Ich lerne Deutsch

So we've been in Austria a little more than two months now and I'm happy to report a noticeable improvement in my German (or Cheeehrman, as they pronounce it in English). I can understand more than I can say, but my conversational skills are also improving. How have I been learning, you may be asking yourself? Well, let me tell you.

Method #1: Weekly Deutschkurs at the Volkshochschule in Amstetten

Every Wednesday evening, I ride the train 20 minutes to Amstetten where I take a German class for foreigners. It's organized through what could be the equivalent of an Adult/Community Ed course in the US. There are only four of us in the class, and we're quite a diverse group. First we have Raja (I have no idea how to spell her name). I think she's from Serbia but has been living in Austria for several years. She speaks fluently but took the course to improve her grammar. She's about 35 and has a 5 year old son. Then we have Gabul (I have no idea how to spell his name). Gabul is from Hungary. He's probably in his mid-20's. That's about all I know about him. Last but not least we have Nabathu (I really have no idea how to spell his name). Nabathu's in his 20's and from what I can tell, he's from Thailand, but I have no idea why he's in Austria. I think he's living with a family here, but his German is far from stellar. He's a mystery I'll try to solve before the course ends.

To add to the mix, our instructor is from Romania. Her name is Christina. She also speaks English but fortunately she doesn't use it too much with me in class. Her German is a little bit difficult to understand at times because she speaks softly, but my ear has improved greatly over the weeks. Needless to say, we're an interesting group with varying levels of German. The course has been helpful, but I won't jump to sign up for it again.

Method #2: Coffee with Elsa

I've been really lucky to find my own personal tutor (aside from Michael, of course). Elsa and Josef live in Wieselburg, they're in their 50's (ok, Josef just turned 60) and have been so welcoming to us. We've adopted them as our Austrian parents and have lunch with them several times per week. Josef is also a teacher at Michael's school and Elsa is a teacher in Amstetten. She just had major back surgery though so she isn't teaching this year and has plenty of time to teach me German and for me to teach her English. It usually seems like we end up speaking more German than English, but that's ok. It's been really helpful for me to force myself to speak more German. Sometimes we do grammar exercises and other times we just talk. Knowing I will be meeting with her keeps me accountable and motivates me to keep learning German. Hopefully one day I will be able to hold normal conversations auf Deutsch.

Method #3: On my own

This is self explanatory. I use books, the internet, Rosetta Stone, Michael, etc. As mentioned in Method #2, meeting with Elsa and Josef keeps me accountable and is one of the reasons for Method #3.

So that's the story. Hopefully by May I'll be fluent.

ÖBB

The ÖBB is the Austrian National Railway system. It's efficient, modern and convenient. From a customer's stand point, I'd say the employees generally seem to be satisfied with their work. I rarely encounter a crabby ticket controller.

One thing I haven't figured out though is the job function of the mysterious station master. What exactly does he do? (This post will soon be updated with a photo of so called train master)

At the smaller stations, the station master will sit inside some mysterious office doing who knows what. From time to time, he will mumble something over the loudspeaker, usually about a delay. Then, as soon as a train approaches, he will walk outside, put a little hat on, watch the train go by, take his hat off and go back inside. Why is this hat so critical? More importantly, why does he put it on only when he goes outside? This is a mystery to me, but it makes me laugh.

Luxuries I wish I had

Some days you just need to vent. Today is one of them for me. Before making too pessimistic of a blog entry, however, I’d like to preface it by sharing with you the luxuries I'm happy I have here in Pöchlarn. First and foremost would be the internet and cell phone. Following close after would be a washing machine (even if it’s an old clunker) tables and chairs, pots and pans, a bed, functioning heat, a shower with good pressure, and a pretty sweet bike called “the Panther.” I didn’t name it, but I kind of wish I had. Then I could say I named my bike “the Panther.” My bike in the US was a Huffy, not nearly as cool.

On a side note, I left “the Panther” at the train station one weekend while traveling. This was Halloween weekend; perhaps it makes a difference. I’m always a little nervous when we return because I’m never quite sure if my bike will still be there. So far it always has been. That’s the good news. The bad news is that on this such weekend I was welcomed back to find my seat and handle bars covered in blue toothpaste! Ha!

I’m thinking it could have been a Halloween prank because I saw silly string elsewhere throughout the city, but regardless, it was a pretty good prank. It didn’t even bother me because I was so impressed by the guilty party’s ingenuity. I did end up walking my bike home only because I didn’t want a blue butt, but that was fine. Michael lucked out; he had left his bike at home, which, by the way, does not have a cool name like “the Panther.”

But back to my story about luxuries, or lack thereof. Of course, when living in another culture, the differences always seem to make themselves most apparent and we tend to overlook the similarities, at least at first. Truly, not having these luxuries really hasn’t been a bother, but some days I wish I could just throw my dishes in a machine or tumble dry my towels so they’re soft and fluffy.

This list is not all inclusive, but I think it covers most of my grievances for today. I try to be resourceful with the things we have and not focus on what we don’t. Living in Austria is not like living in a Third World Country. We have everything we need. That’s why I call them luxuries. Here goes…

Luxuries I wish I had:

• Garbage disposal – instead we have this little tray covering the drain that traps everything from the tiniest grain of rice to leftover chunks of vegetables, meat, etc. The problem is if the tray is full, water can’t drain so you end up with a backlog of very small foot particles that are too large to go down the drain. This is where a disposal would come in handy.
• Dryer - you'd tire of wearing crunchy underwear too!
• Dish washer – even though we only have a few plates, bowls and cooking ware, we still have to do the dishes several times a day. It can get to be a real drag.
• Non-smoking restaurants – Austria is a little behind the game in my opinion. In this country, a person can smoke just about anywhere he or she pleases it seems. This includes restaurants and cafes. Usually going out for a cup of coffee or dinner is enjoyable. Here you walk into a room of haze and walk out smelling like an ash tray. They do have non-smoking tables, but those are right next to the smoking tables. Does that make sense?
• Screens on our windows – I’m not sure why they don’t have screens on their windows here in Austria. I know it's hard to believe, but there are bugs here that will enter your apartment if you leave the windows open (and even if you don't they still come in). This isn’t so much a problem now that it’s colder, but it was a major problem for me a few months ago. The mosquitoes are the size of small birds here. I’m serious. They bite me and then the bite swells to the size of a dime and itches like crazy. Some bite marks are still lingering on my skin if you want proof. Here is also a photo of a mosquito I just killed so you can see what I'm talking about.
• TV – I don’t really need or want a TV but I’m on a roll and thought I better put it on the list just for good measure. We watch movies on our computers so a TV really isn’t critical, but who doesn’t like to turn on the tube every now and then?

Ich bin Lehrerin!

It's true, I officially have an unofficial job as an English teaching assistant!

Today was my first full day of lessons at the high school in Amstetten (pictured above). It was quite an experience working with students of varying levels and ages, as well as with those that like to talk and with those that are mute. For never having taught a class before, I'd say the day went pretty well. I taught lessons to five different classes and covered topics of US media, our political system/President Obama, current fashion trends among teenagers, and the US school system. Because the Austrian school system is quite different than ours, it's interesting to compare and contrast the two. To be honest, I still don't completely understand the Austrian system, but I'm learning. To put it simply, they have more specialized, technical training in some high schools compared to the more general courses everyone takes in the US. They also have multiple high school tracks that students can take which complicates matters even more.

In general the students were inquisitive and, after some prodding, willingly participated. It's weird, but the younger students tended to participate more than the older students, who should feel more comfortable speaking English since they've been taking classes longer. The most commonly asked question they had for me: Do students in the US wear uniforms? I didn't think it was that common, but apparently it is in the movies because that's where they gain a lot of their insight about the US.

Munich

Admittedly, I've been slacking with my blog posts, so now I will make it up with an impressive entry on Munich. Well, I'm not sure that the entry will be that impressive, but Michael and I were sure impressed with the city.

We arrived Friday night with enough time to visit the Hofbräuhaus with my parents before they flew home Saturday morning. We had some schnitzel, sausage, strudel and not to mention, beer, before calling it a night.

On Saturday, we spent some time leisurely exploring the city before joining up with a free walking tour. We decided if the tour was lame, we could always leave. Turns out the tour was far from lame, in fact, we'd both consider it the highlight of our trip. Our guide, Dominik, was extremely animated but also down to earth. He explained the history, culture and great events that took place in Munich while walking past the exact buildings where these historical events took place. Never once during our three-hour tour were we bored or uninterested.

Our tour started at Marienplatz in front of the new city hall (at left), not to be confused with the old city hall (below).

The new city hall is just 100 years old, but it was built in a gothic style to give the impression that it's much older than it really is. We continued to walk through history starting with the Church of Our Lady whose two towers were spared, although damaged, during WWII because they were used as navigational devices (in lieu of a GPS). We continued walking through old and new parts of the city, including the ritzy Maximilianstrasse with designer shops, luxury hotels and fancy cars lining the street. We decided to pass up the 15 Euro shot of espresso.

On Sunday, we finally had a sunny day! We took full advantage by being outside nearly all day. We started by walking to Schloss Nymphenburg, which was the main summer residence of Bavaria rulers dating back to 1675.

We then made our way to Olympic Park, home of the 1972 games, before enjoying the fall colors at the hugely impressive English Garden.

Of course, no trip to Munich is complete without drinking a couple beers. We ended our stay in Munich with a visit to the Augustiner Bräuhaus. They've been around since 1328; I think it's safe to say they've perfected their art.