Sooooooo...today is the big day, huh? (My stomach just flipped over while typing that...) At this point in the day, I'm down at my favorite bench by the lake, writing this in an attempt to take my mind off the inevitable. I am one of six finalists, and I sing first (a fact for which I am infinitely grateful) at 3pm local time. The singers should be finished no later that 6pm, and the award ceremony is at 6:30. That means that in 7.5 hours, all the preparation, stress, etc. will finally be over.
I am simply amazed at some of the talent here. For me personally, two of the singers truly stand out - not to mention worry me, haha. The first is Christopher Ainsle, originally from South Africa, who has a golden voice and sings everything from Bach to Howells with 110% emotional commitment. His "King David" literally gave me chills. Truly stunning. The other is an (I believe) Uruguayan singer named Leandro (I can't for the life of me remember his surname). His performance was not only technically flawless, but highly dramatic - he showed every word/phrase/idea with his face and gestures. Naturally, everyone offered something specific to their own performance that was worthy of championship, but to delineate all of it would take quite some time indeed. Perhaps I will make that effort in the next day or so...?
On a totally different note, I have noticed some striking cultural quirks that I never expected. For example:
* Unlike Berlin or Milan or Paris, the women here do not, on the whole, wear heels. Mostly, I'm seeing flats, with a handful of sandals scattered throughout. My inclination is to believe that this is related to the overall steep incline of the city, but who knows?
* I saw someone receive a citation today for not having a valid bus ticket. To my complete surprise, the officer NEVER checked the guy's ID! He had him fill out his own address and such, but never verified it...odd.
* It appears that the cultural norm is to, when walking toward somene on the sidewalk, pass someone to their right (weird wording, but to be clear, we pass to a person's left in the States). I have had numerous near-collisions while trying to "be polite" by passing on the left. Nope...doesn't work.
* Motorcyclists are, apparently, immune to standard traffic laws. They dart in and out of traffic - driving up the dotted lines, jumping into any available gaps between cars. Of course, this may or may not be sanctioned by law enforcement, but it seems to be standard procedure on every road in the city.
* Dogs are children, and as such are welcome virtually anywhere - restaurants, shops, buses, etc. They are, however, infinitely more well-behaved than most dogs one finds in the US.
* In a counterintuitive contrast to this, the human children here seem to be a bit wild. I don't know if it's the lake air, or what, but they pretty much run around screaming at all times, without the obvious supervision of an adult. Were this only taking place at major tourist attractions, I wouldn't think on it twice, but this is happening in residential neighborhoods as well!
* As a result of the last fact, I have learned that, when playing tag and/or hide-and-seek in Italian countries, one counts to 18, rather than 10, 20, 50, etc. I can't determine the reason for this, but it has proven to be consistent through numerous games. (Apparently, I'm a closet anthropologist/ethnographer, haha.)
I've come to the determination that the people one sees in larger US cities walking around, talking to themselves and gesturing wildly, may not, in fact, be psychologically disturbed. Perhaps they are, in reality, practicing their Italian, and having mock-up conversations with various people (hotel/restaurant employees, bus drivers, etc.)? At least, that's MY current excuse, here in Lugano... ;-)
Yesterday, while waiting for the semifinals results, a few of the singers and I spent a lovely time chatting with Singora Bergamo (the wife of the competition benefactor). She is an utterly charming Chilean woman, who was ever so considerate of my linguistic handicaps. Most of the folks in the conversation were Spanish speakers, and so that was the preferred language. Signora Bergamo, however, was constantly reading my expression to double-check my comprehension. In general, I could keep up, but sometimes I was lost, at which point she would graciously turn to me and translate. Bless her...I've got to get better at this!!
[Oh dear, someone down the street is singing a cover of John Lennon...]
I'm still trying to determine if I want to take a day trip to Geneva, primarily for the purpose of visiting CERN. It would make for a VERY long day, but it might be worth it. First and foremost, I need to make sure they offer tours in English... Their Twitter account always posts in English, so I'm assuming that it is the standard language for the site, despite being in a VERY French region of the world.
Alrighty, well, I'm about typed out, and I need to go purchase several liters of water at the local Migros (Italian equivalent of Kroger, sort of). I'm having a very difficult time staying hydrated here, so I'm constantly in danger of a coughing fit. Can't let that happen today!! Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I'll have some super-wonderful news the next time I write!!
~AJR
