I safely got in and had a pretty nice flight to Germany(txl). On the way, I couldn't sleep at all but reviewed A Fish Called Wanda, Ghost Protocol, and A game of shadows. Once I flew in Germany, I was worried if the Germans were gonna give me a hard time being an old Taiwanese. He said nothing but stamping my passport. The waiting for the transfer was a bit painful. There weren't much seats for overflowed passengers. I used the airport wifi to text Jared. The next Airberlin came, and it was very small. Airberlin was fantastic from JFK, but not as impressive to Italy. I bought Haribo and was teased by the flight attendant.
After landing in Italy, I waited for my luggage for forever. Without actually going through the customs officers, Maria found me in the lobby and we started our next epic journey in Rome. Our handout was only a suggestion with not much accuracy. We were very lucky to actually get to Siena with my wits and Maria's unstoppable fluent Italian.
Without knowing where we were actually going until we got in Siena, luckily our great friend, Stefano, Tom's love of life, had contacted David, a very nice guy who works for Siena School of Art. After calling Stefano, we took a cab to a hotel and got in a very nice room. Yes, Maria and I spent night together, mwahahahaha...
After a great night sleep, we completely got off the jetlag and walked around in Siena before our new journey to the life in regular apartment. It was a very long day. Everything in Siena is slow. We met up with the gang by 3 and I finally got into my space by 7pm. I have my own room in an apartment with many people from the other 5 rooms. After I came back from my grocery shopping, my neighbor downstairs had a huge crush on me, and immediately invited me to the Fiesta next door at night. I turned him down with the excuse of welcome dinner. I'm glad that my broken Italian is good enough to make people fall in love with me and to get out from the situation soon, too.
We had a huge group for dinner at Bandierino. I was so excited to see Claire, Tom and Stefano. At the time, I gladly found that Bandierino provides WIFI. We must have left dinner by 11pm. Once I returned home, I started to feel the FIESTA of Siena. Holy crap, the smokers were so loud and energetic until 3am. I started to cough and at I-don't-remember-when I fell asleep. The first day of town tour started at 10am. Lisa was our guide and walked us around to special and rather important places. By 11am we got in the school for our orientation. We had a break by 12pm and restarted at 1pm.
The first day of work was long. The singers recited the Italian words from Orlando and Suor Angelica. I worked as the chorus master for the SISTERS after their read through. We made it half way through in the no air conditioning room. Lauren was very nice to help me take notes of the division of voices. After 2 hours of intense Angelica torment, Lauren, Maria and I went back to Bandierino insieme. I had to have my risotto in martini sauce to go after failing to finishing it.
My neighbor downstairs was so excited to see me back home. His friend said, "tua principessa?" quietly but I still heard it. After ignoring that, my neighbor brought me a map of Italy and pointed Naples to tell me where he is from. I must have looked enlightened and he decided to give me the map as a gift. DO NOT ACCEPT GIFTS UNLESS YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE WANT IN RETURN!!! He then asked, "may I do..." and invited himself to kiss me on the cheek. Right after that, he shied away and went back to his grilling. After I collected myself, I excused myself and went back to my room. WTF... was spinning in my brain and from now on I won't accept any gifts from anyone I know for less than an hour...
A long night of party must have drained some energy, my neighbors finished their party sooner this time. I managed to get more sleep with less migraine while waking up. Lauren, Maria and I decided to meet up early to get to the school. I brought the girls peaches I bought a night ago and had breakfast at a dirt cheep place around the school. We marched uphill and got to the top floor for our first day of Italian class. Stefano was marvelous. He carried on the class with logic, clarity and humor. Now, we know how to say trecentoventunotrilionisettecentoquarantottomiliardiseicentocinquantaduemilionicentonovantanovemilanovecentonovantanove... Great eh?
I coached three singers after that and headed out to hunt an internet device in Wind. After purchasing it, I realized I completely left my iPad somewhere. Luckily, my iPad was completely safe sitting in my coaching room. I then went out for lunch and got myself a yucky burger. Why? I had a session with Mitch and got very helpful info for my career. Angelica chorus was following right after. On the stairways, Tom told me that he's really happy with what I did with the chorus. I could only promise him better and better by the approaching performance dates. The singers are eager to learn and they want to get the most of everything. I had a great time pushing everyone harder in that hot and sweaty room.
According to my roommates and the rumor, there was a used condom in the restroom discovered in our bathroom. The living condition was pretty challenging and they made a serious case. We were all gonna move out today but I finished work late. Oh well, I guess I could survive smoking one more night!? It's not so bad after realizing my friend from Naples on the way to Naples now!
Later!
