Gig

I haven't written in a long time. I've thought about writing, but nothing has struck me as terribly exciting or unusual. I've been very busy with rehearsals, lessons, and some gigs, but it's all just part of the daily grind. I did a gig this past weekend for Pfingsten, or Whit Sunday - the seventh Sunday after Easter. I don't really know why it's important, but it's a national holiday nevertheless in all of Germany, and everything is also closed on Monday, or Pfingsten/Whit Monday. We played in a town called Rheda-Wiedenbrueck. It's 1.5 hours from Detmold so we stayed overnight at church choir members' houses. I stayed with a very nice couple - middle-aged with three daughters in their early 20s. They were very suburban, "All-American" types; it sounds strange to describe Germans as All-American, but I can't find a better description for people who are all about the 2.5 kids + a dog deal. The mother has been practicing yoga for the last 10 years, which I found way cool. I've met too many people who are very Christian and actively attend church, and claim that yoga is something from the Devil, so this was a breath of fresh air. Christians in Europe tend to be a lot more liberal than Christians in the States. On Saturday night after the mass, a choir member and her husband hosted a church potluck dinner/BBQ in a barn on their pig farm. We even visited a Mama sow who had just given birth to 13 adorable piglets. I felt like I was in Aledo again (a tiny town of 3,000 in the rural Midwest where I grew up until the age of eight). During the mass, I observed that one of the priests in the church (which was a massive old baroque-styled cathedral...quite beautiful) was Indian. I didn't speak with him, but just heard him reciting liturgical texts in German with a strong Indian accent. It was interesting because I've never met/seen an Indian Catholic priest in India or America, let alone in Europe. I would have liked to meet and talk to him in person, but I didn't think it'd be a good idea to walk up to the altar in the middle of Mass! Sadly, I have nothing more to report. I have been reading The Onion, though, lately, and that's got a great deal of humorous things to report. Check it out: www.theonion.com xo