Hello, friends (and whoever has been reading this from Canada?)! Obviously I'm not so hot at giving regular updates, but I will try to be better!
Time is a funny thing here. When I think about being here, it feels so short, like I just got here. But when I think about the US, it feels like I've been gone for a long time. I feel like I wrote my last post a couple of days ago, but it's been weeks. I feel like our last performance of Lohengrin was weeks ago, but it's only been three days. I don't know what it is about life here that makes it so hard to keep track of the time - I wonder if it's just me?
Anyway, here are the highlights from the last few weeks:
Fiestita at the house!
A few weeks ago we had a handful of people over - wine, grill, backyard, all good stuff. Towards the end of the evening, my roommate pulled out a guitar and one of my friends from the orchestra started singing. It was amazing, sitting out on the patio (which is one of my favorite places here!) with a bunch of new friends, listening to pretty Brazilian songs. I'm pretty sure it was just a normal Saturday evening for my friends, but I'm going to remember it. I pulled out my mic and recorded a little of the music - maybe sometime I can figure out a way to share it with you.
Regina's Bachelorette Party/Wedding
It was so sweet of all the girls to include me in all the goings-ons about this. This is the kind of stuff you do with your friends, and I'm grateful that they thought to invite the new girl. Here's a pic from when we went out dancing at the end of the night:
I know I look drunk, but it's just because thanks to the heat here I am perpetually bright red and messy. ;) Thank God it has finally started to cool off a little in the last few days!
The wedding itself was beautiful - people here really dress up for this stuff! It was amazing how many aspects of the bachelorette party and the wedding were just the same as at home. At the bachelorette party, there were all the silly games and dancing and tequila that you would expect. And the wedding was fancier than what I'm used to, but had all of the same music and the rice-throwing and the fancy car to take the couple to the reception and most of the other conventions. Some musicians played the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" while the photographer took some pictures of the couple towards the end of the ceremony, which was a cute touch.
Lohengrin
Last weekend we had three performances of Wagner's opera Lohengrin. It's a very interesting and beautiful work, but I'm glad to be done playing it. My part isn't very interesting, and my back has been killing me from spending that much time in the pit. Also, I am very excited about our music for the next few months, so I'm happy to be getting on with it already! Tchaik 1812, a premier of a work by our conductor, and a Paraguayan piece next month, then Raymonda (ballet) in June and Norma (opera) in July. Then Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (ballet) in August. Yay! I am a happy flutist. :)
That should pretty much catch you all up. One final note - a few non-musician friends have asked about the title of this blog. It's a play on the title of a very famous orchestra piece by George Gershwin, "An American in Paris." Not only is the title fitting, but it was on the program of the first concert I ever played in an orchestra. Cool, huh?