Next stop: France

Hey All! The holidays have come and gone and the new year is well under way. At the moment, Brenda is in Frankfurt getting ready for her time in Bordeaux and I am in Iowa catching up with friends and family and spending some quality time with the treadmill. Brenda sang Pamina in Die Zauberflöte a couple of days ago and is now done performing in Frankfurt until March. She will be going to Paris in a couple of days to have some coachings and then she's off to Bordeaux.

Brenda and I with our nephews

I hope you are all doing well and I will talk to you next week!

Happy New Year!

Hey All! I just wanted to post a little something to let you know that we've been having a great time back in the US. We spent some time with my family in Iowa and are now at the end of several days with Brenda's family in Wisconsin. It has been wonderful to spend the holidays with our families.

Brenda heads back to Frankfurt tomorrow while I will be headed to Iowa. Brenda has about a week in Frankfurt (and one performance) before she goes to Bordeaux, France to start rehearsals for Ariadne auf Naxos. I will be joining her in France in early February but until then we will be apart. Ah, the life of someone who must travel for work. At least Brenda will have French wine and cheese to comfort her. I hope you are all enjoying 2011 so far and I'll talk to you next week if not sooner!

Home for Christmas

Hey All! We are back in the States! We got back yesterday around 5pm and are still getting adjusted to the new time zone. I'm happy to report that our flights were uneventful and we got to avoid the New York area entirely. My heart goes out to the people stranded in those airports.

We'll be celebrating Christmas with my family tomorrow and then we're headed up to Appleton on Thursday to spend time with Brenda's family. Over the weekend we went to a couple of Christmas dinners in Frankfurt. On Christmas Eve we went to the English speaking Lutheran Church and afterwards had Barb's delicious baked ziti at the McCown's place (2nd year in a row!). On Christmas Day we ate Raclette at Florian and Marlar's place. Brenda and I feel very fortunate this year to be able to celebrate Christmas with our friends in Frankfurt AND our families in the US.

My relationship with the ziti was definitely love at first sight.

Barb and Brenda enjoying their red couch. All the cool kids have red couches.

One of Florian's more flattering headshots.

Florian and Elza

I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season. Happy New Year and I'll talk to you next week!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Hey All! It's time that you met the newest member of our Frankfurt Family. His name is Cree.

Isn't he beautiful? We got Cree in front of a supermarket a few blocks from our apartment. Brenda's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron helped us pick him out and even helped carry him back and decorate him. His name didn't come until the next day when, in her Christmas-fueled excitement, Brenda exclaimed, "Look at our Cree!". What she meant to say was, "Look at our cute tree!" Needless to say, we are totally in the Christmas spirit.

We had a great time with Ron and Marilyn while they were in town. As I mentioned last week, they came to two of Brenda's performances with several of their German friends. After the second performance we went out for a drink in the canteen attached to the opera house. At the stroke of midnight we all burst into a very operatic version of Happy Birthday in honor of Ron's birthday. Ron and Marilyn's German friends also had a birthday tradition they wanted Ron to experience. They sat Ron down in a chair and had four guys (myself included) each grab a leg of the chair and hoist him into the air three times. Ron wasn't expecting it at all and was surprised to say the least. Someone has a great picture of him as he's being tossed into the air but, unfortunately, I don't have a copy to show you.

The Nürnberg Christmas Market was really beautiful. There are a ton of shops, numerous eating options and even a teenage girl that has been selected to play the Christ child. Why baby Jesus is portrayed in Nürnberg by a teenage girl with long blonde hair is beyond me. We got to see her (or him?) talk, though, and she was nice enough to give all the kids some gingerbread.

Brenda and Marlar had their 2nd annual Christmas cookie bake off this past weekend. I played my role as quality control expert very well. I'm happy to report the cookies were delicious.

On Monday, Brenda and I head back to the states for a late Christmas celebration with our families. We are both really excited to go back. That also means that my next post will be coming to you from the US. Until then, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

today's entry tomorrow

Hey All! We just got back from a great holiday party (thank you, Simon and Anna) and it is too late for me to post an entry tonight. Check back tomorrow!

Guests in town

Hey All! Here's a quick post to tide you over until the next one. Brenda's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron are still in town and we are having a great time with them. We spent the day today traveling to Nürnberg and visiting the beautiful Christmas market there. Yesterday was Ron's birthday so we helped him celebrate (with schnitzel). Brenda had two (very successful) shows over the weekend. Ron and Marilyn got to see both operas and even invited some of their German friends to the performances. We have been having a lot of fun and the time has been flying.

Brenda at the Nürnberg Christmas Market

Unfortunately, I have to keep this short since sleep is always a high priority for me. I hope you are all having a great week and I'll talk to you soon!

Busy Bee-renda

Hey All! Guess who forgot what day of the week it was and, therefore, is a day late in writing this week's blog entry. In my defense, pretty much every day is Saturday for me so it can be hard to keep all of the Saturdays straight. My absent mindedness might also have a teensy-weensy bit to do with a certain video game that Brenda and I play. A big expansion came out for World of Warcraft yesterday and we spent a good part of the day (more than I care to admit) in that world instead of this one. In any case, it's time to fill you in on what we've been up to.

Brenda is currently in the middle of an intense stretch of performances. When all is said and done next week, Brenda will have performed 3 different opera roles (some more than once) and a gala performance totaling 6 performances in 10 days. That is a lot. I might also add that the 3 opera roles are in different languages (French, German and Italian). On Saturday, Brenda performed at a fundraising gala for Oper Frankfurt. She sang for a bunch of opera donors (aka rich people) and then rubbed shoulders with them over dinner. From what I've heard, her singing was very well received. She looked gorgeous to boot.

Sorry about the blurriness of the photos.

Come on Apple, why isn't there a 12 megapixel camera in the iPhone?

On Sunday, two of our friends, Juliane and Patrick, came down from Bremen to visit and see Brenda perform. We had a great time with them and they seemed to really enjoy Brenda's opera, Die Zauberflöte.

Brenda's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron will be arriving in Germany tomorrow. We're really looking forward to spending time with them. While they are here they will see two of Brenda's shows. Also, we will all be going to Nürnberg to visit the famous Christmas Market there. Guess we'll have to drink more glühwein. Darn.

I hope you are all doing great and I will talk to you next Tuesday. Unless I forget what day it is.