More interviews!

This morning began with a fun visit with my Ukranian and Russian friends. After our last Swedish class, my friend Zhenya asked me if I would be an interviewee for a project she has to do. She is studying journalism and was required to do an interview with someone fluent in English. I, of course, agreed and we set the meeting for this morning.

I was extremely impressed because she really did her homework! She did a lot of research on percussion, and her questions were great. The questions ranged from how and why I started to play, to how it feels to play an instrument dominated by men (and she even knew of Keiko Abe and Evelyn Glennie).

We did the interview in her apartment where they set up the camera and lights in the living room and I sat on the couch to be interviewed. It felt weird to have the camera right in my face, especially as we tried to fix all the lighting and get the camera angle just perfect! I can't wait to see how the project turns out!

After Zhenya and I were done, Pasha, another student from Ukraine, interviewed Kyle. They took about half as much time as we did. We laughed…girls are the perfectionists, as always!

The interview "studio"/apartment living room

Fancy camera

Zhenya, the soon-to-be famous Ukrainian journalist :)

When the “work” was done, they treated us to some homemade treats, tea, and coffee. I don’t remember what the desert was called, but it was amazing! It was a pastry with chopped up apples and oranges inside with chocolate and dates on top. YUM!!! The best part was getting to know them better. Although we don’t all have the same first language, I really enjoyed their company!

After the lovely morning, the rest of the day was consumed with rehearsals!! We played through everything today; some things went better than others. I’ll talk about the actual pieces after the recital. Overall, I’m really happy with the program, and think that we will be presenting some great pieces! I will still be very curious how this audience responds!!

This evening I tried to bake my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I wrote yesterday that Sweden does not have anything pumpkin flavored, which is very depressing. I love anything pumpkin, and it’s one of my favorite fall flavors. The only thing I could find was pumpkin bread mix, so I bought it, and used it in place of flour.

When I opened the bag, I realized that it’s not really pumpkin bread mix. It was regular bread mix with pumpkin seeds. But, since I didn’t buy any backup flour, I just went with it! The cookies turned out…ok. They are really sweet, and taste like cookies, but a little dry. I made up little bags for everyone that has helped me with the recital. It’s the thought that counts. Right?

Gotta get some rest so I’m on my game tomorrow!! I’ll share the details about the performance as soon as I can!