Photos for the Masses

OK, OK... I know you all are craving constant entries from me, as I have gotten a few emails and comments wondering what I'm up to. I must admit that my weekend was rather non-eventful, mainly focused on no-money activities such as sitting in my room listening to Radio Vier and reading a book entitled "Die Symbole Österreichs: Zeit und Geschichte in Zeichen" (The Symbols of Austria: Time and History in Signs). So, I am now more informed about the meaning of the coat of arms on the flag and so on. Of course I also put together some lesson plans. Friday is my absolute least favorite day of the week, because I have my two worst classes back to back. The first one is totally lazy and they don't ever want to speak or do anything at all, and I have to jump around and be crazy to get them motivated, which is no easy task at 8 am. Then, directly after that, is my class with 28 monkeys. They will not shut up and are totally distracted and impossible to control. They would not listen to me, so I yelled "OI!!!!" very loudly, which only made them laugh. The teacher had to intervene by banging a chair on the floor. Not so much fun for me. Next time I will have to put on the stern teacher act and maybe slam a book down on the table as I remember my 6th grade teacher doing. I hate being stern, but I need to define that line of control I suppose.
So, today is Monday, and the weather is absolutely wonderful, since its about 60 degrees or so and the sun is shining and the leaves are starting to change colors. I took advantage of the oportunity by taking a nice long bike ride and bringing the camera along. Unfortunately, I realized today that I cannot find the battery charger for the camera :(, so it may be awhile before I can post more... I'm going to try calling the hotel where we had the orientation seminar, which is the last place I remember seeing it. Very frustrating. Nonetheless, I still had some juice left, so here we go:
I have found that the shortest way to get to the HTL is to take this little gravel road along the railroad track. A nice handy little shortcut, but I must say it reminds me a little bit of Chauncey, except there are vineyards instead of trash everywhere.
As I ride along this gravel road and look to the left (north), I can see "downtown" Eisenstadt beyond this vineyard. As you can see, it has gone fallow for the autumn.

This is also a very common sight within the city. House, house, house, vineyard, house.... you get the idea. Also note the prevalence of bicycle lanes. Here, bicycles come standard with fenders, generator powered lights, baskets, kickstands, and chain-guards. This is because they are not considered to be a piece of recreational or exercise equipment as they are in the States, but rather a viable means of everyday transportation.

And to think I was so dissappointed to be missing the leaves changing colors in Athens... lo and behold, they do that here too!! This is the hill behind the Gymnasium, where all of the teachers (and students!!) go to smoke cigarettes.

So, after my long ride, I was very happy to make it back to my supa-style Studentenheim. This is the lobby, I walk through here everyday on my way out. Very chic, no? Ok, I hope that makes you all happy for the time being... if I have any more epiphanies, I will be sure to record them here. Until next time...
-Art
P.S: I'm sure all of you brilliant readers are aware that if you click on the pictures, you get a larger version. Ciao!