Friday, May 29
Today was a pretty normal day- Tosca in the morning, then Bastienne, then German class. Tonight we saw Monteverdi’s The Return of Odysseus at the Theater and it was very good. The show had been running for a long time, and this was the last night of it, so they were pulling all kinds of hilarious gags. Since we consider them to be our friends, we loved watching them! Catarina- our Tosca- was hilarious. She played Minerva. The whole thing was set with bright colors and Elton John-style huge sparkly sunglasses, and the gods (Minerva, Zeus, Poseidon) had these huge billowy sparkly shirts and sunglasses. The chorus was funny because there are some HUGE divas who somehow always manage to make their ways up to the front of the stage. There is this one Bari in the chorus- Gunther (we call him Gundy)- who used to be a dancer and is so funny to watch because he moves like a dancer but he’s just so awkward dramatically. Love it! Of course our friend Sam is up there and we always cheer for (and laugh at) him. He is a tenor and they always stick him in these ridiculous toga outfits…. Minimal clothing. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Haha J.
Saturday, May 30
Today we got up and had Tosca from 10-10:30 in the church, just for us and the KinderChor. Then we came back to the house and hung out for a bit before leaving at 1:30 for our first away concert in a small town called Klosterbuch. We did the 2nd half of Bastienne and the three of us each sang 1 other aria. The other 3 students (and also Susan Hurley, who is in town) sang 2 arias/songs. We sang in this beautiful little church that was built in 1400… for an audience of about 7 (appreciative) people. It went very well and amazingly the Bastienne wasn’t a disaster. We wore our costumes which made all the difference, I think. I sang the Jewel song and I liked how it went. Then they invited us for GluWein, which is this hot alcoholic beverage which everyone loved except for me. I don’t enjoy hot alcohol- same with Sake- but I drank it and it warmed me up! It was cold and rainy that day. They also made us hot Goulash soup, which was basically a hearty vegetable soup with chicken and beef in it. We were starving and it was delicious. On the way home, we stopped at our friends’ art exhibit, which was mixed media and very modern and kind of weird. I am more into classical art, and this exhibit had giant cocoons hanging with mirrors, and flashing lights, and the like. I enjoyed the multiple-exposure photographs and some of the more classical pieces the best. We finally made it home and had the night off, which was welcome!
Sunday, May 31
Today we got to sleep in and it was awesome! I slept until 11:15ish and then the girls took a road trip up north to Seiffen, which is a little town where they sell little Christmas trinkets and decorations and things! I did some major souvenier shopping. As much as I hate riding in the car, the countryside was beautiful and it was really cool to go through all the little villages. It was colder since we were more up north, but it was so beautiful. I just loved little Seiffen!! Then we came back and went to the Teater to see Zar und Zimmerman, which was an operetta that is famous in Germany but pretty much nowhere else. It seemed to be a lot like the movie A Night at the Museum, where all the museum people and paintings came to life. We love going to these shows because we’ve gotten close to the other chorusters and the principals as well, so we feel like they’re our friends up there. When curtain calls come, we cheer obnoxiously and loud (like Americans) and it makes them all smile. Hey, what’s the theater if it’s not fun, right??
Monday, June 1
Today was another German Holiday (their Pentecost) so there were no shops or anything open. We changed our schedule around and had German class from 11-1, then I coached the Bastien from 1-3 (?) and then hung around until our masterclass with Mark Elliott, one of Dorothy’s friends from her past life in the opera here. I sang Embroidery and it went really well and I enjoyed working with him a lot. I am going to sing again with him tomorrow. Then…. I finally got to see Daniel again! We went out with all of my friends to get some beers because tomorrow is Alex’s birthday and it was fun. J
Tuesday, June 2
Today is Alex’s 21st birthday! I coached the Bastienne with Dr. Reber in the morning and then had a lesson with Mark Elliott in the afternoon. I sang the Jewel Song and then Marietta’s Lied for him, and he really liked me again and had really good things to say- no technical corrections, mostly just dramatic/interpretive stuff, which is good. He was giving a lot of technical advice to some of the others in our group but I guess I did okay! After that, we had Tosca (of course) and then went out to Sam’s house to pregame and then to the Tivoli club to celebrate Alex’s birthday for real. It was a very fun night and we felt like we did Alex’s 21st right!!!
Wednesday, June 3
Well, today was off to a rough start after last night. We had left our windows open so I was freezing all night but couldn’t get up to close them! Our Bastienne coaching this morning was a little rough. I was just tired, which is my own fault, but at least it was fun. J I also had to coach the Bastienne diction with Dorothy, which made me want to jump off a building because yes, I realize I’m not great at German, but I felt like I was making interpretive choices that she did not agree with and it was causing a little bit of tension. We both want it to be a good show, but I wanted a little bit more license than I was allowed. We coached all the way until about 2, and then had German from 3-5 downtown in the SenateSaal, which is one of the academic buildings where we actually get internet. We had to have German there because Dorothy had scheduled us a tour of the building (it is historic) from 5-6 pm. This actually kind of ruined our night because we had the photo dress for Tosca from 6-11pm….. so, no break from 3-11pm. The tour ran late and we entirely missed our makeup calls, which once AGAIN turned us into those American chumps who do things incorrectly in the theater. We didn’t get to the theater until 5:50 pm, so we had to just throw on our costumes and hope for the best. We felt like idiots because we were reprimanded when we got there for being over an hour late (we were called at 4:45 to start makeup!). Dorothy had said she had taken care of it all, but we looked and felt like idiots and we were kind of pissed about it. The run went well, and it is going to be a good show, but today was not a great day administratively.
Thursday, June 4
Today, amazingly, I actually got to sleep in a little! My first coaching wasn’t until 10:45am, so that was cool. The Bastienne music is going well. I am not memorized on everything (out of 16 pieces in the show, I sing on 12 of them, including 6 arias), and we are apparently giving it concert-style on Saturday. We are supposed to be off-book, and I have been cramming, but I’m not sure if this is really going to go well. The dialogue coachings are going fine- I can say everything with flow and feeling, but I am nowhere close to being memorized. I am a little stressed and it is making me a little sick to my stomach. We also had Tosca tonight- just a run of act 2, which we all thought was going to end pretty early, but we actually ended up having to stuff many times because the orchestra kept playing too loud, and the chorus was too loud, and we kept getting moved around everywhere (lots of different offstage positions) because the chorus here doesn’t know how to sing quietly. We ended up getting out around 8 and then went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, which we can’t remember the name of. I had this DELICIOUS dinner of Kartofel, Lachs, und Gratin…. Which was potato chunks, salmon, and covered in cheese (like potatoes gratin)….. It was AWESOME. This place also had the BEST Apfel Strudel we’ve found, so we go there all the time. We had the night off after that, so we hung out for a while and played a couple of card games since we knew we get to sleep in a little tomorrow.
Friday, June 5
Today, our first coaching wasn’t until 11am, which was awesome!!!!! Then we had a break, and then a Bastienne diction coaching with a German director named Janni, which was way better than coaching with our professors here because she is (obviously) a native and could help with actual inflection and speech as opposed as to fighting over interpretation. The Pyramis cast has the weekend off, so Matt and Lainey went out of town, and Bastienne gives our premiere tomorrow in Leipzig. We have the night off tonight, so we are hanging out and are going to watch either Star Wars IV or Men in Black…. Original English speakers dubbed over with German. Hopefully Mom and Dad will send me some movies soon because not having American TV is awful! We have a TV here but there are tons of annoying ads (remember those ads that are like “Dial 4567 to get a funny joke in your inbox every day!)…. And these are in German, and they are awful. We have watched the Simpsons in German a couple of times, and luckily the language on that show is simple enough that sometimes we can ACTUALLY understand what’s going on. J I haven’t been writing very interesting posts lately, so I have decided to write some things I have discovered lately:
1. I am getting pretty good at this language! I can order at restaurants now, and I can say what I want to eat and drink, and pay, and everything. I am also doing very well in the grocery store and have learned a lot of food-related vocabulary…. Like produce, types of soup, types of pasta sauce, etc.
2. It has been very cold here this week- probably around 60 Farenheit? But it has been very windy and minimal sun, so when you’re riding your bike downhill into town, you freeze your fingers and ears off! It makes the ride back uphill much better, though…. Remember a couple of weeks ago, I’d ride back up to the apartment and have to shower again??
3. The living situation here is a lot like camp. I have a roommate, and we have to share space. There is minimal decoration and amenities. We have no air conditioning, so the windows are always open, which is nice because we get to smell the fresh air. There are specific times in the schedule for eating and minimal downtime or time to yourself. I really miss camp, especially right now when the staff is in Orientation and having so much fun. I also miss the Christian fellowship there. I have wanted to go to church here, but I am turned off by not knowing the language OR the customs for religious services here.
4. Besides being the loved/hated “Six American Students” in the theater, we are acclimating well, all things considered. We know our way around, and the Principals like us and joke around with us. We know where the callboard is and have our own dressing room (yep, us 4 girls with the 2 guys in a room the size of…. The “big” dressing room on EB2). The dressing rooms here though have beds in them, so you can nap between scenes? I guess these people have to spend all day here sometimes because they live in neighboring towns, so they get to hang out in the dressing room during the day.
5. Laundry here is interesting. The machines are in German, of course, and take over an hour. The dryer is also broken, so everything has to get hung up on the lines…. Nothing like using a crunchy, line-dried towel!!! Never take your delightful Bounce pads and dryers for granted, people. Haha.
6. I know I said up there that I am doing well in the grocery store, but I forgot to mention that groceries are bought on bike. So whatever you buy must fit in your backpack or the plastic grocery bag you must BUY from the grocery store for 6 cents. Also, nobody takes Visa here, so I have to pay cash everywhere, which just freaks me out. I also keep forgetting the exchange rate, so I find a 3.50E bag of cookies and think it’s great until I realize it’s actually 5 dollars. Whoops.
7. Clothing…. My clothes are the first thing that give me away as an American. (Unless I speak first. Then it’s my accent). Everyone here A) wears the same outfit 2 or 3 days in a row and B) it is usally all black or VERY muted colors. I tend to wear dark pants (capris usually) and a bright top and I stick out like a sore thumb! I have stopped caring, because I’ve adopted the mentality that… I’m an American, and this is how I dress, and you need to get over it. J I might have to go buy some Euro shoes, though, because they have cool shoes here. And mine have all given me blisters. And I just want some new shoes.
8. Music…. So at Tivoli this past week, it wasn’t DJ, but instead it was a band. They actually were playing really good covers, but it wasn’t exactly the type of music I like to dance to. It was ridiculous things like “Walking on Sunshine” and even Grease’s “Summer Lovin’.” Seriously??? And the Germans were EATING it UP!!!! They also always play the German folk songs that make everyone jump and down and spill their beers everywhere, which is great fun unless you are 5’ tall and get elbowed in the face by rowdy Jungeren! It’s okay. I can’t even compare it to bands at home because the covers this band played were just so OLD to us, but the Germans love it. It’s like they’re 10 years behind in their pop music.
9. The theater… we have been to see every performance the Theater Freiberg has put on (they use the same principals in everything, so the Tosca also had to sing Minerva in the Monteverdi and other things like that)…. But when we go, we get REALLY stared at by the theater crowd. Like they stare us DOWN. I am honestly getting tired of it. It is possible that many people still have a sour opinion of Americans (or even just non-Germans) after all of the wars they have been through in the last 100 years, and we American Students represent bad things? I’m not sure.
10. Speaking of the war, and things like that…. It is clear that the East Germans still have a mentality that they do not like to break rules. It’s like they are afraid of breaking them, or even don’t know HOW to break them. If the crosswalk sign is red, they WILL not cross, even if no cars are coming for miles. They even get upset if WE cross against the light. That is why they are also quiet in the theater audience- they think it’s breaking rules to make too much noise during the curtain call (which is why we also get stares when we are clapping and screaming loudly for our friends up there).
Anyway…. This was a pretty good update. I am going to study a little music and relax for the rest of the night. Ciao!
Saturday, June 6
Today we gave our first premiere of Bastien und Bastienne! We left at 12:30 and traveled to Lauenstein, which is very far east…. And in fact, to get there, we traveled along the Czech Republic border for a little while. Lauenstein is this small town that is built around a really old castle. The performance space was about the same size as the salons that Mozart would have known. It was beautiful, with the castle’s coat of arms on the back wall, and beautiful stone work in the ceiling. We were very well received, too! We got the typical German 8 bows, and they gave us roses, AND we sang an encore! It was awesome!! We wore our little costumes and it was a lot of fun. We took a lot of pictures so I will post those soon. We also saw our first live deer on the side of the road- a big female. There was also a bike race going on, and we felt so bad for them because it was raining and the hills were those horrible slow-grade ones that never give you a break. They also fed us dinner there, and I got Hacksteak with mashed potatoes (the other choice was schnitzel, which I need a break from). It was sehr gut. We came home around 9 pm and watched Star Wars, Episode 4 dubbed into German. I couldn’t stay awake for it… long day! I am looking forward to my birthday on Monday- I hope to have a good meal with my friends. Tuesday we have plans to go out. We are entering Hell Week for Tosca, since the show opens this weekend, so there isn’t a huge block of time to have a party or anything. Monday, for example, we have Tosca from 11-2, German class from 3-5, and then Tosca again from 6-9. At least it’s a fun day, and with no homework or some horrible job I have to go to…. This trip is more vacation-y than being in school, even though we claim to be stressed out, all we do is sing and learn German. I am learning a lot about the German culture, especially East German culture, and it is very interesting and exciting.
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