Grace is a better skier than me!

We've been having a fair amount of health issues in our household (or is that apartmenthold or flathold here?), but in between, Grace and I have managed to get out twice to ski. And let me tell you, I could not be prouder -- she is doing great!

The first ski outing was to a place called Klippitztörl, which is a bit further than Hebalm, where the kids learned to ski. We took something called the Schnee Bus (snow bus), which is a bus trip organized by the local sporting goods giant, Giga Sports. They negotiate a group rate for the lift ticket and share the cost of the bus. It's a pretty good deal, but Grace wasn't too happy when she found out the bus left at 7:30a from a mall that was a 20-minute tram ride away. But she was in good sprits for the 1:15 bus drive out into the Austrian mountains. And I was glad someone else was driving as we hit some pretty deep snow about 40 minutes into the drive.

When we pulled into the parking lot there is one hill right in front of you. Grace looked up and said, "is that a black hill?" For those of you that don't ski, ski hills are rated in terms of difficulty. In Austria, "bunny hills" (and yes, they call it that even though "bunny" and "hill" are not the same in English and German!) are not rated, typically. Blue is the rating for an "intermediate hill," whereas red is for "difficult," and black is for "expert." Anyway, in ski school Grace had only skied on a pretty easy and short bunny hill.

A horrible iPhone picture of Grace atop the Blue bunny hill.

Anyway, after renting our equipment, changing our clothes, and getting our pass from the bus driver, we checked out that map. That "black hill" turned out to be the bunny hill! And it was rated "blue." So, needless to say, Grace was a little intimidated heading to the top of the hill on the "tow line." But we skied down without incident, with me trailing behind her, just in case. After about five or six runs she said, "I think I have this figured out, you don't need to go behind me anymore." And after 10 runs, she said, after stating multiple times that she would "NEVER" ride a chair lift (too dangerous), "let's try the chair lift for a real blue."



Well, she fell a few times, but nothing serious and she just did great, what can I say! And by now I was starting to realize something that has limited my skiing by learning later in life ... I have an internal governor that says, "that's pretty fast, you might want to slow down." But she doesn't have that. So, while I try to make turns going down the hill to check my speed, little Ms. Speed Demon gets tired of making turns and just goes all out at times -- and then waits for me to catch up! This was especially true the next week ... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, due to a language mixup with the bus driver, we couldn't get our food off of the bus and so ended up skiing pretty much non-stop from 9:30 to 4:00. I was pretty tired at the end, but Grace never flagged. We ended up with like 30 runs on the bunny hill and 2 runs on the "real blue" hill complete with not-so-scary (according to Grace now) chairlift rides up. With the bus ride back and the tram from then, I think it was 6:30p or so when we arrived at home, full of stories of our great adventure.

So, given that was one long day, we were happy the next week when my friend, Jörg, offered to drive to our destination, Präbichl, and he didn't want to pick us up until 10:30a! The drive to
Präbichl was a little longer and this time we were heading northwest out of Graz, right into the heart of the Austrian Alps. I tell you, this is a beautiful country and where we went skiing was breathtaking. And with over 2m of snow on the ground (think 6 feet or so), we had ideal skiing conditions.

We bought a noon-4p-close pass and hit the slopes soon after noon. We took one run on the flattest, widest, and longest bunny hill I've ever seen and Grace declared herself ready for the chair lift. She was a little intimidated by the fact that is was a 4-person chair, but quickly got the hang of it and we enjoyed the 5-minute ride to the top. We were a little confused where to go, but our friend Jörg convinced us we were ready for Run #1. I thought I saw a red sign at the top, but thought, "no, he wouldn't head us down a red to start ... Grace has never skied a red run before." Well, I was wrong ... he did! We made it down in excellent fashion and we headed right back up. This time, Run #2, which had a blue sign. Now Grace realized she had skied a red run. If you thought I was proud of her, then you have no idea how proud she was of herself! And, as I alluded to earlier, there were times she must have waited 2 or 3 full minutes for me and Jörg to catch up (Jörg was hanging back with me; he's an excellent skier, often heading out days at a time as a teenager hiking up mountains with seal skins on his skis and then skiing down in one long day). And then we discovered Run #3 that ended with a long stretch that was parallel to the bunny hill. We ended up racing that, flat out as fast as we could go and Grace won a couple of times!

I'll end just by saying that Grace has a long way to go to have that effortless Austrian downhill style (and she still skis without poles), but it is just AMAZING at how comfortable she is on skis and how much she is enjoying this! And keep in mind: She is 8-years old and only had about 6-7 hours of instruction before these two outings. When I think how much confidence this is building in her, I'm just overjoyed. And I have to say that I like having a "ski buddy" to hang out with :-)

Russ

Advent at Home

Submitted by Sue

One of the ways we take the edge off the anticipation of Christmas is to light the Advent wreath and put things up on an Advent calendar. We have a a nice Felt Pocket hanging calendar at home in which we put little crèche figures or an ornament or a sweet, and the kids take one out every day. Not having our usual props, we went a little commercial and let the kids have a Lego (Henry) and Playmobil (Grace) Advent calendar, but we also went a little homemade by stringing up a clothesline with each of us donating socks to make up 24 days. Each day the kids took turns looking inside the socks. Most days it was a sweet, or a note to do something nice for someone, or most popular with the kids, a note to find something - like a little giftie from mom or grandma (socks, earmuffs from the Advent markets, activity book or ornament). But the kids also got onto it, occasionally picking out the sweet or my favorite, Grace making notes to everyone telling them why she loved them.

This was a lot of fun and we got to hang up stockings even though we didn't do it for Christmas (the kids put out their ski helmets for Santa).

Advent Wreathes

submitted by Sue

At home in the US, we light the candles on the Advent wreath. It's a tradition that I grew up with, and it's fun for the kids to participate. We have a little poem that we say as we light the candles - everyone has a line. At home we have a 4-candle candle holder that we use, not bothering with an actual wreath. But here there is no way to avoid the wreath! The farmer's market by our apartment had stands and stands of them, decorated in many colors, fancy and simple. I wish I had taken pictures of them all! We got ours the day before Advent started just as the farmer's market was starting close down. The vender saw us coming and reduced his prices so we'd buy candles for the kids as well. Here's our set, after Christmas.

Advent wreaths really were everywhere - on sale at stores and at venders at the tram station, and not just for sale. Grace and Henry both had them in their rooms at school and they were lit everyday by their teachers. In restaurants and doctors' offices there would be an Advent wreath sitting on the bar, counter or hostess table - and always had just the right number of candles that had been lit. (I didn't see candles burning in a public place, just that the candles had been lit.)

After 4 weeks, our greens were looking a little ragged so Russ and Grace picked up a single candle for Christmas day. This was joined by candles that the kids made at their schools. Henry's is the hand-dipped wax candle and Grace's is the flower pot snowman.

Our lighted candle is glowing,
Making the darkness bright,
Shining on our family,
Gathered here tonight.

Fun Fact: Grace recited this poem at her class holiday program. She did awesome!

Catch Up - Advent in Graz

submitted by Sue

Well, we tried really hard to keep things in chronological order, but sometimes things happen fast and there just isn't time to get things written up before something else happens. And when two people are submitting posts, it was bound to get mixed up anyway.

I've got a couple of posts about Advent that I've been writing in my mind but just haven't taken the time to put on paper or computer. Turns out sitting in a doctor's office (or specifically a CT scan office) is the perfect time to write things up. And magically, my iTouch was both with me and charged (this never happens).

Advent is a special time to be in Graz. The streets are decorated with lights and Christmas trees are hung from above. (Interestingly, on some streets trees are hung right side up and others upside down.) The Advent Markets open in mid-November, work begins on an ice sculpture of the Nativity, and a huge Christmas tree is put up on the town square.

Also called Christmas Markets, the Advent Markets are a little bit like a street fair or a craft fair that goes on until Christmas. The markets are scattered around the courtyards and plazas near the City Center. Each market has a theme - local products and crafts, fine arts, international crafts, kiddie rides. Some of the markets have activities for kids to do on Fridays -- like candle making or cookie decorating. Most of the markets have music playing. Sometimes it's the vendors, but some markets have live music scheduled for the weekend hours. The markets are open all day (starting at 10am or so) but busiest in the evenings as the sun goes down (by 4:30 or 5pm!). Also running through the markets is this little Christmas train.

The market booths vary from canvas tents to wooden boothes, some simple and some very ovally-modern-shaped (the fine arts market booths). Unfortunately, we failed to get any pictures of them. Each market has a couple of booths dedicated to food and drink. Drinks include apple ciders and rum punches and the local favorites Gluhwein (mulled wine with cinnamon, cloves and oranges) and Gluhschi (I think this is based on a local wine but I can't verify my source -- no match on google!). The drinks are THE social thing to do. You meet your friends at the markets to drink and hang out. It's all outside and about 32 degrees F. or less. One booth we visited was making Belgian waffles which you can get with marmalade or schokolade or zimt (cinnamon). Very yummy.

Many restaurants that have outdoor seating will have all their tables out and each chair has a blanket draped over it, and sure enough the next time you walk by, people will be sitting out having drinks. It's a very festive time of year and makes the early sunset much easier to take. And it's fun to see people out and about, bundled up and enjoying themselves, even in the cold.

"Free" TV/Radio

One of the valuable aspects of living somewhere else is the opportunity to evaluate some hidden value statements about your culture. So, that's the lead in to a short story ...

The other day our door bell rang. I answered the door and there were two men that asked me if I had a TV or a radio in the flat? I said that I did (mind you, the tv provided by the owner of the flat is an ancient thing and we only get 2 channels on it). They then asked me my name, which I told them. They checked their clipboard and they said that our tv was not registered. To which I replied, "you have to register your tv? Why?" The answer to "why" is that it's the law, but "why is it the law that I have to register my tv?" Well, instead of dragging you threw the entire conversation, I'll skip to the punch line.

You register you tv/radio here because "free" tv (what you get on your tv without cable or any other service) is what we refer to in the US as "public television." And like, PBS in the US, there are no commercials on the "free" tv stations here (we had noticed that). The kids watch some children's programming and we're always bewildered by the start times because shows are about 20 minutes each instead of 30 minutes, so the start times seem pretty random. Of course, this is because of the lack of commercials and the programming was adapted from "commercial tv" (some from the US, some from France, some from Germany, etc.) And by the way, the content of our "free" tv here seems to be somewhere between PBS and commercial tv in the US (they carry news, sports programs, kids programs, dramas, etc., but somehow it doesn't seem exactly like commercial tv in the US -- we assume when you get cable, you get stations like that).

Anyway, which system would you like best? Commercial tv at home for anyone to watch for free if they have a tv, but loaded with commercials? Or, commercial-free tv that you HAVE to pay for no matter how much you watch (you can't just avoid donating to PBS here!)?

So, we'll pay the 24 euros a month for the last 6 months we are here to watch two stations about 30 minutes a day. We're not mad, because at least we are getting a story out of it :-)

Russ

Schnee Schule

Austrians are great skiers, especially alpine skiers.  Those of you that are the age of Sue and I may remember, Hermann Maier ("the Herminator"), who won two gold medals in the 1998 Olympics (among many, many, other world titles).  And beyond their prowess in competitive skiing, you certainly get the impression that EVERYONE in Austria skies.  Maybe Anna, our babysitter, said it best , "when you live in Austria, why would you go anywhere else in the winter?"  Is it possible that she gets the whole month of February off of classes to provide Austrian college students a chance to go skiing for a month?  Anyway, when in Rome ... 

We enrolled Henry and Grace in three days of ski school (Schnee Schule) this past week.  This started as a way for Grace to gain some confidence ahead of when her school would go to ski school for a whole week in February (that's right, no class this week kids, we're hitting the slopes!).  But to be honest, I wanted both of them to learn when they were young.  I didn't, and it has always been harder for me to ski than my peers that learned when they were younger.  And like I said, we're in Austria, so it seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Day 1:  Grace on the training course with instructor, Fabian.

And let me say, both kids did great!  Both went from having A LOT of anxiety back in October when we sprung this on them to feeling really comfortable skiing.  In between October and earlier this week their were periods where Grace and Henry both said, "I'm not doing it!"  This seemed to die down a bit as we bought them their ski outfits (they both loved those!), but you could still sense a fair bit of anxiety Thursday morning as we made the hour-long drive up into the mountains.  At the end of the Day 1 Grace said, "Dad, thanks for forcing us to come to ski school."  And Henry immediately chimed in, "yeah, Dad, thanks."  Color me a proud and happy parent!

Of course, as Grace is older, etc., she progressed further than Henry in the three days, but they were both on the bunny hill the last day doing really well.  Their instructor declared that Grace was ready for the "real" runs the next time she came and that Henry probably only needs one or two more hours before he'd be ready.  Can you believe that?  I still find it somewhat hard to believe even though I was there to witness the transformation :-)

And remember how I said that I wished that I had learned to ski when I was younger? Well, as Sue has never been downhill skiing, we decided to have her tag along with the kids in ski school. And let's just say that it didn't work out as well as it did with the kids. We'll have to reassess this plan of getting us all out of the slopes together.

Russ

Barcelona Holiday Trip

Just returned from a week-long trip to Barcelona.  Would be pretty easy to make this a long post, but hopefully I can just "hit the highlights" and convey our trip.

Like the sporty blue ear phones on the double-decker bus?

First theme:  the weather was BEAUTIFUL the entire time we were there.  I'd be lying if I said we never saw a cloud, but not if I said that we rarely saw a cloud.  It was just "abundant" sunshine every single day.  The highs were also in the low 60's, which is quite warm for this time of year for Barcelona (or, so say the locals).  But it could still be chilly due to the wind when we were riding on top of the open-top double-decker bus or down by the beach.  Not a big deal, but the sunlight is better for appreciating the art as one is about and enjoying the city.


Second theme:  much of our time in Barcelona turned out to be related to "art."  The two artists that we dominate the city are Joan Miro and Antoni Gaudi.  And let me just say right here ... it is just a coincidence that Gaudi's architecture is sometimes labeled with the adjective, gaudy.  But I had to look that up!

What a lovely choice, Sue!

Miro first.  As you'll see below, his art is characterized by bright colors and simple geometric shapes combined to form an image.  We visited his museum, employing the "gift shop first, scavenger hunt" approach to the visit (we were 3 for 4 this time!).  There, we bought a "simple book" about his life and the kids listened to me read the whole thing over two settings and looked through a 600-page book on his art on New Year's Eve.  And there were other evidence of Miro throughout Barcelona, who has embraced its artistic heritage.

Gaudi House:  Casa Batllo with a dragon-ridge roof!

Now Gaudi.  I sometimes forget that architects are artists, but that would be impossible with Gaudi.  His style first, is artistic (and some say, childlike), but any examination of his structures provides an appreciation for his appreciation of nature.  And like Miro, his impact on Barcelona is widespread and is, in fact, continuing as work continues on his centerpiece cathedral as well as new tiles added all along the city that are fashioned on his "style."  But as an engineer, it was really something to behold upon visiting his signature house (Casa Batllo).  I loved the light "well" that allows light from the middle of the house and the sustainability construction techniques employed in the late 1800's.

Gaudi Church:  Sagrada Familia

Henry runs back from the waves :-)

Third theme:  the beach!  I'd say overall the kids liked the trip and everything about it (except the daily battle about food below!), and they had the most fun just hanging out on the beach.  For those of you that know me, I'm not a "beach person."  First, it tends to be too passive for me.  Second, I hate how the sand follows you everywhere you go for days.  The kids definitely solve the first, using their imagination to come up with active games.  But there is no solving the second!  But, as I said, the kids loved going and on New Years Day when we let them set the schedule, it is where they wanted to return on their last full day in Barcelona (along with a park and the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner!).

The daily battle about food!  Yes, it's true.  Not everything was perfect on the trip.  Every day (heck, 2-3 times a day!), the tension was between what Sue and Russ wanted to eat (in Spain?  Tapas!) and what the kids wanted to eat (Grace, only pasta or french fries ... Henry, nothing!).  As you might imagine, we compromised.  We found an "ok" tapas place that had pasta near the hotel (two nights), a nice tapas place one night, Hard Rock one night, and then a nicer pasta place and pizza for the other two.

There's more to share, and I'd welcome Sue to post a subsequent comment, but I wanted to get this posted before our next adventure ... ski school!

Russ

p.s.  I don't know why, but I got the biggest kick out of seeing parrots all over the city :-)