Friday, January 23, 2009

And All That Jazz!

How do I keep getting so far behind in my posts?! I think I'm going to have to condense some things!

GLÖCKLERLAUF
Every year on January 5, there is a parade of lights and bells in Stainach. The participants are dressed all in white and wear giant bells around their waists (like Krampus). On their heads they wear enormous luminarias in the form of astrological symbols, flowers, stars, coats of arms, which are illuminated from inside with real candles, not with any artificial light source. It is by far the most romantic custom I've experienced in Austria!



SUPPENEINLAGE (video link)
The junior business league at Stainach sponsored a cabaret on January 8. The comedian started the show with the premise that his wife had divorced him and now he had to cook for himself. He talked about all the fad diets that his wife had been on, all of the weird health kicks she'd subjected him to, and statistics about world hunger. All the while, he is standing on stage slicing vegetables and making soup. At the end of the performance, everyone in the audience gets a bowl of the soup he's cooked. Ingenious!

RAUMBERG BALL (pictures and more pictures)
January 10 was the most anticipated ball night in the Enns Valley. The Raumberg Ball takes place at the boarding school where my roommate, Rob, is an assistant. The students transform the school and its classrooms into a paradise of discos, bars, and "exhibition halls" (pun intended... ask me about my wardrobe malfunction!) There were 3000 people there, and only two rooms were "smoke free". At the end of the evening I felt like I had passively smoked an entire pack of cigarettes! Saw lots of students, friends and colleagues, all dressed beautifully. It was quite an experience, but I think I prefer other venues for my dates: long walks, ice skating, quiet cafes, concerts, and....

EISSTOCKSCHIESSEN!
Last year I was introduced to Eisstockschiessen, which is an Austrian variation of curling. In my ever-increasing circle of friends (see below) there is one family with a curling alley in their backyard. I've been several times this winter, and evidently my success last year was no fluke... I'm actually pretty good at this! I also understand a lot more about the game. There are two teams. Both teams stand at one end of the alley, and the captain of each team tries to hit a 5 inch wooden block (known as the "cat") with an Eisstock (a flat disc of wood or plastic weighted with metal, and gripped by a handle on top. Looks like a big parcheesi piece). This determines which team shoots next. The object is to slide the Eisstock across the ice and come as close to the block of wood as possible. But because it's not fixed, the wooden block can wander all over the ice, often repositioning itself closer to an opponent's Eisstock. Strategy comes in when you have to hit your opponents' Eisstöcke out of the way so yours is closest to the cat. Got that? There will be a test!
(l-r: Susi, me, Judith, Sebastian, Gerry, Yvonne, Raimund, Anita)
FRIENDS
Last year I lamented the lack of people my age in the Enns Valley. This year my handler, Bernhard, introduced me to his adult evening class in Aigen. These are students who will take their English matura in July. In exchange for speaking English with them, gently correcting their grammar, and giving advice on their special fields, they invite me to dinner, plays, day trips, concerts, and other excursions. They have also lent me their cars, welcomed me into their homes, and made me feel like part of the family.

BIRTHDAY
I am never going to talk about my age again. Ever.

That having been said, Wednesday Irene made potato gulasch and invited Rob, my yoga teacher and a close neighbor to celebrate. Thursday two of my classes made cakes for me, all of them sang happy birthday, I had a special birthday lunch at a colleague's house, and then bought myself a printer/scanner/photo printer to go with my new Canon IXUS 80 IS camera.

P.S. I MAY NOT HAVE RECEIVED YOUR LETTER!
On January 8, an Austrian postal truck burned. A few days later, I received slightly charred envelopes with an apology from the Austrian postal service.

I'm beginning to see how I've gotten behind in my posts. I've been busy, busy, busy!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

"Harry, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret...

Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee." - Agent Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks

Or it could be a pair of size 34 ice skates that you see in a second hand store window for 8 Euros!
Ice skating on the Putterersee, Aigen.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Coming Soon!

Glöcklerlauf (Bell Run)
Eisstockschiessen (like curling)
Suppeneinlage (a cabaret)
Raumberg Maturaball (nothing like prom!)
Ice Skating on the Putterersee

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Happy New Year 2009!

No, I haven’t been suffering from some perpetual holiday hangover! The past month has just been extraordinarily busy and I’ve found it difficult to write anything (journal, novel, grocery list!) But it’s a New Year and I am determined to get back on track.

What’s been keeping me occupied all this time you might ask. One weekend I went to Graz to see my favorite Austrian blues musician, Sir Oliver Mally. I had had the date planned for weeks and he had the nerve to cancel! But the weekend was good because I got to hang out with my friend Inge, see some former students, go to the Christmas market, and buy some gifts that I couldn’t obtain in the Enns Valley. We also had our first Writing Club meeting, much to the dismay of our waitress who tried to kick us out of my favorite restaurant in Graz. We stayed another hour just out of spite.

Friends have invited me to do some wonderful things in the past few weeks. Irene and I went to Salzburg with friends to see a performance of the Wizard of Oz. Low budget, but very imaginative! I was invited by students in the 8A to see an improvisational show (like Whose Line is it Anyway?) in Graz, and surprisingly I understood about 85%. Gitti invited me on a day trip to Bad Gleichenberg, a charming town with a multi-million dollar spa in the middle of it. Her friends and family were very welcoming. We ate lunch in Slovenia!
Gitti, Ria and Herr Dr. Hofrat

There have been lots of Christmas activities: a couple of school related Christmas parties, a Christmas concert by Quadro Nuevo in an unheated church, a Christmas tour through a salt mine in Altaussee. Christmas time in Austria is very romantic, and somehow the true meaning of Christmas isn’t lost in the commercialism.

Hackbrett Carols at the Salt Lake, Altaussee
(Sigi Lemmerer)

Christmas Eve at the Mörsbachwirt
I spent Christmas Eve with Irene. We went sledding, then to Christmas mass in the cloister church around the corner. Irene made a pot roast for dinner, then we shared presents and watched an adaptation of Adalbert Stifter’s Bergkristall on DVD. The next day Kurt and Annemarie whisked me away to Lienz to celebrate with her family. We ate Schlipfkrapfen (like pierogies only better) and went sledding, played our dice game and generally relaxed. We celebrated St. Stephen’s Day (Dec. 26) with Annemarie’s brother’s family. Erich made a special meatloaf for St. Stephen’s Day, filled with frankfurters, boiled eggs and pickles. Then we went hiking in Kals am Grossglockner, the highest mountain in Austria. That evening we met Annemarie’s cousins for drinks in town.
Kurt, Annemarie, Antonia, Andreas, Erich (Doesn't this picture look like something out of the LL Bean Catalog?!)

After a couple of days in Vienna, shopping and taking in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the Burgtheater, I returned to the Enns Valley for New Year’s Eve. My friend Elfi rents a vacation house in Donnersbachwald with her friends from college and their families. We had a fabulous dinner, then watched Dinner for One and saw fireworks from the balcony at midnight. We then did lead (actually tin) casting, where you melt tin over a flame, then pour the molten metal into cold water where it forms an unusual figure. By identifying the shape, Austrians predict the tenor of the coming year. Mine looks just like a viking ship, and ships mean "lust for life." Then my new friends tried to teach me a new card game, but it involved trumps which I can never seem to master, so I excused myself at 2:00 am. The next morning Elfi and I went sledding (1 hour to walk up the mountain, 6 minutes to sled down!) – taking the traditional Austrian greeting for New Year’s (guatn Rutsch! or "Good slide!") a little too seriously!

Wishing you all the best for 2009
in life, love and health!
P.S. Thanks to Winsor for the card and poem, Stephen for the letter, and DoD, Jean, Aunt Ralph, and Robin for the Christmas gifts. The rest of you all need to make a resolution to WRITE TO JOEY in the New Year. If you need my address, email me!