Halliburton and the OSCE
Mwahahaha. If one were to peruse my blog and read the title of this particular entry, one would assume that my blog deals with political issues and conspiracy theories. Quite the contrary, actually. Puns are truly wonderful.So, I've spent the past five days in Halliburton (or Hollaburton, I suppose I should say....finefinefine it's Hollabrunn.) Hollabrunn is a small *small* town about an hour outside of Vienna, and this fine town was the location of my second orientation. The first was for Fulbright grantees, and this one was for all English teaching assistants in Austria (including Americans, Brits, Scots, Irish, and Australians.) All told, there are apparently around 200 or so of us, but there were 2 orientation sites based on where people are living, so there were "only" 90 people at the seminar I attended.
Where the Fulbright orientation was varied, engaging, and well organized, this one was....not (photo is me, Alexis, and Kim trying to look psyched about being there.)
It was actually pretty frustrating to be there, because people kept giving us the same administrative information (for example, registering with the police) over and over and over and over and over and over and over again (that was seven overs, one for each time we heard a speech about the Meldezettel -- yeesh.) Once we moved past that stage, however, things picked up a bit. We were divided into 3 groups of 30, and each was led by an Austrian teacher of English. It was literally learning how to plan lessons and teach them in 4 days or less, and we did actually get a lot of helpful information towards the end. The orientation also included a visit to the local Hollabrunn schools, which ended up being very fun, as we were all able to participate in various English classes.My main issue with the week (besides repetition of information) was that it did not have to last a week. Rather, we could have learned everything in a more efficient manner in probably half the time. But ah well, such is life. Oh, and we stayed at this place that is part boarding school, part conference center, and the food was about as good as you would expect from such a place. Honestly the best part of the week was that at least I had a group of friends there with me. Kelly, Kim, Alexis, and Kristina are all also on the combined grants, and we got to hang out a lot (there was a LOT of time killing going on.) Also, I met a few other people (a Brit, an Irishwoman, and a few fellow Amis) who will be in Vienna this year that I like a lot. I also liked being a mock student assigned to be a troublemaker when people were peer teaching -- I was never bad in real life because of my guilt complex, and it was funny how bad I felt getting yelled at even when I was supposed to act out!!
Thursday (day 4 in Hollaburton) was my birthday, and it was kinda pathetic how I got all sad
about being in a tiny town, not even able to read my emails or receive phone calls. It was the first time I've been lonely/homesick since arriving, but I was kind of expecting to feel that way then. The day ended well, though, as a large group of us went out to die Bar in *downtown* Hollabrunn (haha there is one bar and it's name is "the bar.") It ended up being really fun, especially since people kept buying me celebratory beverages! :-D We ended up back at the hostel at around 1am, which left plenty of sleep time before the final day of the seminar. The photo is Kelly climbing the door of my hostel room before we left.We headed back to Vienna today *insert Hallelujah Chorus here - yes I know it's overdone, but I don't care* and I've never been more excited to see a train station! I spent my afternoon putzing (a wonderful activity...), but all the girls had made plans to spend the evening at Kristina's apartment, eating pizza and watching Bowling for Columbine, which apparently will be a hot topic of conversation in our classes.
Now comes the really good part! :-) Kim, Alexis, and I decided to meet a bit earlier at the Schottentor Strassenbahn stop and travel together. I was the first to arrive, so I settled myself on a bench with my ipod to wait for the others. People came and went, since the Schottentor is a very well travelled stop with several lines crossing through, but at one point a grandfatherly looking man and a granddaughterly looking little girl sat down next to me. The little girl was so typically Austrian -- blonde and adorable, and she started talking to me (in German of course), so I conversed with her about the Strassenbahn for a few minutes before calling Alexis to see where she was. The man overheard me speaking, and when I hung up, he asked if I was an American. I said I was, and we started talking about where he had been (NYC, DC, Fl, West Coast), what I was doing in Vienna (a student at the university, and also an English teacher at a Gymnasium), and if I spoke German (yes, but not as well as I'd like). Then their train pulled up, and he stood up to go. Before he left, though, he asked me if I would like to babysit. Of course, I was a bit taken aback, but he had been very nice and his granddaughter was adorable, so I said yes. He gave me his card and told me to call. Okay, now is when it gets really good. After he walked off, I looked at his business card.
He works for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He is the "country representative for Germany." This man is the German ambassador to the OSCE. OH MY GOD. One of the (many) reasons I came to Vienna was to study the OSCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is why I absolutely do NOT believe in coincidences. If I had been sitting one bench over, we never would have talked, and I wouldn't have met this incredibly influential man who could turn out to be an invaluable resource to me!! That is not chance, that is God.
Anyway, so tomorrow I am definitely calling him!!! WOW. I'm still so...I can't even describe it!! Thrilled, shocked, amazed, AMAZED, amazed, the usual really :-)
After that interlude, the three of us headed to Kristina's for pizza, wine, and
Michael Moore (we were told that we should watch Bowling for Columbine to deal with questions from students.) The evening was great -- Kristina, me, Kelly, Kim, Alexis, Jo, and two TAs from the orientation, Amy and Catherine. We ate a LOT of pizza, drank 2 bottles of wine, and had a fun and girly evening (the photo is the girls with the *ahem* empty pizza boxes. Man, you see what happens when you get 7 hungry females together :-DWow. Right. So, now I must go sleep so I can get all my errands done tomorrow before Alexis, Kelly, and I commence our search for the perfect cafe in which to write letters tomorrow afternoon. Should be fun, and I think we're going for Thai food after, which is always a good thing!!
I miss you all sooooo much, and thanks for the birthday notes (letters, calls, emails, e-cards, facebook -- it's all appreciated!)
posted by Carly Fowler @ 12:54 AM
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