Christmas in Christmasville, with a little less Christmas.

Ten things I learned about Christmas and Christmas Eve (since we got that day off, and not the real deal)
1.  Boredom can be productive, I started yet another crochet project I will most likely not finish
2.  Just because there's Christmasy stuff everywhere doesn't mean that your family and friends will magically appear from across the ocean to drink gluhwein and eat French toast with you.
3.  French toast is really good...we ate it with...
        a.  ahorn syrup and butter
        b.  nutella and bananas (as IF I wasn't going to have nutella in this list)
        c.  kaese and speck (cheese and ham)
        d.  almond butter and cranberries
4.  A good friend will cut your hair out of boredom to kill time (thanks Sara!!)
5.  Card games are fun if you play them while performing impressions of fellow castmates
6.  German is easier to understand in cartoon form on the TV
7.  Gluhwein is fine, any time (and super cheap at the grocery store)
8.  Adrienne is super awesome for flying in on Christmas morning from Spain.
9.  Department store truffles from Breuninger are about the best thing ever to dissolve in one's mouth
10. Skype is a gift from the gods, but I wish there was a tactile option in addition to video...I really want to pet my dog and cat.

Oh yeah, here's my new haircut courtesy of Sara Sparrow, multi-tasking boredom avoiding extraordinaire!!

Esslingen Weinnachtsmarkt

What do you do when you have no days off?  You get up early (relatively speaking) and hop a train 5 stops to another town, wander around eating yummy things at the winter market and drinking gluhwein, get super sleepy from said gluhwein, come home, nap, then wake up and do a show.  The nap is key.  It makes it seem like you had a whole day off, then woke up and had to go to work the next day.  Here are some photos from our trip to Esslingen, where the winter market has a medieval feel, you can get a wild boar bratwurst, and the picturesque township Euro feel runs rampant.

Feather and John are visiting!  Lucky Lara 

 I love my Ruby Woo lippenstift

 An entire potato spiraled and fried.  Don't worry, I helped her eat it.  I'm a good helper.

 yep.

I don't understand but I like.

(Ich verstehe das nicht aber ich mag.)

Do they have Groundhog Day in Germany?

I am not a big Bill Murray fan, (though I have had many "Lost in Translation" moments lately) but recently it's beginning to feel like that movie, "Groundhog Day." Every day resembles the previous except for minute differences consciously made by the actors (or Aerialistas in this case).  Youkali is the same show, but we're catching on to its sameness and shaping it as we like.  One show Youkali became a haunted hotel, in one song screams were replaced by pony noises, and in one scene imagining the diva to be a sorceress is far more entertaining.  It depends upon how much manipulation one feels up for.  At this point, it's the little things that keep us entertained and somewhat sane as our last day off was Nov. 14.  wow.  wow.  wow.  The challenge now is not Cupcakes, that is still fun, but preventing ourselves from becoming a wee bit unraveled with the monotony within the dark enclosure of the theatre.

It's like wife swap...

So, over a month into the show and we've really settled into a very nice groove.  We have group rehearsal 3-4 times a week prior to shows, beer and stretch/handstand time post-show, impromptu singing in the dressing room, a regular wordly factoid from Sara during makeup, and lazy mornings filled with updates from home and the smells of eggs, meats, and veggies coming from the kitchen (with the occasional tart).  Bridget and I finally feel like we can breathe a little bit during the cupcakes act, enjoying the headspace to engage in more crowd interaction and character development.  Oooh, I wish it could last!  (Insert ominous music here).

Okay, so I'm being a bit melodramatic.  But I am totally bummed that Jill has to return to Seattle early, at the end of December, and we have to bring in a replacement.  Part of that, I'm sure, stems from my Virgoan resistance to change, but also, Bridge and I have been together as partners for the shortest amount of time and have just hit our honeymoon phase of partnering, where we have our tricks smoothed out and can just give each other little helpful notes after each act to affect change within the routine versus having to workshop choreography over and over.  The other partner pairs have been living in this blissful place for years, as Bridge and I are the new additions to the group and the cupcakes choreography has been around in various versions for over 3 years.  The other part that is a bummer is, well, Jill is flippin' cool and my hero and I will miss her!!

We will have to bring in a new person, and it is impossible to find someone to fill the flyer part that Jill plays. So we will bring in a new base, Lara will become a flyer and work with Bridget (this has to do with body proportionality), I will fly on Sara, and Viv will fly on the replacement.  Everyone has a new partner and, now, a whole new relationship of trust and communication to work out.  Sigh.  I am by no means disappointed to work with Sara, she actually taught me the act and I have almost a starstruck amount of admiration for her skills as a soloist and in partnering.  It just is a very different person, different body, and I lose my free ride on Mirror Butt (our final trick...Bridget totally carries me into position, which is not how it is usually done, and I've definitely been the benefactor of THAT technique we've developed).

As always, this new challenge is going to present an amazing opportunity for me to get stronger and develop a wider skill set, and I AM thankful, just feeling a little lazy about the work ahead.  Forge on, Aerialistas, another chapter to write!

Oh yeah, some random pics...

 Didn't you know that Pretzels are holy here?

 Thanksgiving morning in the flat.

 Me and Maude.  We spend a lot of time together.

 Epic breakfast date with Viv.

Epic breakfast date pic #2.  yep...Prosecco and cake.

Another TV spot...

Youkali, Regio TV, Stuttgart