Riva del Garda, where the wine flows freely and Internet costs 5 euro an hour.

Enough said.

Not Just Buying Sunglasses

I just bought a pair of sunglasses. I mean a real pair of sunglasses-fashionable, with a fancy name, that come with a case and a special rag to wipe the lenses. I left Flagey, the concert hall in Brussels where we are stationed for our ten days here, and paused a moment. I had two hours to kill and I really needed some sunglasses. I turned left, towards the hotel, and then realized that I had walked that route a hundred times already, so I turned around and crossed my fingers that I would encounter something on that same street. (Since I don't have a good map of this city, any sense of direction, or an understanding of anything but ten words in French, I've made a pact with myself to stay on one street when I decide to explore.)

Sometimes things go horribly wrong-you wander for hours and find nothing interesting in a reasonable price range. You get lost and lose track of time and have to spend 20 euro on a cab and arrive to rehearsal panting. But sometimes you make a guess, walk two blocks in a random direction and see a pair of big sunglasses in neon flashing lights, walk in the store where only two other people are, find a great pair of sunglasses you love, discover the other customer in the store is from Bolivia and speak Spanish with her and invite her to the concert and tell her the glasses she's thinking about buying are "preciosas" and then get 10 euros knocked off the glasses. It was a fun little outing.

But there are many other things to write in this entry, and I still have 25 minutes to get my 1.25 euro's worth.

There are so many elements to this tour, it's hard to sum it up in any way. There's the music, the travel, the people, the language, the food, the administration, the self-discovery and the frustration. I guess I'll start with those and see where it takes me.

***We are playing A LOT of music on this tour---Tchaikovsky 5, Shostakovich 5, Dvorak 9, Il Pagliacci, Verdi Requiem, one piece by Copland, Revueltas, and Ginastera each, a variety of concertos including Rhapsody in Blue and Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, plus some encores. The orchestra is really really talented. It was a mixed bag when I realized how good the other horn players were-it means I wasn't assigned any of the big solos, it also means I get to play in a bad-ass section every day. Every person I've met in the last week has responded to my "I play the horn" with a "You guys sound incredible!!" I'm not going to complain about that. And they're all really great people, so although I was hoping on a chance to shine, nope, no complaining here.

***Brussels is a cool city, although more like a place I would want to live than just pass through. Very advanced, put together, clean, organized, polished. Beautiful gardens, statues, buildings, cafes, and plazas everywhere you turn. That and some tree I am horribly allergic to...Besides checking out the cathedrals and the beer (Brussel's main attractions) we also went to Brugge yesterday (a little city of canals) and are headed to the internationally-famed Musical Instrument Museum.

***It is really an experience to be a returning member of YOA. I feel a level of comfort it took me all tour to achieve last time and I'm getting to know many of the Latinos much better since my Spanish is so much better. Plus, I'm not gonna lie, it was a blast telling everyone that since last summer I've won a job and moved to Mexico. :) The people in this program continue to be like no other group of people I have encountered-undyingly energetic, notably talented and quick, refreshing and fascinating and full of affection. I'm lucky to be in the group.

There is so much more to say but I'm running out of time and energy (that whole thing about not sleeping on the tour? that's still true) so I'll leave it there for now. Oh wait, the food, let me just say ice cream, chocolate, waffles, fries, mussels, strawberries, beer...it's all dreamy.

And, as expected, I'm getting the urge to learn French and move to a country where they speak it...

Let the month of little sleep begin...

In twenty-three and a half hours I will depart this city to begin my summer- a European tour with YOA. That´s right, my bus leaves at midnight, arrives in Cancun around 4 am, then a taxi to the airport, plane leaves for Miami, then to New York, then Brussels, where I arrive Sunday morning at 9:35 am. An appropriate first day for the kind of summer it is sure to be, one where sleep is not a priority, that is.

Will do my best to check in during the tour. I'm sure it will be quite an experience!

Mexican Elections: Who Knew?

Today, Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 is the day of the Mexican presidential election, which happens every six years. It seems that with only four months in Mexico so far, I have witnessed some pretty big, and infrequent, events: both the World Cup and the presidential election. I'm feeling that "Wow, things sure are different in another culture, sometimes more ridiculous, and sometimes smarter than in the US" feeling that you're supposed to get when you live abroad. Here's why.

1) The election is always held on a Sunday. Makes sense, right? Most people don't work, so they don't have to get off work to get to the polls. None of this trying to get off a few hours from the job to vote (technically all employers are required by law to grant this in the US, am I right?). But still, with long lines and traffic and the million other things going on in a person's life, the likelihood of your average worker to fit voting in on any given Tuesday is not high. Sunday seems a bit more democratic to me.

2) It is prohibited to sell alcohol in the entire country from 2 am Saturday morning before the election until the following Monday. Crazy, huh? Not sure how I feel about this one, mostly I'm just really surprised by it. Is it illegal to actually drink alcohol or just sell it? Of that I'm not sure (and decided not to risk it). It is possible that everyone just buys a ton of beer on Friday and stays in for the weekend. But still, an interesting gesture by the government, even if solely symbolic. Frustrating, however, for one of my good friends, whose birthday was on Friday. When the security arrived at around 1 am, the waiters start to yank half full pitchers off the tables, and threatened to take our drinks right out of our hands if we did not finish them soon. Quite a sight.

3) When you vote, you stamp your thumb in dark black ink, which takes at least a few days to really go away. This prevents people from voting twice. Not so hard, huh? Why didn't Jeb Bush think of that? ;)

4) The candidates' campaigns were not always the most issue-centered things I've ever seen. It seems fashionable to rewrite a current pop song with lyrics supporting the candidate and their party, then to blare this song over a loudspeaker propped on top of a van, and drive around the neighborhood. Hmmm...

5) The presidential debates seem a little less, well, required. There are 5 major candidates here, and one of them failed to show up (well, actually just chose not to appear) for the first debate. No one seemed to mind, he's still one of the top two likely to actually win.

Anyway, it has been an interesting experience observing the process from the outside. I still can't quite stay objective though...go Lopez Obrador!