Art's Abenteuer

Croatia Continued

2007-04-17T20:35:00.000+02:00

Part II of the Journey:

After our respite in Plitvice we got back on the road and headed for the coast, specifically the city of Senj. The weather was cloudy and the roads were narrow. We got a speeding ticket for 100 euros in the middle of a desolate field (of which I financed 30% of, in E.U. currency) because Martin was driving 100 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. Just a note - an oncoming driver flashing his high beams at you is an INTERNATIONAL SYMBOL for COPS AHEAD. Our wallets a bit lighter, we moved on and came to a mountain pass and began the quick descent to the coast. Suddenly the sun was shining and the wind was blowing forcefully.

The "MartyC Mobile" heading down the mountain.

Our arrival in Senj - where we had a quick grocery-store lunch before heading north again.

My personal favorite: DO NOT DRIVE INTO THE OCEAN:

After that, we took the ferry (pictured previously) to the island of Krk and drove across it -

- and then it was on to the next island, Cres, where we spent a day and a half. Cres is a long skinny island, and its main city where we stayed bears the same name.

As you can see, the water was beautiful and clear, the town small, and the atmosphere nice. We stayed in an entirely renovated and furnished apartment with complete kitchen, terrace, and view of the bay for a little less than €30 for the night. I sat on the beach and collected rocks and explored the tiny and charming alleys and pedestrian areas of the town. The beaches in Croatia are not sandy, but rather made of small stones. This is perhaps slightly less comfortable to walk on, but a huge benefit in that anybody with children takes them to the beach in Italy instead. And given the quality of the water, its really not so tragic. And eating a cheap dinner on the bay watching the sunset far from the maddening crowd is priceless.

After all of that, we headed north again for a short stopover in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Its a nice enough smallish city, with a canal running through the center and none of the detritus you would expect of the former Eastern Bloc. In fact, the whole place felt very western with its ritzy shops and expensive hotels. Perhaps the recent introduction of the Euro as the official currency has helped. Then, it was on the road again to "Avstrija":

In my experience, driving through Slovenia is always a nightmare. Whether its paying a €7 toll for an autobahn that doesn't exist, or paying a €7 toll for an autobahn that functions in the same manner as a parking lot, its never much fun. Remnants of the communist mentality, maybe? But, no pain, no gain, right?

And here's the final proof that we had a lovely holiday.

Hvratska - The Croatian Sensation

2007-04-10T14:02:00.000+02:00

Today is my last day of freedom and winding down before the back-to-school grind starts, so I'm going to use the opportunity to fill you in on my latest travels. Martin and I packed up our things and hopped in the car early last tuesday morning and started heading south. In the amount of time it would have taken me to drive all the way across the state of Ohio we had crossed two borders; first entering Slovenia, where we were required to pay a highway toll only to discover that after a few kilometers the highway ceased to exist, and then into Croatia. The highway picked up again there, until we passed Zagreb. After that it was a long stretch of two-lane road through primitive little villages with many desolate shells of houses until we reached our first destination: the Plitvice Lakes (also pictured in previous post). This is a national park and nature preserve consisting of a seemingly endless series of blue-green lakes and waterfalls nestled into a rocky valley. The weather was a bit cloudy that day (and rainy the next), but I think the photos turned out OK.

Here is a cross-section map of the lakes, which gives you an idea of the geography:

In many places the boundaries between river, lake, and forest are blurred beyond recognition.

At least this lizard seemed to be enjoying the weather.

The woods were full of these flowers, which reminded me a bit of the Bluebells we have back in Appallachia. Mom, do you know what they are?

One last photo of Plitvice - (as always, click to enlarge)

That's enough blogging for me today, but soon to come are pictures of the coast and islands of Croatia, as well as the Slovenian capital, Ljubliana. Y'all come back now!

Hold Your Horses

2007-04-06T19:15:00.000+02:00

I just got back from Croatia and Slovenia. Here's a photo sampler for now and the full story is on its way.

Puttin´ on the Ritz

2007-02-11T18:54:00.000+01:00

I went to the opera for the very first time in my life on Friday, and to my surprise I actually enjoyed it a great deal. I was expecting to want to throw myself from the balcony, what with being subject to shrill singing and violin overload. Honestly, hearing opera music on the radio or seeing it on TV is akin to torture in my experience, but I was happy to discover that it is actually quite captivating when seen live in a grandiose old venue. The piece was "Manon Lescaut" by Puccini, a sort of classic love triangle story (Manon went between a rich banker and a poor student, learning that passion and luxury are two very different things and that you really can't have it all). I was able to follow the story thanks to small LCD screens mounted in front of each seat providing a simultaneous translation of the action in German and English, making the entire spectacle far more edifying. The costumes and set design were also spectacular, as the director took a very modern approach. The best example of this was when the banker called for a chariot, and what appeared on stage but a shiny new Lexus (also a clear sign of corporate sponsorship, but it was a nice touch anyway). There was the obligitary tragic ending - to which my father would probably say "She dies good". Another aspect that I also revelled in was people watching during the intermission- drinking a glass of wine and watching the mingling of Vienna's large contingent of rich, powerful, and glamourous. I don't think I'd ever seen so much fur and Chanel in one place before. I managed to fit in with my Trachtenanzug and a nice purple tie I got in West Virginia for a dollar. Real silk though :) So, in short, Martin's didactic culturisation mission was successful - I am officially a fan of the Opera. Who'd have thought?

Beat Generation - No Thank You

2007-02-08T22:04:00.000+01:00

High time for a blog entry, I've finally decided.

I had an unexpected day off yesterday due to "Konferenzen". Upon hearing this, Martin invited me to go to Hungary with him while he went to the dentist, masseur, and barber. I would have been sitting at home otherwise, so I agreed, knowing I could get some cheap cigarettes, read a book, and perhaps collect yet another "H" stamp in my passport. Spent the entire afternoon in a small café reading "Naked Lunch" by WIlliam Burroughs (a coeval and friend of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg). I found it in the small English section of my local bookstore and it sounded interesting, so I bought it. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. That single drug-addled, nightmarish, and vile volume was a bad choice for my virginal reading of beat literature - it was enough to turn me off of the genre for at least a decade- and I'm certainly no prude. Having already exlored the border town of Masonmagyaróvár on several previous occaisions, I had nothing to do but to finish the entire thing. Ug. What I'm still wondering- who on earth in Eisenstadt would read this kind of stuff in English? Namely, WHY in the holy Maria's name does the bookstore stock it??

In other antisocial readings- I've spent much of the afternoon in my bathrobe consuming the insane/prurient/louche ramblings of complete strangers in the "best of" section of Craigslist.com. How is that the internet, puportedly an enabler of connectivity, can result in such hermetic practices in someone like as myself? Honestly, I think I'm looking forward to Lernquadrat reopening next week so I can spend more time having real human interaction, albeit a staccato "dialogue" regarding the proper usage of the present perfect.

Going to the opera in Vienna tomorrow- can't wait to comment on that.

Also- camera to PC transfer cable has been misplaced. No photos for no, unfortunately.

I'm Still Standing

2007-01-12T22:42:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone-

Several things have happened since I last posted. Sorry to all for the fact that I've fallen into a hole for the past month or so.

In chronological order:

1. Christmas- I had a nice quiet Christmas in Eisenstadt. I spent it with my dear friend Alexa, with the usual evergreen pyrotechnics and gift exchange. I remembered that it was exactly this time last year that I finally came out to her- A sign that I had lots of trust and understanding with her (my colleague), and at this point our professional relationship developed into a full-blown deep friendship. She noticed that I had been a bit depressed (she would, with her intuition), mostly due to my quickly expiring and not easily renewed residency permit.

2. New Years- What fun! I had the privilege of being in Carinthia to celebrate the holiday at 2000 meters with good friends. This was in the same cabin I had visited in August. When we first arrived, there was an activity in store for us. Being eight gay men in a small cabin in the mountains, creativity is to be expected. No, this was no porno. We had to divide ourselves into two groups (couples separated) for a scavenger hunt in the woods. Each station contained a sack of liquor and sweets, and then on to the next- first group to make the round won. Naturally, the two teams met each other along the way, and I had the sophomoric yet brilliant idea to hide in the trees and scare the other group (eeeee!), which worked fabulously. All in all it was a great time. I was also happy to see that my terrible "omen" from last year was a fluke. Have I told this story? If not, here it is: I was in Dijon, France, last year for New Year's, and as the man on the TV was counting down (trois, deus, un...) I had a terrible nose bleed at the stroke of midnight. Coincidence, indeed, but who wouldn't question the portentousness? Anyway... I lived through the year and was happy to ring in 2007 without any unnecessary bodily fluids flowing.

3. My Grandmother- Jan Cornwell, bless her. She died unexpectedly of a stroke on 10 January. This was completely unexpected and unfair. Happily, she had had the opportunity to visit me here in October. The funeral is to be held tomorrow, which I will be attending in spirit from the Stefansdom in Vienna- a quintessential old church that she had particularly enjoyed. I got the news at a hectic moment between classes- not the best moment to hear of such a thing- but in the meantime I am doing the best I can to support my family and honor her. My brother will be reading a statement from me at the funeral tomorrow, and, as I said, I will be in the place that gives me the best physical approximation to her here in Austria.

So... sorry everyone that I've been so distant lately... This is why.

My love to all
-Arthur

Digital Imagery Revival

2006-11-28T19:21:00.000+01:00

Train Coming.

Train Station: Wien Meidling

Post Office: 9th District

Theft

2006-11-27T23:09:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm in Vienna again, (finally) preparing for my visit to the University tomorrow. I took the last bus from Eisenstadt at 19:30, which left me with two hours to kill before Martin finished his band practice. I decided to go drink a beer and dive into my copy of "American Short Stories" borrowed from Alexa. Before executing said plan, I went to the Bankomat (ATM) and took out €30. I arrived at my preferred cosy locale in the 8th district, ordered a beer, and drifted off into the stories for about an hour and a half. The other patrons hardly entered my consciousness, aside from two young men speaking an eastern european language looking for a table. I momentarily thought of offering them space at mine, as I was alone at a table for five, but decided not to as the establishment wasn't full. After finishing my beer perhaps an hour later, I went to pay, only to find that my wallet was devoid of cash. Confused, I told the waitress that I needed to look for a moment. I searched my pockets and backpack in vain, and distinctly recalled placing the three €10 bills into my wallet. I told her what happened and left the remains of my purse in her posession (a deposit of sorts) as I went to the Bankomat once again. She mentioned the presence of the strange young men, and said they had left in a hurry immediately after requesting the menu. What I don't understand, but am thankful for, is why they didn't just take the whole damn wallet. All of my cards (none of them credit, OK) are still there, thankfully. I'm just angry that I wasn't more vigilant. I had my wallet in my coat, which was draped over the chair on which I was sitting. Well... at least it was only 30 bucks... I guess... in the future I will be sure to keep my valuables somewhere out of reach. Sometimes we small-town boys have a few lessons to learn from the metropoli.

I fear I may be slowly acquiring the Austrian xenophobia as well, since I am tempted to blame those eastern-bloc bastards' entire half-continent. A bit ironic for a stranger in a strange land...

Lazy Blogger gets Back to Work

2006-11-21T16:37:00.000+01:00

Photo: Approaching Eisenstadt on the Train

Well, my visit to the University didn’t go exactly as planned. I spent the night in Vienna, hoping to go to the “Studienberatung” (advising services) for my chosen programme in the early morning, and then return to Eisenstadt for my tutoring appointments from 1:30 to 4:30. It turns out that the advising office for the translation department is only open from 1:00 to 3:00 on Tuesdays, which are the only days that I’m not normally scheduled to be teaching in the high schools. So, that is the only weekday on which I can reasonably accomplish anything in Vienna. So, I’ve reserved next Tuesday in my calendar to ensure that I don’t make any tutoring appointments. I should have done that last week, but I was contacted by a new client and it is important to make myself as available as possible for money-making opportunities. I also plan to go to the American Consulate next week, where they have an office called “Citizen Services” to help people like me integrate into Austria. I plan to ask them what my options are for obtaining further residency permits, which should be very helpful in achieving my long-term goal of staying here. Anyway… the 28th is reserved in my calendar, so it will actually happen in a week’s time.

I really need to move to the capital after this school year is over- I spend too much money on bus and train fares. I cannot be a small-town boy anymore.

Other than that there is little to report:

The “Christkindlmärkte” (Christmas markets) have opened up in cities across Austria, serving up large portions of kitschy gift items and tasty Glühwein (heated red wine with sugar and spices- very good!) to keep the patrons warm, toasty, and in the Christmas spirit. It hasn’t gotten too cold yet, with temperatures failing to dip below freezing. Some complain that this is not “Christmassy” enough, while others (like me!) are grateful for the reprieve.

For New Year’s, I have been invited to return to the little cabin in Carinthia (where I went in August) for a little celebration. So, I’m not going to France this time around, but I really love the atmosphere up there in the mountains and I hope to see some snow for a change. It’s also a cheap way to get away from the usually scenery for the holiday.

Christmas will be celebrated in Eisenstadt at Alexa’s place, just as it was last year, something that is slowly becoming tradition, as I’m the adopted “cousin” of the small family. Speaking of family and Alexa, my clan has adopted her as well- sending gifts from America in thanks for her friendship. So, little Konstantin is now running about school with his Ohio University t-shirt and bragging to his friends. It is a nice parallel to the fact that my father will soon be skating about with an Austrian national hockey jersey to show off to his friends. I like to think of it as diplomacy through paraphernalia.

I have also been taking advantage of the highly nostalgic and personal quality provided by the postal service (in comparison to electronic mail), writing and receiving long letters from friends in the “new world”. Anyone who writes is guaranteed a reply:

Arthur Cornwell
Florianigasse 24-26
7000 Eisenstadt
AUSTRIA

(hint hint)

Much to my initial confusion, Eisenstadt was swarming with Americans today. This is such a small town and so far from the well-beaten tourist path that our kind is considered rather exotic. I eventually approached a small group of the tourists and enquired about the purpose of their visit to learn that they were a choir group from Pennsylvania touring the country. There were about 100 people in their group, making their presence in the pedestrian precinct quite ubiquitous. I also talked briefly to the choir director, a stern woman in a hideous reindeer sweater, who was nice but gave me a dirty look for smoking. I had almost forgotten about the ever-present stigma attached to the habit in the US. She implied that I must feel at home having so many of them around, but I didn’t have the impudence to tell her that they invoked a rather opposite sentiment in me. Please don’t misinterpret this- it is not meant as an insult to the entire country- but there are some reasons why I want to live here and she happened to remind me of them.

(I just asked Anna, my roommate, for advice on softening my writing so as not to be offensive. She said she wasn’t sure if that last sentence was helping or making it worse. I’ve decided that I needn’t apologise for how I feel. Deal with it.)

Viennalle

2006-10-31T23:28:00.000+01:00

Just a few days ago, it was still warm enough to scuttle about Vienna by motorcycle. Here's me in my traditional Austrian suit, on my way out the door to some stand-up comedy:

That week I also had visitors from America, namely my grandparents, aunt, and uncle. They caught the very last of the good weather, with mild temperatures and sunny days (apart from one rainy one in Eisenstadt). I had a wonderful time showing them around my adopted habitat, surprising myself with the amount of knowledge I have inactively absorbed about the capital over the past months. We took the tram around the ring and then walked up Kärtner Strasse to the cathedral. Lovely.

Since then I've been dividing my time between Vienna and Eisenstadt, fulfilling my tutoring appointments and enjoying my holiday from the public education system. I have made arrangements to visit the University of Vienna on Friday to pick up an application and inform myself about the available masters programmes. My American friend Sarah is already studying there and she invited me to attend a class with her. I'm very excited about the prospect, so keep an eye out for a blog reportage on this subject. I'll try to remember to bring my camera.

Autumnal

2006-10-10T19:11:00.000+02:00

I've been suffering from a bit of writer's block regarding the blog. One of the main reasons for this is that after having been here for almost a year's time, there aren't many differences between Austria and the US that I notice anymore which compel me to write. Well, one thing that is different from my time here last year is that I'm living in an old house rather than a brand new dormitory building. This entails dealing with old-house things such as drafty windows, bugs, garden maintenance, and most recently, heating. It has become quite nippy here in Eisenstadt, and I have finally had to capitulate to the cold in deference to my energy-saving sensibilities and switch the furnace on. A simple task, you might assume... but would you Americans know how to operate this device?

This is our water heater. It is also our furnace. I had been accustomed to the large, rattling, behemoth contraptions found in American basements which take on a living, monstrous quality to small children and blast hot air into our homes. The one from my childhood on 65 Morris Avenue was particularly frightening, as it was a relic of the 1950's and seemed to have a web of spidery tentacles reaching up into the house from below. The one before that, in Millfield, I believe was an oil-burner and had the additional quality of emitting a very noxious smell. Another thing you'll find in all basements in the land of round doorknobs is a large hot water heater, which stores a large amount of water in an insulated tank. These aren't particularly frightening to rugrats, but they do have the disadvantages of staying on all day and all night when no hot water is needed, as well as running out of hot water if more than two people would like to shower in the morning. The system pictured above is not only practical in that it precludes the need for two devices, but it heats only the amount of water needed, at the very moment that you need it. Not only can you shower for five hours without running out of hot water (as my landlord remarked), but it also keeps a steady flow of warmth flowing to the radiators in the winter. Now that I've finally figured out how to turn the radiator part on, I can keep the house from freezing and regulate the temperature in each room with the valve on each radiator. No need to heat the kitchen and dining room at night, so, more energy saved! I just hope that the pipes never develop a leak...

Other than fiddling with the furnace, I've been very busy with school(s). My usual teaching assistantship has begun again, and I'm constantly running back and forth between my new Gymnasium and the familiar HTL trying to coordinate lesson plans with two dozen different teachers. After the normal school day is over, I head over to the Lernquadrat and tutor for about 3 hours up to four days a week, come home and collapse momentarily before pounding out my lesson plans for the next day. Then, when the weekend finally comes, I head up to Vienna to relax with Martin, or he comes down here and I cook delicious meals for us from my new cookbook, "Kochen für Wenig Geld", or, "Cooking for Little Money". Sehr praktisch. How are you, my lovely readers?

A Sample from my Translation Work:

2006-10-01T21:48:00.000+02:00

Denso 4- and 6-axes robots

Market Leader
Denso is the clear leader in the important small-assembly robot market segment with a significant and steadily growing market share. We are without a doubt thankful to act as a purveyor of this integrated line of 4- and 6-axes robots.

Represented worldwide
DENSO is a very well known company in the robotics market. There are currently more than 30,000 DENSO robots installed worldwide. In Japan – known for its leading position in robotics –we are one of the largest producers and by far the largest user of robots. From this position we know not only what all is possible with the use of robots, but also what is required of them in daily use. Due to our advanced technology and market position we will continue to expand our standing in Europe.

For (almost) every application the proper robot
We would like to introduce to you our new programme of 4- and 6-axes robots. This especially broad portfolio has further increased our robot family's position in the market. For (almost) every application you will find the appropriate robot model: 4- or 6-axes, small to mid-sized, for loads from 2,5 to 20 kg, with various scopes.

Design and Function
Immediately recognisable qualities of our robots are the elegant design and compact construction. The form of a robot probably belongs to one of the less important factors regarding industrial equipment, but an elegant appearance has nonetheless a positive effect on the overall impression of your facility and working environment. The carefully enclosed cables are not only optically pleasing, but offer formidable advantages in terms of maintenance and cleaning. The compact footprint allows for utilisation under even the most limited available space. A wide spectrum of models is a matter of course for us. This includes dust- and splashwater- proof variants, as well as models for use in clean rooms.

BLECH!!

Politics

2006-09-30T23:07:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow is voting day here in Austria, an event preceded by the obligatory campaign hysteria. Although advertisements are to be seen and heard everywhere and the press has whipped itself up into a frenzy, this is more subdued than the maniacal barrage we experienced in Ohio in 2004. For an outside observer who can't vote I take a good degree of interest in the matter. Those of you familiar with European parliamentary system probably already know that it is quite different from our own two-party system. Here they have a quite practical thing known as proportional representation. This means that each party receives a proportion of seats in the parliament corresponding to their percentage of the vote taken. As a result, many governments are formed via coalitions between parties. Here is a quick overview of the Austrian parties:

ÖVP (Österreichische Volkspartei - black): The current leader in the polls with 37%, this is a center right party whose platform is based on economic conservatism, lower taxes, and support for business leaders. The current chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, is a member of the ÖVP and was recently caught in a scandal. He has claimed that Austria has an adequate health care system and there is no need for reform or the use of foreign caretakers in old folks' homes. However, it was discovered that he was paying a Slovakian woman (referred to in the media as "Frau Maria") €2,40 an hour to take care of his geriatric mother-in-law. This has damaged the party's reputation, however they are still enjoying a slight lead in the polls.

SPÖ (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs - red) Here are your classic European social-democrats, who are promising "new fairness" for the country, more daycare centers, and the abolition of tuition for state universities. This along with support for the working man and other social benefits comprise the party platform. They currently have an approval rating of 35%, so they are in a very close race with the ÖVP.

Grüne Partei (Green): The far-left environmentalist party supports initiatives for alternative energy (but against nuclear power), public transport, and proposes to change gender discrimination in salaries, noting that women are paid about a third worse than men in the private sector. Some pundits have charged the party with obsolescence, as the environmental issues which form the staple of their platform have become a mainstream credo for all European parties and the general populace sees environmentalism as self-evident. Certainly the party had their place in the 70's and 80's before this was the case. If only we could be so advanced in the states! They do, however, retain a crucial role in parliament with 11% of the vote. Should the reds come to power, they would be an obvious choice for a coalition, although party leaders have also proposed a coalition with the blacks, which would make for some odd bedfellows.

FPÖ (Freiheitspartei Österreich - blue): These are Austria's right-wing and xenophobic nuts. They promise "Austria instead of Islam", "German instead of not understanding anything", are extremely critical of the EU, and want to beef of security of existing border crossing and prevent the opening of new ones (which is currently underway). These sentiments are attractive to some, as they have 9-10% of the vote.

BZÖ (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich -orange): This party formed as a splinter group from the FPÖ, and are practically indistinguishable from them. They are constantly getting into squabbles with the FPÖ, most recently over the right to call themselves "Die Freiheitlichen", a rip off of the FPÖ's slogan "Die Freiheitspartei". A judge ruled against them and they had to change the slogan. This is amusing, but nothing that is taken very seriously by the public. They currently have about 4% in the polls.

KPÖ (Kommunischtische Partei Österreichs): Yes, the communist party still exists. They have enjoyed some recent success with the election of a communist governor in Styria, who is apparently quite charismatic and philanthropic and has been effective in following through on his promises within the province. On the national level they only have 1% or less of the vote.

Who would you vote for??

Wohngemeinschaft

2006-09-20T18:49:00.000+02:00

Wow, great job writing comments everyone! I do need the reassurance that someone is reading, and I really enjoy your thoughts and feedback.

What's new in my life:

I rented out the extra bedroom in my house, which is wonderful because I now have a little bit of company and my rent became extremely cheap. My new housemate's name is Anna and she is also an English teaching assistant. She is from the D.C. area, and is teaching in two schools in Mattersburg, a nearby town. She had arranged for a room in Wiener Neustadt, but apparently the landlord was a very nasty woman and wouldn't allow her to have any guests (her father flew in with her, and she wouldn't even let him stay), she didn't have a kitchen, and no opportunity to get the internet. I told her that guests are no problem for me, and she liked the house so she moved in the very day she first saw it. We also decided that we both really need the internet, so someone from Austria Telekom is coming tomorrow to hook it up. I'm glad she motivated me to do this, because there is a special offer now where it only costs €10 a month for the first six months, and then €20 after that for 400 megabytes of usage, which is plenty for surfing and reading email. Good news for you demanding readers, because I will be able to write much more often.

I encountered the old Herr Bock again the other day. He is the geriatric and senile father of my landlord, and therefore also the former owner of the house. He was standing outside the door one morning when I went out and he asked me what I was doing in his house! I calmly explained that I rent the house from his son. He asked me where I was from (again) and I told him I was an American, to which he responded to by raving about his experiences as a prisoner of war. Just one of the many quirky aspects of living in the Florianigasse...

Yes, I'm Still Alive

2006-09-14T10:35:00.000+02:00

I like how everyone starts to get upset if I don't write for a few weeks, even though no one bothers to write comments....

Yes, I'm still alive. I'm in Eisenstadt, and I don't have internet access at my house so I don't exactly have a lot of opportunities to write. I am currently at the one and only internet cafe in the city, which charges 2 euro for 25 minutes, which is pretty much a rip off. I have got a website translation lined up (x-technics) which should pay quite nicely, and maybe next month I'll be able to afford to get the 'net hooked up. Until then, the rest of you will just have to be patient.

Also, I'm trying to find a roommate in my house, because its soooo boring all by myself!!

More later....

Work Work Work!!!

2006-08-24T17:10:00.000+02:00

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog a bit, but I've been terribly busy diving into the teaching profession and the dark, murky depths of English grammar. (You may have noticed that I chose to use the present perfect in the previous sentence, because we always use this form when talking about a period of time that began in the past but continues until now). Do you know the difference between 'will' and 'going to'??? Well, my friends, we use 'will' when we decide to do something the moment we are speaking or we are unsure of the named event taking place, yet 'going to' indicates that something has been previously planned or the mentioned consequence is likely. Does this rule actually hold true in the real world of native English speakers?? I hardly think so... I make no distinction between 'will' and 'going to', which makes it terribly difficult to correct the worksheets on this topic. But there MUST BE A RULE to regulate this linguistic chaos! I could probably ramble on about the idiosyncrasies of our language for some time (ask me about modal verbs sometime), but I think you get the point. Sometimes the 'correct' answer given by the book sounds like complete rubbish and would never be said by anybody, but is defensible given the 'rules'. It can be pretty frustrating, but I'm studying a lot and getting the hang of it. In addition to the grammar, there is the bookkeeping part. That is, keeping track of what each student has worked on, their progress, homework, and tests. Yes, I get to write my very first English test today. On the menu: Some vs. Any (no distinction made in German), Modal Verbs, Present and Past Simple, Present Progressive, and Will vs. Going To. Blech!!! On the positive side, I'm getting to know my colleagues very well and through them I am exploring the possibilities within the proffession, of which there seem to be many. I'm happy to be collecting the experience and making the contacts. (Contacts are EVERYTHING in the Austrian professional world). So, I think I'll go write that test... and meet my fellow teachers at the wine festival this evening... all in a days' work!

2.5 Weeks From Now...

2006-08-16T16:50:00.000+02:00

I met with Dr. Bock, my future landlord, today to go over the mechanical systems of the Haus and take care of other business. Naturally, I brought my camera!

It doesn't look like much from the outside, I admit... but...

It has a very charming garden.

The dining and living rooms.

I am so happy about this place!! Not only is it very charming, but it also has a lot of space and is a very short walk from the center of town. I can hardly wait to move in!

Carinthia

2006-08-14T14:08:00.000+02:00

Vienna, Friday afternoon: Six friends (Alexander, Andreas, Martin, Patrick, Renée, and myself) pile into Alex's Renault Espace minivan and set off on the Südautobahn for our 4.5 hour drive to...

Thomas's cabin in the mountains of Carinthia, not far from the village of Bad Kleinkirchheim. Elevation: Approximately 1,500 meters (4,900 feet). Temperature: 10 celcius (50 fahrenheit).

We awoke to a rainy and cold Saturday morning, but this didn't stop us from taking a hike and collecting wild mushrooms.

This creek also runs past the cabin and emits a sleep-inducing burble.

After our hike, we visited this local Buschenschank for a cup of Glühwein (Wine-pub and hot spiced wine, respectively), where I spotted this little alpine boy being photogenic.

After all that rain in the woods, the fire was most enjoyable.

More fire on Saturday night, this time outside.

We had much better weather on Sunday, but had to drive back to civilization in the late afternoon. Too bad, really!

Mini-Holiday

2006-08-11T09:29:00.000+02:00

I'm escaping to the mountains of Carinthia (aka Kärnten) for the weekend. Expect pictures on Monday or Tuesday!!

Fotos von Ohio (Für die deutschsprachige Leute)

2006-08-02T12:47:00.000+02:00

Ich weiß, dass ihr alle wissen wollten, was ich denn in Amerika gemacht habe. Naja, was besonderes wars nicht... aber ein Paar sachen zu beschrieben gibts doch schon.

Warum brauchen Amerikaner so viele Energie? Weil wir solche Autos fahren! Ich war den ganzen Zeit mit dem riesen grossen Truck unterwegs. Das ist das drittes Auto meines Elterns, und ich habs gebraucht damit ich in die Arbeit kommen konnte. Hässlich, oder? Einmail habe ich einen Parkstraf bekommen und der Polizist hat die Farbe des Trucks als 'other' aufs Zettel beschrieben. Ganz witzig.

Eichhorchen und Vögel.

Hier ist ein ganz toller Ort in südost Ohio. Hier geht ein Flüsschen durch eine enge und tiefe Falte. Von oben kann man in den Taich springen, was ein bisschen gefährlich ist aber viel spaß macht!

Mein Bruder und ich im selben Ort.

Die Mutter war auch dabei.

Ja, das war schöne Zeiten aber ich freue mich wieder in Österreich zu sein. Hoffentlich habt ihr die Fotos genossen :) -dein Arthur.

Is This a Beautiful Country? I Vote Yes.

2006-08-01T22:58:00.000+02:00

Today I wandered around the Burgenland with my good friends Alexa and Monika. My shutterbug factor was high, so I have some nice images to share. As always, click on the fotos to enlarge them.

This is a photo of the Kogelberg, which is a hill situated between the towns St. Margareten and Rust. It is a gorgeous spot with wonderful views of the Neusiedler See and it is a nature preserve. It also features a quarry from which the stone to build Vienna's most famous architectural monuments was extracted, as well as a series of sculptures. The rainbow certainly enhanced the experience.

Through one of the sculptures you can see St. Margareten below.

A ubiquitous feature of the Burgenland: Vineyards.

After our hike, it was time to go to the Cselle Mülle (pronounced something like 'jelly-moo-lah'), an old mill that is now a cultural center. Even the dove-house that you see here is a registered historical site.

Although the roast pig was quite tasty...

the real reason that we went was for the Kroatische Folksmusikfest (Croatian folk music fesitval). Not a bad day, all things considered! What do you think? Write a comment!

Ich Bin Wieder Da!!

2006-07-29T11:10:00.000+02:00

Hello Everyone!!

I spent a good 24+ hours in airplanes/ports, trains, etc., and I have arrived in the lovely city of Eisenstadt again. It is really nice to be here again. It really feels much different than the first time that I got here, when everyone and everything was completely new and unknown. This time it felt a lot more like returning home after a long vacation since I knew exactly where to go and how to get there. Alexa picked me up at the train station and we had a nice excursion in the city, where I checked out my future house (very rustic with a courtyard, in a nice part of town) and there was a large street festival with some sort of "Burgenland Idol" singing contest going on. I was very impressed with the vocal talents of Burgenländische teenagers... one 15-year old sang an incredibly impressive version of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", which is certainly not an easy song to sing! After some hazelnut ice cream in the pedestrian zone (YUM!), we returned home at about 10:00 PM local time, had a glass of wine, and I slept for 12 hours. After a few cups of coffee this morning I feel relatively normal again. Martin is coming this afternoon to pick me up and take me to Vienna for the weekend... so that will be fun. At some point I will upload some more of my Athens fotos and post them for you...
To everyone in Athens: Thank you all SOOOO much for the wonderful time you all showed me. You know who you are!
Keep reading/writing comments and I'll keep writing :)

Final Days in Athens

2006-07-24T21:15:00.000+02:00

My how time flies! I've been here for about two months without writing a blog entry, so I'm feeling a bit guilty. I've been spending a lot of time with friends and family, enjoying nature, and working at RVC Architects. I have some more photos of outdoor adventures on my other computer... so I will post them with stories at some point. To all of you in Austria... I can't wait to get back to you all!

Court Street, Athens, Ohio

oh.... OH

2006-06-22T06:21:00.000+02:00

Hey everyone.... yes I'm alive and I'm chillin in SE Ohio. I've got the wheels in my head turning and I'll be posting a massive ATHENS OH blog post in the near-ish future. The ideas are flowing. Give it time.

I will say that it is good to be back- a different yet familiar world.

Keep reading. Love to all.

Back on American Soil

2006-06-06T17:31:00.000+02:00

Well, I've made it safely back to the US. My flight was uneventful, and Eric and Kara were waiting for me in Newark. We had a nice gleeful reunion and took a bus to Grand Central Station. Luckily the money change was still open there, since I knew the rates in the city would be better than at the airport. The man there told me that I was wiser than many people who had several years on me in a thick New York accent. Then we took the subway to Times Square, where we stepped out for a bit to gawk at the chaos and stand around in a stupor. After that it was back on the train to Greenwich Village to meet Erin at the restaurant. We had a delicious meal there and were treated to several free drinks, appetizers, and deserts. After Erin got off work we went to a bar around the corner for a few beers before heading back the apartment in Brooklyn. I slept from 3am to 9am and just woke up feeling fresh and perky. Eric, Kara, and Erin all slept until 11, when I woke them up after going out for breakfast on my own. I'm waiting for them to get their stuff together so we can go do a bit more exploring in the city. Very exciting to be here!! I should be back in Athens in around 5 days or so. To close, I must say that New York is a nice place to make the continental transition.

I wanted to post a picture but I can't find the cable to connect my camera to the computer. It's either in Austria or in my big suitcase in the car in Newark. Oh well!

Last Weekend in Vienna

2006-05-29T15:40:00.000+02:00

The weather was mostly rainy this weekend, but I managed to snap a few decent photos anyway.

A soldier sleeps on the train.

Much Needed Update

2006-05-26T17:16:00.000+02:00

Sorry about lack of blogging lately. I've been sort of absorbed into my own little life here, and haven't really experienced anything too earth-shaking, but a few updates are in order.

It is now 10 days until I fly to New York, which is so soon that I can hardly believe it.

Good news: I have found employment at a tutoring institute starting in August. The pay is good, so I plan to return to my beloved Austrian earlier than expected. That means my 2 months in Athens will feel more like vacation than a 4 month sentence to boredom and frustration. Yay!

Funny situation did develop with my students the other day. They were reading an article out loud, and the word "beat" in the simple-past form came up. My students insisted on pronouncing the word like "bet", and I said "no.... its 'beat, beat, beaten'". They then proceeded to tell me that my English was inferior for being the American variety. Umm.... NOBODY says "bet" for "beat" in England either kids! When the teacher returned to the room, I wrote all of the forms of the verb on the board, and asked her how she would pronounce them. She said... drum roll please... "Beat, bet, beaten". ARRRG!!!
Afterwards I called Bridget, the TA from England, for reassurance. She said that I was right.
Take that kids! It's MY native language! Not yours!!! Get over it.

Get ready Athens... here I come.

Jump!!

2006-05-17T00:29:00.000+02:00

A day at lake Neusiedl.

A Link for You

2006-05-05T22:43:00.000+02:00

Eurotrash: A Spotter's Guide

aufregung

2006-05-02T00:25:00.000+02:00

Sorry about the melodramatic message. Just felt a bit freaked out and needed to vent. It happens from time to time.

Had a smashing weekend- went to a fab party in Vienna. My friend Jeanette finished her internship at the American Embassy and had a going away shindig. There were only about 8 of us there, but the crowd meshed really well and we all had fun keeping J awake until her 7 o'clock flight. Present were a Brit and a girl from Ireland. Ludwig and I got on the topic of British English (I'm an expert :-) and asked him if he had ever heard of "choccy bickies." Of course he hadn't, so I shouted across the room "Nea love!!! What are choccy bickies??" Her reply: "Oh, sorry, we 'aven't got any!!"
Needless, to say, the room erupted in laughter.
After everyone calmed down (this took some time) I repeated the question.
"They're chocolate biscuits!!! It's not really that hard is it??"
"Well, we would call them cookies..."

Trying to prepare for reverse culture schock

2006-04-28T01:46:00.000+02:00

OK.... those of you closest to me probably already know that I shall be back in Ohio for the summer...

yippee-do-da-yay

So, things on my mind:

1. I have to find an apartment next year. I can't stay in the Studentenheim without paying for a room for the entire summer. Obviously I can't afford this. Also, I have to pay for the month of June according to Mr. Peter the wanker Heimleter. I thought my contract said only until the end of May??? I must look through my documents and check. And consult a lawyer if necessary.

2. How the hell am I going to survive 4 months in the United States? I heard they don't even have espresso there!! (JOKING) Jesus christ. I have to fly to New York on the 4th of June, and then my lovely brother and his girlfriend shall pick me up. I really do love them... lovely people really... but they're going to expect me to show them about a metropolis when I'm jetlaged when I really will just want a nice bed to sleep on and something... something... FESTGELEGT to wake up on.

3. My love life here is an absolute mess. Again, those of you close to me probably know the story.... what the hell awaits me when I come back? Should I keep fighting to be free and single?? I HAVEN'T BEEN PROPERLY LAID IN AGES!!!! Actually, I think the last time was actually in ATHENS!!! AAAHHHHHH!!!!!! (I really think L is the best option... but I don't trust me to trust myself)

4. I really don't want to pack all of this shit up. Why am I so disorganized??

5. I'm in debt. Why did I give citibank my Austrian address? Will I ever escape this malady? I am EDUCATED and TALENTED!!! When is somebody going to pay me more than 1,000 euro a month??? How is it that some people have everything and others have nothing?? Perhaps I should find a real profession.

Anthropology through Television

2006-04-19T16:55:00.000+02:00

My good friend Nina has flow to northern Germany for a week to visit her family, and she very generously offered to lend me her television during her absence. Thanks to the free (well, included in my rent) cable available in the Studentenheim, I'm taking this as an opportunity to play anthropologist and make note of some cultural differences in TV land. I have never been an avid TV viewer. Throughout my college years in Athens, I never subscribed to a cable or satellite service since I found that most programming generally insulted my intelligence and was a monumental waste of time. Many of my friends here were shocked to learn that I was an American without a TV. Imagine that! Who knew that such people existed? I always found that reading a good book or perhaps watching a well-selected film was more stimulating than the incessant string of verbal and visual incontinence spewed across the North American continent.

I would like to report that European television is radically different and more sophisticated... but on the whole its really not, with a few exceptions. Lets start with the crème de la crème: daytime TV. In the afternoon hours the airwaves are crowded with "Gericht-Shows", which are so tawdry that they make "Judge Judy" look like a serious documentary. They're set up in a similar way - your basic court-TV - with a victim, suspect(s), lawyers, and judges. But, they're obviously scripted and generally play out like a soap opera. I'll spare you the details, but in one episode of "Familien Gericht" that I managed to watch in full, a 50-something year old woman was unknowingly smeared with some sort of potion by the accused before the "trial" started. When she appeared before the court she began acting very drunk and blatantly hit on the judge and even began unbuttoning her top before the judge called a medic. It was very special. High quality viewing, I must say. Hey, at least I'm practicing my German listening comprehension.

Things get a bit more interesting in the late evening. At this point almost all of the advertisements feature mostly naked women and telephone numbers for which you must pay at least €1.25 per minute. There is a channel dedicated to broadcasting nothing but mammaries and the women who own them posing on some sort of sport-themed set; be it a soccer field, boxing ring, or even an RC-car track. I think they must have been running out of ideas by the time they got to the RC cars. I fail to see the erotic value of miniature motorized cars. Very strange.

Last night I couldn't go to bed early, so I was flipping through the channels when I came across something interesting. It was some sort of film featuring a band of live dogs running around a large metropolis in Italy. All of the dogs had names, and it had a narrated plot. I got to watch the dogs run around Napoli and find their food in garbage piles. The main dog, who had some Italian name which I forget, decided to sneak onto a ferry to follow a poodle "of a noble house" to Capri. He managed to get the human family in Capri to adopt him by seducing the children with his cuteness, but he quickly grew bored of life in the Villa, because "a golden cage is still a cage". He managed to escape and catch another ferry back to Napoli, but he had to bathe himself in a dirty river before returning to his gang since they "would never accept him smelling of shampoo". In the end he was happy, having returned to the freedom of being a stray dog in Napoli. I have never before seen such a thing on television. It was odd but entertaining, and the dogs were obviously very well trained.

What conclusions can I draw from my viewing experiences? I'm really not sure... The only thing I feel confident in saying is that my viewing pleasure is a result of unfamiliarity with TV culture here and my ability to pick up a few more words and become even more comfortable with the German language. If I see anything else worthy of reporting in the next week, I'll be sure to provide my loyal readers with a synopsis.

Accidental Art

2006-04-16T16:22:00.000+02:00

I am constantly tortured by a cryptic message perpetually beamed into my room from the office complex across the parking lot. It appears to say "Out of You". I'm not entirely sure because it's a bit too far away to be able to read clearly. Why? What office needs to be reminded of this seemingly senseless message for 24 hours a day 7 days a week? Who would pay for an LED display for such a purpose? I attempted to veryify the content of the message with the zoom lens on my camera, but this is obviously futile without the aid of a tripod. Nonetheless, the result is accidentally artistic:

Easter Fun

2006-04-08T12:21:00.000+02:00

Today is the first day of the Easter break for me, which lasts a lovely one and a half weeks! I'm not really doing anything exciting, just staying in Eisenstadt to do some babysitting and tutoring to try to earn a little bit of money. Someone sent me this cartoon which I found to be rather funny:

The first rabbit says "My ass hurts!!" and the second one says "What?"

hee hee.

I also saw a billboard depicting a nest with two packs of Lucky Strikes in it, and the tagline was "Good Easter Bunny". Indeed.

To my anonymous comment-writer: Sorry for my didactic tone! Just happens I guess....
Happy Easter everyone.

People are so Easy to Impress

2006-04-03T15:27:00.000+02:00

Happy Monday everyone- I was up and at it at 7AM today sporting the suit and tie again. My schedule at the Gymnasium was somewhat vexing, since I had to teach two hours- one at 8:00 and one at 12:30. So, I had plenty of free time to sit around and think about what I was going to say for job interview #2. Once I finished my lessons I started heading down the hill, enjoying the walk in the lovely spring weather. In the past few days its been about 20 celcius and sunny- absolutely lovely! As I was walking, a man stopped and got out of his car and approached me. "Are you the student from England?" he asked. "Um, the Englisch teaching assistant from America..." I replied. He asked if I offered tutoring and said that he would like for me to meet up with his son. He gave me his card and drove off. That was a nice unexpected economic opportunity... but it does feel a bit strange to be stalked on the street for language tutoring... such is the attraction of a native speaker wearing a suit! Thankfully he didn't take up too much of my time, since I had to be in the palace at 14:00.
The Hungarian woman at the front desk flirted with me before sending me across the courtyard and up four flights of stairs to meet with Herr Schimpl. He was very nice, gave me an espresso and a cigarette (only in Europe!!), and he didn't really ask many questions. He mainly talked about dealing with the Arbeitsmarkt in order to obtain a work permit. He said that they often take foreigners as interns, which would probably be the best way to apply for me. He asked me to fax a copy of my visa, and said that he would apply for the permit. So, he essentially offered me a job but made it clear that it all depends on the Arbeitsmarkt now. He said that once he had heard back from them we would look into different payment options, but assured me that I would earn enough money to live on. He said we would know within two weeks. All in all it went exceptionally well. So, sorry kids... but it sounds highly likely that I will be staying in good old Europe for at least another year (and hopefully longer!). I'll come back for a few weeks if I can get the time off and someone offers me a plane ticket (*wink wink*).

Meanwhile, I spent Sunday with Alexa and Konstantin in Hungary.

Here is the border, a whole 15 minute drive from Eisenstadt. I got another Hungary stamp in my passport here. I now have two.

We were on our way to Fertörákos, a small village on Lake Neusiedl.

Just a church I saw along the way.

And here is the Hungarian side of a lake. A lovely day, really.

Mailbox Surprise

2006-03-30T09:14:00.000+02:00

In the post today:

Sehr geehrter Herr Cornwell,

vielen Dank für Ihre Bewerbung für den Bereich Schlossführungen.

Wie mir Frau Barbara Hollndonner mitgeteilt hat, hätten Sie Interesse an einer Führungstätigekeit für den Zeitraum Juni - September 2006.

Obwohl wir unsere Personaldispositionen für 2006 grundsätzlich getroffen haben, möchten wir Sie dennoch zu einem Gespräch einladen, um allenfalls eine Anstellungsmöglichkeit für diesen Zeitraum zu finden.

Ich darf Sie ersuchen, mich telefonisch zwecks einer Terminvereinbarung zu kontaktieren.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Schloss Esterhazy Management GmbH

This means:

Dear Mr. Cornwell,

Thank you very much for your application as a tour guide.

As Ms. Holldonner has told me, you would be interested in a position for the time period from June to September 2006.

Although we have essentially chosen our staff for 2006, we would nonetheless like to invite you to come speak with us to possibly find a position for this time period.

Please telephone me in order to set up an appointment.

With Friendly greetings,

xxxx
Esterhazy Palace Management Inc.

It sounds like they want to give me a job. But, it isn't exactly a direct offer, so I'll just have to go in and see how it turns out. I'll have to ask some serious questions about the hours and pay to determine if it's really feasible to support myself over the summer with this job. So, the summer matter is still up in the air... I apologize in advance to friends/family IF I can't come back to Athens to visit! Hmmm. Wish me luck i suppose.

GREAT News!

2006-03-23T14:03:00.000+01:00

In my mailbox today:

"Dear Mr. Cornwell,

I am pleased to inform you that the Austrian Ministry of Education has notified the Fulbright Commission that your application for an extension of your position as a U.S. foreign language teaching assistant for the 2006-2007 academic year has been endorsed...."

I'm all ready for another year in Burgenland. I'm so happy I could cry!!!

Mini-Vacation

2006-03-19T20:53:00.000+01:00

Just arrived back in Eisenstadt from my mini-vacation in Fürstenfeld. I must say I'm feeling a lot better and a change in scenery was much needed. Alexa, Konstantin, and I all packed into her car on Friday afternoon for the 1.5 hour drive on the A2 to her hometown. We arrived at her mother's apartment to unpack our things and we went out to dinner. I ate some mildly spicy potato-stuffed sausages, apparently a Styrian specialty, and they were delicious. Afterwards we went out to all of Alexa's old haunts to drink some wine, play darts (I won twice!), and heat up the dance floor. Along with us was her brother Michael, who happens to be the BZÖ party-head for Styria. The BZÖ is a rather far right party, and I thought I had best avoid talking politics with him, but we had some rather good discussions anyway. Turns out even the far-right in Austria are against the death penalty and think Bush is an idiot. Who knew? On the next day we went to visit Alexa's father at his home. He's a photographer and a well-travelled and genial guy. He lived in a beautiful old farmhouse in the countryside. The place was so rustically european and beautiful, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the moment. The kitchen was huge, and it had a 200-year old wood-fired oven in it. I felt so at home there because it was so cosy and reminded me of Athens in a strange sort of way. All in all it was a nice weekend escape. Here are a few more photos for your viewing pleasure:

This was snapped during a walk along the river. Sorry, Dad, but I don't remember the name of the river! Look it up on your Austria map!

And the next day we walked to the top of this hill and looked down on the city.

One of those uniquely european things that always sticks out to me: the roundabout (or traffic-circle, if you will). It's a highly effective device that's often much more practical than a normal traffic light. For example, you can turn around in the intersection; or, you don't have to wait at a red light if there's no traffic. Not only that, but they are usually very decorative too. Most of them in Eisenstadt have gardens or even miniature vineyards in them, but this one in Fürstenfeld has a fountain! I wonder if anyone ever crashes into it...
Speaking of traffic: Hey kids, why don't you go play in it!!!

Ablenkung

2006-03-17T13:58:00.000+01:00

Must report that I'm in a mild state of depression. It's no fun not knowing what the hell is going on with my future, feeling lonely, and there being no sign of warm weather yet. I'm going to Fürstenfeld with Alexa for the week-end, which should serve as a nice change of scenery. I'll be sure to bring the camera and report back to ye grand olde masses. At the moment I've got to stop eating nutella with a spoon, clean up my pigsty of a room, and get ready to go. Enjoy the weekend everyone... and of course the Spring Break to all of my OU friends!

Party

2006-03-13T18:32:00.000+01:00

Oh, happy birthday to me. I'm glad someone caught some of this stuff on camera. (Thanks John!)

American cultural imperialism dictates the unhindered diffusion of the beer bong!!!

Madness.

If you pass out at one of my parties, you will be loaded into a shopping cart and wheeled around wrecklessly until a crash of sufficient magnitude causes you to regain consciousness.

Ouch.

My First Job Interview in German

2006-03-09T14:33:00.000+01:00

So, yes, I'm sure you're all waiting to hear about my professional activities. I did indeed go to the Arbeitsmarkt, the Austrian work-authority or however the hell you would say that in English, and asked them about getting a residency permit for the summer. The man was somewhat unfriendly, and said that I would have to find a firm willing to take me and submit an application for a work permit. As a foreigner, I don't have priority for a job. If they can find an unemployed Austrian to do the same work, they are required to hire the Austrian. However, people with certain qualifications (English as a native language!!) can be granted exceptions. He told me it was all very complicated and was generally discouraging. My reply: "But theoretically possible, no?"

So, I called the Esterházy palace, explained my situation, and asked if they needed tour guides. The woman said they are in the hiring process for the next two weeks and she would love it if I could come by. I thought I would just be dropping off my CV (Curriculum Vitae- the Euro-version of a résumé) and she would contact me if she liked. So, I asked if 10am on Thursday would be OK. She said no, there's a tour at that time, the afternoon would be better. This gave me the impression that she wanted to give me an interview on the spot and I was right. I updated and customized my CV and wrote a letter of interest to the Esterházy palace seeking work as a tour guide. Sandra and friends helped me with that and offered great (and grammatical) advice. Then I got up early today, put on a suit and tie, and went to school. School was chaotic and I was in a generally nervous and bad mood (had a little personal crisis last night). But, I think I had the best discussion ever with one of my least-motivated classes, because I was pushy and sarcastic. I think I really have a good teacher attitude when I'm grumpy!! Anyway, right after school I walked down to the palace to meet Frau Hollndonner, and I kept my head held high. She was very friendly and said that I spoke excellent German. I told her a bit about myself and asked questions about the tours and things like that. We ended up chatting for over a half an hour, and she told me that she thought I would make a great addition to their team and she would be happy to fill out a work-permit application, but warned me that the Arbeitsmarkt might say no. I told her I felt it was worth a try, and that I was very happy she took the time to see me. She said she would be in contact with me. When I was updating my CV, I realized that I have gotten every single job I have ever applied for (In a warehouse, at a newspaper, an architectural firm, and now this teaching gig). I hope I can keep up the trend! It sounds promising. I really believe that anything is possible if I really put forth the effort. Today felt like a victory, and I'm ecstatic. I will keep you all updated on the process as it unfolds.

This Year is Going so Fast

2006-03-05T19:18:00.000+01:00

I've been feeling a bit depressed this weekend from thinking about the future and the logistical problems that go with it. What the hell am I doing with my life in the short and long term? Of course, I did submit my application for a year's extension, but I won't know the status of that until April. If I do get to stay (which I think is pretty probable), I want to spend the summer here working. But the problem with that is that I'd have to find a work permit and do all of that complicated bureaucratic stuff. Of course, I could go back to Athens for the summer to work and come back here in the fall. This may sound sacrilegious or irreverent or something, but I seriously don't want to! Yes, I do miss my friends and family... but there are people here (OK- one in particular) I would miss too and I know that being in the US again would just irk me to no end. I know, i'm an irretrievable euro-snob. Sorry. It's just who I am. I'd love to come back to see my friends and family for about three weeks... but three months??? I'm going to city hall tomorrow to ask about an Arbeitserlaubnis and I'll take my charm with me as a weapon. I figure if I'm going to be employed here next year anyway (hopefully), a summer job shouldn't be that difficult. We'll see what happens. The easy thing to do would be to simply come back and find a permanent job, since I've got some good experiences and would be qualified for some interesting things. But, the thing is... I'm seriously in love with this country and want to do everything I can to stay. It isn't easy... but I've had a few runarounds with the Austrian authorities and I'm up for struggling with them some more. If I'm proactive about it, it's not so depressing. It's kind of a mixture of fate, ambition, and initiative. Que sera sera.

Fasching Dienstag!!

2006-02-28T19:18:00.000+01:00

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

2006-02-26T16:15:00.000+01:00

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

2006-02-22T19:22:00.000+01:00

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

2006-02-11T23:13:00.000+01:00

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

2006-02-06T13:42:00.000+01:00

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!

I Can Walk on Water

2006-01-29T17:19:00.000+01:00

I must be Jesus.

I went with Alexa, Monika, and Konstantin to the Neusiedlsee to go ice skating today. First we had lunch in our favorite little restaurant in Hungary, and then it was off to the city of Rust to get some winter sport time in. I took a few photos with Alexa´s camera, so here they are.

This is me, Konstantin, and Monika.

Neusiedlsee is a very large lake, so it was easy to get beyond the crowd and enjoy the wonderful ice! It has been very very cold for the past 3 weeks or so and it hasn't snowed a bit, so the ice was perfect. This was all great fun until Konstantin fell and broke his two front teeth :( I felt really sorry for the poor guy. We had to leave a bit early to take him to the hospital just to make sure everything was OK for now, and they said he should go to the dentist first thing tomorrow. It could have been a lot worse, since he just chipped off the bottom parts of the two teeth and it didn't bleed or anything. Well, at least I know where the Eisenstadt hospital is now. He seems to be doing fine now, although he's not too keen on eating again.

Schule Macht Spaß

2006-01-26T19:56:00.000+01:00

“Does he REALLY speak German??”

When I went to the HTL yesterday, my dear friend and colleague Alexa told me that one of the classes asked if I could really speak German. She told them “yes, he speaks super Deutsch”, but they didn’t believe her because its my policy to speak only English during my lessons. So, I went in to teach my lesson on Martin Luther King (good stuff), she told me “this is the class that wants to hear your German”. So, I said “Ok, I’ll speak German with you in the last five or ten minutes”. Once my topic fizzled out toward the end, I just launched off into a little speech about how it is definitely possible to learn a foreign language, using my near-fluent Deutsch skills as an example. After all, all of my socializing and business outside of the school is conducted exclusively in German, so it doesn’t even feel like a strain to speak it anymore. I pointed out that some things are hard for a native speaker to explain, using some rules of German that native speakers don’t know as examples of the kinds of things you have to do when you learn. Specifically, German natives have no idea that practically every word in the language that ends with “e” is feminine. They just know it instinctively. It’s the same way with me in English. I don’t have to think “Hmm, this is an action that started in the past but is still continuing, so I need to use present perfect progressive”. [Example: “She has been waiting for 20 minutes”. This verb form does not exist in German and is therefore problematic for learners]. The rule is just there in my subconscious somehow. The students were all sort of astounded. One of them asked me if it was difficult to understand the local dialect. I prattled off a bit of Burgenlandisch, much to their amusement, and effectively answered the question. IE, I’ve been here listening to the vernacular long enough that I get it now. I don’t usually SPEAK it, because it makes me sound like an Austrian redneck (I’m a redneck of the American variety, thank you very much), but I can understand it pretty well. You get used to it if you’re surrounded by it. This was all great fun, and hopefully something of a motivation for them to work at their own foreign language skills. This stuff fascinates me. If linguistics wasn’t such a dry and pseudo-scientific subject, I might consider studying it further. Trust me, once you’ve heard some of the studies they’ve done and arguments they make, you’d probably be turned off too.

“What’s an outline?”

My 8th form class in the Gymnasium is preparing to take an English test tomorrow. Their tests last about three hours, consisting of a listening comprehension section, reading comprehension and short answers, and finally a relatively lengthy essay. We have been working with the topics “the American dream” and “the media” for what feels like ages. I decided it would be a good idea to do some free-writing activities and outlines to get them thinking about the writing process and their topics. So, we started of with some “mind maps” or “thought clusters” or whatever the hell you want to call it. This is a helpful start to the writing process, allowing the free flow of topics and thoughts unhindered by organization and detail. It’s a great idea that is heavily taught in American schools and has helped my own writing on several occasions. The students had never heard of it. After doing a couple of mind maps, I moved into the next step: outlining. To my astonishment, they had never heard of this either! Maybe I’m feeling over-confident, but I think this may have been one of my most useful lessons ever, since the whole concept of pre-writing activities saved my academic career several times over. I will never forget my high school English teacher, Donna Hynes, and her comments on the three parts of an essay: “Introduction: Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Body: Tell them. Conclusion: Tell them what you told them”. [Note to Grandma and Grandpa: Tell Donna I say “Thank you!” and let her know that her insight is being spread to a new generation in a foreign country]. I told my students this, made a short example of an outline with these three crucial pieces, and got them doing their own. I also told them that these are great strategies for any piece of academic writing they may have to do, and it could easily work in any language. I really think that this will improve their chances on the test tomorrow. I’m very curious to see if the Direktor might notice an improvement in the grades. He wasn’t there today, so I was teaching on my own again, but I’ll have tell him tomorrow what I did and see what he thinks after he grades the exams. Sometimes, the satisfaction of teaching really does make up for the lousy pay.

heeheehee

2006-01-23T19:15:00.000+01:00

Sandra & Björn share a romantic moment at the ÖJAB ball.

The Escalator Sez...

2006-01-22T13:38:00.000+01:00

"Please stand to the right"
"Please think left"
The text "Fahrtreppenbenutzungshinweise" means "Movingstairsusagenotices".

Total Immersion Backlash!

2006-01-19T15:18:00.000+01:00

As you all probably know, I've been living in Austria for quite some time now. Spending so much time here has given me the wonderfully opportunity to be totally immersed in the language and culture, allowing me to pick up on subtleties and nuances previously unnoticed during my three month stint in Salzburg in the year 2002. Until now, I've been highly reserved, polite, and über-conscious of what my friends and colleagues think of me. Of course it is a good idea to make a good first impression and play it safe until one is pretty well settled in. Well, that was me until now! This new attitude came as something of a revelation to me last weekend in Vienna after spending a good deal of time with other Americans for the first time in months. My friend Ludwig was particularly insightful. Yes, I know, Ludwig is not an American name... but he is half American and half Austrian and grew up in the States. He recently transferred from Ohio University to a college in Vienna. He has been here for about the same amount of time that I have. It was great to see him again and catch up on each others' lives while maintaining an Athens connection. He told me he was feeling a bit frustrated with his life here, explaining "I am really attached to an American mentality that I never realized was so important to me until now". I identified with his sentiments. The mentality here is very complex and somewhat contradictory in some senses. Yes, Europeans are very socially liberal and more tolerant of things like nudity for example, but they are also extremely reserved in some ways. Americans have a very independent and individualist attitude that simply doesn't exist here. They are highly conscious of social conventions and worry constantly about how others' perceive them. I have been striving to fit into this mode since my arrival at the expense of my individuality. Ludwig's case in point: "I was at H & M and I wanted to try on a pair of pants, but the line for the dressing room was about a mile long. I just took off my pants and tried them on right there in the store. My boyfriend (an Austrian) wasn't with me, but if he had been I know he would have died of embarrassment". It's true- I can't imagine a European doing such a thing, and I wouldn't have even considered doing such a thing here. I've been considering his conundrum and bravery and decided that it was a good lesson for me. I already have good friends here, I've managed to impress my colleagues, and I feel like I've done my fair share of conforming. Now, it's time for the REAL Arthur Cornwell to break loose! I went to a party at the Fachhochschule and danced like a crazy fool with reckless abandon, ignoring the strange looks and making fun of myself and the music simultaneously. My friends were impressed and highly amused, and barely known acquaintances must think I'm crazy. I wear mismatched socks again. I'm using an article from The Onion entitled "School Shooting Solves All of Youth's Problems" to teach about youth problems and violence in the United States. I made prank phone calls in the dormitory with Sandra last night. I miss the old, irreverent, goofy, AMERICAN me. Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Europe and the Austrian people. But, I am an American. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm daring to be different and it's improving my life. And Ludwig is right, there are some very good things about the American attitude (although some very bad things as well. I'm trying to take the good). I've noticed a new enthusiasm in my teaching and my friends find me more amusing ("du warst der einzige auf der Party der witzig war!!" -Marina). Thanks Marina!!

In other news, I'm officially submitting my application for a second year's extension tomorrow so that it gets to the appropriate authorities before the 1 February deadline. I still don't want to come back. I'm just discovering the joys of immersion backlash after a long period of timid conformity.

Check This Out!

2006-01-17T18:45:00.000+01:00

I think I have found the coolest website ever. It's called pandora.com. It's a music genome project, which identifies several traits of a song and can recommend other similar ones. So, you can use it to find new music that you like, and it's amazingly good at it! Definitely worth a try. Just type in the name of your favorite song or artist and you're off.

Our Tax Dollars at Work

2006-01-16T14:29:00.000+01:00

I had quite the adventure in Vienna yesterday. I decided to go there to visit some fellow teaching assistants and take a little break from Eisenstadt. I met Lori and colleauges in a nice little restaurant. There was a girl with them who is currently doing an internship at the American embassy. She said "I'm house sitting for my boss this weekend. She told me to have friends over, we should go hang out there". Sounded like fun to me, so we walked a few blocks to the flat. I have never seen such an amazing apartment in my life! First of all, it was in the middle of the first district, which is the historic city center and outrageously expensive. The apartment was huge, with beautiful wood floors and modern furnishings. They had a gigantic American refridgerator (a rare site here) and the others exclaimed "A clothesdryer!!! I haven't seen one of those since I've been here!!". Ok, this is a luxury also available in the Studentheim I had apparently been taking for granted. The best part though- the apartment also had a terrace on the roof with a hot tub! It was soooo cool up there! We could see the famous Stephansdom (old church) a few blocks away, and all sorts of other buildings across the city. It was also quite striking how eerily quiet it was. Vienna is extremly tranquil for being such a large city. The only sound to be heard was the slight hum of the Autobahn several kilometers away. There were no horns, shouts, or other noises one would expect. Everyone suddenly decided that they were all interested in a career in foreign service, and made several jokes about the place being bugged and the possibility of there being a camera behind the mirror. I can't even imagine how much this apartment cost, but it was most likely over a million dollars. Afterwards I went to spend the night at Lori's flat, quite a treck across town into the 17th district, which definitely has lower rent! I only had to teach one hour today in the afternoon, so I had to wake up early and take a total of 6 different trains (including the Strassenbahn and subway - see itinerary below) to get back to Eisenstadt on time. I made all of my connections and taught my lesson. I think I need to go to Vienna more often.

Today's Travel Itinerary (times are approximated):

10:10 AM - Strassenbahn (Tram) from wherever the hell I was to Alser Strasse.
10:15 AM - U-Bahn (subway) line U6 to Westbahnhof (Western Train Station)
10:27 AM - Subway line U3 to Stephansplatz (location of famous aforementioned church)
10:36 AM - Subway line U1 to Südtirolerplatz
10:46 AM - Walk one block to Südbahnhof (Southern Train Station)
10:56 AM - Commuter train to Neusiedl am See (if you don't get off at this stop, you end up in Hungary)
11:19 AM - Regional Train to Eisenstadt
12:07 PM - Arrival at Eisenstadt Hauptbahnhof
12:45 PM - Teach lesson on American School System

Click on the map for the enlarged version.
Ah, the wonders of European public transportation system. Highly effective once you've mastered it, but quite complicated to beginners!

More Frenchy Stuff

2006-01-08T16:58:00.000+01:00

Alright- Here's my final post about France. About time too, seeing as though I've been back in Austria for over a week.

One of the best things I did in France was a tour of a winery. First some background on the people. Alice has a good friend, Caroline, who is also from Dijon. She is married to an American, Connor. They live together in New York, but were in France for the holiday. Caroline's mother drove, and she arrived with Connor and Caroline to pick us up. Then we drove for about 45 minutes to the village of Beaune, which is south of Dijon.

Here we are trudging through the snow in Beaune.

Here's Caroline, myself, Alice, and Connor (decapitated) in the museum.

The coolest part was the celler, which consisted of a five kilometer (!) labyrinth with bottles of unlabled wine as far as the eye could see.

Each section had a slate label with the vintage and type of wine written on it.

Now here's the good part- wine tasting! We each had a little silver cup to taste about eight or twelve (I don't remember) different kinds of wine with. Connor kind of gets on my nerves, I must admit. He's one of those people that thinks he knows everything. He speaks a little bit of French (not very well), and Caroline's mother speaks very little English. At one point he tried to tell her that the particular wine we were tasting was "easier" (plus façile) than the last. Me, being the lush that I am, blurted out "Ils sont TOUTES façiles!!" (They are ALL easy!!) Everyone laughed. I'm so glad I took French in High School.

Having survived wine tasting, it was on to New Year's Eve. Caroline held a dinner party at her mother's house. Here we are at the table.

Mmmmm.... Snails! The French have a very interesting idea of what sort of things are edible. From extremely stinky cheese to snails and frog legs... it's a little disconcerting to your average foreigner. Having been served a platter of snails, I decided to make the best of it. I named one of the little fellows Pierre, and then I ate him! He was so delicious, I unceremoniously ate five of his brethren without naming them. I still kept Pierre's house as a souvenir though. It's sitting next to my computer right now! Hey, don't knock it until you try it.

Ok this picture is a bit ridiculous. Alice's father, Gerard, has a bunch of old helmets and hats from the second world war. Alice and I were playing with them and he took a picture. I believe these ones are American.

And then it was time for me to catch the direct TGV to Charles de Gaulle airport. I ended up with a first class ticket through sort of a fluke. They offer discounted tickets for people under the age of 26, but only a limited number. The discounted second class tickets were sold out. So, I could buy a regularly priced second class ticket, or a discounted first class ticket for only 30 cents more. I chose first class, naturally. It was less stinky and more comfortable, with big wide cushy seats with electric reclining funciton! Whee!

That was fun. I might have to do it again some day.

Dijon Photos

2006-01-06T19:04:00.000+01:00

Ok, Ok, sorry I've been so lazy lately... but you can't blame me for enjoy my time off and Landesschulrat given right to do absolutely nothing for a week. Anyway, here are some pictures of Dijon. The wine-tasting story and photos to accompany it will follow- I simply can't fit them all in one entry and its a big pain in the ass to match photos to text anyway.

Here we go:

Alice's family lives in a little village on the outskirts of Dijon. We went for a walk on the first day, and this is one of the buildings I saw.

Here's Alice and her mother, Bernadette, in the kitchen whipping up another culinary wonder. They were so nice to me the whole time, I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. Nothing like some good 'ole down home momma's cooking in Burgundy.

Here are several of Dijon itself. Lovely old city.

Here's a restaurant specializing in... you guessed it: mmmmm.... Frogs....

Advanced Linguistics

2006-01-02T17:49:00.000+01:00

Just got back into Eisenstadt today. Ah, home sweet home. I'm really glad I went away for a bit, because returning to my bucolic Austrian surroundings gives me a new appreciation for the place. France was wonderful, of course. I was in the best of company and really managed to improve my French. I can't really hold deep conversations in the language, I lack the vocabulary for this, but I have a good basic command which allows me to do the basic stuff like make people laugh out loud at my irreverant personality (and maybe even order un sandwich). More on irreverance later when I work up the energy to download my photos that will accompany my wine-tasting story. Coming back to the Vienna International Airport resulted in something of a linguistic world-war three in my head. Stefan was kind enough to meet me at the airport, and he was in a mood to speak English, explaining that he had just watched the Lord of the Rings with the original soundtrack. Fine by me, but after very little sleep and catching a 6:30 AM train to Paris and then a delayed flight to Vienna had taken its mental toll. My utterances were more of a jumbled up mixture of all 3 of my tongues. I respond to questions with an instinctive "Oui!! ich meine... ja.... yes!!!" Stefan's English is really good, but he kept making errors distinguishing between "all" and "everything", which produced quite a conundrum in my head. What IS the differenct between "all" and "everything"??? He would say things like "I memorized all" or "I ate all". Now, these errors could be corrected in two ways: I memorized all of it/I memorized everything. I ate everything/I ate all of it/them. The distinction between it and them when coupled with "all" is easy- "it" is for non-count nouns, and "them" for countable nouns. The secret to all vs. everthing eludes me. It's the same word in German, why are there two in English? There must be some purpose or rule to the madness that I can use to explain it in a helpful manner. My brain hurts. I need to go to sleep. Pictures and more stories of froggy-land later- including my ill-fated snail friend Pierre, who's house I kept as a souvenir!

la vie en France - c'est beau

2005-12-30T12:57:00.000+01:00

I am still having a lovely time in France. Alice's family is really wonderful and they have been feeding me all sorts of French goodies. The other day I went into town with Alice and her mother. Alice had an appointement to get her hair done and her mother had to go to work in Cyrillus, a clothing store. So, I had a few hours on my own to wander around taking pictures, drink some coffee, and do a little shopping. My basic French was good enough to get me through the day and get everything I needed. In the evening we went out for some drinks and catch up on each other's lives, which was really great. I saw a long island iced tea on the menu at one bar, so I decided to order it. The bartender had to call someone and ask a question in order to make it. The result was rather unorthodox, with about half of the drink consisting of coke! Then he said "if it's too bitter, let me know and I'll add more cola". Right. I think they missed the point of that one... I should know better than to order American cocktails in Europe because it never works out right!

Yesterday was also a lot of fun. I went to Ikea (Alice's parents needed a few things to complete their new Ikea kitchen) and then to the grocery store. In the evening, we were invited to dinner with the former neighbors and still friends of the Gondry family, so I got to experience the culinary wonders of yet another French family. This couple has two children, Marine and Vincent, ages 6 and 8. The kids were happy to demonstrate to me that they can count to ten in English. Well done! The dinner was the most interesting part, as it consisted of about 5 courses of appetizers. The first was a martini glass filled in layers- first guacamole, then a sort of tomato salsa with scallops, and some sort of herbally flavored cream cheese on top. It was very interesting to have such a Mexican seeming concoction with seafood in it. After that there were little pieces of bread with all kinds of unidentifiable things on top that were also très deliceaux. My favorite came towards the end though- Have you ever seen a prune with a piece of bacon wrapped around it baked in the oven? Neither had I!!! All that and about 3 glasses of Champagne later, I was enjoying myself but beginning to miss Austria, where I am actually capable of fully participating in a conversation. French is hard, but I suppose that I've studied German a good deal more and that makes a huge difference.

Today looks like another adventure in the making. I neglected to mention earlier that I am in the heart of the Burgundy province, which I a sure you are all aware is quite famous for cuisine and wine. Alice's friend Caroline (also from Dijon) and her American husband Connor are in town for the holidays, and they are coming to pick us up for a wine tasting tour of the province. Watch out Burgundy, here I come!!!

In France

2005-12-27T10:28:00.000+01:00

Hello Everyone!

I've arrived safely in France, and so far I have some mixed impressions of the place. I will try not to let this awful French keyboard influence my opinion too much! For an example, I will type "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" as I normally would on an American keyboard: "the auick brozn fox ju,ps over the lqwy dog:" Right; so, slow going on this computer. On my flight, I sat next to an elderly French couple and decided to practice my French a little by talking to them. I explained that I am an American living in Austria and that my German was much better. They were very friendly. The husband went on a long diatribe, which, from what I could understand, was complaining about how the younger generation has no respect for Americans. He said he was 84 years old and had lots of respect for our country because of WWII. They helped me find the train station in the airport once we landed. Then, the impression got a little worse. I went to buy my train ticket, and the clerk was typically snobby and answered my carefully prepared (and not incorrect) sentence in English. Also, there was dog shit smeared all over the floor in the station, and the restroom had a sign saying it would be closed for the next 15 minutes. Not exactly what one wants to hear after several cups of coffee on an airplane, and such things simply do not happen in the German speaking world. The TGV was fast and effective, but not as nice as the ICE high speed trains in Germany and Austria. Those are always impeccably clean and modern. The French version was kind of stinky. No matter though, I made it to Dijon to meet Alice and her parents. They are very friendly and wonderful people. They took me on a little auto tour through the city, which looks beautiful. It has 200,000 inhabitants and lots of pretty old buildings. Alice's family just built a new house last year, and it is very nice. They gave me my own bedroom, with a real double bed!! That makes it a true vacation to me, since I've never been a fan of twin beds. Alice and I will venture into town today, and I'll be sure to take some pictures. You will have to wait until I am back in Austria to see them though, since my camera cable is still there. I've pretty much had it with this keyboard, so that'll be all for now. Hope you all had a lovely holiday time and all that rot :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2005-12-21T20:27:00.000+01:00

I love christmastime! Everyone is in such a good mood, and tomorrow is my last day of teaching before the break. I have been doing lots of lessons on Christmas in the United States, which is a little bit different. This being a wholly Catholic country, (about 85% of the population is Catholic), there are many traditions that come along with that, like the Advent candles, and St. Nikolaus early in December. St. Nikolaus is sort of like Santa Claus, but on the 24th Austrians are not visited by Santa Claus, but rather the Christ Child himself brings the gifts! The tree doesn't go up until the 24th, (brought by Jesus, of course), and that is also the day they open the gifts.

I came home from school today, found a letter from my mother in the mailbox and a package from my Grandparents in the office. Hooray! I took my loot up to my room, and about 3 minutes later came a knock. I said "Moment!!" and opened the door. There was no on there, but rather a laundry basket with red ribbons wrapped around it and a card attached. I laughed. I yelled down the hall: "NINA!!! I know that was you!!! You can come out now!!!" I heard a giggle from her room, and she said "Scheiße!!" and appeared. She had seen me doing my laundry using my suitcase to haul it to and from the basement, so she got me a laundry basket. I thought that was very sweet!

Hope my beloved masses are enjoying the season as much as I am :)

Yours Always & Holiday Greetings-

Arthur

Monkeys Emasculated

2005-12-19T18:02:00.000+01:00

Showed up at the Gymnasium today, all fresh and ready to teach my worst monkey-class, the 4th form. Just as I walked in, Andrea said "Ah! There you are. I just left you a voicemail. I have to leave right now. You'll be on your own for the 4th and 7th forms." To this I replied, "Um, I brought some comic books.... should be no problem..." "If they get too noisy, there's another professor next door or threatening to send them to the Direktor should do quite nicely." Right. Luckily I still had an hour to drink some coffee and collect my courage. The 4th form is notoriously difficult to control, even though Andrea is always there sitting in the back and helping me scold them. My plan for the day involved lots of Calvin & Hobbes, but I began by explaining to them very clearly that I would be VERY angry if I had to seek the help of another teacher to control them.I had some overheads of some of the best cartoons to demonstrate and explain the premise of the whole thing, and I got some volunteers to read out loud the parts of Calvin, Hobbes, the mother and father, Susie, etc. After that, I split them into about 5 groups and gave them each a book. I told them to find a comic strip they all really liked, and then describe it. First, the setting & surroundings, then the characters, then the plot. Also, I had them write why they chose this specific comic. Of course, group work is always a bit noisy, and that's fine as long as they stay on task. So I wandered around the room asking them questions and explaining vocabularly and helping with sentence structure, etc. But, once it was time for the groups to present their little summary to the rest of the class- they didn't want to get quiet again. I raised my voice. Everyone got dead silent except for one girl. I walked up to her and yelled "EXCUSE ME!!!! IS THIS LESSON INTERRUPTING YOUR CHATTING???"

They all got serious after that.

I reigned the classroom.

It felt good.

party party

2005-12-17T16:59:00.000+01:00

Me at the Fachhochschule Christmas party with Nina :)

A Day In My Eyes II

2005-12-13T15:06:00.000+01:00

Ready for another photographic adventure? Here we go:

This is definitely not my favorite time of the day.

I had enough time to walk today. In the snow.

Just the sight of the train station along the way. As you can see, the trains that run through Eisenstadt on the regional (read: middle of nowhere) line are miniscule. Just one diesel powered car/engine combination thing!

Just another sight along the way. Peter rabbit had best avoid this garden. Check out the skull above the gate!

Ah, here's my destination. The Höhere Technische BundesLehrAnstalt. Usually just abbreviated to HTL, although it says HTBLA on the wall. A nightmare of 1970's architecture.

First things first: A cigarette with my colleagues in the teachers' lounge.

"DO NOT FORGET YOUR CLASSBOOKS (This is a service provided by one of your forgetful colleagues)"

The students in the schools here are not allowed to wear their street shoes. They have to change into slippers when they come in so that the floor doesn't get so dirty. Hence the funny sign here. Teachers, thankfully, wear their street shoes.

Austrian students are required to stand up when the teacher enters the room as a sign of respect. I love it!

Finally on my way out... to the:

Grocery store. And then:

In bed, relaxing with a book. Ahhhh.

That's a typical day for me. Hope you enjoyed!

A Day In My Eyes I

2005-12-12T19:28:00.000+01:00

I finally got a new battery charger for my camera. I decided to make a sort of photo-diary of my day. I didn't take as many pictures today as I would have liked to, but I was in the Gymnasium today and the opportunities didn't present themselves as much as would be the case in the HTL. So, here's what I have for today. I'll do it again tomorrow in the other school, hopefully with a few more pictures (including the classrooms).

Haircut

2005-12-11T01:56:00.000+01:00

I got a haircut today. I just sort of went in and said "please make my hair shorter", and I came out with a style known as the 'fauxhawk'. Indeed.

Christmasy Eisenstadt Nights

2005-12-04T21:16:00.000+01:00

Conversations, the Future, Sweeping Generalizations

2005-12-03T21:57:00.000+01:00

Sorry to all for the reduced frequency of postings. My life has developed a comfortable rhythm to it, meaning that I am no longer filled with new impressions and observations to share with my beloved masses. However, a sense of belonging and comfort are certainly nothing for me to complain about. I've decided to do everything I can to stay here as long as possible. I told the Direktor of the Gymnasium of my intention to apply for a second year as a teaching assistant, and he was very encouraging and readily agreed to write a recommendation for me. After that, I'm considering going to an Austrian or German graduate school to become a full-fledged teacher or professor. I talking this over with Sandra, she noted that I must really be in love with Europe. (I'm sure of you back home can confirm this). She then noted, however, that it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations and about entire continents. I countered that some things could certainly be said, such as 'Europeans are more environmentally conscious than Americans'. She replied: "Well, the French and Italians aren't so great about it. The French throw all of their nuclear waste into the ocean". I noted that the United States has a few nuclear power plants, but the great majority of our electricity comes from coal-fired plants. She was shocked, saying "Das ist aber so... hinterweltlich" (That's so.... third-world). She also said, "Doesn't that pollute the air? There's so much CO2 in the smoke from coal!" I explained that the power plant closest to Athens was about an hour away, and the wind blows in the other direction (I think- correct me if I'm wrong). Austria, with its law against nuclear power, seems to get almost all of its electricity from Wind and Solar plants, which power a well-utilized railroad network in addition to everything else. So, there's my sweeping generalization about two continents. Say what you will, but I love it here and really don't want to come back. Sorry to disappoint everyone back home, but I am following my dreams and it feels great. Of course, I am an American and nothing will ever change that, and I do have a certain degree of pride in that. There are definitely some very good things about the US, but in my perspective they seem to be outweighed by the bad, especially in this day and age.
Speaking of American-ness, I was feeling fat and lazy and went to McDonald's again. This time I noticed a new menu item that was highly un-American: baked camembert. Vivé la France.

New Years Plan: France

2005-11-28T21:05:00.000+01:00

It's official- I just booked a flight to Paris on the 26th of December. I decided to fly because the train is actually more expensive for some odd reason, and I found a very reasonable flight. That, and it takes only two hours instead of 17. So, I'll be flying into Charles de Gaule, and then I will take the TGV to Dijon. TGV stands for "Train à Grand Vitesse", which means "Train of Great Speed". These are world famous trains which reach a top speed of 186 miles per hour. The ride from Paris to Dijon with the TGV takes about an hour and thirty minutes according to the SNCF (French National Railways) website. The regular trains take about an hour longer. My reason for going to the mustard capital of the world is to visit my dear friend Alice during her holiday. Her name is pronounced ALL-EECE. I knew her as a student at Ohio University, but she now lives and works in London. But, her parents live in Dijon, and they said I was welcome to come stay with them for awhile over the Christmas holiday. I did meet them when Alice graduated from OU, and they were very nice people, although they don't speak English. I have been brushing up on my French with my little phrasebook, since I hear the French are rather unwilling to speak foreign languages. As long as I make it through my train trip and arrive in Dijon, everything will be fine though since Alice is quite competent in English and can play the translator. I am very happy that I will be ringing in 2006 with one of my best friends in France!

Another Turkey Day Pic

2005-11-26T18:10:00.000+01:00

Here's me making the pie crust with my makeshift rolling pin.

thanksgiving in the studentenheim

2005-11-25T08:16:00.000+01:00

We had a turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce, bread, wine, wine, wine, and some more wine. I even made a pumpkin pie! That bottle of wine you see in the picture was my rolling pin for the crust! Dinner was great, very wonderful night... but now I'm hung over and its 8:19 AM and I have to go teach. Hooray! at least its friday.

Taxi Pfluger Saves the Day

2005-11-23T14:32:00.000+01:00

What a day! I woke up late (whoops), and rushed through my morning shower and promptly called a taxi. There are several taxi companies in town. The most popular is "Hallo Taxi", since they advertise a lot, but they really suck. There have been a few times that we've called them to go out in the evening and have to wait for 30 or 40 minutes before they come. So, in my state of hurry, I called Taxi Pfluger. The guy showed up just as I was coming out the door, and he took one look at me and said "Did you oversleep?" Thankfully, he was the coolest taxi driver EVER. I said "Umm, if you take a right here, and drop me off at the pedestrian zone through the public gardens... it's much faster". He was like "OK! Give my your taxi card!" So, he stuck the card into the reader while driving zealously through the back roads and passing semi-trucks and tractors at what most definitely was an illegal speed. I must say, it was my best commute ever! I rushed in the door, and was in class 2 seconds behind the teacher, so it worked out perfectly. If you ever come to Eisenstadt, Taxi Pfluger is highly recommendable.

One entry after the other....

2005-11-20T20:14:00.000+01:00

Björn wrote a nice entry on his Blog about the games we play in the Studentenheim. We all look completely silly playing, thanks to the post-its on our heads. The idea is that everyone writes down the name of a person or thing and then sticks it on someone elses forehead. Then we go around asking yes/no questions to determine who we are. The sticker on my head in this picture says "Osterhase", meaning "Easter Bunny". Nina said I would have to come up with something evil for Gabi, so I wrote "Verkehrsampel" (Traffic light) for her! I remember my brother Eric coming up with this one years ago while playing "20 Questions" in the car on a long road trip. We all had a hell of a time figuring out what it was, so I thought I'd spread the love on to poor Gabi! By the way, I'm impressed with your photgraphy Björn! Keep up the good work, and maybe E-mail me larger versions of the files!

It's Snowing! Not only here, but also in Hungary

2005-11-20T18:26:00.000+01:00

Seems like Sundays with Alexandra are becoming something of a tradition. She called me up yesterday and said "Monika and I are planning to go to Hungary for lunch tomorrow, want to come with?" Of course I said yes! She came and picked me up at 11:30, then we went to get Monika. She teaches religion and choir at the HTL, and she is also very cool. She's the one who asked me about the lyrics to an Aretha Franklin song a few months ago. Apparently, the first day I was there, I asked her if she was the Direktorin, which she is still laughing about today! She found it very flattering. So, an innocent and happy mistake :) Now there is a running joke that we call her Frau Direktor. I was hoping to get a stamp in my passport at the Hungarian border, but the control just waved us through quite unceremoniously. We went to a nice restaurant about 3 km from the border, where I think every customer was an Austrian. Of course all of the waiters speak German, and being on the border, you can pay in Euros as well. The currency of Hungary is called the Forint, and something like 240 Forint equals one euro. Of course Hungary is cheaper than here; haircuts, cigarettes, and some other things are about half the price. After leaving the restaurant we went for a quick auto-tour through the city of Sopron. It has a big city feel, and Monika described it as a mini-Vienna. All of the signs on the businesses were in Hungarian and German, and I think half of the cars there had Austrian plates. So, a true border city. I think I will have to go again the next time I need a haircut. Monika showed me where the train station is, and the hairdressers is about 2 blocks away. Then we went back to Monika's (through the border again)and had some coffee and sweets and listened to some music until about 6 o'clock. Her neighbor across the street is an old spintster that watches everything she does through the window, and sure enough she stared at us all as we got out of the car. Konstantin, the 10 year old, amused himself by spying back on her. He says he wants to be a policeman when he grows up, and needs to practice his spying apparently. A and M also told me a lot about their last English assistant, a chap named David from Wales. They said he was great at the beginning of the year, but towards the middle started show up late and unprepared all the time and looked completely tired. They said they didn't know why at first, but then found out that he was juggling at least three girlfriends in Eisenstadt, Vienna, and the Czech Republic! They all found out about each other and he had a hard time with it. I told them that this would not happen with me. Despite his laziness and tendency to be unprepared, he managed to stay for a second year. They also said that my German is better now than David's was after two years of living here. Normally they speak English with the assistants, but they said I was a rare exception in that they feel as though there is no need to speak English to me. Hooray! Therefore, all of these stories and anecdotes have been directly translated in my head. Good exercise for me!
I'm also aware that Thanksgiving is coming up. We assistants in the area are planning to meet up in the Studentenheim and make a turkey on Thursday. That should be lots of fun. Also, Ludwig in Vienna said he's planning a party for the weekend. The festivities carry on despite the distance.

Bis zum nächsten Mal meine liebe LeserInnen-
(Until next time my dear readers-)
-Arthur

Sonntag schön.... Montag Überlebt

2005-11-14T20:08:00.000+01:00

"Beautiful Sunday.... Lived through Monday"
Sunday was very nice. One of my favorite teachers from the HTL, Alexandra, invited me to lunch at her house. She made a delicious Lasagna (although of course not as good as yours Mom :-), and did all sorts of nice things. First, she picked me up, then made some coffee, loaned me some books and films, and I played the German kids' version of Trivial Pursuit with her and her 10 year old son Konstantin. It was a wonderful day to spend a Sunday, and her teaching resources proved to be very useful in my lesson with the 4th class today. The little brats apologized to me for behaving badly last time, and they did a little better this time. For my second lesson, I actually got lost and was late to class. How embarassing! I've been here for seven weeks, and I can't remember where all the classrooms are. Ug. Monday. So, I lived through it, came home and took a nap, and woke up at 5:30 to discover that it's dark already. Blah.
Thanks to all for sending me so many emails recently- sometimes the box is (English.... how does one say "ständig"?? *thinks*) PERPETUALLY empty and other times it overflows. So ist das Leben (such is life).
Until next time....
-Herr Professor Cornwell :-P

A Picture

2005-11-12T11:22:00.000+01:00

Gabi snapped this picture of Sandra, Myself, and Ines in the kitchen. Don't we look happy???

Furthering my Education....

2005-11-10T18:24:00.000+01:00

Hanging out at the Studentenheim, my friends are constantly talking about their marketing professor. The class is held in English and taught by a Czech woman who doesn't speak any German. They always complain about how she is impossible to understand, and that she doesn't understand anyone who can speak English well- only the people who have very limited capabilities of expression in the language. Being the troublemaker that I am, I decided I had to find out for myself. Yes, I woke up at 8:00 today, specifically to go to a Marketing lecture at a university I'm not even enrolled in. I met Sandra, Björn, Gabi, and Nina outside the Heim before their class. They are all eagerly awaiting this blog entry. So, going into the class, I noticed that European lecture halls have a different feel to them, just like I had seen in films. They are all very vertical, such that you have to climb steep steps and each row is substantially higher than the one before it. People started sifting in, looking bored and tired, and the professor wouldn't start until more people arrived. Niko the Finn came in and looked at me funny and said "What are you doing here?". The prof waited for about 10 minutes before starting up the computer and starting her lecture about branding. She did indeed have a very thick accent, but she was nice enough and I found her vocabulary to be sufficient. There were definitely a few funny moments though. For example, she was talking about how a company can be named after the founder's family, which can be good because it has the ring of a personal promise. "Buttaaa.... if your name means something bad... do not name a company this". At this point she wrote the word "Death" on the board, and the crossed it out. What?? Who is named death??? She went on, talking about how a corporate name should be easy to pronounce and the same across borders. I decided to mention an exception to her, the fact that the grocery store chain "Aldi" (German) is actually called "Hofer" in Austria. As Sandra predicted, she didn't understand a word I said. Looking around the classroom, everyone was playing solitaire on their laptops (Gabi!! I saw you doing that! And no I won't let you copy my notes!!), reading magazines, talking to their neighbor, or doing a crossword. Of course the situation was funny and all, but I did begin to feel a little sympathy for the poor teacher.... She did seem nice enough after all... and that certaintly can't be easy for her. Of course, this is speaking from the new-teacher-myself perspective. Also funny: I signed my name on the attendance list, which will probably cause some confusion in the main office. WHO is Arthur Cornwell??? Björn said I should go to the office later and ask for a certificate proving my attendance (A Bestätigung- one gets one of these for almost everything in Austria... like crossing the street, for example. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration....). Everyone thinks the situation was very funny. Good times.

Stayin' Alive

2005-11-07T17:55:00.000+01:00

Today was a pretty good day, all things considered. My activities in the 4th level class went over well, although the class is difficult to control. Being the younger ones, they always want to test their limits. Afterwards I talked to Frau Professor Soleder about it, and said that I have a hard time being strict because it simply isn't part of my personality. She urged me to channel the darker side of my personality. I think I can do that :) The next lesson was lots of fun, because the 7th level class is very intelligent and engaged. They had asked me at the beginning of the year what my favorite band was, and if I could share some music with them sometime. I devoted my entire lesson to two Cake songs: "Dime" and "Palm of your Hand". They really loved it and we got plenty of discussion out of it. I was planning to have them write a little mini music review at the end, but they talked about it so much that I actually ran out of time! That was wonderful.... normally I feel like I'm grasping for things to do at the end. Still feeling the need to stay active, I decided to go ice-skating after class. They have a nice setup at the Sportzentrum, with two outdoor rinks. The rental skates were a bit expensive, and they were also too narrow and the arch too high. Ouch!! I had lots of fun there, but some blisters to show for it. I think I've decided what I want for Christmas: Mom and Dad, send me my skates!! They're in a box in the basement. That's all I want. Seriously. Well, that and maybe some crunchy Jif.

Vacation Over!!

2005-11-06T21:52:00.000+01:00

Hello All...
I've been spending my Sunday trying not to get depressed about the gray weather and the fact that I'm really starting to feel quite homesick. Yesterday I felt melancholy all day and sat in my room doing a lot of nothing until Sandra rang and invited me to go out with her and the gang. I decided that was probably a better alternative than staring at the ceiling, so I agreed. We went to a new place called CEBU, which is a funky little cocktail bar that looks like a tiki lounge. And guess what I found there.... a real American-style gin Martini!! It was delicious. Also, its a lot more comfortable than Mendez because the music isn't so loud that you have to scream to have a conversation. In Mendez I find myself saying "WAS?????" a lot of the time. I think I have a new favorite locale. Well, that was yesterday... and today is Sunday. I was starting to feel blue again at the beginning of the day, so I decided to take a proactive approach and go for a nice long recreational bike ride. I went over to the next village, called St. Georgen, which was very quaint and pleasant with its old buildings and lots of tractors and smoke coming from the chimneys. I also swung by the swimming pool just to check out the hours, and probably would have gone back for a swim if I hadn't had so much to do in preparation for tomorrow. In theory, exercise and physical activity are great antidotes to depression. I did feel better after my ride. Back home I had to read and correct about 30 essays on the topic of "My Ideal School". Correcting essays is so strange... I now have a deeper appreciation for all of my German teachers that had to read our crap homework and try to evaluate it fairly. Some of them were very amusing, particularly the kid who proposed a "heavy-metal school". Oh my. I've just got all my lessons in order and tidied up... so hopefully I'll be able to go to sleep early enough to have some energy in the morning. Those kids are gonna have lots of fun tomorrow, gosh darn it. As for me... I'm hanging in there.

Ikea-fication

2005-11-04T15:18:00.000+01:00

Since I finally got paid, I made a trip to Vienna with some of my wonderful new friends in order to make a trip to the big blue and yellow Swedish superstore. I was supposed to catch a train out of Eisenstadt at 06:53 AM and then meet Stefan in Bruck an der Leitha, but unfortunately overslept and woke up to a telephone call from a quite perturbed friend saying "WO BIST DU???". He informed me that the next train left in precisely 25 minutes, and that I had better hurry up. I rushed out the door like mad and flew with the bicycle to the train station. I caught the train, so it all worked out pretty well. Finally met up with Stefan, had some coffee, wandered around the shopping streets, checked out the parliament building and imperial palace, met up with some more friends, went a museum exhibition about Austrian Architecture since 1945, and then finally caught the blue and yellow IKEA bus. Yes, Ikea has a free bus that takes people from downtown Vienna to the shopping city, which is about a 30 minute drive when traffic is good. I managed to buy all kinds of nice things for my room, such as a new duvet cover, some knives, a French Press, coffee mug, blanket, some live bamboo, and an ironing board. I managed to get all this for €53! I love Ikea!! Of course, hauling all that stuff back in the train that evening was a bit of a challenge, but I managed. And now my room is Ikea-fied, and as you can see from the photo, much more "gemütlich" than it was before. I will have to resist the temptation to make another trip!

I love Catholic Holidays

2005-10-31T00:05:00.000+01:00

Well, I have a week of vacation.. yes that's right, a whole week, for All Saint's! I know I should probably get some serious travelling in, but I've opted to be a little more boring and make trips to the cinema and swimming pool instead. I do plan to spend at least a day in Vienna though. Sorry I haven't been writing as much as earlier, but the newness is starting to wear off as I settle in more and more here, so therefore the motivation to write is a little less. However, I'll try my best to keep up. Last week I had a wonderful dinner with Sandra and her boyfriend Björn. It was a sort of interesting thing called "reclatte", which involves something similar to a hot-plate with little mini-frying pans that go underneath the heat. One takes little pieces of bacon and wurst and cheese and cooks little bite sized thingies one at a time. I told them I had never seen such a thing, and Björn commented that it was probably too slow for the Americans. He's probably right. I of course wanted to return their hospitality and invited them to have stir-fry with me tonight, which we did, and it was good. They also read the blog, and we had a very funny talk about the toilet thing. To Grandpa- They all thought your advice was brilliant :).

An Ode to my Toilet

2005-10-28T23:08:00.000+02:00

My toilet is a special thing... it is always ready to take care of my evacuatory needs. One thing that is commendable about European toilets is their water saving features. Note the two buttons placed on the wall above. The small button uses a minimal amount of water, and the larger button provides a little more force. Are these for #1 and #2? I daresay yes, but it isn't precisely clear. Of course, some toilets veer into the extreme of water-saving technology with something I call the "poop-deck". These types have a flat, dry, surface... which can be rather unpleasant before flushing and require a good brushing after each defecation. Luckily, mine is not of this sort... and is constructed of a traditional bowl that contains just enough water to cover the poo, praise the lord. I remain, as ever, eternally grateful to modern plumbing.

Bird Flu?

2005-10-27T18:01:00.000+02:00

OK... not to get everyone worried or anything... But I received the following email from the American Consulate in Vienna today:

During the past several days the media have reported extensively on Avian influenza, commonly referred to as "bird flu" or Avian Flu in English. Austrian ORF radio reports that Austrian officials found a dead swan on the Hungarian side of Lake Neusiedl (Neusiedlersee). Hungary's chief veterinarian officer, Miklos Suth, said Austrian officials gave the swan to Hungarian health authorities for Avian Flu testing. Test results are expected in a few days.
The U.S. Embassy reminds American citizens in Austria that information about Avian Flu, including suggested precautions, is available in the U.S. Department of State's "Avian Flu Fact Sheet" located here, which was updated on October 19, 2005. The Fact Sheet includes links to Avian Flu information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Embassy urges all Americans in Austria to monitor these websites as they are updated with current and
accurate information. The Austrian government has an emergency plan for Avian Flu and has been screening poultry for the Avian Influenza virus since 2003. All test results to date have been negative, and the most recent occurrence in
Austria was in 1946.
In the event the Austrian government suspects an Avian Flu occurrence, the Austrian emergency plan will go into effect immediately. The plan includes the appointment of national, regional or local crisis centers, the investigation of animals, the lockdown of affected farmyards and regions, the vaccination of poultry stocks, and standard operating procedures for officials and veterinarians as well as directives for veterinarians, farmers, and the population at large.
For more information about Avian Flu, you may also wish to refer to the
following websites:

Word Health Organization: frequently asked questions about Avian Flu

Centers for Disease Control: general information about Avian Flu

Austrian Foreign Ministry: information about Avian Flu (English)

Austrian Foreign Ministry: information about Avian Flu (German)
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad
should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs
Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide
Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S., or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
The Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy is located in the Marriott Building, on the fourth floor of Parkring 12a, in the First District. The Consular Section can be reached through the embassy switchboard at (43)(1) 31-339. The website is located at www.usembassy.at

Note: Neusiedlersee is 20km from Eisenstadt.

oh... my... god...

2005-10-26T10:06:00.000+02:00

Well, today is Nationalfeiertag, and Austria is celebrating 50 years of the second republic and their freedom from Nazi Germany. Of course we all have the day off... so last night John and I decided to go hang out in the Buschenschank again. That's where we met these two old spitfires! They're both named Maria, so we have to call them "little Maria" and "big Maria". Little Maria is absolutely hilarious!!! That's her... the blond one with the coat that looks like a garbage bag. She kept buying us round after round of wine and telling stories about her canadian relatives visiting her and how one of them was soooo fat he had to have bricks under his bed, etc. She tried to hook him up with a woman, be he told her he only loved men. She thought this was hilarious. Let's just say that it was very... interesting evening.

Photos for the Masses

2005-10-24T14:53:00.000+02:00

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!

What's a "Buschenschank" in English???

2005-10-20T07:56:00.000+02:00

I had a wonderful afternoon diving into the local culture yesterday. John, Bridget, and I got together to explore the local "Buschenschanks", which is a traditional autumn happening. Since this is a wine growing community, there are many local families who have their own private wineries. The government allows them to open their residences 3 times a year to sell their wine to the public free of tax. You can tell where such places are by the bush hanging from the door (hence the name). This is definitely where the locals hang out. Since the harvest is just in, these places are open at the moment and we got to taste the new vintages. We were welcomed by the locals, and some drunk carpenter guy talked to us for a couple of hours. I had four glasses of wine, and it only cost €2,60, which is what one glass normally costs! I guess the tax-free thing really helps. After getting somewhat toasty, we took Bridget (the English girl) back to the Studentenheim to show her around and take her in the sauna, which was a great deal of fun. They're all planning to go back today, since the carpenter guy invited us back for his birthday. Could be dangerous! But, I was in bed at 10:30, and now I'm awake at 8:00 and getting ready to go to school. What a cool place this is!

Getting Colder

2005-10-19T11:25:00.000+02:00

The weather here has started to get chilly. I also just got a bicycle, so I've been sporting the scarf and gloves when riding to school. The commute is so much better now, and I don't think I will end up getting a car simply because the money could be used for better things, I think. I also hear that the snowplows are very effective, so it shouldn't be a problem in the winter. And, on particularly snowy days, there is always the City-Taxi. Today I divided my students into groups and had them look through copies of the Athens News and make lists of things that they found interesting or strange. It was really cool, since they were all very interested and since Athens is such a peculiar place, we had plenty to talk about.
Fun factoid: I assume many of you are familiar with the show "Pimp my Ride" on MTV, where they take people's old crappy cars and, well, pimp them, with sound systems and DVD players and fancy paintjobs. Well, they absolutely love that show here, so much, in fact, that there is a low-budget German version called "Pimp my Fahrrad" (Bicycle). It is absolutely ridiculous, they take people's bikes and add silly streamers and bells and things. So very strange.
My thoughts are becoming more and more germanified, so much that I have actually been dreaming in German. I also bought a radio alarm clock, which is really cool because now I can listen to funky german musik and hear the news and weather. About half of the stations are Austrian, and the other half Hungarian, since I'm so close to the border. It seems that the best music is on the Hungarian stations, which is unfortunate, because I would rather here the German language. Either way, its a good way to wake up in the morning. I made it to my 8:00 class this morning fresh and ready, thanks to the Red Bull I had for breakfast. Did you know Red Bull is three times stronger here? It is an Austrian product, by the way. They can't do it that way in the US because it violates the drug laws! It says it has 32mg of caffeine per 100ml, and the can contains 250ml. I'm not exactly sure how that works out... but I think its way stronger than coffee. Cheers to stronger Red Bull.

Where All the Naughty Children Live

2005-10-16T20:20:00.000+02:00

I have been having a pleasant weekend in Eisenstadt. I went out with all my new friends last night, which was great, because we're only getting closer. The best story of the night was about a local taxi driver. The city taxi only costs two euro, so it is a very popular option for going out in groups. Once you get four people in a taxi, it only costs 50 cents to get to the bar. Well, as you may know, our address here is known as "Campus 2". One of the taxi drivers in town always calls it the "Krampus", which is very witty. Krampus is an Austrian/German Christmas tradition, and it's sort of the anti-santa day. Some guy that works for the devil comes every December 6th to find all the naughty children and beat them with sticks or something like that, as far as I understood it. So, everyone thinks that this particular taxi driver is quite funny. The preffered locale for young drinkers is called the Mendez, and it has a sort of Cuban theme to it and is actually quite large and usually crowded. So, this town isn't entirely boring. So, I amused myself, and made it safely back to Krampus :)
I know I haven't been posting many pictures, so I took one of the sun setting outside my window and of the technology center next door.

Tomorrow I don't have to teach, because there is an information day for teaching assistants. All of them that work in Burgenland are coming here to Eisenstadt. I don't know exactly what they're going to do with us, but I'm looking forward to it because it will include the French, Italian, and Croatian assistants as well as the English speakers. Need to catch up on my rest so I can be energetic for the week.

Freitag is a super Tag

2005-10-14T16:21:00.000+02:00

Despite a horrible bout of insomnia last night, today has been wonderful. Of course, the day didn't start off so well, since I only got about four hours of sleep. I did, however, wake up with plenty of time to get to school. Once I got there, I was quite dismayed by the fact that they were out of coffee. I learned that the teachers are the ones who buy it and bring it in, so next week I plan to make my own contribution. The first lesson, another one on Ireland, was really no fun at all. The kids were all really tired, and so was I, so it was kind of like pulling teeth to get them to talk. The teacher chewed them out for being lazy, and later explained to me that this is her least favorite class because they are always despondent. After that, I had an hour free until the next lesson, and I was quite happy to discover that the coffee machine had been refilled. This is where the day starts to get better! So, I had about four cups, and went to the next class. This group was much more energetic, (and so was I!), and I was giving a lecture on the American school system. I am much more knowledgeable about this than Ireland, and I think the kids find it more interesting as well. After school, I went to meet my second translation client. John, the other TA, referred me to him, since he feels his knowledge of German isn't sufficient enough to be of any help. This one is a man named Stefan, who is a 45 year old engineer. He has been employed in the construction industry ever since he graduated high school, but recently decided to return to a technical university to further his education. He has to give presentations and write essays in English about architecture and engineering. I helped him for three hours with his homework, and my experience at RVC Architects really came in handy here, since I know how to use phrases like "construction management", "sub-surface conditions", "short-listed", and things of that nature. He and his wife and two children live in a beautiful house that they built by themselves about 10 minutes outside of Eisenstadt. They were all very friendly, and I earned 50 euro! Not only that, but it sounds like he will be in need of my services on a regular basis, and I will be meeting him again tomorrow. Very good news to a poor soul like me, and I actually enjoy the work because I feel as though it not only improves his English, but my German as well. For example, I learned that Austrians do not say "Backsteine" for "bricks", but rather "Zwiegel". Good to know, because up until now I have been explaining Athens architecture to my students by using the High German rather than the Austrian word. Silly little words like that are often easier to translate rather then explain in the classroom... although I usually do say a little piece about clay coming from the ground and being backed into bricks. Thank god its Friday! Going to relax for most of the day tomorrow.

Almost Late

2005-10-13T15:21:00.000+02:00

Drank too much last night, showed up at school five minutes before my class after practically running through the city. Looks like I'm getting back to my old ways again! Must be careful. The Direktor apparently trusts me enough to teach alone, because that's what he had me do. It was actually kind of fun because the students open up a little bit more when their regular teacher isn't sitting in the back of the classroom with them. I used a very nice little piece called "Party Cries in Ireland" by Mark Twain. The drug lesson went over OK as well, and we even sparked up a good debate about drug testing in schools. Some were against, and some for, so it was very lively and productive.
I have been in contact with my dear french friend Alice, and I hope to be able to go visit her in Dijon this winter. She works and lives in London, but will be coming home for Christmas. I met her at Ohio University when she was a graduate student, and we were housemates for awhile. I met her parents when they came to Ohio for her graduation. She writes "I think my Dad still remembers crossing your path in the middle of the night on the way to the toilette in the nude, like you do, on 123 North Lancaster Street..." Tee hee!! Her poor father... he doesn't even speak any English. Her mother is also very nice, and ironed my pants for me! Can't wait to see them again!

My lesson was taken over by the police!

2005-10-12T14:51:00.000+02:00

Interesting thing that happened today- I went to teach one of my lessons, but I couldn't. There was a policeman there with a laptop, and he was giving a presentation to the class about drugs. The teacher had not been told that this was happening, so I had to go in and sit down and listen to the Austrian policeman talk about how "drogen sind schlecht, mkay". He took the entire hour. So, I only got to introduce myself very briefly, and I said "I'll be back". This cause an uproarious laughter, which really confused me. Later, the teacher explained that the kids though this was so funny thanks to that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then it all made sense! At least they understood me, I guess.
There was a little shindig here in the dorm last night, and I had a lot of fun and made some new friends. There is a girl named Sandra that I have hit it off with very well. She and her boyfriend are driving to Hungary this weekend to go shopping (cheaper stuff there!), and they invited me to go along. Hooray! It will be much less daunting for me to venture into eastern Europe when accompanied by friends. And I won't even have to buy a train ticket!
That's really all I can think of to write at the moment... but I am proud of myself since I have been writing something almost every day. Now, all of you readers need to post some more comments or send some more emails so I know that I actually have an audience :)
-Art

Work at the HTL- finally

2005-10-11T13:43:00.000+02:00

So, I had a nice day at the HTL. I went in at 10:35, as promised, and met with all the English teachers in the lounge. They all argued about who got to have me in their lessons and when. They ended up compromising such that I go with certain teachers one week, and then others the next. It was rather amusing, but kind of complicated. There is a German teacher at this school who was very excited to meet me. Apparently she did an exchange program in Minnesota when she was 19, so she was very conversational with me. She also teaches the choir class, and had a rather amusing question for me. She asked me to explain what "Sock it to me" means, since the class is singing "RESPECT" by Aretha Franklin. How exactly does one explain that? I had to say that in the context of the song, it means "Give it to me", in reference to the respect. But, then I also had to explain that to "sock" someone is to hit them. She was confused. Come to think of it, so am I. I love you Aretha, but your lyrics don't make any sense in this case!
My contact teacher, Sonja, is super nice. I really really like her! I found out today that she is pregnant. She told me when she asked me to carry the projector upstairs. So cute! I think she said she's about 3 months along or so. It should be interesting, since I will be here for the rest of her pregnancy. I wonder if I'll get to meet her baby! Her class was very friendly and pretty interested. I think they have been the first ones to laugh at my jokes. Overall, the HTL seems to be more laid back than the Gymnasium. It's a damn good thing too, since they don't have any free coffee here like at the other school.
I got mail today! Hooray! One piece was a letter from the Ministry of Education stating my official salary and the fact that I'm in their system. This is good news because it probably means I will get paid on time. The other was from the Ohio BMV, a packet of forms for replacing my drivers' license from abroad. I had contacted them by email, and they were astonishingly efficient.
Food! I went to the grocery and I bought some mixed-grain organic bread. The loaf weighs an entire Kilo, and I think it could probably be used as a deadly weapon in case of emergency. My weak butterknife is hardly the tool to cut it with either- a chainsaw would be more appropriate. But damn is it good bread! I also managed to find some pesto (yum!) to go with my chicken and pasta. So, I've been eating better since my little adventure at McDonald's.
Anyway... it's back to the HTL tomorrow for another round of introductions. Looks like Wednesdays are going to be busy, starting at 8 am. Until next time....

A Brand New Week

2005-10-10T15:25:00.000+02:00

Well, happy Monday to everyone. Mine has been good so far... first thing in the morning I went to the HTL to see if I could finally figure out my schedule there. I found my contact teacher, but she said she didn't have the time she thought she would because of the new schedule and the fact that she had 5 minutes to make a 10 minute walk to the other building rented by the school. She explained that they had too many students and not enough classrooms, so they rent another building elsewhere in the city. I walked with her for a ways, and we got to chat and she seems extremely friendly. She told me to come back again tomorrow at 10:35 and meet her in the teachers' lounge. After that I had plenty of free time, so I decided to walk up to the Gymnasium and continue my love affair with the coffee machine and prepare some things for my afternoon lessons. I gave two lessons today, one to a 4th level (12-13 year olds) and one to a 7th level (16-17 year olds). I kept the young ones busy by drawing my family tree on the board, explaining about everyone's professions and hobbies, and then asking them to write their own family tree. This prompted lots of good vocabulary questions, so I think it was quite useful. This was a particularly rowdy bunch, so I'm glad I had Andrea with me to keep them under control! The 7th level class was a bit calmer and more advanced, so I divided them into groups and made them read different sections of the Wikipedia entry on Athens, Ohio, and report back to the class. They were a lot of fun and a very bright bunch of students.
This Thursday I am supposed to do a lesson on Ireland and another on drugs. I was planning to use an A-News article about the Alexander School District drug testing policy. I spoke to the teacher about it, and she informed me that one of the students that had graduated last year had been found dead of an overdose in Vienna, and that one of his siblings was in the class. Jesus christ. What am I supposed to say to that? Is this silly drug testing thing even an appropriate topic? I'm not quite sure how to handle this one... But I will come up with something. As far as Ireland goes... I'll just have to do a bit of research.

I went to... ug... McDonald's

2005-10-09T19:50:00.000+02:00

Well... I hate to admit it... but I did. You see, the thing is, grocery stores in Austria have very limited hours. They're open from 8-6 on weekdays, 8-12 on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays. This is a national law designed to protect workers from their employers, ostensibly to make sure they get to have some free time and can go to church on Sunday. That's great for the workers, but bad for me... since I slept in on Saturday I missed my opportunity to go to the store and buy some fresh bread, cheese, and käsewurst. But, there was that bastion of American convenience right around the corner: McDonald's. I must admit that I haven't even been to one in the States for many years, since I've always been very anti fast food and would much rather have gone to the Farmacy in good old Athens OH and picked up a turkey and havarti sandwich. Anyway... it was either cheap plastic food or starving, so I went in and ordered a "McChicken Maxi-Menü" (umm, combo meal, that is). Really, there are only 2 differences between a European McDonald's and an American one. #1: You do not get any ice in your soda here. #2: You don't have to take your tray to the garbage. They do that for you. Other than that, its exactly the same... dirty fat people and screaming children and all that stuff. It felt kind of awkward... like I had stepped back into my own country. I wondered if the people eating here considered it to be exotic and foreign... that's kind of how it felt to me. Weird. I'm going to make sure to go grocery shopping this Friday and stock up on the good stuff.

First Week in Eisenstadt

2005-10-08T14:11:00.000+02:00

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

Car?

2005-10-06T16:45:00.000+02:00

There's a 1986 diesel Peugeot hatchback in the paper listed for €300, and I got an insurance quote of about €35/month. Very tempting!!! There's also the possibility of leasing... which might be practical in that I wouldn't have to worry about selling a car back. In other news: I have a translating job lined up for Saturday. I'm happy that I am able to find ways to supplement my income! I might also start offering tutoring for my students. I hear the going rate is about €17 per hour.

Guess who's waking up early every morning?

2005-10-05T19:51:00.000+02:00

Me!

I keep having these terrible dreams about oversleeping and losing my job and being sent back to *eek* Athens!
Then I wake up and realize that it's 6 am and I have 30 minutes until the alarm goes off. Classic.

Job going well... I met the Direktor (principal) of the Gymnasium today, and he was very very nice. He also happens to teach the highest level English class, which I will be going to at noon (praise the lord!) tomorrow.

I feel like my English is getting worse... since I practically never use it outside of the classroom. For example, the title of this entry. Should that be who's or whos? Damn grammar! Not to say that its any easier auf Deutsch....

The iPod makes my morning walk much more tolerable than one might imagine.

In other news... I found an iron for only €8. Now I can come to work with a crisp shirt!

I went to the sauna tonight... this place is so pimp!!

Have a drink in Athens for me...
much love,
Art

First days in school

2005-10-04T13:57:00.000+02:00

Hey Everyone...

My first couple days as a teaching assistant has gone well so far... I'm still trying to set up my schedule and stuff. All of the teachers seem really nice, although the Gymnasium is a bit more conservative. Unfortunately it looks like my schedule will kind of suck, I was hoping to get either Monday or Friday off, but the way it looks now I'll probably have Wednesdays free. My contact teacher says she tries to give assistants 3 day weekends so they can travel, but we have to work with the way the English classes are set up. I have absolutely no schedule at the HTL yet. I went there, and they said they're making a brand new class schedule next week, so I have to go back Monday to figure out what's going on there. On Monday I went to a 3rd year English class, where all of the students were about 12 years old. That was kind of awkward since they couldn't speak much yet and I had forgotten the display adapter for my laptop (I was going to show them pictures of Athens and stuff). Nonetheless, everyone has treated me well and the teachers have all insisted I call them by their first names and in the informal "du". Tomorrow I'm going to a 6th level class, and I'm going to be sure to bring my display adapter for the projector this time!! Money kind of sucks... especially since I've had to buy some pots and pans, sheets, and things like that. Everyone I talk to is always astounded at my language skills, and they invariable say, "You speak such good German" and they give me a bewildered look and ask "How???". This makes me feel good.
The commute really sucks. It's about a 30 or 40 minute walk, and the busses are completely crappy and impractical. Everyone keeps asking what I'm going to do in the winter, and they usually recommend that I lease a car. I wish. Probably too expensive, and I lost my driver's license (AGAIN) at home. I don't know, maybe I'll ask at the embassy in Vienna if it's possible to get a replacement. Used cars are very cheap here (you can get an 80's VW for about 300 euro or so), so the idea is very tempting.
There's a girl on my floor that I think has a crush on me. She let me borrow her pots and silverware so I can cook. After making a nice meal of chicken curry, rice, and broccoli, she said "Ein Mann der kochen kann!! Heirate mich!!" (A man that can cook! Marry me!). She's so friendly I hate to rain on her parade... sheesh it makes me feel awkward though. Hopefully I can buy some silverware soon and return her stuff.
Mom- Got your package today! Thank you so much! Sorry the second one with all the books and stuff costs so much to ship... I didn't think it would be that expensive... The powerpuff-girl booties are extra special.
Until next time...
-Art

Fotos von Eisenstadt

2005-10-03T19:03:00.000+02:00

Weekend in the Haus

2005-10-02T18:20:00.000+02:00

Hey Everyone...

This place is amazing! First of all, my room is really comfortable and has a nice big window. Everyone seems to hang out in the communal kitchens in the evenings to drink and smoke. Its pretty much a big euro-pudding, since I've met people from the following countries: Romania, Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and Finnland! They all speak german when they're together, which is great, because I'm actually as good if not better than most of the foreigners. One girl, Sandra, who is from Vienna, is particularly nice. She said my German depressed her, because it was better than her English and she had been studying that for 9 years. Another girl, Nina, let me borrow her pots and pans for a few days until I can get my own. I've been eating bread and cheese, pasta and sauce, and rice and stuff. Oh, and did I mention there's even a sauna? I haven't been yet, because its only open during certain weekday evenings, but I can't wait to take advantage of it!

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, and John let me borrow his bike. I explored all the historic districts of town, and found my school, which happens to be on the opposite end of town on top of the big hill. Would probably take about 30 or 40 minutes to walk to, but there is a bus that will take me most of the way. Once I got up there, I noticed on the map that there was a scenic bike route, so I took that and got an amazing view of the city. I took a lot of pictures, but you'll have to wait till tomorrow when I have an internet connection in my room. I also went to the big palace downtown, which has beautiful gardens, and explored that as well. Next to that there is a big pedestrian zone that has lots of cafes and shops. I was wandering through that when I heard someone call my name, and it turned out to be the other two teaching assistants hanging out at one of the cafes. It was kind of odd being somewhere completely foreign to me and hearing someone yell "Arthur!!"

Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day, since I have to show up at my school for the first time, register my address with the authorities, and open a bank account. Phew!

So, keep checking back for all those photos.. they're pretty amazing, since this is a pretty amazing place!

-Art

Arrival in Eisenstadt

2005-09-30T18:40:00.000+02:00

I've just arrived in Eisenstadt about an hour and a half ago. When I was coming in on the train, I saw a gigantic rainbow, which I took as a very pleasant omen. I just moved into my room, and it is very comfortable and nice. I have my own bathroom, and there are all kinds of built in cabinets for clothes, shelves, a desk with drawers, a phone and everything. The staff seems to be very friendly, and there are lots of young people around. I am up on the third floor, which makes me happy. I always love being higher up off the ground. I won't have internet access in my room until Monday when the office is open and I can get my password, so I am using John's computer in his room. He moved in here last month, and is doing the same English-teaching thing. I am so very happy and excited to be here! I'm going to go the kitchen and eat some ramen with John now, so I'll write more later. Oh, phone number, for anyone interested in calling me (mom), is (from the US) 043 2682 704 58 363.
Cheers!

-Art