The (musical) side of life back home

This morning commenced the first in a series of woodwind concerts we are doing in area schools. Four of the members of the symphony orchestra I am currently playing with (flute, clarinet, bassoon, and myself on oboe) were asked to perform the themes of "Peter and the Wolf" we each have, as well as give a brief description of our instruments with a little playing excerpt.

Although I was not really sure ahead of time what I was going to say to the kids when it was my turn to talk, it ended up going fine. They participated by excitedly raising their hands to answer the questions we each had for them, and they laughed when I told them to watch out for my face turning reddish purple when I played (it's an oboe thing..).

We had 2 concerts today, but that's just the beginning. Starting again on Monday we'll have 2-3 concerts per day for the next week and a half. It's actually really fun - I'm getting to know the other musicians better and they're all so nice - plus, it's fun to be around kids again. Since Berlin, I really haven't been around kids much; I miss picking up little Joelle from the daycare once a week and playing bakery with her, and the other two kids I visited every week to speak in English with (and lived with my last 2 weeks in Berlin).

These school concerts have, however, hindered my job prospects in the area further. The job that was dangled before my eyes and then snatched away in under 24 hours a few weeks ago was apparently the only position the job placement agency found which would've been flexible with my school concerts. So the agency and I have decided to put the job search on hold until the concerts are over, probably around Feb.7-9. But by that time, I will be leaving again soon to make a trip through my old college town en route to Chicago for one final audition (for a long time). So, I suppose it might just be easier to wait till the beginning of March to actively pursue a local job again... And none too soon, I might add, because unless I can defer them one more time, my student loans will come due in late March.

Tomorrow before I go into work at my jewelry job I will be accompanying one of my mom's flute students at a solo competition. Now, I am by no means a polished piano player, even with my 8 years of lessons in high school and in college. But the student was desperate; I was her last hope or else she would've been forced to withdraw from the competition, so I obliged out of guilt. After stumbling through the initial rehearsals with her, and worried I'd have the poor girl disqualified, it seems that the hours of practice have sort of paid off and I can finally make my way through it without totally falling apart!

In Germany-related news, I finally called the German orchestra in Berlin last week to cancel my scheduled audition for the end of January. The invitation letter I had received (being invited is the first big step - it's sometimes hard to get invited to a German audition) came a few months after I had already left Berlin. I had applied for that position at least 6 months before receiving the invitation, but German orchestras tend to...well, take their time in getting responses out, if ever.

On the phone to orchestra in Berlin, it was hard to tell the audition coordinator I would not be able to make it to the audition because I knew it would be closing the last door to a job in Germany for now. It wasn't the first time I've had to cancel recently: Since being home I have received 5 invitations from various German (and one Swiss) orchestras, all for which I had applied 6-9 months before that. The whole time I lived in Berlin I received only 3 invitations... What timing!!

In addition to that, I had to cancel an audition to a seemingly idyllic music festival taking place this summer in the Swiss Alps. The audition was set (for all of America) in NYC. Since a flight from Iowa to NYC is not in my budget right now, I had to, sadly, cancel the audition. Of course, if I would've auditioned for the same festival at their German audition site, it would've been Cologne, just a 4.5 hour train ride from Berlin...

While it may seem as if I have thrown away plenty of really amazing chances by moving back to the States, I must say that the move was really inevitable. I was long out of money and couldn't afford to live, even cheaply (which I was already doing), any longer without the prospect of a stable job. Although I had been kindly offered free room and board as an au pair by the mother of the aforementioned 2 children, I simply needed to be able to earn something to begin to pay back the mountain of loans I accumulated in 7 years of studying (even with some scholarships).

So now, even though I am still on the job hunt, I have already been able to start this process of saving simply by living at home absolutely free with my gracious parents. Also, playing in the local symphony was more than I could've hoped for at this point. And finally, since being back I've had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family and friends. This is not something to casually disregard, especially after living so far from home the past 2 years. I don't know where I might end up, but it probably (hopefully) won't a small Iowan town, so I do want to take advantage of the time I have with my parents while it lasts.

That being said, I am certainly itchin' to travel again. While I have grown pretty accustomed to the idea of living at home and doing odd- or temporary jobs until I can make a dent in loan repayment, there are days where I certainly feel trapped in this town. Note: In Germany this would be considered ein Dorf, a village. But with the trip to Chicago coming soon, that helps satisfy my travel urge for the time being!

A Literary Divulgence

I'm in the middle of two books at the moment. One is a Christmas gift from my brother entitled, "Personality Plus," an author's take on four personality types, or temperaments. The point is to learn about our own natural-born temperament(s) and those of others, in order to more patiently deal with people by understanding how their temperament may affect their thoughts/actions/motives. Interesting, definitely, but as is with any of these sorts of "self-help" books - there is lots to learn, but not to strictly follow as the only "truth". It is, in the end, the opinion of one person, albeit with some very valid ideas.

The other book I'm reading is one I found while perusing the shelves of Barnes and Noble. It is called, "Leap of Faith," by Queen Noor, the American-born woman who married the King of Jordan in the 70s. It captured me because of my growing interest in Arabic culture and the one-of-a-kind viewpoint, but I wasn't ready to spend $15 on it, so I ordered it off eBay for $1 instead. It's been good so far. My mood at the time determines which book I'll pick up. And sometimes I simply pick up the remote instead.

Tonight Masterpiece Theatre on PBS really caught my attention (as it has before), with the new adaption of BBC's, "Jane Eyre". Being the disgrace to great English literature that I am, I actually have never read the book. So I wasn't particularly interested in watching it on TV, especially since I felt that was cheating by not sifting through the pages myself first. Besides, how good could a (TV!) movie based on this book be, Masterpiece Theatre or not? But instead of more pointless channel-surfing, I started watching it out of curiosity and 2 hours later I was literally on the edge of the couch cushion as it cut to the dreaded: "To be continued".

I've just looked for the book through our many bookshelves so I don't have to wait a week to see how the plot ends, but with no luck. So if you are looking for me next Sunday night, I will be in the same spot on the couch, facing the TV in a trance, waiting to see the end of this production and find out who the murderer is and if they get married... [roll eyes here]

It is so easy to turn on the TV and be half-entertained by watching a crew fix up an ugly bedroom, or people acting like idiots (but funny idiots) on reality shows, but when television can make you yearn to reach for a book, you know they've succeeded in sharing a story!

p.s. PBS's Frontline also had a really interesting docu. story about the Archdiocese of Boston priest/molestation scandals last week called, "Hand of God". Other good PBS-aired shows, besides Masterpiece Theatre and Frontline, include Rick Steves' Europe, and Globetrekker, where I can get my travel kick without annoying commercials interrupting!

In other news, I went cross-country skiing yesterday (for the first time since middle school) with my parents and a few of their athletic friends. It was not the relaxed Saturday afternoon outdoor activity I had planned on, but rather an intense work-out resulting in every muscle being stretched to the max as I pushed to keep up with their fast pace. What a great form of exercise, though, and with little rewards in the form of small hills to ski down! Going into work after that was a little tricky at first as it had really worn me out! But it's also piqued my interest in awkwardly trying our Nordic Track excercise machine again... (Yeah, right.. that'll last 5 minutes.)

Winter Wonderland

The view out the living room window...
It's not our barn (we're in a new house my parents
built a year ago on the edge of town), but we sure
enjoy looking at it!

Finally White

Though we have had some snow, we in Iowa finally got our our taste of winter over the weekend. Though it's certainly no record breaker, it finally looks and almost feels like the winters I remember walking to middle school in - with my friend Sarah and I taking turns walking backwards to avoid the freezing winds in our faces, and wondering if our numb toes had fallen off yet.

And in the midst of our winter storm yesterday, I had the joy of driving home from our department store's (slightly belated) Christmas party last night.

The party had been in danger of being cancelled because of the weather, but even Iowans can't be stopped by a silly winter storm and in the end the party was not called off. I was already at work all day yesterday so after we closed the department store for the evening my boss and I wading through snow to our cars, and made the trip over to the party location. It was only 6pm but the roads were slippery, not fully cleared of snow, and winds were gusting more falling snow, making for some white-knuckle driving.

I had been encouraged to come to the party for the free tote bags with tester perfumes (I haven't had to buy perfume in years because of gifts and samplers), which was partly my motivation for putting myself in possibly more danger by staying out when I could've started the 30-mi. drive home earlier. It was also fun to get to know some of my work colleagues better and so I stayed and ate, played the trivia game, but did indeed head out as soon as I got my bag and sampler, along with all the other opportunists.

As I jumped through drifts of snow to make it to my parked car, I knew it would be a slow drive home. And sure enough, I was quite the granny driver, going 35-40 mph on a 65 mph highway. I'm not one to take risks in bad weather and certainly not when an icy road is just waiting to hurl me into one of its ditches.... Needless to say, I was glad to be home safely!
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While I never did drive in Germany - in Berlin a car isn't necessary, and almost a nuisance - I certainly had my fair share of slipping and sliding, only this time on foot. Why? Because Berliners don't shovel their sidewalks! I guess maybe it's because no one feels responsible to shovel as most buildings are apartments, and when a business does get around to shovelling in front of their store, they do exactly the portion in front of the business, making for only a few non-snowy steps unless it's a whole street of shops.

I guess everyone figures that when it does snow, it's usually not very much and so hardly worth making a huge fuss about (unlike our southern Bavarian friends with all their snow turmoils). But even the 2 or 3 inches of snow Berlin might receive packs down hard and freezes, making for some downright dangerous paths. It's like: Come on, when it comes to downtown areas or well-traveled places, can't the city just kick it into gear and clear the sidewalks or squares instead of having hundreds of people skidding along their way? (Alexanderplatz in the winter is an unofficial skating rink...) I mean, have they even considered the little old ladies and their walkers? Of course, when it finally starts to melt, it leaves slushy wet snow for about 2 months when the temperatures are not quite cold enough to freeze. During this time, soaking wet shoes and socks are the norm. I do miss Berlin and its quirkiness quite often but this is not one of those times!

And Just Like That...

I don't have a job anymore! Well, I still have my fine jewelry sales job (where I work 4x this month - woohoo). No, I received a call today from the job placement agency explaining that the job I was just trained for yesterday no longer exists. It is a government funded job since it deals with the public schools and apparently they have decided to cut the position altogether. So I won't be going there on Monday after all!

The good news is that the job placement agency is desperately searching for a new job for me (or so I'd like to think) and think they will find something by next week. I can only hope! In the meantime, I have the school concerts with the quintet coming up to keep me busy...

I Got a Job!

Yesterday my brother, David, who's home from college till tomorrow, and I drove into the nearby "big city" so I could apply with a job placement agency. I got the heads up from a family friend that this particular agency is the one that a lot of business corporations in the area turn to looking for temporary help in clerical/administrative positions.

I filled out lots of paperwork and made an appointment for this morning to come take the clerical test. I was a little curious what it would cover and as I don't have any experience with this kind of work besides some computer classes in high school and basic college class work , I didn't know what to expect. When I got there this morning, I was handed the test and a pencil and began answering a variety of math questions, spelling questions, filing questions, etc.

After that I sat down with my representative so could ask me a series of uncomfortable questions about what kind of person I am, my long- and short-term goals, why I would be good at this job... Since I wasn't even sure what job I would be considered for and couldn't really answer her question until I had an idea, I asked her to explain what I might be qualified for. She told me their agency places people in temporary positions as receptionists, light data-entry secretaries, etc., but because the positions are short-term, the work doesn't require too much prior training and I would therefore not be asked to do something I didn't feel comfortable doing.

After that little interview she showed me to a computer for another clerical exam. This one was more detailed and involved me actually preparing a spreadsheet, doing work in Word, plus more math and spelling questions. When I was on the 2nd to last question of the 4-part exam, a 2-hour endeavor, she popped her head in the door of my little room and said she had already found me something and I should go over and interview this afternoon.

So I drove over to the job location, a huge, old school turned office building, with a maze of hallways and doors to different departments, and finally made my way up to the 3rd floor to the department. This department sends therapists into local schools to test kids for, and help kids with learning disabilities. I was introduced to the woman whose job I'm taking over because she's moving. But instead of interviewing me, they proceeded to train me in. So over the next hour and a half I was introduced to about 15 people, shown the ropes at the desk I'll have which shares a large room with the school therapists when they come to the office on Fridays, and taken to the mailroom, lounge, and offices of other colleagues. It was a whirlwind, especially since I didn't think I'd be going to the job agency without a job and coming home with a job!

Like I said, the job is only temporary, 3 weeks to be exact, but this job agency seems to place people really fast, so I am hoping there will be more jobs of this nature to follow. It's nice because I won't have to commit to anything too long-term at this point.

Otherwise, I work my very part-time jewelry job tomorrow, selling fine jewelry at a department store, but while that job is fun and the perks are nice (big store discount which came in handy over Christmas), I only work there 4 times this whole month. That was just not enough income, nor enough to keep me busy. This new job certainly will do just that. Not only is it M-F, 8-5, I have to drive 40 min. everyday to get there and home. No more sleeping in, lingering over breakfast. I'm sure the days of freedom I'd been having will be sounding really good soon, but I'm just happy to be able to keep tackling those student loans!

What I still don't understand, though, that all this time I've been sending out my application for similar jobs all over the area and all over the country, I did not receive ONE response. I realize I have absolutely no administrative experience, but some of those places even specifically asked for German-speaking administrative assistants, or 0-1 yrs. experience. True, they probably didn't want to hire someone halfway across the country, and maybe companies don't take online applications very seriously, though I did send in some paper resumes to a few local jobs.

The only places I received any response was from two translating firms. One was part-time and on the East Coast (and they, too, wanted someone from the area), and the other was translating intricate engineering patents, of which I didn't even know some of the English words. (I found out later no one who had applied for that job got it; translating these patents is a language of its own and not easily mastered!)

But who'd have thought that all this time I spent looking for/applying for jobs I could've just gone to this job placement agency from the beginning? I didn't even know temporary jobs like this existed!

After a Long Hiatus...

I have decided, in light of New Year's resolutions being made everywhere, or should I say broken, as we are already a week into the new year with plenty of time for slipping and failing to have happened, to start writing more regularly in my blog.

There are a couple reasons I stopped:
1) My life is boring now.
2) I'm afraid to accept the fact that my life is boring by writing about it.

But, after hearing different people say they've stopped by my unattended little weblog and have wondered where the new posts are, and with my own desire to start writing again, I will indeed try to sit down and type an update a bit more often. Feel free to leave comments, too, as they help me know that someone is indeed reading. I promise to respond to every comment from now on, too!

So what's been going on in these last few months since I've made the move from ever-exciting Berlin back to...well, less-exciting Smalltown, Iowa?
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1). I've been playing in the local symphony.

After returning home in mid-Sept. (originally planned for end of Sept.) to play 3rd oboe as a substitute in the local symphony (from which the check helped pay my flight), and in a matter of strange but fateful events, I was asked to play the following concert on principal oboe in October. After that I was asked to play the November concert, plus all the December concerts, including 'The Nutcracker', all principal oboe.

Now, how long will this last? I really don't know. But after our last Christmas concert the assistant conductor asked if I'd be here this year, and I said as far as I knew, I would. (Read: No full-time job yet anywhere else yet!) The personnel manager also has given me first part for 'Peter and the Wolf' for our concert in February. I assume there will be an audition at some point for principal chair, as it is a union orchestra. But since the main conductor is always off conducting around the world, I don't think anyone is sure of anything yet.

I am happy and feel truly blessed to have been offered this position, if not officially. It's been excellent to play again on a semi-regular basis (orchestral playing in Berlin came way too seldom). It's also been a great chance to not only meet many of the other local musicians, teachers, some of whom I did know from growing up in the area, but also to play with them.

And what an encouraging group of people with positive attitudes! It's quite different from the cut-throat feel of the orchestras I played with in Berlin, with the exception of the projects I did with some of the orchestras outside the conservatory. While it is perhaps not as musically challenging or demanding as in Berlin because the level isn't as high, this experience is really helping me to build my confidence in playing back up, not to mention having the chance to play some great literature.

Along with this has come the opportunity for a series of school concerts. Some of us woodwinds will be playing our parts of 'Peter and the Wolf' as well as little solo/duo excerpts demonstrating our instruments. Those concerts will be happening soon. I'm looking forward to it!
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2). I flew to Florida in October for an audition with the Fl. Symphony.

After much contemplation about potentially throwing yet more money out the window for a fruitless audition, I decided to go ahead and use my carefully- collected frequent flyer miles from all those international flights to purchase a ticket and try my luck one final time in an audition for which I would have to spend a lot of money. It ended up only working out, both with frequent flyer seats available and audition dates, to fly out on a Saturday and fly back on the following Tuesday. The audition was on Monday, so that meant Sunday was free for some sight-seeing/beach dwelling.

I got into Tampa quite late Saturday night and picked up my rental car (a really cool Dodge Caliber...who thought a "grocery getter" could be so hip?). After turning on the air conditioner to battle the unfamiliar muggy conditions, I drove from Tampa into St. Petersburg to my nice little hotel. Oh wait, did I write hotel? I mean, motel. And not that nice. Certainly not like the deceiving picture from their internet site, anyway.

I found my room by stepping over the puddles of green ooze leaking down the side of the building onto the sidewalk from the air conditioner boxes, put the key in the lock and pushed open the door. I turned on the half-glowing fluorescent light to reveal a dirty little trap of a room with stained carpet, high ceilings perfect for bats to hang from, and a gross bed with a comforter that looked like it hadn't been washed since the late 70s. I took a deep breath and surrendered myself to my new home for the next 3 days, just making sure to keep my shower shoes on at all times.

Just then I was jolted by the sounds of a very loud voices ripe for a party right outside my door, leading to the ominous, dark parking lot which seemed perfect for drug dealing. I heard what sounded like a group of trouble-hungry guys and a cackling girl escort and didn't even want to begin to imagine what they would do to me if they broke down my dead-bolted door in a drunken (or drugged-up) fit of rage or simply a mean joke. I played it safe by pulling the desk chair in front of the door so it would at least act as a tripping device for the one who decided to break and enter.

Luckily the party didn't last all night, and my runaway imagination and I slept fine in my gigantic, icky bed, where I woke up to a much happier looking, sunny Florida. After breakfast, I asked the hotel clerk if I would be allowed to practice in the breakfast room where I proceeded to prepare for my audition and make sure my reeds were in working order. After that I grabbed my beach things, my map, and headed out for a day of exploration and relaxation.

I drove an hour along the coastal villages en route from St. Petersburg to Clearwater Beach. I was definitely in America, as marketers didn't miss a beat advertising all the surf shops, Mexican and shrimp restaurants all along the way. It was also a continuous blur of pastels as all the buildings I passed were either pale peach, pale pink, or pale green. Definitely a sweet haven for a retired couple wearing matching pastel cotton shirts and straw hats. The massive condos blocked the view of the water most of the way, but by the time I made it to Clearwater, grabbed a sandwich from Subway, and found a parking spot in a public lot, the view was unmistakable. And breathtaking.

I had flown from rainy, cool Iowa to this paradise. I was going to sit on the beach without a beach towel (I didn't want the extra bulk in my baggage), in my 6-yr. old bikini (who cares - when do I ever use it anyway?), with my sandwich (I hope no one noticed all the seagulls which have seemed to all flock around me eyeing my grilled chicken sub and cawing loudly), and admire the gorgeous blue waves. Who cares if I was sitting by myself among the masses of other beach-goers? This was truly a vacation.

No sooner had I finished my sandwich when a public beach chair with an umbrella freed up and I ran to stake my claim. I settled in to my new nest and couldn't believe what I was experiencing. The last time I sat on a beach was....I guess in Florida after my senior year of high school on our band trip. And before that a family trip to visit relatives in California at the age of 16. So, here I was, going to enjoy my time, not thinking about the audition the next day in the slightest. And I did, until the beach clean-up crew rudely interrupted my daydreaming by stealing my chair and umbrella to throw into the back of their big truck for the evening.

I gathered my few belongings and headed back to my car, sandy but fulfilled. As I drove back into St. Petersburg, admiring the sunset, I decided to pull off at a state park to relish in the evening a little more. I found a little path, complete with a little bridge and an exotic bird resting on the edge, but the path stopped short, offering only some coarse grass to continue around the pond.

I finally made my way through a Mexican children's birthday party at the neighboring picnic shelter, complete with two huge blow up jumping tents and a loud generator, over to the swinging bench near the water I'd been eyeing. How glorious to smell the evening air. Wait. Is that a "Beware of crocodiles" sign right in front of me? Are all those little air bubbles in the water coming from a reptile I don't necessarily want to see up close? I decided not to find out and headed back to the car, wondering if the Mexican parents had been concerned about the safety of their kids or if it was simply like a petting zoo experience for them.

Needless to say, the next day I had my audition, which actually went quite well. Not perfect, but a far cry from the auditions preceding it. Of course, I didn't advance to the next round just as I had predicted, so I spent the rest of my day walking along the promenade along Tampa Bay in downtown St. Petersburg and exploring the quaint downtown business district before flying home on Tuesday.

An experience, I must say. And worlds apart from the traveling I'd been used to living in Europe. I do admit, I was a little nervous about navigating around in a rental car and a map by myself as opposed to reading a train or bus schedule. Or staying in some remote motel as opposed to a bustling youth hostel or at friends' places I've been lucky enough to have around Germany. But it all worked out well and I'm happy to say the the car and I were both returned home in one piece, with no scratches.

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Current Event: Have you seen THIS in the news? This is a friend of mine, Sarah, from church youth group in high school and her husband, Darren! I just saw Sarah and Darren over Christmas and again last weekend. I can't believe this happened to them! They've even made national news, being interviewed on Good Morning America, etc. Thank God they are safe!