Just A Taste

Hey there folks. As John reported, I now have my executive "property of US government" base pass that gives me access to all non-secret American installations. I am now at the library sifting through my neglected email while J is in his Anthropology class.

Our wedding in Malta was fantastic. Malta is the best country in the world, besides the US, that is. I should have internet in my house next week, so I'll start giving more detailed reports then.

Above is not a Givenchy nor a Versace ad, though it should be in my opinion. That's one of our wedding pictures shot on "Triq Il Merkanti," the market street in Valletta, Malta. More to come.

Scratchy Scratcherson

I've had a crazy week. I found out on Wednesday that there was something vital missing from our marriage package (through no fault of our own, I still maintain). Something that normally takes 2-4 weeks to get. Yikes. But it all got sorted out. Suffice it to say that a certain American authority said "jump," and a certain Canadian authority said, "how high?" I love it. It's nice to know that there really are people out there willing to help.

I finished teaching my groups yesterday. I got a lot of nicey gifts and sweet cards. I just have a couple of more gigs and a couple of private students this weekend, then I'm off...... to Europe! Stay tuned for tales. Oh yeah, my birthday is coming up for those of you that haven't read previous posts.........

Buddy Day

To the left, Me, John and Miriam.

To the right, Miriam, Sue and me. The reason I look so much taller is because of heels. I'm actually a lot closer to their heights.

At this time in one week, I will be landing on the island of Sicily. I can't wait.

Mimmy Mimmerson: The Queen of Karaoke

Miriam is awesome. She did old standards like, "Copacabana." and "California Dreamin,'" as well as some "experimental" stuff like "Toxic." This was the perfect environment for experiments. Ie. we had a private room, so we could hog the microphone and do as much sprechstimme when we didn't know the tunes of the verses all we wanted. Thanks Johnny for this brilliant idea!

Jimmy Cash

There's Jim doing "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash. Jim hates karaoke so he's a good buddy for coming. It was the perfect blend between sprechstimme and crappy singing at the ends of phrases. Just like ol' Johnny. Of course he changed "Sue" to the Hungarian version, "Zsu." It was particularly funny because our friend Sue, the dance instructor of the Hungarian group, was there as well.

Bachelorette II: Karaoke Fun

I'll be posting pictures from my bachelorette weekend throughout the week. Last night was karaoke with my musician/hungarian buddies. My shining moment was singing "Let's Get Blown" by Snoop featuring Pharrell. I have a bit of a cold, so doing the transitions between Pharrell's singing, Snoop's singing and Snoop's rapping was a bit difficult.

Apologies

Let's get this out of the way. Sorry for a. not updating (you'll hear the excuses later) b. no pictures today (I'll compensate this summer I'm sure) and c. possibly not updating for the next month.

Okay, excuses: I was out of town and sick this weekend. I've had student concerts this week. I'm preparing to move to another continent. I'm getting married this month..... that's my first and final bridezilla moment.......mostly. If you don't believe me, ask the guy that sold me my bridal sandals today. He said, and I quote "you're the easiest bride I've ever met."

The weekend went well despite my illness. We did a show here on the Friday night and though it wasn't my best show (lotta pressure with the home crowd) I signed a lot of autographs anyway. People and their crazy Hungarian fetishes! We's famous! I felt a whole lot less pressure once we took the show on the road (ie. being sick and away, I didn't give a s**t and I feel that I had my best shows ever....... apparently I even smiled.....shhhhh.......don't tell anyone.) We did some jamming in cowtown and I had the pleasure of playing along to a bossa nova tune. Suhweet.

I've been slowly getting better. My students performed pretty well this week. Sniff, so sad to say goodbye.

But I'm SOOOOOOOOO excited to go. I've been purchasing necessary travel/wedding gear all week. I got some executive 440 thread count sheets with money my Grandma gave me. Thanks G! Sure, it's kind of a pain taking them overseas but I couldn't find anything but hotel sheets on base when I was there and I have no idea where to go out in town in Italy to find nice and bargain priced sheets.

I'm spending the next 10 days shlocking stuff over to my parents' house, packing, shopping, teaching and have random bachelorette parties so I may not have time to update. For the first few weeks in Europe my internet access will be limited, but fear not! Come July, I will be back so be sure to tune in again for wedding pictures and stories of antics. My friend Sheldon and his girlfriend will most likely be visiting at the end of June so I'm sure we'll get into some trouble or something. Or, at the very least, he'll have some entertaining stories from his three year viola study in London.

Further to John's Canadiana 101. Here's my "America 101" counter. The "washroom" thing is a BIG DEAL in reverse. I timidly asked a woman probably named Shatiqua working at Subway in Norfolk where the "washroom was at." "Washing machine?!?" she exclaimed. "We ain't got no washing machine.....hey Tyrone! she lookin' for a washing machine.... we ain't got no washing machine!" You don't even have to go as far as Virginia to run into that difference. My friend once crossed the BC/Washington border and asked for a washroom. The American attendant answered, "well, we gots a sink in the back." My friend replied, "riiiiiiiiggggghhhhtttttttttttt, can I pee in it?"

Secondly, sure, as a Canadian with access to MuchMusic or MTV, you think, "ya, hip hop is cool, if I went to the states I would SO bust into a hip hop club and see it for real." Forget about it. If you're a pasty small white girl like me you can't. You just can't. Why? Because yo' White! I didn't try this personally but had I not met J and gotten the scoop I probably would have...... dum dee dum dum dum as I stroll in thinking, "I'm from Canada! We accept all races! I saw the Caribbean festival one time, they were nice! I'm nice, we can all get along!" From what I hear, this would have been a grave mistake. I'm sure people from the south can back me up on this one.

So like I said, you may not hear from me for a while. But if you're lucky I'll be so jet-lagged and spinny in Heathrow that I may just drop a line. Either way, don't abandon me!