It has been three months since my last blog entry about W.A. Mozart’s life and opera and my trip to Würzburg at June 7, 2024. If you have not read it, here is the link:
https://thejourney-writing.com/2024/06/w-a-mozarts-life-and-opera-my-wurzburg-diary-june-7-2024.html
Summer was great, having roots (family) and wings (travelling and playing organ) at the same time is the kind of life I hope to have in the future, and this summer I have a tiny bite at the taste of it. This week, I’m back to my usual life with funerals, worship services, teaching, never ending household chores and meet up with friends before I disappear again.
I think I can better appreciate my ordinary days when I know there will be trips and concerts ahead. A ship needs harbour as well as the ocean. A ship that only stay at the harbour is not fulfilling its purpose, meaningless. A ship is unable to sail properly without staying at the harbour to rest and refuel or else it will become a shipwreck very soon.
Yesterday was the kind of day I have with the beautiful harbour weather.
8.25 a.m. rehearsal with two violinists for a funeral. The famous Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D. When the two violinists were playing the virtuoso semiquavers passages, I kept repeating the same bassline until they finished with playing, it was very relaxing and enjoyable.
9.00 a.m. The funeral of a 67 years old man. My heart sank. In Germany, there is one very popular oldies called “Life begins at the age of sixty-six” (Mit sechsundsechzig Jahren, da fängt das Leben an) by Udo Jürgens. It is a song to celebrate the new life, when I’m retired, I will do … a long list. I know many people, who are really looking forward to their retirement. The freedom to arrange life as one like, without financial stress, I know the feeling very well. Anyway, please live now! Please don’t wait until 66 years old. Moreover, the retirement age is getting later and later. Such a hopeless thing to looking forward to. He went too early, his family and friends must be missing him and hoping to spend more time with him. But heaven is till a better place.
10.00 a.m. I got myself a big cup of cappuccino. The lady at the counter was very friendly.
11.00 a.m. I cooked my lunch. While waiting the food to be cooked in the oven, I was fixing my house. These weeks, I keep clearing and cleaning my house, and I do not feel I am making any progress at all. Actually I will be away soon, why bother? I don’t know. Have you been to public lavatory with a sign “Please leave this room as you would like to find it”? When I come home from beautiful places, I want to feel welcome at my own home. I think this is all the effort about.
03.00 p.m. I was preparing for piano classes later. I tailormade the lesson for each student. I do some researches on different books, the piano lesson book market is very saturated. Good that we have more choices nowadays.
I have less students now, I used to teach 8 students one afternoon, now 4 (they left for various reasons). I cannot answer the question “How can I make a living?” , I only know, at the moment, I like the pace. Alone, when I arrive at my student’s house with fresh energy, but not trying to function with the residual energy.
There is another reason I preferred this for the moment. I need to travel a lot this year for work and also for seeing family before my passport and visa expired next year February. I never know how long the process of applying for visa will take, it took 7 months last year. My poor friend is still waiting for her visa for more than a year now. I have to plan all the travelling before January 2025. Travelling require time, I need to replace piano lessons when I am away. If I have too many students, I cannot cope with it.
Next year January, the long and winding visa application road will start again. I do not the slightest idea how, as my income is clearly does not meet the requirement. If I know what to do, I will surely make an effort. At the moment, I do not want to spoil my September Nordic trip, November concert (difficult programme!) and December family trip by worrying about things in January.
Last year December, I did not have any idea of buying organ. Suddenly, in January I have the inspiration and the impossibilities suddenly dissolved and I have an organ since 14th February 2024. Visa came at 13th March 2024. Before that, Bristol, Amsterdam, Copenhagen trips were not in my schedule yet. I think the inspiration will come at the right time. If I had learned one thing this year, that is walk by faith not by sight.
04:30 p.m. The mother made a cup of coffee for me while I was teaching. The girls told me about “Corndog”, Korean food that they love, apparently a new hype in the city. I can direct you to the best Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam and I am totally clueless about the place I live in.
05:45 p.m. The boy brought me this little tin of tasty biscuits from his holiday in Bretagne. He played the children song “In dem Walde steht ein Haus” on the piano and I sang to his playing. This song is about a deer helped a rabbit from a hunter. After playing he said: “What a kind-hearted deer!” The new song I taught was “Lantern”, a very popular song for lantern parade during the St. Martin festival. After learning this song, he said: “St. Martin cut his cloak in half to give to a beggar! I know this song!” Music is meaningful, when it points us toward kindness, be it J.S. Bach or children songs. Before I left the house, his mother packed some very cute animal waffles for me.
06:45 p.m. I was searching for “corndog” in the city and I met the girls. I said: “You know what? I’m finding the Corndog, can you help me with that?” They just eaten it and happily showed me the way to the food truck.
07:15 p.m. I passed by the public bookcase on my way home and found this book Noah’s Ark and Rainbow illustrated by Kees de Kort. And here came the wonderful moment of serendipity when the rainbow bridged across the sky as if just for me when I was holding the book.
Note:
I’ve spent the whole day writing this post and edit the pictures, which I enjoy doing and I hope you enjoy reading it too. If you like my work and you hope to see more of it, you can support me via:
https://ko-fi.com/thejourneywriter
Every cup of coffee is appreciated! Thank you!
Music I’m listening to while writing this blog is:
Autumn Coffee Shop Music | cozy background music for chilly weather | 1 hour | 深秋咖啡馆背景音乐
https://youtu.be/QDNcpXRrIdI?si=ShUsqu5MHpdo9tJK
My favourite Youtube video of this year so far is this one …
Würzburg | Travel vlog, Mozart’s life, Così fan tutte, Residenz, Garden, Café, Antiquarian Bookshop
I hope you enjoy it! Link:
https://youtu.be/ZnwMI3jmG7M?si=XBZ9VSY1I07SHNAg
My Instagram is featuring “Summer Book Story”, come and have a look:
https://www.instagram.com/thejourney_writer/