Monday, December 19, 2005

Forgive the Delay...

Okay, so I know it's been a while. I don't have a good excuse, except to say that when one spends so much of ones time writing application essays and/or lesson plans, one does not necessarily want to spend one's free time writing some more. And from here on out, I will no longer refer to myself as "one."

That's basically my excuse, and I'm sticking by it, so there! Anyway, it is December 19, which means that it has been almost a month since I last wrote anything. That also means (and this is much MUCH more important!) that I get to go home in just a day and a half!! It has been a great 3 months so far, but there is just something about the holiday season that calls you home, you know? So, basically I have one day left of teaching (but oh what a day tomorrow will be - lots of classes - yikes!) and then I get to do my all-time most hated activity (pack - an evil, but a necessary one), and THEN I will be on the 10:10am flight out of Vienna on Monday morning, land at Charles de Gaulle at 12:15, where I will hopefully not miss my connection (because I have bad karma with that airport), and finally, I will be jetting my way across the Atlantic at 1:40pm Western Europe time. That lands me in Atlanta around 5:40pm Eastern Standard time. And from that point on, I will be reachable by cell phone (yay for being in the same time zone as people!!! Hell, yay for being in the same hemisphere as people!) And, once I get home, only 9 days until Greg arrives in Atlanta :-D

But, as I do have a full work day tomorrow, I can't dwell on home just yet (by the way - shout out to Sissy Meggy who has her surgery tomorrow. Good luck sissy :-D I love you, AND lucky for you, I get to babysit you on Thursday mwahahahaha).

So, what have I been occupying myself with this month, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Vienna is absolutely beautiful at Christmas time. I think I mentioned the Christkind markets before, but I finally got a chance to explore quite a few of them. I think my favorite was the one in the Hof at Schönbrunn palace, which is a little outside of the city. The setting is absolutely gorgeous, and the market has less hokey items. I was actually able to purchase a few gifts there that didn't feature the word "Vienna" scrawled gaudily across the front. The other market that really tickled my fancy was located in the 22nd district (which for all you non-Viennese, means that it is rather far outside of the city center, which is the 1st district. I live in the 8th district.) Anyway, the 22nd is a bit of a bus-ride away, across the Donau (which automatically means it's in the boonies), but it was worth it. The market had the typical stands and stalls selling quirky knick-knacks and special Advent "Punsch," but it also had a rather unique feature: hothouses set up depicting how Christmas is celebrated around the world. We were able to look at tableaus from such places as Romania, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Australia (an eclectic mix, I know!) Here is the Nicaraguan Christmas tableau (our favorite, as it featured a hammock, the Virgin Mary, and apparent warm weather.) Anyway, it was a fun way to spend a dreary and gray afternoon, that is for sure :-)

What else have I been up to......oh yes, last weekend, Kim and I decided we needed to leave the country for a day, so we bought 8E tickets (round trip) to go to Bratislava for a few hours. Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and is only about 90 minutes away from Vienna by bus, so it was a perfect destination for our Saturday adventure. We had a very good time, and the city had some lovely Christmas markets, but after Vienna (which doesn't feel very big itself), Bratislava felt small. We were only there for about 5 hours, but we were able to wander around the entire city center in under 2 hours, leaving us 3 hours to fill. So we wandered around again, and then we grabbed some dinner.

As a student of history, I found Bratislava to be a fascinating city. As you all know, Slovakia (formerly part of Czechoslovakia) used to be part of the Eastern Bloc, and as such, it labored under Soviet Communism for nearly 50 years, until the early 1990s. Shortly after Communist Europe dissovled, Czechoslovakia itself underwent a peaceful dissolution, and its 2 largest ethnic groups formed the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia. Now, the main economic force behind Czechoslovakia was the city of Prague, which is now the capital of the Czech Republic, and Bratislava was seen as nothing more than a regional city, which never got much of the tourist traffic. And you can certainly see Bratislava's communist past in the architecture of the place. As you drive towards the center of the city, cement block buildings abound (see picture), but you can also see the effect of capitalism on the place, as construction is evident everywhere, from cranes to scaffolding to men in hard hats. However, what I found to be even more interesting was the city center, which told a completely different story of Bratislava's history.

Before Czechoslovakia was an independent country, and before Communism was anything more than the rambling ideas of Karl Marx put to paper, Bratislava was a regionally important city of the Habsburg empire, and that history is evident in the architecture of the city center, which, I must say, is beautifully preserved (especially when compared to the architectural gems of other ex-Communist city, such as the Cathedral of Magdeburg, Germany, which fell into ruin under the East German government.) It's amazing. You cross into the center of the city, and all of a sudden, the streets are spotless, there is very little graffiti, buildings are beautifully designed and kept, and that part of the city really is charming. This photo was taken at one of the squares in the city, and you really can't tell that I'm not in Vienna. The Slovakian National Opera house even looks like a smaller version of the Wiener Staatsoper, which is one of the hallmarks of Vienna's architectural style. But anyway, I will get off of my historical soapbox now. I know I have a tendency to ramble, as my sisters like to point out, so I promise, I am done. For now, at least ;-) But one more thing, before I move on. One of the best parts of my day was being able to add Slovakia to my list of countries that I've visited (country number 10, Eastern European country number 3.) Oh, and one more thing. (Okay so I'm apparently not done rambling!) Another interesting part of the day was the border crossing. Each time we crossed, a border guard from the country we were entering came onto the bus to see everyone's passports and necessary documentation. The Slovak guard barely glanced at anything. Basically, if you were holding a passport, you were golden. On the way back, however, the Austrian guard was so meticulous in inspecting everyone's documents that I, who have every legal right to be crossing that border, got really really nervous. My take on the difference is that Slovakia just wants people to come spend their money there, where Austria doesn't need that money. AND Austria seems to have this fear that the Turks are going to try to invade it again, and maybe they think they will get in through Slovakia. I don't know. It was interesting to witness, though.

Right. Moving on. What else....work and class. What can I say? I plan lessons, I teach lessons, I plan more lessons. I go to class, I study, I go to class again. That's about it. I've finally settled into a routine, and I, being a creature of habit, find that to be a very nice development. Lessons are fine, classes are fine. If you want to know more specifics, ask and I'll tell them :-) I will say this, though, I will never want to hear the song "Frosty the Snowman" again after tomorrow, because by the end of tomorrow, I will have taught 10 lessons on Frosty. All the teachers wanted a Christmas lesson that didn't have to do with Santa Claus because the kids know that already. So I chose Frosty because he's fun and because he takes up a class period (at least with the younger kids.) Anyway, it will be nice to have a break from school in a few days!

Other than that, let's seeeee, since I last updated, we celebrated Thanksgiving a day late. This photo is of me, proudly displaying my Thanksgiving hams. We had our Fulbright "Umtrunk," where we all got together, talked about how we spent our falls, and drank "Punsch." Kelly had a Gluhwein party (all these festive beverages will have to come home with me because they are delicious!) Alexis and I have done massive amounts of Christmas present shopping, and we finally finished yesterday. This has been a 3 month-long ordeal, I have to say, seeing as how I bought my dad's present on October 1st. I heard the Vienna Philharmonic play 2 concerts on 1 day. The feature of the evening concert was the Mozart Requiem, sung by the Wiener Singverein. Both concerts were phenomenal, and the orchestra is as good as their reputation. I'm so glad I was able to get tickets. I saw my first opera here a few days ago (Lucia di Lammermoor), and now that I know how to do standing room tickets there, I will be going more often (2E for 3 hours of entertainment? Does it get any better than that? Nope!) So, as you see, I've been busy :-) But I'm ready to come home for a while.

Here is a great picture of Alexis and me after the opera, when it was snowing hardcore. Snow, the Rathaus, the Christkindlmarkt - good photography :-)

I miss you guys, but hopefully, I'll talk to most of you soon!!!!

Schöne Weihnacht :-)


P.S. You can thank my sister Meghan for giving me the impetus to come back to the keyboard. Not only do I pity her, as she is being operated on tomorrow, but she wrote the following in a comment to my last entry:
"I'm bored, i've read this entry a million and one times...i want new stuff!!! especially about any cute boys you meet that you can set me up with when i come over there...yahoo!"
I love my sisters :-)

posted by Carly Fowler @ 3:27 PM 4 comments