You can see three of my three favorite opera singers (Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, and Thomas Hampson live in Munich on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMlRGQ2hdOk. This is why I go to Germany!
My Three Favorite Opera Singers
Tag Archives: People
BFF (Best Friends Forever)
Returning to Dresden is like my home away from home. I have been here five times in five years, to soak in the grossly unknown treasures of music, architecture, and art available in this restored city.
First we reconnected with our friends Hanne and Jens (shown above), who are residents of Germany. They just returned from world travels snorkeling in Thailand on a private junk and tours of Kweilin, Suzhou and Shanghai. We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant to continue our research on the Chinese diaspora and to compare Chinese-German food with the real thing.
Our next highlight was meeting Vladimir (above, with me), one of my classmates from the Goethe Institut last year. We lamented our lack of progress learning German, discussed Bulgarian history and politics, and future plans. The time was too short but we made the most of the afternoon. We walked to the Blaue Wunder Bridge and back.
In the late afternoon our friends Helena and Hans arrived from Switzerland. (Gee Kin met Helena over 40 years ago from the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute). After Helena and I met in Dresden last August, we made plans to attend the Musikfestspiele together this year. It was really exciting to attend the Opening Gala together at the Dresden Messe.
Our short visit to Dresden was topped off by a meeting with Meilina (photo below, an der Frauenkirche), another dear friend from the Goethe Institut.
She is studying Forestry here in Dresden and is a foreign student from Indonesia. I admire her dedication to her studies as she is away from her husband and two boys at home. She told me a very moving story about how each of her family members supported her studies in Germany, and thought that it would be a good thing for Mommy to do to further her career.
I will miss all my new and old friends, and especially BFF Dresden. In case you were wondering, Dresden has beat the contest with Prague. This was of course a completely subjective approach to favoring the known and emotional attachment to the little city that could.
An example of this amazing city is the performance we attended last night at the Dresden Messe. Simone Kermes, an operatic solo, performed with the Dresden Festival Orchestra, followed by L’il Buck. Nothing could be culturally further apart. Jan Vogler, the cellist and festival director, played the Swan Lake solo while L’il Buck did his amazing interpretation of a Swan.
I admire both the director immensely for his visionary approach to blending classical and modern forms of music and performance, as well as L’il Buck for entering into a completely new audience. I challenge any other American or international city to provide this breadth of entertainment in one concentrated music festival period or single performance.
Prague is a major city capital and can offer many handsome historical and cultural activities to visitors. While being only a provincial city, Dresden offers a more intimate and simplified experience. Along with its great new airport, safe and spotless transportation system, access to a wealth of cultural activities, and a language that I feel comfortable in, Dresden wins hands down.
The Finale, and View of the Frauenkirche from our apartment window
Whether the Weather…
Photo, left: Whimsical thought of softly padded insulation on wire-framed outdoor seating
Mark Twain sarcastically commented that the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco, and even San Franciscans reluctantly agree in a rare self-deprecating moment. But being caught in the last snowstorm of the century in New York, I think Mark Twain ought to retract his statement. New York definitely gets the prize for the hassles one has had to endure in the soon-to-be infamous Winter of 2015.
Concerned family members have been asking me how I am faring with the weather. To be honest, it hasn’t really sunk into my path of denial yet. Until today. Fun over. I checked the list of weather stats for my favorite world cities that I track every now and then. How can NYC top the list as the coldest spot of 20? It apparently is doing so, beating out Dunhuang in the middle of Gansu and Tashkent in Uzbekistan. OK, so I cheat and have a string of Bay Area cities, but it’s the being HERE and not there that gives me the shake up call.
So I did the common sense thing and went out in the middle of the storm.
I met my dear friend Lisa, whom I had met in Hong Kong from the 70’s, when she was looking for a job and got in touch with me through a Berkeley connection. It was great to catch up with her after a long absence of 15 years since the last time we met in NYC. It was the first winter after 9/11 and New York at that time felt like a ghost town.
This time, Lisa met me at our designated lunch spot on the Upper East Side near the Metropolitan. Originally we had talked about going to visit a museum together. We abandoned that idea after glancing at the window periodically and realizing that staying in a nice cozy spot was a winner. We ended up chatting for hours. We switched mid-stream to another location for a change of pace but we kept our conversation going full steam. The venues hardly mattered, we had so much to catch up on–kids, family, work, travel, Board volunteering, and everything in between.
Lisa’s warmth and energy haven’t changed at all. It was gratifying to know and see an old friend the same in the best of ways. We have both been very lucky to have shared the same values and enjoyed similar interests throughout life.
Yes, life is short. But don’t let the weather get you down. It will be a sunny day tomorrow.
100 Hours in San Francisco
Those of you who have been checking my blog might be noticing a dry spell. I am planning a few upcoming trips this year, but I thought I would share a few recent activities with you. This weekend, we hosted some very good friends from Vancouver. Bennett and Colleen were arriving with some very serious dining plans that included Delfina, Mourad (the new Moroccan restaurant where Melissa works) and Nopa. We were to fill in the gaps between dinners, with epic walks, sights, and activities to justify the indulging among San Francisco’s best eateries.
The long weekend began on Thursday am, with a pickup at the airport. If you are coming from Canada like our BC friends, beware of the confusion between domestic and international airport locations. Customs and immigration might occur in Canada, but the airlines might still arrive in international or domestic, depending on the airline.
After hugs and greetings, we eventually set off on a specific shopping pursuit. At Bennett’s request, we ventured to Noe Valley to the Union Made store where Bennett and Gee Kin have bought elegant and hip men’s clothing. It didn’t hurt to have a 40% off January sale. Gee Kin likes to shop there (on Bennett’s recommendation) to keep up with the techie world, even if the prices are a bit steep. He found a great jacket there with super long arms that suited his proportions and was flattering for his next step out into Techie SF.
After this purely hedonistic venture, we recovered at Kasa on Eighteenth Street. Regarded as one of the best meals in town under $15, the home headquarters version on the food truck, this spartan shop eventually served a line out the door after we purviewed the menu of Indian specialties and ordered. Three of us ordered a “Thali” lunch special of pork or lamb and three sides for $11.50. I had the “Kati” roll with lamb. You can check out the menu at http://www.kasaindian.com/indianrestaurantsf/kasa-menu/.
We drove our guests home via the upper Market area and made a quick stop at Twin Peaks for a view of the city. Being a perfect day of 65 degrees, we had no problem with the usual windy bluff it normally is at the top. To top it off, it was reasonably clear and we could see Mt. Diablo in the East Bay, 50 miles away.
After a nap back at the ranch, we headed back to the same neighborhood in Noe Valley for dinner at Delfina. We enjoyed the banter with the waiter over the descriptions of wine and food we eventually ordered, and the meal was predictably delicious.
Day 2 started off with a morning walk down through the Inner Sunset to the DeYoung Museum to see the Keith Haring exhibit. While not particularly my thing, Haring had a following in New York and used spontaneous, street art to make his political statements. He covered many contemporary issues, including the Aids Crisis, racism, and world hunger.
We brought a picnic lunch to enjoy in Golden Gate Park in the unseasonably warm January weather. In the backs of our minds were the worries about the lack of rain that gives us beautiful guilt-ridden days of summer in the middle of winter. We skipped the wine but toasted our friendship on tofu and cloud’s ears, an ethnic dish, beet salad, sauteed kale, and fresh bread from Tartine (earned the night before).
After breezing past the adjacent Academy of Sciences, we headed over to Green Apple Books in the Richmond District. Another venerable local institution, this bookstore has expanded its footprint to the Inner Sunset where it shares space with LeVideo. It helped to bail out another well-loved service that has seen better days from a bygone era of VCRs and DVDs. I bought another used copy of “The Orientalist”, one of my favorite books, and a signed copy of a dessert book by the pastry chef at Chez Panisse for Melissa.
Our dinner that evening was a stunning introduction to Mourad. This new restaurant by Mourad Lahlou at 140 New Montgomery in the renovated AT&T building, is where Melissa works as pastry chef. We were lavished with new menu items produced by Mourad’s new Chef de Cuisine, Chris Kajioka, and our own Melissa. After being warmly greeted by Mourad, we were treated to a back-of-the-house tour of the kitchen. It was exciting to see this new venture long in the planning stages come to fruition, and we are so proud of Melissa’s dedication and success to her craft.
Day Three on Saturday was occupied by a walk from home to the North Side of the city to Chestnut Street. Gee Kin led our guests through Golden Gate Park. By pure accident, they found the sculptured heart painted by their friend Hung Liu perched along the Broderick steps leading to the Marina. You’ll hear more about this artist momentarily.
We regrouped just before dinner to drive over to the East Bay via the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. We could still see the remnants of the former Bay Bridge alongside the spanking new version, to explain the reason for another bridge. Being seismically compromised, SF Bay Area residents recognized the importance of sustaining this vital transportation link between two major cities in California. While it was originally estimated at $1 Billion, it ended up costing $6.4 Billion and several years longer than anticipated. Oh well, a bit off.
Our dinner with Hung Liu, a Chinese artist living in Oakland, was very illuminating. She and her husband Jeff shared with us their experience doing and selling art in the US. She is an accomplished artist and was teaching at Mills College until recently. You can see a sample of her work here, that represents a young Chinese bride with a bird in a cage superimposed on the image. We visited her studio in East Oakland after a classic meal at the Bay Wolf Restaurant on Piedmont Avenue.
Day Four started with an early morning tour of Alcatraz Island, with a featured exhibition of Ai Wei-wei’s work. While the location may have been perplexing to many, it was a fitting venue for highlighting the issue of political dissidents and the importance of activism. Ai Wei-Wei used his expertise and talents as an artist to convey this message to many who would not otherwise attend an art museum nor a prison. He cleverly and adeptly combined the two experiences into one to convey an important message. Below is a picture of the kitchen at Alcatraz.
Believe it or not, this day was capped by SuperBowl Sunday! No, we were not above succumbing to social influence. After lunch at Nopa on Divisadero and a quick tour of the neighborhood market, we hunkered down for the afternoon and pigged out on beer, guacamole and chips, finger food, and split pea soup. What more could you ask for on a lazy Sunday afternoon?
Our final day of the endless weekend was topped by a final walk from home to Hayes Valley via Upper Market. We shot past UCSF at Parnassus to Seventeenth Street, and then down the hill. Bennett and Colleen did some serious shopping on Hayes Street. I managed to get them to the Glen Park Station to head to the airport at the end of the day just in time for my final German conversation class on time!
A few notes:
Urban walking is one of my passions! You can find out more about 5 day sagas from San Francisco to Napa or San Jose and more at http://www.crazyladywalks.com
You can see some of Melissa’s amazing desserts on Instagram at _melissachou.
For followers: Look for new postings in Early March for a week in New York City visiting museums and the New York Metropolitan Opera (Carmen, Don Giovanni and Manon). Another trip to Germany for the Dresdenmusikfestspiele in May is upcoming, and another world trip is in the works for late Summer. Stay tuned!
Day 75+5: Summary of Segment II: Dresden
August signaled a month of doing and learning German at the Goethe Institut in Dresden. I picked Dresden because this was my fourth year there attending one of the best music festivals in Europe. Being in the former East Germany, Dresden has some of the best musicians and the tickets are very reasonably priced. You even get a discount for a series of three events.
So there was no question where I wanted to spend time in Germany. Dresden’s beautifully restored buildings to its Baroque magnificence and the wealth of art treasures are not to be underestimated. Its gentle climate and beautiful geography made the decision easy. With a few beginner’s classes behind me in San Francisco, I felt ready to tackle a four-week intensive class, with 5 hours a day of immersion style, no English-spoken cold turkey training.
Within three minutes of the start of the class, we were asked to introduce ourselves and identify 1. Who we were, 2. What we did, an 3. How old we were. I rattled my brain trying to decide how I was going to finesse the last answer. If I could answer in French, I could say “plus que soixante ans”, but as pressure was building up, I couldn’t remember the simple equivalent for “more than” in German. As answers were winding around the circle towards me and ready replies spewed out “23”, “18” “oh, I’m one of the older ones, 32”, all eyes eventually focused squarely on me.
“I’m Victoria. I’m an architect. And I am 66”, in my spastic German. Everyone gasped.
After a pregnant silence, normal breathing resumed. Eventually, everyone got used to me, just being myself. We bonded and played tricks behind the teacher’s back, cheated on tests, and enjoyed the language games the teacher tossed us to keep the ennui to a minimum.
At the end, I passed the exam with “good” marks, only 1 point off “very good”. No grade inflation in Germany, and no “excellent” exists in the grading vocabulary. I was happy.
But I do sorely miss the comraderie from the class. You inevitably bond with each other, no matter what the generation, nationality, or the cultural difference. It was a fantastic reminder of humanity and how we are all in this place together, getting through life and its challenges, tragedies, and ecstasies. I guess I’m gonna like it here.
My favorite photos from August:
1. Guest house room, my home for a month in Heeresbackerei, the old bakery for the Russian army and military quarters
2. My favorite hotel in Dresden, the Aparthotel Neumarkt just around the corner from the Frauenkirche
3. View of the “Florence on the Elbe” near Konigstein
4. The Goethe Institute, a great place to learn and do German for all
5. A delicious home made care package from German friends Hanni and Jens, who took good care of me. everything was home grown, and even the jam was home made!
6. Winking eyes on the rooftop in Loschwitz got me intrigued with rooflines in Germany, and how they deal with lighting deep attic spaces. My friend Pam asked if they winked at night when the shades were pulled. (See the post for “third Eye Blind”).
7. The train tracks behind my complex. I became very fond of the whooshing of the trains every evening and found the known sounds both frightening and calming at the same time.
8. The interior of the Frauenkirche, where Music Festival performances are held. This building was fully restored to its original splendor with the help of the City of Coventry, England, after it was bombed by the Germans in WWII.
9. My Swiss friend Helena, who came to Dresden while I was there.
10. Moritzburg, hunting lodge for the king with beautiful paths for walking
11. My signature German class, with friends from Mexico, Bulgaria, Algeria, Indonesia, Hungary, Japan, Thailand, India, Korea, and Portugal. I was the only American.
Day 68 Bonus: People Who Need People
Society Page Outtakes, top to bottom, left to right:
1. Kids at Tashkent Airport, waiting for flight to Urumqi
2. Bamboo stripper stripping bamboo for pickling, top of Emei Shan
3. blog Author, Turpan Ruins, trying to keep cool
4. author’s husband, slurping noodles in Dunhuang noodle shop
5. author and husband, at Turpan ruins taking selfies for entertainment while waiting to be rescued by Desert Storm trooper
6. Paper maker making paper from Mulberry bark
7. live Kewpie Doll washing Kewpie Doll, grape resort in Turpan
Day 63: With Gratitude to My Role Models
In an earlier post, I mentioned that wanted to be a role model for my family. I just realized that they have been role models for me. Gee Kin is kind, patient and curious. What more can I expect in a partner? He teaches me to be better in those ways by his own actions. On his departure back to the U.S. and my getting ready to head for Guangzhou from Chengdu, Gee Kin still made sure that I had the address of the hotel in Guangzhou where I am staying by myself in Chinese, that I had a little raggie for my dirty little face first thing in the morning, and that I had enough toilet paper to get me through the all-nighter. You would understand these necessities if you have traveled by train in China. I’m still too rebellious and Western-propagandized to accept that dealing with these inconveniences are a personal responsibility.
Despite my denial of these essentials, I reluctantly agreed to take them at the last minute. Yep, he was right. Being on the train alone helped me to 1. Understand 2. Accept 3. Use all of the above. This public confession is a way for me to thank and acknowledge Gee Kin for his caring, patience, and kindness.
Melissa, for all her dedication and focused perseverance of her craft, has taught me the value of finding a passion and working hard at it. She has shown me that fame and fortune lie in one’s own abilities, and no one else’s. I give her a lot of credit for her achievements and a ton for independent thinking. She has reminded me to think more for myself.
And Julianne for asking why. She’s a milder version of Louis CK’s daughter and the skit Louis did on her asking why about everything. Julianne’s training in philosophy got me curious about what it was all about. The book she tossed to me on Schumann led me to Dresden. Her desire to engage people and ideas makes me want to do more of the same.
Chinese are not about bragging (except for material wealth, cars, how much they earn, degrees, etc., but please! never overtly!) For me, I just want to tell my family and whoever reads this that I love them and appreciate them. They inspire me, move me, and are MY role models. What more could you want in life?
Photos: from top, left to right
1. Gee Kin, on Emei Shan
2. Melissa and me, in Paris
3. Julianne, in a cafe in Berkeley
Day 53(a): Training the Trainers
Overnight Train from Turpan to Dunhuang.
Photos, from top, left to right:
1. People waiting outside
2. VIP Waiting
3. Inside Sleeper Car, 6 to an open compartment
4. and 5: Two lovely train attendants
6. Troops Staging after arrival
Day 48: It’s the End of the (Silk) Road–for now
About Uzbekistan: In a short week, I have grown very fond of the country and people of Uzbekistan. The people are gentle, calm, and kind. They are looking for ways to catch up with the rest of the world, but in another respect they. maintain a balance of initiative and acceptance. The driver summed it all last night. On the drive from the airport around midnight, he said to me, unsolicited, “People who visit Tashkent ask where the night life is. People in Tashkent prefer to sleep”.
About the Silk Road: the sights weren’t quite what I thought they would be. I guess I was expecting museum quality perfection. The presentation of archaeological finds, while being designated UNESCO world sites, is still hampered by a country’s wealth and priorities. That might explain why Germany has a high number of heritage sights, aside from probably having a heavy hand in the designations. Italy has the highest number of any country in the world.
In places like Uzbekistan, some of the work is performed by others not much better trained for that type of work than you or me. Matching original materials with what is currently available is dependent on money and knowledge. Our Western attitudes and expectations impose pressure on countries to deliver better appreciation of their cultural relics. This of course is controversial and can be debated.
On traveling alone: a friend referred to me as “gutsy”. I guess I have always been a bit rebellious, refusing to listen to the voice of reason. But this was in a way pretty safe and predictable, without dipping into the odd looks at my traveling alone. People either assume I am I married or divorced, and I don’t always feel compelled to convince them that I am happily married with kids.
I always seem to end up bringing Gee Kin back to the places I visited without him, so I have become a scout of sorts. Maybe that’s the role I enjoy, and he has been incredibly generous, supportive, and understanding of my compulsion. It certainly was true of Germany and Turkey. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun to share these experiences with your partner, family and friends, with a higher rate of predictability.
It’s not so bad, either, to have time to collect your thoughts about where you are, how you are seeing them, and why things happen the way they did historically. It’s a different lens from which you are seeing the world.
For now, I have completely satisfied my needs and wishes for this part of the trip and look forward to sharing the next segment with Gee Kin who will be meeting me at Midnite in Urumqi! We’ll be picking up the Northern part of the Silk Road in Northwestern China, so stay tuned….
Photos below, from top, left to right:
1. Tour group from Ferghana Valley visiting pilgrimage sites. The local gentleman jumped into the picture of ladies because he couldn’t resist getting his picture taken! (They also loved being photographed).
2. Djuma Mosque. six of the columns date back to the 10-12thC, but most of the construction dates to the 18-19thC. The new columns were propped up with copper bands to protect them from insects and moisture.
3. Niche facing Mecca, as all mosques have.
4. Courtyard.
5. Camel for comic relief! Good tourist trap.
6. King’s harem courtyard in the Tash-Hauli Palace
7. View of the inner city bound by a fortress wall
8. Reconstruction is actively taking place throughout Kiva, using sun dried mud brick covered with straw reinforced mud.
9. Detail of column with swastica sign
10. Kunya-ark Mosque.
Day 38: My German Class
After three and a half weeks together in an intensive advanced beginner course, its not surprising that we feel bonded and sad to leave each other. Human nature, no matter what age, links you inevitably to each other. Age was certainly less an issue than culture, openness and confidence. We supported each other’s endeavors and shared each others’ stumblings.
Its much easier to introduce the students from the class at the end than at the beginning, as you can see from the comraderie in the picture:
Front row: Marco,(Mexico); Valadimir (Bulgaria).
Middle row: Luis (Mexico); Paolo (Portugal).
Top row, standing: Saikat (India); Keyson (Thailand); Masami(Japan); Meilina
(Indonesia); me; Yongin (Korea); Hamid (Algeria).
It was a great program, great class, and I passed my exam! Now I can proceed to the next level (intermediate). I guess I wanted to prove that I could still think and learn like a student, but in the end, even though I did, it didn’t really matter. I highly recommend this to others of any age to connect with people in whatever way you can who are NOT the same age you are. I really learned a lot from this group of energetic world beaters. We are going to be in good hands with people like the ones in my class. That’s my message and purpose for this segment of the trip, I guess, and I’ll be ready to move on to my next quest: the Silk Road.
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