Non c'e. forget about it.

I have been making dozens of phone calls to different apartment- rental agencies in Venice. I've been calling private people, phoning persons who advertised on Craigs list. I've been ringing friends of friends . friends of friends of friends who might know something.
But this is the bottom line and my final conclusion: There is NO FREAKING FURNISHED APARTMENT in Venice that HAS an INTERNET CONNECTION!

Where do these people LIVE? I mean... How? , and dude, WHY? What is so fucking weird about having a damn internet connection in the year 2008?

Lemons

Last night, after a 4 hour-long fabulous dinner (which contained of all sorts of Tapas dishes and a bottle and a half of Rioja wine), my Susannetta and I shook a lemon tree (they grow here just like that!) and picked a few lemons. It was only a little square in the middle of Valencia but for a moment we thought we were in the Garden of Eden.

midwinter dream

Redoing a production; you took part in its very creation...
How strange, how strange. Trying to clone yourself. May I try to explain? ... The first time I did this Nozze, we actually rehearsed it in tiny little nuanced details for over a month. Daily, we were working together to build it from the very scratch of our... how shall I say it; soul? artistry?. Then we performed it for another month and let it grow. You see: We gave birth to it, we raised it, and at the very end we buried it. That's the cruelty of art. Then two years have gone by.
The memory has become as faint as the scent of a dream.... But having to recreate that dream... It's like having a flashback of your subconscious memories. Such weak signal in your brain, it is more like a deja-vu of a deja-vu. You know you've been there, maybe, but you just can't really be all that clear on where, who, how.
The other day I had my costume fitting and everything came on right, except, judging by the objective measure of the tailored material, my body has changed. I am not fatter nor skinnier, just different.
In rehearsal, I find my self walking similar steps, and even though I am saying the same words, ( the written word and note, the only thing that hasn't changed), I say it not like I used to, I address it to similar people, but not the same people. None of us is who we were. including me.
How strange. how strange indeed.

Not Zen

Today is my third day here. Do you think I know WHERE I am or what I am doing? I slid off the taxi into my apartment hotel which put me up in a little flat facing a crazy-busy highway. My first mission , before anything, was to find me a local SIM card for my cell phone. But after going to the mall and realizing that A) absolutely NOBODY spoke a word in neither English nor Italian
B) None of the cell phone store carried SIM cards... I met a friendly Italian guy in the lobby and since he could somehow communicate in Spanish with the store owners, and in Italian with me, he gladly volunteered to walk around together until we finally found a store that carried the card. (and until he wanted to "cook me some Pasta and have some vino" and all else that married Italian men are interested in). I thanked him for his kind help and for his invitation but politely declined, and since my bro E. is here, we met up and grabbed some delicious tapas dinner around the corner. (and nothing can top meeting up with close friends in a strange place, ESPECIALLY when you feel lost!). The next day was spent on : repacking, moving to a supposedly quieter unit, and taking off to rehearsal. You must look up this bizarre opera house; It looks (and feels) like a spaceship from Star Trek. It took me 46 minutes to go around and around it ,(crossing back and forth bridges over fake swimming pool- like rivers) until I found the entrance, and by the time I arrived into rehearsal , I was beat. Thank God I already did that production and it is only a wee role for me.
Got back "home" to discover that the elevator is right on the other side of my pillow. Slept hardly 4 hours, went to rehearsal, came back, grabbed a quick dinner with my friend B. who is also singing here, went to hear E. singing this Alagna piece, slept for 5 hours, and moved to yet another unit.
That was now, and in an hour I am off to rehearsal.
And people always rush to ask me: "So... did you SEE _____ (put here any city I sing in)?" and I can then refer them to this blog.

Lol

Just saw this chart; hehehe:

Start again

I died. Then I lied there on the wooden old stage, keeping half an eye open towards the high darkness above, making sure that I collapsed just on the right spot, and that the falling curtain is not going to cut my head off, for real.
Then what felt like a hurricane of feeling stormed into me and when I stood up my eyes teared up. This was my good bye . Good bye Carmen. Good bye audience, (who began to clap steadily , in rhythm, louder and louder, yelling "Bravo" and standing up to cheer!). Wasn't that my vision at some point?

I couldn't sleep that night, last night. I was overwhelmed.
Now I am going to a new place, where I have never been before. Stepping out of the little plane, off my connecting flight to Valencia, somewhere in spain I guess, but I felt the essence of loneliness.
Even though I am in an airport, and therefore I should feel like I am nowhere specific in the world; The airport language is one and the people are too; still I can't help but feeling like I am on to a strange and unfamiliar adventure.
I asked the man at the bar for a "cafe con leche por favor" and hoped that he'd say I owed him something that stars with "Uno" or "Dos" so I can hand him out the correct amount of coins in numbers I can still understand. (just kidding, just kidding, of course I know how to count to 5 in spanish.. ;) )
Yes, here I am feeling like a five year old girl lost in a universe of a department store.
It is all up to me to survive until I find someone big, in charge; Until I become familiar with the people, the customs, with the language and with my new self in it all.

Laissez moi passer

Getting ready for my last Carmen, before I have to wait almost a year to meet with her again. Quite sad, since she is my favorite of all, and none of the others that I will portray come close.
Lucky I had a few days in between my shows here, just to take a good advantage of this luxury hotel and its SPA; I arrived here in a mad condition; All of a sudden I had the time to take a close look at the magnifying mirror in the bathroom and to my horror, find a very neglected self.
So I had a few days to calm down and (when not relearning this bitch Rosina), do my nails, and work out, and in the evening, after jacuzzi and steam, sit with a big white bath robe and gaze at the nonsense on MTV.
I am packed again, and about to go to yet another country, another production, a different cast. Life on the road is like the special treats we stumble upon: it's shit and it's great at the same time, and we must grab it while it's there.

Not here.

Are you guys checking in to see any piece of added gossip about my dad-to-be friend and his GF? forget about it! :)

How true!