Hamburgers and Iranians

I have been singing in the opera choir for Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges for a little over a month now, slowly getting to know the other choir members.  Surprisingly, the majority of us are not from Austria which is also the case for most of the students at the music university.  Among my fellow tenors there are guys from Thailand, Pakistan, and Mississippi.  Because we don't rehearse as often with the women (sopranos and altos), making acquaintance with them has taken a little longer.
Just this past week I struck up a conversation with an alto pertaining to something in the sheet music.  She was struggling only a little with her German but resorted to an English word while explaining something.  I believe the word was "awkward."  Anyway, I replied in English. She realized that I was a native speaker and excitedly jumped to English.*  I asked her where she was from and she cautiously said Iran.  Of course, my  reaction was instant intrigue and excitement as I'd never met an Iranian before.  On top of this, there are the lingering tensions between the United States and Iran over their supposed nuclear program.  Naturally, this only makes me more excited and eager to speak with her.  The geopolitical nerd came out of me as I blurted out the reply "Waohh, that's awesome!"  Her smile dropped.  "Why do you think that is awesome.  Wait, are you from America?"  I nodded.  Her look of "what the hell do we say now" was priceless.  Apparently avoiding any sensitive topics, she turned around and stared out of the window.  Because we formed 2/3 of the people in the room at the time the silence could only be described as... what's the word? awkward?

Last week my stomach was feeling a little homesick so I decided to make hamburgers and macaroni and cheese.  I know what you're thinking, eating this by myself would make me a fatty so I invited some Austrian friends along to share in my gluttony.  It was all delicious which was surprising because, I must admit, I've never made mac and cheese from scratch before.  I found this recipe online which turns out was the original one Thomas Jefferson invented.  Check out the photos...

Looks good doesn't it...

Also, my daily commute has become much healthier.  I bought a bike!  It is awesome!  I ride all over town now and save hours from my week (not to mention money I would have spent on the tram).  I'm still trying to think of what name to give it.  I'm thinking of calling it Arnold (after the governator who is believe it or not from Graz) but am open to suggestions.

...and just to round off the title a little more.  I met a guy the other day whose name is Daniel.  Daniel is from Hamburg.  There's nothing particularly interesting about him except for the fact that I can understand his German (at least when compared to Austrians).


*Whenever two foreign people meet in a foreign country there is usually a brief period of spirited back and forth questioning that goes something like this...

What's your name?
Where are you are you from?
What are you doing here?

...from there it can be unpredictable.

Unterricht

Beat Furrer, with whom I am currently studying, is a fairly renowned composer with works performed all of the world.  His style is abrasive to some, hectic to others, and expressive to the few who follow modern art music.  I've had two lessons with him so far and can safely say that he enjoys discussing things in terms of vagueries.  It's fun in a way to listen to him go on for 15 minutes about how to formulate a piece of music with aural "tools," using the metaphor of a tree to describe organic complexity in music.  He is honestly a very nice guy and patiently listens when I attempt to describe (in broken German) what I'm thinking and how I intend to accomplish my goals.  In addition, I have the feeling that in our brief lessons, he understands fairly well my musical intentions (perhaps a little better than I do myself).
The only problem with taking lessons from Beat  (pronounced bay-aht for my american friends) is that he's a little too renowned.  I cannot tell you have many times during my lesson that he took phone calls from some other performer or renowned musician.  It seems like he gets call from conductors, opera singers, professional instrumentalists around the clock.  And, he's knows them all on a first name basis.................  Additionally, everyone wants his ear so the lessons tend to be interrupted by students fawning and bowing before him in the hopes of making an impression.  You add all that up and what should be an hour long lesson becomes a 20 minute dash to get input from the "master."  (Also, he's a name dropper. LOL) Has his input made a difference in my music?  In a word, no.  I'll give it time and see what happens.  Third lesson is the charm...right?