La-la-la-la Linz!

I really like Linz. I don't exactly know why, but I do. Michael knows this very well after hearing me say it every 10 minutes while we walked around the city. I think maybe one of the reasons I like it so much is because it seems to be under appreciated. Granted, it was the European Capital of Cultural for 2009, but I think they had to do some work to get that recognition (just a hunch). Historically, it seems to have had the reputation of being a nasty, polluted city full of factories. Maybe that's true, but nonetheless, I liked what I saw.

Last Sunday, we took a day trip to the city. It's just a little over an hour by train, straddled between Vienna and Salzburg on the main train line that cuts across the country. On Sundays, most things are shut down in Austria, but museums and cafes are still usually open - cafes being the more important of the two for us. We started our tour through the old city glimpsing sights of the Neuer Dom (New Cathedral), Alter Dom (Old Cathedral) and Schloss Linz, among others.

After losing feeling in our fingers and toes, we headed into the Ars Electronica Center, an interactive science, technology, space center, to warm up. The highlight was definitely the 3D tour of space, which the guide narrated, natürlich, auf Deutsch. Another highlight was getting to see my (or Jane Doe's) internal body organs in the New Biology lab. After watching nearly the entire first season of (Dr.) House, these biological/medical things are starting to intrigue me. If I watch a couple more seasons, I might be able to get my MD. Watch out, world!

Enough with science and technology. What visit to Linz wouldn't be complete without having a piece of Linzer Torte? I truly admire the Austrians dedication to their ritual of taking an afternoon coffee (and cake!) break.

Michael and I enjoyed the Cafe Traxlmayr experience for an hour or two, flipping through the dozens of newspapers and magazines they have available for customers. By this time, huge snow clumps had begun to fall, and my "I really like Linz" phrase had turned into "I LOVE Linz!" Obviously this type of snowfall doesn't happen every day, but it sure made for a picturesque stroll through the Alte Stadt.

We wrapped up our day with a visit to the Lentos Kunstmuseum; we were in the Cultural Capital of Europe after all. We needed to partake in some cultural activities. There was just a small exhibit open featuring Austrian artists, including Oskar Kokoschka who was born in Pöchlarn. My favorite, however, was by Gustav Klimt - Frauenkopf (below).

And because a gray, foggy, snowy day in Linz doesn't exactly make for the best pictures, I swiped some from the internet. They look a little 1970's, but you get the idea.

A new teaching adventure

Word of mouth can be great, especially when it results in a full-time teaching assistantship for me. Such is how I came to be the English assistant at the Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium Wieselburg (BG/BRG for short) and at BORG Scheibbs, a high school focusing on art and music in a town about 20 minutes from Wieselburg. Through May, I will be splitting my time between the two schools by spending one week in Wieselburg and one week in Scheibbs. See map for a visual of where Pöchlarn, Wieselburg and Scheibbs are in relation to one another.

The story of my employment goes like this:

The Fulbright teaching assistant for the Gymnasium (pronounced with a hard "G") simply didn't show up. He didn't tell anyone, just decided to stay home I guess. Lucky for me, however, because the school still really wanted an assistant. This is where the word-of-mouth part comes in. The teachers at Michael's school of course knew that I was in Austria and not working. During their weekly lunch at Mr. Lee (probably the only Japanese restaurant in all of Lower Austria), one teacher at Michael's school mentioned that I was here to another teacher at the Gymnasium, and the rest is history. The teacher contacted me immediately and we began work on submitting the necessary forms so I could officially be hired. After working our way through the Austrian bureaucracy, I was officially able to start after the Christmas holiday. What this means is that I have the exact same job Michael has with the same pay and benefits. And all I had to do to get the job was be here.

Now I'm a week into the job and loving every minute of it... except the waking up at 5:50 a.m. part. My internal clock doesn't register that time very well. The students in Wieselburg range in age from 10 to 18 years old and are primarily university track students. They speak English quite well and appear to be interested in what I have to say. I get quite the variety as well. This week I went from one lesson where we did "Head and Shoulders" with 10 year olds to reading "Brave New World" with the 18 year olds. I now have a copy of the book to read, and even I don't know some of these words! As we both make our way through the book, I look forward to having some interesting discussions with the students about Utopian societies.

Next week will be my first week in Scheibbs, so stay tuned for more to come on that. I have met a few of the teachers though and they all seem really nice.

In addition to teaching, I'm also rocking the tutoring scene. This week I met with a student from the school I had previously been teaching at in Amstetten, and next week I'm meeting with a student from the school in Wieselburg. She is preparing to take her university entrance exam in May and wants to practice speaking English with a native speaker. Michael is also at a tutoring session right now in fact. All of these sessions mean bonus income for us. Tomorrow I'm going to an elementary school to do some basic English activities with 6-10 year olds. Should be fun but exhausting. The younger they are, the more energetic they are, and the more work they are for me! I don't know if I'm cut out for this...

I really feel fortunate for all that has fallen into my lap this semester. It's quite unbelievable that something this lucky would happen to me - and in a town of less than 4,000 no less. I'm looking forward to a busy but rewarding next couple of months of teaching and intercultural exchange.

Skifahren

After ringing in the New Year in Amsterdam, we made our way back to home-sweet-Pöchlarn where we quickly settled back into the Austrian way of life. For me, this means no more speaking English (ahh, how liberating it was while it lasted!), eating lots of wurst and enjoying the long, lazy days of life in Niederösterreich.

One of the best things about being in Austria during the winter is of course our proximity to the mountains. We took advantage of our last days of Christmas break with a trip to the Hochkar. This relatively small mountain by Austrian standards is just a short, one-hour drive from Wieselburg. Luck was on our side because the weather was perfect and the snow was quite good for this time of year. Although Michael and I have a long ways to go before we can join the talent ranks of Austrian skiiers, we still had fun. While Josef skied circles around us (literally pirouettes) and looked like he could qualify for the Austrian ski team, Michael and I made frequent stops to rest our burning legs. We've got some work to do to whip ourselves into skiing shape!

Below are some photos from our day of skiing at Hochkar and our brief stop in Amsterdam on New Year's Eve.

We're coming to America!

Well, Pöchlarn has treated us well, but we're ready to be back in the USA. With our first snowfall on Sunday and a few stray flakes every day since then, we're starting to get the Christmas itch.

Tomorrow we'll celebrate an early Christmas with Elsa and Josef followed by Michael's choir concert in the Vienna City Hall on Saturday. Sunday morning, we're off to Amsterdam and then it's back to home-sweet-home. It will be strange to return after just 10 short days in the US, but our life is here now for another 5 months. If all goes well, and we think it should, I will also be working as an English teaching assistant during the spring semester. It makes coming back better knowing we'll both have renewed energy and purpose. There's much still to see and do in Österreich!

Random sightings or experiences

Below is an assortment of random sightings and experiences from the past couple weeks. I hope you enjoy them. They are listed in no particular order.

• Michael and I didn't buy a real Christmas tree. Instead we cut some branches from the sickly looking evergreens propped up all over Pöchlarn and made our own. Ours definitely looks better than the trees on the street.

• We picked up that little pumpkin in the background at the beginning of October. We found it in a field on our bike ride back from Baumaxx (Austrian equivalent to Lowe's) and it was completely green. Two months later it's turning orange!

• I finally got my chocolate crepe fix at one the many Viennese Christmas markets.

• Last weekend we bought a candy bar out of a vending machine in Vienna. We put in exact change so I wasn't expecting anything in return. I usually check the coin return anyway though because you never know. And guess what?! 80 cents was in there!

• We were shopping for salad dressing at Spar and one of our choices was "Thousand Islands" - Islands with an "s". Haha!

• Spare ribs anyone? Elsa and Josef made sure we don't turn into spare ribs by taking us out to eat at this delicious restaurant in Vienna.

• Today they were doing some statue work outside. One man working, five men watching and a one free-swinging bishop. Amen to that.

Chickens

I have a couple things to say about chickens - yes, the animal. In small towns in Austria, it's not uncommon to see chickens running around people's yards. I'll be walking by houses in Wieselburg and all of the sudden hear clucking and other chicken noises coming from behind the fence. One house by Michael's school had five or so running around the yard. They were running by the children's play equipment and everywhere. It's so funny to see. I laugh every time.

Secondly, in regards to eating chicken - up until a couple weeks ago, I thought we had been buying chicken from Spar. The meat looks like chicken, it's packaged the same as chicken would be packaged and it has the same pink color. Heck, it even tastes like chicken when you cook it! However, much to my surprise, it turns out we've been eating turkey all along! It's not like turkey and chicken are that different when it gets down to it, but my turkey at Thanksgiving looks quite different that the turkey I buy at Spar. I think we've determined the difference between turkey and chicken is that the turkey breasts are thicker than the chicken breasts, but that seems to be the only real difference. I've been resistant to acknowledging this fact and in my head, continue to shop for and eat chicken when in fact I now know it's the other, other white meat.

Lastly, all of the chicken eggs here are brown and stamped. My mom pointed this out to me.

I guess I'm not that observant.

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.