Listening To: "NBC", Courtesy of the "fish tank screen" in my room
Well, we had another action-packed day today, concluding with a brief evening in an Irish Pub down the street. Regrettably, I forgot the camera, and yes - I did say Irish. Yes, I am in Germany for the second and maybe one of the only times in my life. Looking back, it was probably a poor decision - the Köstritzer schwarzbier was honestly much better than the Guinness (don't hate me, Chris), and whatever Pilsner was on tap was much more flavorful and "drinkable" (in USA terms) than any comparable light American beer. I'm definitely a fan of the Köstrizer - if someone in the states knows where to find a six-pack, let me know.
Lest you think I did nothing but drink today, let me talk about the rest. We began with a 9am tour - and fortunately Ryan managed to come out of hour jet-lag-induced coma by 7:50 (I still wasn't used to 24-hour clocks to set the alarm correctly). We started with a German breakfast, which was amazing. Croissant + nutella = heaven. Roll + incredible swiss cheese and various meats = free lunch (even though Sam took them and abandoned Ryan and me). Our tour was very informative but we were stuck with a very gloomy mid-May day. It misted or flat-out rained for most of the day and was anything but warm. Fortunately, no one was killed via train (despite some very impressive efforts). Our tour guide certainly knew her material and had reasonably good English, but looked rather unique. I think I'll call her Elton, even though she probably reminds me more of Mrs. Duensing. Some memorable quotes:
"I have heard you would like to sing in the Thomaskirche."
"Zee (halfway between die and the) Peaceful Rrevolyoushun (spelled phonetically)..." - this is a big deal for Leipzig, especially the Nikolaikirche.
"...so you should stay in Leipzig for three weeks, ja?"
"You must see it." (At least twenty times, all referring to a museum of some kind).
Chorale people, feel free to leave more in the comment box below.
After our walking tour, a group of us decided to head for the train station. We began walking down a street and, being the son of a mall-walker, I naturally charged out in front. Unfortunately, I hadn't the slightest clue where I was going, but after half a mile or so Ryan kindly asked where the hell we were going and we followed him the rest of the way. The train station is absolutely beautiful, large enough to be considered a small to medium-sized mall. This is where I bought the ridiculous bratwurst pictured in the Picaso album, and I think my German is getting better: I successfully took one bank's directions to the bank on a different platform that could exchange US Dollars. All in all, we had an indecisively good time.
On our way back, Ryan, Dan, and I visited the Nikolaikirche (which you can also find in the Picaso album). We were lucky to stop by during a free and quite good organ concert. It's an absolutely beautiful space, especially with the huge palm-tipped columns imitated by the Peaceful Revolution memorial outside, and it made me think even more about my Lutheran (specifically my German Lutheran) heritage - so I decided to include my tattoo in the picture for this post. The script reads "Sola Gratia" now that I've un-mirrored it. It means "Grace Alone", and I think it's one of the most theologically significant concepts of both Lutheranism and my philosophy in life. Life isn't about trying to earn your way into something. It's not about how good you can make yourself look, even and especially to yourself. If you were only worth what you could put in on your own, life would truly be meaningless compared to its worth when you add in the sacrifices and investments of countless generations of ancestors and, ultimately, your Creator. Our purpose in life is to love and honor both Him and one another, and I don't just mean "that small and arrogant oligarchy who merely happen to be walking around" (GK Chesterton). I'm really excited for James Strasburg to do his Fulbright work here - there's so much meaningful and interesting history - and yes, you should get used to these briefly philosophical nuggets (or piles of crap, depending on your viewpoint) if you continue to read this blog through the summer.
After the Nikolaikirche and a brief iChat session with the family, we were off to our rehearsal with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra at the Lutherkirche. They were all phenomenal musicians, though some were certainly more congenial than others. I'm very excited for that concert. Unfortunately, the space was very cold and we were all wet from the 20-minute or so walk to the church from our hotel, so by the end we were definitely ready for supper (and in my case a cup of very traditional coffee).
Dinner was served at Coffe Baum, a coffee house that actually opened just before J.S. Bach came to Leipzig (by 3 years, A.D. 1720). It now also houses a fine restaurant and a museum because (as our tour guide said) nearly every important German musician, painter, poet or other artist since that time has worked and relaxed there at some point in his or her life. Judging by the ones I've met so far, it probably happened in that order. Our meal was fantastic as long as you liked mushrooms and cinnamon - they even tricked most of us into eating liver on our salad!
The title of this post refers to my email conversation with Loli Blasco, the director of my program in Barcelona. I tried sending her a note saying I would be most "thankful" if she could send me the address of my home stay a bit early. As it turns out, "gracioso" actually means funny (the real word is "agradecidio"). It just served to remind me of my need for a solid immersion experience come June, as well as every the need to laugh at ourselves once in awhile.
That covers most of the day, but I think I had better explain my "Listening to" selection before I hit the hay. Whenever you power up the hotel room (by inserting the keycard into the slot just inside the door), a fairly lengthy video clip of a vibrant fish tank shows up on your TV. You can it see this in the picture, over my left shoulder, but you can't hear the beautiful (though very simple) synthesizer accompaniment consisting mostly of two- or three-note arpeggiations. As a graduate of Musicianship IV, it's a never-ending brain teaser: Sol-Mi-Do! Fa-Sol-Do! Sol-Do! Ti-Sol-Do! Mi-Do! Do!...I guess this is what I get for devoting my life to a music major. Auf Wiedersehen!
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