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.

Hey! It's the other one!

Hello all! Yes, it is I, the elusive Brenda! I absolutely had to post a blog after tonight's performance of La Finta Giardiniera, not only because I want to share this story with you all, but because I want to make sure I remember this night!

So, I'll start with a bit of back story, in case you're not up to date on what I'm doing right now. We at Oper Frankfurt are in our last weekend of the season, and all of us go on vacation on Monday. Excellent! I have three shows this weekend: two Fintas (in which I have the title role) and one Palestrina (in which I have a tiny role!). Tonight was a Finta. Now, I love this show. I love the cast, I love the director, I love all the musicians -- it's just been a fantastic experience. So! Tonight was our 2nd to last show, and even though it was DREADFULLY hot in the theater (we perform this show in a converted train station -- very cool place, but it's like a sauna in the summer) it was going really well! All of our complicated staging was going well, people were singing well, the energy was great - a good night! With less than 20 minutes of the opera left, the tenor (Jussi Myllys) and I had just been lifted up to the stage on a hydraulic lift for our final duet. The music starts out very calm, as if we're waking from a dream. We sing our first few phrases, and I notice that one of the supernumeraries (a non-singing, non-speaking acting role) is laughing, hidden from sight. A second later I realize what he's laughing at as I hear some sort of alarm coming from somewhere! I thought at first it was an ambulance passing by the building, since this happens quite frequently. Yet, the noise stays constant! I try to keep the smile off my face (I have a tendency to get the giggles onstage! Uh oh! :-)) and keep my cool. As the tenor is singing, it's obvious that this alarm is something nearby and is not showing signs of stopping. I thought to myself, "Perhaps a car alarm?" Finally, the conductor actually stops the orchestra, turns to the audience and addresses this noise problem. None of us knew where it was coming from! So eventually he leaves to find out more, leaving the tenor, the supernumeraries and myself onstage, not sure if we should break character or not!! Finally our stage manager tells us from offstage that we should leave the stage and go outside, because the noise was actually the fire alarm! And it wasn't a false alarm either... So we make our way offstage and leave the building. Now, another funny thing is that the tenor and I are tethered together, so we have to make every move together! We stand around for maybe 15 minutes outside, waiting for further instructions, hoping that we can continue the show. Sadly, we received news that we couldn't finish the show. However, we were told the audience was still standing in front of the theater, and so we hustled over to do a makeshift curtain call! Thankfully, they were all in high spirits and being really good sports about it all! After the whole cast and conductor had assembled in front of the applauding audience we decided to sing the final ensemble piece, which is just a short lively chorus! We didn't want to leave the audience with an unresolved story! After all, in this opera, it isn't until the very end that all the lovers finally end up with whom they belong! 

So in the end, it was okay that we didn't get to finish the opera, since a very special and positive memory was created! However, I must say that I hope tomorrow's (last!) Finta performance goes on uninterrupted!!! 

Here's a picture from the opening night curtain call. Most of the cast is pictured, as well as the conductor, director and the costume designer. 

If you'd like to see more photos of the production, click here!

Next stop - Rüdesheim / Assmannshausen

Hello dear friends! I hope things with you have been going well. We have been doing very well here in Deutschland. Brenda opened the show "La Finta Giardiniera" on the 21st and already has 4 performances behind her. There are pictures of her and other cast members on Frankfurt's website if you care to look at them.

I am also in an opera at Oper Frankfurt at the moment. I am performing the role of Brühlmann in the opera "Werther". I am in one of the production photos on the website. I'm on the right side of the first picture and I'm dancing...or at least trying to.

We are heading back to the States for vacation in 9 days. It is really sneaking up on us. We will be back in the States for 10 weeks! We're really looking forward to it.

But enough chit-chat, let's get down to business. The pictures below are just a few glimpses into our trip to Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen. Rüdesheim is a town about 45 minutes west of Frankfurt. To give you an idea of our day there we took a lift up to the top of a small mountain where there is a big monument, then we rode down the other side of the mountain, toured a castle and took a boat ride on the Rhein back to where we started.

Here is a picture of the lift on the way up the mountain. Brenda and I are in the cart ahead. I realize its very small but the monument is in the upper left hand corner of this picture. The monument commemorates the re-establishment of the German empire. I believe it was having its 125th anniversary this year. You may have already noticed but the lift took us over a beautiful vineyard.Brenda and I posing for a picture at the benches set up around the base of the monument. In the background is the Rhein river and Rüdesheim.

As we traveled around Germany we kept seeing beautiful yellow fields. We finally asked someone what they were and it turns out they are fields of rapeseed. Rapeseed is used to make animal feed and vegetable oil among other things.

This is a picture of the Castle Rheinstein from the lift going down the mountain. We toured the beautiful castle and enjoyed a glass of wine in their cafe (see below).

We really enjoyed our trip to Rüdesheim. Actually we enjoyed it so much that we took Laura and Lacey there when they were in town. Since its so close I'm looking forward to going there again soon.

So that's it for now. Next stop is the beautiful Rothenburg. Stay tuned and have a great week!

The places we've been - Heidelberg

Hello dear friends.  I hope you have been well.  We are continuing to enjoy Laura and Lacey's stay in Germany.  They are spending a few days in Berlin right now so I'm taking this opportunity to post a few pics from my parents' visit.

Proof they were in fact in "Mainhattan".

Our first trip out of Frankfurt took us to Heidelberg.  In the background you can see the Heidelberg Castle.  Highlights from this trip include eating lunch at a towny bar (with drunk locals and all), touring the giant castle you see in the background and paying 50 cents to use the restroom.  (It was totally worth it.)

Here is a view of the bridge (seen in the previous picture) from the vantage point of the castle.

And here is the giant keg in the castle.  I found out after the fact that I had studied a German song in college that referenced this very keg.

So there are a few glimpses at our trip to Heidelberg.  Stay tuned for more pictures from other German hotspots.

A month in review

It is strange. I swear it was just a week or two ago that I posted my last blog entry but I see now that it has been almost a month. As I think back over the past 4 weeks, however, it doesn't take long for me to discover why they went so fast.

My parents came to visit in the first part of May and stayed for two weeks. We had a great time and squeezed in quite a bit. Within the first few days of their arrival they saw us perform in the last performance of Gianni Schicchi at Oper Frankfurt. After that we traveled to several different German locales.

Our first trip took us to Heidelberg where we got to enjoy a beautiful old city with a gorgeous historic city center equipped with period bridge and castle. Our next stop was Rüdesheim which is about 45 minutes west of Frankfurt. There is gigantic German monument there standing at the top of a big hill (small mountain perhaps?) which we got to by riding up the hill in a small ski lift type cart. After wandering around at the top of the hill we came down on the other side, also by ski lift, and ended up in a beautiful town called Assmannshausen. Its true, we have pictures. The castle Rheinstein is there which we toured and thought was very beautiful. Interestingly enough it was bought and preserved by an opera singer in recent decades.

In subsequent days we went to Wittenberg, Rothenburg, Füssen, the castle Neuschwanstein, Dinkelsbühl and the Schwarzwald. It was my first time really getting out of Frankfurt since we moved here in August and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After my parents headed back home we had just enough time to change the sheets on their bed and welcome Brenda's sister and her girlfriend Lacey. They have been here coming up on a week now and will be here for a total of around a month. We love having them here and look forward to exploring more sights with them.

We took over 500 pictures while my parents were here and we have already begun taking pictures with Lacey and Laura. I will post some of the highlight photos in a subsequent entry. Until then, I hope you have been well. Have a great week!

Milestones

Hello one and all! I just reviewed my last post and realized how much I have to tell you. It has been an action packed month so let's get to it.

First of all, today marks the 5 year anniversary of when Brenda and I started dating. That's right, we've been together for 5 wonderful years and if you had told us then where we'd be now we might not believe you. Nevertheless, here we are and we're having a great time.

In my last post I was complaining about the weather. A few days after I wrote that Spring erupted in Frankfurt. We had sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s and 70s everyday for over two and a half weeks. In turn, nature exploded. Flowers, trees, grass, everything started to blossom overnight. Frankfurt looked and continues to look like a totally new (and beautiful) city.

Now I wasn't very good in high school physics but I seem to recall something about every action having an opposite and equal reaction. In the case of Frankfurt in Spring the action was nature doing what nature does at an alarming rate. As if all the plants in Frankfurt knew they only had a short window to pollinate and so they had to get to it fast. This caused an alarming reaction in me, my allergies went crazy.

Our first beautiful day was a Saturday and by the end of the day I was having trouble breathing. It felt like I couldn't get a deep breath and was struggling for every bit of air I took into my lungs. Over the next few days the symptoms continued and with them came wheezing and coughing. This was especially problematic because Brenda and I had a performance of Gianni Schicchi a few days after my symptoms began. I made it through the performance, albeit with a lot of coughing, and continued to take anti-histamines with the hope that my body would eventually adjust to its new environment. I had dealt with allergies in the US but those symptoms were limited to congestion, runny nose, etc, the typical mild allergic reactions to the changing of the seasons. This difficulty breathing thing was a whole new ball of wax.

On Friday night, Good Friday as it turns out, Brenda and I decided to go to the emergency room down the street. I had been having difficulty breathing for 6 days and I had another performance coming up so it was time to get a doctor's opinion. After waiting in the ER for 3 hours we were seen by a very nice physician who gave me two puffs off of an inhaler right then and there. My lungs immediately opened up, it was wonderful. The doctor also wrote me a prescription for an inhaler of my very own.

The inhaler was amazing. I took it every six hours like clockwork and it would immediately relieve my breathing problems. I couldn't sleep for more than six hours without my body waking me up because I was having difficulty breathing but that was a small price to pay to be able to take a deep breath.

Another 4 or 5 days passed and we realized that the inhaler was really just a quick fix. It got me through the days but my symptoms weren't relenting. Upon the recommendation of several of my friends and family (including my brilliant pharmacist sister-in-law) I made an appointment to see an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT).

I called the ENT's office and told them my situation and mentioned that I was singing at Oper Frankfurt. They told me they were all booked for the rest of the week but that they could see me the next afternoon. Apparently mentioning that I had upcoming performances got me in the door. The doctor guessed the exact day that my symptoms began (apparently I wasn't the only one having allergy issues) and prescribed some steroids. Since then as long as I take my daily steroid I'm right as rain. The magic of modern medicine.

Brenda and I had a few different visitors over the past couple of weeks and are looking forward to a couple more. My parents will be arriving on Monday and will be spending two weeks running around with us in Germany. We haven't finalized our itinerary yet but I will give y'all a full report on what we see and do.

One last thing, a couple of weeks ago marked my first anniversary of taking up jogging. For the past year I have gone jogging on average 3-4 times a week and I can honestly say that I love it. It really has become an addiction. It has also been very nice that Brenda has been joining me on occasion. Yesterday she went for a 30 minute jog with me which is amazing considering how much she hates running. I'm very proud of her.

I hope you have all been well. Have a great weekend!

So we got this letter...

Hello one and all!  Things here are moving right along.  Brenda and I have had rehearsals for Gianni Schicchi almost every day for about a week now.  It has been a lot of fun going to work together and since we are playing husband and wife in the opera we have a good excuse for our excessive PDA.

The weather here has been crap.  Rainy, a little snowy and all around gloomy.  We had high hopes that Spring was right around the corner when Brenda's parents were here but that has proven not to be the case.  We keep hearing about this beautiful Spring that Frankfurt usually has but I'll believe it when I see it.

In keeping with the grey skies we received a grey letter on Saturday.  Its actually not all that uncommon considering the opera house uses grey envelopes and we get pay stubs and other such information from them on a regular basis.  However, this letter was grey in many respects.  Allow me to paraphrase its message.

Dear Ms. Klinkert,

We won't be paying you this month.

Sincerely,

Frau So-and-so

Frankfurt Opera

Ok, so the letter said a little more than that.  It also explained why Brenda wouldn't be getting paid for a month's work.  In order for me to explain it, though, I'm going to have to give you some info on the tax system in Germany.  Here goes...

All working people in Germany are in a given tax class numbered 1-6 depending on their situation.  As I understand it, if you are single with no dependents then you are in tax class 1 and are taxed at around 50%.  If you are married and both people work then one person (generally the higher income earner) is in tax class 3 and is taxed at around 40%.  The other person is in tax class 5 and is taxed at around 60%.  People are mailed their number on a tax card at the end of the current year for the following year.  They are then supposed to give the tax card to their employer in the new year. That's all I know about the German tax system and I wouldn't take any of that as law if I were you.

So our little we-can't-pay-any-of-our-bills-this-month problem fits in like this.  Our tax class numbers had been reversed on our tax cards which means that Brenda was in the higher taxed group (5) and I was in the lower (3) when it was supposed to be the opposite.  We noticed this and got the problem corrected before we turned the tax cards in to the opera house a couple of weeks ago.  What we didn't realize, however, was that our recently corrected tax cards would not take affect retroactively.  

Thus far in 2009 the opera house had been operating under the assumption that Brenda's tax class was the same as 2008, tax class 3.  When they got our tax cards last week they realized that according to the cards they should have been taxing Brenda at tax class 5 for the first 3 months of 2009.  To fix this mistake they would have to take her entire next paycheck to make up for the unpaid taxes for the first quarter of 2009.

Does that make sense?  Well even if it doesn't I applaud you for reading all of that.  My main question all along was why did the city change our tax classes from 2008.  Brenda was a 3 then and I was a 5 so why would it all of a sudden switch?  We talked to several different people and the best theory we could come up with is that someone assumed that since I'm a man I must have been the primary income earner.  Nice, huh?

We went to the opera house on Monday and spoke with a woman in finance.  We explained our situation and she was very kind and empathetic but said that basically we were screwed.  Legally the opera house couldn't do anything to help us and we could try our luck at the city office but she doubted anything would come of that.

We have been doing pretty well communicating in German lately but the idea of explaining this in German seemed overwhelming so we enlisted the help of our friend Michael.  He agreed to be our spokesman at the city office and so on Tuesday we all went down there.  Michael explained our problem to the guy at the information desk and he said that it was unfortunate but doubted that anything could be done.  He gave us a number, though, and we went up to meet with some other person.

Michael explained our situation to this new person who went to talk to someone else who in turn went to talk to a 3rd person.  The 2nd person came back and said that we should have fixed this when we got the tax cards at the end of last year.  Michael explained that we were new in Frankfurt, we didn't have any idea how the system worked and reminded them that someone in their office had made the mistake of switching our tax classes from the previous year.  To my great surprise they said all they needed was a fax from the opera house saying they were ok with the change and then they'd issue us new tax cards that covered all of 2009.  Problem solved.

So that was our week.  We laughed, we cried, we entertained the idea of living on the street but in the end it all worked out.  Gianni Schicchi opens next week and I'm really excited to get it up and running.  Until then we'll be in rehearsals and searching for sunshine and warm weather.  I hope you have a great weekend!