Gratitude 20

I am thankful for the way Hungarians clap. It just makes me smile/laugh. It is difficult to explain without demonstrating, but it begins normally and then suddenly breaks into this slow, rhythmic clap with everyone in unison, gets faster and faster till it becomes a mess of claps again, and then starts over again and again.

(Yes, I know, the picture has nothing to do with the gratitude, but I promised a picture of the kids on the slidy thing in the square.)

So, this week just started out awful. And it has continued to be quite terrible with a few momentary shining lights that kept me going. And it is only Tuesday! Ugh! It can only get better, right? At least, I hope so!

Yesterday, I had a Hungarian lesson, which is fine...I enjoy learning pieces of this language. And then an observation of the first grade at the Kodály Iskola for Methodology. In short, Methodology isn't my most favorite times of the week. It is crazy ridiculous how much those 6-year-olds know about music and can do, and it is cool to see. However, I just do not particularly enjoy the class itself. But that's another topic entirely. So not a particularly grand morning. I also felt like I was starting to come down with a bug or something, which in my life is just simply not allowed. No time to be sick. It's just not an option...and especially when you have a limited time to study in a particular place. Every moment counts then.

In the afternoon, I met Ferenc, a friend of Christa, a student here from the Isle of Man. He wants to practice his English, so I volunteered to spend an hour with him each week. Why not? I speak English. He was a very nice man, and he speaks better English than I do! (That's another thing I have learned about Hungarians...when they learn a language, apparently, it is the "Hungarian way" not to use it unless it is perfect. Yet, they are more proficient at it that natives to the language!)

In the late afternoon, I had to go to conducting lab despite not wanting to because I wasn't feeling the best. However, I sucked it up.

After scarfing down a quick dinner after class, a few of us popped over to a concert at the Franciscan church on the opposite side of the Institute building. (They are actually attached because the Institute used to be a Franciscan monastery, but you cannot enter it from here anymore.) I wasn't going to go because my pile of work wasn't going to do itself, but I am glad I did. It was a nice cleanser of the soul. The acoustics in that church are crazy! I don't know what it is, but the ceilings in the Institute, too, are fantastic! I love them! It is some type of vault-like idea, and the sound just goes everywhere! (It sucks when you are trying to have a private conversation, though!) As most probably know, I am not the biggest choir enthusiast, but Katalin Kiss's choir Ars Nova Énekgyüttes was really, really good. (Kati Kiss is a teacher here at the Institute, however I do not have her...she teaches advanced solfege...I'm nowhere near that level.) It was very strange to hear English language music being sung, though. Nothing wrong with it. To the contrary, they did it very well. It was just very unexpected and a surprise to the ears. They sang a gorgeous René Claussen piece, The Prayer of Saint Francis. It was lovely. But then they did a Rutter piece. Rutter? Really? I mean, yes, he has some good pieces, but most of them sound very similar in flavor/colour. Also, my biggest qualm with Rutter is that he writes religious/spiritual/church music solely for the money; he is actually an atheist, yet devotes his life to writing music about God. A little hypocritical, don't you think?

The rest of the evening was spent cramming for everything today (Tuesday...or kedd as it is called in Hungarian).

Today did not go so well. Solfege started out quite shaky but turned toward the better...in a very intense, strict-Klára way. But it was fine. My ear is getting better. Slowly and steadily. My lessons however? Ugh! To begin with, I was pretty much a nervous ball of tears on the verge of bursting before and during...and after, too, I suppose...my voice lesson. I rarely get like that, but something about my under-preparation for the day set me off. Luckily, I did not cry...although it may have been better if I actually had. Poor János I don't think knew what to do with me. I probably looked like at any moment the tears would just start rolling. No, I know I did. He was very good, though, asking every now and again, "Have a said something wrong?" (He, too, claims his English is not very good when it is perfectly fine, so he often asks that for fear of having mixed up words.) Just a little overwhelmed right now, and he is pushing many difficult songs my way, which is fine...it's only because he knows I can do it...but he had to remind me, too, that we have a very short time together and lots of work to do in that time. Stressed? Me? No!

From him, I went to Orsolya for my piano lesson...which, of course, I was ten minutes late for because my voice lesson ran over. Definitely not unusual around here. She didn't notice or, at least, pretended not to and immediately asked how my lesson had gone. Sweet Orsolya did all she could to make things better and even worked with me on the dreadful rhythms in a Hungarian piece I kept messing up in my lesson with János. Needless to say, I probably played ten minutes of piano in my already shortened lesson, but we still accomplished things. Lastly, I had conducting with Zoltán, to which I was late, as well, because my lesson with Orsolya always runs over, too. By that point, though, my brain was gone and off in another world, and I think Zoltán had his wits end with me...and I didn't even end up having to conduct...and I was supposed to...he forgot thankfully.

Well, here's to a productive Wednesday and better lessons on Thursday! Time for me to be getting to bed.