IrishOboe

May 1^st is a holiday and it was also Ascension Day, which is a holiday, but since they fell on the same day, we only got one day.  It was a pleasant day, so I’m not complaining.  Stephan organized a hike to the castle Dorneck where we met up with a few more folks from church and enjoyed a barbeque before the rain hit.  It was lovely to go hiking again and we caught a glimpse of Swiss culture to boot.  Traditionally, the men of the town march around the local borders and fire guns to symbolize their readiness to defend their land.  Hopefully the video is small enough to upload so you can enjoy it.

2008-05-01_DorneckHike_firing.mpg

Stephan preached that Sunday and we celebrated by going to the park and throwing the Frisbee around.  We’ve done that a number of Sundays, and it’s grand.  Reminds me of the good ol’ times, if I’m allowed to speak like that.

Monday, May 5^th Stephan had the opportunity to come to German Bible study since they moved it from Tuesday to Monday just for that week so they could have a special guest speaker.  It was good for Stephan to meet my friends and it was good for me to have some more time with Stephan in a Germanic context.  The special guest was a Catholic monk from India who works in Basel now.  It was very interesting to listen to him and he also fixed a great Indian meal.

Thursday, May 8^th Stephan and met with our pastor to discuss the possibility of marrying.  We’re not sure what we’re doing and weren’t sure whether such counseling is supposed to come before or after engagement, but it can’t hurt to have some wiser eyes from the outside.  It went well and I think that gave us both confidences.  We still have some occasional conflicts but we’ve worked through a lot and are much better at identifying deteriorating circumstances than before.  We’re working through parts of a book Pastor Dave recommended and mostly using it as a conversation starter.  We seem to have covered most things, but we are well aware of our inexperience and of the wealth of wisdom in friends around us.  If you have something valuable to contribute as we start down this path of joining our lives, please let us know!  You are free to give advice, and we am free to take it or leave it. ;)

I’m not stepping through each day, but the weeks were filled with intense harp practice and ensemble rehearsal for the concert in Ferrara, Italy.  Anyway I still found time to do make-up piano lessons at the school Friday and help clean the building so the teachers could have a break from it seeing as it was Teacher Appreciation Week.  Afterwards Diana fed us Mexican food, which is the real reason I helped clean up . . .

May 12^th was Pentecost and that meant another day off from school.  We went on another hike but I forget where because Stephan organized it all.  It was beautiful and I think the place is called Wasserfallen even though there isn’t much of a waterfall.  Afterwards we had a fondue party at Richard’s which seemed like a fitting way to replace the expended calories.

The week involved more intense ensemble rehearsal and preparation for Italy.  We left Thursday morning (15^th) and returned Sunday (18^th).  The trip deserves its own post so I’ll skip it for now.

Friday the 23^rd I had a lovely afternoon with Aubrey after make-up piano lessons.  We went for a run and a chat then we replenished our calorie expenditure with donner kebabs and gelato.  The whole package of entertainment cost under five Euro.  Gotta love German prices (even with the weak Franc).  It was the company that made it most enjoyable and I almost was late to a concert that evening because time flew by so delightfully.

Stephan met me for one of the best concerts I’ve been to this year.  The trombone and cornetto classes gave their end-of-the-year concert in collaboration with a number of singers, organ, and two violins.  They rehearsed five or more hours each day for the whole week and it showed.  They blend was beautiful and they were sensitive to the movement of the others in the group.  It was in tune and together and created a beautiful blend of sound color.  I was glad Stephan could come, and especially glad he made it alive!  For the first time his bike tire got caught in a tram track and he took a fall, but he and his bike survived with minor scratches.  Other folks haven’t been so lucky.  It’s been the week of bike accidents.  Nobody has died, but it does teach caution and reinforce the need to wear a helmet!

Saturday, May 24^th I went to church to practice piano for the following Sunday service and Stephan came to do an inventory of church property.  It was lovely to work in close proximity and I practiced for three hours without a clue that it had been that long!  It takes so much time for me to learn pieces on piano, but it’s rather nice to have something make me play.  Part of me hopes that they’ll ‘fire’ me but we’re so desperate for pianists that I’ve been roped into the rotation.  Come to think of it, there are more pianists in this congregation than most, so I’m not quite sure why they feel so hard pressed, but maybe it’s because everyone complains that it takes a lot of time to work up the pieces. 

That evening I went to Elain’s for a German-speaking event.  Stephan was the only person there with a Germanic language as a mother tongue.  I guess English is technically a Germanic language, but what I mean to say is he was the only native speaker of German or Swiss German (Stephan being in the latter category, of course).  That was good, he was quite willing to help and correct.  I enjoyed myself and it was fun to see where everyone’s German is.  I met some new people who thought I was Swiss because of my accent.  It’s better than being identified as American, but it’s a little concerning that learning German in Switzerland leaves me with a distinct Swiss accent despite the fact that I don’t hear much Swiss German.  I hear plenty of high German with a Swiss accent, though, and I’m sure that’s where it comes from.

Sunday (25^th) I survived the service with only one goof that everybody knew about (I forgot the second verse of a praise song and had to be prompted by the leader to continue).  I also decided to get my gothic harp some exposure by playing it for the offertory.  Here’s where I warn Stephan to skip to the next paragraph if he doesn’t want to be embarrassed by praise.  I go to the youth Bible study before church and there isn’t time for me to get to the school after it opens to bring the harp over so Stephan brought it for me.  Wasn’t that sweet?  I played an improvisation on “Morning Trumpet” and had only had two practice sessions to make a rough sketch of what I’d do and think up good ideas for imitation and commentary (musically speaking).  This because it took me a while to decide what I’d even play.  So, rather unprepared my improvisation was really quite an improvisation and I was rather pleased with how it came out.  This is one of those moments when I realize I have come quite far and have learned a great deal despite feeling like nothing much happens any particular week.  Another mighty achievement, I didn’t really care all that much what people thought about it.  I was pleased to get some compliments, but I was happy enough to compare myself to my abilities and not some ideal and be rather pleased about it.  Those who know me best might have an inkling of what a huge step this is.

All this church stuff meant missing the Renaissance dance extra class, but Stephan and I joined the group for a barbeque at our teacher’s afterwards.  It was good food and fellowship.  I have too much fun here.

Far too much happened this week for me to finish the month of May.  This is probably too long anyway.  Plus, it’s midnight . . .