Bloghetto

Hey all! Brenda and I are in sunny Italy. We arrived yesterday and will be here until Thursday. We've been having a great time wandering around the city and eating as much pizza and pasta as our stomachs allow (which is actually quite a lot). I wish I could share a few pictures with you but Brenda and I packed light and we didn't bring the technology needed to do such complicated things. I will write another post later this week and include some pictures then. Until then, have a great week! Arrivederci!

the valkyries are on break

Hey all! I'm sitting in the Oper Frankfurt theater during a rehearsal of Die Walküre. Everyone is on break right now so I thought I'd take this opportunity to write to you. Brenda is a valkyrie in this opera, and she has the helmet, breastplate and spear to prove it. Brenda doesn't sing in Wagner operas that often so this is a treat for me. If you want to look at pictures of the production (although Brenda isn't in any of them) you can do so here.

 Brenda has been busy with performances and rehearsals lately, but things will be winding down soon. Next week Brenda and I are going to Perugia, Italy for a few days. Brenda studied there in college for a summer, and she's always wanted to go back. She's going to let me tag along on the condition that I leave her alone if she meets a cute Italian guy. That works for me. I can always drown my sorrows in pizza and gelato.

 Early tomorrow morning Brenda and I have to go to the foreigner's office in Frankfurt to get our visas renewed. Oh joy. Hopefully the German government will let us stay in the country for a few more years. I really want the US to join the European Union so we Americans can move to Europe without all this rigamarole. Although then they'd have to rename it since, last I checked, the US isn't in Europe. I think these minor details can be overcome.

 Well, the break is over and Brenda is about to sing "hoyotoho" in my direction so I had better wrap this up. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Frolicking through the forest

Hey All! I hope things are going well in your neck of the woods. Things in Frankfurt have been just dandy. We've had beautiful weather everyday for the last week, and Brenda and I have been taking advantage of it as much as possible. We've been going jogging in the Frankfurt city forest which is just a couple of kilometers from our house. (A kilometer is like a mile but shorter. For some reason Germany still uses the silly metric system despite my assurances that it's a passing fad.) Today Brenda and I ran a 10k - the first one she's ever run. I'm very proud of her.

Brenda has been busy with performances of The Rake's Progress. This week she had 3 performances in 5 days which is a lot for opera. She's also been learning Die Walküre, which she is doing right now in the other room. I've been making sure she relaxes, too. We saw Men in Black 3 a few days ago. When we got to the theater there were people outside protesting. Apparently people who work at movie theaters in Germany are part of a union, and they'd like some more money. 

Some of Brenda's relatives were in Germany last week visiting their daughter who is studying abroad, and they decided to come see Brenda perform. I don't think either one of them had ever been to an opera before. We had dinner with them after the show, and they told us all about their travels through Germany. It sounds like they had a great trip.

Brenda's relatives, Bob and Vicki.

After Brenda's show last night, the cast, some colleagues and I met up in the canteen in the opera house.  Here are a couple pictures taken last night:

Representatives from four different countries gathered around one table. It was basically an international beer summit.

The American representatives were in top form.

Oper Frankfurt made a little video about The Rake's Progress. You can view the video, and hear a little of Brenda's singing, here.

Well, I had better go check on Brenda and make sure she is learning her Wagner. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

Kill the wabbit

 Hey All! It's another beautiful day in Frankfurt, and Brenda and I are getting the apartment ready to have guests over this evening. The premiere of The Rake's Progress on Sunday was a resounding success. Brenda has read a lot of the reviews and they have been glowing - especially when they were talking about Brenda. If you would like to see some photos of the production you can do so here. Also, Brenda was interviewed along with one of her American castmates by a local newspaper. If you'd like to read the article (and work on your German) you can do so here.

There is always a party at the opera house after each premiere, so on Sunday night after the show we had dinner with many of Brenda's colleagues and opera donors. Brenda and I were there until the very end of the party. In fact, we left shortly after all of the lights in the building were shut off.

Brenda and our friend Adelin towards the end of the party on Sunday.

Last night Brenda and I did a little grocery shopping and we came across a surprising "food." We weren't brave enough to buy a bag of Party-Bacon, especially since Brenda is a vegetarian and I have strong vegetarian tendencies, but we were certainly curious. I took a quick glance at the ingredients and there didn't seem to be any bacon (or party for that matter) in the chips so maybe we would have been safe. 

This morning Brenda and I did some dog sitting for a friend of ours. He has a 3-month-old puppy of some kind. I would tell you the breed but I honestly don't know the difference between a pit bull and a terrier. I can tell you, however, that Emma (pictured below) is an adorable puppy and I want one.

Now that Brenda has finished with rehearsals for The Rake's Progress she can move on to Die Walküre. I have no doubt that you know the music to the latter opera. Don't believe me? Click here and find out.

Well, I had better get ready for our guests. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday.

Rock Star

Hey All! I'm sitting in our living room watching Brenda rock-out on a plastic guitar. She is my own personal guitar hero. Brenda had her second to last rehearsal today for The Rake's Progress. Its a good show with a lot of great singing (Brenda was her usual magnificent self). There aren't any pictures up on the Oper Frankfurt website yet, but there will be soon. They are going to make a little video about the production, too. I'll let you know when it's available.

It's hard to believe that today is my seventh day in Frankfurt. We've been busy so its gone fast. Last Thursday, I went to Frankfurt's Grüne Soße (green sauce) Festival. Florian was performing and he was kind enough to get me a ticket. I got to try seven different types of green sauce (a famous Frankfurt food) which is made of seven different herbs and some other stuff. Obviously I'm not expert, but I can tell you that it tastes good. The festival takes place over eight days. There are seven different contestants each night, and the winners from each night compete on the eighth day to crown the winner of the winners. There is a comedian that hosts the whole thing. It really helped me get back into a German mindset.

I finished my paper on Friday and now I can finally put my first year of law school behind me (and stop complaining about it to you). On Saturday I turned another year older and Brenda and I had a great day celebrating. We went out to coffee with the McCowns and then went and saw the Avengers. We highly recommend it if you're into superhero movies. On our walk home we took a couple of photos:

 A sunny day in Frankfurt.

Brenda has the next two days off from work so we'll be enjoying a little free time. The occupy Frankfurt people are protesting for the next four days, and since the European Central Bank is right in front of the opera house, it's especially nice that Brenda won't have to go to work for a couple of days. It will still be happening Friday, though, so Brenda and I'll both get to experience it then.

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

Together again

Hey All! I arrived in Frankfurt a few hours ago and I am doing my best to stay awake. It's almost 12:30 PM Germany time (5:30 AM central time) and it would be good if I could stay up for 9 more hours. That'll never happen. Brenda and I usually force our guests to stay awake to get over jet lag more quickly, but I am always too weak after a long flight to resist a comfortable pillow. Brenda is at rehearsal right now so she isn't here to stop me from resting my eyes for a few minutes.

My tests are done (yipee!) and, after I finish up a paper, I can put the first year of law school behind me. I'm looking forward to spending the next few months taking it easy and enjoying time with Brenda. When I head back to law school in the fall I will be much closer to Brenda. I was accepted into a study abroad program in Hamburg, Germany for the fall semester which means that Brenda and I will only be a train ride away from one another.

Brenda's opera opens a week from Sunday. There haven't been any photos taken of the production yet, but I'll let you know when they're up on the website. I'm really looking forward to the premiere.

My eyelids seem to be getting heavier so I had better wrap this up before I fall asleep on my keyboard.  Maybe a shower would wake me up. In any event, I hope you all have a great week and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!

two down, one to go

Hey All! It's still finals week. The folks that run the law school are nice enough to give us two weeks for our exams so we have more time to study. I had my second exam yesterday. It was a four-hour essay exam about civil procedure. After that class I can tell you a little bit about where you can sue someone, but if you want any answers you'd better ask soon. I can feel everything I learned over the semester starting to fade away. Don't worry, I'll get to relearn all of it when it comes time to take the bar.

While I've been busy studying and taking tests, Brenda took a short trip to Bordeaux, France. She has several friends singing in a opera there right now, and since she had a few days off from rehearsal she went to visit them. She told me that she had a great time. She'll be returning to Bordeaux to do some singing of her own next year.

Brenda and I are both counting down the days until we see each other again. I fly out a week from today, and I can't wait. I can't think about that too much, however, because I need to study for my impending Criminal Law exam. It's a multiple choice exam which I am very thankful for. I've left my last two essay exams with headaches. All I'll have to do for this exam is fill in bubbles. That sounds much more relaxing.

Brenda and I will definitely post a blog entry next week. Hopefully it will be on Tuesday, but that might be difficult because I will be leaving on a jet plane and Brenda will be singing for a birthday party. It'll happen at some point and until then I hope you have a great week!