The Importance of Good Diction

One of the running jokes that Zheng and I have is how we are "heard" or understood. 

I really love making Mandarin speakers laugh when I make feeble attempts at what is perhaps the most difficult language in the world. I've already mixed up the words for "pig," "God," and "wine," though making puns in Mandarin about "God being a pig if he drinks too much wine" are still underappreciated by my Mandarin-speaking friends. I've also thoroughly embarrassed myself in Mandarin many times - quite a feat when you know less than 200 words.

(Perhaps because it's only funny to me - or they haven't gotten my sense of humor yet.)

And for the record, the sounds and tonal patterns for the aforementioned words are far too close for comfort. 

Zheng has an equally hard time (sometimes) being understood by Americans. When we moved across the country last year, at first, we hit some cosmopolitan areas. Rochester (for as much as I hated the weather) was quite international for a city of its size. I suppose the amount of university students and trained professionals in that city don't hurt this. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati were also no problem.

However, once we left Pennsylvania Ohio and headed into states which boast fundamentalism, fried food, and moonshine, my beloved husband had to work very hard to be understood. 

I think he scared a KFC employee half to death when he asked which flavor was "local." They didn't know how to answer. So I had to laugh to myself about the confluence of a) employees of a national chain and b) the fact that some of these people have probably never ever seen an Asian. 

The climax of the confluence of foreign accents and "local flavor" happened somewhere between Kentucky and Oklahoma. My husband was ordering his favorite "starter" drink, which is "ice water with lime." After a panicked look passed the waitress's face, she turned to me and asked,

"What?"

Which really in dialect, sounded like "WhaAAAAAUUUUUUUHHHHHHT"?

The *next* question continues to be one of our favorite running jokes. As if my husband would have "really" ordered what the waitress thought he had ... 

 

 

PHOTO: This exemplifies an experience which still makes us laugh, and something that raises the eyebrows of many guests in our home. 

Whatever. It's our house. 

It's also a very fun reminder to my students about how much diction (and diphthongs, consonants, and the dismount of one vowel to the other) actually do matter in life.

Dumplings for the New Year

Yesterday we officially celebrated the Chinese New Year and the "Year of the Goat." We welcomed our Albuquerque "family" to our home and were so excited to cook for everyone. 

The traditional dish for Chinese New Year (CNY) is the dumpling. It is supposed to be very fortunate and very good for the coming year. 

Aying, Zheng and I made about 800 dumplings from scratch in preparation for the gathering! Four different fillings (turkey, beef, egg, and vegan) and hours later, we were in business ... 

Happy New Year to everyone! 

In this photo, my dumplings were on the left and Aying's are on the right. She approved of my technique and gave me lessons along the way.

The beginning of a road trip

Well, greetings from Dr. And Mr! 

We have lived through a difficult move and are now headed to upstate New York, for the shortest of visits. We head to Buffalo tomorrow for the final stages of Zheng's immigration. Our interview is the last step into his getting a green card. The process has been arduous, time-consuming, and expensive.

So we will be happy to have this behind us. After that, we head to Albuquerque! With some visits along the way. 

I will catch-up with graduation and moving posts, but I figured I should post regularly on the trip. I know that if I get caught up on what I "didn't" write, nothing will happen. ("The perfect is the enemy of the good," Voltaire wrote long ago. I definitely agree!). 

We will share our adventures, and playlists, photos and tales. 

On the road, 

K and Z

Leaving Pennsylvania

Zheng and I feel blessed that the holiday was so restful. We are headed back north, amidst snow-covered scenery and cuddly cats (well, the cats get raucous at times in the car).

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."

- Edith Sitwell

PHOTO: Snow-blanketed, childhood home.

One Sentence a Day, Five Years at a Time

Dear ones, 

Happy New Year! I hope you are doing well, and that you had a wonderful New Year celebration. 

Zheng and I did some shopping, and used some of our well-saved gift cards. Some of them will expire in the coming months, and we didn't want to become one of the statistics of "billions of gift certificates and gift cards go unused." He is proving to have a great eye for fashion and bargaining.

We then headed to return some items ... 

and then celebrate with my family for dinner and friends for the "ball-drop." 

The following day was more visiting with more friends! It's been really lovely. Thank you to the Z and S families for hosting us!

One of the last things I purchased in 2013 was this book! 

It was inspired by a good friend's (Dr. MM) recommendation. We're only two days in so far. I'm looking forward to seeing how the days and months develop. 

I'm leaving you with a photo of the Great Wall on New Year's Eve, courtesy of the Huffington Post and Associated Press  photographer Ng Han Guan.

And a note about the five-year plan - a great stage director and very influenctial professor at Oberlin, JF, suggested that we always had to have a five-year plan. If we didn't, "we weren't focused, and if we weren't earning 100% of our salary from the music field by the time we were 30, we should do something else." 

That deadline is well past, and I made it to that goal also amply before that cut-off. Now it is a matter of making my five year plan, for myself as an artist, and for my family. (Though the cats will be fine with whatever happens, I think).

On this auspicious turn of the year, I not only have a five-year journal but also a date-book that goes until the end of 2017! 

What will these next five years bring?

Live and Let Live

2013 is about to come to a screeching halt (whoops, I mean - it is about to gently roll over into 2014). New Years' Resolutions abound for all of us, and since this is the third of four "New Years" in the past twelve months, resolutions seem mut at this point.

Four "New Years"? Let me explain .... 

1. The academic calendar will always signify a New Year to me, no matter what kind of job(s) I am doing. Opera companies tend to often revolve around the academic calendar. So, September 1st is a New Year, celebrated by barbecues, no more white shoes, and back-to-school sales.

2. Zheng and I got married on October 26th, so that is a New Year for our marriage, to be rolled-over every October 26th. 

3. The actual Julian Calendar (the one that Westerners observe). The occasion for New Year's Rockin' Eve, champagne, games, and gatherings with friends.

4. Chinese New Year. I am as excited about this as about some aspects of wedding planning. By marrying someone who is Chinese, it gives us another excuse to party! Chinese New Year this year is January 31st. We are ending the Year of the Snake and ringing in the Year of the Horse. 

Zheng and I have been reading up on different traditions about this holiday. Different factions of Chinese speakers (Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China by province, Taiwan, Malaysia, different Chinatowns throughout the world) have different ways of ringing in the New Year. We are planning a great celebration, so stay tuned! 

For a "resolution," I resolve (for this New Year) to "live and let live." No more questions about why people do certain things, and then no more yielding to the judgement that follows. No more questions about why my cats sleep in my parents' artificial plants, or why my husband insists on constant slipper-wearing inside the house. And this extends to myself - no more judgement on why I do what I do, or why I feel what I feel. I should learn to accept anything in its moment, and then make a decision on how to react that is best. I resolve to trust God with so many of the other details, and to proceed one step at a time.

Happy New Year! What are your resolutions?

PHOTO: Panda, sound asleep in my parents' plants!

Deep-fried Football

Last night, we were invited to join my brothers for the Eagles' game. (They are now the NFC East Champions). Zheng got a taste of what "American brothers" do during a game like this. (I will not repeat some of the things they said to the Cowboys!).

Since my dear husband was a resident of the DFW area for six years, he started cheering for Dallas. Bruce and Blake made it abundantly clear that that would *not* be tolerated.

Last night was also the inauguration of Bruce's girlfriend AD's peanut-oil TFal fryer. We made deep-fried green beans, onion rings, pickles, apples, and oreos. Zheng loved these too, so we have been drafted into Crab Rangoon instruction again on Thursday.

The game was terrific and the company was better. More stops on the "Chinese becoming American" train.

Christmas Present

Dear ones,

Greetings from Pennsylvania! Zheng and I have been here since Christmas Day, and we have been enjoying a lot of rest and relaxation (and family and food).

We are so grateful for the hospitality we have experienced. This is Zheng's first Christmas "up north," to which his response is, "it's cold!"

Today we gathered with my dad's family in Lancaster, and had a lovely but too-short visit with all of them. Now we are tucked in at my brother's with a fire, NFL football, and home-cooked food.

What are your holiday pastimes?

Backlog! (Wedding Rehearsal)

Yes, I know it's not good to begin every entry with "I'm sorry I haven't written." So I will attempt to catch up my readers with blogs. I've made it through an incredibly intense six months. And now my job is to write, and create, and begin to wish everyone the great beginning of 2014!

I didn't have any time to write or post around the wedding. I was too busy wrapping gifts, assigning tables, traveling, keeping jobs going, writing thank-you notes to attendants, or writing checks. 

Here are some photos of our wedding rehearsal. Aying made amazingly beautiful clothes as gifts for my family, as her introduction to them. (Remember how Zheng presented my parents with gifts when he met them?) You will see our beautiful outfits in the photos. 

Memories that I will forever hold from this rehearsal are: my brothers being late because they had to buy dress pants; the same brothers telling the ring bearer and flower girls to "look for monsters under the pews," the terrific food; and a feeling of unbelievable anticipation of the day to come! 

Our newest creature

A few weeks ago, my sister KDL was adjusting to the arrival of a beautiful new baby. Since she is already the mother of two adorable "angels," Jaden and Jordyn, and the stepmom to three other children, the addition of the newborn and maintaining a two-cat household was too much. The cats had to go. 

Imagine her surprise when a two-week old malnourished kitten walked into her garage and stayed there! After she had given the other cats away!

I asked Zheng if we could take the new cat. "It would be a good friend for Lucia." And not any more trouble than one. (This is true). He agreed! So we picked up the cat after our mini-moon in Chicago. 

The introduction to Lucia was surprising. This little guy doesn't know how little he is, so he refused to be intimidated. After a few days of swatting and hissing, and a few days without a name, the new little cat is part of the family. 

We welcome Panda Yuan to our home. 

Breath

Oh, wow ... how time has flown since I've last "written" or posted. (I haven't been writing my morning pages either, and I'm feeling it these days). 

Since the last post, I've added a name to my own. For many of you who have asked (and will continue to ask), the new name is Kristin Ditlow Yuan. (No more "Alynn"). God-willing, the "Dr." will be added to the beginning of my name, by the end of this academic year!

The absence of writing (and the limitation of my other creative needs, such as practicing) have been put on hold due to a small event called a WEDDING. Our wedding was "small" by most standards, especially by standards according to the county in which we were married. But getting ready for it felt like a gigantic task. Details. Payments. Handling the DJ, the photographer, the flowers, the menu. How are people getting from the church to the reception? (We did *not* rent a limo or bus. And it was just fine). 

I think the greatest mark of our wedding was my Dad's comment:

"I wouldn't have done anything differently." 

And that is a stamp of approval, because getting my beloved Dad to wear anything but a pair of jeans and a polar fleece is a semi-big deal. Add to it making him (at times) the center of attention and a lot of people, some of whom he doesn't know (my friends) and you have a situation which would make a lot of people uncomfortable. 

I never thought that I'd say that my wedding was "comfortable," but it really was. I didn't mind being in the dress all day (a pair of lower heels helped my feet be okay), my hair stayed put, thanks to the marvelous work of JR, I knew everyone who was in attendance, and the music was spectacular. 

So as I get a chance to breathe, in the middle of a coffee shop in Stevens Point, WI (I'm here for the first of a two-part residency that will conclude during the spring of 2014), I'm happy to say that Zheng and I survived, very happily, the planning and happening of our "big day."

We actually really loved it.  

Another thing that we loved about our wedding was how "personal" it was. Our friends played in an orchestra for us, conducted by another one of our good friends. Four other friends sang (some of these people were also bridesmaids or the maid-of-honor). My uncle took the pictures. Several of my mom's family handled the detail of getting lunch for the orchestra before the ceremony. And the gifts and cards we received were so personal as well. So many people wrote beautiful things in the cards (a few cards were hand-made). Ellen, who you've read about so much here in the blog, made an afghan which she started when we announced our engagement. Zheng's mom clothed my entire family in traditional Chinese-style dress. (Many of us wore these to the rehearsal dinner). Another uncle rolled a rolling pin for us! Aying made a speech which was so beautiful - in both Mandarin and English. The amount of work that took is phenomenal. (We were planning to do our vows bilingually, but that didn't end up happening). There are so many things for which we are grateful. The next weeks will be spent thanking those people with (personalized) thank-you cards. And my grandmother Nanny was a beacon of sainthood and sanity throughout.

So, with great pleasure, I can take a breath, and say, the work was worth it. We made the right decisions about how to cut costs, I survived planning a wedding from a distance while working two new jobs. We did this because of not only how stubborn we are, but also because of our amazing "family" and our continual reliance on God. 

Monument to Stubbornness

One of the best things I did this summer was to escape for three days to Delaware with Zheng (with a detour to a dear friend's house on the way). Driving into Lewes, DE is a drive that I have done so many times, I could do it with my eyes closed. This drive also has a particular smell. Salt marsh. 

The house was born in the early 1980s, when my grandfather had passed the land on a fishing trip with some friends. He admired a small cottage on a beautiful piece of land, with tall trees on the property. The land is at the cusp of where Herring Creek meets the Rehoboth Bay. Thus, the water is brackish, making it a haven for hard-shelled crabs.

Over time, the "little cottage" became metamorphosed into a casual, comfortable abode that sleeps 26. It boasts bunk beds made by hand. The "artwork" on the walls was made by someone in the family. The largest bathroom even boasts "bubble bath" pictures, for one of the tubs has jacuzzi jets in it. I remember piling in there with my two cousins (we are all in our thirties now!) and bringing a bottle of bubble bath in with us. We would get the bubbles up so high that they would overflow (and we would get into *real* trouble).

Another fond memory that greeted me again at this house was my own "monument to stubbornness." My cousins and I really wanted to have a "club." We didn't *do* anything. But we had this club. And I was the president. As president, I was in charge of having the sign made by our grandfather in his wood shop (the garage). I remember *insisting* that it was spelled correctly.

PHOTO: And so you have it. "Of course," I stamped my foot, "this is the way you spell it!"

Connecting to Home

Hello, everyone!

I feel lucky to be here and to be connecting with artists from so many places (Hungary, all over the United States, Siberia, Italy, Canada, South Korea). But of tantamount importance is also keeping a close (daily) connection in prayer, and also to my family (and family-to-be).

For the latter, technology has helped a great deal. When I first began traveling through music in 1998, to Italy, it was a "pay phone" that you had to buy a card for, and then tear off a corner and then insert it into a public phone. With the use of cell phones now, these pay phones are pretty much extinct. When I was in Urbania last year, I don't remember seeing any!

Instead, we have FaceTime, which is a remarkable tool. I was able to see my family and fiancé and cat and "have dinner" with them. How great! Yesterday, my beloved Zheng drove to my grandmother's house and surprised her. So I "saw" both of them yesterday! It was great, and it makes the time away go a little easier. Nothing is like being there, but it is a far cry from an Italian pay phone!

PHOTO: This is taken from the roof of the restaurant where we have been having dinner.

Celebrating the holidays ....

Hello, everyone! I hope you are around people that you love, friends that are great, and are celebrating with great food and activities (or just doing nothing).

The past few days have brought some wonderful anecdotes:

Of the 800 pictures that I took in China, my youngest niece only wants to see the pictures of the bugs on sticks.

The two girls also insisted on wearing their panda hats WITH their pearl necklaces.

My family will have "pho" tonight for the first time. YES.

My cat has decided that climbing poles in the basement is a great source of amusement.

I am headed to photography lessons and retreat in the Hudson River Valley for two days .... This begins tomorrow.

I will leave you one of my favorite pictures of 2012!