Just one of those days

Living alone has it's advantages and it's drawbacks. After having lived through college in either a dorm room that looked like a concrete jail cell or a house that was literally falling apart and could not be saved with any amount of duct tape, living in a nice apartment is certainly quite a luxury. My little apartment in Munich was also really quaint, -and by quaint I mostly mean small- but you couldn't really classify that as living alone either. You could hear anyone and everyone practicing in their rooms and knew therefore what everyone was doing most of the time; I cannot adequately express my gratitude for no longer having to partake in the Mozart bassoon concerto at 1:00 A.M.

Now, however, I have an official address to my name. I find it nice to be able come home to a place where I have some of my own space and that isn't falling apart or overly dreary (like it was when I moved in; no lights... that was a long winter). My apartment, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, has a bedroom, living room, bathroom and galley kitchen, and is situated in a very lively part of town with lots of cafés and restaurants (and riots if you're lucky). I even have nice neighbors who are about my age and enjoy a good coffee together on our front steps on the weekend. There are some days, however, when being alone is hard to bear.

It's not as if I were not seeing people most of the time. Yesterday there a five-hour rehearsal in very cramped quarters with about 90 other musicians in the orchestra pit (direct translation from german is orchestra 'grave'). Today was the dress rehearsal for the same piece, and considering that 1) the music is incredibly modern (which means in this case atonal and difficult), 2) the conductor got rather bent out of shape several times, and 3) the rehearsal was longer than normal, it went really well and there was a spirit of camaraderie that I've never felt in this orchestra before. After the rehearsal was over, I got called over by one of the tenors, who happens to have been my piano teacher in college(!), took up singing after I left, and voilà, shows up on the stage dressed as a cop and singing about how "the elephant really couldn't have sat on your caaaaaaahhr"---in a very high voice, of course (curious about the opera?). Needless to say, it was fun to catch up with him over coffee.

I have also taken up the habit of reading in the afternoons. In the operatic schedule, the afternoons are always free. There can be rehearsals in the mornings or the evenings, and the shows themselves are always in the evenings. So afternoons are always fair game, and I've found that there is something really cozy or "gemütlich" (see 'german word of the day') about going to a café, ordering an espresso and reading for an hour or two. The baristas know me pretty well by now and at one place I even get extra stamps on my card (every sixth coffee free!). I've read some good books in those coffee shops: all the books from Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi (a psychologist who developed the concept of flow-see www.flowskills.com; I did the english translation); Learned Optimism by Martin Seligmann, How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony by Ross Duffin, and Constructive Conscious Control by F.M. Alexander (the guy who developed Alexander Technique-http://www.alexandertechnique.com). I would recommend most all of them.

Then, off course there is practicing. I try not to practice too late at night, as not to disturb the neighbors, and if I do, I try to play something nice. I've been told that from outside, you only really hear a rumbling, as if from some large animal. I suppose this is a compliment? Taking a couple of hints from Mr. Alexander, I've also discovered some unfortunate habits, which it would behoove me to address. This has opened up worlds of 'opportunities', which could take years to iron out, but who doesn't like a challenge?

Then there are the daily comings and goings, like grocery shopping and recently, bread-baking-stone hunting. As you know, the simplest things can be quite adventurous. Miriam suggested in a bread recipe to go to Home Depot or Lowe's and pick up some marble tiles with which to line the oven. Simple, right? After hunting for several tile shops that exist on google maps, but not in reality--- no, wait; after first looking up the words 'tile,' 'marble' and discovering that you have to buy tiles at tile shops and not at hardware stores--- I happened on a little family-owned stone cutting business whose parking lot was full of headstones. When I asked for tiles for baking, he said they get that question all the time, that lava-stone would probably be better, but he simply gave me a granite one to give it a shot, as long as I would come back and tell him if it worked or not. I'm heading back on Monday to get a second one.

So, it's not like there is a lack of things to do, nor is there a lack of people to spend time with. It's just that some nights you don't like having to be on your own. Maybe it just is that way sometimes. It kind of reminds me of "The Monster at the End of this Book" where Elmo (?) tries to keep you from turning the pages so that you don't get scared by monster at the end of the book, which turns out---who knew--- to be him. So by writing this post, my evening alone has come to an end and the only scary thing about it is that google just told me it knows I use two gmail accounts without me telling it so.

Liebe Grüße and good night-

Erik

German words of the day

"Gemütlich" [geh-`meut-leessch]; adj. Cozy, friendly, warm feeling usually associated with things like sitting together around a fire, in a café with a good book when it's raining outside, or drinking red wine with friends on a cold winter night.

"Liebe Grüße" [lee-buh  Groos-sah]; Liebe= love, with love, Grüße=greetings