Semester Break

Well, not much to tell, but I promised Marilyn I'd put up a picture of me in my LSU Championship hat!

Other than that, I spent 5 hours a day on Tacitus' Germania, and created a pasta dish for my friend Denise who passed her thesis defense. Hope y'all enjoy

PASTA DENISE

1 1/2 cups uncooked Barilla Healthy Pasta (the one with Omega 3)

1 medium zucchini

1 medium carrot

1/2 cup diced yellow or red pepper

3/4 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup cream cheese

1 tsp Tony Chachere's (or to taste)

1/2 tsp herbes de provence

1/2 cup shredded pizza cheese

Boil the pasta. In a separate bowl mix the tomato sauce, Tony's and cream cheese. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds (or add the cream cheese to heated tomato sauce and stir until the cream cheese melts). Shred zucchini and carrot and press the excess water out with a kitchen towel. Add to the diced pepper along with the herbes de provence.

When pasta is done, save about a 1/4 cup of the water when you drain it. Mix the water, tomato sauce, pasta, shredded and diced vegetables in a big bowl. Then put the mixture in a buttered casserole dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake covered with foil at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and brown the cheese. Serves 4.

Eisstockschiessen (or, how I spent Valentine's Day)

These are Eisstocks (or rather, Eisstöcke):

These are some of my colleagues from Stainach, standing in front of the Eisstock office in Gröbming (note flask being handed around):

Here's a picture of Pepi (Geometry teacher=ringer) in action:

A rather lame description of the sport can be found in English or if your German is good, you can try here. I played the game for two hours, and I still can't tell you what the object is. I just asked where I should shoot, and my teammates pointed. Apparently I'm rather gifted. because there was much jubilation and Schnapps twice when I hit the intended target.

At the end, the loser presents the winner with a pair of wooden scissors. My team won, represented by Latin teacher Christa (natch!).

Fasching - Austrian Mardi Gras

There's a saying in Austria, "3 Tog, 3 Tog gemma nimmer hoam!" roughly translated as "Three days, three days, we'll never go home!" This applies to Fasching in Bad Aussee: the celebration begins on the weekend (by some accounts, on Friday by storming the Rathaus) and everyone stays out at the bars until Tuesday night. My anonymous source says her students came to school in costume on Monday, many of them hungover. That night she saw the same students at the bars, and the next morning they dragged themselves into school wearing the same clothes from the day before. They came straight from the bars, drunk, hungover, sick... My landlady says, "I know that smell... it smells like the plague."

Some students in Stainach dressed up on Monday, but the majority dressed up on Tuesday, including the faculty. I went as the Roman goddess Luna, shown here with Lukas and Oliver of the 8B class.

Tuesday afternoon I went to Bad Aussee to see the Fasching parade. There were lots of spectators in costume, and we came to see the Trommelweiber and the Flinserl. The former are the Drum Women, who are not women at all but men dressed in women's clothes. The story goes that the men of Aussee were so henpecked because they stayed out at the bars late, that they began to disguise themselves as women so their wives couldn't find them. They use trumpets and drums to drive Winter out of Aussee.

The Flinserl are men and women who are dressed in linen costumes, decorated with felt appliques and sequins, most likely influenced by the antique costumes from Venice Carnevale. They are supposed to represent Spring. They march through the town, and then disperse to distribute nuts and sweets to the children who correctly chant a rhyme and beg.

The Flinserl are protected by a man carrying pig's bladders on a stick. If an adult tries to interfere in the distribution of goodies, the Zacherl hit them over the head with the pig's bladders. I don't know... sounds like another corruption of a Roman fertility practice!

There's also Krampus-like figures who wear white, carry mops made of wet rags and have baskets over their heads. Don't know what this is all about, except that they chase little kids (and American tourists with cameras!) and are really scary!

There are more pictures of Fasching in Bad Aussee here: link

And now we're in Lent... I miss the fresh strawberries and fresh seafood specials in Louisiana. Heringschmaus just doesn't appeal!