Christmas in Austria

Just a few notes and pics to commemorate our Christmas in Austria.

Christmas Eve Day was spend skating, shopping, and fending off suggestions to open "just 1" present NOW!

Our Decorated Austrian Christmas Tree

The Christmas tradition in Austria is for the Christ Kind to deliver presents on Christmas Eve afternoon.  Grace's German teacher said that the Dad takes the kids to the movies and the Mom stays home.  The room with the Christmas tree is closed off and when the Christ Kind leaves, she (it's a female angel) rings a bell, which lets the family know the tree is decorated and the presents are there.  This (the bell ringing) usually happens just as the Dad and kids are returning (how's that for timing!?).

Well, we had a twist ... our kids and Sue decorated the tree one afternoon (not being able to wait for me!).  And, as it turns out, we were heading to church for a 4p family service (with an English translation :-)  I "forgot" to turn off the iron and had to head back to the apartment before catching up with the others.  So, when we returned, there were two gifts left for the children by Christ Kind :-)  We also let them open another present each and had a simple dinner.  Sue had ordered a copy of "The Night Before Christmas" so that I could continue that tradition (reading them that story before bed).

Stockings?  Who needs stockings!?

During the night, Santa Claus made his usual deliveries.  We had no stockings, so the kids put out their ski helmets by the cookies, milk and carrot.  Santa got the hint :-)  The kids loved all of their presents.

Our friends' son and Grace playing a game on the stairs

We had friends over in the afternoon.  The mom is from the US, the Dad is from Italy, and the son is tri-lingual!  The kids played well together, we all played some games, ate some good Austrian food (as best as we can!) and drank some good Italian wine.

Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

Russ

A Few Pre-Christmas Observations

Short post today on this, Christmas Eve.

The kids were in school all week, ending at the usual time on Friday (Dec. 23).

Sue and I had a sitter come last night and went out to finish our shopping.  Many, many stores had no one in them except clerks standing around with nothing to do.  The stores closed at their normal time for a Friday night, 7p.

Stores close today between 1 and 2p.  We have to do our grocery shopping because stores will be closed tomorrow (and maybe, Monday -- we better check that out).  We hope to fit in a round of ice skating.

You can still buy your tree at the main park in the city, near our apartment.

We expect Christ Kind to come sometime this afternoon while we are out at church and Santa to come overnight.

Frohe Weihnachten!

Russ

A Busy Weekend in December

We had a very busy weekend.  And by we, it was mostly Grace, Henry and I, as Sue is trying to recover from being sick.  I missed Sue's company, but enjoyed the time with the kids.  And I definitely want her to recover quickly with Christmas and our trip to Barcelona coming soon!

So, where to start?  I guess at the beginning.  Saturday started with a trip to the Farmer's market and the butcher.  I finally bought some lamb.  I've been wanting to diversity a bit and we eat so much chicken back in the U.S. (and we aren't big beef eaters).  So, first duck, now lamb.  And it was delicious for dinner later that day, I must say :-)

Anyway, I rushed home and collected Grace.  We headed over to the outdoor skating rink for the 10a opening.  When I could hear an announcer about a block away, I knew something was wrong.  Anyway, the rink was host to a children's hockey tournament.  They had the ice all day and so, after consoling ourselves, we watched a little hockey.  It was fun.  The teams were mixed age (probably 5-8?) and mixed gender.  We were captivated by one girl that was much taller and more talented than anyone else on the ice.  Unfortunately the puck always seemed to find the goalie's stick, but she was still fun to watch.

With skating out for the day, what to do?  Well, I had this thought in the back of my head that I wanted to get the kids their skiing outfits for Christmas.  But we didn't want it to be a present, as we wanted to have them pick them out, etc.  So, Grace and I took an exploratory trip over to K&O (pronounced, "Kah unt Oh"), the big department store.  I had heard from someone they were having a sale on skis, ski clothes, etc.  When we arrived and could not find skis, etc., but saw the store was connected to the large sporting goods store, we figured it out.  

Grace quickly found many outfits that she liked, which is good because the sizes weren't always in inventory.  You know how that goes.  And it took Grace a while to get used to the multiple layers in the pants, etc.  But we quickly got her squared away and were helped by a nice young woman who spent a year in Michigan with an exchange family in high school.

When we went home, Henry was motivated to join us (he was not into the ice skating!) for a return trip.  He really liked Grace's "overalls" (ski pants with suspenders).  He wouldn't settle for pants without them!  He found a great pair in lime green ("just like airport fire fighters!").  Unfortunately, they were really pricey (twice as expensive as Grace's).  But Henry can be very flexible and is happy with the color combination that he came up with.

After a failed attempt to buy an outfit for me (I knew I was pushing my luck with two kids in a busy store!), we stopped by the ski equipment shop and bought the kids helmets.  They loved the kind with the built-in goggles and wanted to get home quickly to model everything for Sue!

I then went grocery shopping to make sure we didn't run out of staples Sunday, made dinner (lamb, marinaded with peanut satay, rice, sauteed bell peppers with garlic), and then collapsed on the couch with everyone to watch a DVD!  And this was just Saturday!

Sunday was all about getting back over to the skating rink for Grace and me.  And now she had a helmet of her own to wear!  We arrived at 10a on the dot and there were at least 20 people already skating!  I guess they opened early today (language-skill deficit strikes again!).   But they had skates in both of our sizes and we were off.  Grace hugged the wall the first few times around, but gained courage within a half hour or so and was out there skating away from the wall.  Towards the end we even had a contest to see who could weave around more kids in a lap (I won the first lap, 7 to 4, but she won the next lap, 5-1!).  It was so great to see her go from, "this is hard and I'm kind of scared" to, "did you see me get around that kid that fell?!"  Priceless, I tell you!

They had a great little tent setup next door so that we could warm up with hot chocolate after our 2 hours of skating.  They even had a kids area (patchens only, please!) and live music.  When I texted Sue that we'd be home about 1p for lunch, she said that she and Henry wondered how long we'd be gone!

After lunch Grace, Henry and I went over to "scooter park," which is located on the other side of Stadt Park (the large park near our apartment).  It is setup with traffic signs/lights, railroad tracks, lane markers, a hill, etc.  The kids played some game that involved locking Grace up in a jail cell and Henry running away (I didn't quite get that, but I was listening to my German language CD).  I did get it when they asked me to be the robber and to run around scooter park and they would chase me (each taking different routes, cutting me off, etc.).  They were mad when I stopped at the train tracks (there was a stop sign!).  They said no robber would do that.  After tiring of catching me (and I was tired too!), we walked/scooted home.  

In the last few days, Christmas trees have invaded Stadt Park, with multiple sites to buy trees from.  And in fact, we had just decided what to do about a Christmas tree in our apartment (smallish, but not Charlie Brown size).  So, given that we saw a very nice one on the way over, and it was still available on the way back, we bought it.  It wasn't too much of a walk back to the apartment, but I had to rest a bit (even a small tree gets heavy after a few hundred meters!).  The kids went up to open the doors for me to move it out onto the deck until we can buy some Christmas lights.

And we had one more event for the day ... our friend David, who sings in the Graz Opera, was playing the part of Goliath in a children's musical at a local church (right next to the Opera House and the Farmer's Market).  (Grace thought it was funny that David was playing Goliath instead of David, but I think she got the point when she saw the musical!)  It was all in German, but it was short, and being a musical, it was a pretty simple plot line.  Grace said that it wasn't as scary as it could have been because we knew who Goliath was (he doesn't look scary below, but he did walking in, swing a 2-meter sword!).  I think everyone enjoyed it and Sue was feeling well enough to join us, which was nice.  We hope to see David sing Christmas Eve or Christmas Day at the "big Catholic church" on Herrengasse (the main pedestrian street in Graz).

David's not that tall, really.  He's walking on 6" tree stumps!

Just five more days of school/work and then Christmas will be here ... then we rest!

Russ

Krampus and Nikolaus

Tuesday morning (Dec. 6) 6-year old Henry asked, "Is it Nikolaus day?"  "Yes," I answered.  Then Henry replied with glee, "Yay! I didn't get taken away by Krampus!" He then started rooting thru his shoes, only to discover a rock. He wasn't sure what a rock meant.  "Oh, Henry, I thought we were supposed to put our shoes out tonight. But Nikolaus is in town today. I'm sure he'll stop by tonight." Henry is learning all these traditions in kindergarten but communicating details is not one of Henry's strong suits, so we are behind the curve as parents.

In case you aren't familiar with Krampus and Nikolaus, it goes something like this.  Nikolaus, who is a bishop, visits children on Dec. 6 to give them sweets and nuts. If children put their shoes out (either outside or between the double windows), Nikolaus will leave them some treats. However, Nikolaus travels with a devil-like character called Krampus, who takes naughty children away from their parents and beats them with a switch.

Krampus day is Dec 5, and it is not uncommon to see them out and about that evening. A friend was telling me that some families have Krampus parties on the 5th.  If you go to one of these parties you are to bring a poem about each of your children, identifying how naughty they are. Some children cry when their poems are read!  Are you getting an idea about Krampus?

Graz had their Krampus parade several weeks ago. We went to see what it was all about.  I can quite honestly say that this parade is the most culturally different event that I have experienced here.  Many civic groups or other organizations have their own costumes, and they each are given a slot in the parade. There are lots of groups with 8-12 Krampuses each. These guys are frightening!  They stomp down the road and run at the crowds and get in your face. Some beat their drums as though they are on the warpath.  Some of them drag smoking cauldrons behind them. Some carry flaming torches. Some have chains that they drag on the ground. The sounds and smells are very real and close and ominous.  They look for children and hold out their hands to them as if they are going to grab them and take them away.  If a child is brave enough to take their hand, most Krampuses will just quickly shake it and then let go, but I saw one guy pull a child toward him and that seriously freaked out the kid.  Our kids hid the entire time and we ended up leaving before the end (after seeing perhaps 100 Krampuses and 3 Nikolauses - and, yes, Nikolaus walks along with them.)

Nikolaus day is Dec. 6, and as you can imagine, quite different.  Nikolaus visited both of the kids' schools, spoke to the kids and handed out goodie bags. And the kids made Nikolauses at school.  Nikolaus was scheduled to be at various advent markets around Graz's city center in the late afternoon so we went to find him. Along the way, we met several Nikolauses and they came up to the kids to talk to them and give them treats.  In front of the Catholic church on the main street they had tables out where you could make your own bishop hat (sorry, I don't know the name of this) and several women were singing Christmas carols (some of the Nikolauses were women).  It was a very pleasant stroll down Herrangasse (the street), very different from the Krampus parade! Eventually we met up with Russ and realized we missed Nikolaus while buying trinkets at the advent markets! We walked over to another market (at Glockenspielplatz, Liz and Jerry). And knew we'd found him when we heard the clip clop of the house drawn carriage.  He got out for pictures and the kids each got a chocolate Nikolaus.

This was NOT like waiting in line for Santa Claus.  In fact there were very few people even approaching him -- and nothing compared to the crowds who turned out for the Krampus parade.  I should add, that Nikolaus is not Santa Claus.  Neither Nikolaus nor Santa Claus delivers Christmas gifts here - Christkind does - so to compare to Santa is not really a fair comparison.

As we came home that the evening, Henry said, "No one from my class was taken by Krampus.  No one from my whole school!"

Sue

From Russ:  Even though Sue did a *great* job with this post, and I was scared just thinking about that parade again, you really need to see a video of the Krampus Parade.  We couldn't find one from Graz this year (they added barricades and that made them even wilder, I think), but you'll maybe get the idea by watching this from a few years ago:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkVnS6uwV8E.

Thanksgiving in Graz

Thanksgiving, of course, is an American holiday.  Well, what I mean is that the US version of Thanksgiving is an American story of thanks, bountiful harvest, cooperation, etc.  Many, many other cultures have something similar, typically celebrated earlier in the fall as a kind of Octoberfest, a celebration of the bounty of the harvest.

Anyway, all that to say, the fourth Thursday in November is not a holiday here of any kind.  So, what's an American family to do?  We decided to go ahead and send the kids to school (and also the next day instead of going shopping and consuming like fools).  I took the afternoon off so that we could have a "special dinner," but it was not our typical Thanksgiving dinner.  I cooked duck (still had a good taste in my mouth from Paris) and a typical Austrian dumpling.  Sue made her traditional cheese rolls.  We had brought some homemade Thanksgiving placemats with us from the US, which we used, and we talked about what we were thankful for.  It was quite nice and we weren't all stuffed to the gills, like normal!  That was not the case on Saturday ...

On Saturday we had dinner with four other "half-American" families.  Everyone contributed to the feast and we all shared stories of living in Graz/Austria as Americans.  The non-American partners talked about the times they lived in the US and how confusing our customs are.  It was quite funny.  Sue and I laughed and laughed about one story, which I am sure I will not be to do justice here, but it is the custom in the US of asking, "how's it going?"  In the US, of course, it is just, "what you say."  You mindlessly answer it and ask back, "how's it going?" (One friend, from the US, but teaching here, says that he actually has to teach his students just to answer "how's it going?" with "how's it going?" and they are so confused.)  It is not meant to be a question that is contemplated and given a thoughtful answer except under certain circumstances (close friend, private moment, usually only asking it like, "no, how are you doing?").  But Austrians take that question seriously.  One of our Austrian friends talked about being in the US and having that question asked of her while she was in line at the grocery store.  She said that she actually looked around and said, "but there are all these people in line."  Like, ok, even though I don't know you, I'll tell you, but it will take some time and I think all these people might become upset!

Henry and Grace playing a game at the kids' table

Another highlight of the evening was how we (adults) had time talking amongst ourselves.  The host family's "children" are 19 and 21.  And they both are just great with kids (we've already lined up, Anna, the 19-year old to babysit :-).  They kept the children entertained by decorating the table cloth, making crafts, playing games, etc.  For those parents out there, I'm sure you can understand the special joy of taking your kids to an event, where they don't particularly know anyone, and instead of clinging on you, they are engaged with other children and having a good time at the "kids table."  Bliss really.  Of course, we paid for it the next few days having stayed out too late and gotten them to bed late, etc.  But you know, life is like that.

So, yes, it was hard to be away at Thanksgiving and there are things that we missed.  But really, we had a great time and I'm sure we'll cherish our Austrian Thanksgiving for years to come.

Russ

Trip to Paris

As Sue's already posted, we had a trip to France a couple of weeks ago.  When we told the kids that we were going to spend a year in Europe we told them that they could each pick a spot for a trip.  Although I'm not sure Henry's still decided (I think LegoLand in Germany gets the nod), Grace, without hesitation said, "the Eiffel Tower in Paris!"

A good friend of mine, and a close research colleague teaches in Paris (at this ultra-selective university, Mines ParisTech -- to say it is the "MIT of France" kind of understates how selective it is).  He invited me to give a seminar to his research group and so the date was set for our trip.

We flew up on Thursday afternoon and Sue and the kids would fly back on Sunday while stayed through Monday and Tuesday to work, flying back Wednesday (the day before the American Thanksgiving, which is the subject of the next post, hopefully!).  That sounds like a "long weekend," but with needing a connecting flight to Paris, the train ride between terminals at Charles de Gaulle airport, the train from CDG to the city, the subway (with a connection!) from the train station to the neighborhood of our hotel, and then a 10-minute walk to our hotel ... well, Thursday and Sunday were really travel days.  But still, two full days in Paris ... you can't complain.

Ok, well to avoid this being a marathon post, I'll try to hit the highlights, which, of course, start with the Eiffel Tower -- the center of Grace's attraction to Paris.  For those that have been there, we went up to the second level.  As recommended in a book Sue read, the view from that level is really great and it is an open platform vs. the ride to the tippy top, where you have to stay inside.  And, although we didn't go to the top, I'm pretty sure the book was right about this recommendation.

And before I go any further in terms of what we saw, we have to talk a moment about Eiffel Tower trinkets.  This turned out to be quite the obsession of our children.  And apparently, this is a very big joke amongst Parisians.  All I can say, at least they are cheap (the first ones we bought were sold to us by a very friendly, quite persistent and effective salesman, at the low, low price of 5 for 1 euro!).  But I think these little ET keychains are an entry drug to larger, more expensive, larger margin ETs.  And, as you can see, we left with quite a few!


And in the picture you may have noticed a non-ET.  Well, that is none other than the Arc de Triumphe (on the green book).  Henry, as we pretty much guessed, loved to go somewhere with 8 "lanes" of traffic moving around a circle with a control logic all its own.  And so, he had to have an Arc!

So, after the ET and AdT, we headed back to the hotel for a dinner after a quite full day.  That brings us to Saturday.  We just had to get the kids to a museum and Sue, with her handy tips from the books, read that a good strategy was to go to the museum gift shop before you go in, let the kids pick out a postcard of a painting they like, and then have a scavenger's hunt in the museum.  What a great idea, huh?

As the museum of our affection we chose the Musée D'Orsay.  All the books say it is one of the more appealing "great" museums for kids and it isn't huge, like the Louvre, say, which might talk ALL DAY to find four paintings.  The only problem with this plan is that even in late November, Paris is packed with tourists!  We noticed this on Friday at the ET, where we waited a good hour or so to get tickets to go up, but Saturday at the MDO, wow, that was quite a line.  And, as it turns, out we had made plans to meet my friend for lunch with his family.  Anyway, to make a long story short, we balked the queue, my friend came over early and we walked around the River Seine and the Louvre Gardens on a beautiful late fall day in Paris.  We ended up at the food court area under the Louvre, which turns out to be a sneaky way in to get tickets.  And, in fact, we could see that we wouldn't have to wait at all to get tickets to go in.  So, no MDO, we're going to the Louvre!

But remember our little scavenger hunt game?  And my note about how it would take ALL DAY to find four specific paintings in a big museum?  Well, it did!  But it was fun, mostly.  And the reason I picked my painting to show off (besides the absolute massive size of it!) was that Henry was in a bit of a sour mood when we found his sculpture (very interesting choice, by the way) and we never did find Grace's and Sue's (the gift shop, it turns out, has so many postcards some of the paintings aren't even in the museum -- note to self for next time!).

As we left the L, we had a very nice surprise.  Sue (again with her books!) had read that on nice days in the summer you can go to these small ponds and rent a toy boat to sail around.  When she read this in cold Graz she had written it off as something that we'd be able to do in Paris.  But the weather was unseasonably warm while we were there (upper 50's) and sure enough, we stumbled onto one of these places.  It was really quite nice.  Sue said that it was meditative to push the boat out and wait for the wind to bring it back to the side ... she though she could of done it all day!

And we should have probably gone back to the hotel then.  But you know how it is, you're there, you're pretty close to some other major site, and you rationalize it (there will be a lot of restaurants over there and we've been to the ones by our hotel already).  Anyway, we went to Cathédrale de Notre Dame.  It was nice to see, but no one had the energy to climb stairs to the top or to walk through.  Dinner was a little "down" due to our energy.  The only thing that picked the kids back up was a trip through a few shops to buy yet another ET and the coveted AdT!

Sunday, was all about getting Sue and the kids to the airport on time.  We kind of overdid it, and I think they got there almost 2 hours ahead of their flight.  Sue said the trip home went well except for their luggage not making it (it was delivered later that evening).  But the nice thing about getting Sue and kids to the airport early was that I had the afternoon to explore a little more (the only thing I had to get done that day was finish my presentation).  I walked across town to Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart) on a just beautiful day in Paris.  I climbed to the top, but even though it was a clear, sunny day, I could barely see the ET -- not sure if it was moisture, smog, or both.  But it was a pity!


I had a great time with my friend, making some progress on our research, meeting with folks, and, of course, eating some great food.  I'm not sure why, but I was especially focused on the smaller animals, eating lamb, duck, rabbit, frog legs, and a huge batch of shrimp, prawns, crabs and lobster.  But what did I take a picture of?  One of the best desserts I've ever had in my life ... profiteroles ... think creme puffs with ice cream inside and the best chocolate sauce on top!


My seminar was a big hit and my travels back were good.  I got back in time to go with Sue to a parent-teacher conference with Grace's teacher (went fine).  And then, the next day was Thanksgiving ... more about that in another post :-)

Russ

Fwd: Glad to be in Graz

Sorry for the long delay between postings. Russ is working on a
deadline to get a proposal done and I can't get into the blog account to
post things. I'm hoping this will get posted via e-mail.

In mid-November we took a quick trip to Paris and once Russ meets his
deadline, I'm sure he'll post some pictures about it.

What struck me about the trip (other than how many fun things there are
to do in Paris) was how glad I am that we chose to live in Graz. When
we decided to do a sabbatical in Europe, we thought it would be fun to
live in a city. It would be an interesting change from living in small
college towns. But the funny thing was, when we told people here in
Graz that we were excited to be in a city, they all said, "Oh, Graz is
just a small town. It's very safe." "Oh, Graz is just a small town.
It's not like Vienna, or Paris." Okay. I get that now.

In Graz everyone patiently waits for the traffic lights to change before
walking across a street - even if no cars are coming. In Paris we saw
two people run across a street with looks of terror on their faces --
even though they were crossing with the light! The traffic was crazy!

Also, I missed all the greetings that Austrians have. Now Paris has a
reputation for being rude to foreigners, but I didn't experience any of
that. We had people help us get our luggage through the subway
turnstiles, help direct us when we needed directions, and waitstaff and
shopkeepers were all very nice and polite. But I've gotten used to not
just "thank you" when I buy something but also "goodbye!". And if they
really like you, you'll get several good-byes -- Auf Wiedersehen,
Tschuess, Ciao. (Some of these are informal and are only used among
friends, but that's another discussion!)

Anyway, I'm glad we chose Graz! With a population of 225,000+, it's not
a huge city, but it is a good fit for us.

Sue

A Visit to the Lung Doctor

Background
I have lots of lung and sinus issues.  So, when I started having a productive cough in October, I didn't really do much about it.  I was feeling fine and it wasn't otherwise bothering me.  Until I got a serious cold in Salzburg.  When we got back to Graz, I called the lung doctor that our friend had recommended to us. I could get in the following Tuesday (6 days away).  I tried a couple of other options for seeing a dr. sooner, but given that no one seems to believe me when I'm sick, I decided to wait until I could see the specialist.

The Lung Doctor.

I left for my 10:30 appt early so I could have some time to find the office.  Turns out it was right across from the tram stop so I was plenty early to fill out forms as I usually would in the US.  I checked in, told the receptionist about my cough and was shown the waiting room - no forms to fill out - yay!  There were at least 5 people already waiting and it didn't look good since there's only one doctor in this office.  So I pulled out my book and waited. They were often calling 2 or 3 patients at once but still I waited.  More patients arrived.  More waiting.  Eventually, I began to wonder if I should put my book away so I would look like I was ready to be called. Given my ample waiting time, I had a chance to observe waiting room etiquette, which really isn't any different except that when a patient is finished being tested or has seen the dr, he or she leaves through the waiting room and says, "Auf Wiedersehen," or more often just, "Wiedersehen."  And most everyone in the room answers, "Wiedersehen."  At first I just thought it was two people who knew each other but it happened again and again.  I just love this, it's so endearing.

And then I was called.  I was greeted by a woman whom I'll call the technician because she and her partner were doing all the lab tests.  I don't actually know her name or her title.  The first thing she says is "Have you had allergy testing and when was the last time?"  About 4 years.  "Okay, we're going to do it right now," she answers, as she pulls out two strips of tape labeled 1-10 and tapes them to my forearm.  She drips out the serums (or whatever you call them) and then pricks my arm, wipes the needle and pricks, wipes, pricks, wipes until she's done.  Then she quickly helps someone else and then calls me to do a lung function test.  Breathe in here normally, then big deep breath in and then out.  Repeat 3 times. and then she sits me down in another corner, hands me a mouthpiece to breathe through and hooks me up to a machine to breathe through for 10 min.  I've done lung function tests before and it's not uncommon for them to give you some albuterol before you do it again, so I guessed that was what I was doing.  I had given them a list of medications I'm allergic to and those I take so I figured I was okay.  My timer went off and I turned off the machine and the technician comes running over to get me to do the lung function again.  This completed, I'm now ready to go to another waiting room to see the doctor.

More waiting.  It's nearly noon and I haven't seen the doctor.  Good thing Russ could pick up the kids. And then I'm called.  I go through the doctor's office, through another room to the x-ray room.  The doctor herself(!) does the x-rays.  I then wait in the middle room until she is done with a patient and then I'm in to see the doctor.  She doesn't speak English but the receptionist is there to translate.  But she doesn't actually translate.  They just talk to each other.  It's an odd feeling.  The receptionist shows the doctor my list of medications and the doctor says, "Ja. Cool."  Sorta funny.  There is much discussion about something so I say, I brought them all and plop my bag of prescriptions on the desk.  This pleases them very much and they inspect one to determine dosage, I think.  A couple of minor questions about medications and then the receptionist says, "Since you have so many allergies the doctor wants you to breathe the salt air for 10 more minutes and come back 2 more days to do this, 15 min. each time and see if this helps." Ah ha!  That's what that machine was!  Breathing the sea air.   My allergies are to antibiotics so no one wants to give them to me for fear I will develop an allergy to that one.  It's a valid concern.  I'm running out of the good ones.  I'm happy to try an alternative solution and see if it works.

Three things stand out for me about this visit.  1) No one took my temperature or blood pressure, looked into my ears or nose, or listened to my lungs. 2) I have never had allergy testing and a lung function test on the spot right in the doctor's office, without having to wait to get it scheduled - separately, with each lab.  3) The receptionist must have taken notes when I made my appointment about my having asthma and bronchiectasis.  They asked questions about it but I didn't bring it up first.  In my experience in the US, I repeat my ailments to everyone -- when I make the appt., when I get brought into exam room, when the dr. comes in.  I don't say that either way is right but it's just interesting and good to know for next time.  In the end, all the waiting didn't really bother me.  I've waited just as long as other places, and given how fast those technicians were good-naturedly working, I don't know how it couldn't gone faster.

Epilogue

I went into the office to breathe sea air for two more days, as instructed. On my last day, I'd had a horrible night of not being able to sleep because of all that I was coughing up.  The technician checked in with me both days and she suggested I should see the dr. again.  I agreed.  I didn't actually see the dr., but the receptionist took care of everything, checking with me about possible antibiotics and getting the prescription from the dr. for me.  She asked me to call next week to tell them how I am doing.

Five days later I'm feeling much better.  And I'm happy with my lung dr.'s office.  I feel like they listened to me and that's all I really want.

Sue

Lichterfest

In November kindergarten classes celebrate Lichterfest.  They make lanterns and learn songs during class, and then one evening they gather to celebrate a Festival of Light.  We joined Henry's school for their celebration on Nov. 3, at 5pm, just as it was starting to get dark.  All the parents and siblings waited outside (we were on a tennis court of the sports club next to Henry's school), and the three classes paraded out with their lanterns - lit with candles - and formed a big circle around the center objects shown to the right.

They sang songs together and, for a portion of the time, a smaller group of kids came forward and held candles and sang additional songs.  The songs were primarily about fall coming, summer ending and fire, water, earth and air.  We were told it is an old Celtic tradition.  (Incidentally, when in Salzburg, we learned that it was the Celts who discovered the salt mines.)  The thing that I enjoyed most about this ceremony was all the older siblings standing just behind the kindergarteners, heartily singing along.

Sue

A tip ...

Don't know if you've noticed this or not, but if you click on the pics, it will usually take you to a full-size version of it (if I've uploaded the right version of the pic in the first place).

Enjoy!
Russ

Salzburg Trip

Grace and Henry missing Jed in Salzburg

Last weekend Grace (but not Henry, interestingly) had a 5-day weekend.  Tuesday was a National Holiday (All Saints Day) and Wednesday was a school holiday (All Souls Day), so they threw in Monday as an "autonomous day" (which, we think, is similar to an "in service day" in the U.S.).  So, even though I just flew back from the U.S. on Tuesday (and that Wednesday was a holiday), we knew we had to use the 5-day weekend to travel.

We decided to travel to Salzburg, Austria, made famous from the movie, "The Sound of Music."  It is tucked into the northern part of the Alps, right on the border with Germany (not very close to Switzerland -- not sure how those von Trapp's walked all the way there!).  That means that our drive from Graz, on the southern edge of the Alps, was right through the Austrian Alps.  And with all those tunnels in Austria, it literally was right through the mountains!

Sue did a great job of researching things to do with kids and we had a few nice activities to choose from.  I got lucky with the hotel search engines and we landed in a good hotel that was about 1 mile from the center of the old part of the city and so every night we walked to town for dinner.  It was quite nice even if we went for Italian every night to avoid fights over food (Grace bragged that she ate Pizza Marguerite ohne Oregano every night!).

And speaking of nice, the weather was just gorgeous, with crystal blue skies, cold mornings, warm afternoons, and fall colors.  I can't imagine how the weather could have been any more enjoyable.

A view of Salzburg, from the Hohensalzburg Castle

Poor Grace gets wet at Hellbrunn!

Ok, so the activities.  The first big activity was to visit the Hellbrunn Palace.  This palace was quite distinctive, as the builder of the palace (early 1600's; prince-archbishop of Austria) had a nice sense of humor and incorporated "trick" fountains into a lot of buildings (including a big, outdoor table where jets of water squirted up through the seats on guests that tried to leave the table before the prince!).

What's this?  The Sound of Music gazebo, located on the Hellbrunn Palace grounds.

The palace grounds also had a big playground with those playground toys we really like in Austria.  We spent the whole day at the palace, taking tours, wandering up to another palace, playing in the park, etc.  Sue and I were both impressed that both children stayed engaged during a tour where you wore your own headset for a quick-paced tour through the main hall of the palace.

We actually enjoyed it so much, Grace and Henry accompanied me on a run on the grounds the next morning (Henry's first run ever!).

The other big activity was a visit to Salz Welten, a salt mine turned tourist attraction.  The tour of the mine included many forms of locomotion from a train that took us into the mine, lots of walking, a boat ride across a small lake in the mine, and the highlight, trips down the miner slides!  And then to get out, much to Henry's amazement, an escalator (I can still hear him clearly in my head ... "an escalator ... IN A MINE?!").

Three future miners (two happy and one not!)

Yes, even Honey Bear!

Feel those G's!

One of the things that I thought was really cool that down in the mine we traveled from Austria to Germany and then back again.  Reminds me of a hike in Virginia where you walk from VA to WV and back to VA, all in about 1 mile!

Welcome to Germany, coming from Österreich (Austria)

As you can see from this shot, the mine was up on a mountain, with beautiful views back to the Hohensalzburg Castle and Salzburg.

Ok, you can't actually see Hohensalzburg Castle from this tiny picture!

Other activities included a carriage ride through the city, riding the SchlossBahn up to the Hohensalzburg Castle, and general walking around.  We didn't go on the various Sound of Music tours, the Mozart tours (he's from there), or many of the museums.  There is plenty to do for another trip!

Our driver didn't speak much English, but it was still a nice ride

Castle building ... at a castle!

Medieval games :-)

Farewell from Salzburg!

Russ

Why I like being here so dang much ...

Being back in the US, I had to face, for the first time, questions after I expressed my overall joy of being here in Austria and how hard it was to come back to the US for a visit.  Folks wondered why I liked living in a small apartment?  And why I didn't mind walking a lot and not having the convenience of a car?

That got me to thinking ... those questions seem familiar for some reason.  Then it hit me ... they sound just like the questions I get every year from some quarters when I go on and on about my latest backpacking trip!  So, I wondered, do I like living here for the same reasons I like backpacking?  What do I love about backpacking, anyway?

I like having a small amount of stuff, and knowing where it is.  I like spending my day exercising.  I like being outside.  I like being new places.  I like having little chores that are part of my everyday schedule.  I like having interesting conversations that you just don't have in your everyday life.  I like having roles within a team and working together.

Yep, same reasons! :-)

Russ

Trip back to the US

As many of you know, I recently went back to the US for work.  It was an 8-day trip and I really hated to be away from our new home!  Sue and the kids seemingly did really well without me (and luckily no one, especially Sue, was sick while I was away), but I know I was missed and that 6a CST (1p CET) Skype sessions only go so far in keeping in touch.

So, what do I want to say in terms of a reflection on the trip?  Well, mostly that I really didn't want to go.  I mean, I knew that I'd see some friends and have some good times along with the work (and did), but I just feel really into the swing of things here and especially on the language front, just wanted to stay.  I'm cherishing the time here and this opportunity, and any break in my experience just brings to the forefront that this is a temporary state of bliss!

But, given that I was going (I kept telling Grace that, "I have no choice, I have to go!"), it was time to make a shopping list.  And this may be as good a post as any to comment on what we can't buy here and why I had a shopping list ... anyway, here was my list ...
 - Dried cherries (for Russ, he's addicted!)

 - Brown sugar (for baking ... the sugar here is just not the same ... it's "real" and not "sticky")

 - Ranch dressing (for Henry, he's addicted!)

 - Mac-n-cheese (for Grace, a treat!)

 - Almond butter (for Russ)

 - Spices (cumin, chicken seasoning, cilantro, etc.)

 - Sour patch kids (a treat for Russ and the kids)

 - PB (for Henry and Grace, they don't like the PB we can get here)

 - Shout stick (practical reasons)

 - Wimpy Kid Diary 5 (for Grace)

 - Matchbook car book or Mighty Machines (for Henry)

 - Jo Nesbo book (for Sue)

We could survive without all of these, but it is fun to get some treats from back home.  

I remember that when my friend, Yossi, would come back to the US from Israel he'd have a list, but it was always for "big things that cost less" in the US.  But maybe he was just doing some grocery shopping too?  Anyway, it surprises me all the time that there are many things that we can't get here that we are used to (besides the above, black beans, fresh cilantro, yogurt that Henry likes, chocolate chips, baking soda, two of my secret ingredients for cookies!).  And then I remember that there are different tastes here and the US *is* the largest consumer market in the world (even if Fayetteville isn't).

And yes, there are some neat foods that we will miss once we have left ... that can be covered on a (much) later post :-)

So, I'm back and we all had the day off today for Austrian's National Day (reunification ... when the Allied Forces left Austria for good in 1955, 10 years after the end of WWII, can you imagine?).  We were going to go hiking (that's a traditional thing to do, so say the locals), but that kind of fell through due to weather and needing a car, and instead enjoyed a day of going to a great park, carving Jack-o-Lanterns, and visiting a couple of local sites (the double stairs and the Glockenspiel).  This weekend has a Halloween party and a 4-day trip to Salzburg on the agenda.  And tonight I made our plane reservations for Paris in November.  I'm back to being a European :-)

Russ

Like Angels Singing

The soloists are listed: Soprano, Alto, two Tenors, and then the Bass.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending a concert the other night (we have to find a babysitter that we can use!). Our friend, David, who sings in the Graz Opera, was performing as part of an ensemble. Of course we were proud that he was the lead Bass and was part of two solos.

The ensemble was performing one of the Schubert "masses" (number 6), and fittingly, it was performed in Herz-Jesu-Kirche (Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus), the largest of Graz's many beautiful churches (circa, late 1800's).  Schubert, I've since learned, was one of the most prolific composers even though he died at age 31.  He was from Vienna and his earlier works were "Mozart-esque."

Like many of my pics, you can find better ones online!

When you click on the link below to hear a 15-second snipet, imagine you are an old church, in an old European city and in the main hall that is at least 10 stories tall (the whole church is almost 30 stories tall!).  I've named this audio clip, like angels singing, for a reason!

Sounds like angels singing ...

Russ

Sue's Parents Visit

Liz and Jerry with the Inner Stadt behind them.

How lucky I feel to have my parents visit for 2 whole weeks!  We found a hotel for them across the street from the kids' schools -- their room overlooked the playground which both schools use.  They could peak out and see Grace and Henry playing at recess.  And this was very handy for me picking up the kids -- they never get out at the same time so we could hang out at Wiz and Bumpa's place while waiting for the other kid to finish.

I wish we could have done more sight-seeing together but there always seemed like something needed to be done for the kids or school or Henry's birthday so they ended up doing lots of shopping with us. How fun to have them here for Henry's Birthday!  And they did get stuck (?) babysitting a couple of times, too.

In addition to visiting Slovenia, we did the Schlossberg mountain, clocktower and fairy tale train. By the second week here they were comfortable enough with the tram system to go off on their own including a visit to the Eggenberg castle, the old city, and lunch at the Sacher Hotel.

At a local park.

Mostly, I just enjoyed their easy company.  I haven't met many people here yet and have felt lonely at times.  It was so nice to feel in the midst of family even if it was for a short time.

Sue

Business Trip to Brussels

Earlier this week I traveled to Brussels (Belgium) on a business trip (a meeting for a big European Commission research proposal; I'm collaborating with them for a similar US proposal).  As I've never been to Brussels before (except for an airline connection), I went up a little early so that I could have a quick visit.

Grand'Place (Brussels)

The most striking feature of Brussels has to be its central square (The Grand'Place).  We walked into the square on our way to dinner and I was just blown away with the magnificence of the buildings.  This picture is of City Hall.  We had dinner at a traditional Belgium restaurant after visiting a traditional Belgium pub (Belgian beer being the first of three significant culinary contributions hit upon in this blog post).

My host told me an interesting story about the square that I thought I'd relate ... the buildings around the square were built in the 11 century.  But in the 17th century the French bombed the square, almost completely destroying its buildings.  The Belgians decided to rebuild them, and this is the first one that they completed.  As you can probably tell, this 17th-century architectural style is very different than the above 11th-century style.  The citizens also thought inferior.  So, the rest of the buildings around the square were reconstructed in the 11th-century style.

17th-Century Style (much more "flat")

Ok, so, I mentioned three significant culinary contributions above ... Belgian beer was the first, but what else?  Well, Belgian waffles, of course!  Here is my breakfast!

Sue first thought this was my dessert, not breakfast!

And then the third?  My favorite of the three ... Belgian chocolate!  Here is a picture of the very nice shop where I made my purchases.  I was really looking for "bulk chocolate" to take home to friends, but there were only these artisan shops.  Oh well, the sampler box of dark chocolate I took home was a big hit :-)

I discovered when I got home that the clerk gave me more than she should have for the price I paid :-)

There are better picture of this online!

And I'll close with this picture of the Atomium.  This is Brussel's engineering feat that was highlighted during the 1958 World's Fair (just like the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889).  (Side note:  I always thought the St. Louis Arch was constructed for a World's Fair (it sure fits the model), but it was constructed well after the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.)  You can ride an elevator to the top of the highest "molecule" and their are escalators that connect some of the others.
So, that was my half day or site-seeing in Brussels!

Russ

Henry's Home Birthday

For Henry's 6th birthday he decided he just wanted a family birthday because, "I don't have any friends here." Poor kid doesn't understand much of what's said at his German-speaking school, but they've recently gotten out some trucks and construction toys with which Henry has discovered the universal language of play.  So we are hopeful things will turn around for him!

He really wanted to just open presents but we decided we needed an activity for the day also.  (Parents are no fun.)  We suggested a train ride thru the caves in town or the children's museum.  First it was the museum, but the day before his birthday he said he wanted to do that another day (because REALLY, all he wanted to do was open presents).  Grace convinced him to try the train because it would be cold in there and they could try out their new winter jackets!  The picture is from the week before, when we discovered the train under the Schlossberg mountain.  The train travels through one of the many tunnels under the Schlossberg.  The tunnels were used for air raid shelters during World War II.  This train is a fairy tale train and takes you past little fairy tale scenes like Rapunzel.

Henry's birthday went about like this: open some presents, play with them, go to Grandma and Grandpa's hotel, open some presents, play with them, train ride, lunch, open some presents, play with them, eat cake, play. play, play.

Sue

Henry's Birthday at School

At Henry's school, parents take turns bringing snack.  When we first got the school booklet last year, we looked at the end of the book and saw several recipes listed.  We could choose among these to bring for  snack.  For your child's birthday, you bring the Geburtstag snack.  So we were happy to have our oven fixed just in time to make his snack.  We excitedly pulled out the booklet, anxious to try out baking in Austria -- only to discover the "recipes" in the back were actually lists of things (homemade, preferred) to bring.  Ha!  Our ability to decipher German has improved immensely!  We were to bring a Sacher torte, kuchen, 2 kilos of fruit and 1 liter of juice.  After much debate, inspection of ingredients available (sugars have a different consistency here -- more on baking later!), and given the time we had, we decided to buy the Sacher torte and make coffee cake for the kuchen.  We were disappointed that the leftover food was put away when we picked up Henry.  We all wanted to taste that Sacher torte and see how the coffee cake turned out!

See the litte picture of Henry on a stick?

Each month at the school, they have a Gerburtstag celebration for all the kids celebrating birthdays that month.  Henry was the only October birthday so the celebration was held Friday, the day before his birthday.  (It was also the first celebration of the schoolyear.)  You can see the set up in the picture.  The blanket is divided into 4 colors: red for autumn ("herbst"), blue for winter, green for spring and yellow for summer.  On top of the blanket is a circular puzzle with each puzzle piece being a month of the year.  The months were laid over the blanket corresponding to the seasons (September 21 was on the border of the yellow and red).  The puzzle had small holes on it corresponding to the days of the month.  A small picture of Henry mounted on a stick is placed in the hole for October 8.  Henry placed the small Fall objects on the red part of the blanket:  pumkins, scarecrow, red leaves, etc.  The little girl in the picture is placing numbers on each of the months (1 for January thru 12 for December).  Another girl placed all the pictures around the circle, 2 for each month, of activities that happen in that month.

In front of Henry they put a lit candle in a ceramic holder, and a train with each car holding an unlit candle.  The kids and teachers all sat around the circle and the teacher started a song about the first year of life.  At this time, Henry picked up the lit candle and walked carefully around the circle and sat down again.  When the verse was finished, a child lit one candle on the train.  This was repeated 5 more times - once for each year of life.  After this, they sang a birthday song in German and Happy Birthday in English and German.  Then they put a picture of Venus on the blanket and played some Venus music and invited the kids to dance.  I felt very lucky to have been included in this little ceremony, and I look forward to visiting again when it's another child's birthday!

Sue

Trip to Slovenia

Quick, without going to Google Maps or Google Earth, tell me where Slovenia is?  I know I couldn't have answered that question before we started planning our sabbatical in Austria.  But I now know where it is and how beautiful a country it is (at least the small part that we saw).  And like usual, I don't have pictures to do the country justice, so for this post, I'll intersperse some photos off the web with one of mine.

Last Saturday dawned like pretty much every day since we've arrived ... beautiful, sunny day with comfortable temperatures.  I picked up the rental car and collected Sue, the kids, and Sue's parents and we headed west and then south to Slovenia, a country the size of Massachusetts with a population of 2 million, that used to be one of the Yugoslavia republics.  Sue read some reports that Slovenia fared much better in gaining their independence than its sister republics (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) because it always maintained its own culture (even though it was ethnically diverse), identity, etc.  The civil war for independence was like 5 days.

The mountains of Southern Austria and Northern Slovenia.

Anyway, our reason for visiting was not cultural.  It was to see part of the Julian Alps (names after Julias Cesar).  As you can see, they are quite beautiful.  But with only a day to visit and the need for some kid-friendly activities, we followed a travel author's advice, and headed to the town of Bled, near the mountains and the Austrian border (Google Maps said it would be a 2-hour drive, but it was more like 2.5 hours and much of it was over very windy roads on the way there -- more on that later!).

Lake Bled, Slovenia

The main attraction of Bled is its lake.  Or, more exactly, the island in the middle of the lake where there is an old church (dating back to the 1400's if you can believe that).  So, we arrived, ate a great lunch (by the way, Slovenia is part of the Eurozone so no need to bring the passports (but we still did) or change money) and found someone to take us across the lake to the church.  You'll see there is an old castle up on the hill overlooking the lake (directly behind the island in this picture).  (We didn't make it up there.)  After arriving to the island, Henry and I made it to the top of the island and Henry took his turn ringing the church bell before and we looped the island on a 5-minute hike.

You probably can't tell from the photos, but they use these really long oars and lean into it to propel you across the lake in boats that are closer to gondolas than any boat I've seen.

After returning, we had ice cream to reward ourselves for our accomplishment and re-joined Sue and Grace.

What's that?  Sue and Grace didn't go? Well, no. Remember those windy roads that I mentioned?  Poor Grace suffers, as I do, from car sickness.  And those windy mountain roads were too much for her (thankfully, I was driving and that keeps car sickness at bay for me).  So, getting in a boat really didn't seem like a good idea.  The good news is that on the way home our GPS routed us a different way and this route took us straight through the mountains ... literally, via an 8-km tunnel!  If you drive in Austria (the tunnel was right on the border) or Switzerland you will definitely say to yourself once or twice ..., "boy, they really love tunnels here!"  And I've established a tradition (in the US) that we hold our breath during a tunnel ... needless to say, that tradition is put on hold in Austria!

We are sure to return to Slovenia.  They have a national park that supposedly rivals the national parks of the western US.  And Slovenia has a thriving economy, great roads, and an interesting history.  With direct train service from Graz to their capital, I think our return will be soon!

Russ