Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie

This is the Warsaw National Philharmonic. We played there the other night. Ukraine's first lady was there as well as "many other famous Polish people." At least that is what we were told. We played Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances (if you haven't heard it, get it.. listen to it).

Warsaw is much cooler than Tokyo. I don't even know why. The hall wasn't as nice as many in Japan, but the city was so much better. Which is surprising. I thought the 'culture shock' of an Asian country would hit me and be something completely new and fascinating. It wasn't.

Maybe it was because they play baseball, have the same electrical outlets as the states, and I watched Monday Night Football twice. Or maybe the Japanese just aren't the bustling, suit-wearing, hi-tech businessmen that we think of them as.

Poland was just a more comfortable culture/environment. Half Eastern European, half Western European.

Home, Sweet Home

Well, I am home. There's nothing like your precious wifey-poo meeting you at the airport and bringing you home to a nice, warm home and a hot bowl of soup. That's tough to beat.

Thank you, dear!

Monday morning we leave for Poland... *sigh* (It's only four days this time)

Suntory Hall

I played here last night...

It is well with my soul

So..... Just wanted to let y'all know that Jamie wrote an email from Milan. They had to switch to another plane and spend one night in Italy in order to do it. Pretty cool, huh? I mean, hey, it's Milan...
They were accomodated into a 4* hotel with all meals included. I simply find it amazing. It's like a dream come true or something. For me at least it would be.
Anyhow, they were to leave for Japan the next morning. Haven't heard from him again since then. I'm sure their percussion team is simply enjoying themselves too much... too busy to write their wives. Mmmmhmm... one of them called me the other day to find out whether I knew anything about their arrival. Oh well, boys are boys. My Jamie is a wonderful exception, he is a good boy :)

I'm sure this post was a little too emotional for Jamie and his 'normal' style of writing. But hey, I'm me, just wanted to let you know that everything is well with my hubby. He might have to delete this post when he comes back, cuz it doesn't quite fit his virtual little world :) Oh well, I know his password, why not use it?

Sincerely yours, Jamie's faithful sweet wife ;)

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the big day... first international tour with the Philharmonic Orchestra. We're off to Japan... Here's the thing I hate about travelling:

I spent over a year studying Russian because I couldn't stand not understanding what was going on around me (and I'm still learning). But as soon as I get to the airport: "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" I have no idea half of what is going on around me. Japan is worse because you can't even pretend know the 'letters' and try to sound something out... look at this:

Kyiv's subway system took our family less than a month to get used to. There are three lines... the red, the blue, and the green. This is Tokyo:
People think Kyiv is a hustling, bustling metropolis with three million people living here... Tokyo is 12 million in the city limits and countless more and the huge, suburban, surrounding area.


On our way, we get to spend the night in Milan. So we'll see if I end up with a picture like this one before heading off to Japan:

The Hardware Store

Building a house takes a TON of trips to the hardware store. After work, everybody would ask me very sarcastically if I was going to 'Epicenter' (the Ukrainian version of Home Depot) and EVERY DAY I would run in to pick something up or order something to be delivered. This is Dima trying out the different banya (sauna) apparel that was on sale.

Dima has been remodeling (or rather, "modeling") an apartment that he and is wife bought about a year ago and just moved in last Sunday.