American Breakfast Update

Here are some pictures from the HTL's American Breakfast:

See the rest in my facebook album.

Deus Ex Machina Stories

Here are some stories from my students written while playing Deus Ex Machina (see previous post). All stories are published "as is". I made no changes to grammar, spelling, etc. (keep in mind that they had to write quickly, and didn't have time to proof read). The underlined portions are the parts I told them they had to put in their stories (again, see previous post)

1. When I woke up this morning there was no sign of my trousers. It was very late last night, I think, I was drunk. In the morning I went into the bathroom and washed my face. After that I looked out of the window, and suddenly I saw a angry polar bear running away with my trousers in his mouth.

When I came back into the bedroom a man stand there witha plate of brownies in his hands. I wondered, but I was so hungry, that I eat one, they tasted very well (edit: this should have said "The brownies tasted sooo good!"). Suddenly the man wanted to kiss me, because he thought I am his girl friend. I hit him and ran away down the street. During I was running down the street, without my trousers, I met a good friend and told him what happened this morning. I said: "It is hard to believe, but this story about the strange man and the angry polar bear is absolutely true."

My friend laughed at me and went away. I walked on and suddenly a cute little chihuahua ran to me and bit me in my leg (edit: this should have read "The cute little chihuahua barked all night"). It hurt so much. But the funniest thing about this was that I suddenly saw the angry polar bear, who had stolen my trousers. So I caught him and killed him with my high-heels, now I was happy to have my trousers again.

Note: I really like the changes this group made to my text... it's more important for them to have fun writing than for them to worry about using my cue cards verbatim.

2. Yesterday we went to the zoo. Suddenly a black cat with green eyes crossed our way. The cat stopped and looked at us. We ran away because we were frightened of the eyes of the cat. We were looking for a hiding place, when we saw a treehouse. So we climbed up the tree and hid in the tree house. We stayed there until midnight when suddenly the cat looked through the window. The cat looked so scary in the pale moonlight that we ran away again. At a bench we stopped and found a bag with brownies. We were so lucky and ate them immediately. The brownies were sooo good! The funniest thing about it was that the brownies were black with green chocolate chips. One of us had eaten too many brownies and so his stomach exploded and he was dead. And that was the last time anyone ever saw him.

Deus Ex Machina, or He Who Provides Pancakes will be Hailed as a God

So I realize I haven't actually posted much on this blog about teaching in Austria. It has mostly been about living in Austria, and traveling in Italy, and the like. WELL... I suppose the blog has to live up to its name at some point. So I am going to tell a quick story about a game I came up with for the class that turned out to be a lot of fun.

I needed a lesson for my 4th class, and I wanted to something easy and fun. I thought on it, and decided that tea story writing would be a fairly good idea. Being creative is fun, and it would be exciting to see what the students come up with. The question then became how to organize the activity that would prevent an awkward division of labor.

My idea was to make cue cards that the students would receive randomly, each with a word, phrase, or sentence on it that they would have to incorporate into their story, no matter how absurd or ill-fitting it was to the plot that they already had. It also gave me the power to be creative--since the story writing would progress in rounds, I could change the rules of play each round as I saw fit. I called the game Story Snake since we would be piecing the story together with a long string of cue cards.

The students really got a kick out of the game, I think. They had to think on their feet and discuss how they could make cards fit. I really got a kick out of it too, because I could be "mean" to the students by changing fundamental rules midgame to keep them on their toes. The stories were very random... some groups were able to incorporate the cue cards better than others. But that was to be expected.

After class I was thinking about how I could improve the game (mechanics--laminated cards instead of paper ones; different general themes, e.g., fantasy, mystery, or sports; and improvements to the rules, when the following occurred to me: the whole thing sort of works like a Greek play. The stories are completely random, and the plot is driven by the introduction of unanticipated and illogical characters and conditions. The Latin term for this is deus ex machina (literally: "god from the machine"--but a better translation might be "god that we make"). This refers to the penchant in Greek drama to resolve conflicts through the intervention of a god, king, or other character, that has not been previously introduced into the story (or alternatively, has no logical motivation to intervene). It is basically the "easy fix" of literature. God snaps his fingers and all is well in the world. Think Shakespeare's As You Like It. Anyway, I named the game Deus Ex Machina and now part of the lesson is a quick lesson about what this means. Learning Latin in English class from a guy who can't even consistently remember that the word Latin needs to be capitalized. Who would have thought?

In other teaching news, I am making pancake breakfasts for the graduating classes. So far I have done one breakfast (actually it was a full American Style Ordeal complete with scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, o.j.... too much work), and I will be doing at least one more. It's a lot of fun to have breakfast with the kids and just chat rather than having to actually teach something. It is a nice way to... I guess connect... even though it happens in the last class we have together. I guess maybe it is a graduation present of sorts. It is lots of fun anyway.

I guess that's all for now. Good night and good luck.

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everybody!

I spent the last week banging the environmental drum and teaching Austrian students about Earth Day. For the most part students seemed really interested and excited to talk about ways to reduce human impact on the environment. The things they liked the best were things we can do without changing our lifestyles. It turns out we waste a lot of energy--energy that we can save without doing anything radical like spending thousands on a solar energy system.

We had a lot of great discussions and came up with some goals that the students promised to think about for the rest of the year... hopefully they will stick to it! If nothing else, their parents will appreciate the lower utility bills.

I am even taking one class out to pick up garbage around town--a real Earth Day activity that US school kids will be doing around the nation today.

Finally, I wanted to mention/comment on a response I got from a particular student. He said, "I don't think it's important to do anything for Earth Day. It's not like what we do makes a difference." I think this attitude is really common and very understandable. I feel like this too, sometimes. However, if you actually think about this attitude, you quickly see how sad it is. Speaking hypothetically, even if global warming is natural and not caused by people, there is no reason to handle our environment as if it is a disposable good. As the saying goes, "Don't shit where you eat." Why would we want to throw trash where we walk, live, or drive? And if somebody else throws trash where we walk, live, or drive, why wouldn't we want to pick it up? If you can't convince yourself it makes an environmental difference, then at least clean up out of egotistical self interest: a clean neighborhood is a beautiful neighborhood, and a beautiful neighborhood has higher property values.

Every bucket, --even the bucket that is our in-need-of-a-good-spring-cleaning environment-- is filled with individual drops. If you refuse to put your drop in the bucket and never do anything to reduce your impact on the environment, then it is your fault that the bucket never fills up. Just sayin.

Hopefully you are all participating in the festivities today by doing the two most important Earth Day related activities:

1. Taking Action.
This is going out and doing something nice for Mother Nature that you normally wouldn't do. It can be picking up trash in your neighborhood or along a country road, putting up bluebird houses (ask the landowner first--he/she will say yes--especially if you are going to maintain the houses in the future), or installing a compost bin for your veggie scraps.

2. Make Some Goals.
This means taking a look at your impact on the environment and making goals to reduce this impact over the next year. A lot of things require a lifestyle change, but don't despair! There are a lot of things you can train yourself to do that make almost no noticable change on your day-to-day life. The only place you will notice these changes is on your utility bill! Most people can easily cut their utility costs by 15-20%.

The following are some things I talked about with my classes to save energy and help the environment. They are all things you can do without a big lifestyle change.

• Pick up trash when you go walking. Walking by litter on the street is just as bad as putting it there yourself.
• Use a cloth shopping bag. Bringing your own bags when you go shopping makes a huge difference, both in the energy cost of disposable bag production and in our environment and landfills. By number (not by volume) 10% of all trash found in the ocean is a plastic shopping bag. I guess having your wild-caught Alaskan cod pre-packaged is an advantage for some people?
• Turn off lights you don't need. If you aren't in the room, the light can just as easily be off. The idea that turning the light off for 10 minutes actually uses more power is a myth. The reality is that if you are going to be gone for more than .2 seconds, you are wasting power by leaving the lights on.
• Don't leave appliances on stand-by mode. Unplug appliances if you can, or turn off power at the switch. Otherwise your appliances are still sucking current. (This really does suck up a lot of power--a TV that is turned off is still sucking power from the outlet. The same goes for your computer, DVD player, and even your cell phone charger whether or not it is charging your phone. According to Wikipedia this cleverly coined "vampire power draw" amounts to up to 10% of your electricity costs. Want to cut your electric bill by 10% next month? Kill vampire power draw.)
• Shower, don't take baths. Ok.. Ok.. everyone knows this. But how about taking a "navy shower"? Turn on the shower long enough to get wet, then turn off the water to lather up and scrub. Then turn the water back on to rinse. Maybe you dont want to do this every day (I love a hot, relaxing shower too), but doing it for 50% of your showers will still save buckets of water. It's not that bad, trust me.
• Buy green energy. Call your electrical company and see how much more it would cost to buy 100% of your electrical energy from wind or solar power. Often it is less than $5/month more. If you do this and kill your vampire energy draw you will probably still be saving money. True capitalists will love this--vote with your dollar and make a difference!
• Buy local and seasonal products. Lower transportation costs (and less pollution) and lower production costs for something out of season (Strawberries in January? They don't even taste good, and they were either grown expensively in a green house or shipped up from Mexico. Neither one makes me hungry).
• Buy things with less packaging. Why pay for decoration that you are going to throw away when you get home? Envision that all that extra plastic and cardboard sitting in a land-fill rather than decorating what you are buying. It will end up there soon enough.

Lastly... really... I'm just about done... If you want to learn a little about the history of Earth Day (A Wisconsin holiday, I am proud to add), click here. You can read US Senator Gaylord Nelson's (WI) recolections about the founding of Earth Day.

Every day is Earth Day!

In which I go to Munich, and then to Venice for one day

In my last post I forgot to mention that I traveled over the Easter holiday. I ended up getting 2 and a half weeks off for Easter, which was unexpected (more on that later). Originally, I planned on having roughly a week and a half off: the Friday one full week before Easter to the Tuesday after Easter.

During the week before Easter I went to visit an acquaintence in Munich. I had never been there, so it was really exciting to see the city. It was pretty, but rather snobbish, I felt. It was very different from Vienna. Especially different was the open air market, which is comparable to the Farmers' Market in Madison--a yuppy affair. Don't get me wrong--I love the Madison Farmers' Market--but let's be honest. The tired and the poor don't go there to go shopping, and you are paying for quality. The market in Vienna is different. It is crowded and loud with stands packed together like cigarettes in a box. There are people hawking everything from vegetables to exotic fruits, meat, cheeses, clothing, and souvenirs. On Saturdays there is even a lovely flea market. The Vienna market is much more... vibrant.

I also got a chance to visit the famous Hofbrauhaus in Munich. It is one of the famous Bavarian beer companies, and if you are interested in trying it out, it is available in Madison as well. You can find it in the Essen Haus, and in some stores (bottles labeled HB). The beer in Bavaria is really some of the world's best. And I won't fib--I drank my share of it while there. It goes particularly well with a BBQ we found. Luckily the weather was conducive.

Back in Austria I visited a teacher and her family for Easter. Easter isn't all that different in Austria. The Easter Bunny hides Easter baskets, and the family sits down for a nice big dinner together. I left feeling like somebody should roll me home! It was really nice to have the chance to enjoy Easter as a family get-together, and I am very thankful that I was invited.

On Easter Monday I accompanied the 5th class (15-year-olds) on their trip to Italy. We went to Triest first--a very Austrian city in Northern Italy. In fact, it was modeled after Vienna. There we saw Castle Miramar, which was built by Maximillian von Habsburg (of executed Emperor of Mexico fame). After Triest, we traveled to Treviso to spend the night. Treviso is a small, cozy city about 40 minutes away from Venice by train.

We spent the next day in Venice--it is as beautiful as people say. It is also as full as tourists as I feared. After about an hour dodging through crowds and keeping my hand on my wallet at all times (pickpocketing does occur) I felt ready to thoroughly throttle the next person who bumped into me. Stressful tourists aside, Venice is completely worthwhile, and you could easily spend a few days taking in all that the city has to offer.

We spent the last day in Vicenza, which is about a 90 minute bus ride from Treviso. It is another quiet city and has a lot of buildings designed by the famous architecht Andreas Palladio, including the oldest modern theater in Europe.

Not including the 18 hours of bus travel in 3 days, it was a very nice trip. Northern Italy is worth seeing...

Anyhow, when I got back from Italy on Wednesday, I found out that my teachers didn't need me in class on Thursday. Instant weekend. Nice surprise.

The episode in which Rob talks discusses non-drying water, stalkers, and curling

My shower is wet. It's been that way for over 48 hours. The floor is covered in water. It won't dry. It JUST WON'T DRY GOD HELP ME I'VE TRIED E V E R Y T H I N G! I am running the fan non-stop, and when I'm not running the noisy fan, the bathroom door is open to circulate air. The shower head is not dripping. I'm at the end of my wet rope. I could dry the floor with a towel, but in the name of science, I feel as though I need to let evaporation handle this one on its own. I think the problem might be that my apartment is so humid. No need for a fog machine here, folks. It's an asthmatic's dream. And opening my windows doesn't help much either--it has been raining continuously for the last 72 hours, so outside is wetter than inside (God's small blessings are the best blessings). So... we are officially on SHOWER WATCH (dun dun dun) to see if I have raised a new breed of evaporation-resistant water... I will keep you updated as events unfold.

Tonight I am going to have a beer with a guy who met me at the train station. He needed help with the ticket machine, and I kindly obliged, being the mild-mannered midwesterner that I am. Woe are the unforeseen consequences of R.A.O.K.'s. He followed me to the train platform, and then sat next to me on the train for the next 30 mins. Like a little lost puppy. Apparently he is 17 years old, goes to a vocational school in Waidhofen, and doesn't have any friends. That last part is really no mystery to me, because that is usually the consequence of not having social skills. One follows the other--that has been my experience. But he sort of badgered me into giving him my cell number and we decided to meet up for a beer. The beer summit was planned day before yesterday, and yesterday he called to ask me how my day was. And what I had done all day. (Worked.) And what I was doing right then. (Cooking) And what I was cooking. (Soup, I said, which was a half-lie because it seemed easier than explaining that I was eating delicious left-over chilli.) What kind of soup? (*sigh* Chilli.) Oh, what is chilli? (Soup.) How do you make it? (It has meet, red beans, onions, and tomatoes in it. Very good.) Wanna know what I'm doing? (Not really. [Spoiler warning, that didn't keep him from telling me]) The call ended with him reaffirming that we were still meeting for a beer. We had just made the plans the day before. Woof.

And here is the kicker. He just called me again. While I was writing the above. I mean to say--when I started the above, I didn't know that I would be writing this paragraph. He called to make sure we were still going to meet up. That's 55 mins from now. I hope he doesn't rape me and kill me because he just might be getting a little attached. I don't have the patience to play psychologist/friend (in that order, because folks, that's the order he needs them in).

Anyway, on a less mean-to-innocent -(most likely)-harmless people who don't know I'm blogging about them, I played in the Vienna Curling Championship over the weekend. 'Twas a six game round robin, and we ended up taking fourth. It was a really fun weekend, and I am thinking about joining the club now so that I will have the chance to practice regularly and play in some more bonspiels. They play in Budapest, Bratislava, Kitzbuhl (Austria), and in different cities in Germany--so it should be fun.

And... I suppose as an afterthought I should include this little teaser. If you have enjoyed the blog so far this year, be sure to tune in next year to see how my adventures proceed. I applied for and got an extension for my position. I will be back teaching in Seitenstetten (the Catholic Gymnasium) and a different school in Waidhofen--this time a business school.

Anyway, I know it's been a bit since my last report. I will try to be more timely with the next one.

So it goes (parenthesis episode!)

First, an UPDATE:

Hanna and I are friends. We went for a ride to Amstetten (~60 km, or in American, 40 mi round trip) today. After tuning up the bike, she rides really really well. I also love the bike path to Amstetten. It goes through small European towns and forests, with just enough hills to make it fun without making it a pain. There are plenty of nice little cafes to stop at in Amstetten (or at any point along the way) to enjoy a cup of coffee. And, best of all, if your rebellious bike stages a coup, the path is never far from the train tracks, and the your mean distance from a train station is never more than 5 km (if you read the last post, you know I'm no stranger to pushing my bike that distance). Luckily I didn't need the train.

Second, an UPDATE:

I mentioned previously that I was planning on curling in Vienna. It was really fun. We play on a hockey rink that is thoughtfully zambonied (Google spell check says I can't use that as a verb--well I say watch me). As you can imagine, though, the Zamboni doesn't take all the scratches out of the ice, which reduces a sport which has been romanticized as "chess on ice" to little more than a "craps shoot on ice." Not that I am complaining. Casinos wouldn't make millions of dollars a year running craps shoots if it wasn't fun. Similarly, curling on a hockey rink proved to be quite pleasantly diverting. The people were both typically and atypically friendly (typically friendly for curlers, atypically friendly for Europeans). And they invited me to come play in a bonspiel with their team in April. Curling rocks.

Third, an UPDATE (isn't there something nice about continuity?):

The Wizard of Oz was really great. The whole theater was filled with kids. I felt like it would have been hard for an adult to follow if they didn't already know the story--but it was perfect for kids. I'm sure everything would have been perfectly clear to a 6 year old. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch an episode of Dora the Explorer). I liked it because I knew the story.

And finally--some real news:

I am returning to WI on 5/28. I am looking forward to seeing all yall.

Hannelorre blows her top

In a moment of weakness I bought a bike. She is beautiful, but temperamental. Perhaps she is crotchety in her old age, or it could be that she simply hasn't warmed to me yet; whatever it is, she likes to cause trouble for me.

I have been thinking about buying a bike for a while now--spring has been in the air, and I miss the wind in my face and the trees flying by on the other side of my aviators. Not being able to explore the miles of hilly highway around Waidhofen is what finally broke me, and I started looking for a used road bike. Last weekend I got in touch with an elderly woman named Hannelorre who was selling her Puch Clubman road bike for a reasonable sum. I met with her, inspected the bike and quickly rode off a happy customer. That's when the trouble started.

It really hasn't been anything too tragic. It could happen to anybody--but I take it as an omen of a passionate but stormy relationship between Hannelorre (my bike--named after the original owner) and myself. First, I had to buy two tickets for my bike to get it on the train. Apparently, the ticket they sell in the ticket machines is not valid on inter-regional trains--there is no mention of this on the machine. I checked. Thoroughly. The train conductor said, "Yeah, sorry, that seems to happen to everybody." Gee, no kidding? Perhaps that's because the ticket machine sells a "Day Ticket for Bicycles" without any description indicating it is not valid on some kinds of trains. Just a hunch.

After getting back to Waidhofen with Hannelorre in tow, I took her out for a spin. I rode about 4 blocks to volleyball practice, and then on the way back, Hannelorre tried to kill me. If you want to be technical, I suppose the van driver who pulled out directly in front of me tried to kill me. But either way, somebody (be it bike or man) wanted me dead. It was, of course, a misty day and Hannelorre's steel rims were wet. This did not help her ancient brake pads grip the wheels to bring me safely to a stop...

**SPOILER WARNING**

...I did not die, however. Luckily I have cat-like reflexes, and was able to swerve to my right (behind, not in front of, the speeding-through-a-clearly-visible-stop-sign van). Not watching for bikers is bad for your karma, and I hope that as a result of this driver's negligence: a) his socks get wet, and b) nobody talks to him at parties. (Both are fates worse than death.)

The latest case of bicycle rebellion happened today. The weather is nice and springy so I decided I would go for another ride--to help Hanna (her nickname) get to know me. I rode 6 km to a nearby village and then turned around to enjoy the downhill coast back home. I am quite certain I got no more than 150 m into the return trip before the sidewall of the front tire blew--with a very impressive hiss--leaving me to hike 5,850 meters back.

This weekend I am going to thoroughly tune Hannelorre up. New brakes. New tires. Gear adjustment. True the rims. Tighten the brake levers. Oil all the moving parts that need oil. And if she doesn't catch one of my fingers in the chain, preventing me from ever typing again, I will report on how she rides after a tune-up.

curling and the yellow brick road

Heading to Vienna tonight--not just for the usual reason, but also because I am going curling! I got in touch with a curling club from Ottakring and they invited me to come practice with them. Rock on.

I am also going to the Wizard of Oz with Lina, which is really exciting. I can't wait to see what it is like in German. My friend Andy also has a friend in Vienna this weekend, visiting from Georgia, so it should be action packed in the city.

Spring is on hiatus again here--after the nice weather a week and an half ago, the continued dreariness is wearing. It is snowing right now. But I distinctly notice that the snow is half-hearted. Almost like Winter recognizes that this is just a token effort.

I'm on the market for a bike--I decided that I need to make the investment. I can't stand walking, and those nice days and alpine hills just SCREAM "bIkE RidE!" So wish me luck on finding something that fits my expensive taste that is in my humble price range. :)

Got to cut this short--train whistles will soon be blowing!

update number twentysomething

lets rock this.

I got back from Salzburg snowboarding on Saturday. It was a really good week. I got to know some of the non-English teachers at the HTL (technical highschool) a lot better, which is really neat. I have been at the HTL one day since then and I feel a lot more welcome knowing more people. It was a late ice-breaker, but one that was needed (which is not to say that I was uncomfortable before--its just better now).

The place we stayed at in Saalbach (in the Bundesland -state- Salzburg) was really nice. It was full board, (4 meals a day for teachers and all people from WI named Rob). The food was really delicious, and gave a chance to enjoy some of the traditional Austrian delicacies like wiener schnitzel. It also provided a full range of pasta with meat sauce for lunch. Can't be 4 star meals every time. Luckily it was always delicious.

Snowboarding conditions were great the whole week with the exception of Friday morning. From Sun-Thurs it was sunny and warm, with fresh powder on Sunday from a Friday night storm. The weather got progressively warmer, so the powder hardened up, and got harder to ride as more and more people made tracks in it. The slopes were comparatively good though, despite the warm weather turning some of them at the bottom of the mtn to mush. On Friday morning we got a snowstorm (summit) and rainstorm (valley) which made riding pretty miserable. But it stopped about 1:00 pm, and we went back out at 2 for some fresh snow. The hills were empty--I guess the bad weather demoralized quite a few tourists--so it was a great last day. Without a doubt the best snow conditions of the whole week.

The night program was pretty good--I went out with the teachers after students' curfew twice, and that was pretty enjoyable. One night we went to a ski party bar called the "goat's stall". Uhh, what happens in the goat's stall stays in the goat's stall. (hint: it involves strippers. and the median age of the clientele was 37. Quite the experience.)

Spring seems to have sprung in Waidhofen. (To quote Garrison Keillor though, "March is a transitional month. It is the month God invented to teach people that don't drink about hangovers." Basically what I am trying to say is that I am going to try not to be discouraged when we get another 12" of snow next week sometime. /-: ||)The meadows are starting to green up and the snow is disappearing rapidly from even the north slopes. I went for a hike a couple of days ago and started a new resolution--to pick up after other people more. It was kind of an epiphany moment. It was a typical blustery-but-warm March afternoon, and a plastic shopping bag came rolling down the street toward me like a tumbleweed. It would have been irresponsible to let it blow by, so i picked it up and then i decided to pick up all the trash that I came across on the hike. My basic rules for the project are that I am going to pick up all the trash that isn't gross (no poopy toilet paper, no used... uh... well, you get the idea). There wasn't all that much to pick up, but I came back with a half a bag. I deposited the contents of the bag in their intended receptacle (if you aren't following me here, it's a trash can, and I guess that also means I am picking up after you...). I kept the bag for further use, and I keep in my coat pocket. Another part of my resolution is to not be disgusted by the quantity of trash that I am picking up--its not a drop in a bucket sort of exercise. The point isn't to clean up the world--my goal is to clean up the areas that I frequent for my enjoyment alone. So far so good.

Beyond that... lets see... one of the teachers from the HTL offered to give me an oven that he doesn't use anymore so that I can start baking and enjoy the full range off cooking that I am coming to miss. I think I will be taking him up on that offer. The mere thought of a chocolate chip cookie makes me homesick. Homesickness hasn't been a problem so far, but I do really miss some simple foods like good hamburgers, cookies, pie, casserole, baked chicken, and so on and so forth. And its not weird that I don't miss the people--in this age of internet, I have really been in pretty close contact with most people. But I haven't had a hamburger since September '09.

still haven't gotten around to uploading salzburg pics from my week snowboarding, but i'll get there. most of the pictures turned out to be the boring landscape shots your retired neighbors bring back from RV vacations and insist on showing you as a slideshow in their living room while you try to melt off the couch, onto the floor, and flow unnoticed out the crack beneath the door. the rest are of my students. there are a couple cool ones, but because of the general unremarkable level of quality, it may be a while before I work up the motivation.

lastly, if you are looking for a good book, I recommend "The Book Theif" by Markus Zusak (Austrailian author). A very engaging read.

prost.

The Best Wurst... and all about a load of Krap-fen.

On my way back from teaching today I stopped at the butcher to get some sandwich meat. I decided to be a little adventurous and try something new, so I asked the butcher what he would recommend. He asked what I like, and I said that I like just about everything, I just don't know what things are because everything in America has a different name, if we have it at all. He thought for a while, and then asked me if I wanted to try something really different. I agreed immediately. He sliced off a piece of some weird-looking thing called Press Wurst. It's like nothing else. It is chunks of meat and vegetables pressed together and bound in a vinegary gelatin. But its delicious. I am glad I asked the butcher for a recommendation, because I never would have tried this on my own. Here is a picture of it ready to eat back at my house.

Yesterday was Fasching here, which is the Austrian equivalent of Mardi Gras. Many of the students at school were dressed up, so I took my camera to all my classes and got some fun pictures. The students made me promise to make it clear that they don't always dress like this... so... let me iterate: This is not an accurate representation of the average Austrian student's fashion taste. This is an improvement on the average Austrian student's fashion taste.

I also got to try a traditional fasching dessert, the krapfen. It is very similar to the Bavarian jelly filled donuts we are familiar with, but they are filled with apricot jelly instead of the normal strawberry. Very good. Now I can say that I ate a load of krapfen!

Check out the pictures:

This Saturday I am going snowboarding at Saalbach in Salzburg. I'm going on this trip with the HTL, and it seems like the school is going to be covering most of the costs! I'm really looking forward to it, especially since a lot of the students are younger, and I haven't met them before. It should be a pretty good chance to get to know some of the teachers and students a little bit better. This is where Saalbach is:

Stay tuned for an update about snowboarding when I get back next Saturday.

Photo Albums

For all those who are not facebook inclined... here is my Rome Album.

And here is my Snowboarding Album

Un Americano a Roma

Have you ever noticed how when you are walking down the street at night, mostly alone, you will invariably be followed by somebody slightly faster than yourself? Unfailingly they gain on you while you wait, in a cold sweat, for them to grab you from behind and demand your wallet. And, of course, they don't pass you because they are only walking -slightly- faster than you, so for them it would take an uncomfortably long time to pass. This only adds to your anxiety, and as you glance over your shoulder with mounting trepidation, you slow down imperceptibly in the hopes of letting them by you. At first they don't notice that you have slowed, until they see they are within 3 feet of you. They they assume they must have unknowingly accelerated, so they slow down too. And all that is going through your mind at this juncture is that they can only be waiting for a nice dark spot in which to mug you. You contemplate a hare-like sprint for safety, but then decide that is silly, and stop in a street light and quarter-turn to them so you can be ready for anything. They stop, look at you funny, and walk on. So it goes.

To address the topic implied by the title of this blog, I did just get back from Rome. Lina and I went together and had a really nice week. We flew with RyanAir, a British discount flight service, which thankfully got us there in one piece, and even thoughtfully delivered our luggage to the same airport. Flying with them really isn't so bad--it got us there and back for 100 euro less than it would have cost with on other planes, and in half the time it would have taken on the train (including travel time to and from airports, and waiting time at the gate). At the same rate, however, they should really consider branding themselves with the slogan "If you paid any more to fly with us you'd never fly with us again!", or perhaps something comforting along the lines of "Discount flights at prices you won't believe can defy gravity!*" (*usually...).

We stayed at a rather pleasant hostel, in the way that hostels can be pleasant, which is to say not at all. Really it wasn't bad. We had a private room and a bathroom shared dorm-style with three other private rooms. They included breakfast and dinner in the price. All in all it was quite nice, even if the window could not be opened to let in some fresh air and the heat was jammed on high.

Rome itself is huge, which I guess is why people say, "Rome wasn't seen in a day," or something like that. We went to the Fontana di Trevi, the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Sistine Chapel, and saw a lot of other attractions. The best part of the trip though was just getting a chance to hang out and relax. Coffee in Italy is all it's cracked up to be, and they have a delightful take on hot chocolate that is thick and creamy and is what you would expect if you took a high quality dark chocolate bar and melted it into a glass. And the food... well... it warrants a paragraph unto itself.

I actually went the whole week without having a pizza because I am of the firm belief that pizza is a uniquely American phenomenon, even if it was developed by an Italian-American. The pizza that Rome now serves is an adaption of our pizza, which was indeed an adaption of a sauceless cheese bread with toppings that was once served in Italy and has now apparently died out. To my great relish I stuck with pastas. And they did not disappoint. Nor did the table wine at the restaurants. A liter of red or white for 6 euro? Sign me up for one of each, please. And on the by, I discovered a simply amazing appetizer. Please make sure you are sitting when you read this. Honeydew melon topped with prosciutto parma ham. It is wonderful. Please, reserve judgement on this one until you have actually tried it. You will not regret this experience. [Edit: Prof. Court of UW-Madison fame informed me of the following, and I quote:

"Mr. Schultz: I really must protest! Pizza is not American. I won't belabor the point, but it is Neapolitan. American pizza, in fact, was originally made by Neapolitans who settled on the eastern seaboard who sold it in the streets from baskets perched atop their heads to workers who could not go home for the mid-day meal (hence the contemporaneous evolution of the hoagie, sub, grinder etc.). Pizzerie started when the kitchens that developed to serve the ambulatori trade evolved into restaurants. By the time either happened the Pizzeria Port' Alba had been open for more than fifty years! Port' Alba opened its doors before mass immigration from southern Italy, c1830, long, long before pizza was ever tasted on these shores. My advisor Carlo Poni was from Ferrara, arriving in New York in 1938 and he at pizza for the first time and loved it. He too was convinced that Pizza was American even after pizza arrived in northern Italy in the late 1950s. He did not know that pizza was not American until he traveled to Naples in the mid 60s and was shocked to know that by then modern pizza was 130 years old.

Ah, Prosciutto e Melone!!!! One of the only sweet and salty things that Italians eat anymore. Been eaten for four centuries at least; certainly not a gourmet novelty."

Thanks Prof. Court for your correction!]

And on the last day, while we were waiting for the bus to the airport, we broke down and ordered a pizza. Not what we expected, but that is our fault for deviating from the beaten path. We ordered a pizza caprese (which as you know, means fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, and olive oil). This was served as a baked pizza crust with the above ingredients served fresh and cold as toppings. Actually rather good, if a little gloopy and wonky.

Anyway, I have not gotten motivated to upload photos, but when I do I will post a link to the facebook album here so you can see them all.

Got to go--my spaghetti is boiling over. Oh Rome.

Snowboarding at Hochkar and upcoming niceties

Hello dear readers,

Spent Sunday snowboarding with the Oberstufen ("oh-bear-stew-fin", upper classes--isn't learning German fun?). We went to a mountain about an hour from Waidhofen called Hochkar. You can use the google to see where it is if you are interested, but if you just want to see pictures, you can also take a look at my facebook page--all the good ones and some of the not-so-good ones are loaded. I even overcame my inherent laziness to rotate most of them so that up is up. For some others you will have to tilt your head, but that's how life is sometimes. Sometimes things are clear the way they are, and sometimes you have to alter your perspective a little. Consider it a public service.

Snowboarding was awesome. It was a day made by God for winter sports enthusiasts. The snow was fluffy and perfect, the sun was shining, the temp was hovering a degree or so below freezing, and in the valleys below us there were clouds obscuring everything, which made it feel like we were snowboarding on a wintery island in a cloud sea. (Warning, swimming in cloud seas is not advised. Danger, cloudsharks.)

We got there before the sun crested the mountains, and the moon was in the sky by the time we boarded the bus. I ate some delicious schnitzel (pork that has been pounded thin, breaded, and fried--in case you've never had the pleasure) for lunch, and after a hard day on the slopes we had a beer in one of the chalets. Quite an adventure.

To change the subject, let's reflect a moment on the glories of blogging. The greatest part, as many have probably elucidated before, is that the blogger can start, stop, continue, stop again, drink, eat, listen to music, pause to go shopping, come back, type in his underwear, etc, all of which the bloggee remains blissfully unaware of. I am not blogging in my underwear (currently), but I did just make a small excursion to the store to buy a bottle of wine before they close, and I was amazed to see that it is snowing. It is one of those slow, light, fluffy snows that glistens in the street lights and somehow makes the air seem colder. And speaking of snow, we got about 4 inches last night, which was kind of nice, since our meager helping of frozen precipitation was quickly melting and being carried down the watershed in its inexorable route to the sea. So... again... winter wonderland.

Before I wrap things up, I thought I would mention my trip to Italy (again, or for the first time, I am no longer sure). I'm leaving for Vienna this Friday, and Saturday night I will fly out of Bratislava and get to Rome around 11:30. We're staying at a youth hostel, and should be pretty centrally located, which is a good thing for sure--but Rome is a big city, and a lot of the sights are kind of far apart, or so I have been told. So that means good exercise!

I am really looking forward to a nice relaxing trip, and a good professor friend of mine gave me some recommendations on the right wine to drink and some good places to dine, so hopefully that will give me a leg up while I'm there. Don't expect a lot of pictures of monuments, but I will snap some pictures of the action while there, you can be sure. I will write a full report when I get back, and if you want to see pictures of the sights, you can follow along in a travel guide from any library--seriously. My professor friend made a good point that unless you are a professional photographer with a professional quality camera, you can't replicate the quality of the pictures in a travel guide, so why bother? Take pictures of yourself having fun, and if you want to reminisce about the Colosseum, look in Frommer's.

Hope all is well! 'Til next time!

the peppermint tea rap --or-- why i no longer pity myself

I am not sure if I ever mentioned my dislike for peppermint or the story of accidentally buying a whole box of peppermint tea in any of my previous posts. I could go back and look, but that would take about 30 seconds, and would therefore would be far too time-consuming. So instead I will take the next minute to retype (or not) said story. Far less tedious for you to reread something than for me to actually take the time to look for something. This wouldn't be a problem if I tagged my topics. Oh blogging.

The long and short (okay, mostly long) of it is that I wanted to buy some tea without caffeine in it, and I thought I picked up a box of chamomile tea, but in reality it was peppermint. So, being the stubborn mule I am, instead of giving away the 50 (50!) bags of hated, despised, disgusting peppermint, I decided to drink it as punishment to myself. Oh the horror of drinking peppermint tea, and how I hated my miserable existence more and more with every sip.

Time passed...

Today I made yet another cup of peppermint tea, and realized that it has become palatable. What a shame, I was really getting into the pity(tea)parties I was throwing for myself. Now I am faced with the choice of pitying myself for coming to tolerate (if not crave) peppermint tea or just leaving the pity out of the party. Oh cruel fates. Anyway, I think that somebody more talented than me should make this into a rap. It would be an instant classic on MTV, and the soon-to-be-famous rapper would also be a soon-to-be-MTV-cribs star. Think about it. Do it.

In other news, I have applied officially to teach a second year at the same schools. I will find out for sure if I am accepted in April. So that's exciting.

Figure 1:

Also, I don't know if you have heard the rumors that I met a girl in Vienna. This has been floating around on the interwebs for some time now, and I am here to say that this is in no way true, as you will be able to observe for yourself in figure 1. The girl next to me is not named Lina and is not in any way acquainted with me. Just kidding. But I thought I would show yall who I am going to see in Vienna so often.

The bi-weekly post... :D

Again, been a while since I've updated. A lot has been going on and I have been really busy. It hasn't been very exciting business though. My trip through Germany ended well, and although I had a great time everywhere I went, I was really glad to get home. Berlin was really great over New Years--we went out to a club and danced our way into 2010. Hamburg was great too, really relaxing as compared to my other stops.

Since being back I have kinda gotten back into the swing of the school year. I have all new students at the technical school, so if I want I can recycle lessons. I am sure I will do that to a certain extent in the coming weeks, but I still have some really fun ideas that I didn't get to implement last semester. At the gymnasium I am teaching the movie "The Princess Bride," which is awesome. I'm talking about it in context of cult films--and I know it's not a cult film the way that... say... "Serenity" is, it still fits the definition, because people in the mid 20's to early 30's are still in love with the movie, and basically everybody else on the planet has forgotten about it. Anyway, the kids love it. Next week, the exciting conclusion... :)

Tomorrow I am going to a fancy dinner party at a friend's house. Everybody is getting all spiffed up, so it should be pretty fun. I haven't put pictures up for a while, so I will bring my camera and maybe even post some of the pictures if we do anything appropriate. ;)

Sionara for now!