I know I've been really busy the past couple of weeks but it never really seemed anything to write home about. (Literally)
I went to either Staats or Volksoper four times in the past week, for Nutcracker, The Master singer from Nuremburg (6 hour Wagner in standing places. woo!), the ballet soiree, and Anna Karanina.
Also steadily working towards my great presentation on 4 February to 6-10 year old children. Finished that yesterday, now we just need a stamp of AFS approval and gather handouts and a football costume and candy.
Umm? I'm leaving here in 19 days. It's really strange. The thing about the past couple of weeks is that I think I was just doing things with my family and spending time with them.
Tomorrow I have another ball, and all or most AFS people from Vienna are going. It's in a living park called Sargfabrik, which is the cloth they put over dead people. My family supposes its a living park for artists and all sorts of people who are certainly not on the same political axis as them.
Speaking of politics there was another communist demonstration here on my street.
Urgh, rather disconnected. The list of things I still have to do or see is slowly diminishing. Besides the ball and the presentation what else is coming up...
Saturday before I leave we are going to Salzburg. 5am on the train, 8am breakfast in the city, then arrive in Vienna again at 11. THEN on Sunday we wake up at 9 to go to church, have last big meal together and then they take me to Clara, where I will stay until Tuesday the 12th, from where I will go to a youth hostel and spend the night with AFS before our very early departure from Vienna Int'l.
And then I'm home?
See you soon =)
Freitag, 25. Januar 2008
Sonntag, 20. Januar 2008
What's going on.
Well, I haven't really thought of anything in the past week to write home about! I went to The Nutcracker, and yesterday The Master Singer from Nuremburg (Der Meistersänger von Nürnberg) which was another 6 hour Wagner specialty. All praise holy Germany and stuff. Also six hours standing up.
Umm today I got a 3 euro box seat at the Volksoper, and saw the Opera Ballet School for children perform, which was awesome.
And I think there are still 5 more things i want to see in both Volks- and Staatsoper before I go home.
Whats weird is that I'm just as nervous to go back to the United States as I was to leave it to come here.
Umm today I got a 3 euro box seat at the Volksoper, and saw the Opera Ballet School for children perform, which was awesome.
And I think there are still 5 more things i want to see in both Volks- and Staatsoper before I go home.
Whats weird is that I'm just as nervous to go back to the United States as I was to leave it to come here.
Mittwoch, 16. Januar 2008
December Photos!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2003184&l=eab7c&id=1232670085
Nearly forgot that I didn't post this.
xx
Nearly forgot that I didn't post this.
xx
Dienstag, 8. Januar 2008
Christmas, My Grand Tour, New Years, the days after, Birthday
Also...
Christmas was very beautiful here. It was celebrated almost entirely on the 24th, which was a bit different than what I'm used to. The festivities began when my host sister and I went to see the children perfrom the nativity at 4. Then after we prepared the house a little more, and everyone crowded into me and Iris's bedroom. Because the living room had been locked for the entire day, or else the Christ child, Christkind, would be too shy to come and bring us a decorated tree and presents etc. We had the advent wreath lit and we were singing and it was really cute. The whole house was candle lit. Then a bell rang, and the living room was opened up. The christmas tree was there for the first time, and lit with real candles and all decorated with chocolates and cookies?! The family stood there and sang to the tree for a while, I guess thanking Jesus for it. We opened presents after, which was really sweet, because they treated me like their own kid. All four of us got mostly socks and pajamas and things, which when I think about it is pretty standard in most families. Dad sent me a robotic cockroach, which was a bit of normal Christmas, thank God. :) (Joke).
Then we ate a dinner of salmon, and had juice for the first time in all of December. My host family fasts for the Advent. By the time we were all cleaned up, it was time to go to midnight mass, which was magical in itself, with an hour of organ music beforehand in the candlelit Maria Treu. =) I started getting pretty sick unfortunately at this point.
The next morning, since all Christmas activities were the night before the family of Dominik's girlfriend came over. I had a fever, and stayed in bed most of the day, getting up to call my family. This was the first time I got really homesick for the holiday, but they put me on speaker phone and all talked to me, and it was so much fun.
So yeah, before my grand German Speaking Lands tour, I stayed in bed sick the whole time, mostly. Friday I had the oppurtunity to see Clara's family's new house in Niederösterreich, which was covered in snow!! About two feet I think. Unfortunatley I was only there shortly to see the house and eat, and then it was two hours back to ship me back into Vienna, so I could get my train the next morning for Munich.
So I woke up at six, and Claudius drove me over to Westbahnhof and bought me two Wurstsemmel (wurst is...salami? sausage? on a roll with pickles) and Almdudler which is Alpen herb soda, and I think pretty exclusive to Austria, because I didn't see any in Germany. It's great. Sort of like ginger ale. I found my reservation and everything all right on the train. Then I realized I was doing something really cool by myself. I mean, I was visiting of course, but I left a country and travelled 4 hours by train alone. That's sort of like Boston to New York. And on the train ride a lot of possibilities just became clear to me. Thats something pretty important I realized here.. travel isn't impossible. I was pretty worried for the rest of the trip, because I hadn't seen Waltraud or Josch in 4 years, and what if their invitation was one of those things people say like, "We gotta hang out sometime" and both people know that you won't?
But this was not the case. She was waiting for me at the platform, and also looking a bit nervous, because she thought this girl with bleach blonde hair and black eyemake up was me. Then she was immediately telling me that my german sounde really natural and that she was amazed by it.
So, they had a lovely little house in a neighborhood of Munich called Gern, which are these old big houses next to a canal that leads directly into the Nymphenburg Castle. The canal was completley frozen over the entire length, about a half mile, I'd say, and people were ice skating. Josch and I took a walk there when I got there, and then we all drove a little out of Munich into Bavaria to see a lake and some mountains. We had dinner on coming home, and then Josch and I went to the movies, since there was not going on in Munich that night. We saw Elizabeth, about the queen. It was alright. I laughed a lot on the way home, because the computer voice that says the name of the stops on the subway has such a different accent than the one in Vienna. I think the one in Vienna is notorious.
The next day, we woke up as late as we wanted, and then Waltraud and I headed to the bakery and bought way too many things for breakfast. from there, we set out to see the city all day. Joscha was very impatient with his mom and was always sighing exasperately, but i just laughed at this. So, we saw the old city, and the new BMW car cathedral, and Olympia stadium, and we ate at the restaurant for a really famous German cook on tv like rachael ray except a man and german. That night Waltraud and I went to a concert at the Nymphenburg castle, which was pretty lovely. We slept in again the next morning, and then took pictures and she packed me way too much to eat on the way home. I ended up crying a little on the train, because she told me that morning how much she loves me and made me promise to stay in touch. As it was 31 of January, i told them my hopes to see them in 2008.
So, then I took the train to Kärnten, where we spent New Years and the week after at my host moms parents house. Her dad fell about a month ago, and cant move too well and remember things as hot as he used to be able to. So we spent the week cooking and cleaning and helping out, which was alright. I got to go ice skating every day though, which I haven't done since my birthday party at the skating rink for age 10, and that was really exciting. Also a plus was watching the Vienna New Years concert on TV. I love how after years of repeating, they still get so excited about the blue danube waltz. I really love it too. when i hear the beginning, I get excited. and proud.
Let's see, January 6 I was back in Vienna I went went Star Singing with clara for Epiphany. Which is a real holiday here. Star Singing means a group of children dresses up like the three kings and their star and goes through Vienna singing songs and collecting money for children in the third world. I hated it at first, but as we got going i loved it. We got assigned cafes, so I got to see all the typical old Vienna cafe houses i have been hearing about forever. One of them gave us free hot choclate that normally costs €3,50. That was delicious. It was a fun day.
Back in school then! I had on Tuesday a book report, on the first chapter book i finishedin German called the The Little Witch. Everyone was sort of wow, and laughing at how cute it was. My teacher said, despite the silly mixups of sentence structure, it was very fluent and offered me respect for being able to do that after two years. I really enjoyed it.
And now I'm 17! Yesterday my family celebrated beautifully for me, invited Julia and Florentina over (opera friends) and Clara. Claudius made a Sachertorte which is so much better than the original. The original is dry and was probably made at the same time the recipe was written. They kicked me out of the kitchen and then when i came in, i twas just by the light of the cake and everyone sang and we sat by the table and talked all night. Lots of fun. Lots of lovely gifts, mostly of chocolates. Bwah.
In other news, I am giving a 40 minute presentation in three weeks to 6, 7 and 8 year olds for afs about the United States with another boy from the US called Jared. Everyone from AFS is doing this, and its a pretty big deal since at this school someone from each continent will be reperesented.
This week I went to to the museum in the Hofburg with Kaiser Franz Josef and Kaiserin Elizabeths rooms and the museum dedicated to Elizabeth, and today I went to Belvedere castle of Prince Eugene, but that is mostly a museum of art since 1800s, in particular the famous permanent collection of Gustav Klimt, which was AMAZING. I am going by myself but its okay, I enjoy it. I hope to go to the opera at least four or five more times too.
Wow, finally caught everything up. Thats it! Till next time.
Christmas was very beautiful here. It was celebrated almost entirely on the 24th, which was a bit different than what I'm used to. The festivities began when my host sister and I went to see the children perfrom the nativity at 4. Then after we prepared the house a little more, and everyone crowded into me and Iris's bedroom. Because the living room had been locked for the entire day, or else the Christ child, Christkind, would be too shy to come and bring us a decorated tree and presents etc. We had the advent wreath lit and we were singing and it was really cute. The whole house was candle lit. Then a bell rang, and the living room was opened up. The christmas tree was there for the first time, and lit with real candles and all decorated with chocolates and cookies?! The family stood there and sang to the tree for a while, I guess thanking Jesus for it. We opened presents after, which was really sweet, because they treated me like their own kid. All four of us got mostly socks and pajamas and things, which when I think about it is pretty standard in most families. Dad sent me a robotic cockroach, which was a bit of normal Christmas, thank God. :) (Joke).
Then we ate a dinner of salmon, and had juice for the first time in all of December. My host family fasts for the Advent. By the time we were all cleaned up, it was time to go to midnight mass, which was magical in itself, with an hour of organ music beforehand in the candlelit Maria Treu. =) I started getting pretty sick unfortunately at this point.
The next morning, since all Christmas activities were the night before the family of Dominik's girlfriend came over. I had a fever, and stayed in bed most of the day, getting up to call my family. This was the first time I got really homesick for the holiday, but they put me on speaker phone and all talked to me, and it was so much fun.
So yeah, before my grand German Speaking Lands tour, I stayed in bed sick the whole time, mostly. Friday I had the oppurtunity to see Clara's family's new house in Niederösterreich, which was covered in snow!! About two feet I think. Unfortunatley I was only there shortly to see the house and eat, and then it was two hours back to ship me back into Vienna, so I could get my train the next morning for Munich.
So I woke up at six, and Claudius drove me over to Westbahnhof and bought me two Wurstsemmel (wurst is...salami? sausage? on a roll with pickles) and Almdudler which is Alpen herb soda, and I think pretty exclusive to Austria, because I didn't see any in Germany. It's great. Sort of like ginger ale. I found my reservation and everything all right on the train. Then I realized I was doing something really cool by myself. I mean, I was visiting of course, but I left a country and travelled 4 hours by train alone. That's sort of like Boston to New York. And on the train ride a lot of possibilities just became clear to me. Thats something pretty important I realized here.. travel isn't impossible. I was pretty worried for the rest of the trip, because I hadn't seen Waltraud or Josch in 4 years, and what if their invitation was one of those things people say like, "We gotta hang out sometime" and both people know that you won't?
But this was not the case. She was waiting for me at the platform, and also looking a bit nervous, because she thought this girl with bleach blonde hair and black eyemake up was me. Then she was immediately telling me that my german sounde really natural and that she was amazed by it.
So, they had a lovely little house in a neighborhood of Munich called Gern, which are these old big houses next to a canal that leads directly into the Nymphenburg Castle. The canal was completley frozen over the entire length, about a half mile, I'd say, and people were ice skating. Josch and I took a walk there when I got there, and then we all drove a little out of Munich into Bavaria to see a lake and some mountains. We had dinner on coming home, and then Josch and I went to the movies, since there was not going on in Munich that night. We saw Elizabeth, about the queen. It was alright. I laughed a lot on the way home, because the computer voice that says the name of the stops on the subway has such a different accent than the one in Vienna. I think the one in Vienna is notorious.
The next day, we woke up as late as we wanted, and then Waltraud and I headed to the bakery and bought way too many things for breakfast. from there, we set out to see the city all day. Joscha was very impatient with his mom and was always sighing exasperately, but i just laughed at this. So, we saw the old city, and the new BMW car cathedral, and Olympia stadium, and we ate at the restaurant for a really famous German cook on tv like rachael ray except a man and german. That night Waltraud and I went to a concert at the Nymphenburg castle, which was pretty lovely. We slept in again the next morning, and then took pictures and she packed me way too much to eat on the way home. I ended up crying a little on the train, because she told me that morning how much she loves me and made me promise to stay in touch. As it was 31 of January, i told them my hopes to see them in 2008.
So, then I took the train to Kärnten, where we spent New Years and the week after at my host moms parents house. Her dad fell about a month ago, and cant move too well and remember things as hot as he used to be able to. So we spent the week cooking and cleaning and helping out, which was alright. I got to go ice skating every day though, which I haven't done since my birthday party at the skating rink for age 10, and that was really exciting. Also a plus was watching the Vienna New Years concert on TV. I love how after years of repeating, they still get so excited about the blue danube waltz. I really love it too. when i hear the beginning, I get excited. and proud.
Let's see, January 6 I was back in Vienna I went went Star Singing with clara for Epiphany. Which is a real holiday here. Star Singing means a group of children dresses up like the three kings and their star and goes through Vienna singing songs and collecting money for children in the third world. I hated it at first, but as we got going i loved it. We got assigned cafes, so I got to see all the typical old Vienna cafe houses i have been hearing about forever. One of them gave us free hot choclate that normally costs €3,50. That was delicious. It was a fun day.
Back in school then! I had on Tuesday a book report, on the first chapter book i finishedin German called the The Little Witch. Everyone was sort of wow, and laughing at how cute it was. My teacher said, despite the silly mixups of sentence structure, it was very fluent and offered me respect for being able to do that after two years. I really enjoyed it.
And now I'm 17! Yesterday my family celebrated beautifully for me, invited Julia and Florentina over (opera friends) and Clara. Claudius made a Sachertorte which is so much better than the original. The original is dry and was probably made at the same time the recipe was written. They kicked me out of the kitchen and then when i came in, i twas just by the light of the cake and everyone sang and we sat by the table and talked all night. Lots of fun. Lots of lovely gifts, mostly of chocolates. Bwah.
In other news, I am giving a 40 minute presentation in three weeks to 6, 7 and 8 year olds for afs about the United States with another boy from the US called Jared. Everyone from AFS is doing this, and its a pretty big deal since at this school someone from each continent will be reperesented.
This week I went to to the museum in the Hofburg with Kaiser Franz Josef and Kaiserin Elizabeths rooms and the museum dedicated to Elizabeth, and today I went to Belvedere castle of Prince Eugene, but that is mostly a museum of art since 1800s, in particular the famous permanent collection of Gustav Klimt, which was AMAZING. I am going by myself but its okay, I enjoy it. I hope to go to the opera at least four or five more times too.
Wow, finally caught everything up. Thats it! Till next time.
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