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!

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!