Spring in the Ennstal

Spring is trying so hard to break out in the Ennstal. Now I know why the Austrians paint their houses every color of the rainbow: pastel blue, pink, green, lavender, and every shade of yellow. It’s because winter drags on here for six months, and the landscape is otherwise a virtually colorless blend of white snow, gray cobblestones, granite outcroppings and barely green evergreens.

The other six months of the year, the Austrians decorate with flowers and they can hardly wait for spring to come. I admit, I’ve been suffering a bit from the lack of color, and was delighted when the first crocuses and snowdrops began to appear in mid-March. At the beginning of April we had rain and a few warm days and the world turned green seemingly overnight. Now all of the spring flowers from my childhood are in bloom, those that I’ve missed living in Louisiana for the past eight years. The entire spectrum is represented by red tulips, bleeding hearts, orange ranunculus, forsythia and daffodils, grape hyacinth and violets. Just this week the bridal’s wreath started blooming, and I know that means lilacs can’t be far behind!

The most uncommonly beautiful sight of the moment is the wide expanse of green fields dotted with dandelions against a backdrop of snowcapped peaks. You don’t see that in Louisiana!

At some mountain resorts you can still go skiing, but in the valleys we’re sunbathing and having grill parties. This weekend is May Day, when most of the world celebrates Labor Day. This evening I attended the raising of the May pole.

We have the day off tomorrow and I’m told that Irdning has one of the most famous May Day celebrations in Steiermark. But I’m going to give the beer tent a miss and escape to Vienna. I haven’t been there since early February, and I’m looking forward to seeing my friends, window shopping, and taking in a museum or two.

Some of my favorite pictures - Cute Overload

My Nepalese bunny slippers

Annemarie's homemade creche

Rob and the Cow Lady of Untergrimming

Krampus baked goods

Some of my favorite pictures - Landscapes

The famed gallows that give the Gallows Path its name

The Styrian Black Sea (Schwarzensee)

Donnersbachwald

Some of my favorite pictures - People

Picking apples in Irene's garden

Fasching costume complete with cowbell (more cowbell!)

Couldn't resist taking this one!

Kind of looks like I'm skiing, doesn't it?!

Some of my favorite pictures - Sky shots

Some of my favorite pictures - Flowers and Insects

Pax Romana, Pax Americana

Well, the poster says it all! On Monday, April 21 I gave a lecture at my school in Stainach, in which I compared the Roman Empire and the American "empire" I was assisted by students who gave mini-lectures on Frank Miller's 300 as propaganda and a comparison of Trajan's column with American media coverage of the war in Iraq. But the highlight of the evening was when one of my students delivered a Ciceronian speech while wearing a toga, then using the toga as a curtain held by two lackeys, he stripped off the Roman garb and delivered part of a JFK speech with similar themes. Here you see the "President" (Lukas) and the first lady (Gudrun), with their secret service man (Oliver).

The fifth form students made Roman food as a fundraiser so they can go to an English speaking country (probably Scotland) and Caitlin and I spent Sunday making chocolate chip cookies (we're out of chocolate chips... mayday, mayday!). I thought they might make 80 Euros tops, but they brought in 156 Euros!! We had a very generous audience comprised of parents, students, colleagues, Fulbright assistants and friends.

It was a wonderful evening, and there may be a write-up in the local paper. If so, I'll update the blog with a link! (UPDATE: Sorry, no picture and the text is in German... http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/liezen/1238217/index.do)

CUT Amateur Video Contest

On Saturday (March 29) I went to a skiing/skiboarding video contest in Irdning. It was so awesome! Here are links to three of the finalists, and the webpages of two others. Unfortunately, there's no link to the video that took first prize :-(

ALL CREW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEupLgqc004&feature=related
TRIPLE-S: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmdcsU9HBt0
FREE SKI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpdWUGRv-_A
HCUA: http://www.hcua.org/
PNT & FRIENDS (Dave is my student!): www.myspace.com/plannernewschoolteam

And the sponsor: http://www.loser-freestyle.at/cut

Mind you, I had just returned from the US on Friday, had slept till noon Saturday. After the contest, I went out with Ash and Rob and some of Rob's students to the Gabriel, a notorious student hangout. We ended up staying until (wait for it...) 4:00 AM which was really 5:00 AM because of the switch to daylight savings time which took place in Europe this weekend.

Iowa Recap

Yes, I know... I haven't updated the blog in nearly a month. Sorry about that, Chief!

My trip to Iowa was wonderfully successful. I wanted to spend time with my parents ("There's no place like home!"), take care of some business, see friends, pick up some Queen Anne's Lace pottery, and take pictures of Iowa for my students back home. I accomplished all this and more!

However, it wasn't all fun and games. My Louisiana driver's license had expired in January, and there was no way to renew it since my address had changed. So we had to figure out how I could get licensed in Iowa. First I had to register to vote. Then I had to wait for the card to come in the mail. And because I was transferring from Louisiana, I had to take the written driver's test! It turned out o.k. (I scored better than 90%!), but I got to drive all of 48 hours. The rest of the time I felt like I was still in junior high school: "Dad, will you drive me to the mall?" "Dad, can you take me to visit my friends?"
The same day I got my license, I got my taxes done. Let's hear it for e-filing! I even got a refund, first time in five years. Woo hoo!

On our daytrip to southeast Iowa (which you can see on my student blog at http://www.usta-jks.blogspot.com/), we also stopped in Bentonsport at Iron and Lace to pick up some Queen Anne's Lace pottery. I wanted to give pieces as gifts to people in Austria, since the only place it is made is Bentonsport.





I also got to see friends in Iowa City, including Rich and my mentor from the University of Iowa.

But all good things must come to an end. And my trip back to Austria was not a joyous occasion. Especially since I had to change modes of transportation 12 (count 'em -- TWELVE) times in 36 hours: car, plane, shuttle bus, plane, shuttle bus, plane, train, train, train, train, bus, train, car. I'd already seen the movies on the way over, slept maybe three hours on the plane from Atlanta to Munich. Irene had dinner for me when I got home, and I stayed up til midnight. The next morning I woke up at NOON... I thought I forgot to reset my watch to Austrian time. So I wandered into the kitchen and asked Rob, "is it really noon?" and he said, "yeah, welcome to my world."

Hang on for the next installment...

Easter, Swedish style!

Easter Sunday was full of activity. We went to church in the morning. I met my friend Robin and her peeps for coffee in the afternoon.

Then we went to a friend's house for Easter dinner. Kerstin is Swedish, and she was determined to have a real Swedish fest. The first course was Aqvavit (Swedish potato schnaps -- goes down like water, hence the name!) with a beer chaser. Skål! Actually, we chased various fish products with all this alcohol: pickled herring, smoked salmon, and... EEL!

The rest of dinner was superb: roast lamb, asparagus, mashed carrots. I think I was born in the right country!

Meanwhile, back in Austria, Rob was tending an Easter bonfire in Irene's garden: