Any (Other) Dream Will Do

It's been a long couple of weeks since I've posted--travel, interviews, archival work--and it's time for an update.

Not long after my last post I was able to meet with a prominent American musicologist, Dr. F. She was in Brussels, traveling as part of a sabbatical, and agreed to meet with me to discuss confraternities. This was fortuitous since I had just made "the discovery" in the archives only a week before. She sat with me in Anderlecht and helped me decipher old Dutch. It was quite possibly the nerdiest thing I've ever done, and I loved every minute of it! We hit it off so well that I didn't even feel slightly embarrassed when I told her about my recent string of Peter Philips dreams: meeting Peter Philips on the Grand Place in Brussels, shopping with Peter Philips in Wal-Mart, etc. (Sad, isn't it?) Dr. F. and I only had one day, though, because the next day I had to . . .

. . . travel back to the United States for a job interview at Gonzaga University. I flew into Seattle and recovered from jet lag with Z at our home in Puyallup. After two days spent preparing and (of course) shoe shopping, I was flying off to Spokane. The interview was rigorous: three rehearsals, two tours, one class, one mass, and several meetings, all in two-and-a-half days. The trip was even more anxiety-producing in that all three candidates were there at once! I am happy to report, though, that Gonzaga is a beautiful school, and the people there are sooooo nice. I felt I did my best in the interview, so now I have to wait and see if it's what they wanted. I'm especially grateful to have had the opportunity to interview because it also meant that . . .

. . . I got to spend some unexpected time with Z. It wasn't a lot of time, but we did manage to eat at a favorite Indian restaurant in Tacoma, attend the PLU Concert Band concert, hike up to Pike Place Market in Seattle, and watch a little of the NBA playoffs. And even though I initially suffered a little mild culture shock after an evening visit to the Puyallup South Hill mall, I realized that I am really looking forward to life back in the states. So it was with a little weariness that I boarded a plane--again--to Belgium, only to find upon my return to my apartment that . . .

. . . my building had finally been sold, and there was a new landlord and, consequently, a new set of building keys that I didn't have. I also discovered (with only a little surprise) that my beat-up bike had been stolen while I was gone. The onset of jet lag was a little delayed by some news from home (not to worry, all is well!) And soon a sense of normalcy returned. Despite a four-hour nap in the afternoon I managed to sleep for 11 hours last night, a blessedly dreamless sleep!