Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Two More CSO Concerts

We had a subscription for a series of three family matinees at the CSO, and due to the scheduling conflicts, we had to miss two of them. May 3 was not easier, but we all made an effort, even though Anna had to drive to the Loop and drop Nadia just in front of the Orchestra Hall, and had to leave immediately after the post-concert activities.

I was disappointed with a very low attendance, and I can’t even attribute it to anything except for general not-so-great people’s mood. it’s a pity because the concert was absolutely wonderful. Thomas WIlkings was absolutely magical – the way he spoke with the kids from the stage, how he introduced each piece, how he talked about building a community… As a CSO for Kids Ambassador, I (with the rest of the family) was invited to lunch in the Grainger Ballroom. that was a little bit overkill, because only two other families joined us, but as I said, the concert attendance was not great, so that was expected. I still think it’s a great idea to pre-order lunch for before or after the concert, and I hope that things will be better organized for the next season.

Then, there were the usual between-the-concerts activities, including “Mini Maestros” and the “instrument petting zoo,” which both Nadia and Kira thoroughly enjoyed. A new activity was creating some music with the large sticky notes:

The musicians actually played these two measures :).

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On Sunday, I took my mom to another concert conducted by our Music Director Designate Klaus Makela (Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 and Dvorak’s 7th Symphony). That’s the second time I listen to him conducting; I didn’t hear him before his was appointed the CSO music director, so now I am just starting to get a “taste” of him. Both works are beautiful, and Brahms sounded very unusual, though in a good way.

Makela is so different from both Muti and Borenboim, the two Musical Directors I’ve experienced at the CSO that it will probably take me a while to take his style in.

Everything Is Up In The Air

I was hoping for two of my big unknowns to resolve, but none happened.

Boris went to the visa interview, but they didn’t make a decision. Instead, the officer told him that “he will receive instructions about next steps by email.” And I don’t understand what in the world it could mean, because they also told him that he does not need to come to the consulate again. I am super worried and nervous, and don’t know what to do next.

My big not-for-profit battle is not over yet. For several months, I have avoided writing about it, hoping that “it will be all over” and I will be able to give a short summary and move on. And things are still happening, and I am still unsure whether “it’s over” or not.

I know that it all cyphered, but I do not know how else to express the fact that I am still very nervious and up in the air.

A Very Cold Weekend

It didn’t become any warmer, and not only did I not plant anything; I can’t even think about hanging the flower baskets! However, this morning, I biked to the Buckingham Fountain for the first time this season. After three days of biking hills in Helsinki, it was easy 🙂

On the way back, I biked against the wind all the way, and the wind was so strong that it took me twenty minutes longer! I went to Charmers immediately after I returned home. They do not serve quiche, but I love their avocado toasts!


The Most Unusual Way To Enter The US

Everyone tells horror stories about long lines and long questioning at the border, for both visitors and US citizens, so I was ready for the worst. My flight was somehow delayed for 1 hour and 40 minutes. I am saying “somehow” because there was absolutely no reason. Boarding started on time. Since I was in Group 1, I sat down, opened a Kindle book and didn’t pay attention to anything. I heard “Boarding completed,” and this announcement was made ten minutes before scheduled departure. I am not sure what happened next, because there were no more announcements, and I was still reading a book. Then, it was “Boarding completed” again, and I looked at the screen and saw that the arrival time had been changed to an hour later than it should have been. And we didn’t gain the lost time during the flight; in fact, we were delayed for forty more minutes!

But then, when we left the aircraft, we were immediately “pre-sorted” for the citizens and visitors, but both lines were moving without stopping, and in five minutes, everyone was in the arrival hall. There were several border control officers, and one of them was outside her booth with a camera placed on a tripod. I approached, and she took my picture, and asked what I am bringing back, but it was absolutely “as usual.” Then I stepped into the booth and saw that there was no officer there. I stopped, puzzled, and another officer turned to me and told me: You can exit!

I am not sure whether my readers had a chance to register “what’s wrong with that picture,” so I am saying it explicitly: nobody looked at my passport! Yes, I get it—this passport has more electronics than my Apple Watch, and there is a passenger’s manifest on the aircraft—but still!!!

Regatta

For some magical reason, there were zero people in line at Regatta – and it was not just a weekend, it was May Day! I am just grateful for the opportunity 🙂

A Very Brief Visit to Helsinki

No, I am not flying Business Class all the time; it’s just that I had a total of 14 upgrades because of my Finnair Platinum, and I can only use them on the Finnair flights, not on the partner’s flights. And also, there are fewer and fewer direct flights from Chicago, so I am flying on the partnering airlines most of the time. For this super-short visit, I used six of these forteen upgrades to fly Business Class on the way there, and Economy Premium on the way back. One benefit of Platinum at ORD was that I could go to the LOT Business Lounge (otherwise, the Quatar Airlines Lounge is absolutely horrible).

My gate was right next to the longe, so i could see the aircraft
Business class dinner
At breakfast, I asked why they are not serving Finnish yogurts, and the flight attendant told me a horror story about how they are required to remove all the food from the aircraft when they arrive to the US< and how they have to throw away a lot of food.

As usual, I started with sleeping for ten hours straight to compensate not just for the flight (I could sleep fine, since it was all horizontal), but for the previous weeks of anxiety.

And then, there were three days of biking :). It was rather intense, because I still didn’t bike much in Chicago this spring – it was too cold. It might be not much warmer in Helsinki, but I could not say no to Boris, so I just did.

Continue reading “A Very Brief Visit to Helsinki” →

Showing Chicago To My Guest

One of the conference attendees (and my good friend) stayed at my house for the whole event and the weekend after, which was great for both of us, and we were each other’s moral support :). It was her second visit to Chicago, and this time, not only did I show her places in the city she hadn’t seen before, but also, I walked with her around Rogers Park and showed all the best local spots, because she and her family will stay with me in August.

An L-train turning
A bridge going up
Lunch at the Art Institute Member’s Lounge
Continue reading “Showing Chicago To My Guest” →

PG Day Chicago

I’ve stolen photos from every blog post about our conference :), and I hope nobody minds.

It was an amazing event! I am so glad I didn’t give up and was able to deliver a good event for my community!

Continue reading “PG Day Chicago” →

Last Thursday

I hope I will have more time to reflect on the actual days of action, but for now, I just want to say that there were no major issues, things went well, and all my efforts were well paid off.

I had to be at the venue at 7 AM, which meant I had to wake up my houseguests by five, and we had to be out of the house by 6 AM (so that I won’t subject them to running to the train station with my speed :)).

I had fewer people on the training day than signed up, but that’s because I was limited in how much I could advertise, and because it was new. Those who attended loved it and said it was a useful thing before the conference.

Also, it was great that we had to test everything before the main conference day (although some new technical issues came up later). My co-workers helped with stuffing the bags, otherwise we won’t make it 🙂

No pictures from the training itself, since I was running around all the time.

Anns came to help me; she was sick the week before, and ended up having an ear infection and bronchitis, which she found out when she finally went to a Minute Clinic in the evening. I do appreciate her sacrifices, and I can’t even say she shouldn’t have done it, because her help was more than essential.

After the training, I managed to fit in a very short meetup with Jay Miller:

I worked very hard to ensure that this event was held in collaboration with our Black Employees resource group, and that’s part of my commitment to supporting DEI, no matter what the rest of the world does.

And the day was not over yet – we had a speakers and volunteers dinner, which was set up in a great way, and I am very thankful for the catering company for making it just the way I wanted and on a budget!

Last Wednesday

Keeping going through the last week. I hosted two conference attendees, plus Anna for one of the nights. My first houseguest, B., was a conference speaker from Madagascar. She is an absolutely outstanding woman, and I want ot tell more about her in the near future. That was her first time coming to the US, and she had a 22-hour long journey with two connections. I told her I would meet her at ORD, because it is very difficult to navigate this airport even when you are an experienced traveler.

Her flight arrival time was 7:30 AM, and I took the L-train there, because everything runs relatively normally on a weekday morning, so it was a 4 AM wake-up, leaving the house at 5:30. The airport was as quiet as it could possibly be, and we saw each other right away. I took her to the office where we left her luggage, and then to the Architectural tour, because Wednesday was the only opportunity for her to see something!

One of the conference attendees took the same boat tour with us, and then we went to the Art Institute. I didn’t plan to be at work on that day, but one of the customers kept having issues, and I was the only person who could fix them. I asked Igor to take over my Chicago guide responsibilities, and rushed to the office to save the world. My second houseguest, L. was arriving at 4 PM, and we calculated that with the luggage and the passport control, she would be at my house by 6 PM, so I had plenty of time. But then I was stuck with saving the world, and her flight arrived earlier, and by some miracle, her luggage came out very fast as well.

With all that, she waited for us for twenty minutes! At least, the weather was warm on Wednesday, and she just sat on her luggage in the sun reading a book. Nobody wanted to go out for dinner, so I made a quick meal and went to bed.

The next day, the actual work had begun.