Blarney Stone

Well it's been a while getting settled. Obviously my priority has been learning the roles I'm singing, and it looks like I have some dance steps to learn for the big "masked ball" of the title in Act III. Fortunately the assistant conductor and repetiteur are great and they've helped me a lot in getting the roles learned, and my dance partner (a nice married Irish lady who has two daughters a little older than our two boys) is very understanding and helpful.

The cast and the "crew" at the opera company are uniformly very nice, friendly and professional. It's obvious that they've all done their homework, and are excited about the project. The chorus is great also, very positive and they look very elegant. The famous Irish reputation for hospitality is not unfounded; the lead soprano has been kind enough to lend me a few things to help equip my kitchen, although I am still without a cell phone. I'm thinking of picking up a small ultraportable computer for a couple hundred Euro, and using that as my telephone, as my apartment has WiFi.

Despite the relatively modest number of scenes I'm singing in, I am rehearsing pretty much every day, and I'm glad for it: not only does it mean that I get more practice, but it also keeps me busy. I'm a bit isolated these days as I don't know anyone here in Cork outside of the opera company. It's nice to spend some time socializing (I've had one pub evening after an afternoon rehearsal, and the mezzo lead and I planned a dinner that ended up involving most of the cast as sous-chefs) but most of my evenings I go back to my apartment alone. After a whole summer surrounded by people it's weird to be so solitary, but I guess I'll get into a routine. In the meantime I'm hungry for news of the boys' first day of school, and Maggie's new class. Once again, for Maggie's perspective on things visit www.maggiesexcellentadventure.blogspot.com.

Another stress buster is exercise: Kevin has arranged for a nearby hotel to provide access to its pool/sauna/gymnasium for a reduced rate, and I've already done a couple of of kilometers there; I plan to go back tomorrow.

I didn't go today because I went on a little quest to kiss the Blarney Stone at the top of Blarney castle! The bus from Cork is 5 Euro, and takes perhaps half an hour to get to the village of Blarney. There are also famous woolen mills here (I have a nice scarf that my Aunt Lorraine gave me several years ago) so I made a trip in there to shop for some presents myself, and to kill time while the monsoon hit. Gracious me! I seem to have brought the Belgian weather with me... rain pretty much every day; one can only hope for something better. Sadly the one nice day so far I spent in the rehearsal hall. Dang!

I promise as soon as I get a computer I'll do some proper posting with photographs. I'm in an internet cafe in Blarney, and my time's almost up.

Talk to you soon, like!