Fasching Dienstag!!

Today was a very special day here in Austria, because it is a holiday known as Fasching. This is a big celebration right before Ash Wednesday. The idea seems to be to go as crazy as possible before Lent begins and the Catholics have to start fasting. I woke up early and went to buy cigarettes, and the woman at the Tabak was dressed up as a baby with a huge pacifier. The secretaries at school were dressed as witches and cowgirls. School ended two hours early, and there was a teacher party at a Buschenschank in St. Georgen. On the way there, there was a road block operated by what appeared to be the Austrian army. But, once we got to it, we realized it wasn't the army at all... but rather a group of young men in army garb stopping traffic. The best part: You couldn't go any further unless you drank a shot of liquor! On the way back I had Alexa drive through it again, and then we went to the roundabout, turned around, and came back for another round. It was very very funny, and the young men said "You can take the whole bottle if you like!" and I'm pretty sure they were serious. Roundabouts are a very effective device sometimes! Afterwards we went into the city where there was a band playing and the the whole pedestrian zone was full of drunken people in costume. Some historical context to the holiday: Back in the times of the monarchy, people loved Fasching because when everyone was dressed up in masks the social hierarchy pretty much disappeared and you could mingle with everyone and be crazy regardless of your class. Who needs Halloween?

The Big Journey

So, now that I have a nice relaxing Sunday to myself and lots of time on my hands, I’ll attempt to share all of the anecdotes from our Austrian journey with you. At the beginning of the week, we all piled into the Polo and headed off to Graz, where we had a free place to stay. Frances, a fellow English teacher at the HTL, offered her in-laws’ second apartment to us. We had quite a time finding it, spending about an hour driving around the one-way streets of Graz completely lost until we eventually found ourselves on the map and Eric did an excellent job of steering us to the Goethestrasse. The hardest part about navigating in these cities is that the streets are not all on a grid like in America. Me: “Which way do I turn??” Eric: “Umm…. Left-ish… no, not that one! The other leftish one!!!” Mom from the backseat “WE’RE GOING TO DIE!!!” We did eventually find the place and a parking spot. The apartment was absolutely amazing. It was actually two apartments that would be called “Altbau” in German, meaning pre-WWII construction- so, high ceilings, wood floors, and all of the furniture to go with it. Frances’ in-laws were extremely friendly people, and they collect art as a hobby. As a result, it was somewhat like staying in a museum. Here are some photos.



When we weren't being wined and dined in our decadent surroundings, we wandered around Graz enjoying the sights and doing a bit of shopping. I must say that I like Graz better than I do Vienna. It is Austria's second largest city with a population of about 300,000. As a result, it has almost everything that Vienna has to offer but with a wonderful small-town charm. I think I might want to live there someday.

We also went up the Schlossberg, which is a little mountain with a clock tower in the middle of the city. Unfortunately it wasn't a very clear day, but here's Eric in front of the clock.

And the view from the tram back down the mountain.

The shopping in Graz was truly world class, and Mom even bought me an early birthday present- A Tracht Anzug! This is a traditional Austrian suit. It's a nice dark grey, but instead of having a traditional collar it has a simple green felt band around the neck and has very nice silver buttons. I wore it to the Schulball this weekend and everyone said I looked like a Styrian. It was fantastic. After our stay in Graz we piled into the car again to take a scenic route through the Alps on the way to the hotel in Bad Ischl. We stopped in this pretty little town on the way for a photo op.

The route was very beautiful, and at the highest point I saw a sign saying that our elevation was 1,500 meters above sea level. The driving was a bit interesting... trying to pass semi-trucks while going up a mountain in an economy car with 3 people and luggage in it on a two lane road is a bit scary. Third gear and full gas would barely do it. I'm just glad I didn't kill anyone.

OK.... I think I've had enough for now. More on Bad Ischl and Salzburg to come.

Methadone for Blog Readers

Hello Everyone- Yes, I am finally back in Eisenstadt. Sorry I haven't written until now, but I really need some time to digest the whole trip and regain my health before I can write the whole story. There are also about 1.5 million photos to sort through, which requires good selections and deciding how to fit them into the stories. My mother and brother just left on Tuesday, and I've been suffering from a nasty case of strep throat since Saturday. Anyway- I promise the whole travelling bit will come soon enough. Here's a preview picture to keep you all from getting the shakes. It was taken in Graz.

Americans Abroad

Well, my family (brother and mother) arrived safely at the Vienna International Airport on Thursday morning. I was bad and missed my train out of Eisenstadt, so I arrived a little late. Luckily they were still there, and I recognized Eric by his baggy American clothing. They said they didn’t sleep much on their flight from Washington, but that’s to be expected. I can never sleep on airplanes either. So, we went to the Europcar counter and picked up the keys to our brand new silver Volkswagen Polo. It is so wonderful to be able to drive again! Of course, mom freaked out on the Autobahn with its 130 km/h speed limit. That’s 81 miles an hour. Austrian Autobahnen do have speed limits, unlike their German counterparts. This doesn’t necessarily mean people actually obey the limits though, some people go as fast as 200 km/h (125 mph!!). The enforcement of the limits isn’t done by the police, but rather “speed cameras” that photograph a car with its license plate, and then a ticket is sent in the mail. But, each camera is marked with a sign in advance, so people simply slow down for the cameras and speed back up again. Despite mom’s fatigue, she’s still a fierce backseat driver. Anyway, we made it back to Eisenstadt without any incidents. I did my best to keep them awake until dark by taking them out for lunch and coffee, and then we hung out in the Studentenheim and played scrabble. On Friday they joined me for an English lesson at the HTL, my technical school. They were very interested into looking at all the workshops where they have milling machines, jet engines, a few airplanes, and a helicopter. The school is very unique, and the only one in Austria to offer aviation engineering at the high school level. Afterwards we went to have lunch and dinner with Alexa and Konstantin. The food was great, the conversation even better, and Eric entertained 10 year old Konstantin very much by playing some Playstation games with him. Today was a bit more chaotic. We drove to Vienna, and Stefan was nice enough to show us around all of the important sights (Stephansdom, the Imperial Palace, the Schönbrunn Palace, the International City Center [UN center], and the main shopping streets). It was all a bit overwhelming and tiring, but a lot of fun too. I’m so exhausted, I need to catch up on my sleep to be prepared for the rest of our adventures. We’re going to be going on a road trip starting Tuesday morning and I won’t have internet access. I’ll be sure to keep a good log of everything that happens so I can write a nice long entry when we get back. Hopefully we don’t have too many cultural clashes! Until next time…

Schul- bzw. Sprachchaos

Achtung: I felt like writing in German today. Computerized and human translations follow.

Heute herrschte Chaos in der Schule. Ich bin brav 10 Minuten vor der erste Stunde gekommen um herauszufinden, dass 4 Lehrerin heute krank waren. In eine Amerikanische Schule ruft die Sekretariat in solchen Fälle EinsatzarbeitlehrerInnen an und die kommen um die fehlende LehrerInnen zu vertreten. Nicht so in Österreich. Die andere LehrerInnen müssen sogar alle Stunden übernehmen. Deshalb habe ich Heute ganz viel suppliert, obwohl das darf ich offizielleweise nicht tun, nämlich weil ich keine pädagogische Ausbildung habe. Anstrengend aber doch scheißegal, denn Ferien kommt bald. Für mich in nur 2 Tage, weil dann meine Mutter und Bruder zum Besuch kommen. Wir werden ein Auto mieten und durch Österreich herumfahren. Wir haben vor nach Graz, Bad Ischl, und Salzburg zu gehen. Ich kann kaum warten.

Wer fad ist, gibts hier was witziges von Mark Twain zu lesen- The Awful German Language. Viel Spaß damit.

Right, so I ran all of that through Google's language tools with the following result:

Today chaos in the school prevailed. I am to be found out good 10 minutes the first hour ago come over that 4 was ill teacher today. Into an American school those calls secretariat into such cases employment work teachers and those comes around the missing teachers to represent. Not so in Austria. The other teachers must take over even all hours. Therefore I suppliert today completely much, although that may not I offizielleweise do, i.e. because I do not have educational training. Arduously however nevertheless shit all the same, because holidays comes soon. For me into only 2 days, because then my nut/mother and brother come to the attendance. We will rent and by Austria will drive a car around. We have forwards after Graz, bath Ischl, to go and Salzburg. I can hardly wait. Who fad is, gibts here which funny of Marks Twain reading The Awful German LANGUAGE. Much fun thereby.

Indeed! Let me make that a little more clear....

Today chaos prevailed at school. I was good and arrived 10 minutes before the first hour in order to discover that 4 teachers were sick today. In such cases in American schools the main office calls in substitute teachers who replace the missing ones. Not so in Austria. The other teachers simply have to take over all of the hours. Therefore I did a lot of substituting today, although I'm not technically allowed to because I don't have an Austrian pedagogical education. I don't really care though because the holiday is almost here. Actually in only 2 days for me because my mother and brother are coming to visit. We're going to rent a car and drive around Austria. We're planning to go to Graz, Bad Ischl, and Salzburg. I can hardly wait. Whoever is bored, here is something to read from Mark Twain called "The Awful German Language". Have fun with that.


Now, just for the sake of fun... let's put my English version into German via Google language tools and see what happens!

Heute herschte Chaos an der Schule vor. Ich war gut und 10 Minuten vor der ersten Stunde angekommen, um zu entdecken, daß 4 Lehrer heute krank waren. In solchen Fällen auf Amerikaner schult die Hauptbüroanrufe in den Ersatzlehrern, die die fehlenden ersetzen. Nicht so in Österreich. Die anderen Lehrer müssen alle Stunden einfach übernehmen. Folglich tat ich eine Menge heute ersetzen, obgleich ich nicht technisch erlaubt werde, weil ich nicht eine österreichische pädagogische Ausbildung habe. Ich nicht wirklich interessiere mich zwar, weil der Feiertag fast hier ist. Wirklich an nur 2 Tagen für mich, weil meine Mutter und Bruder kommen zu besuchen. Wir werden ein Auto mieten und um Österreich fahren. Wir planen, nach Graz, schlechtes Ischl und Salzburg zu gehen. Ich kann kaum warten. Whoever wird gebohrt, ist hier etwas, von der Markierung Twain zu lesen, das "die schreckliche deutsche Sprache" genannt wird. Haben Sie Spaß mit dem.

Oh my. "wird geborht" means "Whoever will be bored..." in the sense of "to drill a hole". Nice!

All you German native speakers- please tell me about any mistakes I made in my original German. Danke!