I've always wondered exactly what kind of a store or whatever I live above. At street level, sorta 1/2 above and 1/2 below ground level, on either side of the entrance to our apartment building, is a very strange and curious looking store. On one side is a big large red buddha and a sign that says asia shop, which sounds hopeful. On the other side, the windows are painted over with red paint and very strange paintings of a woman in a position that I don't even think is possible or comfortable, sort of hovering in the air. The windows also have phrases painted on and around them like, "esoteric market" and "relaxation" and "tantric massages" - without actually saying what the heck goes on in this place. Is is really massages, or do I live above a brothel?

Well, the other day I checked out the website for the place, which, if you check out, has a picture of the weird woman that I mentioned who is painted on the windows by the entrance to our building (real pic in the upper right corner of the store on the site). After clicking on a few of the links, the real purpose of the store became clearer - see for yourself. Even though the site is in German, I think you'll get the picture. Can you believe it? This is where I leave, on a big street in Hamburg - geez Germany!!!

Anyway, otherwise I've received 3 invitations in the past week for auditions, one of which is in a week from today. All for practicum positions for a year. So at least I am getting invitations, we'll see what becomes of them. Yesterday was a holiday in Germany, Christihimmelfahrt, or the ascension of Christ into heaven. Most stores were closed, but we were told that the music school was open so we had a quintet coaching planned. Of course, we get there, wait for 1/2 hour outside in the rain, and finally some prof comes and opens up the building for us. Upon entering we discover that the building is not really supposed to be open - but no one was informed of the closing until the night before, so basically no one knew and that's why we all showed up at the front door! Luckily they let us stay (our prof came from Kiel to teach us), but the lack of organization at the school can be a bit annoying at times. Every date for anything that they set gets changed and you never find out about it! I guess they stay flexible, that's the good part....right...?

 

 

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