The last couple of weeks

Hello all! Sorry to be so quiet, but things are settling into a routine. I will tell you a little about the Stainach Matura Ball (my camera ran out of batteries... you can see photos here) and about my first big weekend in Vienna.

STAINACH MATURA BALL - in contrast to the ball the previous week in Liezen, the students danced a Polonaise to Led Zeppelins "Stairway to Heaven." This actually makes a lot of sense, because the theme of the ball was Gods and Heroes from mythology. At midnight they staged a parody of Greek mythology: Paris eats the apple he's supposed to give to Aphrodite, and the heroes have to figure out other ways to please the Gods -- played by the teachers who were at the ball.

The Mandl twins (Leo and Max) played Castor and Pollux;Hector and Achilles had a dance-off in 1920s fashion; Circe turned Odysseus' men into various animals, but eventually love won out... led by six guys in Cupid costumes, complete with tutus and blonde wigs! The evening was a tremendous success, except I had to go home on the Disco-bus. Imagine, if you will, me on a bus with 70 drunken teenagers at 2:00 am. Yikes!

FIRST WEEKEND IN VIENNA - Although I had a sore throat most of the weekend, I had a wonderful time! I rode up to Vienna on Thursday and stayed with my dear friends Kurt and Annemarie. On Friday I went to the musical, Rebecca, with the sixth form students from Stainach. We had read Daphne Du Maurier's novel last month, and this was the big reward! The musical is in German and it goes at breakneck speed (unlike the novel). The character of Mrs. Danvers was a huge crowd pleaser, especially at the end when she crossed the stage in flames as Manderley burned. The sets were AMAZING! Here's the website. Make sure you look at the photos!

On Saturday we celebrated Kurt's birthday with friends Gaby, Artur, Doris, Vassily, Ernst and Annemarie's son Andreas. I was in charge of hors d'oeurves and made guacamole (der? die? das?) and Verone's Olive Cheese Balls. Annemarie made pork loin, coconut rice, and fried plantains, which she learned from one of Kurt's former students from Colombia. She also made Sacher torte and tiramisu for dessert. And there was lots of wine...

I did a lot of shopping while I was in Vienna. On Friday I bought new winter boots (photo to come -- they've got to be seen to be believed!) and not a moment too soon! Over the weekend while I was whooping in up in Vienna, it snowed 15-20 inches in Irdning! What a homecoming!