Vienna: Great Expectations!

Fall in Vienna is turning out to be absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe that in only one week from today I'll be turning 26! That seems so old to me. Oh well, at least I get to spend my birthday in a beautiful city! That's me in the Schönbrunn palace park last Monday.

Yesterday I bought plane tickets to Zurich (see above!) to visit my good friend Susanne. I'm so excited to visit her - I'll be there the weekend of Dec. 4 (also my parent's anniversary). We have many plans already, including day trips to Bern or Lucerne, shopping and christmas markets and of course lots of fine dining! I'm also planning on visiting the school where she teaches. It'll be fun to be a "guest of honor"! 

I'll also be going to meet my good friend Darin in Prague on Nov. 21st! That's about meeting in the middle for us. I'm looking forward to going there finally - it seems I just kept missing it on my other trips to Europe, and it is supposedly a BEAUTIFUL city! I'm also excited for these little trips because it means it's closer to christmas break! Only 55 days till home! (... and Colin!)

My dance lessons are going well - Gergely (my partner) and I have decided to go twice a week now, since we need to get as much out of it as possible (as we need to be ready for the ball on January 9th at the vienna city hall - see above!). Below is a picture of our dance instructor - he's a gem! He's very disciplined but also has a feisty sense of humor. So far we've tackled the waltz, tango, rumba and samba. :o) There are a good mix of people taking the class and we're hoping to go to drinks with some of them after the next class. 

Today I had my last day of school for the week. It was a good day - I taught lessons on Seattle, Brave New World (my level 8's are reading that - and they're reading 1984 in the other school) and The Onion Newspaper (which everyone loved!) I also got to help in a wood-shop class for the 1st years - and boy, were they scared of me! But they loosened up once they found out I understood german. :o) Also, my teachers there invited me on the school ski trip! More information on that later, though. Speaking of more info, I was also offered a job at a week-long intensive english seminar the last week of June in the resort city of Semmering! But, like I said, more on that later... 

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Vienna: Parties and Palaces too

Almost a month in Vienna! I've been feeling really at home here ever since I got my room all put-together and my suitcases put away. It feels good to have everything in it's own place and cleaned up. I have to admit, some of this motivation came from the WG (apartment-share) party we had last weekend. All of my roommates (see below) invited friends, so there were tons of new people to meet. We had a pretty great time talking, drinking and dancing, but it was really nice to have the apartment back to ourselves for a little Sunday morning brunch. 

{My room... all finished}

{Roommates - Julia, Manuel, Vera & me}

{Dance, Dance, Dance}

{Julia and Alice attack Brunch}

Unfortunately, I must have picked up the bug that was going around, so I was home in bed for 2 days, and had to miss school. I did make it out for little while to a friend's birthday party, but probably should have stayed home in bed. But I think the fresh air and a little conversation did me good. 

{Sickly me and Alice}

Saturday morning I felt good enough to visit my favorite Viennese attraction - The Naschmarkt! Julia and I went and I found knitting needles for a Euro and some old postcards. We also found a hungarian pastry - Baumkuchen! It's dough wrapped and baked around something like a rolling pin, then buttered and rolled in either cinnamon, vanilla, nuts or chocolate/coconut. We had cinnamon - it was SO tasty! 

{Hungarian Baumkuchen at the Naschmarkt}

{Julia devouring our Baumkuchen}

In the afternoon I met Elisa, Robert and Alice at the Belvedere (which, according to my Lonley Planet, is one of the world's finest baroque palaces). There are Upper and Lower parts of the palace, each housing a great collection of art. We visited the Upper Belvedere, which houses a collection of austrian art - including Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. 

{Upper Belvedere}

{Alice, Elisa & Me - Belvedere Gardens}

{What's so funny?}

{Gustav Klimt's The Kiss from 1908}

Baden: In Pictures

Vienna: Week one down!

[Me at the Stadtpark]

I started teaching this week in an austrian high school - Bundesgymnasium Perchtoldsdorf. P'dorf is pretty cute, with an old clock tower, castle ruins and romantic buildings. My school leaves a little to be desired, but from what I hear, that's pretty normal. I'm also working at a school in Maria Enzersdorf (near to P'dorf) but I haven't been there yet (I switch schools every other week). 

[Perchtoldsdorf]

It's been interesting getting used to Austrian schools - first of all, the kids have their own classrooms. This means they've had the same classmates since they began high school and that they are always in the same room - the teacher is the one to go to them. Teachers here have only 5 minutes between each class - breaks are always buzzing with activity: trying to get the next lesson organized, chat with others or shove something in their faces (there's no lunch break!). First period starts at 7:55 and each period is 50 minutes long. Also, I was really surprised at how mean the teachers were to their students. Not a lot of praise, more yelling at them for misbehavior or incorrectness. Tough love, I guess? Another thing I was surprised by was that no students wear shoes. They run around in socks or slippers or birkenstocks but no shoes! I thought it was their choice, but a teacher informed me that the school wants to keep the floors clean. But then why don't teachers have to take off their shoes too? I have to admit I feel kind of guilty walking around in my street shoes. 

Since I'm new here I've had to introduce myself in every lesson I've taught (13 a week...). At orientation week I learned a game for introductions, which I'm now so good at I could do it in my sleep. I write numbers on the board which pertain to my life in some way, then the students have to guess what those numbers mean. Also, one number is incorrect and they have to guess which one (they usually guess that I don't really have a boyfriend... then everyone laughs!) Here are my numbers:

8
98372
4
1
11.6.1983
3.334.813
2010

I bet most of you can guess what some of them mean - the students kept asking me if one was my bank account number - or if I had 8 children, or was getting married in 2010. And they all thought I was born in June, as in german you write the day first, then the month and then the year. Afterwards I let them ask me questions - almost always Grey's Anatomy or Twilight comes up, and I'm also always always asked if I can speak german. Yesterday one boy asked me if I knew what lactose intolerance was. Anyway it's been pretty entertaining. 

[my student, Gino, running for "school representative"]

The week has gone by pretty quickly (yay!) and it's only 73 days till I get to come home and see Mr. Colin and my family! Friday I had a bit of a fun set-back. I thought I had to be at school at 8:45, turns out I didn't need to be here till 12:30! Way to go me! And with an hour long commute, I didn't feel good about going all the way home and back and back and whew. After class Friday I was invited to a teacher's house for lunch (her daughter cooked for us!) and then a meeting/party of the school's english teachers. It was fun to get to know them on a personal level. After, I hurried to meet Alice a movies! I've also got a rockin head cold, but so do two of my roommates, so I feel like it's making the rounds. And when I went to buy kleenex today, the cashier said, "Oh schon wieder eine Schnupfnase". 

The weather has made a turn for the worst, so I was glad that we could hang out at the Stadtpark on Thursday before the cold set in. It was fun to relax outdoors in such a gorgeous environment! The park isn't far from me (ie: on the same train line) so I anticipate many more trips to come! (especially if I can get a bike!). 

[Robert, Me and Elisabeth enjoying the Stadtpark]

Saturday was reserved for the flea market and then I had dinner with my friend Rachael and Elisabeth. Rachael had made delicious potato soup (which I think I'd better try my hand at too) and it was fun to relax and get to know them better! Today (after building my new ikea shelf) we're all off to Baden, a near-by town with indoor/outdoor baths! :o)

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Graz: Orientation in a Castle!

Orientation in Graz! 

Fulbright hosted a week long orientation for us ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) in Graz last week. I'd say the best part about it was our accommodation, Schloss St. Martin. (see above) Although the castle was a bit outside the city, the views around were gorgeous and we did have an evening off downtown.

 Graz is about 2 1/2 hours south of Vienna by train. The landscape was beautiful and pretty much what I'd excepted - mountains and cows! After check-in and a greeting on Monday, we were pretty much on the go the whole time - breakfast, group meetings, lunch, group meetings, dinner, etc! (We were fed really well all week! Breakfast was my favorite though... meats, cheeses, nutella and delicious delicious coffee!!) I was lucky enough to room with Alice, who's from Minnesota and was basically my friend before I even met her. :o) It was fun to girl-talk before bed! 

Graz is a pretty city - The city center is full of gorgeous old buildings - a new Art museum designed to look like "a friendly alien" (we saw Warhol there!), saw a beautiful fountain in the city square, and took a look inside a church called the Stadtpfarrkirche. Here is a picture of one of the stained glass windows there - can you see two people who shouldn't be in a church? The upper right hand pane shows Hitler and Mussolini watching Jesus being beaten. 

There is also a "mountain" there called the Schlossberg. A glass elevator goes up a shaft in the middle of the mountain. The stairs (or Stiege, in austrian german) to the top:

Once on top, you get an amazing view of the whole city. On our third day during Orientation, 15 year old school kids took us on group tours of the city (ahem, to practice their English but I'm pretty sure a lot of German was spoken.) :o) But we did get to see some amazing views and learn some history of the city. 

This is a city view of Graz:

Me on top of the Schlossberg. 

This picture is for Colin: Wiener Schnitzel! (during my lesson at a local school on thursday, the kids were excited to tell me all about Wiener Schnitzel... they told me exactly how to make it -bread crumbs, flour, eggs - and they were especially aghast that the Germans put sauce on their schnitzel... but said ketchup was ok! ha!) 

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Happy One Year Anniversary Colin! I love you! 

Vienna: Grüß Gott!!

The Viennese speak a different german than I'm used to. I'm grateful that my roommate Manuel speaks it though and hopefully I'll slowly catch on. Today I had my first accomplishment: Grüß Gott. Grüß Gott is a greeting which literally means "Greetings to God"... and so at first I was a little apprehensive, but when you are bombarded by cashiers, waiters and taxi drivers who all smilingly call out "Grüß Gott!", it's a little hard not to give in. So today at Bipa (a drug store near to Elisabeth's apartment), when the cashier called out "Grüß Gott"... I actually said it back! What an exciting day. 

Also, on the "good day" note, I met Kerby (from Portland!) and Elisabeth for lunch. We had a good time getting to know each other and were dedicated to practicing our german together... for a while. We usually slip into English when we're alone, but I'd say that we all have a good grasp of the language and can feel comfortable in either one. 

Later, my roommate Manuel cooked dinner for me and Julia, my new roommate from Italy (northern Italy.... so she speaks german) and we ate outside in our garden. It was nice to get to know them better and even nicer to practice my german - I really appreciate my awesome roommates who both know english but respect that I want to better my german (or at least get down a really good Viennese to impress my friends) :o)

In the evening, after a delicious scoop of Vienna's best ice cream, Kerby, Julia, Elisabeth and I (see picture) met some american boys that Julia had met on the train. I know, I know... I was thinking obnoxious teenagers who are just in europe because of the low-drinking age :o) But these guys were fun and interesting... one works for a company that Colin wants to apply for (called DuPont), and he gave me his email and said that Colin should get in contact with him! That pretty much made my week. It was amazing to be able to tell him I'd made him a business contact on only my third day in Vienna. :o) 

Although I'm still only sleeping a few hours each night (ie: only 1 1/2 tonight! Ouch!) things are looking up. I'm extremely grateful to Colin (and my mom and dad), who put up with me over the last few days - exhausted and crying and calling every few hours. But now things are better and I'm excited about our orientation next week and to go to Ikea tomorrow and make my room cozy (maybe I'll sleep better once my bed has sheets?). I've got to admit, Vienna is pretty much amazing. 

Also: Here's an awesome Austrian sighting from last night's train ride home: 

A Dirndl and Lederhosen!!! 

Vienna: Willkommen in Wien!

Well, I've finally arrived in Vienna. After a great week at home going to the fair and hanging out with my parents, I took the train up to Vancouver, where Mads threw me a fantastic going-away party and Solen presented me with a group present of a year-long membership to the Vienna Film Museum! I'm really the luckiest girl ever and have the best friends. Thanks to everyone who made that night special! 

Saturday night Colin and I went to our favorite restaurant, Jollys, and then came home to watch hours of Donald Duck cartoons, one of our favorite things to do. (That whole madness started last christmas... Colin was so addicted to those cartoons on youtube!) Sunday came too fast and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to him at the airport, which was extremely hard, but made a bit better by the fact that I have a plane ticket home for christmas already (thanks mom and dad!!!) 

After a long-haul to London, where I had a 5 hour stop, I took a short 2 hour flight to Vienna. Unfortunately I had a bit of a rocky arrival - I missed my new roommate at the airport and took a taxi to my new apartment - a horrible 65 Euros later! (that's a LOT of money, folks). So, I felt pretty bad about that - and the fact my roommate wasn't at home to let me in, since he was looking for me at the airport. Luckily, one of my other roommates had friends staying in her room while she is home, and they - at just the right moment - had come outside. They let me in and I used their cell phone to call Manuel, and tell him to come back from the airport. 

My room is small - but has a built in bed on one wall which can double as a couch. I'll put up pictures once I get some shelves from Ikea and put my clothes and other stuff away. I like the apartment - a nice, updated (but small) kitchen and three roommates. Vera from Frankfurt, Julia from Southern Tirol and Manuel from Vienna. Manuel has two cats, Neo and Slimer, who are very sweet and like to cuddle. :o) Manuel's girlfriend lives in Spain, so he sympathizes with me when I'm missing Colin. 

My jet-lag hasn't gotten too much better - I'm not sleeping much, which explains the extreme homesickness and ridiculously often crying-bouts. Nights are the hardest - I haven't been able to sleep more than 4 hours at a time, and usually end up awake around 3 am - crying. :o) Luckily I have a super fantastic mom and dad - and Colin - who puts up with my crying at all hours of the day. It'll get better once I'm settled and not tired. I'm excited to start working at my school. We have orientation in Graz (2 hours south of Vienna) for a week next week and I look forward to meeting lots of new people and being busy. 

Today I met up with Elisabeth - a girl here also for Fulbright from Missoula Montana - which was fantastic. It's nice to have a friend here. :o) We met some Brits for lunch and then met again later for pizza with some other Fulbrighters. It's nice to meet so many people, but at the beginning it's hard to tell who you'll become close with. I'm excited to see how this year turns out. This is such a fantastic opportunity and it's amazing to be able to live in such a beautiful, cultured city and practice my german, beef up my resume and have tons of awesome new experiences. 

The two pictures I included are of Schönbrunn Palace - right near my apartment. I went for a walk there on my first day. :o) 

Vancouver: Bowen Island Bike Bonanza

{Map of Strait of Georgia... the water taxi left from Granville Island, just under the "o" in Vancouver}

{Granville Island}

{The wind in his hair}

{Killarney Lake - after the picnic}

{Nice spot for a dip}

{On the trail}

{Back aboard the water taxi, with just minutes to spare}

{Choppy waters for the last night of the Celebration of Lights}