Why, why must there be wild boars?

Okay, it may seem after this and another recent blog that all I think about is wild boars. If you think this, you are right. But it's not my fault. I'm surrounded by the stupid things here in Germany.

And what does my loving family do when I get back to Iowa, far, far away from wild boars? Taunt me by placing a small plastic wild boar figurine on my nightstand to greet me, in my tired, dazed state after my overseas flight. Needless to say I screamed and demanded it be removed from my sight. Then during a visit by family friends they thought it would be funny to have the husband come up behind me, say my name, and put the dumb toy in my face. Again, I was startled and demanded that it be taken away from me. But I do have to admit it was pretty funny that they went to the effort of finding a wild boar figurine, and for those interested, my dad claims he found it (of all places) at a "wild boar toys" website...

Anyway, I survived the playful torture at home, but came back to Germany to be faced with the life-size version. And not plastic. Matthias thought it would be funny to show me a "surprise" in the woods by his parents' house in Bonn. He finally told me what the surprise was and sure enough it was nothing good: He wanted to bring me to a portion of the forest fenced off for a pack of wild boars (including babies) where you can get right up to the fence and watch the ugly beasts right up close, not to mention hear them grunt.

Well I decided it was time to conquer this fear of mine once in for all and agreed to check out the
attraction. Getting closer to the huge area allotted to the boars, you could already see the clods of muddy earth with snout prints from them rummaging through looking for tasty bugs and roots (gross - see how nasty these animals are??). But I did manage to get right up to the fence and watch the little babies (striped) play with each other and the mothers dig around for food with their snouts. When the big ones came over close to the fence, there was only about an arms length between us and the beasts and though I was not enjoying myself per sé, I didn't run or scream. By the way, they really have long snouts - it doesn't take much effort for them to bend over and dig through the earth. It's quite a different snout than the Iowa pigs.

In a somewhat related topic, I was going to my grocery store last week and walked by a man holding a leash in his hand. I was going to just keep walking but for some reason wanted to see what the dog looked like. I figured it must be small because I couldn't see the body of the dog without lowering my eyes. I wish I hadn't, because what I saw wasn't a dog on the leash, but a big rat! And in a harness leash! Gross! I gulped and walked by as fast as I could.

Okay, enough of the strange animal stories.

I had a good Easter. Visited Matthias' family in Bonn (where I saw the wild boar pen). Germans celebrate Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. So there was lots of food and even chocolate eggs and bunnies.

On Easter Eve most members of his family and I went to a candle light mass in the Cologne Cathedral. It is an extremely massive Gothic cathedral in the center of downtown, and one of the most famous in Germany. Anyway, although we got there 45 min. early it was packed and not single pew spot was free. So we stood with the other stragglers in the cold (yes, it was colder inside than outside thanks to the well-insulated cathedral walls) for 2 hours before leaving. Apparently the mass was not even close to being over when we left either. It was nice to be there for Easter but very, very boring as there was no singing and mostly just Bible readings and confusing sermons.

I'm playing a gig again finally. This one is music students playing Mahler to be performed for something like 1,600 Berlin school children to introduce them to orchestra music. I'm playing principal oboe, which is fun, but rare, so I jumped at the chance. Another perk to this is that the rehearsals and concert are all super close to my apartment. When I say it only takes me 15 min. to get there, from door to door, that's amazing for Berlin. Just one train stop. I could even walk home from the rehearsal tonight, and luckily I didn't see any tamed rats on leashes, though last night I saw a small mouse scurrying around on the platform while I was waiting for a train home!

Oh, it's been in the news lately that the city district in which I live, Neukoelln, is being called a slum. Yes, I live in a slum. This is after reports of Turkish school students going rampant, screaming and cussing out teachers, throwing chairs through windows, etc., and the ongoing crime, especially the story of the young Turkish woman and mother of a young boy shot by her own brothers in a drive-by shooting because she "lived too western" and didn't cover her head with a head scarf.

I finally bought pepper spray so now I feel a better. Actually this area of "the slum" isn't so bad. I mean, I'm on my guard in the dark, but during the day it's safe. It's not the prettiest, but there are still some decent parts. However, I do try to get away as much as possible for walks or going out/eating at restaurants/cafés...

Back in Berlin after a fun trip home

I got back to Berlin on Monday morning. My time in America (2 1/2 weeks) was wonderful. I had a great time at home with my parents and enjoyed the short but sweet time with my siblings home for Spring Break. I practiced a lot and made reeds, watched way too many HGTV home decorating shows (parents finally got a dish after having just 4 fuzzy local channels for years...let's just say it was addictive) and got together with friends who either live in LM or were home visiting which was really fun.

I took a flight out to Portland for an audition. Though I was made extremely nervous after listening to the others warming up/auditioning and I played terribly, I considered the whole thing to be a great learning experience. I learned not to listen to the others and to think that they are all better than me, and I learned to concentrate and play like I practiced without letting nerves get in the way.

Portland was a cool town to visit even though I was there less than 24 hours. After my flight back to the midwest I got in the car and started my 3-hr. drive to visit my friend Megan and her husband. The quick trip turned into a 5 hour torture drive after I hit a huge storm that was apparently going the same way I was. The radio was reporting hurricane winds (70-80mph.), tornado watches and warnings, hail, and torrential rains.

The broadcast kept repeating the phrase: "If you are within listening distance, please take immediate shelter," so after I was being whipped by the winds and rain on the interstate to the point of not being able to see anymore I decided it was time to pull over at a gas station. After the 2nd time I pulled over and started out again, within about 10 miles I saw 4 semis which had been literally blown over into the ditches (according to the radio reports). Later I saw another one. It was amazing to see such a large beast lying in the ditch because of wind!

But I ended up making it safely and had a nice chat with Megan and her husband. The next morning after getting breakfast together I set out for my alma mater, where my siblings are also both going to school. I met with them for a fun lunch, got together for a nice chat with my prof., had dinner with Nathaniel (thanks again, btw! I had fun!) and headed over to Loren's for some yummy wine (it was a very fun night!).

All in all I had a great time at home. It's so nice to be back in the States, to drive a car, to see friends and family, even to watch American tv. I don't know where I'll be in a year when I'm done with school and am looking for jobs, but I'd be happy in both countries I think, although I plan to settle down in America....but who knows!

Coming back to Berlin is the hardest part of the trip, mostly because of the adjustment and jet-lag. I really tried to get on a normal sleep schedule right away to avoid a week of sleepless nights and crashing all day which can easily be the case. And this time I actually had a reason to force my sleep schedule to be as normal as possible right away because I had gotten invited to a German orchestral audition for (last) Thursday. It was in Bochum, a town right by Dortmund where I have 2 German friends. They were kind enough to host and take care of me the 2 nights I was there and I had very nice time seeing them again.

At the audition we all drew numbers to organize the playing order. And what did I draw? Of course number one. But I think that was good because I didn't have much time to get nervous. I was very happy with my playing which was technically very strong - a hundred times better than the Portland audition. I unfortunately didn't get the job but felt like it was a good step in the process. Each time I will try to play better, stronger and more confidently until I hopefully one day land a job!

I also visited a required-to-graduate "breathing and movement" course on Tuesday at the music school. Since it was the first week of classes and not that many people come till the 2nd week, I was the ONLY one there. It felt a little funny prancing around the room waving my arms around "breathing and moving" at the teacher's request. But at least she pranced with me and encouraged me..... She's a typical "bio Freak," a common German expression meaning an earthy type. I think it'll be a strange class, but what the heck. I just hope more people show up this week.

After getting back from Dortmund Friday and spending the afternoon working with the family playing in English, Matthias came to visit for the weekend. We enjoyed the spring weather at the zoo yesterday. One of the funniest exhibits was the ant-eater type animal who had the sniffles. As he walked around in a circle his long floppy nose would intermittently drip, to which he would stick out his long tongue and lick his drippy nose.

Speaking of nose issues, later in the monkey exhibit there was a bored looking hairy orangutan sitting right in front of the window. To pass the time he'd dig is long finger in is nose, pull out a treasure and wrap his monkey lips around it. The kids standing there sure loved that. Another orangutan sat miserably in the corner of his room. I thought maybe he was even crying and after Matthias saw a half-eaten onion, in all serious suggested maybe that's why he was crying. Well, it's a good theory.

In the gorilla exhibit, the alpha gorilla didn't seem to be very amused by the annoying onlookers; at one point he slammed his fist into the window and skidded/slid away on a pile of straw into a back exit. Later he peeked around the edge of the door with a scowl on his face but never fully came back out. I guess we learned our lesson.

The zoo was fun but as always, bittersweet. One just always hopes that the animals are somewhat happy in their tight quarters. But it was fun to watch the animals while enjoying the spring weather!