Lear

Last night's performance of Lear was a great success.  The audience was packed and they erupted in thunderous applause as soon as the show ended.  I felt that my scene was very strong.  I sang my 14 words with gusto and, if I may say so myself, died from my knife wound with the perfect amount of screaming and flailing.

The audience probably enjoyed last night's performance for more than one reason.  The first being that it was a premier meaning this was a brand spanking new production.  Fresh out of the box.  Second, the opera's conductor happens to be the brand spanking new music director at Oper Frankfurt.  Third, the piece, which was written in 1978, was new and weird  (I guess German audiences like new and weird) and the composer, Aribert Reimann, was at the show.  He even came up on stage and took a bow.  Lastly, the production values of the show were very high.  The singers were very good and the baritone who played King Lear, Wolfgang Koch, was absolutely outstanding.

Seeing as this was a premier and all, there was a fancy party afterwards.  All of the soloists, even if they only sang 14 words, were invited to attend the event.  Brenda and I thought it would be best if we followed another couple to the party who had done this before.  Michael and Barb McCown have been incredibly kind and helpful to us since we've moved here.  Michael is a tenor in the company and he also is the guy who stabs me in my scene (I stab him first so I guess I deserve it).

The party resembled a wedding reception actually but instead of a best man or father getting up to make a speech the director of the company did the honors.  I wish I could tell you what he said but it was in German and he was talking pretty fast so I really don't have any idea.  At one point, however, I had my back to him and I was talking to the McCowns.  All of a sudden they said "stand up, stand up".  I was confused at first but then I did what I was told.  I stood up, put my hands in my pockets, and smiled at the room of 150 plus artists, opera donors and opera company administrators.  Pretty soon I heard "sit down, sit down" and so I did.  The director of the company introduced all of the singers from smallest role (mine) to biggest.  I had no idea ahead of time that was going to happen and really no indication that it was coming since he was speaking in German.

After the director of the company had finished the new conductor said a few words and then the composer.  Lastly, a distinguished looking woman stood up and spoke.  She turned out to be the mayor of Frankfurt.  I thought about asking her for help with my residence permit.

That was our premier.  We have another performance on Thursday.  Its nice to get the first one behind us so we can really relax and enjoy the rest.  A recording is being made of the opera.  My 14 word aria will be immortalized.  I will also be getting paid a fee for my involvement in the recording.  My fee is three copies of the recording.  Don't say anything but I would have done it for two.

Today we slept in and when we finally got up we took advantage of having internet in our apartment.  This afternoon one of Brenda's college friends came into town.  She will be staying with us for a week.  Its really nice to have her here.

That gets you caught up with us.  Well, me at least.  I'll pester Brenda about writing another blog entry.  I hope you have a great week!

A good day

Before we arrived in Germany I assumed that attaining our residence and work permits would involve a lot of rigmarole.  Indeed they were arduous tasks but the biggest challenge has proven to be getting internet in our apartment.  Instead of explaining our internet failures and triumphs I will show you how I/we have felt through the whole process by the use of images.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Me before we got internet.  

Us after we got internet.

Ok, so I didn't really walk around clad only in black (including the black leather pants you can't see) with a knife in my hand until we had internet.  That is actually my costume for Lear.  The second picture, however, was taken only moments after we were able to get the DSL modem working this evening.

In preparation for another completely depressing night without internet we went out and bought a super cheap DVD player and the first Harry Potter movie.  In German of course.  After we got home with our new purchase we were able to get the internet working.  We are now overjoyed with all the cool things we can do.

Lear opens tomorrow.  I'm very excited for it to be up and running.  As you may be able to guess from my costume, it is a very odd opera.  I'm looking forward to finding out how the audience will like it.  Brenda will be coming to the premier tomorrow.  I have a pretty good idea of how she'll feel about it.

I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday as much as we are.  You may hear a little more from me now that I don't have to buy an overpriced cup of coffee to get on-line.  Tschüss!

One month down

Last night we had our first authentic German restaurant experience.  Not only was it unique to Germany but it was unique to Frankfurt.  We ate at a restaurant that served a beverage Frankfurt is famous for, apple wine.  This happened to fall on the one month anniversary of our arrival in Germany.

We had an appetizer that consisted of bread and two different kinds of cheeses.  One was a hard cheese that was covered in cooked onions.  The other was similar to herbed cream cheese.  For our main meal I had wiener schnitzel with "green sauce", which was heavily influenced by dill, and a side of potatoes.  Brenda had the pasta which is often her only meal option when we eat out.  It resembled cream soup with some noodles floating in it.

The apple wine came in a pitcher and was accompanied by a bottle of water to cut down the flavor.  We tried it without the water at first and it tasted like apple cider vinegar.  The addition of the water makes it much more palatable.  I'm not exactly sure why people drink apple wine since every German I have talked to says you have to get a few glasses down before the taste stops bothering you.  That said, when you come visit we're taking you to get some.

We went to the restaurant with one of Brenda's fellow Oper Frankfurt singers.  He is another in a long line of great colleagues at the opera house.  He is German and, as is the case with many Germans, is fluent in English.  It is also common for Germans to speak English with a British accent, which he does.  He is a smoker and he had a pack of cigarettes with him.  If you remember from the blog entry "Rauchen kann tödlich sein", I was talking about how cigarette warnings aren't very subtle over here.  Below are pictures of the front and back of his pack.

When we are at home I am very conscious of whether the shades are drawn or not.  With the exception of our bathroom, each room in our apartment can be easily seen into from other apartments or from the college behind our building.  Apparently I'm a little more cautious than some of my neighbors.  The other night Brenda and I were watching a movie in our living with just a few candles lit.  I got up to do something and I happened to look out the window.  Across the street was a man naked as the day he was born doing chores around his apartment.  I had been wondering if I would get arrested for indecent exposure if I ever forgot to close the blinds after I'd gotten out of the shower.  My mind is now at ease.

I want to thank all of you who continue to read the blog.  If at any point you have questions about our experiences here or would like us to post pictures of something German feel free to write a comment or send me an e-mail at chadcgraham@gmail.com.  Until next time, have a great week!

Tourist No More!

I have returned victoriously from the Ausländerbehörder!  I didn't doubt for a second that it would all work out (cough) and I've learned that the fifth time, not the third as was previously believed, is the charm.  I am now legal to work in Germany until October 25 and I can stay in Germany until December 14.  If I don't have more work at that point then I will have to return to my previous position of trophy husband.

Our apartment is becoming more comfortable all the time.  We have food in the fridge, we bought some forks, we even have a coffee grinder.  There is just one little thing missing, internet.  For a couple of weeks now I've been buying cords, splitters, screwdrivers, duct tape, bubble gum, etc.  Basically anything I could think of to get online.  Yesterday I was 100% sure that I had all the devices I needed and they were hooked up the right way.  I worked up the courage to call the cable company.  

Moments like those feel like defining moments in my life.  Do I have the courage to call a native German speaker on the phone and attempt to communicate to them my problem with language skills that are limited to ordering beer and asking where the bathroom is?  

I made the call.  The first guy I talked to spoke a little English.  Then he transfered me to a technician.  That guy didn't speak any English.  Let me tell you, that was an awkward conversation.  There was one point when neither of us said anything for a solid minute.  He finally said something about Monday and 13 o'clock and I said "Ja".  So I am at least 60% sure that something is going to happen on Monday at 1:00 pm.  I'm even kinda sure that its happening this Monday.  I guess we'll find out.

It has become increasingly obvious that we wont necessarily learn German by just living here.  So many people here speak English, including everyone in our fledgling social circle, that we don't have many chances to work on our German.  I think I see language courses in our future.

Brenda and I are enjoying a nice long weekend.  We've gone for a few walks around the neighborhood in spite of how cold it has been (it was in the 40s the other night).  They have frequent farmer's markets at various locations throughout Frankfurt on most days of the week.  We went to one yesterday which was really great and then we ended up buying a few plants on the way home.  They are our first plants together.  I'm guessing they're doomed but for the time being they are a lovely addition to our living room.

Until next time, have a wonderful weekend!

Red Tape

I've wised up.  Monday I went to the office for foreigners working in Germany (Agentur für Arbeit) and I brought a friend who speaks German.  He is an American who has worked in the opera house for 8 years and has been immensely helpful and kind to Brenda and me.  We arrived at the Agentur für Arbeit in the morning and proceeded to the appropriate hallway.  We came to a door that said they were closed.  We went in anyway.  We proceeded to the first open office and talked to the ladies working there.  Apparently they didn't appreciate us walking in after having seen the "Closed Today" sign.  An argument broke out in German.  I don't know what was said but it didn't have a "Welcome to Germany! We'd be happy to help." tone.

It seems that the Agentur für Arbeit is open to the public Tuesdays, Wednesdays (half day) and Thursdays.  So I returned Tuesday, my 3rd trip there, and I brought a different American friend who has been singing in the company for 10 years.  (Everyone in the company has been so nice!) This time they were actually open and we found a different lady who thankfully hadn't been involved in the previous day's disagreement.  She told us that in 2007 the rules changed.  Opera singers no longer get their approval to work in that office.  They have to get approval from an office in Bonn, a totally different city in Germany.  Awesome.  I returned to the opera house and relayed that new information.   They said they would get in touch with the office in Bonn on my behalf.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the Ausländerbehörder saying that they got the approval for me to work for the length of the show!  I will go in tomorrow and get it all finalized.  Even though it appears that everything is going to work out I'm still a little skeptical.  I'll be keeping an eye out for pianos falling on my head on the way to the appointment.

Other than this work permit stuff, things have been pretty good around here.  It is so great to have a washing machine and a dishwasher in our apartment.  We're getting spoiled.  Well, I'd better jet. I have to get to a costume fitting in a few minutes.  I hope you all have a great Thursday!

another Saturday night

I don't know which I love more, coffee or internet.  Luckily I don't have to choose just one.  Brenda and I are currently at a coffee shop called Coffee Fellows (take that Starbucks!).  We spent a good portion of the day today rearranging our apartment.  We have too many pieces of furniture to work with.  Our breakfast nook is now comprised of a couch and a coffee table.  Breakfast has never been so relaxing.

We went grocery shopping today at a local 'bio' grocery store.  Bio seems to mean the same thing here that organic does in the US.  There are 3 such markets in Frankfurt and we happen to be a 10 minute walk away from one.  The real benefit is they have a large selection of fake meat so we are able to get numerous veggie friendly meal options.  We even bought veggie wiener schnitzel!

After a little shopping at the bio store we went to a more inexpensive grocery store.  We stocked up on the necessities but didn't buy too much since we had to carry it all home.  As we were headed to the check-out line I noticed some calendars.  Some beefy guy calendars and some bikini clad girl calendars.  The big difference from similar calendars in the US was the girls on these calendars had apparently lost the tops to their bikinis.  I never saw that when I shopped for groceries at Super Target.

In case you're wondering, fourth time is not the charm.  I went to the Ausländerbehörder (can you pronounce that?) again on Friday to get my residence permit.  I found out the next step is for them to mail my contract and information over to the office that deals with foreigners working in Germany (Agentur für Arbeit).  Then, hopefully, they will mail back the approval saying how long I may work in Germany.  The opera company arranged all of that for Brenda.  It took about 8 weeks.  The show I'm contracted for goes up in two weeks.  To speed things along I'm going to take my materials over to the Agentur für Arbeit in person and I'm going to beg.  I tried to do that on Friday but they closed at noon.  The begging will have to wait until Monday.

I almost forgot the most exciting news of ALL TIME!  Brenda got an iPhone.  As you may imagine she is now the coolest person in Germany.  We walk by people on the street and they immediately begin drooling.  Maybe someday, assuming I get a work permit and I'm not deported, I too will get an iPhone.  A boy can dream.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Gute Nacht.

Picture-tastic

Oper Frankfurt

Hello Dear Friends!  I've been meaning to write a blog post for a few days but we don't have internet in our apartment.  Last night I worked for an hour with a screw driver and a bunch of electronics and for some weird reason, totally unrelated to my electronic ineptitude, I wasn't able to figure it out.  Maybe I should stick to singing.

Brenda had her third Die Zauberflöte performance last night and said it went very well.  They have started to change cast members for some of the roles so that is spicing things up.  She has been having quite a few coachings for The Turn of the Screw.  She loves the opera and I think she's really enjoying learning the role.

Today I had my 3rd rehearsal for Lear.  I'm getting better at being stabbed.  Below is the poster.  They are all over town.

I have a meeting to get a residence permit tomorrow.  Wish me luck.  I've been to the office three times before.  Fourth time is the charm.

Here is a pic of the Main river.  I thought you might like to see it since I've mentioned it in a few posts.  The second picture is taken from a bridge that crosses the Main.  If you look closely you can see the sign for Oper Frankfurt.

I had better head home now and unpack a little more.  I hope you are having a great Thursday.  Ciao!