What's that bright yellow thing up in the sky? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it John Rutter using mind-reading techniques to tell us how to properly sing his fugue? No (though that last bit would be pretty sensational, if totally odd) it's the SUN! And not only is it sunny, it's actually mild weather? Can such weather exist? Not in New England, but apparently in Russia it can! :)
I've been exceptionally poor at keeping up with the blog recently. I've been spending less time online the last few days in order to enjoy a nice walk outside, be it from my flat to Yugo-Zapadnaya, to Sparrow Hills, to a lovely park at Prospekt Vernadskovo where I ran into Cat of all places. (I do love the prospect of running into a good friend amidst a city of some 10+ million people) The days are only going to get longer (we here in Europe switch our clocks ahead tonight, I know you all back in the US did a couple of weeks ag00, and I'm going to be much less motivated to write my thesis, let alone keep up with readings and papers for my other classes.
Choir is going well. Props to Jennifer and Chris for showing up, albeit rather late, because for a while I was the only tenor....just a little bit awkward. It would have been even more so had they not shown up in time to sing "Take a Chance on Me" where the tenors and basses have repeat take a chance over and over again about 10000 times while the women have the melody. But all things considering, today was a good rehearsal. I am rather excited to learn that we are singing in the Conservatory on May 6, in addition to our scheduled concerts at St. Andrew's on the 14th and 21st of May, respectively. For the Conservatory, we will be singing Abba (our Mamma Mia medley), which I for one actually do like, even though parts of it are repetitive and the rhythm is tricky in a couple of places, particularly at the end in "Waterloo", as well as a piece called "Spring Waters", which is in Russian. For our other concerts, we will be singing in addition to that John Rutter's Gloria, some Rusisan folk songs, Rachmaninoff's "Bogoroditse Devo" which I sang in my sophomore year at HC and am absolutely STOKED to sing again, a tango, an Italian polka, and some English and Swedish pieces. Should be a very interesting program. Fear not, Muscovites, I shall keep you informed, and I will expect many more of my friends to turn out. You have three chances to see me, make use of them, or I will come and track you down. If you don't come, I shall know...Jon knows all, you see...;)
Another thing I've taken to doing recently (well, just once, actually, but I'll prob do it more) is taking the tram. There's a tram that goes from Universitet all the way to Chistiye Prudy, which gives me a chance to enjoy the long ride (takes about an hour and a half, depending on traffic) and do some reading. Sometimes, it's very gratifying to not have to be in a rush to do five hundred things all at once and take a break and just relax and be with your thoughts. Gives me more time to read, as well as pray.
Thesis update: up to 12 pages at the moment, hoping to finish chapter 2 next week. The thing is, I've got papers, exams, as well as my concerts coming up in May and June, so the sooner I finish a draft of my thesis, the better shape I'll be in. Must motivate myself to keep writing. I'm reading a LOT of really fascinating material, not just about fairy tales, but also more generally about other types of folklore, including children's folklore, which is highly interesting and might make a good topic for a future article or essay. Just something to be thinking about...
Hope all is well back home. I miss you guys like crazy! This goes for all my family, my friends, and even my friends in Moscow whom I've neglected the past few weeks. We'll have to catch up soon. This is another reason why I'm telling you in advance about my May concerts, so you can all come in droves to see me (well, our choir, but mainly me, LOL). ;) Keep me updated on everything! Congrats again to Jessie for deciding on UMass! Wonderful choice! Josh, don't slack off in school, particularly in Chinese class. ;) Linda, try to be somewhat of a decent role model to Jessie...0:) Jk sis lolz. Talk to you all later! Love ya!!!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
An amazing week...
What a week to be alive. The sun is shining, the days are getting longer, St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, it's almost baseball season (Go Sox!)...I've had a wonderful week, and it's time for me to take a minute to take stock and reflect on why it's been so good and all the great things that are sure to come...
Most of you who have seen FB already know what's coming. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but I am genuinely proud of myself. My hard work, all the years of agonizing over which vid glagola to choose, drafts of scholarship essays to write and revise, and hours of trying to make myself comprehensible to native Russian speakers are finally beginning to pay off.
It all started on Tuesday night at choir rehearsal. On an otherwise typical evening in which little progress was made in the Gloria, some of the choristers were asked to participate in an interview with a reporter from some Russian news channel. (As of today I still don't know when, where or even if the interview will be televised, but as soon as I do know I will let you all know). To my utter bewilderment, Corinne came up to me during the break and said that they wanted to interview me. Now, I've never been on TV before (except as part of a kid-vid course I took years ago, I've done some filming (for the same course, I can technically say that I've been a television producer, having produced a TV show and filmed a couple of local musicals at our town playhouse), so naturally, the butterflies were fluttering fluttering in my stomach. On top of that, I was interviewed in Russian. I've always been less confident of my spoken Russian (which to be fair is pretty good) than my written Russian (which is very good, and hopefully will be excellent by the time my thesis is done and ready to be submitted), but I think I did all right. I was asked to say why I enjoy singing with the MIC, and I naturally included the phrase pet' c dushoi (to sing with the soul, to sing with all your heart and soul might be an appropriate equivalent in English). For me, whenever I sing (I'm not a strong singer, but I can sightread well) I try to sing with a lot of emotion, paying attention to all the elements of a piece that make it unique: its text and just as important, its dynamics (crescendo and descrendo markings, forte/piano, triple forte, accents, staccato, etc) They make a piece come to life and it's always a joy for me to sing, even if I don't always get all the really high or really low notes.
Moreover, and even more important for me, I got a very delightful email from Mom on Thursday (I received it yesterday afternoon), with the financial aid document from Middlebury. On it was shown a $7000 grant for the Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace. Now I haven't received official notice from Middlebury, but I think it is fair to say that since it appeared on my financial aid document, I can assume that I have earned the fellowship. This was entirely unexpected. I thought I had written a decent essay (I talked about how we can combat personal attacks, which are on the rise, all the more so on the Internet, through education by example and compassion. I used my brief six-month stint as an English teacher here in Moscow and cited three rules (goals I think is the word I used in my essay) that I set for my students.: 1. Treat each other with respect. 2. Try to use English only in class. 3. Ask and answer questions. These goals are as much for me (if not more so) as they are for the students. If I don't set a good example, watching my language (not just grading it, but maintaining a respectful tone, through body language as well as intonation), then the students will not learn and I will have not done my job. That was the basic argument of my essay. Again, I thought I had written a decent essay, but I had no idea that I would have earned a fellowship (a rather prestigious one at that). Just as importantly, it means that I will be slightly less poor come the fall when I have to start paying off my student loans. HOORAY!!!!! (x infinity :)))
There's no way I can take all the credit for this. First and foremost, props to God (the big G) for His unending love and steadfast support in me, walking with me and helping me up when I'm down. Major props also go to Mom and Dad for their love and support, and for keeping me honest about getting the damn paperwork in on time. I've actually applied for this scholarship twice before, 2 years ago I got everything in on time but didn't win. Last year I didn't get everything in on time but I was in Moscow at the time so it would've been difficult. This year I wrote the essay while I was home for Christmas break so I made finishing that a top priority. This fellowship is for you guys. WE DID IT!!!!!! :D Props also to all my friends who've commented on my recent statuses and all my friends here and back in the States, whom I uzhacno miss. ;)
So yes, life is wonderful, and while I have a fantastic summer ahead of me in Middlebury, full of afternoon workouts at the gyms, great classes and Russian choir rehearsals, evenings wiled away playing piano at the Tsentr Iskusstv (Center for the Arts), I must not forget that I still have three months here in this unbelievable city of Moscow. What challenges and adventures await, I do not know, but I do know that I'm not alone, that I'm loved, and that I gotta just take things one day at a time. That philosophy seems to be working just fine at the moment. :)
Hope things are well with all of you! Keep writing and commenting! Thanks for all the support! Love you! :D Peace out from the Motherland! ;)
Most of you who have seen FB already know what's coming. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but I am genuinely proud of myself. My hard work, all the years of agonizing over which vid glagola to choose, drafts of scholarship essays to write and revise, and hours of trying to make myself comprehensible to native Russian speakers are finally beginning to pay off.
It all started on Tuesday night at choir rehearsal. On an otherwise typical evening in which little progress was made in the Gloria, some of the choristers were asked to participate in an interview with a reporter from some Russian news channel. (As of today I still don't know when, where or even if the interview will be televised, but as soon as I do know I will let you all know). To my utter bewilderment, Corinne came up to me during the break and said that they wanted to interview me. Now, I've never been on TV before (except as part of a kid-vid course I took years ago, I've done some filming (for the same course, I can technically say that I've been a television producer, having produced a TV show and filmed a couple of local musicals at our town playhouse), so naturally, the butterflies were fluttering fluttering in my stomach. On top of that, I was interviewed in Russian. I've always been less confident of my spoken Russian (which to be fair is pretty good) than my written Russian (which is very good, and hopefully will be excellent by the time my thesis is done and ready to be submitted), but I think I did all right. I was asked to say why I enjoy singing with the MIC, and I naturally included the phrase pet' c dushoi (to sing with the soul, to sing with all your heart and soul might be an appropriate equivalent in English). For me, whenever I sing (I'm not a strong singer, but I can sightread well) I try to sing with a lot of emotion, paying attention to all the elements of a piece that make it unique: its text and just as important, its dynamics (crescendo and descrendo markings, forte/piano, triple forte, accents, staccato, etc) They make a piece come to life and it's always a joy for me to sing, even if I don't always get all the really high or really low notes.
Moreover, and even more important for me, I got a very delightful email from Mom on Thursday (I received it yesterday afternoon), with the financial aid document from Middlebury. On it was shown a $7000 grant for the Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace. Now I haven't received official notice from Middlebury, but I think it is fair to say that since it appeared on my financial aid document, I can assume that I have earned the fellowship. This was entirely unexpected. I thought I had written a decent essay (I talked about how we can combat personal attacks, which are on the rise, all the more so on the Internet, through education by example and compassion. I used my brief six-month stint as an English teacher here in Moscow and cited three rules (goals I think is the word I used in my essay) that I set for my students.: 1. Treat each other with respect. 2. Try to use English only in class. 3. Ask and answer questions. These goals are as much for me (if not more so) as they are for the students. If I don't set a good example, watching my language (not just grading it, but maintaining a respectful tone, through body language as well as intonation), then the students will not learn and I will have not done my job. That was the basic argument of my essay. Again, I thought I had written a decent essay, but I had no idea that I would have earned a fellowship (a rather prestigious one at that). Just as importantly, it means that I will be slightly less poor come the fall when I have to start paying off my student loans. HOORAY!!!!! (x infinity :)))
There's no way I can take all the credit for this. First and foremost, props to God (the big G) for His unending love and steadfast support in me, walking with me and helping me up when I'm down. Major props also go to Mom and Dad for their love and support, and for keeping me honest about getting the damn paperwork in on time. I've actually applied for this scholarship twice before, 2 years ago I got everything in on time but didn't win. Last year I didn't get everything in on time but I was in Moscow at the time so it would've been difficult. This year I wrote the essay while I was home for Christmas break so I made finishing that a top priority. This fellowship is for you guys. WE DID IT!!!!!! :D Props also to all my friends who've commented on my recent statuses and all my friends here and back in the States, whom I uzhacno miss. ;)
So yes, life is wonderful, and while I have a fantastic summer ahead of me in Middlebury, full of afternoon workouts at the gyms, great classes and Russian choir rehearsals, evenings wiled away playing piano at the Tsentr Iskusstv (Center for the Arts), I must not forget that I still have three months here in this unbelievable city of Moscow. What challenges and adventures await, I do not know, but I do know that I'm not alone, that I'm loved, and that I gotta just take things one day at a time. That philosophy seems to be working just fine at the moment. :)
Hope things are well with all of you! Keep writing and commenting! Thanks for all the support! Love you! :D Peace out from the Motherland! ;)
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