Hanging out in Berlin with me Pal
This past weekend my American friend Bethany, studying horn in Hamburg, came to Berlin for a much needed visit. The last time we had seen each other prior to that was over New Year's. It's amazing how not only seeing a great friend, but just spending time with someone who finally understands you completely in a foreign country, both in language and in culture, can re-charge you. It's so nice to be able to complain/laugh together about things that frustrate or perplex us here as well as just hang out and have fun.
Berlin had been beautiful the week leading up to her visit, but of course, the typical moody city that it is, had to cool way down, as well as sent some nasty rain showers for part of the weekend. But we didn't let a couple chilly spring days slow us down. Friday night we met up with my former Russian English student to go out to her favorite club, and since becoming the the only club I go out at (okay, I've only been there a total of 3 times in the past 1/2 year.)
Saturday we slept in, did a little shopping, ate a well-priced dinner in a chic Australian restaurant, and went to a cocktail bar while waiting for seats to open up at the cool orient lounge which was the goal of the night. We finally got in to the orient lounge around midnight. But it wasn't too late; the atmosphere is so relaxed anyway that it's a nice place to go before falling asleep, unless you're me and fall asleep on the comfy couches at the orient lounge.
We enjoyed a small plate of baklava treats, a Turkish espresso for Bethany and a water for me, and the large Arabic water pipe which one could order at the lounge. We took turns trying to "smoke" it, which just means getting mouthfuls of fruit flavored smoke (we had cherry) which you don't inhale, nor is it drugs or dangerous. It's only my second time even getting it to work because I was always afraid of inhaling it into my lungs the other couple times I tried it. But it was a very relaxing night and the orient lounge is definitely one of the hippest places in Berlin, from what I've seen.
Sunday was better weather so we took a nice, long walk through the Tiergarten (like Central Park with lots of trails through trees and ponds) and came out on the other side just in time to meet Bethany's Australian friend who used to study violin in Hamburg and now studies in Berlin. She and I actually ran into each other last week during my gig, as she was concert master. So we all had a fun time over cake and coffee at a quaint cafe and afterwards Bethany and I started out for part 2 of our walk and checked out the area by foot.
A few hours later we finally made it back to my very first neighborhood in Berlin, in Charlottenburg, where I once in lived in the dorms and where Bethany actually briefly lived, too, in 2004 for the summer before starting in Hamburg. We drove the long way for one reason: Cancun, only the best "Mexican" restaurant in Berlin. We enjoyed a plate of nachos and a virgin cocktail for a last-night bang in Berlin.
May Day is Germany's Labor Day and is a national holiday. So yesterday meant no one worked and of course the music school was closed as is the case on any holiday. So after dropping Bethany off at the train station, I walked through some huge open-air markets and bought some interesting and extremely well-priced French cheese at a cheese stand. When the crowds got to be too much to handle I headed home for a nice afternoon at home.
In other news, I am hopefully getting the dates for my 2 graduating recitals from my professor tomorrow. My professor, who is Brazilian, is known for being disorganized, and this is no exception. I've been trying to get dates for a while now, and need them to be able to find people to play in ensembles for my chamber music concert.
I also have been asked to join a student orchestra in Berlin. While it would be very fun to play regularly, I am a little worried about their rigorous rehearsal schedule which includes weekly rehearsals, as well as 2 weekend "rehearsal weekend," one of which is somewhere we have to drive to and can't leave once there (it's where I had rehearsals for the the orchestra I played in last summer - we were there for 8 looonnnng days).
But as soon as I find out a for sure date I will be able to either say yes or no to the orchestra. It's possible it directly conflicts with a recital or important preparation recitals. I'd love to play in the orchestra and it's great to finally be getting pursued, it's just bad timing with my recitals coming up! Speaking of orchestra: our concert Friday went better than planned. After only a short week of rehearsals and a miniscule amount of time with the high school choir, we presented Mahler's 2nd symphony before an audience of over 1,000 high school students from the large city district of Berlin I happen to live in (the so-called slum).
The orchestra project, who's motto is "out of the opera, out of the concert hall and into the schools," even made news in a national German news magazine, Der Spiegel. It was congratulated especially for bringing positive news headlines for the low-rated city district in a time when it seems all we get is news about school chaos and misbehaving. It was fun to be apart of the project and even better because the kids were actually pretty respectful during the concert and only clapped once in the middle of a movement!
Berlin had been beautiful the week leading up to her visit, but of course, the typical moody city that it is, had to cool way down, as well as sent some nasty rain showers for part of the weekend. But we didn't let a couple chilly spring days slow us down. Friday night we met up with my former Russian English student to go out to her favorite club, and since becoming the the only club I go out at (okay, I've only been there a total of 3 times in the past 1/2 year.)
Saturday we slept in, did a little shopping, ate a well-priced dinner in a chic Australian restaurant, and went to a cocktail bar while waiting for seats to open up at the cool orient lounge which was the goal of the night. We finally got in to the orient lounge around midnight. But it wasn't too late; the atmosphere is so relaxed anyway that it's a nice place to go before falling asleep, unless you're me and fall asleep on the comfy couches at the orient lounge.
We enjoyed a small plate of baklava treats, a Turkish espresso for Bethany and a water for me, and the large Arabic water pipe which one could order at the lounge. We took turns trying to "smoke" it, which just means getting mouthfuls of fruit flavored smoke (we had cherry) which you don't inhale, nor is it drugs or dangerous. It's only my second time even getting it to work because I was always afraid of inhaling it into my lungs the other couple times I tried it. But it was a very relaxing night and the orient lounge is definitely one of the hippest places in Berlin, from what I've seen.Sunday was better weather so we took a nice, long walk through the Tiergarten (like Central Park with lots of trails through trees and ponds) and came out on the other side just in time to meet Bethany's Australian friend who used to study violin in Hamburg and now studies in Berlin. She and I actually ran into each other last week during my gig, as she was concert master. So we all had a fun time over cake and coffee at a quaint cafe and afterwards Bethany and I started out for part 2 of our walk and checked out the area by foot.
A few hours later we finally made it back to my very first neighborhood in Berlin, in Charlottenburg, where I once in lived in the dorms and where Bethany actually briefly lived, too, in 2004 for the summer before starting in Hamburg. We drove the long way for one reason: Cancun, only the best "Mexican" restaurant in Berlin. We enjoyed a plate of nachos and a virgin cocktail for a last-night bang in Berlin.
May Day is Germany's Labor Day and is a national holiday. So yesterday meant no one worked and of course the music school was closed as is the case on any holiday. So after dropping Bethany off at the train station, I walked through some huge open-air markets and bought some interesting and extremely well-priced French cheese at a cheese stand. When the crowds got to be too much to handle I headed home for a nice afternoon at home.
In other news, I am hopefully getting the dates for my 2 graduating recitals from my professor tomorrow. My professor, who is Brazilian, is known for being disorganized, and this is no exception. I've been trying to get dates for a while now, and need them to be able to find people to play in ensembles for my chamber music concert.
I also have been asked to join a student orchestra in Berlin. While it would be very fun to play regularly, I am a little worried about their rigorous rehearsal schedule which includes weekly rehearsals, as well as 2 weekend "rehearsal weekend," one of which is somewhere we have to drive to and can't leave once there (it's where I had rehearsals for the the orchestra I played in last summer - we were there for 8 looonnnng days).
But as soon as I find out a for sure date I will be able to either say yes or no to the orchestra. It's possible it directly conflicts with a recital or important preparation recitals. I'd love to play in the orchestra and it's great to finally be getting pursued, it's just bad timing with my recitals coming up! Speaking of orchestra: our concert Friday went better than planned. After only a short week of rehearsals and a miniscule amount of time with the high school choir, we presented Mahler's 2nd symphony before an audience of over 1,000 high school students from the large city district of Berlin I happen to live in (the so-called slum).
The orchestra project, who's motto is "out of the opera, out of the concert hall and into the schools," even made news in a national German news magazine, Der Spiegel. It was congratulated especially for bringing positive news headlines for the low-rated city district in a time when it seems all we get is news about school chaos and misbehaving. It was fun to be apart of the project and even better because the kids were actually pretty respectful during the concert and only clapped once in the middle of a movement!
posted by Heidi at 4:45 PM
1 Comments:
Hey pooch, nice nargile. Aaron and Carrie got one when they were in Turkey and actually brought it back to Le Mars the other weekend. I had tried it with them in Des Moines before too. I think we had green apple molasses.
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