Ways to pass time alone in a hotel room

For those of you who travel alone a lot for auditions, concerts, business, or whatever your reason may be, I have made a list of ways to pass time alone in a hotel room. I stole a lot of these from Hilary Hahn's website, and added a few of my own.

Read
Jump on and off the bed
Cook (if one has a stove)
Hand-wash laundry
Iron
Write (anything)
Watch TV
Watch movies on your laptop
Draw
Do hand stands
Dance
Sleep
Memorize anatomy charts
Eat
Take pictures out the window
Exercise with rubber Therabands
Recharge electronic devices
Think up pranks
Rearrange all the furniture
Stare in the mirror
Shop online
Spend hours on Wikipedia looking up useless facts
Practice and drive your neighbors crazy
Make reeds
Study Spanish
Try new hairstyles
Talk on Skype
Do yoga
Stalk people on facebook and other social networks
Find free samples online


Creative suggestions are welcome

Back in Mexico

Believe it or not, I'm back in Mexico! But only for 10 days. I'm back in Hermosillo, playing with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. What part am I playing? Good question...all of them. Yes, I am playing 1st, 2nd, and EH. Ever tried playing all the parts to Dvorak's "New World?" Or Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez?" I don't recommend it. But, it is a challenge, and it will get me back in shape.
I had kind of an adventure getting here. My flight went from Dallas to Mexico City, and then had a connecting flight to Hermosillo. I had 3 hours in between flights, which I assumed would be enough time, but apparently not if you want to get through Mexico City customs. Anyway, to make a long story short, after running all over the DF airport, I missed my flight and had to spend the night. This not only caused me to miss most of rehearsal the next morning, but also to lose my hotel reservation for the entire week. Now I have to stay in a not very nice and kind of far away hotel, which sucks, but at least they have internet. Oh well, such is life.
I also found out that the conductor from last time who I really liked got booted, and has been replaced by this obnoxious little turd of a man who is extremely condescending, and doesn't realize that if he expects me to play 3 parts, he needs to cue me!
Other than that, things have been good. It is nice to see some people who I didn't think I would see again, and actually be able to communicate with them! My Spanish is not nearly as hopeless as it was last time.
Well, that's all for now. Those of you with skype, feel free to keep me entertained. I get really bored in the hotel.

Gouging and stuff

So, it's been a while. A looooong while. But I thought I would update for those of you who still read this thing. Well, folks...I'm not going back to Mexico. As much as I liked playing with the orchestra, there were just too many problems with the financial aspect of it. There are a lot of things I will miss about Culiacan- my friends (especially Anthony and Andrea), tortillas, deep fried sushi with mayo and cream cheese, Oxxo, and having a regular playing job. However, I will not miss other things, such as not getting paid on time (or at all), drug wars, etc. Anyway, in more exciting news, I recently bought an RDG gouger, and I have been playing with it recently. I also got my Ross EH gouger fixed, and hopefully it will work when I get it back. I have been away from the world of gouging for a while, so any tips from oboist friends would be helpful. What's the good cane out there these days? Tips for sorting/picking the best pieces?
In other exciting news, I recently took a trip to Peru with my friend Cat. More updates about that to come.

Side note- Gandhi, My Father is one of the few good Indian films I've seen in the last few years. It showed Gandhi from a very different perspective, and was really well done overall. Yes, it is too long and overly dramatic, but that's Indian cinema for you. Also saw Rang de Basanti, which sucked. What a let down. Yuck.

Fluffy pillows from heaven

So my computer is dead. I think the battery life is gone, because it wont even start up when I try to turn it on. Very sad, since it is my only form of entertainment. However, it just turned on for the first time in days, and I'm taking advantage by writing this update. And for those of you who I owe an email, I shall respond ASAP. I just wanted to mention my new favorite meal the last couple of weeks. There is a tortilla place down the street from our house that makes fresh tortillas (and when I say fresh, I mean they make them as you stand there). I don't know why I haven't gone to this place sooner, but they are so amazing! Anthony calls them "fluffy pillows from heaven." Oh, and did I mention they are cheap? Andrea and I always get 2 pesos worth (about 20 cents) which is more than enough for both of us. My favorite way to eat them is with queso fresco, a soft white cheese similar to paneer, refried beans, and salsa. The cheese and beans are also made fresh daily at two of the stores on our street, and if you are thinking of the refried beans that you get in the US, they are nothing like that. Anyway, I just had my 6th tortilla of the day, and it was yummy. What will I do for my quesadilla fix when I'm back in Fort Wayne now that I'm a tortilla snob?

Rants and Raves

So there are both good and bad things to report. I guess I'll start with the bad. There is a drug war going on in Culiacán right now, apparently the worst one in years, maybe ever. The war is between 2 narco families struggling for power, although both families have been targeting the police as well as the government. In general, things are not too bad if you use caution and try to avoid going out, especially late at night. However, there has recently been a threat against the governor, and this affects the orchestra directly because we are scheduled to play at his house tomorrow. Not good. You would think that this concert would be canceled, and that the conductor would not want to lead his orchestra into any danger, but this is not the case. We are still required to play this concert, even though there is no guarantee of safety. Our assinine conductor has informed us that it is our chance to "get in good" with the governor. Yesterday, several members of the orchestra proposed that we boycott this concert, but when push comes to shove, I think a lot of them may change their minds. I'm not really sure what to do, but I am seriously leaning towards not going. I have several reasons, other than the fact that I think it's dangerous. First of all, I never get paid on time. Ever. It took them almost two months before I even got my first check, and that was a fight. Also, because I am now staying until December, they are supposed to pay me over the summer, which requires me to have a bank account. I asked for this months ago, and it still has not been done. Everytime I make a request, the answer from the administration is "Well, you're not a regular member, you're just a sub." This makes me think, why should I risk my life to go to this concert if I am not even a member of this orchestra? Oh, and the principal player took this concert off since it only requires 2 oboes. So who did he ask to play principal? Not me. He asked the 3rd/EH player, who, I'm sorry to say, is the worst oboist I've ever heard in my life, and not my favorite person. He informed all us gringos that if we can't deal with the violence here, we should go back to our own countries. Well, maybe I will. My country is starting to look pretty good right about now. Anyway, should I run the risk of being fired? Or should I just pack up and go home? Opinions and advice are welcome.

In good news, I celebrated Mother's Day with some lovely ladies. I don't remember is I've mentioned the Oxxo before, but it is a chain of convenience stores all over Mexico. There is one right across from our apartment, and we get a lot of our basic necessities from there. Anyway, the lady that owns it (who we finally found out was named Imelda) has gotten to know Andrea and me over the last couple of months. She and her 11 year old daughter (Fernanda) invited us for lunch on Sunday. Little did we know that they were going to take us to her mother's house for family gathering and feed us authentic Mexican food. It was pretty amazing. Her mother had a ranch out in the country where the rooms were indoors, but the kitchen/dining area were outside. There were all sorts of animals roaming around, and we found it pretty amusing to hear roosters crowing every few minutes. It was really nice of them to invite us into their home and show us some of their culture. All in all, a very nice day :)

Hace Calor

Oh. My. God. It is 99 degrees today. That is all.

The Beatles Espectacular

Picture this- a really bad sound system, 4 guys with Mexican accents and bad pitch trying to sing "Yellow Submarine" (pronounced Soob-marine), and a conductor who doesn't know what to do with meter changes. Yes, that was our concert on Wednesday night. The Beatles Espectacular. Really, the name says it all, so there's no need to elaborate. Thank God we have a few days off, although it's really too hot to go out and do anything these days. Luckily, there is a law here that the government pays 2/3 of people's electric bills from May-October, so it's not expensive to run your AC. Maybe they think the heat will drive people crazy? I must be going crazy, because I spent a hundred pesos on a pint of ice cream yesterday! It was so amazing, though. And after hearing about the gas prices in LA, I figure it's ok because I'm saving so much money on gas.
So what shall I do with 3 more days off, other than hide out in the AC and make reeds? Most things are closed right now, since it's some kind of Mexican holiday, including my yoga class :( Creative suggestions are welcome.

Relief!

I have AC! This means that I finally have some relief from this weather, which has been in the high 90s and very humid every day. This makes practicing and reed making much easier.
Last week was another interesting one in the orchestra. We had an excellent guest conductor. She was from New York, but spoke fluent Spanish because her family is from Mexico. We played some pieces that I though would be way beyond the capabilities of this orchestra (including another awful piece by a local composer), but she got a very solid performance out of us. I hope she comes back...
We have been traveling almost every weekend lately, and will continue to travel a lot until the season is over in June. Many of the trips are to Mazatlán, which is always fine with me because not only does that mean beach time, but it also means I get to eat Thai food. Culiacán is not exactly known for its ethnic restaurants, and I really crave it sometimes. Anyway, Andrea and Anthony introduced me to this place a few weeks ago, and I think it is one of the best Thai places I have ever been to. Definitely on par with Thai Pepper, Allan's favorite Thai place. So, that is more incentive for people to come visit me in Mazatlán. Really, lots of good food and beaches. What more do you need?
Ok, I'll stop with the shameless plugs and get back to practicing...

Catching up...

So, I'm a complete and total slacker, and it's been almost two months since I've written! In my defense, I've been busy, and I'll explain why. Since my previous post, I've made two trips to the US. I'll give you a very brief recap of both of them. The first was for an audition for the Marine band in DC. Overall, kind of a stressful and rushed trip since I stopped in LA on the way, and I played like poo. However, I did get to see Kyung and Joe, some old friends from Round Top (I went to that festival almost 5 years ago!) and my high school oboe teacher Joan, so the trip was definitely worth it. My second trip was the last two weeks in March for Semana Santa and Semana Pascua (Easter break). This trip was also a little bit hectic because I went to 4 different cities, but worth the trouble because I got to see so many friends. I stopped in LA and had a lovely dinner at Noshi with Jon, Gabrielle, Kristin, Sonia, Kelly, and Christy. I also got to have lunch with Agnes. Then Jon and I went Jacksonville for Heather's wedding where we also got to see Ruth Ann, Mike, and Marianne (an IU quintet reunion!), and on they way, we saw Cat for a few days in Naples. Then it was off to the Fort, where I hung out with my parents for a while. Lastly, I went to Chicago to catch my flight back to Culiacán, and picked my brother up on the way from Purdue. I got to see Rupal and Ashok very briefly, and also randomly ran into my friend Nameeta who I haven't seen in 6 years! And she doesn't even live in Chicago! Anyway, it was a busy but good vacation.
I was sad to leave, but we did get to play Tosca when I came back, which was fun. We had a good guest conductor, and believe it or not, the singers (at least the soloists) were good! Unfortunately, the week after, our program was terrible. Really awful. Bad. Honestly the worst piece I've ever played in my life. Some local "composer" wrote a piece for us, but I'm not going to go into further detail because the memory of it is too painful.
Oh, I almost forgot the thing that has been occupying my time the most! I'm going to peru in June!!! I'm very excited, but planning out the trip is taking a lot of time, and therefore my blogging has been sporadic...or non-existant. But I'll try to do better for my faithful reader(s) and update more regularly.
Buenas Noches!

Pizza, Cake, and Eyedrops

It's about time for an update! I'm going to take advantage of the fact that my computer seems to be behaving itself right now. Let me go back in time almost 2 weeks, when our quintet was still preparing for our chamber music concert. As I mentioned previously, each chamber group in the orchestra had to prepare one "serious" piece of music and one piece to perform for a children's concert. We performed our serious piece, the Francaix quintet, on the 12th. Overall it went pretty well, and to celebrate, we had a party at Chris' house afterwards. It was supposed to be just the quintet, but some other people in the orchestra heard about it and ended up crashing it. Still fun, though. Here are some pics of our quintet.

On the 14th, we were supposed to play for a group of kids in Mazatlán. We chose "Across the Seregeti," a fun, kid-friendly piece, and prepared a little presentation. Oh, and remember the amazing pizza that Antionio's mom makes? Well, his parents live in Mazatlán, and invited us to their house for lunch afterwards! So we dragged our butts out of bed and left for Mazatlán at the crack of dawn so that we could perform for the kiddies and of course, eat pizza. On the way there, we joked that we would rather skip the performance and go straight for the pizza, and I guess the pizza gods must have heard our wishes, because the performance never happened. We got to the hall and set up, and after waiting an hour for the kids to arrive, we got a call saying that there had been a mixup and the kids weren't coming. It wasn't a total waste of a day though, since we had an amazing lunch and played some of the Francaix for Antonio's parents in their apartment.

So the 19th was my birthday, and I wasn't expecting it to be anything special since I don't know a lot of people here, but all in all it was a really good day. I got to talk to a lot of my family in India (Skype is amazing!) and had sushi and cake with the bassoon players, Anthony and Noemi. The bad part about the day was that I woke up that morning and couldn't really open my right eye. Not a good feeling. I couldn't put my contacts in and my glasses had recently broke, so I taped the frames together so that I could see. Let me tell you, it was pretty stylish. Anyway, the conductor ended up driving me to the eye doctor, and it turns out that my corneas are inflamed. The doctor gave me some eyedrops and said I can't wear my contacts for a few weeks, so I get to walk around with taped glasses for a while. Cool.

Anyway, I need to go pack because I am going to LA/DC for an audition tomorrow. More details later....

grrrr...

Ugh. So now that my internet is finally back up, my computer is having problems. I have never had a single problem with my computer in the 2 years I have had it, and it starts acting up when I'm in Mexico and can't get it fixed. Since it is my only form of communication (both phone and email), and the only way I can listen to music and watch DVDs, this sucks. If I have abruptly ended a conversation with you or haven't emailed you back, it's not that I don't love you. It's just that my computer might not love you as much as I do. But, I will be in LA next week, so I will try my best to get it fixed. Patience, my friends. More updates to come soon...

Guadalajara

Yay! My internet is working again! I guess I should celebrate by writing in my blog. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. I guess the most exciting would be our trip to Guadalajara. The orchestra was invited to play a concert there, so we all flew down for a couple of days. It was my first time ever to Guadalajara, so it was fun to explore the city. It is a very different city from Culiacán. It is much bigger, and generally a much cooler place. There are actually things to do and see. The concert was fine, nothing terribly exciting, except that Guadalajara is about 4000 ft higher than Culiacán, which made my reeds unhappy. Oh, and believe it or not, I had Mexican food for the first time since I have been here at a restaurant called La Chata. Roberto, one of the trumpet players, took us there. The food was so amazing!
In other news, I have a new roomie! Slava moved into a place of his own, and Andrea moved in shortly after our Guadalajara trip. We have been trying to get our apartment in shape the last few days, and even bought a washing machine by ourselves. Between the two of us, we somehow managed to get a cab to Wal-Mart and back, and talk to the people there so that they would deliver it to us! I was very proud, even though the cab driver made fun of our accents the whole way home. Anyway, our washer is here. Now we just have to figure out how to hook it up, since the directions are in Spanish.
Here are some pictures of our trip to Guadalajara. There are some pictures of the beautiful architecture in the city, as well as the hall that we played in.

Mazatlan

So last week was our first trip of the year to Mazatlán. Apparently, the orchestra goes quite often, but this was my first time. Overall, it was a really good trip, and it was nice to get out of Culiacán for a bit. The bus left on Thursday morning, and we arrived in Mazatlán 3 hours later. In the 2 days that we were there, we only had one 3 hour rehearsal and a concert, which meant that we had tons of free time. We were also put up in 5 star hotels on the beach and given an extra 700 pesos. Andrea, of course, was my roommate.
If you haven't been to Mazatlán, I would recommend going. There are some great restaurants, and the beaches are really nice. Since we ate out every meal, we managed to try a lot of restaurants. My favorite was called Cocina de Ana. It's a buffet style place with home cooked food that isn't greasy or heavy like most restaurant food. And it's super cheap. They had amazing fish ceviche, which is a mixture of cucumber, tomato, onion, and lime juice. The fish is raw, but the lime juice cooks it a little bit. We went there for lunch two days in a row. As for beach time, we didn't get as much as we would have liked. It was kind of cold (for Mexico). But, on the last day, it was warm enough to go jet skiing! I had never been before, but I got talked into it by Andrea and two of the trumpet players, Mike and Matt. So much fun! If anyone comes to visit me, I'll take you jet skiing and restaurant hopping in Mazatlán. I think that's pretty good incentive.
As for the concert, it went pretty well. I take back what I said about the singers, but I stand by my opinion of the conductor. The soloists this time were really good, especially the tenor. He sang "Nessun Dorma" beautifully, and the audience loved him. He is still very young, but I wouldn't be surprised if I heard more about him in the future. Wish I could remember his name, though.
Anyway, it's back to the grind in Culiacán. We have quintet Mon-Wed, and then we start rehearsals for our program in Guadalajara next week. The 3rd oboist is going to be playing a lot of 2nd on that program since he's hardly played at all this year. It works out well for me, since I have decided to take the President's Own audition next month, and I could use the extra practice time.
Here are some pictures from after jet skiing. Don't ask me what we were doing in the second one..

Deep fried sushi

Hola amigos! A lot has happened in the last week, and I haven't keeping up very well. I apologize to my faithful reader(s?). Here is a brief recap. I had sushi for the second time today. You may be wondering what sushi is like en México. Not anything like it is in the US, or probably Japan. I was first introduced to Mexican style sushi when I went to Hermosillo, so it was not a surprise to me, but I will try to describe it as best I can to you gringos. First of all, almost every roll has Philadelphia cream cheese in it. Rolls come in 3 styles: natural, capeado (lightly fried), and empanazado (deep fried). They fillings include the traditional fishy stuff, but may also contain chicken, beef, and other weird stuff. Oh, and to top it off, it is served with mayonnaise and green onions with a citrus flavored soy sauce. Leave it to the Mexicans to make sushi completely unhealthy. It was surprisingly tasty, as you may have guessed, since I have gone twice since my last post. Other than sushi, I have been eating lots and lots of avocados. They are super cheap at the market here, and so good. If I have a slightly greenish tinge the next time you see my, you'll know why. If you are wondering about my ice cream situation, I have splurged. Twice. Hey, I have to keep my sanity.
Tuesday was the first installment of our chamber music series. My group doesn't play for another three weeks, but I did attend last night's concert. It included a double bass duet, a woodwind quintet that played that Chimnée piece by Milhaud, and a percussion ensemble. The percussionists played some unbelievably cool pieces, including one by John Cage, and a piece by a German composer involving rolling pins. They also did a rendition of Barber's "Adagio for Strings," which I was very skeptical of, but turned out to be really beautiful. Tomorrow we are taking a break from chamber music and traveling to Mazatlán for a few days, where will play more opera stuff with bad singers and an even worse guest conductor. Yipee. But at least we get to hang out on the beach.
Well, it's getting late, and my cane is done soaking. As you oboists know, cane waits for no one. I shall tie my reed, pack, and go to bed. Buenas Noches.

¡Buena Suerte!

Good luck to all the Debut folks this weekend. Have a great concert! I miss you guys...

Mmmmm...quintet

Buenos dias todos! I thought I would write a quick update before rehearsal this morning. We don't have any orchestra rehearsals this week. Instead, we are rehearsing with our individual chamber music groups for concerts in February. I (of course) am in a woodwind quintet. Language is not a problem in my quintet, because we all speak English. Anthony, the bassoon player, Chris, the clarinetist, and Andrea are all American. Antonio, the flute player...well, I'm still not sure what he is. He is of Polish descent, but was born in Belarus. He also lived in Russia, Korea, Argentina, and now Mexico, so he speaks a zillion languages. Luckily, English is one of them. And if you're wondering how my español is doing, it is still sucking quite badly. But I am getting really good at making accent marks on my computer. á é í ó ú ñ. Woo!
Anyway, we have to prepare two pieces. One is for a children's concert where we demonstrate our instruments and play something fun for the kids, and another one is for our "serious" concert. We chose "Across the Serengeti," and the Francaix Quintet, so we have been rehearsing those every morning rather than our usual orchestral stuff. The best part of quintet rehearsals is the fact that they take place at people's houses rather than at the hall, which means we usually have some really good snacks at our break. Rehearsal is at my place today, so Andrea and I made a double decker chocolate cake! I think I look forward to the food more than the rehearsal, although I really like playing with my group. Everyone gets along and is enthusiastic about the music, which makes it so much more fun.
Alas, it is time to get ready for rehearsal. Hasta luego, mis amigos!

Quiero Helado!

There is no good ice cream in Culiacán. Well, there is some, I just can't afford it. For those of you who know me well (or maybe not even that well), you know this is a problem. I spotted some Haagen-Daas in Walmart today, but when I saw the price I almost cried. 72 pesos! Almost 7 dollars for a pint! And about 13 dollars for a quart. Alas, ice cream eludes me again.
In other news, we had our first concert last night. It went pretty well, considering we hardly rehearsed the music. We played the Marriage of Figaro Overture, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto (with a god awful pianist), and some opera excerpts/musica Mexicana with some dreadful singers, among other things. The audience didn't seem to notice, and in true Mexican style, gave us an encore (which also involved the terrible singers). It was still fun. I like playing with the principal oboist, Plamen. He's Bulgarian, and his sound is really different than what I am used to, but he's a good player. He also has a lot more experience than I do, and I think I can learn a lot by sitting next to him.
So today was the beginning of my first weekend in Culiacán. Concerts here are usually on Thursday or Friday night, which means we have the entire weekend off. How does one pass the time in Culiacán, you might ask. Well, a trip to WalMart is always an option. Surprisingly, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are the best places to shop around here. I'm usually anti-WalMart, but when in Mexico...Anyway, niether are within walking distance, so Slava's brother Savva was kind enough to drive us and Andrea there to do some shopping. It was pretty exciting, other than the whole crying about ice cream incident. One day I will splurge...
After we got home, Andrea and I went our separate ways to finish practicing and cooking/eating our new WalMart purchases, but decided to meet up later and hang out. After all, it was Saturday night. You may be wondering, what does one do for entertainment in Culiacán? We were wondering the same thing, and after our brains got tired from wondering, we decided to watch some DVDs that I brought and play cards. All in all, a fun evening, but definitely different than the endless possiblilties of entertainment in LA. We'll have to think of more creative things to do in the future.
Oh, one more thing. Those of you who are keeping up with election converage, please keep me posted. I'm a bit out of the loop. Gracias!

No Habla Espanol

I need to learn Spanish. Like now. It's kind of hard to feel comfortable in a city when you can't communicate with anyone and you can't get around by yourself. People keep telling me that I will pick it up, but I'm not sure if I believe them. It's been a really long time since I've had to learn a language, and I'm not sure if my 25 year old brain is as absorbent as it used to be. My cousin Avani, who lives in Riverside, gave me a crash course before I left, so at least I know some basics. I thought I could get by okay in rehearsal, but I totally started in the wrong place today. I think it was pretty noticable, because the conductor looked at me and said, "Problema de idioma." Okay, enough whining.
Other than that, I have just been getting settled in, unpacking, and meeting more people. I'm living with Kristin's fiance Slava, who is the concertmaster of the orchestra, until the end of the month. (Kristin in the oboist that I am subbing for until June). Then Slava is moving into his own place, and Andrea is moving in. Strangely enough, Andrea is a horn player from Kokomo, Indiana, which really close to Fort Wayne. Both Andrea and Slava have been really helpful the last couple of days. We went to the botanical gardens yesterday, which is something that the city of Culiacán is known for. I'll post pictures of it when I figure out how. Slava showed me where to go to pay my rent/bills, and is helping me get all my paperwork done so that I can legally work in Mexico. He has been here for several years, so he is fluent in Spanish. Andrea just moved here in September, so I guess we can work on our Spanish together. She is also a runner, so maybe she will bring out my athletic side. Probably not, though. I think all the walking I am doing here will help me get in shape, since 3 years of living in LA and driving everywhere has made me a bum.
Alas, it is getting late. I think I will spend some time with my big book of Spanish verbs, and then go to bed.
Buenas Noches.

Skype

If you want to talk with me while I'm here, you should download Skype. It's a great program where you can talk directly through the computer for free. I've been using it to talk to my family everyday. You can download it at skype.com, and add me as a contact. My username is icecreamlover19. Hope to hear from you soon!

Bienvenidos a Culiacan

Hola from Mexico! For those of you whom I haven't talked to in a while, I will be spending the next six months in Mexico, playing 2nd oboe in the Orquesta Sinfónica Sinaloa de las Artes. I was encouraged by my friends to keep a blog of my "aventuras," so here it is. My writing skills, like my oboe playing, are a bit out of shape. It's been a while since I have written anything besides payment delinquencies and collection notices at Phoenix Spirit, so let's hope that my posts will get a bit more interesting and grammatically correct as time goes on. It was sad to say goodbye to my friends in LA, but I had a lovely farewell dinner at Il Pastaio (which I highly recommend if you haven't been there), and then said some more goodbyes over cupcakes and ice cream the night before I left.
Some of you know that I went to Hermosillo back in November to play with an orchestra there, but that is in no way reIated to what I am doing now. I think it did affect my decision to come to Culiacán, because I had such a good time when I was there. I can only hope that the people here are as nice as they were in Hermosillo, which they seem to be so far. I also hope that the audiences are as enthusiastic about orchestral music.
I arrived in Culiacán on Sunday, the day before the first rehearsal. From the little exploring I did, it seems to be a very different place than Hermosillo. It almost reminds me of a much less crowded and less polluted version of Calcutta. The streets are windy and badly laid out. The sidewalks are completely uneven, and there are little shops everywhere. Kind of a big city with a small town feel.
The first orchestra rehearsal was on Monday morning. We read through Elgar's Enigma Variations and Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto. I met my section mates, Plamen and Dante. I also met the conductor, who told me, "You look like you should know Spanish." Yup. I don't think I have ever been so unprepared or out of shape for a rehearsal. Kind of embarassing. Anyway, I'm off to bed now so I can get up early and actually warm up before rehearsal tomorrow. Wish me luck!