Ich liebe dich, Deutschland!

I have to admit--I haven't had the best attitude about this trip.

I am typically a very positive person, but the idea of spending my entire summer wandering around Germany on a tour of Porgy and Bess instead of lolling comfortably at home in Philadelphia made me a little sour. I kept saying to anyone who would listen, "Why won't they pay me to stay home??" Ha. Fat chance.

Maybe it's because Germany and I have had a rocky relationship in the past. I've visited many times--and I would say that I even have had fun. But, it was always a qualified fun; "This was a great time, considering." I've had my share of bad memories in this country:

In Dresden, I remember that people openly stared at me like I belonged in a zoo, and when I would smile at them, just to break the tension a little, they would just continue staring. To this day, I don't know if they were staring because of my height or my color. Maybe both! Frankfurt was weird, too. I once got off the train there alone, and an oily man followed me from the station for about 10 blocks, hanging back two steps behind me and occasionally trying to take my suitcase from me. What?

I should add also that for some reason, I have a strange mental block for the language. When I see words like "Bewerbungsunterlagen" or "Einzelzimmerzuschlag", it honestly makes me just want to run for the border. I don't have the attention span for 7-syllable words.

Despite all of my negative impressions and irrational fear of the language, I signed the contract anyway, and, it was time to shut up and go! One, because I am not in a position to turn down solid singing work, and two, because a part of me recognized that being in Germany for 6 weeks might actually (gasp!) help my German language skills.

I still managed to spend most of May and June pouting about missing going to the Jersey shore (I think last year I made it down once), and my weekly (or bi-weekly) visits to Capogiro. I whined about missing all the cookouts and general laziness by Mom's pool; I worried about having trouble finding places in Germany to get my cinema fix in the original language.

I feel a little foolish admitting it now, but I've been here 3 days and so far I'm having a blast. I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday and fell in love! I will post pictures as soon as I figure out how. What a cool city! I spent most of Wednesday walking around, soaking up the energy. (I also had a date, but we will save that bit for another post...) Berlin has a very cosmopolitan, open feeling. My date told me that of all the cities in the world, Berlin has the most nationalities represented in its residents--even more than NYC. Anyway, I felt good there. I went to the Alexanderplatz and saw a public exposition on the history of Berlin. I ate bratwust und brotchen. I drank weissweinschorle (white wine spritzer). I smiled at people and they smiled back. In general, the people in Berlin were very nice; a very sweet hooker on Orienburgerstrasse even tried to chat me up last night! I didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted; either way, though, it was nice to be noticed. :) I'm glad that the tour is going back there in a few weeks, because I definitely haven't gotten my fill of Berlin yet...

So, I'm writing to report that I officially have a new attitude. I am ready to enjoy Germany. Today, as a symbol of my commitment, I bought a pocket-sized German-English dictionary, and I started two conversations with strangers. In German. Yes, really! I'm proud.

I arrived in Leipzig today. We begin rehearsals tomorrow. I can't say that I've seen much yet here, but I have more than a week here to discover the city, so I'm sure to have something interesting to say about Leipzig soon. Stay tuned!