Goodbyes and Politics under the Sun

It's Friday, February 16, 11:42 AM in Detmold, Germany. Take careful note of this date for annual celebration because it's the first time in probably 2-2.5 weeks the sun isn't just peeking and there isn't (knock on wood) a hint of rainfall lurking in the air. So "prost" to that. This last week has been one party after another. Last Friday, our German teachers Frau Tegtmeier-Breit and Frau Capsa (still my German teacher at the Volkhochschule) held a soiree at Frau Tegtmeier-Breit's apartment. It began at 6:00 but I arrived two hours late from a lesson and I fully expected the party to be nearly wrapping up. Alas, no - we stayed until 11:30! It was great to speak so much German with ease, to hear how much everyone's German has improved, and to simply visit one another for the last time as a German class. The next day, Alice had a party to celebrate the end of the semester/passing pruefungexams/say goodbye to Thomas, who left on the following Tuesday for France. Frederika was asked to make crepes, and also grudgingly accepted the fact that she'll be known now as the "pancake lady," though I actually prefer the German, "Crepesfrau." While walking back home late at night, I felt a bit sad to say goodbye to Thomas. As nutty as he can be sometimes, he has a way of bringing fun out of people and livening up the atmosphere. I look forward to seeing him in Paris. On Sunday, I had breakfast with my Spanish friend Cristina and a rehearsal for Sarabande, the baroque ensemble I played with the following day. We played a Bach Cantata (I think #50) in the diplom recital of a trumpet player named Helmut, and afterwards, the concertmaster of Sarabande and his girlfriend, Eric and Iris, had a nice party in their beautiful apartment. At one point, I was explaining to Mariike, a German violinist, the premise of the show Sex & The City, and the moment I said the name of the show, 4 other girls perked up and exclaimed, "Ohmigod, I looove that show!" Iris jumped up and grabbed all six seasons of the Spanish subtitled version, Sexa en Neuva York, and Eric groaned, "Someone take them away from her before she makes us watch them!" Indeed it is a truly international phenomenon for women and gay men alike. I remember being 17 or 18 and not watching the show before because I'd presumed that I wouldn't like it, and a rather flamboyant man at Aspen Music Fest told me that you love the show more and more because you relate to it more and more. I scoffed at him, saying I couldn't imagine relating to an unrealistic bunch of women who appeared to me as walking STDs. However, after having gone through college i.e. meeting too many crap/childish/sex-driven/ emotionally unavailable guys, one can, in fact, relate more and more to the show... On Tuesday, Maaike (Dutch cellist), Frederika, Mathilde and I had dinner at Mathilde's place, and we ended up talking until nearly 4 AM. It was great conversation, concerning socio-political problems in each of our respective countries, growing up and breaking away from parents, Swiss trumpet players (haha for me on that one), and the fact that I know about 50 words of French (yes, we counted...although if you include all the cognates in English, then I think the figure is probably closer to 200-250). According to an article I once read in The Economist (I sound like an Extemper, geez), one needs to have at least 2,000 words in his/her active vocabulary in order to be considered 'fluent' in the language. The article didn't say anything about formulating sentences or understanding proper grammar of the language, as that's a presumably implied requirement. But on a literal basis, I only need to learn about 1950 words more in French to be fluent! Here's the one conversation I could carry in Paris: Geeta: Bonjour! Ca va? Parlez-vous anglais? (Hello! How's it going? Do you speak English?) Chic Parisian: No. (No.) Geeta: Merde! Au Putain! Au revoir! (Damn! Shit! Goodbye!) Hmm. I may think twice before I decide to use this conversation bit. On Wednesday, we had our last ever Schubert Quintet rehearsal, and then Ella & I went to our studio concert, which was really nice. It consisted of Jonathan playing the full Grieg Sonata, Liv's group playing the Beethoven c-minor Piano Trio (Op. 1 no. 3), Min Shu with a Penderezki solo violin piece, and Ingrid + Bo Yoon with Brahms' d minor Violin Sonata (No. 3). Afterwards, Frau Mathe had a party with international flair - dishes from Turkey, Taiwan, I cooked Indian, Polish, and much more. But again, I didn't get to sleep until about 3 AM for the third/fourth night in a row. Yesterday after German class, Frederika, Mathilde and I took the bus to Ella and Marek's apartment to say goodbye to them because they left for Poland today. I am so glad to have met both of them, and to have played with Ella. It wasn't always easy as we're are really completely different violinists, and I don't think it would have worked for a long-term professional level ensemble i.e. quartet. I learned a lot, though, about blending sounds and listening. I do hope to see her again, and I'm sure I will, considering that before I left Boston, Magdalena told me she'd never speak with me again if I didn't visit Poland while living in Europe. Klaus is coming in 1/2 hour to help me with my stupid telephone (damn you, TComm) and then I'm meeting my future quartet at school to photocopy music. OH! Guess which part I'm playing in the quartet? Yes that's right...VIOLA. WTF. It's because after asking nearly 6-7 people, we couldn't find a violist, and Frau Mathe has a viola she can give me by April 1, so I said, "Fine, I'll save the group and play viola." We're playing a Beethoven quartet and while I'm a bit worried about the clef/whether I'll be able to play it the part properly, I'm MORE worried about the forthcoming constant viola jokes from the group! Frederika and Simone (second violinist) are already hounding me about it...argh. I leave on a political note, as I guiltily read in English this morning (Time Magazine). Michael Kinsley's article "In Defense of Partisan Bickering" states: "It's been decades, of course, since any important politician admitted to being a liberal. In a reissue of her book 'It Takes a Village', Senator Hillary Clinton indulges in yin-yangery worthy of her husband's notable indecision about boxers vs. briefs. "Most of us would describe ourselves as 'middle of the road' - liberal in some areas, conservative in others, moderate in most, neither exclusively pro- nor anti-government," and so on. Senator Barack Obama, in his book 'The Audacity of Hope', concedes only that his mother was a liberal of the romantic, pre-1967 variety, most emotionally engaged with things like the space program. By contrast until recently there was no shortage of politicians proudly claiming the label 'conservative.' Now, the only serious presidential candidate who calls himself a conservative is former Gov. Mitt Romney - and he clings to the label because, based on his record, he obviously isn't one. Senator Sam Brownback, who calls himself a conservative and actually is one, isn't considered serious for that very reason. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, who is serious, calls himself a 'commonsense conservative,' thus implying that most conservatives lack common sense. This is even more insulting than George W. Bush's 'compassionate conservative' of the 2000 election because common sense is considered, by conservatives, to be a specifically conservative virtue. Unlike, say, compassion." Clever article :) Historically, I've been opposed to the utter ridiculousness of Bush's administration and had yet to find any positive aspects possibly emerging in his aftermath. However, I think that there is a really interesting phenomenon in the 2008 elections (which have already begun to take way, unusually early...probably because people can hardly wait until George Bush's term is over). Party lines are being crossed more and more, thus dissolving traditionally bipartisan-based qualities/beliefs. For example, I don't understand why Republicans who aren't super Christian or religious (therefore don't make the abortion choice based on religious creed) couldn't adopt my stance on abortion, which is personally pro-life but globally pro-choice. I mean, I'm not about to tell someone what to do with their body, but I know how I feel about my own. I think that even if one was pro-choice globally and Republican, the majority of Republicans don't support being pro-choice, so in order to 'keep Republican face,' one had to go with the political flow. It's not changing for all issues (abortion is a ways away from being non-partisan), but these days, Republican doesn't necessarily mean you support the war, and the same applies for Democrats and not supporting war. One candidate is so socially conservative but is fiscally quite liberal, or one candidate is opposed to war but has a much more moderate Iraq intervention/troop withdrawal plan than someone who is staunchly anti-war. Thus I conclude that because President Bush screwed up so badly, politicians are now scrambling for brand new identities that are devoid of any relation to the President out of fear that they'll lose voters due to the association. Maybe we can start to erase the great divide between Republicans and Democrats and actually learn to cooperate on tackling the problems of America. So I thank you, President Bush, for allowing (or rather forcing) us to clear the slate in order to generate a new identity, as it's greatly needed in order to save what little international face we can. Indirectly, your ignorant and arrogant political performance managed to do some good for the future political race. On that note, have a lovely day...