And now, for another episode of 'Shiksa abroad'

So it's my third day here in Germany. The keyboards are funny (and if you see a y or a z transposed, it's not because I'm eccentric), the food is good so far, and the Bodensee is visible from our cafeteria. Week one of any rehearsal process is tedious at best, and I'm trying to keep my sense of humor up. Jet lag subsided rather easily, and I finally figured out what is good about the Amsterdam airport. The last time I went thru Amsterdam was on the way to Rome. I was tired, hot, and only had two hours to figure out where the heck my flight was. This time, I was tired, cold, and had five hours to figure out where the heck my flight was, and then I found it. The holy grail of travel, above my head. A beautiful sign that said: To Comfortable Chairs.

Yes friends, they had big chairs that resembled deck chairs, but padded, and in an area explicitly designated for sleeping. So I curled up around my backpack, set my alarm, and caught all of the sleep I should have gotten on the plane but did not due to turbulence. It was beautiful. And in spite of all of the travel restrictions, my airport experience was painless. They allowed me to bring my lip balm, didn't confiscate my deodorant (a serious fear that I had - the TSA list only said gel deodorants but you just never know) and after I awoke from my nap in Amsterdam, I washed my face and sauntered over to the duty free cosmetic counter so I could partake of the free samples of moisturizer. The DP will know how important this is, considering that flying is brutal enough on your skin. But flying without moisturizer is just torture. I even got to sample some of that La Mer stuff that everyone raves about and seriously, I think my Nivea in the blue jar works better. It didn't make a dent in the dryness of my hands. But I digress.

I got a cup of tea and ate my breakfast\lunch and waited for my little flight to Stuttgart, where I was promptly met by a member of the staff who transported me and my ginormous suitcase (that also survived unscathed and unpilfered, thank heavens) to Ueberlingen, this little tourist town on the Bodensee and I have to tell you it is just beautiful here. Green as far as the eye can see, hills and pastures and the water. I went and explored a little yesterday with a few of the German girls and found, of all things, a gelateria on the water that served Ferro Rocher flavored gelato. Pretty much like heaven.

I wish I knew how to copy pictures from my phone so I could post a few, but if you want to see where I am, go to the website for the ensemble and check us out!

http:\\www.festivalensemble.org

There should be pictures up on the daily news section. Maybe you'll see yours truly making funny faces while singing. Much love to all from abroad, wishing you all weather as pleasant as it is here. I actually wore my hoodie yesterday and was cold!

And to the DP, look on the website for our dates in Lucerne. We come in the day before the concert with nothing to do!