Happy New Year (a bit late) from Paris

Sorry for not saying that earlier. I know I haven't written much but I can explain why. First of all, China: 9 concerts in 10 days left me with basically no time to write anything between sickness and nonstop traveling. Secondly, it's not as though I could have EASILY found an internet cafe because no one in China understands the word "internet." Thirdly, we were practically dead by the end of the tour. China is one crazy place. We traveled in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Anshin, Beijing, and five cities in the northern Jilin Province where it was -25 C (so about 2-5 F) and snowing constantly. Food was very difficult, as vegetarian seems to qualify that one heartily eats fish, too. Half the orchestra was racked with sickness from flu to you name it, and three people even went home early. However, the last four days were spent in Beijing (we were in China for 14 days total, and I flew home on January 9) and were wonderful. It's a very nice city, and Chinese people are friendly - they try to help despite language barriers. After I came back from China, I had to quickly recover from jetlag and illness and gave two concerts on January 12 and 13 and then started to rigorously rehearse with my trio for the Diplomexam of our pianist, Joanna. We performed the Brahms C Major and Mendelssohn d minor trios on February 8, and she earned a good score from the jury. I've started teaching, too, at a private music school called Musikschule Allegro in Leopoldshoehe, about 20 minutes from Detmold. So far, I'm up to 10 students every Friday afternoon. Most are individual 1/2 hour lessons, but a few are two in a group lesson. It was so exhausting afterwards because while my German is fluent, I never taught in it, and had to figure out how to just make the language work, connect with the kids, and above all, keep them engaged. Friends gave me violin method books, and I had to quickly school myself on how to teach a 5 year old how to play the violin. It isn't easy, but I enjoy the challenge, and it's official work (not under the table like so many other friends of mine) with a work permit in my passport, and I am thankful for a bit of steady income. I'm now in Paris, having arrived after a bad 2.5 hour plane delay from Cologne yesterday. I stayed with my friends Liat and Bryan in their beautiful flat near the Eiffel Tower. They left for Rome with their kids early this morning but were kind to let me stay for as long as I want. I am going to catch a train in 1.5 hours to Saintes on the southwest coast in between Bordeaux and Limoges because I'm playing in a classical period orchestral festival for a week. We have concerts on Tues, Wed, and Thurs of next week in Saintes itself, Chatelaillon (have no idea where it is) and Paris after which I'll go to visit Cristina, my Spanish roommate, in Lille where she resides with her boyfriend Pierre Emannuell during our school vacations. I really will try to update as I go along. Really, I'm serious! xo