A new blog!

Hello All! An update is coming soon, but I wanted y'all to know about a blog I've been asked to write in English for an Austrian newspaper. Please check out GASTSPIEL ("Guest Performance") at http://www.meinekleine.at/gastspiel

If there is enough interest in the blog (i.e. if there are enough "hits"), the Kleine Zeitung says it will publish my own page in the newspaper!

Thanks for your support!

Change the Conversation - 03.31.09

Mind the Gap!

Sorry about the interruption in service. A lot has happened since I last wrote. For one thing, it's snowed nearly every day. Six inches covered the pretty little crocus in the last post. Luckily I wasn't in Austria for most of the snow, because I accompanied Form 7B to London, where it was cold but springlike! Here's Kensington Park and our glorified youth hostel, The Royal Bayswater Hotel, in the background (left).

We were in London for five days and change, and we saw soooo much! We saw Portobello Road on Market day (cue the song from Bedknobs and Broomsticks), Camden Town, Covent Garden, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral (above). We went to the British Museum where I saw the Etruscan sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlenasa. It was like running into an old friend, because I've taught Seianti in Women in Antiquity and Roman Archaeology for so many years.

We also went to the Tate Modern Museum, and I went to the National Gallery. We spent time at the London Dungeon and at Madame Tussaud's. Here I am with William Shakespeare:

Speaking of Shakespeare, we also went to the Globe Theater, which was one of the highlights of the trip. Here you can see part of the stage, the seating, and the thatched roof (first in London since the Great Fire of 1666):

On Tuesday evening, we all went to one of two musicals. I went to Chicago which was quite entertaining, but then I was familiar with all the songs from high school; the others went to The Phantom of the Opera. We took a river cruise to Greenwich, but a sudden downpour kept us from visiting the prime meridian. marker. An hour later the sun was shining (sunset over Hyde Park)!

On Thursday, I took a day for myself while the students went to Cambridge. The highlight of my trip was cream tea at Fortnum and Mason, a fancy department store in Piccadilly. I was joined by an elderly gentleman who had lived in the U.S. for 15 years and we had a nice chat.

The students were so awesome! No one fought, got in trouble, was injured, went missing. Sometimes they even spoke English! :-) And despite the fact that breakfast was a nightmare (standing room only with only toast, cornflakes and instant coffee), some rooms had no electricity, others had flooded bathrooms, and it took 45 minutes for water to boil on the antiquated stoves in the kitchen area, we still had a marvelous time!

Thanks, 7B, for inviting me to go along! You ROCK!

The first crocus of Spring

It's a beauty, isn't it? Can sunny days and grill parties be far off?

P.S. Happy St. Patrick's Day, y'all!

...but winter isn't!

UPDATE: Due to the danger of AVALANCHES, the highway

that passes by Irdning at Trautenfels has been closed.

Check out this link for villages that are completely snowed in! http://steiermark.orf.at/stories/348425/

Pruggern (center black pixel is a sledder!)

March in the Ennstal is nothing more than a taunting game of weather roulette. It's too warm for ice skating or Eisstockschießen. A week ago Irene and I went sledding in Pruggern under gorgeous sunny skies. On Sunday my friends and I dined al fresco at their alpine cabin (40˚F!). Pussywillows are in bloom everywhere and there are snowdrops in Irene's garden. Ants have invaded the apartment in Irdning, another sign that fair weather can't be far behind. But right now it is snowing; in fact it has been snowing off and on for the past three days.

It's enough... it reminds me of a song that we learned in junior high school (copyright Mr. Bowles, wherever he may be):

I just can't sit around waiting for winter to melt into spring

Because summer's just gonna be too late, and I know

Deep down way under the ground there are flowers

Just waiting to blossom and winter is gonna make them wait...

Day after day as I sit and listen springtime is trying to propose

Beckoning through all the ice and snow to daisies and iris

and violets and roses.

So maybe if all of us sing about sunshine

and flowers that bloom in the springtime

Wait, isn't that when April showers?

And summer when temperatures rise to a

hundred and twenty degrees in the shade

That's when summer's got to go.

By then I'll be wishin', forget about fishin'

By then I'll be wishin' for snow!

The party's over...

Another Mardi Gras season has come and gone. In Austria, they call it Fasching, but it's still a crazy time when usually sane people take the opportunity to act a little insane. Here are some Fasching highlights from this year.

I made a King Cake (from scratch, mind you!) for my colleagues on our first day back at school (January 7). A pecan nut was substituted for the baby. We had done this little ritual last year, and everyone remembered how traumatized one of my male colleagues was when he thought he had to "bake" a King Cake for the next gathering, not "bring" one. Said colleague wouldn't touch this year's cake, and strangely enough, the last piece of cake was the one with the baby (not that I'm accusing anyone of cheating...)

It seems that Austrians do not enter into the spirit of King Cake like we do. Instead, they serve Faschingskrapfen, which are big, fluffy jelly donuts filled with apricot jam and covered with powdered sugar. I've eaten about eight in the past two days, and if I never eat another one it will be too soon.

We served King Cake at a small, impromptu gathering last week. In the meantime, my parents had sent a box of Mardi Gras beads, which really helped us get into the holiday mood!

In Austria, it is traditional to dress in costume for Fasching. We had a costume ball at school on February 13, dressed in costume for dance class the next week (see below), then went Eisstockschiessen (and barhopping) the next weekend. The Usual Suspects

Finally on Fat Tuesday, most of the students and faculty went to school in costume. I went as the goddess Diana (here with my dance teacher, Heidi):

Post #100

It's all about communication, folks!


Recently one of my English classes was discussing the addictive qualities of the Internet. Some students cited social networking sites (like Facebook and MySpace) as the place where they spend most of their time online. I asked them if they were addicted to the Internet per se or if they were addicted to the limitless methods of communication that the web provides. This got us all to thinking...

I'll be the first to admit that I have been addicted to communication since my teens. In junior high, I used to charge fountain pens and stationery to my mother's account at Pearson's Drug Store just to feed my addiction. In those days I wrote letters to friends I met on vacation in Minnesota, to people who had moved from Iowa City to Arkansas, to my penpal in Devon, England, and to a boyfriend who lived 500 miles away. It was such a thrill every day to see what the postman had brought, and such a downer when there was a Federal holiday and mail wasn't delivered.
My father is the world master grand champion at this sport. I have collected hundreds of letters and postcards from him over the years. When I was a child he'd send me postcards from Austria with pictures of Mecki the Hedgehog and the Lindwurm in Klagenfurt. Then when I traveled abroad or was at graduate school, he wrote me a letter every.single.day. Even when I was married, I received a postcard or some other communication from him every day. Now 5000 miles away in Austria I still get at least 2 cards, 3-4 emails and we talk once a week.

The internet has certainly simplified the process of communication. How easy it is to keep in touch with people, to chat with them pixel for pixel in real time, or to find them after 25 years of "I wonder whatever happened to..." And yet, I find that people are much less communicative than they used to be. It's easy to think "I have so-and-so's email address, I can email him whenever I want..." or "She's my friend on Facebook, so obviously I'm thinking about her." But is it really enough? Yes, it was a pain to find a piece of paper that wasn't stained with coffee or chewed by the cat, to find a pen that actually worked, to find where that damned address book was (behind the fishtank among the dustbunnies), to find a stamp -- and not just any stamp, but one that somehow complemented the stationery you'd written on or the theme of the letter you were sending. But it was worth the hassle to present your words on a piece of paper you'd touched that could be savored by the recipient and placed into a metal "love letters" box or a basket on the credenza for future enjoyment.
My favorite communication of all time came from an old boyfriend when I was living in Missouri. He wrote 8-10 pages of heart-felt prose over several days, and compiled a CD of music he was listening to when he wrote it. I read the letter while listening to the CD and felt immediately re-connected.

Communication: It's all about connection and shared experiences. I don't need fancy gifts or flowers or chocolate, I need to know that someone very far away is thinking of me as fondly as I think of them. It doesn't have to be with pen and paper, a simple email will do. And although I try, I know I don't write my peeps as often as I should or would like to. I'll try to do better. In the meantime, here's what Pliny the Younger had to say about personal communication:

Dear Fabius Justus,
You haven't sent me any letters for ages. You say, "There's nothing to write about." Then simply write that there's nothing to write about, or write only what people used to begin their letters with: "If you are well, I am well." This is enough for me, in fact it is the best I can hope for. Do you think I'm joking? I'm begging you in all seriousness. Let me know how you are, because otherwise I can't go on not knowing without the greatest amount of concern. Farewell.

Now, don't you have someone in your address book who needs to hear from you by email, postcard, or letter? Do it. Now! (and leave a comment while you're at it!)