Safe at home in Iowa!

It took 38.5 hours to go from Irdning to Iowa. On Sunday, my adopted family in Austria (Thomas, Daniel, Johannes, Elfi and Wolfgang), took me to Munich so I could catch the plane on Monday. I flew Munich -> Atlanta -> Cedar Rapids where my Dad and Mom picked me up.

Good to be home, and I'm doing all the Iowa things: Prairie Lights, mall, Hickory Hill park, Midtown Cafe. And I'm trying to record the differences between the US and Austria. For example, civilization to me is the HyVee food store, which is about 8 times larger than the largest supermarket in Irdning. I took my camera and photographed things like the milk section, with its plastic gallon milk jugs and different fat contents. For the record, Austria generally has two different kinds of milk (whole milk and "light" milk) and they don't add vitamin D to it (so much for remedying Seasonal Affective Disorder!)

We're expecting a "wintry mix" this afternoon/evening. But that's o.k., because we've got the NCAA tournament on television - ah, Iowa in spring!

Proof that God has a sense of humor

Last Wednesday night, my landlady invited me to go for a walk with her. When we set out, we could see a crescent moon, stars and a few clouds. Fifteen minutes into our walk, it started to rain. Halfway through our loop, the wind came up and blew our umbrellas inside out. Then one of those sudden mountain storms came howling down the valley and we got thoroughly soaked. You can even see the angle of the rain on my jeans!

So we did what all good Austrians do: we toughed it out, safely avoided traffic and some minor flash flooding on the way home, changed our clothes and drank Schnapps to fend off the chill!

Rumor has it that if this storm had changed into one of those infamous Austrian "hurricanes," the name would have been Hurricane JOHANNA!

Community Coffee and Beignets... in Austria!

Mmmmmm, beignets...

Hey y'all! Most of you know that I never get homesick for the U.S. (does that make me heartless?) Last week, however, we were watching a BBC documentary about obesity, and they showed scenes of the French Quarter. I kept saying "I know that restaurant! I know that corner!" So to nurse my feelings of longing (Sehnsucht in German) I made Community Coffee and Beignets for my friends. Many, many thanks to Marilyn and Ed for making this possible. Check out the happy faces on Caitlin, Rob and Ash.

Winter's last gasp

We went from stormy to soggy to sunny to snowy in less than two days! Now we have an inch or so of snow on the ground, but I have a feeling it won't last very long.

Two days ago I came home to a package of Louisiana goodies (chocolate covered pecans, beignet mix, and BBQ sauce). This morning I picked up the box, which I had opened from the wrong side. And this is what I saw:

Those are stamps, y'all! I think it should go on display at the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum in Vienna!!

Happy birthday today to my Dad! When I called I got to talk to him and our dear family friend Kerstin, who invited us to Easter dinner. Yep, I'm going home for Easter but if you want to see me you'll have to come to Iowa!

Emma and Oliver

Hi-dee-ho Neighbors!

We are experiencing so-called "Hurricane" Emma here in central Austria. Wind gusts up to 170 kmps (over 100 mph) in some places, lots of damage to forests, property, and houses. Not much to see from my window,

But here's a link to official photos from the local newspaper: http://www.kleinezeitung.at/nachrichten/chronik/sturm/index.do

hint: anything with the word Foto (Fotoserie), Bilder (Bildergalerie), or Video will be pictures.

In happier news, on Friday I went to a blues concert and it was just like being at home in Louisiana! The Austrian bluesman, "Sir" Oliver Mally, appeared in Stainach with his band, Blues Distillery. Here's a link to his website. http://www.sir-oliver.com/ (in English). Take a listen to his music, and see if you don't agree that he'd be more at home in Baton Rouge than in Wagna bei Leibnitz!