*I currently have Classic FM blasting in the background, hence the anglicized version of my blog title (if I knew how to spell the German title I would, but I'm far too lazy at the present time to Google it). I've become accustomed to waking up in the morning and immediately turning on Classic FM; it's very soothing, especially directly before heading off to work. I suppose I've picked this up from years of wandering into my grandparents kitchen in the early morning, only to find my grandfather, an hour already into his day, drinking coffee, reading The Philadelphia Inquirer, with NPR (though this has changed as of a few years ago when my family renamed the station to 'National Palestinian Radio' instead of 'National Public Radio' due to their stance on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict--no surprise there are some in the family who stopped listening to NPR; a few of us who, wouldn't admit it out loud, still do listen to that station...) blasting in the background. Mozart, Strauss, Bach, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, Wagner, and so many more danced through the kitchen, sometimes with great grander, and other times, with less intensity, never losing their beauty. To me, as a young girl, it all sounded relatively the same, and trying to remember who wrote what almost seemed like an unattainable task. However, to my grandfather, it as like remembering the alphabet; the only question that seemed to throw him for a loop, from time to time, was who was conducting the piece during that particular recording. At that point my grandmother and he would begin to argue (in more of an endearing way than anything) about who the conductor actually was. And from time to time he would quiz me about which instrument was playing during various times in each piece; even to this day I find I quiz myself to see if I can correctly identify each instrument. Following this my grandmother would start making her amazing wheat pancakes with real Maple Syrup.
It's amazing how many memories are recalled, not only smell, but sound as well. I must admit, I'm most certainly looking forward to going home for a few weeks.
Last weekend was great, what with having a very relaxing weekend spent in London. We spent Saturday faffing about in the morning and then heading to the Tate Modern. Can I just say that, if you don't go in there with an open mind, you will come out from most of it thinking 'what in the name of G-d was that?' At least that's how I felt coming out of many of the exhibits we saw. Regardless, it was nice to go to a gallery for the first time in a while. Following the Tate and a few drinks, we went to see 2012, which was a definite guilty pleasure movie. I highly recommend going to see if it you are looking for a brainless, but relatively exciting movie. A definite great way to spend 9 months!
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