The Pain of it All

I stretched, I twisted, I breathed deeply...(I pulled a few muscles...)

I ended up signing up for yoga and yesterday was my first class.

I'd never taken yoga before, but as I wrote in the last post, after taking yoga-esque "Healthy Back" and "Breathing and Moving" classes in Berlin, I was fairly prepared for the type of things we did in yoga. It turned out to be a good decision to sign up for the 10-class session. It relaxed me so much that I felt like jelly walking up the stairs of the parking ramp to my car afterwards.
Today, however, I felt the fruits of my labor in the form of barely being able to move my stiff arms... But, I'm going back tomorrow and am excited to make some progress. I'd be especially happy if the muscles in my abs decide to work as hard as my arms and legs.

My life has gone from pretty uneventful to surprisingly full, however I suppose a better word than "full" would be "normal", unless I was just comparing myself to fellow unemployed couch-warmers in the months before my full-time employment.

So while I hadn't worked at my job at the department store selling fine jewelry in almost 2 months, I was called in to close for someone tonight. I am "on call" and get to keep my 25% store discount as long as I am still employed, no matter how few hours a month. So today I worked all day for the attorney, had a quick break involving some puny nuggets at Chick Fillet for dinner, and went on to straighten gold chains and wash glass cases (though I did sell a watch) for the rest of the evening at the mostly-dead department store.

Tomorrow I will continue my yoga-ways by going to class after work and then I will finally be playing my oboe again in a rehearsal for a Easter Sunday church gig. After Easter, next week will start the rehearsals for our next symphony concert where we're playing Brahms 1. Any oboist knows to appreciate the solos in this symphony for principal oboe, as they are also very important excerpts used in many orchestral auditions. Not only is Brahms one of my favorite composers, I am excited about the opportunity to play this piece. I hate to admit that I've turned into a music graduate, 8-5 day-job type who doesn't practice anymore, so I won't. But, I do feel that if I don't make more of an effort to make practicing a part of the new routine, everything I worked so hard for could fade quickly! Luckily after tomorrow there should be plenty of time to get back into shape before the symphony rehearsals begin.

I know in Germany, many orchestras have practice rooms in their Philharmonie/Konzerthaus buildings where their musicians can practice during the day, or teach lessons. The giant building where we perform symphony concerts is right around the corner from my job, and has tons of dressing- and warm-up rooms. I would be curious to find out if I would ever be allowed to practice there during the day, for example, between work and yoga. If even for a half hour, it's better than wasting my time otherwise.

This weekend we had some special guests. Bethany and her boyfriend Jan came to visit us in Iowa. Bethany is studying horn in Hamburg, and Jan comes from Hamburg originally. They're at home visiting her family in Wisconsin, but made the long 8 1/2 hour trip in a rental car to visit for a few days.

The last time I saw Bethany, we were looking for apartments for her in Hamburg in August while she was still sick, but recovering, from her nerve syndrome and was in physical rehab. She had been allowed to leave the clinic for the weekend in order to apartment hunt, but she was still very weak: She had limited feeling in her legs and feet, and couldn't do much physical activity. Since then, she has recovered fully and is doing great which is a real blessing, especially since the doctors didn't know what the outcome would be.

It was really nice to spend time with her again, as well as Jan, and show them a little bit of life in NW Iowa. This included going to the pet store and looking at puppies (now I really am over my puppy obsession), shopping American-style at the mall, eating a tasty Mexican meal, and getting a few drinks at a local dig. It's good to know that the even the ocean can't halt a good friendship.

While the sky pelted us silly with rain and hail all day Saturday (and who'd have known we actually had 2 umbrellas hiding in the trunk), Sunday proved a bit better and so we ventured out for a walk with my parents. Since then, however, winter has come back. It's the beginning of April, but one would never know because of the freezing winds just short of a snowy blizzard. The couple faux warm spring days we had in March were just enough to make us Iowans complain that summer was coming too quickly, so I suppose we all deserve it....