Konzert in Ladenburg, Uno Extreme, and A Whole Lot of Pink

Sabine, Connie (Sabine's mother), Lukas, Sophia, and I went to an absolutely beautiful "smaller" town, for a concert, called Ladenburg. The city was full of old buildings, I don't think that we actually even saw a newer building at all. Very lovely and just waiting to have pictures taken of it!

This is the church that the concert was in.

That's Sabine and Connie.

As I stated, a few times, above, we were there for a concert; what a concert it was too!!! It featured the Corelli-Ensemble from Ladenburg/Mannheim and had a guest soloist Caroline Adomeit on the violin.
Here is the program:
Concerto grosso op. 6 No. 10 D-minor                                                         G. F. Handel
Konzert for Violin and Orchestra in D-Major                                               W. A. Mozart
                                                                       Pause
Konzert for Violin and Chamber Orchestra in D-minor                                F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy
"The Lark Ascending" for Violin and Chamber Orchestra                           Ralph Vaughan Williams
"La Ronde des Lutins" for Violin and Chamber Orchestra                          Antonio Bazzini

Okay, I love Uno just as much as the next person and truly it is one of the best games on the face of the Earth (other than Settlers of Catan), but when you start adding technology to it.... Let me just tell you the story. So, Sabine, Lukas, Sophia, and me were talking about playing, of course I got excited, then they got the game out and they have this little robot thing that you put the cards in as you go. Now, I should probably state that before we start, everyone must record their name into the robot that way when it yells at you to do something you know who it is talking to. WELL, of course this game is in German, which slowly but surely is becoming better for me, and therefore, I had no idea what it was screaming. That is until I see everyone running up the stairs and back down again, I now know what it was saying. After about four rounds including one where I had nothing other than red cards (picture below), we decided to call it quits because everyone beginning to sweat a bit.

I never thought that I would ever touch a Barbie ever again in my lifetime because by the time I have kids Barbies will more than likely be extinct. Anywho! Sophia and I played with her Barbies for a good hour and half one day after she had come home from school and finished her homework. She has some pretty cool Barbie cars, not going to lie! I never thought that I would see a smaller car than that of the Fiat 500, that was until I saw Sophia's Barbie Fiat 500, which was pink. Sabine and Sophia both love pink. It's always fun to go shopping with them. I'm not the biggest fan of pink, but then again it is starting to grow on me. Only a few more years and i'll own something of the colour. Until then, I'll teach Barbies to drive safely.

"Click it or Ticket"

I'm pretty good at parrelle parking, no biggy.

Later!!!! Bis dann!

"I'm Never Eating Again"

As some of you might know there is a holiday similar to Thanksgiving in Germany, but it isn't anything like a real whole family meeting for Thanksgiving and having all the food you could possibly ever want! Which is made with love and years of experience. Well, Germany had a Thanksgiving this year, or at least one family. I was in the kitchen for the entire day cooking and it was so much fun. I did, however, state at one point about always having plenty of time and then saving the "little things" for the end and then everything blows up and the people start coming, you're not finished and then they ask if they can help and you end up with a run-on sentence and an unfinished meal! BUT everything got done and it all tasted amazing. The menu for the evening was as follows:

• One Brown Sugar and Honey Glazed Ham
• Mama's Mashed Potatoes
• Ruby's Sweet Corn (My great grandmothers recipe.)
• Very Easy Mac n' Cheesy 
• Bread rolls
• Pumpkin Pie (My first time doing everything from scratch, not my best pie, but it was good.)
• Shirley Ann's 'Nanner Puddin' (For those non-country folk it translates to Banana Pudding.)

There was also homemade apple cider for the kids and a nice apple cider sangria for the adults!

The following day was the day that we all said goodbye to Stefan. I know what you're thinking, my cooking wasn't THAT bad! Stefan is currently in Australia doing another production of Wagner's Ring Cycle as, you guessed it, Siegfried! In Melbourne to be exact. It was sad and we all miss him, but he said he was liking it okay aside from a few odd directors directions.

Bis Spätter!

Mannheim, Water Towers, and Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Keeping up with a blog is a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be. There are a million things that I would love to post, sadly I just can't think of words for them. But I am trying and I hope that all of you are hanging in there with me! So here goes!

York and Paris all at the same time. If you don't know, Mannheim was bombed in WWII and most of the historical architecture was destroyed. There are a few buildings that are still standing and in the middle of the city stands a water tower..... Think about an American water tower..... now think of a castle tower. Take the castle tower and put water in it and there you have it! This was by far the most beautiful devise for holding water that I have ever seen, and I had a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass whiskey glass....it broke, we won't talk about it. (Still makes me want to cry.)

This is the water tower!

This is drinking water. Coolest thing ever!

These were absolutely beautiful vine covered walkways next to the water tower.

I was on the water tower. You can walk around it. Gorgeous fountain. 

And now for something completely different...

I don't know how many reading this post know how much I like a good cup of Joe, but you better bet your bottom dollar that you will by the time you've finished reading!!! Upon hearing about the opportunity to have a day in Mannheim, what did I do? Looked up if there was a Starbucks! I was very glad to see that they did, and very sad when I didn't write down where it was. I don't know who the genius is that decided to put coffee and pumpkin together, but whoever it is, God Bless them for being such angles. Now, the closest Starbuck to me right now is 45 minutes drive away. I went from living in a college town where I could walk to Starbucks and get back to class on time. I love the holiday drinks there, and like to get one of each every year...I am a gold card holder if that tells you anything.

Pumpkin spice latte with a blueberry cheesecake muffin.

Apfelrollen with a coffee. I swear I'm not addicted.... That's all for now. More to come this week! Wednesday is a big day!!! Wish me luck!

Bis bald!

Forgotten photos and Adventures Out the Whazoo!

Alright folks! Here are the pictures that I promised in the last post and forgot to post!
 The following are very random but I will do my best!

Stefan, the birthday boy! We had a tour through the city. It was awesome!

FUN FACT: Carl Marx was married in this church!

That's a cannon ball....

This is the church that Sabine and Stefan were married in! 

The following are from a different time, not the tour.

Chari will just lay on my feet if I stand somewhere for too long.... Jut thought you ought to know because it's absolutely adorable!

This is from the concert! Stefan walked in at the right time... This is the church.

I got excited that I was really dressed up and decided to have my own photo op when no one was looking.

The next ones are from a trip that we took to a historical village that is similar to Cade's Cove (for those of you who know) or like colonial Williamsburg.

Lukas and Alex, an exchange student from London.

Almost caught up! Promise!!!! Next up is my very first big production opera! Wagner's Flying Dutchman!

This was the view from my BOXSEAT!!!! How Stefan landed these tickets I will meet know, but it was great!

I will be posting a desperate blog for Mannheim. Coming shortly. So shortly that you shouldn't even blink. Keep breathing, just don't blink.

Just Call Me Famous Dave!

Hello all! Well, this has been a ..... few weeks. Not quite sure what exactly to call them. I have plenty of pictures I just haven't put them on my computer yet, so I will do a later blog of only pictures so as to catch up on my major slacking! Terribly sorry!

Well, there were about four days where I could not get out of bed without feeling like I was about to.... well, I was sick so I will just let you know that it was a stomach infection and I won't go any further. I could not eat anything other than pretzels and dry bread and LOTS of water. I think I watched about four movies a day, I fell asleep through half of them, but it was a nice little Disney marathon. I also started watching Friends. It still surprises me sometimes when I think that I am living the dream! Well, a dream, one of my many.

I have gotten to talk to so many friends back home and it is so fantastic to hear their voices again!!! Also, made me cry at some points. I think I could have sat for hours and talked to them like we used to except for the fact that we used to have coffee while having long talks and it is usually about 11pm when I get to talk to them. I don't mind to drink coffee that late if in fact I will be writing a very long essay or I am VERY interested in a book, or if I don't have to wake up the following day until noon! Sadly, I am feeling a bit old as of late, but hopefully that will pass as soon as fall actually comes and there is no Cleveland weather of 50 degrees one day followed by 80 the next.

Speaking of cold weather!! Guess who is bringing American Thanksgiving to Germany! This girl! I am beyond excited! Although it will be very early because Stefan will be going to Australia to sing in early October and will not be back until December! So! in the following weeks I will be preparing for Fall. Hopefully I can find a few things for decorations because, if you don't know, I work along side my grandmother and mother in a party business called Three Bells. (Shameless advertisement!) I will be taking it upon myself to truly treat this family to a whole day of relaxing and spend my whole day from morning to night in the kitchen! A place where I feel most at ease. I don't know what I will be making for lunch yet, but breakfast and dinner are taken care of! I just need to find one pumpkin so that I can make a pumpkin pie! My Tennessee (Sevier County and Cleveland) famous pumpkin pie! It will not be the same not making Thanksgiving dinner with my grandmother, but hopefully I can make a Thanksgiving dinner almost as nice as what she has given me over the years. I know how I will be giving my thanks over this very makeshift Thanksgiving.

OH! Yes! On an almost related note of "speaking of my grandmother"! I made her world class fried chicken for the kids yesterday! I have never made it before, but hopefully I got the right measurement of love in it. Sophia had fried chicken in Seattle this summer and has been talking about it the whole time i've been here. I made it and she said that it was the third best fried chicken that she had ever tasted! Which I gladly took because she is the picky eater of the family! Her first running was the chicken in Seattle, followed by her mothers chicken, and falling into third place is my grandmothers. Which I am sure I did something wrong if it fell into third, but I am happy to have gotten a "YUUMMMM" followed by her picking up the chicken with her hands and really digging in!

Today is just a lot of "AHHHHH" for tomorrow. The concert! How did it come up so fast!! My dress now needs to be altered, somehow I have managed to lose a few inches since I have been here. Must be all the Dinkel! (Basically no sugar.) Today will consist of ironing, altering, and practicing! I have been waiting for tomorrow for about four years now. Especially for about two years since my clarinet teacher told me that I basically would't amount to anything on the clarinet. I guess we will see tomorrow! If I give my signature to anyone then I will count that as something and probably won't be able to sleep for the follow three nights because I will be so excited. If that happens, I promise not to forget anyone! HA! Let's be honest, no one can even read my signature. I think it looks something like Dan L. Haskeets. If you ever see that signature save it! Well, I need to get some work done!
See you on the other side!

Bis Bald!

Surrounded by Such Talent and Beauty!

Okay! It's been forever since I have blogged. Like a full week! I can and can't believe it all at the same time. Things have been going swimmingly, finally getting into a swing and it feels great! So here is what has happened. I am going to try to sum everything up in pictures. Here we go!

(The above are from dinner on the Rhine! Sunset and beauty)

(Just a few more from the Fischer Stechen in case you missed all the others. HA!)

 (Stefan went to Moscow to sing last week and when he got back he had something new for the house!)

(The smallest one is smaller than my pinky finger nail......)

(I went out by myself for a little bit the other morning and had a blast! I felt like a real "German". Which is saying a lot since all that I can do at this moment is not entirely the bare minimum, but a little bit above that. This is a restaurant, and an old one at that.)

Found a small (about ten feet wide) coffee shop and had breakfast. As you can tell I was hungry and the crescent was heavenly and I took one bite and couldn't stop! The same goes for the Chai latte! Before I knew it an hour had passed and I had basically moved in with everything that I had all over this table! Nevertheless it was a very pleasant visit and I intend to not make it the only one!)

On my way back to the car I was going to stop at this music store and see if they had a CD that I want. Sadly, they were closed BUT! Look at this!!!!! This is a poster for the concert that we are putting on this month!!! If you look very closely you will see my name is the third down on the right upper corner! I just hope the reeds that I've broken in while I've been here will hold out and sound as good as they do today on the 27th. If you're reading this and you're near Hargesheim, Germany please come to our benefit concert! 

As the title of this says talent I would just like to brag about the family that has graciously let me into their home to help out! The Vinke family are absolutely fantastic and even though they will never replace my actual family they are helping a lot by helping me to fell welcome and I am blessed to have gotten the email back in May. I had no idea just what God had in store for my life after Lee University, but a lot of things are coming into focus. I still have no idea what God has in store for me (conductor of orchestras, singing in an opera or musical, playing clarinet or even working at a coffee shop.) As of right now, I don't know much of anything, but I do know that there is a plan and that it has started with a degree and now I am here. I know that there is a reason that I have a degree in music and that God has placed me with some really excellent musicians.

Ta ta for now!

Bis bald