Lost in Translation

Written on 9/23:

I am so happy to have a day off today.  I’ve been working so hard: commuting, rehearsing, trying to keep up practicing, and still settling in my apartment. 

We had our first symphonic concert last night, which to my relief was an overall success!  We played two pieces by a Turkish composer by the name of Erkin (our conductor and violin soloist were Turkish) and Brahms 4.  The orchestra played quite well, especially considering how rough we sounded in our first rehearsal.  I was mosly happy with my solos, though I don’t think I played with much nuance since I had to play so loud to be heard.  The violin soloist played some really cool Turkish music for his two encores, and since I didn’t have to play in those, I could just sit back and enjoy. 

The concert hall was full, and we were briefly broadcast on TV.  It is so much fun to have a large and supportive audience. After the performance, a reception was held in the lobby, where we could drink wine, eat hour d’oeuvres (did I spell that right?), and chat with the audience and the administration.  There were a couple of Americans that we met, who were involved with Navy and stationed over here at the NATO base.  It was nice to meet some other Americans who are living in Sarajevo, and they offered to take us to the tunnel museum sometime.

Now we have a long weekend to recover, and then a week of rehearsing for a giant arts festival that takes place every fall.  After that, we have ten days off, so Sara, Matt and I are trying to plan a way to get up to Munich, Germany for the end of Octoberfest!  I hope it works out.  Then we have a really busy late October in the orchestra, including a trip to perform in Zenica, and in Northern Italy, near Venice!!!  It looks like I will get to see quite a bit of Europe next month!

My topic of the day is “Lost in Translation”:

Since I’ve moved here, sometimes trying to communicate has been frustrating, and sometime has been quite hilarious.  Here are some examples (most of them are funny things that got lost going from Bosnian to English.  I’m sure I’ve said some really funny things in Bosnian, but, alas, I don’t usually realize how I’ve misspoken.)

- Sarah and Matt went to buy fruit at the market.  The woman at the stand we frequent offered a mysterious fruit for them to taste.  Her daughter, who speaks English, told them it was an “apple grenade”.  They came home and told me the story, and showed me the fruit.  It was a pomegranate, haha.

- The Bosnian word for house is kuci (pronounced koochie).  The American quartet giggles every time…

-The arts festival that is taking place next week is called the MESS. This is quite funny because people keep saying, “your rehearsals next week will be a mess”.