Spotted Dork in Large Sea Mammals

There’s so much about life we will never be able to understand. I can just tell you, though, that, although I am sure I do not deserve it per se, I have happened into a wonderful part of my life. Things are really going well for me and I must acknowledge that—what better place than here. I am very thankful for this time and will try to savor every moment of it.

Went to visit Betsy in her new place in Wiesbaden over the weekend. Great place. Lots of space. Nice neighborhood. She is Fest now with Wiesbaden and will sing Idamante in Idomoneo as her first role. For those that may not know: that’s a hard part, a really hard part! I met her one day after one of her coachings and she, I, and Wiesbaden’s lyric tenor, Judd went up and sang for each other. They were excited about my voice, excited that it is so big. Judd even said it was beautiful. That’s cool. A compliment from people who actually know something is always so affirming somehow. Anyway, it really helped me. All of these people, now that things are starting to take off, are “coming out of the wood work” to push me along this path. It is both uncanny and inspiring.

As for expounding on my trip to Wales and the trip with my parents, I am not sure how I will even begin a commentary on such a huge happening. Perhaps best would be to just make general comments about Wales for the moment, then, if there are any questions (from Monica, for instance the only person, to my knowledge, that actually reads this) I will answer them in the “comments” section:

--Because the weather was so nice (a rare occurrence), we drove out to Southerndown, a place on the sea where one can see what Wales’ coastline looks like. The cliffs are beautiful.

Funny, though, the grass goes straight to their edge. It looks as though the grass just goes to the edge of the water.


But, at the grass' edge, is where the drop-off is:


Scary.
--Went to Porthcawl, a typical Welsh beach resort. English tourists, especially those of the blue-collar variety, that Porthcawl particularly caters to, are scary. There seems to be a much greater “white trash” contingent in Britain than there is in Germany. The wealth in Germany seems a bit more evenly distributed. How to prove this? No idea. Just seems so.
--Had “Curry”. That just means Indian food in general. Finally, something palatable. Actually, it was even quite lovely. Yum. Thank you for importing all of those Indian people so that we could get something decent to eat here.
--We have been having Welsh Rarebit for breakfast every morning. This is cheddar melted on toast. Do not balk at this people. Do not forget, I said CHEDDAR!, and boy, do they have good Cheddar here.
--Went to St. Faggan’s (don’t laugh at the name.) It is a Welsh folk history museum. It’s a giant complex of buildings showing different aspects of Welsh society. They have many building that represent farm life, city life, town life, etc. They actually found buildings that epitomized this throughout Wales, and then moved the buildings, piece by piece to this site. One of the truly impressive ventures is the Worker’s Institute, a building furthering tradesmen’s skills. Look at this beautiful building, moved, stone by stone. Incredible! I embarrassed myself by talking to one of the park guides. I asked where the money came from for this huge project and she said that it came from some foundation. Having seen so much British TV as a child, I simple-mindedly asked if any of the money came from the English Heritage Foundation. Her fangs came out as she beat me about the head with her words, an action she obviously would have treasured doing with her fists instead, had she been permitted. “English Heritage? Well, that would be for things in ENGLAND. We are not in ENGLAND, sir. We are in WALES. So, money for the Welsh Folk Museum would come from WALES.” I thought I could hear her softly hissing, and as she lurched back, ready to pounce on me, I just ran away screaming like a little girl. Sorry, lady. Lest I forget how much the Welsh hate the English.
--Watched British version of X Factor. It is a singing competition where people come in, sing for 30 seconds and then are either eliminated or move on to the next round. Oh, God, I’m in love with this show. They have Simon, the ass from American Superstar, and Sharon Osborne on the panel. It is so cute, because they show a nice balance of talented people and really horribly untalented people. It is so funny!
--Had typical Roast Beef dinner on Sunday. Uh, what is the big deal about this? It is no different than what we eat in America, except that our vegetables aren’t cooked until they are like mush, like we’re still living in the 70s.
--Went to little mountain town of Brecon. Very cute. Beautiful mountains!


It is littered with sheep. They’re everywhere! What is beautiful is that there are large spots of purple heather on the hills (I ear a song coming on...)


--Had Cream Tea. That’s is tea at teatime with scones, jam, and clotted cream. God, I love this. Truly, though, whereas the English can’t cook the main meal very well, they make it up with their sweets. “Spotted Dick” was a bit, odd, though. I digress.
--Saw the Tate Modern on trip back through London. Seemed a rather impressive building (a converted power station), but the actual collection seemed smallish for a city of this size. Odd.
--Wanted to go see a movie in London until I realized that it costs 12£. That’s almost $23! I stayed in instead.

So, overall, my trip to Wales was very nice, not withstanding the bad food. I really loved having the chance to spend lots of time with Maria, and to see the beautiful Welsh country. The next time I visit her, though, I will not bother passing through London, but, rather, choose the more expensive option of just flying straight to Cardiff.

Lessons from the Summer: Love Paris! Oh, God, Paris, I love you! I want so much to live there. London: you’re just not my thing. Don’t like it. Can’t put my finger on it, but it just did not give me a good feeling at all. Note to self: just stay on the continent sweetie.