First Week in Eisenstadt

The first week has gone off without a hitch. On Friday, the Direktor told me that I was not at all a typical American and seemed much more British to him. To this I replied "Das halte ich für ein Kompliment!" (I'll take that as a compliment). That was pretty nice. The technology guy created a login for me to get into the school's computers so I can print out my lesson plans and stuff. The funny thing is that he made my login "ASS" as an abbreviation for "assistent". I don't think he has any idea what this means in English. I though about saying something, but I decided to just let it go. At least it makes a funny story, and might make me chuckle on an early Monday morning. Last night all of the English TA's in Eisenstadt met up for dinner and drinks, and that was a lot of fun because we could all exchange stories about our students and schools, and try to figure out what the nightlife of Eisenstadt is like. The answer: Abysmal! Tiny old man bars with noone in them. The cocktails are very expensive and small, so the only cost effective way to drink is to stick to beer. At least the beer is good. I also took my camera into town with me, so I have a few more pictures to share:




This is the street called Haydngasse, named after the famous composer who came from this little town. The house with the little flags sticking out is where he lived for twelve years, and it now offers a permanent museum display. I didn't go in, I just thought the street was kind of charming.




This is the pedestrian zone in the center of the city. This is where one can find most of the restaurants and shops. The monument here is called the "Pestsäule", and it was built in 1713 as a plea to the three holy spirits + Mary to save the people from the "Pest" (the plague, that is).
I am very happy that it's finally the weekend... I plan on taking it pretty easy and sleeping in as much as I can. I'm sure I'll have plenty of adventures to write about next week, since I'll be starting at the HTL. Something tells me that school will be an entirely different scenario than at the Gymnasium. Hope you all are enjoying the weekend as well... keep on reading and I'll keep on writing! -Art