Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers

 

Typically the Brahms concert is the last performance in each town but in Minden it was the orchestra concert that was the final event.  Instead of being held in the Dom it was located in the same church where the quintet performed the previous Sunday and where our host father is the priest.

Sabrina and I are thinking about starting up a second hand flower shop with all the lovely bouquets we have been getting for the performances!

 

Another amazing reception was held afterwards, but the real party occurred afterwards.  Our house crew took the opportunity to explore Minden’s night life and grab a couple of drinks out of uniform and (most importantly) away from the KINDERN!  We also did this on our first night but had to behave during the interim in order to stay  in “performance mode,” which will explain the change in attire between some of the pictures.  Y’all know how much I love a good costume change but I’m not crazy enough to change in-between bars.

First night:

Here comes troooouuuubllleeeee! (Adam, Mahogany, Mark, Eric, Brian, Sabrina)

 

Mahogany, Brian, Sabrinta

 

It’s okay because Sabrina’s husband is also named Eric.  That’s how it works, right?

 

Last night:

With a special guest appearance from Zack!

 

Even though Sabrina and I decided to go out we still had to call it an earlier night than those crazy orchestra kids under the guise of being responsible but mostly because we were dead tired.  The stars were out in all their glory that night and on our way home we decided to lay down in front of the church tower and stare up at them for a while.  Even though I knew it would turn out horribly I still took a picture…

… sadly you can only see one of them

 

It was such a wonderful change of pace to be housed with members of the orchestra for once and our host family was a duh-ream!  Here’s one final parting shot from “the entertainment group!”

Front: Adam, Eric, Brian, Mahogany, Mark.   Back: Sabrina and Joseph!

 

Artist: ZZ Top/ Album: Tres Hombres

Africa

 

Our fabulous host mother in Minden asked us when we first arrived if we had any specific requests as far as meals were concerned, and after all of us basically said whatever she wanted to serve we would be happy she responded with something along the lines of: “Well, I know you will be getting a lot of wurst and potatoes and sauerkraut and other typical German food on your trip, so how about one day we make a meal inspired by our many mission trips to Tanzania!?!”

As there was much chopping and preparing to do we all chipped in and helped with the cooking process.  At one point Eric was slicing the peppers and as she passed by I yelled “SMILE FOR THE BLOG”… and this is what I got:

I LOVE HER!

 

I decided to take the same approach with the zucchini, whereas Adam was a bit kindlier to his carrots:

 

Why they let me around the children I’ll never know

 

YUMMMM!

 

Adam, Eric, Brian, Tabea (our host sister), Frau Krupper, Mahogany, Sabrina, Mark

 

Artist: Toto/ Album:

Churchyard Entertainment

 

Our second stop on the tour took us to Minden, Germany, where I was lucky enough to be housed with not only Sabrina, but with the wind quintet from the orchestra as well.  The priest from the Mariankirsche and his family have a large apartment on the top of the parish house next door and were able to accommodate many of us at once (though I’m not quite sure they knew exactly what they were getting into!—by the end of the stop they just kept referring to us as “the entertainment group” *sung and waving hands*)

 

The church with a view from their vineyards and the interior space

 

As we were being housed by the priest, the wind quintet had the opportunity to perform during the service this past Sunday.

L to R: Brian Dunbar, flute; Mark Cooney, oboe; Erik Grunkemeyer, french horn; Mahogany Dudley, clarinet, Adam Farmer, bassoon

 

(Mind you, this is taken from my phone and the acoustics being what they are from the side)

Artist: Meredith Monk/ Album: Book of Days