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.