Wednesday evening, I attended a fantastic concert at the House of Sweden, with mezzo soprano Astrid Robillard and pianist Henrik Berg. Astrid Robillard is this year’s winner of the Jenny Lind scholarship, which is awarded annually to a young Swedish soprano. This year was the first time that it was given to a mezzo soprano. And she was amazing, both to listen to and to look at since she was very charismatic and present on the stage. Since I am also a mezzo soprano, it was really inspiring to hear how she used her voice and what type of music she had chosen. If you ever have an opportunity to see her perform, do go and see her!
Today is Memorial Day in the U.S. It is Government holiday and I am off work. As on most if not all Government holidays, there are big sales going on. Sales are a big thing here in the U.S. When I first came, I was told never to get anything on original price. I didn’t fully understand this until I had been here for a few months and I realized that the original price is actually the least common price. It is just that people seem to feel better about themselves if they feel like they’ve made a bargin and so in general, things are 30-70% off. From what I understand, there is some kind of law that a good or a service has to be of original price for a couple of month a year in order to advertise the sales price, but things here are definitely on sale more often than not. So if you pay the original price for something, you pay 30-70% more than its actual price. And Government holidays are the big sales weekends. Not sure why this is, since for example Thanksgiving should be a family holiday, but apparently, that weekend draws record many customers to the stores and outlets.
Anyway, I am avoiding the stores and am instead spending the afternoon at Tryst with Martin. Definitely a lot nicer!
I am back in Moldova since a few days. It is so nice to be here! I really enjoyed living here and it still feels like home. Though a little bit grey at the moment as the weather is quite dull. But hopefully, it will be better before I leave. I am here for work and I have had long days since I came, so I haven’t really had time to be outdoors anyway. But I hope to have some time this weekend to see friends and stroll around Chisinau. And tomorrow, I am invited to a reception for all the Swedes here. Apparently, there are quite a few living here now days. It will be interesting to see what they are all doing here.
I’m watching Larry King Live on CNN and tonight’s guest is Bill Maher. I recognize him of course, but I have never seen him on TV . During this year here in the U.S., I have never seen anything similar. He is the most outspoken person I have ever heard here. Or non-republican or beyond republican outspoken persons (not to forget Rush and Glenn.). At least since Stephen Colbert held his famous speech to George W. Bush at the White House Correspondences’ Dinner a few years ago. In this interview, Maher accuses the majority of Americans for being stupid, ignorant, and uninterested, the U.S. media for not paying enough attention to what happens around the world, Dick Chaney and other Republicans for lying, both elected Republicans and Democrats for being corporatists, the U.S. political system and especially the Senate for stagnating political decision making, the Tea Party movement (or the Tea Bags) for being a joke, religious people for never doing charity without a catch, etc, etc, etc. It was quite relieving actually, to hear an American saying all this out loud on a relatively neutral channel like CNN. Not that I don’t love my current home country of course, but there are certain things that are generally accepted here as the superior way that still remain a question mark. I fear a bit for Maher’s life though – I think he might make a lot of people here very upset. The interview is of course not out yet, but here is another recent clip that I found on YouTube:
When surfing around a bit, I see the he is the person who made Religulous, which I haven’t seen yet but intended to do. It also seems like he is on Twitter, and for the first time ever, I am considering getting an account. I think I’m in love!
I am packing again. This time for a 4-week trip to Europe starting Saturday, first to Moldova and then to Romania. And yes, I am going for work. I am so looking forward to it. It seems like six weeks is as much as I can take here in DC, after that I get really restless. So I already started packing, even though there are several days left before I am off. I have realized that when I am really eager to go somewhere, I start packing early, but when I don´t really want to go, I start packing last minute. Does anyone recognize this?
I don’t know if you seen that I have added a blog to my Blog List: lilihoa. It belongs to Linnea, who is by far the youngest blogger in my family. Check it out!
Or maybe not. But I found this at Whole Foods the other day. I have of course never seen this brand in Sweden, but it is similar to what can be bought under the label non-alcoholic Cider in the food stores (some kind of carbonated apple or pear beverage). And no, I don’t recommend it. The Swedish version has definitely more taste, and even that is not exactly a quality drink. No, a carafe of cold water with pieces of apples in is definitely a good alternative to this!
It is Friday evening and I am at home. Have been a bit sick these past days and so I thought I’d stay in. I picked up two Krispy Kreme doughnuts on the way home and looked forward to a relaxing evening in front of the TV. However, my plan kind of failed. I have over 200 channels, and yet, I can’t find anything to watch. This is not uncommon here. Even the news are repetitive and constantly interrupted by lengthy commercials. So now I am watching an old episode of Scrubs. Which wouldn’t be so bad, had I not seen it at least three times before. I guess I’ll read a book instead, and enjoy my doughnuts. Life could definitely be worse…
