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...