sorry it's taken so long to post. here is the e-mail i sent out last Friday...
On 5/19/06, Sylvia wrote:
i'm here! i have only a few minutes in this internet cafe. wish i could send you the picture i just took, looking out to Ryneck, the market square, in the center in Old Town. full of people, old and young. they are shopping, chatting, eating, flirting, biking, etc. it feels good to be in a city again! Beautiful, old, buildings; so much history; good food; crazy language; kind people. check my blog for pics later.
do widzenia.
-sylvia.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
good day
at first, it was quite hard for me to open up and talk with Polish folk. most of those my age and younger speak English, so the language barrier is not as big a problem as the fact that they are introverts and so am i. anyway, Saturday my team broke intsmall groups and we spent the afternoon touring the city with a handful of Poilsh university students and so i got more comfortable. what did we do? well, we ate "pancakes", more like crepes, for lunch and then toured the main Krakow attraction, the Wawol castle, which dates from the 13th century. beautiful. before meeting up with the rest of the big group for supper we behaved like the locals and strolled along the Wisla, the river that runs through the center of Krakow. unlike the locals, we taught our Polish guides how to play cribbage. :)
while it is still not easy for me to walk up to people and chat, today i was able to overcome some fear and talked with a lovely young lady, Ange, at our first outreach at her university apartment complex, what they call a "student hostel". my teammate Crystal had been talking with her and a few of her friends for awhile before i joined them. after i asked them where i could find a "toalety" - public bathrooms are scarce in Krakow - she lead Crystal and i up to her dorm room. over the tea and small sandwiches she offered us - gotta love European hospitality! :) - we continued our conversation through broken English, French, German, Polish and gestures. Ange is in the midst of studying for exams - ten of them! - and said yes when i asked if we could pray for her about these. Crystal told me that she and Ange had talked earlier about the Pope (big dude here!) and Jesus, and that Ange said that the old pope was in her heart while the new one is in her head. And Jesus? he is in here heart. hmmm.... there was a sweet presence in the room when we prayed and after we finished she placed her hand on her heart and smiled at us. i did too. i felt like we had found a sister...
more to share, but gotta run. paying to use the internet so need to keep it short. hope ya'll are well. blessings from the other side of the world. and thanks to all of you who helped me get here. :)
while it is still not easy for me to walk up to people and chat, today i was able to overcome some fear and talked with a lovely young lady, Ange, at our first outreach at her university apartment complex, what they call a "student hostel". my teammate Crystal had been talking with her and a few of her friends for awhile before i joined them. after i asked them where i could find a "toalety" - public bathrooms are scarce in Krakow - she lead Crystal and i up to her dorm room. over the tea and small sandwiches she offered us - gotta love European hospitality! :) - we continued our conversation through broken English, French, German, Polish and gestures. Ange is in the midst of studying for exams - ten of them! - and said yes when i asked if we could pray for her about these. Crystal told me that she and Ange had talked earlier about the Pope (big dude here!) and Jesus, and that Ange said that the old pope was in her heart while the new one is in her head. And Jesus? he is in here heart. hmmm.... there was a sweet presence in the room when we prayed and after we finished she placed her hand on her heart and smiled at us. i did too. i felt like we had found a sister...
more to share, but gotta run. paying to use the internet so need to keep it short. hope ya'll are well. blessings from the other side of the world. and thanks to all of you who helped me get here. :)
Monday, May 08, 2006
You know it's gonna be a fun week when...
...the power goes off campus-wide on the first morning of finals.
I arrived at the Morrisson Center around 9:20 to meet up with my accompanist. I noticed that the computer lab was dark and thought "that's odd", and as I walked in further I smelled something funny. Then I went to get my violin out of my locker and found the instrument locker room pitch black, and I was like, "Oh dear". So glad that I had my bike light in my backpack. "Always be prepared" means I'm usually carrying more than enough junk to keep me outfitted for the first year after a major disaster, but it has its advantages at times. After I got out my violin and music, I chatted with the department secretary who told me that she had heard about a professor giving a test orally, and maybe "he sang the musical examples"? I headed up stairs to warm up and find my accompanist in her usual practice room. Instead, I found the conducting class crowded in the hallway, using the electricity from the room to power a boombox CD player so that they could do their final exam. I sought out another practice space and was about to get warmed up when the power died in there, too. Groans of exasperation came from other rooms where students were getting ready for their performance juries (kind of like finals for private lessons). I finally found my accompanist and we rehearsed to the "mood lighting" from the small amount of sunshine that made it into her husband's office. After a good little rehearsal - my jury isn't 'til Wednesday and I think it is gonna go well. :) - I left the office and found a bassist reharsing in the hall with his accompanist. They had pushed a piano out from a window-less classroom to utilize the emergency hall lights that were still on. Probably the best scene of all was of the aforementioned conducting class. Now without power from the practice rooms, they had migrated out-of-doors. When I rode past the group on my way to work, Mary was conducting her final to band music blaring from someone's car with the rest of the class and the prof seated on the sidewalk watching her. Hey, that works!
I love it when people are forced to improvise. While it can bring out the worst in some people, it brings put the best in most and makes for this fun, quirky atmosphere. I love the smiles passed between folks who usually walk past one another without so much as an acknowledgment, and the laughs, the sense of comraderie. Makes for a good ending to a good semester, don't you think?
I arrived at the Morrisson Center around 9:20 to meet up with my accompanist. I noticed that the computer lab was dark and thought "that's odd", and as I walked in further I smelled something funny. Then I went to get my violin out of my locker and found the instrument locker room pitch black, and I was like, "Oh dear". So glad that I had my bike light in my backpack. "Always be prepared" means I'm usually carrying more than enough junk to keep me outfitted for the first year after a major disaster, but it has its advantages at times. After I got out my violin and music, I chatted with the department secretary who told me that she had heard about a professor giving a test orally, and maybe "he sang the musical examples"? I headed up stairs to warm up and find my accompanist in her usual practice room. Instead, I found the conducting class crowded in the hallway, using the electricity from the room to power a boombox CD player so that they could do their final exam. I sought out another practice space and was about to get warmed up when the power died in there, too. Groans of exasperation came from other rooms where students were getting ready for their performance juries (kind of like finals for private lessons). I finally found my accompanist and we rehearsed to the "mood lighting" from the small amount of sunshine that made it into her husband's office. After a good little rehearsal - my jury isn't 'til Wednesday and I think it is gonna go well. :) - I left the office and found a bassist reharsing in the hall with his accompanist. They had pushed a piano out from a window-less classroom to utilize the emergency hall lights that were still on. Probably the best scene of all was of the aforementioned conducting class. Now without power from the practice rooms, they had migrated out-of-doors. When I rode past the group on my way to work, Mary was conducting her final to band music blaring from someone's car with the rest of the class and the prof seated on the sidewalk watching her. Hey, that works!
I love it when people are forced to improvise. While it can bring out the worst in some people, it brings put the best in most and makes for this fun, quirky atmosphere. I love the smiles passed between folks who usually walk past one another without so much as an acknowledgment, and the laughs, the sense of comraderie. Makes for a good ending to a good semester, don't you think?
Friday, May 05, 2006
flight
wow. today is the last day of classes, the end of the semester, the end of my first year at Boise State. where did the time go? just flew away i guess. yesterday i performed some solo Bach in String Area Class. i played a movement of the E major Partita from memory, which was a little nerve-wracking, but it turned out all right. in Area Class, as in Studio Class, the profs and the students in the audience give feedback after each person's performance. one guy said he liked the dynamics in my performance, that my fortes were loud and strong, and my pianos were soft but they didn't disappear. that made me so happy to hear, especially since in the past i have had a tendency to get weak whenever i try to play softly. somebody else said i filled up the room, and since i was playing in a 200-seat recital hall, that's a pretty sweet compliment. i had a couple little memeroy lapses and, in those spots my tone got funky and i made up a few notes in order to just keep going, but overall it was a good performance.
wow. i remember at the beginning of the semester looking at the performance calendar for the violins and seeing my name at the bottom on the last Area Class and wondering how it would be; it seemed so far away, and now it's gone.
now on to another project, another bunch of stuff to finish before the i am done for the school year: performance juries and a 10-page paper and accompanying presentation and a pedagogy final. then there's getting ready for the trip to Poland/Slovakia and moving and a little recital with my students the day before I leave Boise for three weeks. after a road trip up to Bozeman, MT, i meet up with my team on Monday the 15th and then head out of the country.
wow. i'm really going. i can't wait to fly...
wow. i remember at the beginning of the semester looking at the performance calendar for the violins and seeing my name at the bottom on the last Area Class and wondering how it would be; it seemed so far away, and now it's gone.
now on to another project, another bunch of stuff to finish before the i am done for the school year: performance juries and a 10-page paper and accompanying presentation and a pedagogy final. then there's getting ready for the trip to Poland/Slovakia and moving and a little recital with my students the day before I leave Boise for three weeks. after a road trip up to Bozeman, MT, i meet up with my team on Monday the 15th and then head out of the country.
wow. i'm really going. i can't wait to fly...
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
long quote
It's been a long while since I posted, and even longer since setting up a decent quote. Please accept my apologies, or at least this excuse: I'm quite busy now, with the end of the semester just a few weeks away. I have lots of projects and a paper and performances to play and others to watch... And then it is a beautiful spring out there, and I want to enjoy that, too. Also, in the past month I have begun to make friends here, and suddenly I have other stuff to do besides homework on weekend evenings! So, yes, been busy. But, fear not, faithful readers, the posting may falter, but it will not fail! :)
That said, I wanted to share with ya'll a quote from a sermon a few weeks ago by Paul, the pastor of my church here in Boise. We were looking at Acts 2:14-21 and the quote there from Joel, concerning the end times, when Paul said, "There's indication in the Bible that there's going to be more disasters... People look at last year and go, 'Man, what a year: the tsunami and hurricanes. Now, tornados and all these different things - Windows on a Mac...'"
That said, I wanted to share with ya'll a quote from a sermon a few weeks ago by Paul, the pastor of my church here in Boise. We were looking at Acts 2:14-21 and the quote there from Joel, concerning the end times, when Paul said, "There's indication in the Bible that there's going to be more disasters... People look at last year and go, 'Man, what a year: the tsunami and hurricanes. Now, tornados and all these different things - Windows on a Mac...'"
Sunday, April 02, 2006
snowshoeing - the real pics
just in case you haven't tripped on over to my photostream at flickr.com lately, here are a few of my favorite pictures of that snowshoeing trip, these from my real camera. enjoy!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
proof...
...that Google is letting success go to its head, - er maybe heart.
"When you thnk about it, dating is just another search problem.And we’ve thought about it. A lot. Google Romance™ is our solution."
oh dear.
"When you thnk about it, dating is just another search problem.And we’ve thought about it. A lot. Google Romance™ is our solution."
oh dear.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
randomness
so it's that time again, time to write, and i am glad to do so but a warning: this post will be less focused than most, just a bunch of little things to say.
first, i finally broke down and joined MySpace. ahh, sigh. i am almost ashamed to say that i am really enjoying it... mostly beacuse i have friends - oh, yes i do have friends! oh dear. i mean, two of these friends make music and they have some of their stuff on MySpace so it is superfun to hear it, 'specially cause one of these guys is back in Boston, and hearing his so-called "jambient" brings back happy memories of dancing with friends. and then there is the fun of finding music by other folks via friends' friends. all this to say, if you are on MySpace, check out my little space here .
next.
i feel i little embareased about the pig thing. i posted the present "quote" on my sidebar on a day that i was buzzing with sugar, caffiene and seriuos sleep deprivation. not sure which day that was cause the past few weeks have been a blur of such days! yes, i'm so glad it's finally spring break. i took a three hour nap today. sweet. anyway, that's my excuse. when i have a better quote - and i'm looking hard now! - i'll post it ASAP.
finally, i had another intriguing "home" moment. i was watching the weather channel a few nights ago, you know the "Local on the 8's", and they were showing the satellite view of the Northwest and i had this thought, that, yeah this - Boise, this corner of the Northwest - feels like home. it was a sweet, fleeting contentment. Thanks God.
first, i finally broke down and joined MySpace. ahh, sigh. i am almost ashamed to say that i am really enjoying it... mostly beacuse i have friends - oh, yes i do have friends! oh dear. i mean, two of these friends make music and they have some of their stuff on MySpace so it is superfun to hear it, 'specially cause one of these guys is back in Boston, and hearing his so-called "jambient" brings back happy memories of dancing with friends. and then there is the fun of finding music by other folks via friends' friends. all this to say, if you are on MySpace, check out my little space here .
next.
i feel i little embareased about the pig thing. i posted the present "quote" on my sidebar on a day that i was buzzing with sugar, caffiene and seriuos sleep deprivation. not sure which day that was cause the past few weeks have been a blur of such days! yes, i'm so glad it's finally spring break. i took a three hour nap today. sweet. anyway, that's my excuse. when i have a better quote - and i'm looking hard now! - i'll post it ASAP.
finally, i had another intriguing "home" moment. i was watching the weather channel a few nights ago, you know the "Local on the 8's", and they were showing the satellite view of the Northwest and i had this thought, that, yeah this - Boise, this corner of the Northwest - feels like home. it was a sweet, fleeting contentment. Thanks God.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
"follow this bike to..."
my bike's rear fender is now a rolling endorsement for my church. not that i've actually ridden it there, but, theoretically, i could. it's just that i'd end up all sweaty and gross after the six miles from my house. might make the "meet and greet" time over donuts a little awkward.
not sure how long the sticker will last on the plastic. looks cool for now though.
Monday, March 20, 2006
snowshoeing
yesterday i went snowshoeing for the first time. i remember being a little kid and first hearing how Native Americans had used snowshoes and thinking, "wow, walking on top of snow! i wish i could do that". so i guess the trip was a little dream come true. we - me and some folks from the Pursuit - went up to Morse Creek past Idaho City and hiked up the side of a mountain. we stayed on the trail where the snow was pretty packed down, so next time i wanna work even harder and practice "walking on water".
as i have probably mentioned before, living here in a desert valley i really miss the snow. so it was great to see lots and lots and lots of it. beautiful. Heather and i both took lots of pics, her with her fancy, schmancy digital SLR and me with my trusty film SLR. i shot a whole roll on my camera - kind of a splurge for me - and mailed the film in this morning. i can't wait to see how they turned out. til then, here are the two pics i took with my phone.
Heather and i say "cheeze"
Friday, March 17, 2006
kudos
just a quick thanks to Kate for helping me get the "Just for Kicks" section up and running on the sidebar. she is finishing up a long stint of involvement with the Marching Band, first as a student marcher, then a GA and most recently part-time staff, before heading off to bigger and better things. check out her blogs. she's seriously addicted to writing!
anyway, Kate did the template thing quickly this morning at work. no, I'm not reading Curious George. and I actually like alot of the music on her office computer. it's an eclectic mix, to be sure, but keeps me humming as I file band pieces with titles like "Ferocious Fanfares" and "Born to Boogie".
so tommorow I will update "...Kicks". I gotta find a cool quote. hmmm. maybe it will be quote of the month.
anyway, Kate did the template thing quickly this morning at work. no, I'm not reading Curious George. and I actually like alot of the music on her office computer. it's an eclectic mix, to be sure, but keeps me humming as I file band pieces with titles like "Ferocious Fanfares" and "Born to Boogie".
so tommorow I will update "...Kicks". I gotta find a cool quote. hmmm. maybe it will be quote of the month.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
still under construction
okay, so now my brain hurts. i can't yet figure out how to finish what i started but eventually i want to have a little section where i periodically update silly quotes and list books and music i've discovered recently. til then...
another quote i came across the other day, this time on a bumper sticker:
MONEY TALKS
mine says goodbye
and a cool book, especially for you Russia aficionados:
The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety: On the Road in the Former Soviet Union, Molly J. Baier
happy weekend!
another quote i came across the other day, this time on a bumper sticker:
MONEY TALKS
mine says goodbye
and a cool book, especially for you Russia aficionados:
The Fire Escape is Locked for Your Safety: On the Road in the Former Soviet Union, Molly J. Baier
happy weekend!
under construction
howdy faithful readers.
just an fyi:
for the next hour i'm going to be experimenting with my template, so things might look wierd for a bit.
just an fyi:
for the next hour i'm going to be experimenting with my template, so things might look wierd for a bit.
Friday, March 10, 2006
victim
ah, the music stand. when it works well, we pay it no respect, just grab it by the neck and drag it around. then when it isn't functioning correctly, we groan and abandon it. worse, it is an easy target for fits of rage that come upon the frustrated musician practicing challenging pieces. looks like someone lost it one day in the practice room and this stand was the closest object at hand.
what a pity.
:)
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Quote du Jour
Heard on The Effect this morning:
"Two things we know for sure.
One, there is a God.
Two, you are not Him."
:)
"Two things we know for sure.
One, there is a God.
Two, you are not Him."
:)
Thursday, February 23, 2006
sunny days
"Today is a beautiful day to be a college student", I find myself thinking as I walk across campus, passing crowds of other college kids doing the same. The sky is blue with just a few puffy clouds, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and there is a gentle spring-like breeze. And while I am working on just a measly nap (less than six hours of sleep since yesterday), I have finally sent off my applicaiton for Big Sky Expeditions' summer missions trip to Eastern Europe. Ahh, it feels good to get something done. Now where's that cheap caffeine in the form of 25 cent can of Shasta Cola...
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Gatherings - Part I
No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, and my blog isn't going to die out, either. Guess I have been experiencing a posting dry spell. Anyway, I'm back, and here is the second installment in "what I did over my winter vacation". I'll try to finish it before June. :)
Decmeber 25th is Happy Christmas and Merry Birthday for my dad. In the evening, after finishing the traditional Christmas stuff, we do Dad's B-day and, inevitably, there is a "surprise cake". Here he is with his 61st.
My sister Therese and her fiance Chris, aka, "Chrese and Tris, I mean Chris and Therese."
It was great to see Nate and Tina and the new addition, Anastasia, as they visited friends and family across the US during their summer break from work and school in New Zealand.
My favorite "expecting" couple, at a cafe in Central Square, Cambridge.
For a family outing, we drove to Fitchburg and then to... some other Massachusetts town where we ate supper at this buffet. Favorite part: singing Christmas carols all the way as we drove through the dark, pointing out impressive Christmas light displays every now and then.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Par-tays
Here is the first round of pictures from my three weeks in Boston over the break between semesters. The time was full of gatherings so I decided to theme these blog posts around those meetings. Enjoy!
For Holly's b-day she wanted to eat out and do Karaoke so Alice directed us to Cathay Pacifica. After stuffing ourselves with Chinese food, we headed to Pacifica's lounge where Alice, Holly and the latter's "little" brother took turns serenading us.
New Years Eve, Adam and Jack were co-hosting a party at the Reel Bar in Allston with another DJ dude. At first unable to decide whether or not to trek out, the five of us ladies in the Yuill Circle house finally started off to the party at 11:20 pm and made it to the bar just in time for the count-down. Then we danced another hour to the smooth sounds Jack was spinning.
Jack and the Ladies
Finally, a few days before I flew back to Boise, the White ladies invited folks to join them at Matt Murphy's pub for a goodbye dinner before their move up to Anchorage, Alaska. Lot's a laughs, some hugs and pictures, and promises to visit someday. Good times.
Brenna and Cait
more pics of this shindig
For Holly's b-day she wanted to eat out and do Karaoke so Alice directed us to Cathay Pacifica. After stuffing ourselves with Chinese food, we headed to Pacifica's lounge where Alice, Holly and the latter's "little" brother took turns serenading us.
New Years Eve, Adam and Jack were co-hosting a party at the Reel Bar in Allston with another DJ dude. At first unable to decide whether or not to trek out, the five of us ladies in the Yuill Circle house finally started off to the party at 11:20 pm and made it to the bar just in time for the count-down. Then we danced another hour to the smooth sounds Jack was spinning.
Jack and the Ladies
Finally, a few days before I flew back to Boise, the White ladies invited folks to join them at Matt Murphy's pub for a goodbye dinner before their move up to Anchorage, Alaska. Lot's a laughs, some hugs and pictures, and promises to visit someday. Good times.
Brenna and Cait
more pics of this shindig
Saturday, January 21, 2006
quick post
howdy folks. just found it humorous that Boise State's library now has a blog on blogger.com. someone even left a comment on the first post. :)
Friday, January 20, 2006
Hallelujah, Hallelujah...
Choirs are singing!
Angels are dancing!
Bells are ringing!
Organs are resounding!
(big gulp of air)
I got a Graduate Assistantship!
I will be working in the office of BSU's Marching Band greeting folks at the front desk as they visit the office and answering phones and organizing the music library, etc. It's not the most glamorous job in the world but I'll get all my tuition and fees paid for as well as receiving a stipend. One thing that I'm looking forward to is helping the office move into their new digs in the newest building on campus - a multi-million dollar monstrosity that will be the indoor practice space for the football team as well as holding offices for athletics and cheerleading and Marching Band. It opens at the end of this month and so a lot of my job will be helping with that transition.
So that's the big news of the new semester. Since I'll be working 20+ hours for my GA and also teaching a couple hours a week, as well as being a full-time grad student - yeah, I think that's it - I am hoping to get a room in a Suite on campus. I don't feel like I'll have any time to commute, especially since I am still car-less.
I start this new adventure next Wednesday. Check back here for more episodes of this particular drama. :) And thanks, gentle reader, for taking the time to share this good news with me!
Angels are dancing!
Bells are ringing!
Organs are resounding!
(big gulp of air)
I got a Graduate Assistantship!
I will be working in the office of BSU's Marching Band greeting folks at the front desk as they visit the office and answering phones and organizing the music library, etc. It's not the most glamorous job in the world but I'll get all my tuition and fees paid for as well as receiving a stipend. One thing that I'm looking forward to is helping the office move into their new digs in the newest building on campus - a multi-million dollar monstrosity that will be the indoor practice space for the football team as well as holding offices for athletics and cheerleading and Marching Band. It opens at the end of this month and so a lot of my job will be helping with that transition.
So that's the big news of the new semester. Since I'll be working 20+ hours for my GA and also teaching a couple hours a week, as well as being a full-time grad student - yeah, I think that's it - I am hoping to get a room in a Suite on campus. I don't feel like I'll have any time to commute, especially since I am still car-less.
I start this new adventure next Wednesday. Check back here for more episodes of this particular drama. :) And thanks, gentle reader, for taking the time to share this good news with me!
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