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Wednesday, April 30, 2003
 
Many of you know that in January 1995 I took a life-altering trip to Vienna, Austria. When I say this, people often ask me, why life-altering? Well that trip was a catalyst for so many things that are still majorly present in my life. For example, had I not gone to Vienna.....
* I never would have taken German at Stetson and met Dr. Poeter and her daughter Miriam. Dr. Poeter was a great influence on me, and her daughter Miriam, one of my all time favorite piano students.
* As a result of learning German, I met Martin, whom I married.
* If I had not met Martin, I doubt that I would have travelled to Europe as much as I have to visit him and gained so many experiences for which I am grateful
* I would not have seen ''La Boheme'' at the Staatsoper, not seen Rosa Vento as ''Musetta'' prancing out on that stage, causing a voice in my head to say, ''I want to do that.'' (The singing thing didn't make sense to me because I've played the piano since I was 6.) That was the first time that I can really recall the spirit inside me saying, I want to sing!
* As a result of this desire to sing, I eventually found a voice teacher who became a great mentor to me. She guided me very well and was instrumental in helping me make the decision of quitting my teaching job, being my own boss with my studio and pursuing my Master's degree in Voice. In another interesting turn, she also had studied extensively in the same area where Martin was from, spoke German fluently and gave me many insights into the German culture which was quite helpful.
* I would not have found the strength to be independent. Well, maybe I would have found that eventually. As a friend likes to point out, I went from clinging to a person whom I really didn't enjoy spending time with, to a couple weeks later, exploring Vienna by myself. That time was like a rapid period of transformation.

In addition to all of the major life experiences that came about, I believe, because of this trip, something that lives with me now eight years after we were there was the memory of those three weeks. Nothing brings this period more alive than when I talk to my friend Dominique about it. Many of you know her or know of her. I had seen her about campus but I didn't really know her well at all, but we became friends during this trip and as the days came and went we bonded, I guess you could say. I guess the bond was pretty strong because as soon as we came back I remember seeing her again and noticing that she was looking a bit unhealthy and green sort of and I remember the very day she told me that she was pregnant with Kaeden. It wasn't long after that she left school and I didn't get to see her that often. She went through so many difficult times after that but we would write and call and kept in touch. I consider her one of my closest friends. So many of the memories I have of Vienna involve her and are just incredibly funny. I know some of you might be reading this because she made mention of our unfortunate stop in Salzburg in her most recent post. This is yet another long story.

My family is of Cuban descent. My parents left ages ago but we still have family there. In 1995, my cousin Lyanne, whom I sometimes talk about in this blog, managed to escape Havana and head to Sweden. She was living in Stockholm at the same time that I was in Austria. I remember calling her to say hi and just saying, well, at least we're a little closer to each other and I remember her saying, well maybe you could stop by? Nice idea but still wicked far. Anyway, I wanted to send her a gift from Vienna just because and so in one of the shops near the city-center, I bought some cute Austrian crystal earrings and I wanted to send them to her. Well, I guess that must have been close to the time when we were leaving for Salzburg. Well, we got to Salzburg, which unfortunately, was quite a disappointment. It was basically closed and way too touristy. Mozart this. Mozart that. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Mozart. But it was too much. One thing that I did like about Salzburg was this cute market that they had with some cute shops and such. Anyway, perhaps the day after we got to Salzburg, I remember that Dominique and I decided to go to this mall place, I think it had several stories. I had taken the envelope that I had with the earrings in it and a note I had written to my cousin. Well, we're walking along the mall and all of the sudden I see this machine that looks an awful lot like an American stamp machine. And I'm all, cool, I can buy some stamps and get this package on its way. So I put in however many schillings required and I get this little paper thing out. It's sort of constructed like one of those envelopes that you get in the mail sometimes where you have to tear the perforated edges at either side and then you can open the whole thing. So I tear the thing open, and this little thing turns into a long page by page by page thing and I keep unrolling and unrolling and I'm looking for the damn stamp and I don't see one. Finally I get to the end, and it says, ''LEIDER NICHT'' - I have no clue what the hell that means but at this point, I'm damn sure that I didn't just buy a stamp. Dominique and I are standing there like WTF? and then we notice that on the slip of paper it says ''Brief Los.'' At this same moment, one of the professors who we were on this trip with plus this other lady walk up to us and I'm like, I put some money in this machine to get a stamp out and instead I got this. And they told us, no, no, you buy stamps at the tobacco store over there. This is a lottery ticket!! And then we could only crack up because the damn thing is called ''Brief Loss.''



Anyway, for those who are interested, that's the story.



Sunday, April 27, 2003
 
Un amico e come il sole: che tu lo veda e no, c'e sempre.

Un amigo es como el sol: aunque no lo veas, siempre esta ahi.

Ein Freund ist wie die Sonne: Ob du ihn siehst oder nicht, er ist immer da.

I found this quote in a piece of Baci, Italian chocolate. I think it's beautiful. It says:

A friend is like the sun, always there even if unseen.