BL!NDMAN Amsterdam

This is a very quick, disorganized post, since I leave in a few minutes. We do the "Transfo" show again tonight in Amsterdam, in the beautiful Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ. This is the second time I perform in this venue, which sits right on the water. It will be very nice to catch up a bit with colleagues that I haven't seen for a while.

We just received the publicity for the Messiah concerts coming up in April:


I've been quite the little ebay fiend recently. Our Hamburg friends Max and Severine pretty much equipped their house with fixtures from ebay, so I'm following their lead. Yesterday we received a 28cm Le Creuset frypan, never used, and it was even delivered to our door. I got it for less than 1/3 of a new one, so am happy.



Tomorrow afternoon I go to Spa to pick up a new oak dining room set that I also found on ebay; I'll post a picture later.

Here's a picture I took this past week... it was the mounted police on a training day, just up the street.


Here's another photo from last weekend. These Doctor Seussian piles of powder were lying on the side of a field near Bryan and Kiana's; we think they're some form of chemical fertilizer. Interesting colours though. Salt-water-toffee fertilizer!


Bon weekend!

Spring is springing

I was walking home from my class this morning, and got off the bus early, so that I could make a quick trip past the Oxfam store on my way home. It would appear that spring is imminent in Brussels, if this blooming tree I spotted in Ixelles is any indication.

At the Oxfam I found two shirts, one sweater vest and a brand new pair of Lacoste corduroys, all for 15 EUR. Not for me, but for Malcolm. He's already as as tall as our friend Kiana, and growing fast, so it is sometimes challenging to keep him in clothes...


I think it's a pretty good ensemble for 15 EUR, maybe better than VV back in Canada...


Bon Weekend!

If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite...

... If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain, winter is gone and will not come again.


Candlemas is the commemoration of the presentation of Jesus at the temple. In Belgium February 2nd is when the Belgians eat their crêpes. In their celebration of Le Chandeleur, there is a tradition of lighting a candle and placing it on the altar in the church, then watching to see if the light on February the 2nd reaches the candle. If the light is strong and reached the altar, it means bad news of continued harsh weather, whereas if it was cloudy, it foretold an early spring. Sound familiar?


This all reminds me of a joke:

Three Canadians were flying back into Canada from abroad. One was from Saskatchewan, one was from Quebec, and one was from Newfoundland. The Canadian border guards indicated that there was a new fast-track system to get through immigration without the usual rigmarole; they needed to pass a skill-testing question. The Saskatchewanite stepped up first. The guard asked "what holiday is it when people pass out paper hearts, send love poems and flowers, and give each other chocolates?" The fellow from Saskatchewan replied, "That's Hallowe'en". The guard frowned, shook his head and motioned him to the line for the usual immigration process.


The Quebecois was the next one to step up. "What holiday is this, when children hang up stockings at the fireplace, people bring an evergreen tree inside and decorate it, and there's a big party until after midnight with lots of drink, laughter and tourtière"? The Quebecois replied, "That's Carnavale". The guard, frowned, shook his head and waved him to the long immigration line.

The Newfie stepped up last. "What holiday is this, when a rabbit hides chocolate eggs in the garden, and the children go searching for them?" The Newfie replied, "I know this one, isn't it also the commemoration of the crucifixion and death of our Lord Jesus?" "Yes," replied the guard. "And didn't they take His body and put it in the tomb, and roll a stone over the hole?" "Yes!" encouraged the guard. The Newfie got more and more excited… "And they came back three days later, and the stone was rolled away?" "Yes, yes!" said the guard.

"And if he comes out and sees his shadow, we get six more weeks of winter…"

I'm not sure if the sunlight fell on the candle in Belgium this year, but for most of this week it has been cloudy and warmer, so that might be a good sign. This morning I received an offer to do another concert here in April, this one Liszt's Via Crucis or the Stations of the Cross. This is one of his last works and considered by many to be one of his most daring and original compositions. There are lots of beautiful passages for the baritone soloist, so I'm looking forward to that very much.

Tomorrow morning is my first day at the Goethe Institut here in Brussels, doing an intensive German conversation course. Three weeks, 3.5 hours a day, monday-to-friday. Do I sound a little nervös at the thought? Ah, well, it's only three weeks, and it's about time; I feel a bit lacking whenever I spend time with other opera singers, who greet each other warmly auf Deutsch while I have to get by on French and English...

... and Mandarin! This morning at church this fellow came up to me after the service, asking where he might find the minister. I told him to follow me, but first stuck out my hand and introduced myself to "Ang". When he said he had recently arrived in Brussels from China, I responded with a prompt "Huanying", which means "Welcome". His face lit up, and he asked how I knew Mandarin; I responded proudly, "Wo shi Jianada ren", which is "I am [a] Canada[ian] man"! Of course we all speak Mandarin in Canada, right? (Actually, in Malcolm's junior kindergarten class in Toronto, more spoke Mandarin than English).

I explained that I had taken a Mandarin course when I was at Queen's, and didn't explain further, since about all I remember is how to introduce myself politely, how to say hello and goodbye, how to count, and how to ask how much something costs. Ang didn't need to know that, so I pointed out Andrew in the crowd, and we said our goodbyes (zaijian).

Happy Chinese New Year, doc!