FREE SOFABED

Had my first Dirigieren (conducting) class today! This was my first real class here in Germany. A class where I was the only foreign kid…..and that was made quite clear.

I arrived just on time so I had a seat sitting next to a very nice girl right by the door. The teacher began by speaking about what we would learn, and then asked that each of say our name (and what I guessed would be our program of study). …I figured I would just listen to other people and copy what they said with my own fill-in the blanks. Not so lucky. Much to my horror she began with ME! So I mumbled out my name, said I was an exchange student from Canada (I learned that I am the only student from Canada here) stated that my German was not so good (which was pretty obvious!) and said I was in Music Education. Phew! So slightly embarrassing, but doable.

I was sitting beside this great girl (Dorthy) who said I could ask her questions if I didn’t understand. Excellent! but I also didn’t want to look completely clueless. Therefore, when the teacher said something looking in my direction and Dorthy kinda looked at me and went to get up, I said “oh, I got it.” And opened the door. … I turned around an sat down, but realized the teacher and students were looking at me with puzzled faces….Dorthy whispered ...”the light switch” and I realized my mistake. The teacher had asked for the LIGHTS to be turned on! I smiled like an idiot, went back, turned ON the lights and CLOSED the door! (why would she want the door open Katrina?) I’m sure if I could read minds I would have heard a lot of “dumb foreign kid” going around the room.

To address the name of this blog, I SCORED A FREE SOFA-BED!! I had made the decision already to purchase a futon or chair/bed from Ikea for 99Euro (roughly 135$) because I really want some more furniture in my room and a place for friends to sleep.
BUT thanks to people leaving old sofa’s out on the street, I can put that money right back into my pocket! This particular couch was sitting right outside my residence when I walked out this morning. At first I took no notice to it because I’ll be honest, it looks like its been around the block a few times,…. but with a little imagination, some cleaning and love, I began to have big dreams for this couch. I later asked my roommate Jelena if she though I could take it. She said “ya! Lets go get it now before someone else does!” this was the challenging part.
Between the two of us we managed to drag it back into the building, into the elevator and into our apartment, but the angle from the hall into my room proved quite difficult! 20 minutes later, and many different angled attempts, I must say that I am the proud owner of a new, used couch! And I love it!

This evening (Friday night again) I was supposed to go out with Huw and friends, but it turns out Huw grew “ill” (as he stated, not sick…haha the English) and it was postponed until tomorrow night. Instead I had a nice roommate bonding evening where Jelena, Magda and I sat in the kitchen drinking tea.

Jelena was working on a painting. Its super intricate. She spent 7 hours matching a colour to a number on the paper. (something I could do for only about 1/2 and hour before deciding it really wasn't worth it.) Magda brought her music out to the kitchen and was writing cues and dynamics for herself when she plays. I had my German-English dictionary and notebook out and was writing down new words I had learned that day. We talked and laughed. Later, Jelena brought out this German musician/comedian and we listened that. Oh what a night! I really enjoyed it though, I think the three of us make a great combo!