Day 9 and 10

Well, I wasn't thinking that I'd update the blog again, but decided that I would.  Needless to say, I'm pretty sure that it's a rare day that I go somewhere and something crazy doesn't happen... Anyway, tonight  I'm writing from Warsaw.  Needless to say, it's been an interesting travel day.  Our flight from Kaliningrad to Warsaw was delayed 2.5 hours, so we missed our flight to the U.S.  It was a big ordeal to figure out what the heck to do to change flights, but we finally got that taken care of.  We also got vouchers for a hotel, and I must say, we're in a top-notch hotel in the center of Warsaw for the night.. very impressive.  It's amazing.. so clean, quiet, has an air conditioner, which is way different from how I spent the past week! Plus, they had an awesome buffet for dinner, which was amazing!! Warsaw looks like a beautiful city.. I almost wish I could stay here longer!

Anyway, Sunday was another free day until the closing ceremony of the competition.  Simon and I went to the German restaurant for one last meal of schnitzel (yum), which was followed by shopping.  We also stumbled upon a huge market that was part of the Birthday of Kaliningrad celebration, which was rather impressive.  We walked through the mall, bought some souvenirs and headed back to the hotel for a bit to get ready for the closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony was a really neat experience.  It was awesome to see the cathedral packed full of people supporting the organ! They presented tons of awards, and then the 6 finalists played one piece.  This was followed by a party at the judges' very nice hotel.  It was a nice way to end the week!

Ok.. I really think this might be the last post.  Thanks again to all of my wonderful readers for your love and support! I really appreciate it! 

Day 7 and 8

Yesterday, those of us that didn’t make the finals and the jury went out to Curonian Split.  This is a peninsula that is between the Baltic Sea and the Kaliningrad Lagoon.  We stopped at several places along the way and got to see some beautiful views.  First, we stopped and walked through a forest, which was really neat.  Our second stop was the beach of the Baltic Sea.  This was amazing.  I think this is perhaps the second time in my life I’ve been on a beach.  The views were beautiful, and it was so peaceful out there.  I could’ve stayed out there for hours!  Then, the last stop was viewing the Kaliningrad Lagoon, which was also a beautiful view.  It was a fun day to just relax.  We had a very late lunch, which was traditional Russian food, so that was very nice.  On the way back I had the opportunity to speak with the chair of the jury about my performance.  It was a very interesting conversation, and I tried to not take things to heart that he said.   I learned a lot from that conversation to say the least.  Last night I went to the coffee shop next door for dessert, and then Simon and I talked for awhile there about competitions, and how subjective they all really are.  Especially here, where there are 9 jury members and each one probably is expecting something different.

Today was the finals of the competition, and I decided to go and listen to them.  It was a very interesting time.  One finalist played the Boelmann Suite.. which.. ok, that’s a beginner organ piece.  I was impressed with two of the six finalists.. otherwise, it was pretty typical playing.  I spent the afternoon shopping, or maybe I should say “browsing” which was interesting.  The schedule here has been pretty free, so I’ve been going to the mall and walking around if there’s free time- granted there’s 3 malls in the vicinity, so that helps! 

Tonight starts the celebration of the City of Kaliningrad’s Birthday.  I’ve always heard that Russians like to party… so there’s a huge party out in front of the hotel tonight.  There’s a big stage with a concert going on, and the streets are packed full of people.  Simon and I walked down to get dessert, and ended up coming back when the concert and fireworks were over, which meant that the streets were crazy! This must be a pretty big deal for Kaliningrad.  Should be interesting to see what is going on tomorrow since we have yet another free day until the closing ceremony in the evening. 

Monday afternoon we fly back to the U.S., and I’ll spend the night in Newark before returning to KS on Tuesday morning.  I’ll say that I’m looking forward to getting back to Kansas.  It will be nice to be able to understand, speak and read the language again, and find Dr. Pepper. Although, this trip has been something I’m not going to forget anytime soon!

I’m not sure if I will post again, but I must also say thanks to all of you for your wonderful support.  From facebook posts to emails, I realized that I’m so fortunate to have such a wonderful “fan club.”  Thank you all!

Day 5 and 6

Well, after I left off, Nicole and I got lots of use out of our umbrellas as we walked in the rain to the Philharmonic Hall.  We had warmup times back to back, and I didn’t want to be responsible for getting myself there, so I went early.  The warmup went ok.. the one assistant was great, and the other one was in another world….. so I was worried about that for the performance, and was hopeful that the judges have mercy.  I had tons of time before I played, so we went to the coffee shop close to the Philharmonic Hall that had free wi-fi. 

Eventually it came time to play- I was thankful to talk to Dr. Higdon (one of the KU professors who is on the jury), who told me to just make it exciting, and then met the President of the Jury (Ludger Lohmann) at the door going in, who wished me luck, and that was scary!  Anyway, I got to the bench, and handed my sheet of registrations (stop combinations) to Alex, the good assistant so she could start to set the Liszt.  The first piece was Bach, and I thought that one went really well.  Next was Bohm, and that wasn’t bad.  Then was the Liszt.  This is where I needed to rely on both assistants.. and was completely scared.  This wasn’t my best performance of this piece, as there were some really stupid mistakes, but there were some nice moments.  And, because of the lame assistant, some of the registrations were a little off.  Finally, was Hakim, and we had to reset all the combinations in between…. And I decided to trust the lame assistant to make sure things were actually set.. and as I was playing, I found out, that they weren’t really set right.  There was a place that was supposed to be FF and it was more like piano…. And considering I hadn’t played this piece on that organ since my Saturday warm-up time shortly after I got here, I guess it wasn’t too bad.  After playing, and knowing about the background of some of the people here, I knew it would take a miracle to make the finals, and I’m ok with that.    I also realized too that most of the problems were beyond my control.

Anyway, after Simon played, we went to eat at a weird little restaurant close to the hotel.  I had chicken that was delicious!

Yesterday Simon and I decided to go out and try to find the infamous “Titanic” restaurant.   We walked exactly to where it was, and realized that it must’ve closed years ago, or something…. So we settled on the coffee shop with free wi-fi (it’s a chain, and there’s lots of them around).  On the way back, we decided to check out the market we saw.. wow.  It was unbelievable.  It was huge, and a variety of stuff… it was kind of like an outlet mall, but outdoors and in small booths- there was everything from fruit, to sweaters, etc.  After that, we walked back to the hotel and I went over to the mall across the street to use the free wi-fi and people watch.  It was interesting, a lady who I’m pretty sure is a beggar, was sitting near where I was counting change.. it looks like begging for money is a pretty productive business here!

Eventually, Simon and I headed back to the Philarmonic Hall to listen to some playing, but stopped to eat at a restaurant called “Pizza Club” (yay English) on the way.  We made it to hear the last two people play, both were very interesting players.

There was an awkward amount of time to kill in between, so we went to the coffee shop with free wi-fi again before heading back to catch the results.  Anyway, none of the three of us advanced.  I’m totally ok with not advancing, because that means that we get to go to the Baltic Sea for a free and fun day with the jury, and other competition organizers.  I’m really looking forward to that! Whereas, the finalists have to stay here and practice… so, I think we’re getting the better end of the deal!

Last night when we got back to the hotel, we met up with a person from Finland and one from the Czech Republic and hung out for awhile, which was lots of fun.  We decided to have a “not making the finals” celebration. 

Now I’m getting ready for the trip out to the Baltic.. stay tuned to hear about that adventure.  It’s hard to believe how fast this trip has went! Monday afternoon I’ll be on my way back to the U.S., arriving in Kansas on Tuesday morning!

Day 4 and 5

Compared to other days, yesterday was fairly uneventful, which is kind of nice for a change.  Yet again I didn’t sleep real well the night before, due to the window being open and the constant noise downstairs.  I’d kind of like to know (well maybe not) what they do at all hours of the night. People were dropping their glass bottles and laughing, and then there’s the cars driving, car horns honking, and then cars backfiring (which hopefully really isn’t gun shots). 

Anyway, Nicole and I met up and went shopping yesterday morning- it was a really unproductive shopping trip, but was fun to see what was out there.  I had to laugh when we saw a toy store in the mall with trolls.. I thought those went out years ago… but maybe they’re making a comeback! For lunch we went back to the same German restaurant Simon and I went to yesterday- more Wiener Schnitzel- yum!

Yesterday afternoon we got on a bus and went to the press conference that was the start of the competition.  It was interesting to say the least.  It was in some large building that used to be German or something, and there were lots of tv cameras there, etc. This competition is a really big thing in Russia!

Last night was the opening ceremony and concert. Once again, I’ve never seen so many TV cameras in my life.  It was a very interesting mix of music- everything from vocal solos, to piano/organ duets, to a quartet with “folk instruments”- one of which was accordion.  It was very unique… I have video on my camera of their take on the “Toccata and Fugue in d minor” which was very interesting and humorous.

After the concert, we went to the “Artichoke” and had a very light dinner.  I was a little concerned as to where we were going when they took us down in a basement, but it was nice.

And, for the first time, I slept really well last night, which is good since I have to play today.  I went over to the grocery store this morning, and bought a banana- didn’t realize that you need a sticker for it so the cashier was nice and helped me out.  I then went and sat and used wifi for a bit in my favorite people-watching area.  I also made my way to the coffee shop close by here and met up with Nicole.  After lunch, we went on a hunt for umbrellas.  I ended up getting a bright pink umbrella! It’s very rainy here today, and is supposed to be for the rest of the week, so I thought an umbrella would be a good investment.

Now, I’m hanging out doing score study and listening to recordings before Nicole and I head to the Philharmonic Hall for our practice time.  I will play at 11:20 Kansas time, and I’m hoping all goes well. 

End of day 3

As I sit here watching “Big Brother” in German- or maybe their version of “Big Brother”, I thought I’d write an update about the rest of today.

Tonight, I had my final practice time for the competition.  Instead of 25 minutes like they originally said, it was only 20 minutes.  Anyway, I’ll come back to that in a second.  Simon and I had to take a bus to the philharmonic hall (which, is an old church that is now where their orchestra plays..).  We got on the right bus, and got off at the right point, but were soon confused.  We went the way our assistant told us, but weren’t seeing it.. we decided that we needed to ask for help.  Luckily a lady looked at me and wanted to know what time it was, so we asked her.  She spoke a little English- hooray! That was really nice so we didn’t have to play the usual game of charades with someone for them to figure out what we want.  She walked us to the corner where we could see where the philharmonic hall is.  Anyway, we made it through our practice time, and I guess we’ll just see what happens when I play on Wednesday or Thursday. 

When we were done practicing, Simon, Nicole and I went out to eat at the hotel restaurant.  Their menu is only in Russian, but has pictures… so, basically, you just hope for the best.  I had a delicious pina colata, and Nicole and I shared mushroom pizza.  We also got dessert- mine was a huge delicious piece of chocolate cake, which they had me eat with a small fork.  I’ll have to post pictures of that later, it’s really quite funny.

Tomorrow things for the competition officially start! Yay- this means structure! In the afternoon there is a press conference, followed by an opening concert, and then we’re all going out to eat.  I think we even get our own bus now, and just maybe, we’ll be treated like royalty?  Stay tuned for tomorrow evening to see how this all turns out!

Russia- day 2 and 3

Well, after I left off yesterday, I went back to the mall across from the hotel and sat in my usual spot with an awesome wi-fi connection and people-watched.  That is such an interesting thing to do here.  Then Simon, Nicole and I (the others from the U.S.) went on the trek to attempt to find the “Titanic” restaurant.  I read about this restaurant online, and thought it would be a fun experience.  Well, one of the first problems when finding something in this city is that street signs don’t really exist so you don’t know what street you’re really on.  We took the directions that I wrote down, and tried to get there, but no such luck.  Then came the fun part of asking for directions, or for a map- and it was hard to find someone that spoke English.  We went into a hotel, and asked if they spoke English, and then amazingly enough, they had a map! It was interesting to see other parts of the city, and see large billboards advertising the organ competition.  We finally gave up on finding the restaurant, and came back to the hotel and went to the same restaurant we went to the night before- the one with an English menu! In this restaurant, we saw a lady in short leather shorts, with a pet rabbit with a coat on, and then a purse that she carries the rabbit around in.. definitely comical to say the least!

I didn’t sleep a whole lot last night, I’m not sure if it was the noise, or jet lag.  I slept for a few hours, and woke up at 1:45 thinking it was morning- partially because of the light coming in from the mall across the street.  Needless to say, I had a hard time falling back asleep, but finally did.  Russians must really enjoy partying, as there was some really loud music playing down there early this morning.  The first activity this morning as going to the Music School to practice- yay!  I hadn’t touched an organ or piano since Saturday, and was kind of worried I’d forgotten to play.  Simon and I ventured out with our assistant Alex, and another competitor from Japan to the school.  We took a bus, and then walked a ways to get to the school.  I spent an hour in a practice room and then got some time on the organ, which was really small, but hey- it had more than one keyboard and pedals so I was happy.  Alex’s father came and picked us up and brought us back to the hotel.  Upon walking into the hotel, we were stopped by one of the employees who wanted to copy our passports.  Ok, seriously people, how many copies of my passport do you need?  They had my passport for quite awhile on Saturday, so who knows.  I guess they just want to be safe, but gee.  Next time they ask for it, I’m going to bite my tongue.. it’s probably best to just say “ok.”

Simon and I went on a trek for lunch, and ended up finding a cute German restaurant with Wiener Schnitzel.  The menu was posted outside, and was in German and I felt so excited that I could actually figure out what some of the stuff was! It was delicious, and gave Simon his first taste of German culture.  I’m sort of becoming thankful for my little bit of German, as one of the TV channels is in German and I can sort of figure out things, which is really nice.  I’m still surprised by the lack of people around here that don’t know English!

Tonight is my final practice time- 25 minutes, before the competition, which I think starts on Wednesday.  I’m a little concerned since we haven’t had much practice time, but it’ll be ok. (I hope!).  Simon and I will be taking a bus to get there, so we’ll hope that we find our way :)

I'm here!

Well, I made it to Russia in one piece.  My flights were good… although, I was reminded again why I don’t like the O’hare airport.  It took one hour to get through the Security line for my international flight, and then we sat on the runway for one hour before we could actually take off.  The flight to Poland was pretty uneventful, although lots of people tried to speak Polish to me, and I have no idea what they were saying.  It did make me happy because I guess, I must not scream American! I must’ve slept for awhile on the flight, which was really good.. and also means that there’s a first time for everything!

Our flight made it to Warsaw on time, and then I had to wait in another security line to get to the gate to fly to Kaliningrad.  By the time I got to the gate, I didn’t have much time to spare, so I went ahead and figured out possible registrations for the competition.  As we were waiting to board the bus to take us to our plane (it was one of those like famous people use- that you have to walk up the steps to- bad explanation but that’s all I can come up with right now!), I stuck up a conversation with guy who spoke English.  Turns out, he graduated from Ohio State and is coming to Kaliningrad on a Fulbright to teach at the University here.  So, on the bus, we had  a nice conversation about football.  The flight to Kaliningrad was short and sweet, and I was afraid we were going to land in the Baltic sea, but we didn’t.  It was nice to have my Ohio friend to go through passport control with once we got here.. after my visa saga, I wasn’t sure what this would be like.  I made it through passport control just fine, and found a wonderful girl named Alex holding a sign “organ competition” so I knew she was there for me.  She had a friend with her that likes to get pictures with famous people, so she wanted her picture taken with me…. So that was really funny.  We got in a car and came to the hotel where I had a few hours to spare before my only practice time of two hours.

I then decided to go over to the mall and wander around, and try to find free wifi.  It was at about that point that I started to feel like an alien or something.  I don’t look too different than people here.. but there’s not a lot of people that speak good English.  My dinner last night was an adventure- at the food court there were various McDonald like options, and a little pizza restaurant whose name was written in pink letters.. so because of that I decided on going there.  The first thing I asked was if anyone spoke English, and the host shook her head, but got me a waitress that could speak a little English… so, they brought the menu and luckily there were lots of pictures.  I’m still not sure what I had to eat.. but, it was a “trio” pizza.  It wasn’t bad- whew!

Then my assistant Alex came to the hotel and met me, and we went to the Philharmonic hall for my practice time.  We took a bus to get closer, and then walked quite aways.  I’m glad I was sort of with it last night to have a fairly productive practice session.  The action is fairly heavy (for the non organists- that means that it’s harder to push down the keys), and it’s just an interesting situation.  We will see how this all goes.  Typically, unpredictable events like this freak me out, but I still feel confident in the music, and things will hopefully go well.  Her dad came and picked us up and brought us back to the hotel.

When I got back to the hotel, I met up with Simon and Nicole, who are the other competitors from the U.S. and also know English- yay! Simon is also from KU. So, we went out for coffee/food/whatever.  There’s a cute little place really close to our hotel with free wi-fi and last night after looking at the menu and wanting to point to stuff, she asked if we wanted an English menu- so there’s hope! Yay!

Last night I slept really well.. even with cars driving by, and people partying and my window open (highly unusual for me).  This morning, Simon and I walked down to two more malls, and experienced McDonalds for lunch.  Other than everything being in Russian, it wasn’t much different than the U.S.  I’m now hanging out at the hotel for a while.. before my next adventure- which is venturing to this restaurant called “Titanic” that apparently has some of the best Russian food in the area.. we’ll see.  I haven’t seen street names here, yet, so hopefully Simon’s map he drew will make it easy to get there.

Stay tuned for the next installment of my adventures in Russia! I’m guessing I’m going to have lots of stories to tell when I get home!

Off to Russia!

Hey Everyone!
I thought this would be the easy way to keep everyone updated on my adventure to the Mikael Tariverdiev International Organ Competition in Russia! I debated between mass emails and a blog, and realized that blog would be the easy way to keep everyone up-to-date with my Russian adventure!

At the moment, I'm sitting in the Kansas City airport, waiting to jump on a plane to Chicago.  I'll have about four hours in Chicago before a long flight to Warsaw, Poland.  Since I know no Polish, or really nothing about them, it could be an entertaining flight.  I will be in Kaliningrad, Russia at 2:15 their time tomorrow, which is 8 hours ahead of central time! I will try to update as much as I can once I get to Kaliningrad!

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support! It really means alot to me, and I greatly appreciate it!