Opera, Musical, and the Hamburger Fair!

Dresden Semperoper
http://rotary1900.de/bochum_constantin/
00_aktuell/2008/Dresden_SemperOper.jpg

Looks like I've fallen into this once-a-week pattern now.  I've been busy working on my second Referat (Word building processes in German and how they compare/translate into English.)  I've never had to do research in a foreign language before, and I am just exhausted by the end of the day.  On the plus side, I've been studying in the library with my friends, so that helps it to go quicker and feel less lonely.

Last Tuesday we had a group trip to see The Barber of Seville at the Dresden Opera House.  It was in Italian with German subtitles (actually "suptitles" would be a better description because the words were over the stage.)  I thought I would find it kind of boring and fall asleep (I've never been to a real opera before), but I actually really loved it.  There was a lot of action, and the voices of the actors were amazing.  I had a nosebleed seat, but I could hear them perfectly even without microphones.  I want to see more operas now!

On Thursday I went to Hamburg to see Oli.  He had the new "Walking Dead" zombie TV series downloaded onto his laptop, so I finally got to watch the season premiere!  Hopefully I can keep up with the shows until I get back to the States, and then it's going to be Mandatory Zombie Hour once a week.  We watched a lot of other American TV shows and movies too.  I gotta admit, they do help with any homesickness that I feel. :-)

On Friday night, Oli took me to see Der König der Löwen (aka The Lion King), which has its own special theater set up on the harbor.  The show was in German, but I didn't really mind because I already know the plot and I can understand it well.  It only had a few extra scenes that weren't in the Disney movie anyways.  I was rather disappointed that my favorite songs weren't in English though.  They just don't sound the same or translate the same meaning.  For example, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" translated into "Kann es wirklich Liebe sein?", which means "Can this really be love?"  It's just not as romantic.  The costumes and dances were astounding though.  It was a full-scale performance, and I really liked how the costumes combined both human and animal parts.  Of course everything was extremely colorful too.

On Saturday night, Oli and I went to the Hamburger DOM, an amusement park that is open for a month every season.  I don't know why they picked November as their "Winter Month" (it's been rainy and cold all week), but I got lucky that I got a chance to see it.  Unfortunately for Oli, I couldn't go on any of the fun rides because of my weak stomach, but we did the Ferris Wheel, bumper cars, a submarine, and some Haunted House tours (not quite like the Halloween Haunted Houses in the States though - those take the cake!)  I got a chance to try some authentic Hamburger cuisine, a delicious baked fish sandwich, and I saw my first real beer hall with long tables stretched out and a band performing at the front.  Oli and I drank some Glühwein (a spiced, warm Grog) with Rum mixed in.  The spices in it are delicious!  I just bought a bottle for myself, but I don't know how to heat it up.  Can wine just go in a pot on the stove?

Winnings from the Fair and
my new bottle of Glühwein
(with antlers!)

I had some chocolate-covered mandarin oranges on a stick, but I think some fruits are better off without chocolate.  I might just stick to strawberries and bananas from now on.  (Although honestly I can't take a chocolate-covered banana on a stick seriously after watching Michael Cera in Arrested Development!)  We played some carnival games, and Oli won me a rose by throwing a ball in a clown's mouth. <3  We didn't have much luck with racing horses or playing Jackpot though.  The "American Casinos" were a pretty big letdown.  They were mostly claw-grabs and that game where you put a token in a slot and try to aim it at an area where it'll push other tokens over the edge.  Not much skill in that.  I was hoping for a ball toss and all that good arcade-stuff.

I think the best part of the night is when we got to see the Frankenstein-Zombie dance to "Alors on Danse" outside the Haunted House ride.  He got good participation from the audience!