Starting my Aida journey
Here’s to Hamburg
My first week in Germany was extremely challenging. While
living abroad opens the doors to new adventures and friendships, it’s also
difficult being on your own in a new place. Insomnia and loneliness are very
real, and being thrown into a place where no one knows you and few people
understand you can make you feel pretty isolated. I was very happy that I got to meet up with Duo Rose for an
evening! It was pretty amazing to connect with other circus artists so far from
home. I have also been very grateful that I was able to at least make friends
with two of the aerialists who will be working on a different ship. We had
basic safety training together all week. This consisted of getting up and
taking the ferry early every morning and sitting in a classroom, listening to
everything that can go wrong on a ship. I appreciated the learning experience
and getting to jump from a high dive with a life jacket on, but it isn’t the most
amazing thing to hear right before getting on a ship for 4 months
Hamburg is pretty nice and weirdly reminds me of Seattle, with its grey days, lakes, and artsy communities. It, like many places in Europe, seems to have a much more casual attitude towards life. They love their alcohol, cigarettes, ice cream and sexuality. One of my favorite things is seeing older men in suits holding little ice cream cones. While I’m not a fan of all the smoking I do think people here have learned to prioritize happiness, to live in the present, and to spend time with each other, which I appreciate. I think every time I travel, I gain a bit more insight into humanity and myself. Every culture has positive and negative sides, but I think it’s important to be able to see the value in each of them and recognize how our culture has shaped our point of view and how we can be more intentional when it comes to who we are as individuals.
Nudity for example: German like getting naked. My favorite cultural experience here was the sauna. Unlike gyms in the United States Europeans here they have what they call “leisure centers.” Not only did the place I visit have workout rooms, exercise machines, and various courts and indoor pools; it also had a restaurant, a computer lounge, and of course-a bar (because Germany). Another area of the center consisted of saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and a lot of very NAKED Germans. Instead of a small room with 2-4 people sweating it out. Here saunas can fit up to 30 people, who pack together and wait for the “sauna master” to begin a kind of routine. He introduces himself, begins pouring water over the rocks, and proceeds to fan everyone in the room. This happens four or five times for about ten minutes until everyone is thoroughly sweaty and ready to leave. As weird as it was, I also thought it was rather endearing. I think our culture in the U.S. severely over sexualizes nudity. Seeing people be so open about their bodies regardless of age, gender, or appearance, was refreshing and in a way equalizing.
As far as rehearsals and my job go, I have spent the last month getting ready to get on the ship. Usually we rehearse for about 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, aside from fittings, make-up, and other meetings. There are three artists on my ship, as well as several singers and dancers. Each of us has 3-4 acts to learn for the shows. While the acts that I am doing aren’t my typical style, I think they do get me out of my comfort zone and it is definitely a growing experience. I am working to run full acts every day and work on developing character and pay attention to detail. I am also eager to improve my dance skills. Aida has us take one dance class per week which is really nice for me because I would love to learn the fundamentals and feel that often people simply assume that I know these. I am hoping to trade with one of the dancers once we are on the ship so that I can keep improving. The nice part of being a Soma practitioner is that you always have bargaining power!
My first week in Germany was extremely challenging. While
living abroad opens the doors to new adventures and friendships, it’s also
difficult being on your own in a new place. Insomnia and loneliness are very
real, and being thrown into a place where no one knows you and few people
understand you can make you feel pretty isolated. I was very happy that I got to meet up with Duo Rose for an
evening! It was pretty amazing to connect with other circus artists so far from
home. I have also been very grateful that I was able to at least make friends
with two of the aerialists who will be working on a different ship. We had
basic safety training together all week. This consisted of getting up and
taking the ferry early every morning and sitting in a classroom, listening to
everything that can go wrong on a ship. I appreciated the learning experience
and getting to jump from a high dive with a life jacket on, but it isn’t the most
amazing thing to hear right before getting on a ship for 4 months
Hamburg is pretty nice and weirdly reminds me of Seattle, with its grey days, lakes, and artsy communities. It, like many places in Europe, seems to have a much more casual attitude towards life. They love their alcohol, cigarettes, ice cream and sexuality. One of my favorite things is seeing older men in suits holding little ice cream cones. While I’m not a fan of all the smoking I do think people here have learned to prioritize happiness, to live in the present, and to spend time with each other, which I appreciate. I think every time I travel, I gain a bit more insight into humanity and myself. Every culture has positive and negative sides, but I think it’s important to be able to see the value in each of them and recognize how our culture has shaped our point of view and how we can be more intentional when it comes to who we are as individuals.
Nudity for example: German like getting naked. My favorite cultural experience here was the sauna. Unlike gyms in the United States Europeans here they have what they call “leisure centers.” Not only did the place I visit have workout rooms, exercise machines, and various courts and indoor pools; it also had a restaurant, a computer lounge, and of course-a bar (because Germany). Another area of the center consisted of saunas, steam rooms, hot tubs and a lot of very NAKED Germans. Instead of a small room with 2-4 people sweating it out. Here saunas can fit up to 30 people, who pack together and wait for the “sauna master” to begin a kind of routine. He introduces himself, begins pouring water over the rocks, and proceeds to fan everyone in the room. This happens four or five times for about ten minutes until everyone is thoroughly sweaty and ready to leave. As weird as it was, I also thought it was rather endearing. I think our culture in the U.S. severely over sexualizes nudity. Seeing people be so open about their bodies regardless of age, gender, or appearance, was refreshing and in a way equalizing.
As far as rehearsals and my job go, I have spent the last month getting ready to get on the ship. Usually we rehearse for about 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, aside from fittings, make-up, and other meetings. There are three artists on my ship, as well as several singers and dancers. Each of us has 3-4 acts to learn for the shows. While the acts that I am doing aren’t my typical style, I think they do get me out of my comfort zone and it is definitely a growing experience. I am working to run full acts every day and work on developing character and pay attention to detail. I am also eager to improve my dance skills. Aida has us take one dance class per week which is really nice for me because I would love to learn the fundamentals and feel that often people simply assume that I know these. I am hoping to trade with one of the dancers once we are on the ship so that I can keep improving. The nice part of being a Soma practitioner is that you always have bargaining power!
The other two artists-Dariya and Misha, are both very sweet but also very shy. I love that we are all motivated to improve so much but I am still hoping to get them to open up more. The language barrier makes it hard sometimes. Almost everyone in the cast is Ukrainian and sometimes they forget I don’t speak Russian (one more thing to learn in my free time).
I am now about to leave Hamburg and embark on the AIDAmar! I’m nervous about life on the ship and starting the shows but excited to get out of Hamburg and start doing my job.
...In Summary...
Good things:
Ice cream
Chocolate
Cheap wine
Weinerschnitzel
Saunas
A training space that’s half windows
New friends
Consistent pay
Learning new acts
Not good things:
Cigarettes
Not a having a phone number
Being alone a lot
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