Written 10/16
The problem with busy weeks is that I think of a lot of topics for my blog, but don’t actually have much time to write. So, it is Sunday afternoon, and I still have yet to write about my experiences from early last week. I hope I can remember everything that I meant to write about!
I spent all day on Wednesday and Thursday in downtown Sarajevo. We had two rehearsals on Wednesday, so during the break in between I finally had the chance to try Vegehana, a vegetarian restaurant in Old Town. I got soup, salad, bread, fried cheese, a potato dish, and a pastry for 7 Marks, about 4-5 US dollars! The food was fantastic, and it was so much fun to be able to try everything without worrying about avoiding meat. I think I will become a frequent visitor. An added bonus is that the restaurant is non-smoking, and smells nice and clean.
I think that most of the orchestra found it difficult to focus during the rehearsal on Wednesday evening, maybe because it was such a long day. So we didn’t play very well, which was frustrating. After rehearsal got out, I decided to go out to a bar with a bunch of friends to unwind. We had a good time, and I got to try walnut brandy, which I highly recommend. It’s quite tasty, and not too strong.
The rehearsal on Thursday morning was short and sweet: just a quick run-through of the rep. I was glad that the conductor picked up on the fact that the orchestra was feeling a little burned out, and didn’t push us too much. As a result, we had quite a bit of energy for the concert the next day. Even though the pieces weren’t as clean as they should have been, the orchestra made it through a three-hour concert without petering out.
On Thursday afternoon, Sara, Matt, and I had coffee with our American conductor and soloists, and later went to lunch with Sunshine, a woman from the US embassy. It was great to spend the afternoon talking with other Americans who are also living/visiting Bosnia, and comparing our experiences. Everyone was very interested in supporting our cultural exchange and helping it improve in the future. I tried to give honest feedback and describe the few problems that we’ve had. I hope I made it clear how much I am enjoying the opportunity to come to Sarajevo and learn so much in a short amount of time. I’m a little worried that I spent too much time describing our problems, didn’t share enough stories about our positive experiences. However, I am not sure that our program will ever improve unless we give feedback about how it could be better. Every day, I am challenged to find a balance between being assertive (taking care of problems on my own), asking for help, and taking the time to relax and enjoy myself.
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