Come away with me, and we'll kiss, on a mountaintop...

Slowly, slowly, slowly I've been getting used to my "new" (in quotes because it's not so new anymore) life. This week, and especially today, I've felt more at home and comfortable here than ever before. I feel like the teachers have officially accepted me - I was told "wir sind sehr zufrieden mit dir" --> we are very happy/pleased/satisfied with you - and I finally got my first invite to go out with students. I don't know if it was me, or the "townsfolk," that has made feeling at home take so long, but I think that may be just how small-town life is: slow.

So, I feel like the students are truly warming up to me. It's hard because I only see each class once a week, it's been nearly impossible for me to learn their names, and they see me as just the "assistant." But, they like me, I think, and I started today to make a true effort to learn their names. I told all my classes today to keep an eye out for me at Salzhaus, the only, local disco, this weekend, which they all found hilarious. Once I buy them all a round, I think they'll really like me!

For some reason, I've seen more students outside of class this week than in the whole time I've been here. And it's quite amazing how many students I see just when I'm grocery shopping! I went to Liezen, which is 40 minutes away, yesterday with Frankie to shop (it was much needed!) and I saw 2 students there!

Anyway, it turns out one of my teachers in the BORG, Barbara, is going to be sick until Christmas. I feel quite bad for her, but this has turned out kind of cool for me. First of all, I got to meet Sandra, the teaching assistant from TEN YEARS AGO, who is from Minnesota and has inzwischen settled down in Bad Aussee with a hubby and a child and she teaches at the Hauptschule in BA. She's taking over the 7th and 8th form classes that Barbara had, so I'm sad I won't get to see them, but I'm essentially taking over the 6th form class! I'm quite excited for that, as they are pretty cool. And I will go with Anita, the other English teacher in BORG, to her classes. So this is cool because: I'm going to get to know an old assistant and I'm almost taking over an entire class! Neat!!

All of this is helping to convince me to stay in Bad Aussee for another year. I know I want to stay in Austria for anothe ryear, but I'm not sure if I want to change location or not. Colin, a friend in Vienna, told me that I should switch to a bigger city, but... I'm feeling really good here right about now and I only think it could get better. We'll see!

Ahh well, so it's been a great last couple of weeks! And this weekend, Saturday to be exact, is the day I'm celebrating Thanksgiving with some American and British friends! I'm so excited! I can't wait to host my first dinner :). I'm making the turkey (with Nichol's help!), mashed potatoes (of course!!), corn and stuffing. I have 9 other people coming: 2 boys, 4 Americans, 6 Brits, and somehow we're all going to fit in my apartment! Everyone is bringing or making a dish! Should be awesome! Nichol, Dan and Jordan are arriving tomorrow late-ish and then we're going out for the traditional pre-Thanksgiving drink fest :).

And this Saturday night starts Krampus, which is this crazy Alpine Christmastime festival during which the men, and boys, of the town, dress up like really scary devils and whip (not REALLY whip, but, ya) children and women in the town. So, we're of course checking that out after dinner. Should be pretty interesting!

OK, that's about it for now. Still have that post in mind about differences between Austria/Germany/United States. As a friend posted in her blog, there is a silent, and sometimes-not-so-silent, war between the two German speaking countries. It's kind of amazing sometimes how adamant the Austrians are that they are different than Germans.

And, btw, check out this Austrian commercial. It's an excellent example of shockvertising and my heart stops everytime: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiBjWaYs5cw. I realize it's in German, but you'll be able to understand what's going on.

Love to all! And Happy Thanksgiving!!
Cheers,
Alaina

Schmeiß die Hände in die Luft!

So, the last few weeks in which I haven't posted have included many adventures in the Land of Party and Jäger Bombs. Let's see, I spent the weekend of October 24th traveling around Austria with some Brits (Dan, Rich, Nichol) - we went to Bruck an der Mur (for Emilie's birthday party), came back to Bad Aussee (for my HLW Maturaball!) and then went to Mürzzuschlag (where Rich lives). The weekend of October 31st, I was in Schladming with Frankie. It was Halloween, but nothing cool was going on in Schladming, sadly. I really missed Halloween this year! Then, the weekend of the 7th, I was in Vienna for Nichol's birthday. We all had a great time in the capital - Nichol, Ollie (Nichol's bf), Frankie, Jordan, Peter, Corrie and I had an awesome time on the town Saturday night. The city is absolutely gorgeous - I'm in love! I got a Starbuck's Latte and it was heeeaven! Only 10 Starbuck's in Austria, and they are ALL in Vienna! And finally this past weekend, I was in Schladming again for Frankie's Maturaball and general rabble-rousing. We raved in a cave. Enough said. :)

I have plans for the rest of my weekends before I go home. This Thursday, I'm taking the night train to Neuchâtel to visit Maude, the weekend after that I'm having a Thanksgiving bash at my apartment (which will be interesting...not sure how the food is all going to turn out haha), the first weekend in November, I'm going to Graz for "Fallstival," during which we'll be commemorating a Pagan holiday haha, then I think I'm going to go to Vienna to hit up the Christmas markets and, of course, buy many souveniors....then I'm flying home on Thursday the 17th!!!! And I even have plans that weekend to hit Ann Arbor hard :)!

Anyway, though the weekends are awesome here, the weeks are a bit boring here in Bad Aussee, but that's just how it is in small-town Austria. And I'm really enjoying my job (getting the hang of it and all) and even the really annoying classes are getting on my good side! Also, the good classes just keep getting better! It's cool. I was told by my main teacher that I'm a natural teacher, although I feel like I'm shit, so that made me happy! And my principal said I speak German really well, so that was awesome! I've had some really awesome lessons, such as the Ku Klux Klan, "schockvertising," legalizing marijuana and so on.

So I have some things/differences between Austria/America/Germany that I'm going to write about in my next post (can't be bothered right now....a bit lazy), so keep an eye out for that!

Miss and love you all!
Cheers,
Alaina

ps, "schmeiß die Hände in die Luft" is my favorite part of an awesome German party song "Das geht ab" - the quote translates to "throw the hands in the air!" :)

I, I can remember standing by the Wall...

Today is the 20 year anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Being in Austria, another German speaking country, I thought there'd be a little more celebration, or at least someone talking about it. However, in school, not a word was mentioned. Even the news coverage here has been scarce. Granted, I've been watching ORF all night and they just play American TV series on Monday night, but there wasn't much even on the news. I guess it really just highlights and reiterates that they are two very different countires.

I just so wish I had been in Berlin today. I bet it felt really good in that city today. I'm going in January, but it doesn't feel soon enough...

By the way, the song "Heroes" by David Bowie, which I have used in my subject line, is a love story about two people who met at the Wall.

Well, I know I haven't updated in a while. But I will later this week.

Sending my love to all!
Cheers,
Alaina

It's the 21st century....

I swear I will update this SOON. I even started a post, there is just way too much to fit in now to write it in one sitting, let alone read it. I feel bad for all of you who will try to!....

It's just a matter of trust, for us, for lust

Ended up getting about 4 inches of snow last week. My balcony was covered. The mountains were beautiful and it felt like a fantasyland. This weekend, the snow melted a bit. The mountains still are covered, but it feels like fall again instead of winter. I miss fall, so I would love to actually have fall! I really wish I could go to a cider mill..... cinnamon-and-sugar donuts and cider.... mmmm!

Last Wednesday, I learned how to shoot a crossbow! It was a parent/teacher event, so I was the only "young person." One of the parents said I look like a student, and I was like "Oh, I'm the English Assistant" ha! After I sat for the whole evening, listening, trying to discern what people were talking about, the director asked me if I understood anything. I laughed and answered, "No." I really am starting to hate the dialect around here. I can hear there is a pattern, but I have yet to decipher it... What makes things worse is every city in the Salzkammergut has their own "special" dialect, so I have to deal with different dialects, too. Anyway, I was quite good for a first time shooter. My partner, who was also a first-timer, and I got 5 place out of 10 places, so that's pretty good, eh?

Teaching has been quite good. I'm glad that I'm enjoying it. Teachers usually give me a topic to teach on, which is helpful, and usually I can use the lesson again for another class because I teach two of the same level, usually during the next week. For example, for today, I didn't have to plan anything because I'm teaching classes that I made lessons for last week. Nice.

Frankie visited again this weekend! It was great to see her! She finally got an apartment, so I'll be visiting her next week. Exciting!!

And while BA has been quite lovely so far, I really need to get out. I'm going this Friday to Bruck an der Mur, 2 hour train ride away, for a girl's, Emilie, birthday party. A lot of the other assistants will be there, so I'm really looking forward to it! From there, I hope to go to Ljubljana, Slovenia on Saturday. Andrew suggested I go to Ljubljana - he said it's really beautiful, so I'm excited! I'm 98% sure I have Monday the 26th off, so spending half a day Saturday, Sunday and half day Monday in Ljubljana should be perfect! Hopefully someone else at the party will travel with me, I'm sure it would be much more fun with a friend! But I'm going to go anyway because I just need to get out of this city. I'll be traveling for the next three weekends, so it'll be awesome!

Something else I'm quite looking forward to: NaNoWriMo. Have you ever heard of it? It's short for National Novel Writing Month and it happens in November. The goal is to write 50,000 word of a novel in the month. The quality doesn't matter - the goal is just to get a 175-page first draft of a novel written! I'm so looking forward to it! I think writing with a deadline, or a goal, will really help me get something written. For those of you that don't know, my only, consistent life-goal has been to become a published novelist. I'm excited and already outlining an idea.... :)

OK, well....Happy Monday.....?
Cheers,
Alaina

ps, ONLY 60 FREAKIN' DAYS UNTIL I FLY HOME FOR 3 WEEKS FOR CHRISTMAS! yeeeeah, that's right! That's NOTHIN'. The next three weeks are going to fly, because I'll be traveling and has stuff to look forward to! Wooo!!!

Weird things that I miss right now...

1. Late night/all-night study sessions/paper writing in the dude, the fishbowl or the ugli. Accompanied of course by non-stop Pandora and probably Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Watermelons and/or Arnold Palmers.

2. There was a second thing, but I accidentally payed attention the Sarah Silverman Show in German (and I really hate Sarah Silverman, so I don't even know why it is on), and now I have forgotten it. But I'm sure I will miss it again in a day or two, so then I'll share.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Yesterday, it started snowing. This wouldn't be so shocking if I hadn't been wearing t-shirts last week. Nothing stuck to the ground, but there was a contast snow/slush/rain/hail mix falling out of the sky. Listened to Christmas music as I ate my breakfast. Despite the weather, I went to the park after school to take some photos of the snow. The mountains were covered in it and shrouded in clouds and mystery. I got home from the expedition, turned on all the radiators in my apartment and made some tea. The German news showed a major car pile-up in Northern Germany. I checked outside just before I went to bed - no accumulating snow (but some form of liquid was still coming down).

Fell asleep (and woke up) with some very strange in-between reality-and-dreams thoughts, but I couldn't tell you now what they were for the life of me. Showered, made breakfast, finally looked out the window - one inch of the cold, beautiful, white stuff. I was shocked. And it was still coming down. Finished getting ready and trudged my way to school in the onslaught. All of the teachers in the staffroom were talking about the urgent need for snow tires and the morning's harrowing journey to work without them. Students were late, (blaming their parents tires) and in the 2nd hour, the firehouse alarm kept going off, which caused the students to speculate at the nature of the emergency. One girl shared that there was a suicide on the train tracks yesterday outside Bad Mitterndorf. During the break, I learned that the emergency was in the direction of Grundlsee and was invited to learn how to shoot a crossbow (I think...) this evening with teachers, parents and students. I sure hope I'm not on anyone's "hit list" yet.

Today, I taught about the American school system, interviewing for a job and Feminism/the Glass Ceiling. Really enjoyed all of it, and realized I had a lot more to say about high school than I thought. The students in the "interviewing for a job" class are sweet and quite sharp. In the Feminist class, the boys-in-the-back-of-the-room had more opinions on the topic than the quiet-girls-in-the-front, but I was glad to let them share because they did make some valid points. The teacher now wants to read The Feminine Mystique. One boy asked me if I want to be a manager when I'm done teaching in Austria, which actually made me wonder why all the professions I aspire to are female dominated. I think/thought that I'm quite the emancipated woman, but what does this say about me? Society? - these are thoughts for later, I think. Also realized I'm not too good at explaining things. Hopefully this is a skill that comes with time and practice.

Each time I think the dialect is getting easier to understand, someone comes along and shatters my hopes. I was sitting in the conference room today, drinking a coffee with some other teachers. I never really partake in conversation (I throw in a laugh and a smile here and there), but I mostly just listen and try to discern, so that is what I was doing. I had no idea what one woman was saying everytime she spoke. Previously, I hadn't had trouble understanding her, but today? Oy.

Well, it's still snowing, only outlines of mountains can be seen in the distance and I have to teach in 9 minutes. I'm already obsessing about/craving my daily grilled cheese for lunch (ha.) - almost there!

Until next time.
Cheers,
Alaina

And it stoned me to my soul

My first week started and ended and passed quite successfully. In all, I enjoy being in the school, the teachers are alright and the students are cool (at least, I think they will be once they warm up to me a bit). Although, I was quite happy when I busted out of there on Thursday afternoon, done for the weekend!

Friday, I slept in late and bummed around in the morning. I keep getting more and more mail and on Friday, I got a postcard from my friend in Berlin, a package from "Visit Florida" with travel brochures in it and my pin number for my bank account! All quite exciting! So then, I started cleaning my place, which took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it looked good and then I went shopping for the weekend supplies! I got lots of good junk food- perfect for a girls only weekend!

So, Nichol got to BA around 5:45, and I met her at the station. I gave her the little tour from the station to my apartment, then we dropped off her stuff and went around the town. It was getting a little dark, but it was a nice evening, so it was really nice to walk around. I found some places I had never seen before, maybe because I was feeling more adventurous with an "exploring buddy." I found the gym, the museum, a book store, the library and a DVD rental place. Excellent! Now I have some exciting ways to spend my evenings...

Frankie arrived around 8, and that's when the party really got started- ha. We were all "pre-loading" (as the German word for "pre-gaming" translates to) and chatting about our first weeks. We got all dolled-up to check out the local disco and left around midnight. We weren't exactly sure where Salzhaus was located, but we followed the oh-so-convenient event lights (can't think of the actual word?) shining into the night sky and found the place, right around the corner from my school! For a Friday night, the place was dead. We waited outside as Frankie finished her cigarette and had a laugh at this guy who had passed out on the parking lot ground in the fetal position...hmm, strange. He eventually got up, took out a cigarette, and moved to go inside. However, he didn't quite make it, as he somehow managed to pass out, cigarette in hand, in the doorway. Wow, hilarious and somehow I was impressed at how he managed to do this! Frankie went over to offer him a light and wake him up, and then we all went inside to the bar.

Us ladies ordered some drinks and our pal who likes to pass out in inconvenient places came over to sit with us. Turns out, his name is Mike and his father lives in Morocco and Mike lives in the town over, but comes to BA/Salzhaus on Friday nights although the club is shit (all according to him). Anyway, we all have a drink then Mike goes off somewhere and we all go to the dance floor (seperate from bar). Turns out, Mike had disappeared to the ladies restroom, because Nichol spotted him coming out of there....

But, we find a spot on the dance floor, order some more drinks and just dance, dance, dance. The place is still quite empty and the crowd is a little shady. Mike comes over every so often and then just says, "Später" (which means "later"). Eventually, we get him to introduce us to his friends, but they for sure weren't interested in us, so we decided to get a pizza and leave. Now, getting a pizza was a hassle in itself. I speak to the order-lady all in German asking her what kind of pizza they have, how much it is, etc. and since it was the end of the night, all we had left was change, so we take a minute to count the change out. She starts getting pissy and started making horrible comments to her Austrian coworker about us and how she was going to rip us off, but Nichol told her off (I missed all this because I'm counting out change). So, we get our pizza finally and leave and then Nichol tells us this story and I was quite upset. All the way home, we complained about this girl and the dialect in Austria, which none of us can understand. Then, we ate our pizza and went to bed.

The next day, Saturday, was spent gossiping/chatting, reading Cosmo, eating and watching movies/TV. We decided to watch Center Stage (Frankie was blown away that us American spell center with an -er instead of -re) and ate delicious cheese (we are all cheese fanatics). So we pretty much did nothing all day, which was fine by us because it was raining and we were all just lazy and tired from the week/the night before. We went to bed early-ish because we were all quite tired and Frankie and I talked a little bit more in bed (we shared my bed, while Nichol curled up on the couch).

Sunday, we awoke and had tea. We hung around for a couple of hours and at 12:15 Nichol left and then Frankie got a ride back around 1 pm. Since then, I've been relaxing, listening to music and daydreaming about my next travels, which I can't complete until my first/next paycheck on November 15th.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and although we didn't do much, it was great to do nothing with other people! Plus, I really enjoy Frankie and Nichol's company and we are all quite similar. I'm glad I finally checked out Salzhaus, even though it left a bit to be desired ha. I can't wait to go to Vienna to visit Nichol (she's a 10-minute, 2 Euro train ride outside of the city) and shop, shop, shop, go to a ballet and celebrate her birthday (Nov. 6/7/8)....although the shopping and ballet may actually have to wait until after Nov. 15th when we get paid. Also on the 6th is a reception for all of the US teaching assistants, so it'll be a fun weekend.

Today is rainy and cool and it is now definitely fall in BA. Last week, it was sunny, warm and beautiful, but now the leaves have started to change, the mountains are constantly shrouded in clouds and it's getting cooler. Additionally, it's supposed to snow up in the mountains this week- something I'm not sure I'm ready for. I keep hearing about winter and skiing, and while I think it'll be comparable to winters in MI, I'm getting nervous haha. But it shouldn't be too bad (I keep telling myself).

Alright, well time to really get to work with lesson planning. And I think I'm going to cook some pasta- I'm quite hungry!

Love to all!
Cheers,
Alaina