Die Fledermaus

No "Die Fledermaus" does not mean that something dies. "Die" is pronounced "dee" auf Deutsch. So anyway, "Die Fledermaus" means "The Bat" and it is a German operetta from Johann Strauß. I had first thought, when my host parents told me we were going to go to "Die Fledermaus", that is was a opera and that it was gonna be all sad and someone was gonna die. Not so. It is an operetta so it was more of a musical comedy. So we made our way to the Magdeburg Opera House this past Saturday on a cold, windy night. The opening scene of "Die Fledermaus" said it all. The curtain came up only to the dancers knees and then, for what seemed like 10 minutes, the dancers continued to move behind the curtain in a way that suggested very naughty things were happening behind the curtain but nothing was said or sung the entire time this happened. For instance, three typical, pink ballerina legs line up in front of one set of male legs. The man then proceeds to drop his pants down to his ankles and walks off stage where the three ballerina legs follow. Now, we all know that no one really exposed anything behind that curtain but just the thought of it was making me blush.

Haha so what is "Die Fledermaus" about? It is kind of complicated and if you really want to know the exact story you can Google it. Basically it is a story of infidelity and revenge with plenty of humor added. Now, the entire operetta was in German so I am not going to pretend for one second that I understood it all...but there were plenty of jokes that were conveyed through body language and sometimes they even talked slow enough for me to understand one or even two sentences in a row!

I will also take this opportunity to let you in on a little secret...YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR EVERYTHING IN GERMANY! There was a man walking around with programs for the show. I asked him for one and he told me it cost €2! I said no thank you...but my host dad insisted on getting at least one for the whole group to read. This is very typical for Germany. You have to pay for water, bathrooms, parking spaces, ketchup (even at restaurants), and apparently show programs. It's ridiculous but I guess you have the cash to spare when your government ensures that everyone has health insurance. You learn to adapt though. I have grown very accustomed to filling my water bottle up in the bathroom and not getting anything to drink with a meal. Sometimes the drink costs just as much as your meal and in Germany beer is sometimes cheaper than water. Yes, sometimes beer is CHEAPER than water. How's that for drastically different? Before we left the opera house we got a group photo.

Back Row (left to right): Christian (host sister's BF), Konrad (host dad), and Joe (fellow CBYXer)
Front Row (left to right): Katrin (host sister), Me, Sonja (host mom)
My host brother Andreas was missing this night but he was there in spirit.

Here is a video clip of a bunch of different songs in "Die Fledermaus" just to give you a taste of it.