Doc Abroad

The Bee: Then and Now.

8:47 AM |

One of the funniest events yet in the cabin. Something not to be said lightly because believe me, between me pulling up my shorts to waist height and chasing after my cabin girls in only those and a sports bra with my hair in a perfect 80's beach-do and terrorizing the rest of them when Casey and I get in one of our moods (for those of you who don't know me... this kind of mood usually happens on Sundays for some strange reason, and involves helpless, crippling laughter and complete mayhem and absurdity), and just my undying energy here (I blame it on the abundance of oxygen), we've had our fair share of ridiculous events.

The story continues.

There was a bee that was double the size of a normal bee. In fact, there is a hive of them outside of the cabin. Good. We have a girl who is allergic to bee stings. Not so good. One of these bees decided to pay a visit to the ladies of Patton during our morning wake up and chores routine. One of the girls freaks out and like a well oiled machine the rest of us immediately arm ourselves with anything within reach. Tennis shoes, brooms and cleaning products in hand, we advanced in a semi circle around this bees perch. I blame it mostly on mob mentality that things like this happen, but just imagine for a second a gang of girls in varying states of daily readiness, some with towels on their heads or bodies some just waking up, all with crazy looks in their eyes and freaking out every time this bug even twitches. All armed and ready with the deadliest weapons we could find, one of the girls comes panting up to us excitedly holding a gigantic bucket. It sort of broke the tension seeing her so ecstatically brandishing a bucket as if it were going to help. I asked her what it was for and she just shrugged and lost some of her excitement and said "I guess I just like to trap things..." Then, our attention diverted, out of no where, one of the girls who had just woken up to find us all standing around ready to finish off this poor bug lets out a battle cry and darts at the thing with a shoe and obliterates it. Not just smashed it, completely beheaded and powdered the poor bee. She lets out a maniacal little laugh and wanders into one of the showers. Good start to a day.

I recently found the above story in my "to be posted" box and realized I hadn't yet posted it. Looking back and re reading this story I realize how much my view has changed in just a few short weeks. Then we armed ourselves with everything we could find and smashed the hell out of everything with more legs than we had. Now all has changed. Let me tell you with a story that happened just a couple days ago.

I came home to find a similar bee. Huge bee with hair all over and ridiculously loud buzzing. I stood looking at it for a while. Appreciating the size of it and almost enjoying the initial feeling of fear it had created in me. Megan is allergic to bees. I remembered that and slowly walked towards the can of foam cleanser that has become the best known bee killer around. I poised the nozzle over the bee and let fire. The sight almost made me cry. The big bee struggled for life as it was covered in the mass of white foam that I was unrelentingly dousing him in. I felt so badly-but it had to be done he was too big to trap and move without getting stung. Such a waste of such beauty.

Read User's Comments(0)

Of Dr. Sandor, Fist Sized Spiders and a Gaggle of Girls!

3:37 PM |

Well I made it safely to North Carolina. Safely is actually an understatement because safety here is a constant battle. One that includes not being eaten by wolf spider the size of grapefruits, falling down hills, getting carpal tunnel, sweating to death in humidity or falling off the top bunk. Now let me start from the beginning.

The name "Moose and me" is actually no long correct as I actually have a new person to share my life with. One with a degree. A doctorate no less. His name is Dr. Ernst Jullien Sandor the III. Dr. Sandor came into my life a few months ago and has done nothing but great things for me, sorry Moose, I'm on to bigger and better things.

Good. Next.

I arrived in North Carolina about 12 hours after my final performance in and intense chamber music workshop at the U. We had our final concert after a week of 9 hour days at 7pm, and I was on a red-eye flight at 9. After a flight of varying degrees of consciousness in which I listened to an earsplitting (at 3 in the morning on a flight everything seems louder) conversation about how many countries the guy in back of me has visited, what he did in each, what foods he ate, what his views on their politics are, his job, his girlfriend, what he thinks of his girlfriend, what his girlfriends hobbies are, what countries she had visited... etc. I found myself wondering at various points if in fact he had an audience or if, perhaps, this long rant was intended for my ears. I woke up 2 hours later and, since his story was still going, figured my drooling either went unnoticed or came during appropriate parts of his story.

So, I arrive into the humid climate with a lack-of-sleep-haze and that fresh off the plane smell, my hair instantly transformed into an exquisite wasps nest and I meet about 30 people I would be spending the next 6 weeks with. Good first impression- Check.

Most of the first week was spent meeting the other RA's, letting my digestive system get used to the fact that it was going to have to go into overdrive for 6 weeks to repeatedly digest cardboard, and relearning the meaning of good, uninterrupted practice! I live in a "residence" (not cabin as the dean is constantly reminding us) on one of the hills in the Brevard Music Center. The 'residence" is called Patton and it's on one of the many hills that are found on campus. The "residence" , who am I fooling? It's a cabin and we're proud of it that way! There is absolutely no air conditioning, it's what they refer to as "open air" meaning that the walls are screens and the floorboards aren't sealed together. Yeah. It's hot, and muggy, and nothing drys. This climate is a little bit stressful for the human inhabitants of the cabin, but wolf spiders seem to thrive in it. For those of you who don't know what a wolf spider is allow me to bring you up to speed. They are roughly the size of a grapefruit in diameter when the have their legs spread out (not kidding, look them up). Their hair is visible from long distances and their little fangs in front are almost as long as the first section of their body. Now, for those of you who don't know me quite as well as you should, you will be pleased to learn that NOTHING, NOTHING on this EARTH scares me as badly as bugs and spiders. So, the first day of the camp I am taking a shower. My roommate is somewhere else (probably practicing though I've forgotten), and I've decided to do a nice, post-shower pedicure. I pop on a towel and prop my foot up on the vanity to start my pedi, look to my right and see a gigantic, hairy leg extending towards me from behind a toilet paper roll. I flip out. Thinking it was a brown recluse (a spider that can be deadly and one about which we were extensively warned in our training), I run out onto my porch screaming... still only wearing my towel. Good second impression-CHECK. I decide that I should call the dean of the day as I was unsure of what to do with a spider that was as large as my hand. No answer (probably a good thing owing to the fact that I was now producing a frantic bubbling, gargling sound quite unintentionally from my throat while simultaneously hyperventilating). I see my two neighbors Ingrid and Emily coming home so I wave frantically at them and they came running over. I lead them, still incoherently babbling, into my bathroom. They freeze... we all begin babbling. I look around. Nothing to use on a spider of that size. I can't smash it, that would only make me sick to clean it up and scare me more to get that close. My eyes lock on the "Clinging toilet bowl cleaner". That'll do. We slowly move everything away from the spider to clear a path for the devastation we were about to create, I grab the clinging toilet bowl cleaner, Ingrid arms herself with the foaming cleanser and Emily settles for the broom handle. Armed for battle, Emily slowly pushes the last roll of toilet paper away from our target and we open fire. Toilet bowl cleaner, foaming cleanser and broom handles begin flying around the room. My maniacal laughter coupled with Ingrid's hysterical gasps and Emily's calm and focused face but wild eyes made this, I'm sure, a hilarious event to witness-- though since the only other being was the spider this was happening too, perhaps I've spoken too soon. After 3 dowsing with the cleanser and the several times asking "Is he dead? NO HE'S MOVING AGAIN!! SPRAY!" we conquered our target. I scooped up our fallen victim in the dust pan trying not to feel badly about the hell we just brought to this poor creatures life, and dumped him by the tree next to our cabin(secretly hoping this would ward off the other spiders thinking of making Patton their home). I instantly run to one of my friends to relay this terrifying event. The response I get? "Do you have any idea how long it takes spiders to get to that size? Why didn't you just throw it outside?!" In my defense, Patton is a High School girls cabin after all, and I am charged with strict orders to make sure that only female High School students are allowed up that hill. As that spider is clearly not a teenage girl enrolled in any schooling whatsoever that i'm aware of... he had it coming. Let that be a warning to any high school boys trying to sneak into our cabin.

Daily routine:

I am in charge of 12 (more or less, I realize now that I've never actually counted them...) high school girls. I am also charged with the tasked of insuring them a solid 7 hours and 45 minutes of sleep per night. NO more, no less. At 6:45 each morning, I bust the girls out of bed, helped by a miserable teenage trumpeter who sounds reveille every morning at 6:45. My roommate and I get up, get the girls up with much difficulty and many trips into their rooms, assign each girl chores, oversee them doing their chores, make sure they all have gotten a shower, made their beds and swept their rooms. Then, Casey and I take a freezing cold shower (the hot water being as exhausted as we), walk into all the rooms and tidy them up (I've realized only now how different a teenagers version of clean is from someone who has lived on their own for a while!!), finish making their beds or organizing their shoes, empty trash cans that had been forgotten, shut off fans, take shampoo out of the showers, mop standing water that the girls somehow mopped without really mopping (yeah, it's a mind boggling experience to look at something that is obviously filthy and say "who's chore is this?" and have them say "oh! I just finished it" yyyyyeaaaah). Then, we go through inspections, battle our way down the hill and at 8:00 a.m we have breakfast. Yep, that all happens in an hour and fifteen minutes.

Rehearsals:

Rehearsals are near death experiences every time the thermometer reaches over 80... which is most of the time here. We are in an open air auditorium which means NO AIRCONDITIONING. I don't know how many musicians are reading this, but if you are a musician you already see the problem. If you're not a musician let me cue you in ( no pun intended). IT'S HOT. That's an understatement, but I can't put it any other way. Perhaps think of it this way: after I have a vigorous work out I have a light "glisten" on my forehead. When I get through a rehearsal here I have soaked through two layers of shirts and have wet hair. It's that bad. Seriously.

That about sums up my first few weeks. I love it here though. I am able to practice whenever I want and have found a nice little niche. Lessons are going well and I'm learning so much. Orchestra is hard and hot (as you hopefully just read) and we have 5 practices to mast 3 major works each time. If you miss a note you're told to learn it before you come back. If you cross your legs or don't mark in a bowing, you're called on it. If you turn around when the Oboe's have a cool part, their section leader tells yours to tell you not to do that. Life is crazy when you're living with hundreds of people who only have their instrument in mind. Several times I get blown away by the fact that everyone here is such a great musician.

Glad to be blogging again!

Much Love,

E and Doc

Read User's Comments(3)

One down one to go.

9:05 AM |

Well Moose and I performed our debut performance last night at a baptist church in Salzburg. The school planned this performance as a sort of dress rehearsal to our final concert. We were playing to raise money for Austrians to go to America and raise money for homeless people there... go figure. Americans helping Austrians help Americans. Moose and I were pretty nervous but when we walked out and saw the crowd we were very confident. The duet we played went pretty well but then we performed our solo and couldn't be more happy about it. I asked my friend Kathy to record it so I can show all of you when I get back! I will record Thursdays concert as well.

I can't believe it's almost time to go home. I am going to miss my host family and Chrissy so much I can't stand to think about it. It was hard leaving Utah but I knew I was going to see everyone again, I don't know if I'll ever see these people again and they've meant so much to me it's going to be so hard! Chrissy and I can't think about it. We keep just ignoring it and hope the problem will go away. My host parents aren't helping either, in the last few weeks we've been getting more and more close as we're finally starting to merge in language and in personality I love it here! I am definitely ready to see all of you and live on my own again :) but I don't want to think about not ever seeing these great people again! They have been kind enough to offer Chrissy and I back whenever we can make it. I think we'll both eventually take them up on that offer!

My tests are over and school is wrapping up. Friday is the last day the building will be open for the students and after that we have to give back our key and kiss salzburg college goodbye! Where has the time gone? Munich, Vienna, Prague, Salzburg, concerts and lessons, tests, papers and classes, The stiegel , cafe republic, the Augustiener, shopping streets, countless cones of Eis... Oh yeah... that's where it went!

So sad but so worth it

Love you all
E

Read User's Comments(3)

By Request...

9:09 AM |

Real quick- I just realized I had only allowed comments from people with an I.D.... this is no longer the case. Now everyone can comment, if you wish, on my blog.

My dad requested I blog more about my day to day activities as well as other things... enjoy!

A typical day in Austria, or at least for me, is as follows...

I wake up usually around 8:00 a.m. sometimes later. I stumble down the stairs and take my seat at the kitchen table (in the mornings I prefer the bench and in the evenings for dinner I sit on the chair). There is a lovely yellow thermos of tea waiting for me along with a toaster set out with bread next to it i always have the option of either brown bread that is thick and has nuts and looks and tastes and is healthy or white, so I am forced to make the daily decision to eat well or poorly... I take the white. The amazing thermos of tea is poured and after 1 dainty teaspoon of sugar (x's 4) is disolved into my cup, I begin my morning ritual of staring blankly at things... I'm not picky... Chrissys hair is a fun thing to stare at in the morning, it's always well brushed and shiny and it's so long... Enzo the cat is another thing to stare at however this isn't usually my prefered target considering he has the nasty tendency to get nervous around me and attempts to harm me...

After I am finished with this and have attempted to read the paper or at least pick out the words I know in it, I look up and realize that ONCE AGAIN I am running about 10 minutes behind schedule. This happens every morning. The clock opposite and just down from the table is broken yet every morning I depend on it's time, I believe it is currently frozen at 1 a.m., until I realize that this can't possibly be correct and I ask for the time... such a cruel shock every morning.

I rapidly get ready and, generally forgetting several things, run out the door. Now this would sound like a normal routine to those who have about an hour to get ready in the mornings... I however have approximately 3 hours to get ready in the morning yet I always manage to waste it. I believe this time is lost somewhere during the staring routine. I could be wrong.

I run to the bus stop to catch the 4 at 11:32. Every ten minutes on two.

After several sorry I don't speak Germans and after I participate in and watch several body slams and gasps when the bus driver accelerated and decelerates quickly, and generally after some very bad smells, I get off the bus and arrive at Moenchesburgaufzug. My bus stop.

I run to school, get out my key chain with the stuffed dog on it (courtesy of my host dad), unlock the college door and take my place at the lunch table. I have now successfully eaten twice and literally done nothing in between those times.

From 12:30-2:30 I always have a free period. This time is spent in a very resonant practice room where I entertain not only myself but also those within a mile radius of the school.

At 2:30 I generally have European Union with Stefan Wally. I absolutely love this class. The professor makes everything so easy to understand and has a talent for making us laugh even when discussing the treaty of Maastricht. Do not attempt at home. So far I have had 1 midterm and 1 10 page paper due in this class and though it was stressful,l I have enjoyed studying and writing for this class because it is so different than classes I've taken at home.

My schedule from here is often ambiguous, so ambiguous in fact that generally i don't know where I'm supposed to be until I see the stampede of students coming down the stairs and one of them is kind enough to inform me of our plans.

European Union happens either at 2:30 (as written above) or 5:30. It can be an hour class, a two hour class, or, more frequently, a 3 hour class. It is generally 2-3 times a week. My lessons are generally every other morning (yeah, try learning an entire Bach movement every other day and perform it the next... nein danke) and take place from 10:00-11:00 or from 11:00-12:00.

So great news. I got the solo thing. Which is good and bad. Good because... I'm soloing in Salzburg in 2 concerts. Bad because i may or may not have friends after it.

Glad I have all of you!

E

Read User's Comments(5)

Nobody panic!

11:05 AM |

Okay okay I'm still alive and well and hope you all are as well!

While you read... Please enjoy the work of Dvorak. I would actually advise you to click pause, read my blog and then hit play and just sit back and enjoy the amazing music... And even if you don't enjoy it perhaps just tolerate it. This is one of my very favorite composers and he was born where I was traveling this weekend. This is "the song to the moon" from the opera I saw this weekend that was composed by Dvorak. This is Rusalka, the main character, a water nymph who is in love with a human prince asking the moon to let the prince know of her love...

This week I've accomplished a lot! I've managed to get myself to and from the Czech Republic... without damaging myself or others!

I was a late comer in the plans of this trip because I originally wasn't going anywhere. But then Charles said "are you going to Prague" and I thought "why wouldn't I?!" So i went. We boarded the train at 2:00 p.m. and found our compartment (even more hogwartsesque than the first due the the private compartments lining the corridors...) and took our seats. We had about 6 hours and then we would be in Prague! We sat still for a while, and then discovered that the seats moved down to form a bed. We decided to make the compartment one gigantic bed so we all slid our chairs together and smashed our legs into a heap in the middle. It was SO HOT in that tiny compartment after smashing and moving and piling... but it was fun! So we all layed in a sleepy daze for pretty much the rest of the train ride untillll.... We heard a guitar in the corridor... and then a harmonica... and then a song! Vibha and I listened to this for a while but then when the guy started singing "barbara Ann" we knew we had to join in. We ran into the hall and sang along with the guy and his friends. The man was in his early 50s I'd say and him and his friends were just having a good time! It was awesome to see and hear! Just a bunch of people enjoying life and allowing us to enjoy it with them!! They started playing "Lollipop Lollipop" and I of course joined in in a very high soprano falsetto voice... it was fantastic! After the song was over I went and put my shoes on (a very important fact, it proves that i did not have them on when we were laying on the bed/seat... if i had, this would have been enough to get me arrested! Shoes on seats= no good) and wandered down the hall a little way. At the end of the hall, I saw a guy wearing a USC shirt! I stopped and asked him if he was from California but he said no, he was from Australia but just really liked American football! So we started to talk and I sat with them (he and another friend from Australia) for a while until I heard our stop coming.

We got off the train and walked around until we found our hostel. It was really nice as far as hostels go and since there were 9 of us we had a 10 person room all to ourselves. We found a pizza place for dinner in the middle of the city and since it was Kathy's birthday we waited until midnight and had a birthday toast to her. Then we found our way back to the hostel and crashed.

At 7:45 in the morning there was an explosion of noise. Apparently everyone had set their seperate alarms for the same time, they must have, because I heard at least 5 different ringtones. We got up, showered and dressed and walked to St. Charles' bridge. There were tons of street vendors and tourists and bands playing on the bridge. It was such a great atmosphere and I was really happy to just wander around on this bridge looking at everything and watching people and listening to the different bands play. After about an hour on the bridge we finally got to the other side and walked around the city. We went to an extremely old church and to a castle and explored and just took in the city. Then of course, the rain caught up to us so we walked back to the hostel and got ready for the opera that night.

THE OPERA WAS AMAZING. It was Dvorak's "Rusalka" which is essentially the Hans Christian Anderson take on The Little Mermaid. I ended up having to get a standing room ticket so I was bummed because standing for 3 hours is hard to do, especially when you don't have a great view in the first place and you've been walking around all day. But I was excited anyway. BUUUUT when I got up to the "gallery" which is the standing room, I discovered that they actually had seats and that mine wasn't bad at all! I could see the whole stage (rare even for an expensive ticket) and I could see the violas and hear everything and see the subtitles. All great things. The music was done SO well and the choreography was so organic... and I was in PRAGUE where Dvorak is from!! It was all just amazing!!

The next day we got up and had breakfast at a local cafe and then just walked around town. I figured out that when you're working with limited time while traveling it is better to let things simply happen while walking around the town rather than running around like crazy trying to cram in a lot of things which half of them you end up forgetting and the other half turn out to be closed when you get there. I like it much more to just walk around and experience the city like a local. With an ice cream in hand preferably...

On the train home I started off in the compartment but got bored again so I left and wandered through the train. I spotted Charles in a compartment all to himself (we tend to spread out in trains...) so i walked in. He was sticking his head out the window and when I did as well I was overwhelmed. The countryside here will never cease to amaze me! It is farmed clearings with beautiful little houses on them surrounded by some woods but in the distance you can see these clearings spotting along the hills. It is AMAZING. It was about to rain (surprise surprise) and it was also sunset so the landscape was glowing golden and misty. I have yet to see a more beautiful and inspiring sight than that one! Just riding on a train completely at peace and I look out and see such an amazing landscape.

I met some funny people on this ride too and ended up spending the rest of the time with Vibha, Charles and these two funny guys ....who I had actually seen the night before at the cafe we ate at for dinner, I pegged them at first glance as Americans and was going to say something but thought better of it! They must have been debating the same thing because they kept looking over at me. But then, when I was sticking my head out the train window with Charles the guys a few compartments down stuck there heads out too and they recognized me as the girl they had seen last night (as they told me later they had called me "the girl in the red jacket") and after we had started talking they said "did you by any chance eat in the square in Prague last night?" and I recognized them as the same guys! Small world!

One of the best things I have so far learned from this trip is how alike we all really are. I know this sounds so cliche, but more and more as I learn about different cultures and I meet different people here and in Germany and in Prague, I realize that all people no matter where we are, are all the same! The thought is quite comforting.

A little side story: Last night Chrissy asked me to get her a mug from the kitchen for her and my tea. I went to the kitchen to where our host mom was and asked her for a mug. She said "mug?" because she had never heard it. I, being the idiot I am, didn't understand she didn't know what it meant and thought she was just saying it so I decided to say it again "mug mug" I said... this really confused her but at this point I thought we were just playing a game and saying the word a lot so I just went off and said "mug mug mug mug" a lot... finally she got really confused and tried to get out of the kitchen in order to get an object to aid her question no doubt... but I thought she was just walking towards me really close so I just kept saying "Mug" a lot and standing still in the doorway, blocking her way out. Finally she pushed passed and went to the cabinet and pulled out a mug and said "mug?"... and I realized my terrible error....It literally was the most retarded thing I've ever done. I don't understand why my brain just froze and I kept saying mug a lot... Chrissy was dying laughing and then of course I had a laughing attack and the little sanity I had stored away was lost...

I love you all!

E

Read User's Comments(2)

1:00 PM |

Love you Grampy! I heard that you're looking at my blog. I love you and hope you're doing well. Can't wait to visit you sometime very soon!!

Read User's Comments(0)

Please indulge my venting...

11:41 AM |

Fellow technologically savvy individuals-

My teacher decided it would be a great idea to ask Salzburg College if I could preform a solo at the concert. I was honored that he trusted me enough to represent him after just a few lessons to the public, but told him time was limited for the final concert and all the students were put in ensembles in order to fit us all into one concert, so this idea probably wouldn't work. The next day the guy who is in charge of the final concert came up to me and said "sorry we couldn't fit your solo in the schedule". I was embarrassed because obviously my teacher still called the school and asked for me to play a solo even though we had both known the answer. So I said "hey no problem" and walked away, embarrassed that this guy probably thought it was me asking my teacher to do this. I thought this would be the end.

Today I went to lessons and said "so now that I don't have to perform my solo at the concert, may we start working on the 6th suite again?" and he said "wait just a minute! I don't give up that easily!"... So apparently he now is going to call the teacher of the flute player that I'm supposed to play my duet with (apparently they're good friends) and he is going to ask him if we can cut some of the 2nd movement in order to save me time to play my solo...

This is getting crazy! Now they are all going to think it is me behind this and me who is asking my teacher for the solo time when really I'd prefer to just have a stress free performance and play the darn peice with the flute player!

On the upside, the Vienna Philharmonic is playing (under the AMAZING direction of Daniel Barenboim) tonight at 9:15. I just ate an incredible dinner, AND my midterms are over!

Read User's Comments(3)

Doc Abroad

Germany edition

Friends and Family

Archives

The Bee: Then and Now.

Of Dr. Sandor, Fist Sized Spiders and a Gaggle of Girls!

One down one to go.

By Request...

Nobody panic!

Please indulge my venting...