Last weekend I got to delve a little farther into the culture here in Austria, outside of the big bad city. On Saturday, Sophie's father picked us up and drove us an hour out into the country to visit her half brother, Benny. He's about twelve, and stays with a family, a couple with two young children, in a quaint little village. I don't really know how the family relates to him, but they were all very nice. First, we were served an enormous and delicious meal of soup, and then meats and vegetables cooked on a platter there at the table, along with potatoes and salad. For dessert there was tiramisu. I was stuffed full. By that time, all I wanted to do was roll up in a warm blanket and take a nap. However, the family had other plans, which turned out to be way better. We took a walk through the village and out along a gravel road into the mountains. It began to snow while we were walking, and we had soon turned off the path, crossed a stream and began to hike up a mountain. Well, perhaps it wasn't really a full size mountain, but it was pretty big. When we reached the top, we found ourselves on a peak where had once sat a small castle where a knight used to live. All that was left was the remains of a stone wall, which was where we sat and took a breather. I gazed around at the beauty around me. All I could see for miles around were trees, hills, and nature. Not a hint of a car motor roaring past, only birds calling and the wind swirling around us. No city to light up the already perfect sky as dusk slowly crept over us. I believe that was the moment I truly fell in love with this place. The architecture is beautiful here in Vienna, the city wonderful. But it is the Austria outside that is the best of all to me. There's so much nature here. So much space to enjoy the world we were born to live in, free from all things made by man.
So, we hiked back down the mountain and enjoyed warm cups of hot chocolate before hopping into the car and riding back to Vienna. However, we did not go to Sophie's house, but instead to the other side of the city where her grandparent's live, and where her father is staying for a short time. There, we were treated just as all grandparents treat their grandchildren: were given way too much food, played lots of games, and overall had a great time. In the early afternoon on Sunday we rode back to Sophie's mother's house. There, Sophie and I did our homework, and then went out to meet our friends from school to go ice skating in the park in front of the Rathaus (City Hall). There are two large rinks connected to each other, and many trails winding through the park. Music plays the whole time, and there are stands to get hot drinks and snacks when the skating gets too cold. I don't skate very often, practically never, so I was clutching Robin (the other exchange girl from Toronto) or Sophie's hand most of the time. However, by the end I was skating a bit on my own. I payed a price for all the fun though with two very large, very painful blisters on my feet. I must be crazy, because I agreed to go again this Saturday night. Maybe I can find thicker socks, or wear a couple pairs at once... By the time we got home, Sophie and I were exhausted, and all of us who had gone skating were like zombies the next morning at school. Robin said it was like we had all stayed up until two in the morning clubbing instead of ice skating, and Sophie and I were the worst. It was completely worth it.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Fun Facts
I know it's been awhile since I've written. As I think I've said before, the internet is faulty, and it's been down all week. We only just got it back last night, and I was too tired to write anything. Well, here I am at the end of my second week of school. It's been long, exhausting, frustrating, but full of learning and fun as well. However I am not going to commence bemoaning about my troubles or singing praises about my new home. Nope, I'm just going to go through some fun facts about the little, and big, things that are different here than Emerson, and even in the United States and Canada. (I know the Canada because the other girl exchange student is from there). Anyways, here they are.
First of all, I have a little bone to pick with Mr. Child. Why did he not warn me that there is an H in European music? Or really anyone who knew of that fact. It is very strange. The way it works is that their H is in place of our B, and their B is our B flat. So this is the way a scale goes: C D E F G A B H C. Does that make sense to you? It really doesn't to me. Also, they don't use Do Re Mi, but instead Prim, Sekund, Terz. I suppose here theirs makes a little more sense, but it still confuses me.
Fact number two is that they don't really have main lesson books. Okay, sure in Chemistry they had books that they wrote down all their experiments in, but when they had to hand them in at the end, there was no stressing, no coloring, no overall making them beautiful, and they weren't even hand bound! Well, I guess the hand bound part isn't such a big deal, but really, main lesson books aren't even mentioned. Sophie didn't at first know what I was talking about when I said we sometimes had to bind our own books.
Next on my list is the fact that for the first week of school, cell phones (most of which were iPhones) were used blatantly and normally, with all the teachers okay with it. Someone even looked something up on his phone and showed it to a teacher, in the middle of class. I don't really understand it. Now, it's gotten a bit stricter, but still.
Another about the school is that they have a kitchen where the high school students can go get a hot meal. It's 4.30 euros a meal, and it's very good. You can do that, bring your own lunch, or you can walk the few blocks to the local supermarket and purchase your meals there. No permission slips! And you can eat in class whenever you want. Well, actually the math teacher doesn't let you, but all the others do.
I'll end with one more little thing that I find entertaining. Most of the swearing is done in English. There are a few German ones, but the most that I hear are in English. They'll also just break out into random song in English, or in German. But, as a comforting note, the boys here are just as crazy as though back home, and as Sophie, Patricia and I have concluded, boys are crazy, no matter how big or small, young or old, they are "verruckt."
First of all, I have a little bone to pick with Mr. Child. Why did he not warn me that there is an H in European music? Or really anyone who knew of that fact. It is very strange. The way it works is that their H is in place of our B, and their B is our B flat. So this is the way a scale goes: C D E F G A B H C. Does that make sense to you? It really doesn't to me. Also, they don't use Do Re Mi, but instead Prim, Sekund, Terz. I suppose here theirs makes a little more sense, but it still confuses me.
Fact number two is that they don't really have main lesson books. Okay, sure in Chemistry they had books that they wrote down all their experiments in, but when they had to hand them in at the end, there was no stressing, no coloring, no overall making them beautiful, and they weren't even hand bound! Well, I guess the hand bound part isn't such a big deal, but really, main lesson books aren't even mentioned. Sophie didn't at first know what I was talking about when I said we sometimes had to bind our own books.
Next on my list is the fact that for the first week of school, cell phones (most of which were iPhones) were used blatantly and normally, with all the teachers okay with it. Someone even looked something up on his phone and showed it to a teacher, in the middle of class. I don't really understand it. Now, it's gotten a bit stricter, but still.
Another about the school is that they have a kitchen where the high school students can go get a hot meal. It's 4.30 euros a meal, and it's very good. You can do that, bring your own lunch, or you can walk the few blocks to the local supermarket and purchase your meals there. No permission slips! And you can eat in class whenever you want. Well, actually the math teacher doesn't let you, but all the others do.
I'll end with one more little thing that I find entertaining. Most of the swearing is done in English. There are a few German ones, but the most that I hear are in English. They'll also just break out into random song in English, or in German. But, as a comforting note, the boys here are just as crazy as though back home, and as Sophie, Patricia and I have concluded, boys are crazy, no matter how big or small, young or old, they are "verruckt."
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A Day of Firsts
I had a lot of firsts yesterday, the most important being that it was my first day of school in Vienna. I didn't write about it yesterday because I was so exhausted. It was a very long day. I had to get up at six in the morning in order to shower and be ready to meet the bus at seven nineteen. Of course, it had to be late, and it also had to be raining. After about fifteen minutes on the bus, we took the subway for ten minutes, and then walked for five minutes to the school. It had to still be raining. Once in the nice warm, dry school, I met my Austrian class for the first time. Let me just say this, there are a lot of them. Well, the class isn't really that big, only sixteen with us exchange students, but compared to what I'm used to, it's huge. Of course there are more boys than girls, but only few. I'll go more into their characters once I actually get to know them better. However there is one little first that I just have to share. It was my first conversation with one of the boys, in which he asked me if there were cows and sheep in North Carolina. When I said yes, he wanted to know if there were also cowboys. That made my day.
Anyways, back to the important stuff. I soon learned that I was about to take a blast to the past, in which I was transported back to my days of waldorf middle school, with a class teacher and everything. We stood up and recited the morning verse, and I have to say that I now appreciate Frau Boesch making us learn that in class, for I felt like a very proud waldorfian reciting along with them. Next came announcements, students not having late main lesson books, the normal stuff. Then came something different; we made comics. However, we had to write them in german, so I was really no help to my group in any way. I basically sat there, listened, smiled and nodded when spoken too, and tried to understand what was going on around me. That took the whole main lesson period. We then had a brief snack break, and went on to language classes.
You know those times when your friends are talking about a book you haven't read, or a movie you haven't seen? When you catch some words, but really it's just like another language. Now image that they are trying to explain that book or movie to your other friends using another example that you also don't know anything about, but they all do. That is what Spanish class is like. The other students who are in the class with me are there because they know nothing about Russian, which the others are taking, and maybe have had a little experience with Spanish. That means that most of the class is in German, with the translations of all new vocabulary in German as well, which doesn't really help me. It is mixing two languages that I have always tried to keep separate in my mind. I can do it, and the teacher speaks English also, so after class I can ask about the homework, but it is a lot of work, and very exhausting. It was almost a relief to go back into their German lesson, like our English. They had read a book over break (which of course I did not read), and were discussing it, so I got to zone out. Yes, I tried to pay attention, and I did catch onto some of what they were saying, but it was always so fast, and in a much more complicated level of speech than I have learned yet. The teacher then read from Anne Frank, which I could not understand. In my defense, everyone else barely understood it as well.
Lunch was next, and then art. In it, we are making these sort of relief drawings on very thick paper like material. After drawing on your picture, you carve out the the relief using a small chisel. I spent the two hours drawing on my design, and it was such a release to just let all language run away from me and immerse myself in the silence of the page. I gave no thought or effort to understand the people around me, unless they were speaking to me. I simply drew, and forgot that I was in a completely foreign world. It was amazing.
After art, we went to handwork for the last two hours of the day. There, we put together looms so we could begin weaving. I had to actually pay attention to the world again, and it was then that I realized how exhausted I was. People warned me that I would be tired, and I knew it would come. Constantly striving to translate every word I hear is extremely draining. By the time we made it back to the subway station, I was ready to fall asleep then and there. But I couldn't, especially when I was surrounded by curious members of the ninth grade class all asking questions at once. I know I should have known what they were saying, but they were all new voices, speaking very quickly, and my brain had shut down by then, refusing to put forth any more effort. I had to look to Sophie for help, which she willingly gave. Saved by her again. I have a feeling that it going to happen very often in the next few months. We went home, did our homework, and then hid in our rooms and did absolutely nothing productive. It was wonderful.
Well, I apologize to anyone who didn't really want a full recounting of my day, but perhaps after reading this you can get a feel for exactly how tired I was, and am, for today was just as long. Oh yes, and tomorrow is going to be an hour longer, with us having a two hour long PE class that we have to leave campus for, so it lasts until five. Yippee!! And now I have exhausted my last bit of energy left today, so I will say goodnight. Gute Nacht!
Anyways, back to the important stuff. I soon learned that I was about to take a blast to the past, in which I was transported back to my days of waldorf middle school, with a class teacher and everything. We stood up and recited the morning verse, and I have to say that I now appreciate Frau Boesch making us learn that in class, for I felt like a very proud waldorfian reciting along with them. Next came announcements, students not having late main lesson books, the normal stuff. Then came something different; we made comics. However, we had to write them in german, so I was really no help to my group in any way. I basically sat there, listened, smiled and nodded when spoken too, and tried to understand what was going on around me. That took the whole main lesson period. We then had a brief snack break, and went on to language classes.
You know those times when your friends are talking about a book you haven't read, or a movie you haven't seen? When you catch some words, but really it's just like another language. Now image that they are trying to explain that book or movie to your other friends using another example that you also don't know anything about, but they all do. That is what Spanish class is like. The other students who are in the class with me are there because they know nothing about Russian, which the others are taking, and maybe have had a little experience with Spanish. That means that most of the class is in German, with the translations of all new vocabulary in German as well, which doesn't really help me. It is mixing two languages that I have always tried to keep separate in my mind. I can do it, and the teacher speaks English also, so after class I can ask about the homework, but it is a lot of work, and very exhausting. It was almost a relief to go back into their German lesson, like our English. They had read a book over break (which of course I did not read), and were discussing it, so I got to zone out. Yes, I tried to pay attention, and I did catch onto some of what they were saying, but it was always so fast, and in a much more complicated level of speech than I have learned yet. The teacher then read from Anne Frank, which I could not understand. In my defense, everyone else barely understood it as well.
Lunch was next, and then art. In it, we are making these sort of relief drawings on very thick paper like material. After drawing on your picture, you carve out the the relief using a small chisel. I spent the two hours drawing on my design, and it was such a release to just let all language run away from me and immerse myself in the silence of the page. I gave no thought or effort to understand the people around me, unless they were speaking to me. I simply drew, and forgot that I was in a completely foreign world. It was amazing.
After art, we went to handwork for the last two hours of the day. There, we put together looms so we could begin weaving. I had to actually pay attention to the world again, and it was then that I realized how exhausted I was. People warned me that I would be tired, and I knew it would come. Constantly striving to translate every word I hear is extremely draining. By the time we made it back to the subway station, I was ready to fall asleep then and there. But I couldn't, especially when I was surrounded by curious members of the ninth grade class all asking questions at once. I know I should have known what they were saying, but they were all new voices, speaking very quickly, and my brain had shut down by then, refusing to put forth any more effort. I had to look to Sophie for help, which she willingly gave. Saved by her again. I have a feeling that it going to happen very often in the next few months. We went home, did our homework, and then hid in our rooms and did absolutely nothing productive. It was wonderful.
Well, I apologize to anyone who didn't really want a full recounting of my day, but perhaps after reading this you can get a feel for exactly how tired I was, and am, for today was just as long. Oh yes, and tomorrow is going to be an hour longer, with us having a two hour long PE class that we have to leave campus for, so it lasts until five. Yippee!! And now I have exhausted my last bit of energy left today, so I will say goodnight. Gute Nacht!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
I know it's been awhile since I've written. This is a new home for them as well as me, and with that comes the little things that go wrong, such as the internet. For the past few days, it has been off and on, and I never know when I will be able to get on. At home, I could go on the internet whenever I wanted. Just another one of those things that is different in a new home. For the past two nights, that we luckily have had service, we watched Austria's version of American Idol: The Voice Of Germany. It's been very interesting, with German and English songs being sung, and all the comments in German. Sometimes, one of the judges says something really quickly, and everyone starts laughing. I chuckle along, although I have no idea what the joke was. Sometimes I ask, but others I just let it go. It is really hard to understand the judges. They all speak differently, and at varied speeds. I can catch a few words, and as I start getting used to their voices, I can understand more. It is like in America when people have very different accents. You can understand easily what people from the south are saying if you are from there, but if you are a northerner, it is like a completely different language. The longer you are around them, and hear them talk, you can understand the accent better.
It is like this for me, with everyone I meet. Sophie I can understand almost all the time, and Patricia most of the time. Her younger brother Julian is not too hard, but Helmut, her stepfather, is very hard to understand. He's barely ever home because of his schedule at the hospital, and he talks so fast when he comes home. I have not had time get used to the way he speaks, and even though it is the same language and accent as Sophie, even the subtlest of changes in pronunciation throws me off. The other day I met one of Sophie's best friends from school. We went to a coffee shop and spent hours talking. At the beginning, I barely understood her, but by the time two hours had gone by, it was much easier, and I was even able to join in the conversation a bit more. It was fun.
Okay, enough language stuff. Today we went to Karls Kirche (Church). It was so beautiful. They are in the middle of restoring the frescoes, as well as the outside sculptures, so there is an elevator and some stairs in the center of the church to reach the top. The inside is finished, and we were able to go up to the very top where there are windows so we could look out over Vienna. It was so amazing to be able to walk around right next to the paintings. So close in some places that I could see the little lines of the ceiling. Even though all of it was painted, some of the decorations seemed to pop out of the walls and seem solid. Art at its finest. Below are the pictures I took in the church, as well as a few of the outside. Sorry a lot of them are sideways. Uploading pictures on here is tricky. Enjoy!
View down the center aisle
Organ in the back
The front altar
This is the view from the very top
A separate alcove
The huge front doors. My head comes up to the handles.
It is like this for me, with everyone I meet. Sophie I can understand almost all the time, and Patricia most of the time. Her younger brother Julian is not too hard, but Helmut, her stepfather, is very hard to understand. He's barely ever home because of his schedule at the hospital, and he talks so fast when he comes home. I have not had time get used to the way he speaks, and even though it is the same language and accent as Sophie, even the subtlest of changes in pronunciation throws me off. The other day I met one of Sophie's best friends from school. We went to a coffee shop and spent hours talking. At the beginning, I barely understood her, but by the time two hours had gone by, it was much easier, and I was even able to join in the conversation a bit more. It was fun.
Okay, enough language stuff. Today we went to Karls Kirche (Church). It was so beautiful. They are in the middle of restoring the frescoes, as well as the outside sculptures, so there is an elevator and some stairs in the center of the church to reach the top. The inside is finished, and we were able to go up to the very top where there are windows so we could look out over Vienna. It was so amazing to be able to walk around right next to the paintings. So close in some places that I could see the little lines of the ceiling. Even though all of it was painted, some of the decorations seemed to pop out of the walls and seem solid. Art at its finest. Below are the pictures I took in the church, as well as a few of the outside. Sorry a lot of them are sideways. Uploading pictures on here is tricky. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A Strange New Life
It is like a new world here. In some ways, it is exactly the same as my old life, and in others, completely different. Here, when I wake up in the morning, everyone else is still asleep, or just waking up. To get dressed or go to the bathroom, I have to be really quiet because the floors creak and I don't want to bother anyone. I keep being told, this is your house too, you should be comfortable with getting whatever food you want, or do what you want. But the problem is, they already had a life here before I came, a life that I know barely anything about. What if I do eat something, but it turns out it was the last of some special present for another? They all knew that, but I didn't. I would feel extremely guilty, and afraid. I know it is silly. Probably something like that will never happen, yet I still am afraid that it might.
It is like that feeling that you get when you go to your first sleepover at a friend's house. You know nothing about their life, and are learning new things each second. They do things that you would never dream of doing, like eating in your room, or never watch tv. It's a new world, and though it is exciting and you enjoy being with your friend, it is also very unsettling. When you wake up in the morning, you are almost relieved to go home to that familiar atmosphere in which you know exactly what is expected of you, and what is allowed.
That is what it is like for me, except, I never get to go home. Instead, I spend everyday learning new things about this life, and tiptoeing around things I am not sure of. It is so strange to hear a conversation, that is really not towards you, and only understand a few words of it. It is like standing in a large, echoing room with tons of people, all speaking at the same time. You can only catch a few words here and there, maybe sometimes get a gist of a conversation, but most is a blur.
Right now, I can write this without having to really try to form the words. What I want to say runs smoothly on the page. But when I have to speak in german, every moment I have to search my brain for the right word. Every moment of the day that I am with someone, I have to be completely concentrated on what is happening in that moment, or else I will miss something. If I even tune out for a moment, I might find myself with someone looking at me expectantly, and me staring blankly back. This happens often, even when I am paying attention. Because of all these awkward moments, I have set a goal for myself. One that maybe would seem obvious, but is very important to me. By the end of these two months, I want to go out into the streets of Vienna, or onto a subway, and be able to tune into any conversation I want, and understand the gist of what they are talking about. I don't want to have to work so hard to understand and speak this language, because being able to express myself clearly and easily is one of the things I am homesick for most at this moment.
It is like that feeling that you get when you go to your first sleepover at a friend's house. You know nothing about their life, and are learning new things each second. They do things that you would never dream of doing, like eating in your room, or never watch tv. It's a new world, and though it is exciting and you enjoy being with your friend, it is also very unsettling. When you wake up in the morning, you are almost relieved to go home to that familiar atmosphere in which you know exactly what is expected of you, and what is allowed.
That is what it is like for me, except, I never get to go home. Instead, I spend everyday learning new things about this life, and tiptoeing around things I am not sure of. It is so strange to hear a conversation, that is really not towards you, and only understand a few words of it. It is like standing in a large, echoing room with tons of people, all speaking at the same time. You can only catch a few words here and there, maybe sometimes get a gist of a conversation, but most is a blur.
Right now, I can write this without having to really try to form the words. What I want to say runs smoothly on the page. But when I have to speak in german, every moment I have to search my brain for the right word. Every moment of the day that I am with someone, I have to be completely concentrated on what is happening in that moment, or else I will miss something. If I even tune out for a moment, I might find myself with someone looking at me expectantly, and me staring blankly back. This happens often, even when I am paying attention. Because of all these awkward moments, I have set a goal for myself. One that maybe would seem obvious, but is very important to me. By the end of these two months, I want to go out into the streets of Vienna, or onto a subway, and be able to tune into any conversation I want, and understand the gist of what they are talking about. I don't want to have to work so hard to understand and speak this language, because being able to express myself clearly and easily is one of the things I am homesick for most at this moment.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Goodbyes
Yesterday morning, Mommy, Bruce and I brought my luggage over to Sophie's house. She met us at the bus stop and showed us the way. Of course, Bruce had to take a ton of pictures of the journey to and from the house, and of the house itself. I know I'll thank him one day, but now... Here are a few.
By the time the tour was over, it was getting rather late, therefore time for Sophie and I to go home. We all walked together to the subway station, but then Mommy and Bruce had to get on a different train. Goodbyes were said above ground in the station, and then we descended to where they would arrive. However, subway stations being as they are, we could see each other across the tracks. How trains came at the exact same time, and we waved goodbye before they crossed in front of us.
Free at last! Actually, not really. I still got an email from Mommy reminding me of all the little particulars, and I'll talk to them on Skype often. I love my parents, and appreciate all that they have done for my to help make this possible, even the reminders of the little things. I know in a few days I'll start getting very homesick, and miss them quite a lot, but right now, I'm really enjoying the freedom.
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