Marburg

Hello all! I have a challenge for you. Try to remember what you did every day last week. Not every little thing, just a few highlights from each day. Take your time, I can wait.

How'd you do? Did you remember something from every day? I'm asking because every Monday night I turn to Brenda and say "What did we do last week?". Surprisingly, it takes a while for us to remember something from each day. I'm happy to say, however, that we were able to come up with at least one or two things from every day last week. Therefore, I feel that I am now adequately prepared to tell you about our exciting Germanic experiences from the past 7 days. (Or at least the ones we remember.)

On Wednesday, I ate at my first döner kebab restaurant. My friend Michael and I had been discussing going to the "döner around the cörner" for months and finally decided to do it on Wednesday. A döner kebab is a traditional Turkish dish that often includes lamb and is served with various garnishes on pita. Due to the high Turkish population, döner kebab restaurants can be found in most towns in Germany. The meal was delicious and I look forward to taking my parents there once they arrive next month.

Yesterday, Brenda and I went to Marburg to visit my former German teacher, Dorota, and her boyfriend, Yoan. They came to Brenda's most recent performance of Orlando Furioso and afterwards invited us up to Marburg for a day trip. Since Brenda and I are always looking for an opportunity to see another city in Germany, we happily made the trip.

Marburg is a college town. It is home to the oldest protestant university in the world. Its population (students included) numbers somewhere around 80,000. It is also an extremely old and beautiful city. To me, Marburg looked exactly like what I thought Germany would look like before we moved here. It has cobblestone streets, old buildings, a castle, a river running through the middle of town and some very impressive churches. We toured two gorgeous churches, one of which was St. Elizabeth's Church (visible in the picture below) which was built in the 1200s.

The building on the left half of the picture above is Marburg's Rathaus (aka City Hall).

There are a lot of narrow walking paths (above) in Marburg designed for quick pedestrian travel throughout the city.

The tiny tower you see in the distance is Rapunzel's tower from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

Marburg made a very good impression on me. I can easily imagine having gone to college there, especially considering the cost. (Tuition is 250 euro per semester and you can take as many classes as you like.) Brenda and I are very grateful to Dorota and Yoan for taking the time to show us around their town. It is a beautiful city and I would recommend it to any high school senior considering going to college.

Well, friends, I must call it a night. Just a heads up, next week's entry may come a day late. I have my final performance of Parsifal next Monday and so the blog may have to wait a day. Brenda has her final Orlando Furioso performance this Wednesday and we found out one of her colleagues is sick. That should make things a little more interesting. I'll be sure to tell you all about that next week. Until then, have a great week!

Fromage

Hey all! It's Monday once again and time for me to get you up to speed on the goings on of Chenda. You may remember from last week's post that Brenda went to Paris for an audition. Well, as I predicted, she ate a baguette. And some cheese. And a croissant. Oh yeah, she also sang an audition for a company (that shall not be named) that was interested in her for a specific role. We found out today that the company really liked her singing and thought she would be perfect for the role. The downside, however, is the company has decided not to do that opera after all but they'll keep Brenda in mind for future things. Hey, at least she got to eat some French cheese.

Speaking of Brenda, she is healthy once again. She got well just in time to enjoy the sunny, 65 degree weather we had on Friday. Spring is definitely on its way to Frankfurt and we're really excited about it.

I had my last German class on Friday. We spent the first half an hour taking a test and the last 3 hours eating a bunch of homemade food and chewing the fat as it were. As the party began to unwind and we all started saying our goodbyes, I was surprised to realize just how much I had grown to like my classmates. I can't imagine a scenario in the future where I will be in a class with 10 people from 10 different countries all stumbling through a common (and mostly unknown) language. It was a very enriching and enjoyable experience and I am thankful for it.

Brenda had her 8th performance of Orlando Furioso on Saturday and I had my 3rd Parsifal yesterday. Both shows went very well. We both get about a week and a half off until our next performances. I'm not entirely sure what we'll do during that time but I'm sure there will be several trips to the gym in there somewhere. Whatever we end up doing I'll be sure to tell you about it. Until then, have a great week!

This entry is rated PG

Hello all! Happy Monday. I hope you all had a delightful weekend. Brenda and I have been having a fine time here in Frankfurt as of late. That said, Brenda is once again sick. It seems her body doesn't want to be in good health when she has to perform. Brenda had to sing on both Friday and Sunday with a head cold. Don't worry, she was still amazing.

I started my last week of German classes today. It has been a lot of fun getting to know everyone in my incredibly diverse class as well as learning some German along the way. I will certainly miss many aspects of my German class and I'm sure I will dream about all of those things as I sleep in next Monday.

When Brenda and I were at the the airport meeting Laura a few weeks ago, we came across a gigantic example of something you would never see in the US.

We saw this poster a couple of different places. I took this snapshot in the subway at the airport. I should have had Brenda stand in the picture so you could get a sense of how big the poster was. Basically, the advertisement took up most of the wall from floor to ceiling. The big lettered text to the right of the charming young girl translates as "What now, dear parents?". In the smaller text below, it says you can find out the answers to 55 questions about raising a child in a special booklet that will be distributed free with the Die Zeit newspaper.

Since moving to Germany, there have been many times that I have thought "Living in Germany is a lot like living in America except I don't understand what anyone is saying and the beer is better." Then, I come across a giant toddler giving me the bird and I'm reminded that we're living in a country that doesn't always do things like I'm used to them being done.

We have a guest staying with us tonight, another friend of ours here on an audition tour. And speaking of auditions, Brenda is going to Paris tomorrow for an audition and she'll be there a whole day. She may not get to take in all of the sites but she can probably eat a baguette or whatever it is they do in Paris. I'll have to go with her one of these days and find out. Anyway, it's time to hit the hay. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next Monday!

Pass the green sauce

Hey All! Happy Monday. Well, I guess as I write this it's actually Tuesday, but for all of you in the USA it's still Monday. Tonight is Laura's last night in Germany and we spent the evening at dinner with Florian and Marlar enjoying some authentic Frankfurt cuisine. I tried Grüne Soße (green sauce) for the first time in my life and discovered it was quite good. I ate it with a few chunks of beef but Brenda and Laura had the veggie friendly version (pictured below). The meal was washed down with some Apfelwein (apple wine), a Frankfurt favorite.

On Saturday, Brenda had her fifth performance of Orlando Furioso. Five down, four to go. Laura and I saw the show and we both really enjoyed it. You may remember that Brenda was sick last week but she was healthy in time for the show on Saturday. Yesterday, I had my first performance of Parsifal and I am very happy to say that everything went well. I even got a compliment on how good my German sounded. Albeit, it was from a Dutch person but I'll take it nonetheless.

Since yesterday's performance was the first Parsifal of the season, all of the cast members had to stay until the end of the show to bow. I was finished singing around 6:30. The opera got done a little after 10:00. My friend Michael, however, had the good idea to bring in his computer so we could watch movies while we waited. We ended up watching a classic, Blazing Saddles. I felt a little bad, while we sat in our dressing rooms eating sandwiches, drinking beer and watching movies, our colleagues had to actually go out on stage and work. Fortunately for them, we get to go home after we're done performing in the subsequent performances.

Wednesday is Brenda's and my third anniversary! Those three years have definitely gone fast. That said, it feels like an eon since we lived in NYC. In other news, Brenda will be going to Paris next week for an audition. I won't be tagging along for this trip but I bet she'll have fun all the same. Other than that, we don't have much to report as far as activities in the coming days and weeks. We'll just be performing and waiting for spring to come.

I hope you all had a very nice weekend and that spring isn't far off for you either. Until next time, have a great week!

Laura is here!

Hey All! I am very happy to report that Laura is in town visiting Brenda and me! She arrived a few days ago and will be staying until next week. Her first night in town, Laura and I went and hung out with Brenda at the opera house while she was performing. We got to sit backstage and see Brenda in action from the wings. She sounded great, in spite of being sick. In the days since, Brenda has developed a fairly substantial cough that will hopefully be gone by the time she has to perform next. These colds really don't pay much heed to people's schedules.

Over the weekend I took the German test I've been preparing for since the fall. Honestly, it wasn't too hard. That said, I may have offended the test givers during the spoken portion of the test. In my defense, I didn't mean to call the test givers old. My German isn't that good after all and I have a limited vocabulary to choose from when forming sentences. Hopefully, they were able to see through my insult and see the bright-eyed, eager German learner that sat before them.

As you know, I have been rehearsing Parsifal a lot lately which, by the way, opens on Sunday. As always, I have to deal with the foreigners office in order to work legally and (as always) it hasn't been a great experience. I'm hoping to have things sorted out by the end of the day on Wednesday but we'll see if that happens. Ah, red tape.

That about does it here. We're having a great time with Laura and I know her presence is making Brenda feel better that much faster. Until next time, have a great week!