Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you have all been enjoying the holiday season. We've been keeping busy with social events and the latest season of Downton Abbey. Brenda's most recent performance was on the 26th and her next one is tomorrow, so she's had a little bit of a break from work. We've decided to celebrate the new year this evening by having a quiet night at home so Brenda can be well rested for her performance tomorrow. We will definitely not be turning in early, however. You may recall from previous posts that the city of Frankfurt erupts in fireworks on New Year's Eve. In fact, they've already started going off sporadically even though the new year is still over five hours away.

Barb and Brenda in holiday colors on Christmas Eve.

Barb and Michael put real candles in their Christmas tree. 

I spent the evening with my hand on a fire extinguisher, ready to spring into action should the tree start to go up in flames. My glass of wine would be considered a fire extinguisher, right?

Brenda had some olive oil heating on the stove that she forgot about for a minute or two, and when she went back to check on it the oil had turned green. I thought it was most likely a Christmas miracle, but Brenda thought it had turned to poison. We threw it out just to be safe.

Brenda and I had our annual Feuerzangenbowle evening with the Plocks on Friday. Pictured above is the rum-soaked sugar cone shortly after it was lit.

It's time to prepare our New Year's Eve dinner, so I had better get going. I hope you all have a nice time ringing in the New Year, and we'll talk to you next week!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hey all! Brenda and I are about to run out the door, but I wanted to wish you a quick Merry Christmas before we do. We've been getting into the Christmas spirit over the last week and also spending quite a bit of time in the opera house. Tonight we will continue our Christmas Eve tradition of dinner with the McCowns, which we look forward to every year. 

 The tree you saw last week all dressed up.

We got two very nice homemade ornaments in the mail today from Brenda's aunt Mary.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season. Until next time, have a great week!

O Tannenbaum

Hey all! Here is your late blog entry as promised. I've been a little distracted lately with final exams, long papers, moving out of our U.S. apartment, and flying to Germany. The last item on my fall to-do list will be crossed off tomorrow, at which point I can focus 100% of my attention on my wonderful better half.

Speaking of which, she had a great time recording last week and, by all accounts, a phenomenal performance on Sunday. Opera Rara, the company that is making the recording of Fantasio, compiled a list of glowing reviews, which you can view here. I'm sorry to have missed the performance, but I'm very excited to hear the recording when it comes out late next year. By the way, Brenda will be back at it again tomorrow with another performance of Ariadne auf Naxos. It's been seven weeks since her last one, but I think she remembers most of the notes.

 Brenda, and her flowers, after the show.

My flight to Germany was a little more complicated than usual this time. I thought I might have some troubles because my layover in Chicago was scheduled to be one hour. When my first flight left around 45 minutes late, I got even more concerned. Sure enough, I missed my connecting flight, which was the last flight to Frankfurt for the day. Luckily, I got out on a flight to Munich that night and flew to Frankfurt later that day. Of course, my bags didn't make it, but they were delivered this morning, so all's well that ends well.

My protracted travels, along with Brenda's prodding, helped me stay awake quite late last night, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get over jet-lag easier than I normally do. One of our sleep-avoiding activities yesterday was buying a Christmas tree. The tree salesman was a young German guy that remembered Brenda and me and her parents who were with us when we bought the tree last year. He also remembered that Brenda is an opera singer. We must have made an impression. It makes me wonder if we knocked over some trees or something when we were there last year.

It was heavier than it looks, I swear.

Brenda just started decorating the tree, and I should go lend a hand. I hope you all have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Chenda in Germany once again

Hey All! I dropped the ball on the blog entry yesterday. Sorry about that! I arrived in Frankfurt a few hours ago so Brenda and I are together again. I will fill you in on more in a post tomorrow. Until then, have a great night!

buildings and bridges

Happy Wednesday everybody! Hope you weren't too distraught that the blog is late this week. :-) Today I had a rather different day of recording -- there was no singing involved! Since this is a comic opera that we're doing, there's dialogue! IN FRENCH! So that's what we focused on today, and I must say, we had a lot of fun! Our French diction coach seemed very pleased with us as well, so that's a good sign. Chad took his last exam today, and is nearing the end of his duties for finals, although he still has two papers to turn in. One is basically done though! Tomorrow he has to move out of our apartment in Iowa City, assisted by his parents, who are incredibly kind to help!! I feel more than a little badly that I'm not around to share the load. Someday I'll make it up to them… 

As I mentioned, I'm having a great time in London. The recording is going very well, and I've really enjoyed getting to meet the rest of the people involved, as well as reconnecting with some old friends who are in London! I took advantage of the lovely weather on Sunday and went for a jog/walk along the River Thames. I had to dodge a lot of people, but the crowds gave me an excuse to stop and take pictures!

The beautiful Tower Bridge. You'd think London Bridge would be as beautiful, since there's a song about it, but you'd be wrong! The original London Bridge was much fancier compared to the modern one…

A view of part of the Tower of London (which is a fortress) and some modern architecture as well. It's so interesting to see buildings that are many hundreds of years old next to ultra modern buildings.

This is Henry Wood Hall, where we've been recording the music for the opera. It used to be a church, but now it's solely used for music rehearsals and recordings!

Below the main floor of the hall. There's a cantina to buy food and drinks during recording sessions. I love how it looks like an old library study area!

The actual hall. The orchestra we're recording with is the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. If you go to their website, you can find pictures of our rehearsals last week, and also a short interview with me! I sang with the orchestra while I was at Glyndebourne and I'm thrilled to sing with them again! They're truly fantastic!

We recorded the dialogue in a different location -- St. Jude on the Hill, which is still a church, but has a rich history of concerts and recordings taking place there as well. And it made an appearance in a Harry Potter movie. How cool are these places?!? I feel so lucky to be here!

Well, we're back to recording the actual singing parts tomorrow, so I'd better get to bed! By this time next week, Chad and I will be together in Frankfurt again, and I can't wait! Have a wonderful week! 

check back

Hello all! I told Chad I would write the blog this week, as he's busy with exams, but of course I got home late after a long day of recording, and am now too tired to write it tonight! So please check back tomorrow for the full length entry, including pictures of London! Everything has been going very well here, and I'm having lots of fun! Stay warm! Until tomorrow...

in the air, then on the air

Hey all! Brenda and I are once again on different continents, although not for long. She flew off to London on Saturday after a few wonderful days of celebrating with family. It was great to be back home for Thanksgiving this year with all of my extended relatives. Around thirty people came to this year's feast, most of whom Brenda and I hadn't seen for almost two years. We took a lot of pictures, but our camera is in London at the moment and Brenda is dealing with a bad internet connection at her otherwise fantastic apartment. We did manage to get this picture...

 Brenda, our niece Beatrice, and me

Two days later we celebrated another major holiday: Christmas. My parents were kind enough to move it up about 4 weeks since Brenda and I are going to be in Germany on the actual day.

A few hours after our Christmas celebration ended, Brenda hopped on a plane to London where she has already had two days of rehearsal and a radio interview with BBC 3. (You can hear the interview here. The show that Brenda was interviewed on discussed Brad Mehldau, La Serenissima, Rolf Hind, Sir Mark Elder. The segment that Brenda is involved in is about 12 minutes long and starts at 1:42:48 and ends at 1:54:28. They play a recording from the opera, but Brenda isn't singing in it.) Brenda said everyone has been really nice, and she's been enjoying their beautiful rehearsal room.

A picture of the rehearsal room in London.

I have my last classes of the semester tomorrow, which means I will be done with all of my law classes in Iowa. Did I mention that I'm studying abroad in London next semester? I figured that even if living in England isn't the same as living in Germany, it is a heck of a lot closer to Brenda than being in the U.S.

Next week is finals week for me and recording week for Brenda, so the blog entry may be brief. Until then, have a great week!

california dreamin'

Hello all! I'm writing to you on what is my last night in our Iowa City apartment. We head to Ankeny tomorrow for Thanksgiving, and I'm flying to London from Des Moines. Pretty crazy to think that we're nearing the end of living on two continents! Crazy and awesome.

We spent a beautiful long weekend in Santa Barbara. The concert I gave went really well, and was also a lot of fun! We had a decent amount of free time too, during which we did some shopping, ate really tasty food, went for a run along the beach, watched a spectacular sunset, and dipped our toes in the water as we walked along the beach. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm so grateful that Chad got to come with!

 Lunch at a fantastic vegan restaurant. 

The locals told us that this was one of the most beautiful sunsets all year. Lucky us!

More delicious food! This was at a place really close to our hotel, and the day was so nice that we were able to comfortably eat outside! 

Me and my fabulous pianist for the concert at the Music Academy. We only met the day before the concert, and didn't have much rehearsal time, but we worked very easily and naturally together!

Enjoying the sunset on the beach together.

Basking in the sunshine on our last day. It was hard to leave, knowing that it was 40 degrees colder in Iowa! 

It was definitely bizarre to come home to snow on the ground. As the rest of you Midwesterners are probably experiencing, it really feels like winter now! 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you have lots to be thankful for. I know that we sure do!

thankful for two thanksgivings

Hello all! Since it's already quite late, and I'm not as diligent as Chad, this blog entry will be a little shorter than usual! Chad and I are both very busy at the moment; Chad with the expected stress of the semester coming to a close, and me with the unexpected stress of having to learn a new opera role in 2 weeks time! That's right, some more opera craziness came my way, and it turns out I'll be flying to London the weekend after Thanksgiving to record and perform a French opera! Life is full of surprises indeed… But first, we're flying to California tomorrow, where I'll sing a concert in Santa Barbara. I'm so glad Chad is able to come with, and we're hoping for some nice sunny walks on the beach.

This past weekend we took a trip to my hometown to have an early Thanksgiving with my family. We had a wonderful time, filled with hikes, fires (only contained ones, thank goodness), games, laughter, music and FOOD. Oh the food. So much food. I'm considering jaw surgery again so I have an excuse to go on a liquid diet...

Of course there had to be silly picture twin time. There were about 40 more of these. Did someone say blackmail?

Drew is so strong! And Chad is so… cheerful!

We came across a rather funny sign on our hike through High Cliff State Park. We were grateful the hunting season hadn't actually started yet, and we were able to continue walking without wearing blaze orange… 

Oh Wisconsin, you sure are pretty… 

The Thanksgiving meal! So much delicious food! Hmm, that reminds me of the leftovers in the fridge… Time to wrap this up!

That pretty much does it! Chad and I haven't been back in the States for Thanksgiving since 2007, so we're incredibly thankful that we get to have Thanksgiving with both of our families! Stay tuned for two weeks from now, when I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures from the big Thanksgiving gathering at the Grahams'! Until then, have a great week!

family time

Hey all! I'm writing to you from a chilly Iowa City. Yesterday Brenda and I were heading off to lunch in between one of my classes when it started to snow. The flakes were big and, for a little while, coming down fast. Once we made it to the restaurant, our mealtime entertainment was watching people enjoy the first snow of the season. It didn't seem like most of the locals were prepared for the snow based on how bundled up they were (myself included), but they were having fun anyway.

Brenda and I hit the road last weekend to go see my family. Brenda hadn't seen our nephews and niece since March, so she was especially excited to see them.

 Brenda and our adorable niece, Beatrice.

On Saturday Brenda and I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather by going for a bike ride. There is a 26-mile bike path near my parents' house, part of which runs along lake. We ended up biking about 12 miles and were both pleasantly surprised that we weren't sore the next day.

It was a wonderful day for a bike ride.

We're hitting the road again this weekend to go see Brenda's family in Wisconsin. Brenda has agreed to help me study by reading to me from my Family Law casebook on the drive up. I think she's planning on using funny voices while she reads. I'm excited to find out if that will help or hurt my understanding of the material.

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

study buddies

Hello all! This week's blog is brought to you by a united Chenda! Well, what I mean to say is, we're in the same room… Chad is busy working on a law school paper, but at least I can see him across the room while I write this! I arrived Saturday night, after a calm, delay-free day of travel! A big improvement after last week's trip to Copenhagen/Malmö! I thought I'd take the chance now to share some photos I took while there!

My "Titantic" movie moment… In the distance you can see the bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden. You'll notice it seems to disappear into the water, due to the fact that it goes underground/underwater into a tunnel!

Our friend Florian showing off his inner child at a fantastic playground that we walked to. Florian's girlfriend has a 6 year old son, hence the playground time. I know we're both big kids at heart, but we actually had a real reason to go to the playground!

On an absolutely gorgeous walk by the sea. Elisabeth's son was in the mood all weekend to wear an old tiger suit of his, which I thought was pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

As the token American, and therefore most accustomed to Halloween, I was given the task of carving the pumpkin. And also apparently threatening Florian. Pretty scary, eh?

The finished jack-o'-lantern. 

It was a wonderful trip, and even the storm that forced me to stay in Copenhagen an extra night (without even being able to see more of Florian due to the fact that the bridge between countries was closed due to the weather!) couldn't dampen my spirits! Hopefully next time Chad and I will both be able to visit!

My last Ariadne performance went well, and as sad as I am to say goodbye to the show for 6 weeks, I was very excited to come and spend some time in America! I have a lot of music to learn, so even though Chad is busy studying, I'm filling my time with studying as well! It works out well! 

Have a wonderful week!

The happy reunited couple. The scary look on my face is due to the very bright flash, nothing more!

Happy Halloween!

Hey All! I'm taking a break from studying legal ethics to fill you in on what we've been up to lately. FYI, if I fail my ethics exam on Saturday I'm going to blame it all on you because I should have been spending this time studying. The ethics exam has a reputation for being easy (cue lawyer joke) so, on the off chance that I fail, I'd like to be able to blame someone other than myself.

Brenda is back in Frankfurt after her trip to Denmark/Sweden. She had a great time, and I think she's planning on telling you about it and posting some pictures in a future post. You may have seen that there was a big storm in northern Europe yesterday. Brenda's flight ended up being cancelled, but she was rebooked onto a flight that left this morning.

Things have been busy for me lately, but that's to be expected. This is week 10 of 15 of the semester (not that I'm counting), and I'm feeling on top of things for the most part. Brenda arrives on Saturday and will be stateside for the rest of my semester. It will be great to have her here, and I'm confident that she'll be a great study buddy.

I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

B is for "Best"

Hello all! Since Chad has a midterm to study for, and I actually did some traveling this week, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to take over the blog duties. I'm currently on my way back from visiting my friend Juliane in Bremen, which is in northern Germany. Juliane was an exchange student when we were in high school and she and I have stayed close since. She had a baby two months ago, so it seemed like a good time to visit her again! Her baby is beautiful and amazing and it was so cool to see my old friend as a mother! I also got a little peek into how much work it is! You mommies and daddies out there are pretty impressive. I don't think I should ever complain about not getting enough sleep, because I don't think it can ever compare!

One of the many ways Jaro likes being held.

I just... the cute.... Ahhh!!!

Over the weekend I visited my friend Andreas in his hometown of Biedenkopf. His family still lives there, so we all enjoyed a meal together at the restaurant where his sister got married, and walked around a little bit in the lovely surrounding country.

Apparently this sort of thing has become popular in Germany. Is it in America? It looks like a big obstacle course set up among the trees. I think it looks super fun. I would bet Chad doesn't.

Andreas and I on top of the castle tower in Biedenkopf. Because you know, every town deserves a castle...

In the evening, I got to experience opera in a way I never had! Andreas and his sister are both musical, but their way of performing opera is slightly different than mine! They are marionette puppeteers! They performed The Marriage of Figaro to a recording, and all the action was played by the puppets. For the encore, the curtain was lifted, and they played the final scene, but this time we could see what they were doing! It was incredible! The amount of concentration and coordination of fitting 5 people into that tiny space was really impressive. The whole experience was so charming, and I'm so glad I got to see it!

Other than that, I had a performance last Friday, which was fun as usual, and I'm looking forward to our next one on Friday! The day after that, I go to Copenhagen to visit our friend Florian, so I'm sure I'll have more to write about next week! And THEN, the week after that, Chad and I will be together again! All this traveling helps the time go by faster! Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Tune in tomorrow

Hey all! Brenda has been doing a lot of traveling around Germany recently. As a side note, I just realized that she's only been going to towns that start with the letter B - Berlin, Biedenkopf and Bremen. What does she have against all the other letters of the alphabet? Anyway, she has been taking some pictures on her travels and wants to share those with you as well as tell you about her trips, but she isn't able to do that today because she's still traveling. She will, however, write a post tomorrow after she gets back to Frankfurt. I am spending the evening studying for a midterm exam in a town that starts with the letter "I". I'm not a letter "B" purist like some people I know.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Brenda the Berliner

Hey all! Brenda and I are once again on different continents. My visit to Germany came to an end on Sunday, although I got to stay a few hours longer than I had expected. That morning I woke up to an e-mail telling me that my flight across the ocean had been cancelled. I was rebooked onto a different flight that left later in the day but involved one less layover and still got me back to Iowa around the same time. As far as flight cancellations go, this was a great one.

Brenda and I had a wonderful week together. We spent a lot of time with friends, we ate at Germany's only Chipotle (twice), and I got to see her perform. Speaking of which, there are some production photos on the Oper Frankfurt website as well as a promotional video in which you get to hear a little of Brenda's singing. Just click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see both the photos and the video.

In two and a half weeks Brenda will be coming to the U.S., which I'm obviously excited about even though that means I will finally have to clean our Iowa apartment. Before she takes off, Brenda plans on doing some traveling. In fact, she took her first trip yesterday. Some people wanted to meet with Brenda about a possible upcoming gig, so Brenda hopped on a train to Berlin and came back today. She'd never actually been to Berlin before (unless you count taking a cab from the train station to the airport), and I think she liked it. We'll have to go again sometime when she has a little more time to explore.

I should call it a night. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

the wait is over!

Hellooo! Sorry for the delayed blog entry! I wanted to make sure to give it the time it deserved, so I convinced Chad to let me write it today! Currently Chad is in class - wait, what? But I can see him over on the couch! Ahh, the wonders of technology. As he's mentioned before, he can watch all of his classes online. I really don't know why he can't do that 100% of the time! 

It's been a wonderfully whirlwind week! Last Wednesday was our final rehearsal for "Ariadne auf Naxos", and then I had all of Thursday and Friday off. Luckily, I was able to keep busy on Thursday, so I didn't drive myself crazy in anticipation of Chad's arrival on Friday! I had a delightful pizza and champagne lunch with our friends Barb and Michael, as well as Michael's parents, and then in the late afternoon I hopped on a train to go to Bad Nauheim where our friend Florian was singing a concert that evening. Florian is still singing full time in Copenhagen's opera house, and was only in the Frankfurt area for two nights, so I grabbed the opportunity to see him! It was a beautiful concert (Haydn's "The Creation") and afterwards I went to Florian's parents' home, where we all enjoyed a relaxed drink. 

A Plock sandwich -- happy to be reunited! 

Then the day I had been waiting for for six weeks finally arrived. Chad didn't want me to come pick him up at the airport because that meant I wouldn't get enough sleep, but I still woke up without an alarm and my first thought was whether Chad was in the country or not! So I called his German cell phone, and lo and behold, he answered! Oh happy day! Needless to say, it's been wonderful to have him back in Frankfurt.

Saturday was the premiere of "Ariadne auf Naxos", and I'm happy to say, it was a big success! The rehearsal process was especially wonderful, so we were all hoping the public would enjoy it too! After the show, we went to the after party/dinner and got to relax with my castmates and friends who had come to the show. Free food and wine! Woohoo! It may have been a late night...

My friend InSun and I at the party. (Note: the suspicious bump in my midsection is JUST the way the dress was laying in the picture! Ahem!)

We relaxed and stayed in on Sunday, but were more productive on Monday. We went for a jog on our favorite path through the city forest, did some work (me singing, Chad reading!) and then went out to dinner at a very nice Austrian restaurant with my former manager who was in town for the premiere. I always love having him at shows, because he yells "Bravo" for me really loudly!

That brings us to Tuesday! Obviously we were busy, as we did not have time to write the blog... Our friend Michael turned 40, so we had a celebratory lunch with him, and then went back to their place for some delicious cake (baked by Barb!) and of course a champagne toast. We were so glad Chad got to be included in the celebration, since he was originally supposed to leave on Monday! Hooray for skipping classes! 

Us and the McCowns!

After all that, we rushed to our friend InSun's new place in Sachsenhausen (love having more friends in the neighborhood!) and were treated to a delectable homemade Korean feast! Mmm, so good! I know my Mom would be jealous... Next time, InSun is going to teach me how to make some of the food! It was a fantastic night filled with lots of laughter! 

Delicious!!

And fun!!

So that's been our week! I'm incredibly grateful to have four more days with Chad before he returns to Iowa. Nine days is way better than 3 days. And this time we'll have just 3 weeks until we're reunited! So much more doable. Hope you're all enjoying the arrival of Fall! 

enjoying our time together

Hey All! I made it to Germany, and Brenda and I are having a wonderful time together. Brenda's first performance of Ariadne auf Naxos was fantastic, and I look forward to seeing her next performance on Thursday. I'm going to keep this short because Brenda wanted to write the blog this week but was unable to tonight because we were out late at a friend's house. Please check back soon for her post. Until then, here are a couple of photos I took yesterday near the opera house:

The poster for Aradne auf Naxos, which can be seen all over town.

The opera house from a distance.

I hope you're all having a great week, and we'll talk to you soon!

clowning around

When did it get to be this late? I usually write the blog entry earlier in the evening, but I've been busier than usual today. I'm trying to get everything checked off of my to-do list before I head to Germany on Thursday. Speaking of which, I decided that a weekend with Brenda after six weeks apart wasn't going to be enough, so I changed my return date to the following weekend. Consequently, Brenda and I will get to enjoy more than a week together. I will, of course, be missing some classes, but luckily for me the law school allows students to record classes when they are absent and watch them at their leisure. So next week I'll be sitting in on class from our apartment in Germany. Ain't technology grand?

Brenda has her final dress rehearsal tomorrow night for Ariadne auf Naxos. From what she tells me rehearsals have been going well, although there was one unusual occurrence earlier in the week. The orchestra went on strike for a couple of hours on Monday as a part of a country-wide orchestra strike in Germany. They got back to work later in the day, however, so it looks like the singers will have musical accompaniment on Saturday. Come to think of it, an unaccompanied performance could be interesting. It'd be pretty tough to know what your note was or when to come in, but on the plus side the audience could really focus on the singers' acting. 

Brenda in costume in her dressing room.

So next week a reunited Chenda will be writing to you from Germany. Until then, have a wonderful week!

thinking outside the box

Hey all! The countdown is finally in the single digits. In nine days I will be hopping on a plane to Germany to visit my wonderful wife! Unfortunately, the trip must be a short one (the law school hasn't fully embraced online education yet), but I am grateful for any amount of time I can spend with Brenda. By the way, her rehearsals are moving along nicely. The final piano rehearsal is tomorrow night. It is the performers' first opportunity to run the show in costumes and makeup. After tomorrow they will move on to orchestra rehearsals. The final dress rehearsal is next Wednesday.

Life in law school is going fine. I'm enjoying my classes this semester and am finding my Immigration Law course particularly interesting. Recently we've been talking about the different ways foreigners can apply to become lawful permanent residents of the US. The two biggest ways are through family members that are already in the US and through employment. Of course, some employment qualifications are more desirable in the eyes of the US government than others. For example, physical therapists and nurses are apparently in high demand in the US so foreigners with those skills will have a much easier time getting a visa than, say, an unskilled laborer or an out of work opera singer. To help us review the material, our professor did an exercise with the class today where she presented herself as an educated but unemployed journalist trying to get a visa to live in the US. As a class we had to try to figure out the best way to apply for a visa for this hypothetical person. Some people suggested she marry her fiancé, a US citizen, as quickly as possible. Others thought she should try to prove how outstanding of a journalist she was so she could qualify for a category reserved for people with "extraordinary" skills. Still others thought she should try to get in through her brother who already had a US visa. I raised my hand and asked if she had ever considered becoming a physical therapist or a nurse. Based on the professor's laughter I don't think that was the solution she had in mind.

Apparently our week amounted to an update on Brenda's rehearsals and an anecdote from law school. I'll see if I can't come up with something a little more interesting for next week. Until then, have a great week!

Got gas?

What a difference a week can make! Last week I cracked a joke about wearing a sweater in 90 degree weather and the past two days I've actually worn sweaters to class. That is definitely a change for the better if you ask me. Although, it seems I'm not entirely prepared for the cooler weather. A couple of days ago I decided I should probably stop wearing flip flops if it's cold enough that I'm actually bundling up. The problem is, the only other pair of shoes I have here are my bright blue jogging shoes. With all of the traveling we do it can be hard to keep track of where all of our clothes go. Brenda asked me the other day if I had one of her sweaters with me in Iowa City only to discover that it was with her in Frankfurt all along. I'm hoping I left a more stylish pair of shoes at my parents' house at some point over the past few years.

On Saturday, Brenda invited her good friend Elza over for dinner before they went to see an opera at Oper Frankfurt. Elza came over a few hours before the opera so they'd have plenty of time to get dinner ready and enjoy each other's company. Everything was moving along nicely until the gas stove top stopped working. The problem: it ran out of gas. Brenda and I love our apartment in Germany. It's not big, but it's got character and is really comfortable for two people. There is, however, something strange about our stove. In spite of the oven being electric, the stove top is gas and the building apparently isn't set up for gas stoves. Consequently, underneath our kitchen sink we have a gas tank that is the perfect size to run your outdoor gas grill. It's not an ideal set up because sometimes, like on Saturday, the gas runs out when you're in the middle of cooking dinner. We typically have a spare gas tank lying around but not this time. So Brenda and Elza unhooked our gas tank, hopped in a cab, and went to the hardware store to get a couple full tanks of gas. Unfortunately, they didn't get to eat dinner before the opera, but Elza had brought appetizers so they didn't have to go on empty stomachs.

 Once the stove was working again Brenda made this delicious looking beet soup.

Brenda's rehearsals for Ariadne auf Naxos moved to the main stage of the opera house today. New productions in Frankfurt typically start rehearsing in a separate rehearsal building (think warehouse) that is in a different part of town. Because of where we live it's a much longer commute for Brenda to get to those rehearsals so she's always happy when the production moves to the main stage. Her show opens two weeks from Saturday.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that construction was underway near where I live. Their focus had been on demolition (and still is for a couple of buildings), but they've also moved on to the building phase:

That wooden structure in the distance is the beginning of some new student housing.

Apparently brand new apartments will be available to rent next fall. The downside: the apartments are no longer owned by the university and will cost twice as much to rent.

I should get going. My Immigration Law class is tomorrow morning and I should be well rested just in case I ever renounce my citizenship and have to figure out how to become a citizen again. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!