated that I had two little cavities forming that needed to be filled. Other than that I was good to go. We made an appointment to take care of my cavities and then it was Brenda's turn. I was relieved to say the least.

After our appointments, Brenda suggested we check out the stands set-up in downtown Frankfurt in honor of Swedish Week. We stopped off at a stand for some piping hot Glögg (I also tried a sample of some meat I think was reindeer) and then we walked around checking out the other 8-10 stands. We soon realized that Swedish Week could probably be renamed Ikea Week seeing as most of the stands were sponsored by Ikea. There was a band playing (presumably a Swedish band), as well. We stopped and listened for a few moments and quickly realized the song they were singing was in English. Of course it was.

Well, you are once again up to speed on our exciting lives. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I look forward to reporting in next week with filled cavities. Until then, Tschüss!

Is it spring yet?

Hello Friends! Yet another week has passed and, while we had a lot to report last Monday, we haven't been up to much this week. I went to German class and the gym and in retrospect those activities must have taken up about 16 hours every day because I can't recall doing much else. In addition to accompanying me to the gym, Brenda spent some time with friends that were in town. We played hosts to one such friend who, after deciding that he'd had enough of hostel life, was in need of a new place to stay. We provided a clean (relatively) and quiet (perhaps too quiet) place for him to rest his head and in return he gave us conversation and some raspberry filled, chocolate covered cookies. A note to future guests of Chez Chenda: If you leave tasty food out in the open I will eat it. I can't help it, I see it and before I know it I've eaten 6.

The weather in Frankfurt has been pretty gross as of late. It is overcast and rainy almost every day with temps in the 40s. It's the kind of weather that makes you want to roll over and go back to sleep which I have done on several mornings. Brenda and I are both a little nervous that this is how the weather will be until April. I never considered myself a person who was greatly affected by the weather until moving to Germany. Now, however, I adore seeing the sun whenever it makes a cameo appearance.

I'm pretty much just rambling here. We'll try to do more interesting stuff this week so I can write something more exciting next Monday. Our dentist appointments are scheduled for Thursday which should definitely end in a story of some kind. I haven't been to the dentist in a long time and I'm a little nervous.

Until next time, have a great week!

Wiener-licious

Hello all! It seems like an eon since I last wrote. So much can happen in a week which is illustrated by the speedy deterioration of our pumpkin of doom. I would post a picture of his moldy, saggy self but I prefer you all remember him like he was last week. Vibrant and full of terror.

Speaking of terror, Brenda and I watched a scary movie on Halloween night. You may remember last year's blog entry in which I told you all of how we watched a couple of scary movies. Well, we seem to have made a tradition of it. This year, however, we stepped up the fear factor. We watched Halloween, which I wrongly assumed wouldn't be scary since it was made before I was born. It was, however, sufficiently terrifying and kept me up playing Freecell until the wee hours of the morning.

That all happened a couple of days ago, though. What is more exciting is what we did before Halloween. It all started last Tuesday morning. There I was, sitting at my computer, enjoying a cup of coffee and surfing the internet. Brenda had just gotten done making herself a delicious looking breakfast when her phone rang. It was our friend, Nina, and before I knew it Brenda turned to me and said "We're going to Vienna! We leave in an hour." Nina was going back home, a small town an hour or so from Vienna, to visit her folks. She said she'd be happy to take us with and we could stay at her apartment in Vienna. We frantically got cleaned up, packed and hit the road.

Vienna is 6 hours or so from Frankfurt. Unlike the US, however, driving time can vary greatly depending on the courage of the driver. Since there is no speed limit on most parts of the Autobahn we were able to make pretty good time. I think the fastest we went was 185-190 kilometers per hour which is about 115 mph.

So, believe it or not, we made it to Vienna in one piece. Brenda and I spent 3 days there, just the two of us, exploring and taking in the sights. On Friday, Nina came back to Vienna and showed us a few things we'd missed. She then took us to an authentic Austrian dinner with great food and live music. All-in-all, the trip was great. Vienna is a beautiful city with amazing architecture and a rich history of music. We are both very excited to visit again.

We're back in Frankfurt now and it's clear that winter isn't far off. The 5-day weather forecast indicates clouds and rain everyday which, in Frankfurt, means Winter. The good thing is, though, that with Winter comes stollen, that delicious bread-like Christmas treat that appears in Germany. I'm hoping to hold off on buying any until December but every time I go to the grocery store the stollen beckons a little louder.

I hope that you all had a nice Halloween. Have a great week!

Pumpkin of DOOM!

Happy Halloween! I'm a few days early, I'll admit, but we have been in the spirit of the season for some time now. We brought back some Halloween decorations from the States in September and immediately displayed them. Now we have added another decoration. A haunting, terrifying, spine-tingling harbinger of DOOM that comes in the form of a squash. That's right, we finally carved our pumpkin.

Ok, when I say "we finally carved our pumpkin" I should probably be saying "Brenda finally carved our pumpkin". I, however, played a very important role. I warmed up the glühwein and drank it in front of Brenda. Also, I was her cheerleader and said such helpful things as "wow, you're good with that knife" and "why are you looking at me like that?" and "maybe you should put the knife down".

As the picture above illustrates, Brenda separated the pumpkin seeds from the other pumpkin goo. After she finished carving her masterpiece she roasted the seeds, turning them into a delicious snack.

And here is the terrifying pumpkin.

You may be interested to know that our week was not limited to Halloween festivities. I, for instance, had a few more German language classes which I'm really enjoying. On Friday, Brenda and I went to Anna Bolena at the Alte Oper. The 3 hour opera (not counting intermission) was done concert style which means there was no staging. It was really well done by everyone involved. Elza van den Heever, a soprano that works full-time at Oper Frankfurt, sang the title role. She was nothing short of fantastic.

Brenda and I also went on a scouting mission to IKEA last week. While we didn't buy much (a couple of tea lights, a dish washing brush, a plastic cutting board) we did find a ton of stuff we'd really like to buy. We ate dinner there as well which threw a wrench into my diet. I don't think I will lose much weight eating Swedish meat balls and french fries but they sure tasted good.

That's pretty much it. We've been taking a lot of walks and enjoying the brisk fall weather. The sun hasn't completely left for the Winter but we're getting ready emotionally for that to happen. Our daylight savings time came into effect this weekend so now its getting dark shortly after noon (at least that's what it feels like). I'm not sure what this week will bring but whatever it is, you'll hear about it next week. Until then, Happy Halloween!

Go Hawkeyes!

Hello! Monday has come again and that means it is time for me to update all of you on our most recent happenings. Since last week I have had three German language classes and I have to admit, they're really fun. My teacher is from Poland but grew up speaking both Polish and German. She has since added English and Spanish to her list of fluent languages. Ah, these Europeans and their languages. My class is made up of 9 students, including myself, who all hail from different countries. In fact, our class has representatives from 5 different continents. You'll be pleased to know that I'm doing my very best to represent North America. Everyone in the class is very nice and we're all enjoying making a plethora of mistakes together.

Brenda had her second performance of La Clemenza di Tito (which went very well) and is now on break for about 6 weeks. And we thought we just came back from vacation. We have been lucky enough to have some sunny days lately and even though the weather has been a bit chilly we have gone for lots of walks through the city. I'm not sure what else we'll do in our free time in the upcoming weeks although I think a visit to the dentist is in order. I will probably be able to write a book about how that ends up.

A friend of Brenda's came through town over the weekend and Brenda spent some time showing him the sights. On Saturday night we went over to the McCown's place and watched the Oklahoma/Texas game on ESPN America. Michael was very excited that Texas won even though it was a messy game all around. Throughout the game we got score updates on the Iowa/Wisconsin game and, much to Brenda's chagrin, Iowa added one more win to their already undefeated season. Also that night, Brenda and Barb teamed up and made a delicious tofu and soba noodle dinner. Yum!

Well, that about does it. Until next time, I hope you all have a great week!

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Hello all! I hope you are having a delightful Monday. I just realized that today is October 12th which we all know is Luciano Pavarotti's birthday. Ok, maybe you didn't know that but I, for whatever reason, have that bit of trivia committed to memory. In honor of the occasion if you want to take three minutes out of your day and listen to some beautiful music you can do so here.

Now that I've gotten you in the mood for some opera, I can tell you about the outstanding success that was Brenda's performance in Saturday's La Clemenza di Tito. The show was really well sung by everyone involved and Brenda did more than her fare share of beautiful singing. I always enjoy hearing people scream "Bravo!" when she takes her bows. If you'd like to see a few pictures from the production then click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

I'll try to keep the hyperlinks to a minimum from here on out. You may recall me talking about German language classes a few blog posts ago. Well, today I met with a gentlemen at a nearby language school and I learned more about what is involved in this subsidized German language program. Apparently there are six levels of language proficiency that the German government is willing to pay for. In order to determine which level you are at you have to take a written exam. That is why shortly after I arrived at the school I found myself alone in a room taking the first German test I've taken in 9 years. I had 30 minutes to answer 65 questions or so. I finished just under the wire and then got to enjoy my test being graded in front of me. It ended up that I tested into level 5 which came as a bit of a shock to me. It made me wonder how much language proficiency I would actually have after language level 6. If I'm at level 5 now, and I feel like I'm a long way from fluent, then the teachers will have to work miracles in level 6 to get me to total fluency.

It turns out that the German government is willing to subsidize language classes to a certain point and beyond that you're on your own. Something is definitely better than nothing so it looks like I'll be spending the next 16 weeks in language classes. I'm really excited about it actually. I've always liked learning languages and I've been in dire need of something to occupy my time.

I'm afraid I don't have too much else to report. Brenda is at a concert this evening that a few of her colleagues are performing in. We've been talking more seriously about carving our pumpkin so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks. Until then, have a great week!

It is time to get Shakespearean

Hello Friends! It is Monday once again and I've decided that for year two of our life in Germany Mondays will be blog days. That way if you absolutely need to know about the newest things happening in our lives you can count on finding out at least once a week. And speaking of exciting things, let's get going!

Brenda was sick this weekend. The symptoms appeared Thursday night and were full blown by Friday. She had to miss some rehearsals, which wasn't a big deal, and ended up spending most of the weekend in bed, drinking tea and watching the Lord of the Rings. I tended to her hand and foot, which I do all the time anyway, and it lead her to a speedy recovery. She went back to rehearsal today with a spring in her step.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of having dinner with my cousin Eric. He was in town on business and was able to squeeze me in for a meal and a brief tour of Mainhattan. I enjoyed catching up with him and look forward to doing it again the next time his work brings him through town.

We have been back in Germany for two weeks as of today and we are definitely into the swing of things. In fact, we're already on to our second bag of Wacker's coffee which, admittedly, goes fast in our household. What we don't have, however, is a phone and internet connection. That being the case I would like to say the following for the record: Deutsche Telekom, I bite my thumb at you. Harsh, I know, but deserved.

That about does it. Brenda's opera goes up on Saturday and I'll be sure to give you a full report. Until then, have a great week!

Return of the Ausländerbehörde

Hello everyone! I hope you had a nice weekend. We certainly did. It was filled with opera. We went to Arabella on Saturday and Simplicius Simplicissimus on Sunday. The former is an opera by Strauss that is about men fighting over a woman and a girl dressing up as a boy (typical opera stuff). The latter opera is about, well, actually I have no idea. I saw it, I understood some of the supertitles but I left not really having any clue of what I’d just seen. Both operas, however, were very well done so bravo Brenda’s colleagues!

Friday we had an appointment at the infamous Ausländerbehörde. You know, that office for foreigners that I consider a second home. In July, we had to go in to get an extension added to our passports that allowed us to come back into Germany after August 31. Brenda gave them her two year contract when we first arrived in Germany but apparently we can only be handled one year at a time and so we had to renew after the first year. Since we were unable to meet in August, however, they gave us an extension of 3 months starting in July. Why they couldn’t give us another year of approval starting in July is beyond me. Red tape in action.

Anyway, we had our appointment on the books for almost 3 months having scheduled it right before our Summer vacation. While we were sitting on the train heading over there Brenda turned to me and said “It is beautiful outside! Maybe that’s a sign of how our appointment is going to go.” I was hopeful that everything would go well, too. We really are at the mercy of this one office so all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best. We arrived early, 20 minutes or so, and waited patiently in the lobby. When the time came we headed to the appropriate office and went in. The woman that we were supposed to meet wasn’t there but instead we were greeted by a nice enough man sitting at the adjacent desk. He said Frau so-and-so was sick and that we’d have to head down the hall and knock on another door. We did that and were redirected to yet another door which was locked. Just as I was starting to think that it must actually be pouring rain outside a young blonde woman walked up to the door, unlocked it and invited us in.

We took our seats, glad that somebody was willing to help us, and sat quietly as the young woman got situated at her desk. Finally, she turned to us and said in wonderful English “Would you like to speak in English or German?” Um...English please. She took our passports and then the three of us started chatting while she worked. It turns out that this young lady was a nanny in North Carolina for a time. She met her current boyfriend there who is in the US military and is stationed in Wiesbaden, a town just west of Frankfurt. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were to be working with this really friendly, American-loving German official.

I’ve been curious ever since I first walked into the Ausländerbehörde what it must be like to work there. There are always stressed-out foreigners lined up (sometimes for hours) waiting to meet with government officials that will (or will not) allow them to stay in the country. I can’t imagine that Brenda and I feel the pressure that some of these other foreigners feel. If push comes to shove and we have a problem we can always go to the opera house and they will (hopefully) go to bat for us. I would imagine that a lot of the other foreigners that walk through the door only have themselves to rely on.

I’ve also observed that the government officials that work at the Ausländerbehörde are a bit cold. Not that they’re mean, they’re just down to business. I guess its that they don’t seem to take much pleasure in their work.

Now that I had a really friendly government worker chatting with us I decided to ask what it was like to work there. She said when she is working with people like Brenda and me it’s fine. With a lot of people, however, its really hard. She pointed to a stack of several 3-4 inch binders held together by a single rubber band and said “That is one person’s file.” She went on to say that some people come in and start yelling at her and threatening her. Some even threaten to kill her. She’s had people wait outside until she is done with work and follow her home all because they are mad at her for something she has no control over. She doesn’t write the laws regulating foreigners living in Germany. She’s just doing her job. Her boyfriend tells her that he’s worried about her and he’s a soldier. You’d think she’d be the one who worries about him. Which, I think, she does.

Needless to say, I have a new appreciation for the people that work at the Ausländerbehörde. I may get frustrated by the hoops we have to jump through but I now realize how much easier it is being on my side of the table than it is being on hers.

I almost forgot the most exciting part of our meeting. As we were finishing up I had the wherewithal to ask if she knew anything about where I could take cheap German lessons. As it turns out, the German government subsidizes up to 600 hours of German language lessons to foreigners. For those that are trying to become citizens it is required but since we’re not on that track it is optional which must be why no one mentioned it to us before. For the price of 1 euro per hour of class time I can start taking German language lessons! I have a list of schools to choose from and am now trying to decide which one I’ll go to. I’ll keep you posted on how it all works out.

Brenda started staging rehearsals for La Clemenza di Tito today. Performances will start next week. Until then we’re going to enjoy as much of the beautiful weather as we can. I saw some pumpkins at the store today so we may have to do some carving to get in the Halloween spirit. If we end up getting one I will post a picture of our ghoulish creation on the blog. Until next time, have a great week!

Germany - Year Two

Hello my friends. As you may have guessed from the title we are back in Germany. We have been here for a total of 38 hours and, believe it or not, we’re already starting to adapt to the time difference. The weeks leading up to our trip back were action packed so I think I’ll fill you in on a few of the highlights.

Brenda had a really fun and productive trip to New York City. In addition to taking several lessons with her wonderful voice teacher Edith Bers, Brenda had the opportunity to work with the famous soprano Renata Scotto. They worked on the title role in the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, which Brenda will be singing later this season at Oper Frankfurt. Lucia is one of the roles Scotto is famous for so it was an especially great experience for Brenda. When she wasn’t studying, Brenda was spending time with friends and visiting all of her favorite NYC spots. I have to admit, at times I was jealous but whenever those times hit I went golfing.

After Brenda returned to the midwest we spent some time with our families and, as you can imagine, a large chunk of time packing. On one of our marathon driving days we stopped off in Iowa City and had dinner with my voice teacher from undergrad, Stephen Swanson. Of all the voice teachers I’ve had, not to mention all the professors, I can easily say that Steve and I had the best relationship. I’ve wanted Brenda to meet him for years and we finally made it happen. It was especially nice because Steve sang opera in Germany for almost 20 years so we had plenty to talk about.

And now we’re back. The flight wasn’t bad at all, 7 hours and 40 minutes direct from Chicago O’hare (thanks to my folks for driving us there!). We were a little disappointed that the movies they had on the flight were the same as they were almost 3 months ago but we got over it. We landed, got our luggage, hopped on a train and went home. Easy. It was such a stark difference from last year. I guess that’s called progress.

There was one little snag, when we arrived home we didn’t have a working phone or internet connection. It seems that I was supposed to renew our phone contract before we left for vacation but I didn’t and so history is now repeating itself. You may recall me ranting about internet troubles about a year ago or so. I don’t anticipate it being as big of a deal this year but it will leave us without our internet connection for 2 weeks. Ah well, I guess we’ll have to go for walks or read a book or something equally torturous until we get online again.

I am going to try to blog more frequently this year so stay tuned for updates. Also, Brenda and I will be finishing her website in the coming weeks and I will post a link to it once its up and running. We’d love to get feedback on it.

Until next time, have a great week!

Our Summer Sabbatical

Hello Dear Friends. I hope you are all having a wonderful summer. As I'm sure most of you know Brenda and I are back in the US enjoying a very long (but definitely not too long) summer vacation. We arrived in early July and will be here until mid September. As you can imagine our vacation has been packed full of seeing friends and family as well as spending a lot of quality time on the highway.

Our first stop was my parent's beautiful new house. Wait, scratch that. Our first stop was actually Chipotle where we ate gigantic burritos and marveled at how large a small soda was. How quickly we forget. Then, with bellies fit to burst, we headed off to my parent's house to help them break it in. We had a great week in Ankeny re-acclimating to the US where we could go to stores and make small talk with the workers and give directions to people without having to rack our brains for the German translation for "go six blocks that way and turn left". A highlight of our first week back, at least for me, was running a 5k race. I ran the same race last year and was looking forward to doing it again. I was pleasantly surprised when Brenda said she wanted to run too. So on the morning of our 4th day back in the states we met up with my brother (Brad) and my sister-in-law (Tracy) and ran 5k with my parents and nephews cheering us on.


With our first fun-filled week behind us Brenda and I made the 24 hour drive down to Florida to relax with our friends Dan and Whitney and to catch a few rays. We stayed on the gulf side of Florida, not too far from Naples, and enjoyed many hours in and around the swimming pool and beach. We had a blast with Dan and Whit, as we always do, and probably could have spent a month down there without too much trouble.

Our next stop was Appleton, WI to see Brenda's parents (Jim and Joanne) and her sister (Laura). Our trip coincided with Jim and Joanne's 40th wedding anniversary which we helped them celebrate by singing a duet at church and eating some delicious Indian food. The night before we had gone up to Eau Claire, WI to see Laura perform with her band. It was a great concert and the locals loved it. We only hit a little bump (literally) on the way home when we hit a deer. Our car fared much better than the deer I'm afraid. We thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our time in Appleton. Brenda spent some time with her mother and her aunts in Door County while I made a brief trip back to Ankeny to help my dad celebrate his birthday.

After Appleton we headed back down to Ankeny for the Gast family reunion. My mother's maiden name is Gast and she organized a reunion for the kids, grandkids and great grandkids of her parent's, Clyndon and Beatrice Gast. It was a weekend affair beginning Friday night at the IA State Fair where we ate all kinds of fried foods many of which came on a stick. Saturday we had a progressive day starting at my cousin's house for breakfast, moving to my brother's house for lunch and finally eating dinner at my parent's house that evening. It was a fantastic weekend and quite an accomplishment considering how far some people had to travel.


After the reunion we headed up to Minneapolis to visit Laura and her girlfriend Lacey. You may remember hearing something about tornadoes in Minneapolis recently. As it turns out one touched down 3 blocks away from Laura and Lacey's apartment while we were all there oblivious to what was going on. I suspect that even if we had known that there were tornadoes touching down around us we still couldn't have interrupted Brenda's game of Guitar Hero. Rock stars can't be bothered with things like natural disasters.

And that brings us to the present. I am back in Ankeny and Brenda is in Portland visiting a friend. We have a little less than a month left in the US and in that time we will be back up to Appleton twice, I will go to Minneapolis and Kansas City and Brenda will be off to New York City. Stay tuned for more updates and have a great rest of your summer.

Hey! It's the other one!

Hello all! Yes, it is I, the elusive Brenda! I absolutely had to post a blog after tonight's performance of La Finta Giardiniera, not only because I want to share this story with you all, but because I want to make sure I remember this night!

So, I'll start with a bit of back story, in case you're not up to date on what I'm doing right now. We at Oper Frankfurt are in our last weekend of the season, and all of us go on vacation on Monday. Excellent! I have three shows this weekend: two Fintas (in which I have the title role) and one Palestrina (in which I have a tiny role!). Tonight was a Finta. Now, I love this show. I love the cast, I love the director, I love all the musicians -- it's just been a fantastic experience. So! Tonight was our 2nd to last show, and even though it was DREADFULLY hot in the theater (we perform this show in a converted train station -- very cool place, but it's like a sauna in the summer) it was going really well! All of our complicated staging was going well, people were singing well, the energy was great - a good night! With less than 20 minutes of the opera left, the tenor (Jussi Myllys) and I had just been lifted up to the stage on a hydraulic lift for our final duet. The music starts out very calm, as if we're waking from a dream. We sing our first few phrases, and I notice that one of the supernumeraries (a non-singing, non-speaking acting role) is laughing, hidden from sight. A second later I realize what he's laughing at as I hear some sort of alarm coming from somewhere! I thought at first it was an ambulance passing by the building, since this happens quite frequently. Yet, the noise stays constant! I try to keep the smile off my face (I have a tendency to get the giggles onstage! Uh oh! :-)) and keep my cool. As the tenor is singing, it's obvious that this alarm is something nearby and is not showing signs of stopping. I thought to myself, "Perhaps a car alarm?" Finally, the conductor actually stops the orchestra, turns to the audience and addresses this noise problem. None of us knew where it was coming from! So eventually he leaves to find out more, leaving the tenor, the supernumeraries and myself onstage, not sure if we should break character or not!! Finally our stage manager tells us from offstage that we should leave the stage and go outside, because the noise was actually the fire alarm! And it wasn't a false alarm either... So we make our way offstage and leave the building. Now, another funny thing is that the tenor and I are tethered together, so we have to make every move together! We stand around for maybe 15 minutes outside, waiting for further instructions, hoping that we can continue the show. Sadly, we received news that we couldn't finish the show. However, we were told the audience was still standing in front of the theater, and so we hustled over to do a makeshift curtain call! Thankfully, they were all in high spirits and being really good sports about it all! After the whole cast and conductor had assembled in front of the applauding audience we decided to sing the final ensemble piece, which is just a short lively chorus! We didn't want to leave the audience with an unresolved story! After all, in this opera, it isn't until the very end that all the lovers finally end up with whom they belong! 

So in the end, it was okay that we didn't get to finish the opera, since a very special and positive memory was created! However, I must say that I hope tomorrow's (last!) Finta performance goes on uninterrupted!!! 

Here's a picture from the opening night curtain call. Most of the cast is pictured, as well as the conductor, director and the costume designer. 

If you'd like to see more photos of the production, click here!

Next stop - Rüdesheim / Assmannshausen

Hello dear friends! I hope things with you have been going well. We have been doing very well here in Deutschland. Brenda opened the show "La Finta Giardiniera" on the 21st and already has 4 performances behind her. There are pictures of her and other cast members on Frankfurt's website if you care to look at them.

I am also in an opera at Oper Frankfurt at the moment. I am performing the role of Brühlmann in the opera "Werther". I am in one of the production photos on the website. I'm on the right side of the first picture and I'm dancing...or at least trying to.

We are heading back to the States for vacation in 9 days. It is really sneaking up on us. We will be back in the States for 10 weeks! We're really looking forward to it.

But enough chit-chat, let's get down to business. The pictures below are just a few glimpses into our trip to Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen. Rüdesheim is a town about 45 minutes west of Frankfurt. To give you an idea of our day there we took a lift up to the top of a small mountain where there is a big monument, then we rode down the other side of the mountain, toured a castle and took a boat ride on the Rhein back to where we started.

Here is a picture of the lift on the way up the mountain. Brenda and I are in the cart ahead. I realize its very small but the monument is in the upper left hand corner of this picture. The monument commemorates the re-establishment of the German empire. I believe it was having its 125th anniversary this year. You may have already noticed but the lift took us over a beautiful vineyard.Brenda and I posing for a picture at the benches set up around the base of the monument. In the background is the Rhein river and Rüdesheim.

As we traveled around Germany we kept seeing beautiful yellow fields. We finally asked someone what they were and it turns out they are fields of rapeseed. Rapeseed is used to make animal feed and vegetable oil among other things.

This is a picture of the Castle Rheinstein from the lift going down the mountain. We toured the beautiful castle and enjoyed a glass of wine in their cafe (see below).

We really enjoyed our trip to Rüdesheim. Actually we enjoyed it so much that we took Laura and Lacey there when they were in town. Since its so close I'm looking forward to going there again soon.

So that's it for now. Next stop is the beautiful Rothenburg. Stay tuned and have a great week!

The places we've been - Heidelberg

Hello dear friends.  I hope you have been well.  We are continuing to enjoy Laura and Lacey's stay in Germany.  They are spending a few days in Berlin right now so I'm taking this opportunity to post a few pics from my parents' visit.

Proof they were in fact in "Mainhattan".

Our first trip out of Frankfurt took us to Heidelberg.  In the background you can see the Heidelberg Castle.  Highlights from this trip include eating lunch at a towny bar (with drunk locals and all), touring the giant castle you see in the background and paying 50 cents to use the restroom.  (It was totally worth it.)

Here is a view of the bridge (seen in the previous picture) from the vantage point of the castle.

And here is the giant keg in the castle.  I found out after the fact that I had studied a German song in college that referenced this very keg.

So there are a few glimpses at our trip to Heidelberg.  Stay tuned for more pictures from other German hotspots.

A month in review

It is strange. I swear it was just a week or two ago that I posted my last blog entry but I see now that it has been almost a month. As I think back over the past 4 weeks, however, it doesn't take long for me to discover why they went so fast.

My parents came to visit in the first part of May and stayed for two weeks. We had a great time and squeezed in quite a bit. Within the first few days of their arrival they saw us perform in the last performance of Gianni Schicchi at Oper Frankfurt. After that we traveled to several different German locales.

Our first trip took us to Heidelberg where we got to enjoy a beautiful old city with a gorgeous historic city center equipped with period bridge and castle. Our next stop was Rüdesheim which is about 45 minutes west of Frankfurt. There is gigantic German monument there standing at the top of a big hill (small mountain perhaps?) which we got to by riding up the hill in a small ski lift type cart. After wandering around at the top of the hill we came down on the other side, also by ski lift, and ended up in a beautiful town called Assmannshausen. Its true, we have pictures. The castle Rheinstein is there which we toured and thought was very beautiful. Interestingly enough it was bought and preserved by an opera singer in recent decades.

In subsequent days we went to Wittenberg, Rothenburg, Füssen, the castle Neuschwanstein, Dinkelsbühl and the Schwarzwald. It was my first time really getting out of Frankfurt since we moved here in August and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After my parents headed back home we had just enough time to change the sheets on their bed and welcome Brenda's sister and her girlfriend Lacey. They have been here coming up on a week now and will be here for a total of around a month. We love having them here and look forward to exploring more sights with them.

We took over 500 pictures while my parents were here and we have already begun taking pictures with Lacey and Laura. I will post some of the highlight photos in a subsequent entry. Until then, I hope you have been well. Have a great week!

Milestones

Hello one and all! I just reviewed my last post and realized how much I have to tell you. It has been an action packed month so let's get to it.

First of all, today marks the 5 year anniversary of when Brenda and I started dating. That's right, we've been together for 5 wonderful years and if you had told us then where we'd be now we might not believe you. Nevertheless, here we are and we're having a great time.

In my last post I was complaining about the weather. A few days after I wrote that Spring erupted in Frankfurt. We had sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s and 70s everyday for over two and a half weeks. In turn, nature exploded. Flowers, trees, grass, everything started to blossom overnight. Frankfurt looked and continues to look like a totally new (and beautiful) city.

Now I wasn't very good in high school physics but I seem to recall something about every action having an opposite and equal reaction. In the case of Frankfurt in Spring the action was nature doing what nature does at an alarming rate. As if all the plants in Frankfurt knew they only had a short window to pollinate and so they had to get to it fast. This caused an alarming reaction in me, my allergies went crazy.

Our first beautiful day was a Saturday and by the end of the day I was having trouble breathing. It felt like I couldn't get a deep breath and was struggling for every bit of air I took into my lungs. Over the next few days the symptoms continued and with them came wheezing and coughing. This was especially problematic because Brenda and I had a performance of Gianni Schicchi a few days after my symptoms began. I made it through the performance, albeit with a lot of coughing, and continued to take anti-histamines with the hope that my body would eventually adjust to its new environment. I had dealt with allergies in the US but those symptoms were limited to congestion, runny nose, etc, the typical mild allergic reactions to the changing of the seasons. This difficulty breathing thing was a whole new ball of wax.

On Friday night, Good Friday as it turns out, Brenda and I decided to go to the emergency room down the street. I had been having difficulty breathing for 6 days and I had another performance coming up so it was time to get a doctor's opinion. After waiting in the ER for 3 hours we were seen by a very nice physician who gave me two puffs off of an inhaler right then and there. My lungs immediately opened up, it was wonderful. The doctor also wrote me a prescription for an inhaler of my very own.

The inhaler was amazing. I took it every six hours like clockwork and it would immediately relieve my breathing problems. I couldn't sleep for more than six hours without my body waking me up because I was having difficulty breathing but that was a small price to pay to be able to take a deep breath.

Another 4 or 5 days passed and we realized that the inhaler was really just a quick fix. It got me through the days but my symptoms weren't relenting. Upon the recommendation of several of my friends and family (including my brilliant pharmacist sister-in-law) I made an appointment to see an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT).

I called the ENT's office and told them my situation and mentioned that I was singing at Oper Frankfurt. They told me they were all booked for the rest of the week but that they could see me the next afternoon. Apparently mentioning that I had upcoming performances got me in the door. The doctor guessed the exact day that my symptoms began (apparently I wasn't the only one having allergy issues) and prescribed some steroids. Since then as long as I take my daily steroid I'm right as rain. The magic of modern medicine.

Brenda and I had a few different visitors over the past couple of weeks and are looking forward to a couple more. My parents will be arriving on Monday and will be spending two weeks running around with us in Germany. We haven't finalized our itinerary yet but I will give y'all a full report on what we see and do.

One last thing, a couple of weeks ago marked my first anniversary of taking up jogging. For the past year I have gone jogging on average 3-4 times a week and I can honestly say that I love it. It really has become an addiction. It has also been very nice that Brenda has been joining me on occasion. Yesterday she went for a 30 minute jog with me which is amazing considering how much she hates running. I'm very proud of her.

I hope you have all been well. Have a great weekend!

So we got this letter...

Hello one and all!  Things here are moving right along.  Brenda and I have had rehearsals for Gianni Schicchi almost every day for about a week now.  It has been a lot of fun going to work together and since we are playing husband and wife in the opera we have a good excuse for our excessive PDA.

The weather here has been crap.  Rainy, a little snowy and all around gloomy.  We had high hopes that Spring was right around the corner when Brenda's parents were here but that has proven not to be the case.  We keep hearing about this beautiful Spring that Frankfurt usually has but I'll believe it when I see it.

In keeping with the grey skies we received a grey letter on Saturday.  Its actually not all that uncommon considering the opera house uses grey envelopes and we get pay stubs and other such information from them on a regular basis.  However, this letter was grey in many respects.  Allow me to paraphrase its message.

Dear Ms. Klinkert,

We won't be paying you this month.

Sincerely,

Frau So-and-so

Frankfurt Opera

Ok, so the letter said a little more than that.  It also explained why Brenda wouldn't be getting paid for a month's work.  In order for me to explain it, though, I'm going to have to give you some info on the tax system in Germany.  Here goes...

All working people in Germany are in a given tax class numbered 1-6 depending on their situation.  As I understand it, if you are single with no dependents then you are in tax class 1 and are taxed at around 50%.  If you are married and both people work then one person (generally the higher income earner) is in tax class 3 and is taxed at around 40%.  The other person is in tax class 5 and is taxed at around 60%.  People are mailed their number on a tax card at the end of the current year for the following year.  They are then supposed to give the tax card to their employer in the new year. That's all I know about the German tax system and I wouldn't take any of that as law if I were you.

So our little we-can't-pay-any-of-our-bills-this-month problem fits in like this.  Our tax class numbers had been reversed on our tax cards which means that Brenda was in the higher taxed group (5) and I was in the lower (3) when it was supposed to be the opposite.  We noticed this and got the problem corrected before we turned the tax cards in to the opera house a couple of weeks ago.  What we didn't realize, however, was that our recently corrected tax cards would not take affect retroactively.  

Thus far in 2009 the opera house had been operating under the assumption that Brenda's tax class was the same as 2008, tax class 3.  When they got our tax cards last week they realized that according to the cards they should have been taxing Brenda at tax class 5 for the first 3 months of 2009.  To fix this mistake they would have to take her entire next paycheck to make up for the unpaid taxes for the first quarter of 2009.

Does that make sense?  Well even if it doesn't I applaud you for reading all of that.  My main question all along was why did the city change our tax classes from 2008.  Brenda was a 3 then and I was a 5 so why would it all of a sudden switch?  We talked to several different people and the best theory we could come up with is that someone assumed that since I'm a man I must have been the primary income earner.  Nice, huh?

We went to the opera house on Monday and spoke with a woman in finance.  We explained our situation and she was very kind and empathetic but said that basically we were screwed.  Legally the opera house couldn't do anything to help us and we could try our luck at the city office but she doubted anything would come of that.

We have been doing pretty well communicating in German lately but the idea of explaining this in German seemed overwhelming so we enlisted the help of our friend Michael.  He agreed to be our spokesman at the city office and so on Tuesday we all went down there.  Michael explained our problem to the guy at the information desk and he said that it was unfortunate but doubted that anything could be done.  He gave us a number, though, and we went up to meet with some other person.

Michael explained our situation to this new person who went to talk to someone else who in turn went to talk to a 3rd person.  The 2nd person came back and said that we should have fixed this when we got the tax cards at the end of last year.  Michael explained that we were new in Frankfurt, we didn't have any idea how the system worked and reminded them that someone in their office had made the mistake of switching our tax classes from the previous year.  To my great surprise they said all they needed was a fax from the opera house saying they were ok with the change and then they'd issue us new tax cards that covered all of 2009.  Problem solved.

So that was our week.  We laughed, we cried, we entertained the idea of living on the street but in the end it all worked out.  Gianni Schicchi opens next week and I'm really excited to get it up and running.  Until then we'll be in rehearsals and searching for sunshine and warm weather.  I hope you have a great weekend!