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