Life in the slow lane

So it's been more than a week since I posted. What have I been doing? No, not running around to auditions. I've been totally relaxing. What a novel idea. At first I sort of had a freak out session that I have no auditions scheduled until April. Then I realized that Easter is this weekend and people are taking it easy. So I will too.

What have I been up to, you ask?

• Grocery shopping. Yup. I am even cooking. Strange. Everyone has to start somewhere. I also threw an egg in the grocery store by mistake. I found it facinating that there were eggs unrefrigerated in the aisle and so I thought they were maybe fake or empty? So, I picked it up. Only, as you all now know, I'm a klutz. And it started to slip out of my hand and as I tried to get a better grip, I lost control and threw it. Yup, that's right. Tim was looking at me with wide eyes, wondering why the hell I would be juggling eggs in a grocery store. He is still convinced that I was juggling. We then laughed uncontrollably for 5 minutes before finding someone to help clean it up. Another note on grocery stores in Germany and Austria: They make you bring your own bags. At first I HATED this concept, because I always forgot bags, and had to buy them. No big deal, they are not that expensive, but it really is so much smarter than having a closet full of plastic bags that we save for dog shit or friends with dogs. Or if you really shop or have a grocery store in NY like me (C-TOWN, ugh!) who buys cheap bags, and then has to double bag everything, you end up having to throw away bags. Stupid. And baaaaaaad for the environment.

What else have I been up to?

A trip to Cuxhaven and Hamburg. We drove up to the coast of the North Sea and spent the day eating fish and "walking" in the North Sea. Was strange to be standing on the sand where only a few hours later would be full with water of the North Sea.

Like any other seaside town, we passed the gift shops and ice cream parlor's and enjoyed the day. We then drove to Hamburg (with the aid of a ferry) to meet two of Tim's closest friends Soeren and Silke. They are really sweet people with an adorable son who is almost 2. Tim and Soeren went to Uni together. The ferry ride was short and sweet. I'm attaching a picture of little Ruby Red top on the ferry. Isn't she so cute? Also, a picture taken from the ferry of the beautiful sky (at the top of the page).

• CeBit expo in Hannover. Hannover hosted the Worldwide Expo in 2000 so they have a huge area of "fairgrounds" aka huge buildings, for expositions. Every year they have an important technology expo. Since I'm not a computer geek or freak, I didn't know about it, and I didn't enjoy it. I did, however, enjoy the Bavarian beer hall with the Bavarian band that ended our day. There was an added bonus of a drunk techno geek with long hair, hat, and dancing on his table to the Bavarian Band's version of "Twist and Shout". I'm not kidding.
  
• Went to a bathhouse - verryy cool. The Germans like to swim. There are bathhouses everywhere. We walked in and there were different pools and jacuzzi's. All are heated to 34/36 C and 2 of them are outside with massage jets in them and shooting water, etc.. They have a huge salt content to aid in health. It was wild to be swimming outside with rain pouring down on us. But really relaxing to just wander around in the water for 2 hours on a Sunday night. I was so relaxed I could barely walk out of the place!
  
• Coughing. I'm trying to pretend I'm not sick.
  
• Practicing and learning Ariadne auf Naxos. I'm performing it in June with One World Symphony and I have to get my butt in gear and memorize it!
  
• Slowly learning German nouns and their articles. This really sucks. We have only one article "the" before nouns. The Germans have three different articles, based on the noun: der (masculine), die (feminine), das (neutral). It's totally random which of those three is the correct article for every article. This makes learning nouns really suck. You then have to learn two things for each word; example: das Buch (the book) or die Gabel (the fork) or das Messer (the knife). UGh. German is so much fun.
  
• Researching visas and the options we have.
  
• Going to the Opera: Don Carlo. A very modern production, but some good singing for sure. We had NO idea what was going on (uber complicated plot) but we enjoyed having pretzels and beer at the intermission. Where else in the world can you have pretzels and beer at the opera in a tux?
  
• Preparing for my parents and brother to arrive in Hannover on Saturday. We have 8 days and have a LOT planned. Trip itin includes: Hannover, Vienna, Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Munich. Have you ever seen National Lampoon's European Adventure? I know, I'm a jerk. But I'm excited for them to come and see Europe for the first time. They will also be meeting Tim's family. OMG.....now I am scared. :)

I realize that I feel a heck of a lot better after making a list. I was sort of feeling shitty about not doing anything. Below is a picture with Soeren and Silke.

More next week with the Griswald Adventure.