Wow! I am so far behind on posts. I must apologize. It seems that as things become shorter, more and more work appears. I shall do my best to remember what's happened...plus, this blog also acts as a sort of "travel journal" of my time abroad (because, unfortunately, my memory is far from perfect and cannot remember everything I'd like it to!).
Tomorrow evening is the annual Christmas concert/party. :) How exciting! I will be singing Kodály's setting of A csitari hegyek alatt, a Hungarian folk melody. Beautiful piece! Nagyon szép! It makes me ask every time, "This is a folk song?! Really? Are you sure? Biztos?" (Plus, Kodály had to insert several high A-flats in it...obviously intentionally arranged for soprano...)
Today, I baked cookies...Gram's recipe...butter balls (aka snowball cookies)...for the party tomorrow. They turned out superb! Yay! It was crazy trying to find what I needed this morning. Oy! Baking in another country! However...note to self for future events...butter balls are the cookie to make when trying to bake somewhere where they don't typically have marshmallows or peanut butter! They're perfect
Okay...blasting back to the past...waaayy back... (This is an extremely long post, so happy reading! haha!)
Not too much sticks out to me since my last real post. Wednesday morning (Dec. 3rd), Marika was in my room cleaning, and I walked in with my cup of tea ready to set to work for the day. She speaks only Hungarian, so whenever we talk, it's Samantha-make-up-some-Hungarian time. haha! She is so cute, though! I love her! So nice! She came over to my computer, which has a picture of my nephew on the desktop and pointed saying, "Ah! Nagyon szép! Nagyon aranyos!" And then something, which I made out that she was asking if he was mine! I replied, "NEM! NEM! NEM! NEM! Csak 21 éves! Nem most!! 10 év!" ("NO! I'm only 21! Not now! [Another] 10 years!") She laughed, and I grabbed my dictionary looking up the word for sister! haha!
On Thursday, Dec. 4th, I snuck off to Budapest with Christa, Jong-sup, Clare, and Asia to see Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte at the Palace of the Arts. Amazing building! Incredible voices! Phenomenal orchestra! They went specifically to see Iván Fischer, the conductor...he's one of the best from what they tell me. I went for the voices. I was so tired, so it was a fight to stay awake, but the music was absolutely fantastic! So glad I went. Was a little upset that I had to be pulled from my voice lesson before we were through because of the traffic to Budapest. I ended up as the last lesson of the day, and János would have given me probably an hour, which I could have greatly used, so I was frustrated. But, oh well. That's life I suppose.
Last Saturday (Dec. 6th), I made Christmas cookies with Top and Sun Xing...Gram's infamous cut-out cookies. Such fun! Sun Xing had never baked before! I couldn't believe it! But apparently, ovens are not very common in China...only stove tops. Interesting. She was so cute!
It was a crazy adventure...and not much real work got done that day...oops! haha! When we were nearly done, we called Gram on Skype. Asia and Sun Xing talked to her, and we showed her our makings. It was funny. I said at one point when I was having difficulties conquering the icing, "Gram, come help...this is a big mess!" And she said, "Okay, I'll be right there." For some reason, Sun Xing thought that was the funniest thing. And the two of them just so excited about talking to my Gram. haha!
The whole weekend was a wonderful Kecskeméti hétvege, though. Quiet and relaxing. I really do like this lovely little town. :) It might not have as much "excitement" as Budapest, but it has such wonderful charm.
(Gratitude 47...I love the bells that ring every hour...even though they begin at the crack of dawn and interupt solfege lesson...I find them absolutely charming...I shall miss them...although I can sing the Kecskeméti tune in solfa now!...I had to learn it for my Hungarian Music Literature exam coming up this Thursday.)
Monday (Dec. 8th), we observed to fourth grade at the Iskola for the last time. Our final observation this coming Monday will be a peak into the seventh grade.
Tuesday had a little extra excitement. I had been asked to sing the Kodály piece (above mentioned) for some invited guests in the concert hall. I didn't really know who or what the whole thing was for, but it was fun. I found out later from Lászlo, the director of the Institute, that it was mostly cultural "leaders" of Kecskemét...I guess he wants to organize events with them and get everyone more involved in life in and out of the Institute and around Kecskemét. Go him! :) I was so honored to be asked to sing...and to sing a Kodály piece in Kodály's "place" I guess you could say...the place created in honor of him based on his musical foundational ideas and in his hometown. It puts a whole new perspective on the music when you are where it began. It becomes sometime very special and real. How incredible! So many times in these past months have I felt, both here in Hungary and in my travels during this time, an overwhelming feeling of "walking on musical history". It's just awe-inspiring. It's like I said before I left the states, I am going back where it all began...that in itself is a precious gem that impacts your own musical experience in no other way possible. :)
Anyway, it went brilliantly! It was a little unnerving at first to be singing in Hungarian to a bunch of Hungarians, but it was fine. I enjoyed myself. Because the event was scheduled in the afternoon very near my voice lesson time, János and I felt it best I try and switch lessons with someone, so it would not be interfered with. However, much to my dismay, the only time I could switch with someone was at 10am! UGH! But it was fine. And I am glad I saw him before the performance. That made me the first lesson of the day, though, and when I arrived at the room, he was not there yet. I thought at first that perhaps I had the wrong room. He came after a couple of minutes to find me doodling a mind game on the chalkboard he'd taught me the previous week. He didn't know I was going to be there instead of the girl who normally has the lesson, and I think I confused him. I said, "Surprise! :P You get to begin your day with me! Aren't you excited?! haha!" And of course, his first question is, " Have you sang already today?" (Even at 4:30pm he asks me this...) I said, "Eh...kicsit..." (A little...I hate singing in the morning!) He made me sing something and gave me this face like "A little?!" It is a very rare occasion for me to walk into my lesson having not sang or began warming up, but I still didn't feel warmed up. I was just afraid he was going to make me sing the stratispheric Mozart!
János joke of the day: "Relax your tongue...like a dead snail!" hahaha! (except it's far better when he then impersonates the dead snail!)
Conducting in the late afternoon went well, too. (Sorry...Tuesday was quite a big day!) We began 3/4 meter conducting, and I was up first. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this conducting thing! haha! Zoltán told an amazing cheesy tree joke, too. Love it!
After class and a bit of dinner, I decided to go out for a short walk and pick up a few things from the store. On my way out, I ran into János and Zita. Before I even got out a "Jó estét", János came up beside me and said, "So...how was?!" in reference to the performance earlier in the day. I said, "Nagyon jó! Very good!" He was pleased to hear so and congratulated me. :) (Before my performance, I was sitting on a window ledge outside the concert hall, and he walked by, reminding me of "the point" and then started doing Tai Chi...crazy man!) I left them saying, "Sétalni megyek", which means, "I am going for a walk." It had been such a great day that I was in an incredible mood.
My walk was splendid! Such a lovely night! To get the store, I had to walk through the Christmas markets. At one of the vendors, I found this lovely necklace, which I ended up purchasing. Then, as I beneath the glittering lights along the way, I heard Bing Crosby's White Christmas begin to play through the square. It was such an amazing moment! (Gratitude 48) Perhaps, it was just the mood I was in, but everything just held this beautiful magic.
Of course, my incredible mood had a bit of a slump later that evening when I found out that Chadwick will be out of town on the scheduled date of my recital! :( I was very upset! However, we shall worry about that when I return to Capital in a few weeks. For now, it's not important to worry about.
Wednesday, Lászlo thanked us for performing the previous day. How nice of him! He gave us a Kodály CD (of course it'd be Kodály! haha!) that is actually performed by Roland, János, and some other lady who used to teach here. Crazy. It was cool, though. Lászlo's really nice, but I shall never forget our first encounter during my entrance exams! Jaj! We had a bit of a battle about how to use solfa for sight-singing. haha! It is very humorous looking back, but in the moment, it was kind of traumatic. haha!
My piano lessons with Orsolya are never dull! Always craziness ensues! I love her, though! She always has the most random analogies, too! Love it! haha! I get so tense when I play piano, though...I just don't trust my fingers to hit the correct keys. However, I am sooo much better at piano than I was when I got here! It's amazing what actually practicing piano can do! haha! I have never practiced piano so much in my entire life! It's good, though. I need to make big strides in my piano. It's very important.
Thursday was an up-and-down day. It didn't start out so grand beginning with folk music. I am really worried about that exam... Solfege went pretty well. It was our last real class. For some reason, I was excellent at picking pitches from the tuning fork...that doesn't always happen so much. Not complaining, though. However, I don't know how well that'll happen in the exam on Tuesday! And for once, I am not really worried about a solfege exam. I feel fine. Not nervous. I've already played/sang most everything for Klára already, so it'll be fine. I think it helps, too, being comfortable with your teacher. She's been a great help. Need to concentrate on my sight-singing and memorized melodies a little more, though. This "inner hearing" thing...yeah...still having trouble grasping that concept, ridiculously enough.
In Methodology, I had to teach a song by rote, which I think will be very helpful when I am teaching a studio. That went well...although she still believes I want to be a classroom teacher....umm...nem!
Chamber music with Roland went quite well. He always manages to say something to upset or irritate me, but this Thursday not so much. It was very productive and mostly positive and constructive criticism.
My lesson with János...AMAZING!!! Although nagyon faradt (very tired), I was quite peppy. I somehow found some energy in me. I am not exactly sure how it happened, but I was making BIG sounds! It was so cool! I understood and knew the difference between "before" and "after". It was incredible! (However, yesterday it wasn't entirely there, and today...not at all...very upsetting and frustrating!) He made some alien reference about an octopus coming out of an eggshell and suctioning to my face or something. I don't really have any idea what he was talking about. I guess it was some movie. But I did what he was asking somehow. I just need to figure out how to do it without him "holding my hand", guiding me step by step and reminding me every ten seconds. That's the real dilemma. It'll get there, though.
Thursday night, a few of us decided to go to the cinema to get away for a bit. It was fun, but the movie we saw was absolutely terrible! Such a wonderful image it portrayed of the States! Not!
Friday (yesterday), was just an "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-good, Very Bad Day" type of day. It began with General Music Literature, where I received the paper on the exam...which I take on this coming Wednesday! (Everyone else takes it when they return in January.) Yeah...I was not a very happy camper. Like four days to prepare? ha! And I found out at about a quarter past noon that I did not even have all the information or materials for this exam. I ran downstairs mumbling a few curse words to find out how long the library was open...and of course it closed at noon for the day! I guess that tipped me over the edge, and I just burst into tears in the middle of the hall. I found Asia later, and she luckily had the materials I needed. However, I was still extremely upset. I still have no idea how I'm going to pull all of this off. Then, I got an email that just made me angry and more upset. Thankfully, I didn't have to conduct in conducting class because I wasn't ready. But then in the evening, we had rehearsal for the Sunday concert. Ugh! That was terrible! I was so upset with my performance. Oh, how I hope the theory of "bad rehearsal, good performance" holds true for Sunday evening. Roland didn't say anything to me, but I know how dreadful it was. It was just so off, and I know that piece so much better than that. But Friday is over! And we're on to a new day!
Well, I guess that's pretty much life right now. Quite a long, rambling post, but it was much overdue. I'll get some pictures of the concert and party tomorrow and hopefully post them Monday. I leave Hungary on Friday! So soon! :( I shall return in the near future, though. Budapest airport on strike right now for some reason. Wondering if it'll be over by Friday... I'll be home for Christmas, though. :) I hope it snows here before I leave!!!
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