Happy Halloween!

Hey All! I'm taking a break from studying legal ethics to fill you in on what we've been up to lately. FYI, if I fail my ethics exam on Saturday I'm going to blame it all on you because I should have been spending this time studying. The ethics exam has a reputation for being easy (cue lawyer joke) so, on the off chance that I fail, I'd like to be able to blame someone other than myself.

Brenda is back in Frankfurt after her trip to Denmark/Sweden. She had a great time, and I think she's planning on telling you about it and posting some pictures in a future post. You may have seen that there was a big storm in northern Europe yesterday. Brenda's flight ended up being cancelled, but she was rebooked onto a flight that left this morning.

Things have been busy for me lately, but that's to be expected. This is week 10 of 15 of the semester (not that I'm counting), and I'm feeling on top of things for the most part. Brenda arrives on Saturday and will be stateside for the rest of my semester. It will be great to have her here, and I'm confident that she'll be a great study buddy.

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

B is for "Best"

Hello all! Since Chad has a midterm to study for, and I actually did some traveling this week, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to take over the blog duties. I'm currently on my way back from visiting my friend Juliane in Bremen, which is in northern Germany. Juliane was an exchange student when we were in high school and she and I have stayed close since. She had a baby two months ago, so it seemed like a good time to visit her again! Her baby is beautiful and amazing and it was so cool to see my old friend as a mother! I also got a little peek into how much work it is! You mommies and daddies out there are pretty impressive. I don't think I should ever complain about not getting enough sleep, because I don't think it can ever compare!

One of the many ways Jaro likes being held.

I just... the cute.... Ahhh!!!

Over the weekend I visited my friend Andreas in his hometown of Biedenkopf. His family still lives there, so we all enjoyed a meal together at the restaurant where his sister got married, and walked around a little bit in the lovely surrounding country.

Apparently this sort of thing has become popular in Germany. Is it in America? It looks like a big obstacle course set up among the trees. I think it looks super fun. I would bet Chad doesn't.

Andreas and I on top of the castle tower in Biedenkopf. Because you know, every town deserves a castle...

In the evening, I got to experience opera in a way I never had! Andreas and his sister are both musical, but their way of performing opera is slightly different than mine! They are marionette puppeteers! They performed The Marriage of Figaro to a recording, and all the action was played by the puppets. For the encore, the curtain was lifted, and they played the final scene, but this time we could see what they were doing! It was incredible! The amount of concentration and coordination of fitting 5 people into that tiny space was really impressive. The whole experience was so charming, and I'm so glad I got to see it!

Other than that, I had a performance last Friday, which was fun as usual, and I'm looking forward to our next one on Friday! The day after that, I go to Copenhagen to visit our friend Florian, so I'm sure I'll have more to write about next week! And THEN, the week after that, Chad and I will be together again! All this traveling helps the time go by faster! Hope you all had a wonderful week!

Tune in tomorrow

Hey all! Brenda has been doing a lot of traveling around Germany recently. As a side note, I just realized that she's only been going to towns that start with the letter B - Berlin, Biedenkopf and Bremen. What does she have against all the other letters of the alphabet? Anyway, she has been taking some pictures on her travels and wants to share those with you as well as tell you about her trips, but she isn't able to do that today because she's still traveling. She will, however, write a post tomorrow after she gets back to Frankfurt. I am spending the evening studying for a midterm exam in a town that starts with the letter "I". I'm not a letter "B" purist like some people I know.

I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Brenda the Berliner

Hey all! Brenda and I are once again on different continents. My visit to Germany came to an end on Sunday, although I got to stay a few hours longer than I had expected. That morning I woke up to an e-mail telling me that my flight across the ocean had been cancelled. I was rebooked onto a different flight that left later in the day but involved one less layover and still got me back to Iowa around the same time. As far as flight cancellations go, this was a great one.

Brenda and I had a wonderful week together. We spent a lot of time with friends, we ate at Germany's only Chipotle (twice), and I got to see her perform. Speaking of which, there are some production photos on the Oper Frankfurt website as well as a promotional video in which you get to hear a little of Brenda's singing. Just click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see both the photos and the video.

In two and a half weeks Brenda will be coming to the U.S., which I'm obviously excited about even though that means I will finally have to clean our Iowa apartment. Before she takes off, Brenda plans on doing some traveling. In fact, she took her first trip yesterday. Some people wanted to meet with Brenda about a possible upcoming gig, so Brenda hopped on a train to Berlin and came back today. She'd never actually been to Berlin before (unless you count taking a cab from the train station to the airport), and I think she liked it. We'll have to go again sometime when she has a little more time to explore.

I should call it a night. I hope you all have a great week, and we'll talk to you next Tuesday!

the wait is over!

Hellooo! Sorry for the delayed blog entry! I wanted to make sure to give it the time it deserved, so I convinced Chad to let me write it today! Currently Chad is in class - wait, what? But I can see him over on the couch! Ahh, the wonders of technology. As he's mentioned before, he can watch all of his classes online. I really don't know why he can't do that 100% of the time! 

It's been a wonderfully whirlwind week! Last Wednesday was our final rehearsal for "Ariadne auf Naxos", and then I had all of Thursday and Friday off. Luckily, I was able to keep busy on Thursday, so I didn't drive myself crazy in anticipation of Chad's arrival on Friday! I had a delightful pizza and champagne lunch with our friends Barb and Michael, as well as Michael's parents, and then in the late afternoon I hopped on a train to go to Bad Nauheim where our friend Florian was singing a concert that evening. Florian is still singing full time in Copenhagen's opera house, and was only in the Frankfurt area for two nights, so I grabbed the opportunity to see him! It was a beautiful concert (Haydn's "The Creation") and afterwards I went to Florian's parents' home, where we all enjoyed a relaxed drink. 

A Plock sandwich -- happy to be reunited! 

Then the day I had been waiting for for six weeks finally arrived. Chad didn't want me to come pick him up at the airport because that meant I wouldn't get enough sleep, but I still woke up without an alarm and my first thought was whether Chad was in the country or not! So I called his German cell phone, and lo and behold, he answered! Oh happy day! Needless to say, it's been wonderful to have him back in Frankfurt.

Saturday was the premiere of "Ariadne auf Naxos", and I'm happy to say, it was a big success! The rehearsal process was especially wonderful, so we were all hoping the public would enjoy it too! After the show, we went to the after party/dinner and got to relax with my castmates and friends who had come to the show. Free food and wine! Woohoo! It may have been a late night...

My friend InSun and I at the party. (Note: the suspicious bump in my midsection is JUST the way the dress was laying in the picture! Ahem!)

We relaxed and stayed in on Sunday, but were more productive on Monday. We went for a jog on our favorite path through the city forest, did some work (me singing, Chad reading!) and then went out to dinner at a very nice Austrian restaurant with my former manager who was in town for the premiere. I always love having him at shows, because he yells "Bravo" for me really loudly!

That brings us to Tuesday! Obviously we were busy, as we did not have time to write the blog... Our friend Michael turned 40, so we had a celebratory lunch with him, and then went back to their place for some delicious cake (baked by Barb!) and of course a champagne toast. We were so glad Chad got to be included in the celebration, since he was originally supposed to leave on Monday! Hooray for skipping classes! 

Us and the McCowns!

After all that, we rushed to our friend InSun's new place in Sachsenhausen (love having more friends in the neighborhood!) and were treated to a delectable homemade Korean feast! Mmm, so good! I know my Mom would be jealous... Next time, InSun is going to teach me how to make some of the food! It was a fantastic night filled with lots of laughter! 

Delicious!!

And fun!!

So that's been our week! I'm incredibly grateful to have four more days with Chad before he returns to Iowa. Nine days is way better than 3 days. And this time we'll have just 3 weeks until we're reunited! So much more doable. Hope you're all enjoying the arrival of Fall! 

enjoying our time together

Hey All! I made it to Germany, and Brenda and I are having a wonderful time together. Brenda's first performance of Ariadne auf Naxos was fantastic, and I look forward to seeing her next performance on Thursday. I'm going to keep this short because Brenda wanted to write the blog this week but was unable to tonight because we were out late at a friend's house. Please check back soon for her post. Until then, here are a couple of photos I took yesterday near the opera house:

The poster for Aradne auf Naxos, which can be seen all over town.

The opera house from a distance.

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

clowning around

When did it get to be this late? I usually write the blog entry earlier in the evening, but I've been busier than usual today. I'm trying to get everything checked off of my to-do list before I head to Germany on Thursday. Speaking of which, I decided that a weekend with Brenda after six weeks apart wasn't going to be enough, so I changed my return date to the following weekend. Consequently, Brenda and I will get to enjoy more than a week together. I will, of course, be missing some classes, but luckily for me the law school allows students to record classes when they are absent and watch them at their leisure. So next week I'll be sitting in on class from our apartment in Germany. Ain't technology grand?

Brenda has her final dress rehearsal tomorrow night for Ariadne auf Naxos. From what she tells me rehearsals have been going well, although there was one unusual occurrence earlier in the week. The orchestra went on strike for a couple of hours on Monday as a part of a country-wide orchestra strike in Germany. They got back to work later in the day, however, so it looks like the singers will have musical accompaniment on Saturday. Come to think of it, an unaccompanied performance could be interesting. It'd be pretty tough to know what your note was or when to come in, but on the plus side the audience could really focus on the singers' acting. 

Brenda in costume in her dressing room.

So next week a reunited Chenda will be writing to you from Germany. Until then, have a wonderful week!