It's been a while since I've posted so I'll try to catch you all up on what's been happening lately.
My job has been going well. It seems like it's more administrative assistant work rather than IT administration, and it's a struggle every day to speak German, but I've just got to keep on pushing through.
I celebrated Christmas here, which was actually the second time I've done so, so it wasn't entirely strange to spend the holiday away from my American family. We definitely saw enough Austrian family to make up it. We spent Christmas Eve in Vienna, just Marlene and I. We cooked ourselves a delicious dinner on our raclette grill, then we sang some English/German songs, then opened presents. I got a nice watch to replace the one that broke when it fell out of my pocket at a soccer practice during the Fall and the watch face broke. I also got Football Manager 2011 which is a super addictive soccer club managing game. I'm currently still playing the 2010 version of the game because I've got a season with Austria Wien that I can't quit yet.
On Christmas day we traveled to Neusiedl am See and had a great dinner with Marlene's immediately family. After the dinner we played board games all night. The next day we went to an Aunt's house and had dinner with all of her family who lives in Neusiedl. We again played board games afterward, mostly an extremely long game of the Settlers of Catan, which was won by Marlene's cousin Wolfgang. Then on Monday I had to work again so we came back to Vienna, and the Christmas season officially ended.
Now, we're looking forward to the New Year! We're going to spend it at a friend of a friend's place and hopefully play some more Settlers of Catan. If I don't win then it'll definitely be a bad omen going into the new year...
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
1 Week Into My New Job
Exactly one week ago I had a job interview in the morning at cSt Causa, a small tax accountancy firm, as an IT Administrator. At the end of a relatively short interview, the boss offered me a job on the spot and asked me to come back that afternoon to start following around the current IT guy. So today I'm celebrating both the one week anniversary of my successful interview and my one week anniversary on the job!
The IT administrating portion of the job is only part-time so that's all I'm working at the moment, but I'll have the opportunity to make the position full-time if I take on more responsibilities like administrative assistance, marketing, helping tutor English, and helping translate documents/their website into English. Hopefully, I'll be able to take on these additional challenges, but as of right now I'm still learning my way around and getting to know my colleagues. The office is in Vienna's inner city and the dress code is more formal than anywhere else I've worked so it's fun because both of these make me feel important somehow. It's hard to say if dressing up every day might get old after a while though. We'll see!
The IT administrating portion of the job is only part-time so that's all I'm working at the moment, but I'll have the opportunity to make the position full-time if I take on more responsibilities like administrative assistance, marketing, helping tutor English, and helping translate documents/their website into English. Hopefully, I'll be able to take on these additional challenges, but as of right now I'm still learning my way around and getting to know my colleagues. The office is in Vienna's inner city and the dress code is more formal than anywhere else I've worked so it's fun because both of these make me feel important somehow. It's hard to say if dressing up every day might get old after a while though. We'll see!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Christmas Season Begins
Thanksgiving's over and we've had snow so Christmas season has officially begun. This past weekend was actually pretty busy. I saw two movies that I'd recommend to everyone out there: The Social Network and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, on Saturday night my soccer team had a fundraiser where we sold Punsch, and Sunday was the Vienna soccer derby between FK Austria Wien and Rapid Wien but my team lost 0:1 in a snowy match.
On Monday I had an interview with the personnel company Elan IT, which specializes in finding jobs for IT companies. This seems to be the way most companies fill positions in Austria, where a company wants a new employee and instead of advertising the position themselves, they contract a personnel company, who advertises the position and interviews prospective employees. This is good in one sense in that I conducted the interview on Monday with Elan IT, and they'll submit applications for me to several positions they think I'm qualified for. I would still have to do an interview with the actual company that would hire me though, which coincidentally I'm doing tomorrow morning with the company I mentioned in my last post from Wolfsgraben, Austria.
Most fun though is the ton of snow we've received in the past few days. Here are a couple pictures, first of the inner garden of our building, and second of the street out front.
Finally, I saw another awesome concert last night from another of the artists in my Current Music list, this time it was M.I.A. who did a show at Gasometer. It's a much, much bigger venue than where Marlene and I saw The Futureheads, but still not a stadium or anything. It's bigger than First Ave in Minneapolis, I'd estimate there were almost 2000 people there? It's difficult to say. I went with Marlene's sister Vroni, since it was a school night, and we couldn't get too close to the stage but it was still quite a spectacle with 3 giant TV screens showing strange animation loops, a blinding light show (especially the extensive use of synchronized strobe lights), and the randomness of M.I.A. who at one point bodysurfed in the audience, got down and ran through the crowd to perform in the back of the room, and also brought 50+ audience members on stage to dance with her for one song.
On Monday I had an interview with the personnel company Elan IT, which specializes in finding jobs for IT companies. This seems to be the way most companies fill positions in Austria, where a company wants a new employee and instead of advertising the position themselves, they contract a personnel company, who advertises the position and interviews prospective employees. This is good in one sense in that I conducted the interview on Monday with Elan IT, and they'll submit applications for me to several positions they think I'm qualified for. I would still have to do an interview with the actual company that would hire me though, which coincidentally I'm doing tomorrow morning with the company I mentioned in my last post from Wolfsgraben, Austria.
Most fun though is the ton of snow we've received in the past few days. Here are a couple pictures, first of the inner garden of our building, and second of the street out front.
Finally, I saw another awesome concert last night from another of the artists in my Current Music list, this time it was M.I.A. who did a show at Gasometer. It's a much, much bigger venue than where Marlene and I saw The Futureheads, but still not a stadium or anything. It's bigger than First Ave in Minneapolis, I'd estimate there were almost 2000 people there? It's difficult to say. I went with Marlene's sister Vroni, since it was a school night, and we couldn't get too close to the stage but it was still quite a spectacle with 3 giant TV screens showing strange animation loops, a blinding light show (especially the extensive use of synchronized strobe lights), and the randomness of M.I.A. who at one point bodysurfed in the audience, got down and ran through the crowd to perform in the back of the room, and also brought 50+ audience members on stage to dance with her for one song.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the USA but obviously that means nothing in Austria so there will be no turkey dinner with family. I could eat a turkey sandwich perhaps, but I just bought some chicken today so I think I'd rather make a schnitzel. I'd like to wish all my family and friends back in the US a happy Thanksgiving though, please eat a dark turkey leg for me.
I've heard Minnesota is completely snowed in which is unimaginable here. We're still having nice weather with temperatures in 40's and 50's. Sometimes there's rain, but not a hint of snow. In the Alps though, there's already plenty of snow and skiing season has begun, here in Vienna the only hint of winter is that an outdoor skating rink downtown has opened. Tom and Pete know the area well, in the summer they visited the place when it was a sand volleyball bar.
Of course Thanksgiving in the US is always the last significant event before Christmas season starts. My dad has already reminded me that this year I'll need to write a Christmas card and send it out to people since Marlene and I are technically a new family now. If anyone is wondering what we(I) might want as a gift, my old Xbox along with Rock Band 2, a guitar, and a microphone might be a good idea... I've really been missing playing video games even though I'm fully aware it would negatively affect my job search.
As far as my job search goes, I did get a piece of good news this week. I got an offer for a temp job opening as an IT support guy where the customers are mainly English-speaking, based in the UK, but it's quite a bit outside of Vienna in a town called Wolfsgraben. It would take an hour to get there with trains/buses but I told the guy I'd like to come for an interview. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. Apart from job searching I'm also looking at going back to school which makes me regret ever being educated in the US on account of the cost of universities here. Some are close to American prices like 20,000 Euros for an entire Master's program but many are only a few hundred Euros per semester, while some are free!! I'd have to pass entrance exams and be accepted but it seems crazy that Americans would pay so much for an education when it's so affordable here. Ethan, if you're reading this, please look into going to university in Spain. I'm sure you'd love it and I bet you have enough money saved up already to fly here and pay for the first couple semesters.
I've heard Minnesota is completely snowed in which is unimaginable here. We're still having nice weather with temperatures in 40's and 50's. Sometimes there's rain, but not a hint of snow. In the Alps though, there's already plenty of snow and skiing season has begun, here in Vienna the only hint of winter is that an outdoor skating rink downtown has opened. Tom and Pete know the area well, in the summer they visited the place when it was a sand volleyball bar.
Of course Thanksgiving in the US is always the last significant event before Christmas season starts. My dad has already reminded me that this year I'll need to write a Christmas card and send it out to people since Marlene and I are technically a new family now. If anyone is wondering what we(I) might want as a gift, my old Xbox along with Rock Band 2, a guitar, and a microphone might be a good idea... I've really been missing playing video games even though I'm fully aware it would negatively affect my job search.
As far as my job search goes, I did get a piece of good news this week. I got an offer for a temp job opening as an IT support guy where the customers are mainly English-speaking, based in the UK, but it's quite a bit outside of Vienna in a town called Wolfsgraben. It would take an hour to get there with trains/buses but I told the guy I'd like to come for an interview. I'm still waiting to hear back from him. Apart from job searching I'm also looking at going back to school which makes me regret ever being educated in the US on account of the cost of universities here. Some are close to American prices like 20,000 Euros for an entire Master's program but many are only a few hundred Euros per semester, while some are free!! I'd have to pass entrance exams and be accepted but it seems crazy that Americans would pay so much for an education when it's so affordable here. Ethan, if you're reading this, please look into going to university in Spain. I'm sure you'd love it and I bet you have enough money saved up already to fly here and pay for the first couple semesters.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Unemployment Woes
So I have posted anything for a while, it's mostly due to feeling depressed not being able to find a job. I've been applying to several jobs per day on average and have had two job interviews since I last posted. One was at a company called Titan Gaming who design slot machine games for casinos and it went really well but they ended up not hiring me because my German isn't good enough. The other interview was at Starbuck's and they said they would hire me if I commit to working there for several months but I'm not sure if I should settle for that yet.
If you've ever looked at my Current Music section in the upper right, you'll have seen that I'm listening to The Futureheads. Somehow Vienna is hosting 3 of the bands up there this month. I already missed Ratatat, but Marlene and I went to see The Futureheads last night. It was pretty strange since I'm used to First Ave of Minneapolis which was recently declared as one of the 10 best rock venues of the entire USA. The concert was at the Szene Wien which only has space for a couple hundred people and it wasn't even full. That wasn't disappointing to me at all because I was able to stand right in front of the stage and catch the lead guitarist's pick at the end. Afterwards, we hung around outside the door to get backstage because it was right next to the coat-check and bar area and I got to meet the lead singer and get a picture with him.
Please notice now that I've added two entries to my Current Music and they are Girl Talk and Pendulum. Girl Talk makes remixes rather than original music so his albums are completely free to download - http://illegal-art.net/allday/. Pendulum is a sweet band from Australia who will be on tour supporting Linkin Park (who suck) in January so they'll be at Xcel Energy Center on Jan 28. I strongly recommend going to see them!
If you've ever looked at my Current Music section in the upper right, you'll have seen that I'm listening to The Futureheads. Somehow Vienna is hosting 3 of the bands up there this month. I already missed Ratatat, but Marlene and I went to see The Futureheads last night. It was pretty strange since I'm used to First Ave of Minneapolis which was recently declared as one of the 10 best rock venues of the entire USA. The concert was at the Szene Wien which only has space for a couple hundred people and it wasn't even full. That wasn't disappointing to me at all because I was able to stand right in front of the stage and catch the lead guitarist's pick at the end. Afterwards, we hung around outside the door to get backstage because it was right next to the coat-check and bar area and I got to meet the lead singer and get a picture with him.
Please notice now that I've added two entries to my Current Music and they are Girl Talk and Pendulum. Girl Talk makes remixes rather than original music so his albums are completely free to download - http://illegal-art.net/allday/. Pendulum is a sweet band from Australia who will be on tour supporting Linkin Park (who suck) in January so they'll be at Xcel Energy Center on Jan 28. I strongly recommend going to see them!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Food Entry, Mmmmm
Marlene and I make bets pretty often with the normal wager being having to make the other person a delicious dinner. So normally when I lose I'll try to make her favorite meal, Maki sushi rolls. I wanted to show you guys a couple pics of my progress and give a hint if you want to make them yourself.
Above was my first attempt. Marlene said they tasted pretty good, but you can see they don't exactly look right.
This is a batch I just made today, and you can see they hold their shape much better thanks to the secret ingredient: sushi rice.
At the beginning, I looked up a recipe and went and got all the ingredients except I figured rice is rice is rice. I don't need any special "sushi rice". How wrong I was. The key to good looking Maki rolls is super sticky rice and normal long grain rice grown in Europe or the USA just doesn't cut it. Luckily, where we live in Vienna is the same area as most of the city's Asian immigrants. There's not a literal Chinatown but there are several Asian grocery stores within a couple blocks of our apartment so finding all the ingredients was pretty simple.
Here's one of my favorite meals, a Döner kebap. It's basically my substitute for Chipotle burritos in the USA, and they're probably the most popular fast food item here.
Finally, here's one of my favorite desserts, a Kakaoroulade. It's honestly nothing special, they're mass produced and sold at any grocery store, but they remind me of a giant Swiss Cake Roll and they only cost €1,09.
Above was my first attempt. Marlene said they tasted pretty good, but you can see they don't exactly look right.
This is a batch I just made today, and you can see they hold their shape much better thanks to the secret ingredient: sushi rice.
At the beginning, I looked up a recipe and went and got all the ingredients except I figured rice is rice is rice. I don't need any special "sushi rice". How wrong I was. The key to good looking Maki rolls is super sticky rice and normal long grain rice grown in Europe or the USA just doesn't cut it. Luckily, where we live in Vienna is the same area as most of the city's Asian immigrants. There's not a literal Chinatown but there are several Asian grocery stores within a couple blocks of our apartment so finding all the ingredients was pretty simple.
Here's one of my favorite meals, a Döner kebap. It's basically my substitute for Chipotle burritos in the USA, and they're probably the most popular fast food item here.
Finally, here's one of my favorite desserts, a Kakaoroulade. It's honestly nothing special, they're mass produced and sold at any grocery store, but they remind me of a giant Swiss Cake Roll and they only cost €1,09.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday Night Blog
Hey all, it's Saturday night here and I just got back from an FK Austria Wien match where we won 4:1 against LASK Linz. It was a super fun time because we scored early and often and were up 3:0 at halftime. After that we let off the gas and Linz scored early on the second half before we scored the the fourth in about the 87th minute to put an end to the comeback.
Marlene went to Neusiedl am See tonight for an Oktoberfest revival party and I've still to hear how that went. I obviously stayed in Vienna first for the FK Austria Wien match tonight, and because FC Adrenalin has two matches tomorrow. The first team plays at 3 pm and the reserves play right afterwards at 5 pm. I'm on the first team roster and I'll hopefully play with the reserves too as long as I don't play too much with first team. If I start for the first team (which is unlikely), then I'll be super happy and won't play for the reserves. So far I haven't started for the first team, I've been playing as a sub for them and as a key player for the reserves. Last week I played the whole second half for the first team and then later in the day played 80 minutes for the reserves. Normally I wouldn't play for both teams in one day but if both teams have games on the same day and I'm only a sub for the first team, then I'll happily play for the reserves as well. Playing for the reserves is super fun because obviously the opponents aren't nearly as good so I can relax and just try to pick out dangerous passes. In my 3 games, I've played as center mid twice and both times and I've had assists, hopefully that trend will continue...
Apart from soccer, Marlene went to a cool park today I took a few pictures of her/us while we were at Wienerberg, which obviously sounds funny in English but was a fun time. It's one of the biggest green areas in all of Vienna. Here are some pictures of our day there.
Marlene went to Neusiedl am See tonight for an Oktoberfest revival party and I've still to hear how that went. I obviously stayed in Vienna first for the FK Austria Wien match tonight, and because FC Adrenalin has two matches tomorrow. The first team plays at 3 pm and the reserves play right afterwards at 5 pm. I'm on the first team roster and I'll hopefully play with the reserves too as long as I don't play too much with first team. If I start for the first team (which is unlikely), then I'll be super happy and won't play for the reserves. So far I haven't started for the first team, I've been playing as a sub for them and as a key player for the reserves. Last week I played the whole second half for the first team and then later in the day played 80 minutes for the reserves. Normally I wouldn't play for both teams in one day but if both teams have games on the same day and I'm only a sub for the first team, then I'll happily play for the reserves as well. Playing for the reserves is super fun because obviously the opponents aren't nearly as good so I can relax and just try to pick out dangerous passes. In my 3 games, I've played as center mid twice and both times and I've had assists, hopefully that trend will continue...
Apart from soccer, Marlene went to a cool park today I took a few pictures of her/us while we were at Wienerberg, which obviously sounds funny in English but was a fun time. It's one of the biggest green areas in all of Vienna. Here are some pictures of our day there.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
News in Brief: Oct 20
Hello all, it's been a week and I never want to go a week without an entry so I just want to put together a quick post.
Since getting my residence permit, Marlene and I both registered with the authorities a second residence for our apartment in Vienna. That was a relief because it felt dishonest to be registered in Neusiedl am See since we don't actually live there. That also meant I could go register as officially unemployed at my Viennese district's employment office. I'm not entitled to receive any unemployment money but they're supposed to be search for jobs and offer different classes. I'll need to look more into what types of classes I could take from them.
Over the weekend with the FC Adrenalin reserves we played against a team of all Mexicans so that reminded me of home. We also won 6-0 so it was a fun game. Earlier in that same day I played the second half for the first team but that was disappointing as soon after I subbed in, one of our central defenders got a red card and we struggled badly. We ended up losing 1-4.
It's getting to be pretty cold here and often overcast. We actually turned on the heat in our apartment last week and we broke open the winter blankets for the bed.
Next week is the last week of my German course and it's doubtful I'll sign up for another month, unless the unemployment office would offer to pay for it, which would be a possibility. We talked about it a bit in my class today because another student has already been working with the unemployment office for a few weeks.
Since getting my residence permit, Marlene and I both registered with the authorities a second residence for our apartment in Vienna. That was a relief because it felt dishonest to be registered in Neusiedl am See since we don't actually live there. That also meant I could go register as officially unemployed at my Viennese district's employment office. I'm not entitled to receive any unemployment money but they're supposed to be search for jobs and offer different classes. I'll need to look more into what types of classes I could take from them.
Over the weekend with the FC Adrenalin reserves we played against a team of all Mexicans so that reminded me of home. We also won 6-0 so it was a fun game. Earlier in that same day I played the second half for the first team but that was disappointing as soon after I subbed in, one of our central defenders got a red card and we struggled badly. We ended up losing 1-4.
It's getting to be pretty cold here and often overcast. We actually turned on the heat in our apartment last week and we broke open the winter blankets for the bed.
Next week is the last week of my German course and it's doubtful I'll sign up for another month, unless the unemployment office would offer to pay for it, which would be a possibility. We talked about it a bit in my class today because another student has already been working with the unemployment office for a few weeks.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Residence Permit: Check
On Friday night I went with my FC Adrenalin teammates to watch the Austrian national team play against Azerbaijan which ended in a solid 3:0 victory for the Austrians. The seats weren't great, but then again, for 1 Euro they were fantastic. The stadium was about half full because the opponent wasn't too glamorous and there were noticeably more women and children than I'm used to seeing while attending FK Austria Wien matches. The crowd wasn't nearly as rowdy as at FK Austria matches either, coincidence? Maybe. One kind of funny thing about the stadium was in the men's bathroom where there were neither urinals nor troughs. Instead there were several small rooms that fit 10-12 guys standing shoulder to shoulder with a grate on the floor where the guys lined up and peed against the wall, where it went down through the grating and into a drain somewhere. It felt really strange because it resembled a locker room's public shower, where peeing against the wall would be highly inappropriate.
Then on Saturday I traveled to Neusiedl and we spent the rest of the weekend at Marlene's parents' house. It was Marlene's mom's birthday yesterday so we had a family meal to celebrate on Sunday. We also stayed overnight on Sunday because of my appointment Monday morning at the immigration office where I did officially receive my residence permit. It's the same size as an ID or credit card and I'm hoping it can be used as a photo ID in other ways around Austria. I get a bit wary needing to bring my passport to so many places because it's my only acceptable form of photo ID. On the back of the residence permit it also states "Freier Zugang zum Arbeitsmarkt," which means I'm also legally allowed to work.
To celebrate, we went to the restaurant Plachutta where we had received a gift certificate as a wedding gift. They serve pretty traditional Austrian food, I think the next time my family visits, we'll need to go there. Here are a couple pics of the food and me enjoying it.
Then on Saturday I traveled to Neusiedl and we spent the rest of the weekend at Marlene's parents' house. It was Marlene's mom's birthday yesterday so we had a family meal to celebrate on Sunday. We also stayed overnight on Sunday because of my appointment Monday morning at the immigration office where I did officially receive my residence permit. It's the same size as an ID or credit card and I'm hoping it can be used as a photo ID in other ways around Austria. I get a bit wary needing to bring my passport to so many places because it's my only acceptable form of photo ID. On the back of the residence permit it also states "Freier Zugang zum Arbeitsmarkt," which means I'm also legally allowed to work.
To celebrate, we went to the restaurant Plachutta where we had received a gift certificate as a wedding gift. They serve pretty traditional Austrian food, I think the next time my family visits, we'll need to go there. Here are a couple pics of the food and me enjoying it.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Back to Back Blogs, Wow!
I had some trouble sleeping last night and happened to wake up at a quarter to 6 am and remembered the Twins-Yankees game and thought I'd check the score. (Un)Luckily the game wasn't over yet, so I watched from the bottom of the 8th inning to the end and fumed over the loss like all other Minnesotans. Tonight I'll try to watch the entire second game of the series since it starts at midnight my time and I don't have any class tomorrow morning. If we lose that one, the series goes back to New York and there's no point in watching because there's no way we can win.
Tomorrow night I'll join a number of my FC Adrenalin teammates and go to an Austria national team soccer game. It's somewhat important in that it's a qualifying match for the 2012 European Championships, which is the second most important soccer tournament, after the World Cup of course. The game is against Azerbaijan and I would be expecting Austria to win. Because our team falls under the umbrella organization of the Austrian Soccer Federation, there was some crazy deal on tickets and it's only 1 Euro per person. I hope we get similar deals next year when we get to play against some better teams like Germany and Turkey. Both of those matches will be very exciting as Germany has got to be our biggest rival and the largest immigrant group in Vienna are Turks. I've already suggested that my bro Turner come visit next June when we play Germany so we can go to the match together, I hope he accepts the offer!
Finally, I think my residence permit is all approved. I've got one last appointment at the immigration office in Neusiedl am See for Monday morning and I think they'll be giving it to me then. That should also entitle me to work legally. I've been applying online for a few jobs per day recently, hopefully one of them will work out.
Tomorrow night I'll join a number of my FC Adrenalin teammates and go to an Austria national team soccer game. It's somewhat important in that it's a qualifying match for the 2012 European Championships, which is the second most important soccer tournament, after the World Cup of course. The game is against Azerbaijan and I would be expecting Austria to win. Because our team falls under the umbrella organization of the Austrian Soccer Federation, there was some crazy deal on tickets and it's only 1 Euro per person. I hope we get similar deals next year when we get to play against some better teams like Germany and Turkey. Both of those matches will be very exciting as Germany has got to be our biggest rival and the largest immigrant group in Vienna are Turks. I've already suggested that my bro Turner come visit next June when we play Germany so we can go to the match together, I hope he accepts the offer!
Finally, I think my residence permit is all approved. I've got one last appointment at the immigration office in Neusiedl am See for Monday morning and I think they'll be giving it to me then. That should also entitle me to work legally. I've been applying online for a few jobs per day recently, hopefully one of them will work out.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Minnesota Sports?
At the moment all I can think about is sports back in Minnesota. It's really the first time I've been wishing I was back in St. Paul so I can enjoy what's going on at the moment. First, my Minnesota Twins are about to start the playoffs against the New York Yankees in our brand new, beautiful stadium. I have the ability to watch the game on the internet but due to the time difference the first pitch will be around 2:37 am Vienna time so I'm not sure if I'll be staying up to watch it since I have class tomorrow morning. I don't have class on Fridays so I'll more than likely be watching game 2 which starts just after midnight on Thursday night.
And in one of those "do you remember where you were when you heard?" moments, for Minnesota sports fans at least, I saw on Twitter yesterday that it was highly likely that Randy Moss would be returning to the Minnesota Vikings today and everything I'm reading today has confirmed that news, including Randy Moss' Wikipedia page. Right now I'm listening to podcasts of the local sports talk radio station and it's really getting me pumped up.
In Toby news, I started my new German class this week. So far it's not as fun as my class last month mainly due to the teacher but my German is still steadily improving. I feel pretty comfortable speaking it all day and being able to express myself which was not true a couple months ago.
And in one of those "do you remember where you were when you heard?" moments, for Minnesota sports fans at least, I saw on Twitter yesterday that it was highly likely that Randy Moss would be returning to the Minnesota Vikings today and everything I'm reading today has confirmed that news, including Randy Moss' Wikipedia page. Right now I'm listening to podcasts of the local sports talk radio station and it's really getting me pumped up.
In Toby news, I started my new German class this week. So far it's not as fun as my class last month mainly due to the teacher but my German is still steadily improving. I feel pretty comfortable speaking it all day and being able to express myself which was not true a couple months ago.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Odds and Ends
In my last post, I wrote solely about my first job opportunity, leaving out some other items which have occurred recently. On Sep. 18 and 19 we spent a night in Stoob, Austria which is where Marlene's sister, Christine, lives. It reminded me of a small Midwest town mainly inhabited by farmers, including Christine and her boyfriend's family. However in Austria, Stoob is reasonably well known for having a ceramics/pottery college. They have a small farm by American standards, there are a few cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, and further outside of town they grow some crops. We spent the majority of the time playing the board game Settlers of Catan and playing with their two kittens. We left the next afternoon and they gave me two different kinds of homemade sausage and a big slab of bacon. I ate the sausages pretty quickly but I've still got some of the bacon left. It was really a big chunk which was fantastic because I'd complained many times about how the grocery store bacon is so thinly sliced, but now I can cut it as thick as I like.
My German class ended on Tuesday this week but I've signed up for another course at the same academy which begins on Monday. I decided pretty late to sign up for another course because it's a bit expensive and I wasn't sure if it really constitutes value for cost but beyond just the learning German aspect, it's a good way to meet new people and get out of the apartment. When I went to sign up for the next course yesterday though, they told me it was already full. They said I could take a test to try and get into the next next level, so I did, and passed it! The course I did in September along with the one I tested out of, together are meant for level C1 of the European Framework for Languages. The course I'll be taking in October now is for the first half of the C2 level, which is the highest. Beyond that, there's only one more class I could take. So I'm very excited about that, and I am beginning to feel a lot more confident in speaking.
I officially registered as a member of FC Adrenalin and played in the first team match last weekend. I subbed in for the last 20 minutes and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. All the scoring happened while I was still on the bench. If you look at their website now, I'm listed in the roster and it has my stats. There's no picture yet, but I did ask the webmaster to change my flag to that of the USA, it showed me as an Austrian just a couple days ago.
My German class ended on Tuesday this week but I've signed up for another course at the same academy which begins on Monday. I decided pretty late to sign up for another course because it's a bit expensive and I wasn't sure if it really constitutes value for cost but beyond just the learning German aspect, it's a good way to meet new people and get out of the apartment. When I went to sign up for the next course yesterday though, they told me it was already full. They said I could take a test to try and get into the next next level, so I did, and passed it! The course I did in September along with the one I tested out of, together are meant for level C1 of the European Framework for Languages. The course I'll be taking in October now is for the first half of the C2 level, which is the highest. Beyond that, there's only one more class I could take. So I'm very excited about that, and I am beginning to feel a lot more confident in speaking.
I officially registered as a member of FC Adrenalin and played in the first team match last weekend. I subbed in for the last 20 minutes and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. All the scoring happened while I was still on the bench. If you look at their website now, I'm listed in the roster and it has my stats. There's no picture yet, but I did ask the webmaster to change my flag to that of the USA, it showed me as an Austrian just a couple days ago.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Long Time No Blog
I haven't written a post for a week now but it definitely hasn't been due to a lack of things to write, more so the opposite. Last Tuesday I got a call somewhat out of the blue asking if I could do a telephone interview for the next day. It was from the company Accenture where Marlene's uncle (the one who owns our apartment actually) used to work. I had given him my résumé and he'd said he'd pass it on to a former colleague there. I did the phone interview and I thought it went pretty well. The next day they asked for my transcript and a letter of recommendation so I sent my transcript which I had handy and emailed my old boss to get a letter of recommendation. Then on Monday, I was invited to an all-day recruiting event that would take place the next day (yesterday).
On Tuesday, there were about 15 applicants, and we met at the Accenture office in downtown Wien. We took a bus to the airport where we would be spending the whole day. We were given breakfast and an intro speech by a couple higher-ups for the Germany/Austria/Switzerland region. One of the guys was actually from Switzerland so he was extremely difficult to understand in German. Then we were separated into smaller groups to do a case study. We were given a situation that we had to talk through, formulate a plan of action, then give a presentation on our results. That was definitely the most difficult part of the day, so in hindsight I'm glad it happened first. After that we were given lunch and took turns going in for individual face to face interviews. The questions asked of me weren't too difficult but I was too nervous to put together detailed, grammatically correct sentences so I was quite disappointed with my performance.
The rest of the afternoon was just meant to be fun. We got a tour of behind the scenes at the airport so we saw the plane garages where aircraft were being repaired and were almost completely disassembled. We also got to practice flying in true flight simulator used for training actual pilots. That will probably go down as one of the most unique experiences I've had in my life. We had an hour long training beforehand and then we got to try it ourselves where we were able to taxi down the runway, then takeoff and fly around a bit. Then they loaded a landing program and we tried that, but landing was a lot more difficult. We were in the simulator the whole time while the others were flying and could see the same as the pilot so it was pretty scary when one of my group members had a bad landing and the whole cabin shook and the screen was tinted red, indicating we had all died.
After the fun stuff we were taken back to the big meeting room and taken one by one to see who would be receiving job offers. I wasn't one of the lucky ones, so then I had to sit around and wait a while longer for everyone to finish so we could take the bus back to Wien. I wasn't at all surprised to not get a job offer but it was depressing nonetheless. But I'll have to try and put a positive spin on it by thinking about how it was good experience for future interviews, as well as getting to use the flight simulator and getting some Accenture swag.
On Tuesday, there were about 15 applicants, and we met at the Accenture office in downtown Wien. We took a bus to the airport where we would be spending the whole day. We were given breakfast and an intro speech by a couple higher-ups for the Germany/Austria/Switzerland region. One of the guys was actually from Switzerland so he was extremely difficult to understand in German. Then we were separated into smaller groups to do a case study. We were given a situation that we had to talk through, formulate a plan of action, then give a presentation on our results. That was definitely the most difficult part of the day, so in hindsight I'm glad it happened first. After that we were given lunch and took turns going in for individual face to face interviews. The questions asked of me weren't too difficult but I was too nervous to put together detailed, grammatically correct sentences so I was quite disappointed with my performance.
The rest of the afternoon was just meant to be fun. We got a tour of behind the scenes at the airport so we saw the plane garages where aircraft were being repaired and were almost completely disassembled. We also got to practice flying in true flight simulator used for training actual pilots. That will probably go down as one of the most unique experiences I've had in my life. We had an hour long training beforehand and then we got to try it ourselves where we were able to taxi down the runway, then takeoff and fly around a bit. Then they loaded a landing program and we tried that, but landing was a lot more difficult. We were in the simulator the whole time while the others were flying and could see the same as the pilot so it was pretty scary when one of my group members had a bad landing and the whole cabin shook and the screen was tinted red, indicating we had all died.
After the fun stuff we were taken back to the big meeting room and taken one by one to see who would be receiving job offers. I wasn't one of the lucky ones, so then I had to sit around and wait a while longer for everyone to finish so we could take the bus back to Wien. I wasn't at all surprised to not get a job offer but it was depressing nonetheless. But I'll have to try and put a positive spin on it by thinking about how it was good experience for future interviews, as well as getting to use the flight simulator and getting some Accenture swag.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Mostly Football News
The only non-soccer update I have is that on Thursday night I had to go to Neusiedl to meet with a police officer for the next step in attaining my residence permit. They didn't give us too much information beforehand, it turned it was supposed to be a surprise as it was an in-depth interview to make sure Marlene and I didn't get married just so I could emigrate to Austria. There were a lot of difficult questions and it was made harder because Marlene wasn't allowed to be there. All in all, it last about an hour and was pretty intense. Now that it's over though, it makes for a funny story and it's also a good sign that the immigration office is making progress on my residence permit.
Now, on to soccer stuff. On Friday I went and watched FC Adrenalin's first team in their first match of the season. They came from behind to win 2:1, thanks to two red cards on the opposing team. The level of play wasn't as high as I was expecting based on how serious the practices are and how organized the teams are. The location of the game was pretty amazing, right on the very end of a peninsula in the Danube. Then on Sunday the reserve team had a match which I played in. We lost 2:4 but I thought I played pretty well. After the game the guy in charge gave me my necessary paperwork to to officially join the club and said when it was filled out I can play with the first team. It was a bit expensive but I'd like to do it. The guys all seem pretty nice so it'd be a good way to make friends.
At the exact same time as our reserve team game on Sunday was the Vienna Derby. My team FK Austria was taking on our cross-city rivals Rapid. The game was in Rapid's stadium but we emerged victorious. I was very surprised because we haven't won in like six games and I was expecting to get thrashed. The reports I've read about it said Rapid dominated, but we capitalized on a defensive mistake to score midway into the second half.
Now, on to soccer stuff. On Friday I went and watched FC Adrenalin's first team in their first match of the season. They came from behind to win 2:1, thanks to two red cards on the opposing team. The level of play wasn't as high as I was expecting based on how serious the practices are and how organized the teams are. The location of the game was pretty amazing, right on the very end of a peninsula in the Danube. Then on Sunday the reserve team had a match which I played in. We lost 2:4 but I thought I played pretty well. After the game the guy in charge gave me my necessary paperwork to to officially join the club and said when it was filled out I can play with the first team. It was a bit expensive but I'd like to do it. The guys all seem pretty nice so it'd be a good way to make friends.
At the exact same time as our reserve team game on Sunday was the Vienna Derby. My team FK Austria was taking on our cross-city rivals Rapid. The game was in Rapid's stadium but we emerged victorious. I was very surprised because we haven't won in like six games and I was expecting to get thrashed. The reports I've read about it said Rapid dominated, but we capitalized on a defensive mistake to score midway into the second half.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Back to School
Marlene and I both started class on Monday. She's back teaching English and I began a month long German course as a refresher before trying to get a real job. My class is pretty interesting. I'm the only guy out of 8 students and everyone is from a different country. There's a Moldovan, Romanian (from Transylvania even!), Czech, Hungarian, Serbian, Indian, Ukrainian, and of course me. Most of the others can already speak English along with their mother tongues so that's a bit annoying to me that everyone is there learning their third language. After I'm completely comfortable with German I think I'd like to go back to learning Spanish. I'm also glad the USA is changing in this respect due to so many Spanish-speaking immigrants. Having American children grow up bilingual is only going to make them more intelligent and give them better job opportunities in the future. It also makes learning a third, fourth, etc. language much easier.
To get back to my school, it's pretty low key. It's just 9-12, Monday-Thursday, for 4 weeks. It's very strange to have homework again after being out college for over 3 years, but I do like it. It's good that I have to work on my German at least a little bit. I try to speak with Marlene as much as I can, but if I can't figure out how to say something after a few seconds, I'll always revert to English.
I had another training session last night FC Adrenalin. Turner left some comments asking if they had a website, which they do: http://www.fc-adrenalin.at/index.php. I'm not sure what league they're in, but all the games are in Vienna. I'm pretty sure they're not in the official Austrian league system, so it's not like they could keep winning promotion and eventually get to the Austrian Bundesliga. They did however win their league and promotion last year.
The other hobby I've just taken up is creating a custom map for the board game Ticket To Ride. I'm working on a custom map using Austria and its neighboring countries. Below is a picture of the work I've done so far. I've got the full size map printed out and a smaller sheet of paper with my plan for the cities and routes.
To get back to my school, it's pretty low key. It's just 9-12, Monday-Thursday, for 4 weeks. It's very strange to have homework again after being out college for over 3 years, but I do like it. It's good that I have to work on my German at least a little bit. I try to speak with Marlene as much as I can, but if I can't figure out how to say something after a few seconds, I'll always revert to English.
I had another training session last night FC Adrenalin. Turner left some comments asking if they had a website, which they do: http://www.fc-adrenalin.at/index.php. I'm not sure what league they're in, but all the games are in Vienna. I'm pretty sure they're not in the official Austrian league system, so it's not like they could keep winning promotion and eventually get to the Austrian Bundesliga. They did however win their league and promotion last year.
The other hobby I've just taken up is creating a custom map for the board game Ticket To Ride. I'm working on a custom map using Austria and its neighboring countries. Below is a picture of the work I've done so far. I've got the full size map printed out and a smaller sheet of paper with my plan for the cities and routes.
Friday, September 3, 2010
First Time Playing Soccer in 6 Weeks = A Little Sore the Day After
Training with FC Adrenalin went very well. The guys are all about my age, in good shape, and seemed to be a similar skill level. We played on a turf field so I actually didn't even need the cleats that I went out and bought yesterday, I played with my flats instead. Thinking about it today, I haven't been on a team which practices regularly since college. We tried to organize practices for Northfield Football Club but those never really worked out and the Vandals never practiced either.
We didn't do any drills that were too complicated. We worked on passing, dribbling, shooting, then played a half field 9v9 scrimmage. I was last picked by the team captains but played pretty well. My team won 3-0 and I scored and had an assist after being put at right midfield. Afterward one of the guys asked if I wanted to play in the team's friendly match this weekend. Looking at their schedule, it's the last friendly before the real league matches begin so I hope I do well and am asked to be on the team for good!
We didn't do any drills that were too complicated. We worked on passing, dribbling, shooting, then played a half field 9v9 scrimmage. I was last picked by the team captains but played pretty well. My team won 3-0 and I scored and had an assist after being put at right midfield. Afterward one of the guys asked if I wanted to play in the team's friendly match this weekend. Looking at their schedule, it's the last friendly before the real league matches begin so I hope I do well and am asked to be on the team for good!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
News in Brief: Sep 2
I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but all of my documents for getting a residence permit have officially been submitted to the immigration office in Neusiedl. We decided to register myself there instead of Wien because there are far less immigrants and the office is not nearly as busy as one in Wien might have been. Now we'll just be waiting for word back from them that I've been approved. It should take at least a couple weeks.
Last night we saw the movie Babies along with Marlene's sister. It was basically a really long compilation of babies doing cute things. I think you could get the same effect by searching for cute baby clips on youtube.
Marlene cheated on her diet on Sunday. She told me she ate a schnitzel on Sunday when she was with her family. Her friends had a bet going on how long she could last being a vegetarian which I wasn't involved in (I'd have quite an unfair advantage) but I'm not sure who won. I'll look into that and report back.
Yesterday I went to the Deutsch Akademie and took a German proficiency test in order to see which class I'd be placed in if I were to enroll there. I placed into C1 which is advanced (A is beginner, B is intermediate) which is good since that's what I had on my résumé. I was happy to see it hasn't regressed since I left college although I'm sure my grammar knowledge has declined, my speaking and understanding, especially the Austrian dialect, has much improved.
Lastly, I may have found a soccer team to play for. I found them by looking through the Wien city soccer league forums, they had posted that they're looking for players for the upcoming season. I emailed the address and not long later I had a reply inviting me to come to training. The team's called FC Adrenalin and there's a training tonight at 19:30. That meant that today I had to run out quickly to get outdoor soccer shoes. I bought last year's model of the Adidas adiCORE II firm ground shoes which were originally listed at €100, then marked down to €60, then down to €50. Then when I got to the register, they scanned it and only charged me €30, so I think I got a good deal. We'll see how they perform later this evening, if I play badly, I'm definitely blaming the shoes.
Last night we saw the movie Babies along with Marlene's sister. It was basically a really long compilation of babies doing cute things. I think you could get the same effect by searching for cute baby clips on youtube.
Marlene cheated on her diet on Sunday. She told me she ate a schnitzel on Sunday when she was with her family. Her friends had a bet going on how long she could last being a vegetarian which I wasn't involved in (I'd have quite an unfair advantage) but I'm not sure who won. I'll look into that and report back.
Yesterday I went to the Deutsch Akademie and took a German proficiency test in order to see which class I'd be placed in if I were to enroll there. I placed into C1 which is advanced (A is beginner, B is intermediate) which is good since that's what I had on my résumé. I was happy to see it hasn't regressed since I left college although I'm sure my grammar knowledge has declined, my speaking and understanding, especially the Austrian dialect, has much improved.
Lastly, I may have found a soccer team to play for. I found them by looking through the Wien city soccer league forums, they had posted that they're looking for players for the upcoming season. I emailed the address and not long later I had a reply inviting me to come to training. The team's called FC Adrenalin and there's a training tonight at 19:30. That meant that today I had to run out quickly to get outdoor soccer shoes. I bought last year's model of the Adidas adiCORE II firm ground shoes which were originally listed at €100, then marked down to €60, then down to €50. Then when I got to the register, they scanned it and only charged me €30, so I think I got a good deal. We'll see how they perform later this evening, if I play badly, I'm definitely blaming the shoes.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Quick Update
It's been a depressing last few days as Austria Wien was eliminated from the Europa League after drawing with Aris Saloniki 1:1. We had lost the first match 0:1 hence the elimination. The distress was compounded by our cross-city rivals coming from behind to beat Aston Villa, who is a far superior team, on the same evening in the same competition. Then yesterday we played against the newly promoted Austrian Bundesliga team, Wacker Innsbruck. Yes, they're near the top of the table at the moment, but it's early and that must be just a fluke. It sure didn't seem like it when the teams took the field, we weren't dominated by any stretch but it was evenly matched until the 70th minute when they scored on a counter. Then they scored again on a counter in the 77th minute, then again in the 80th minute. Frustrated by the quick turn of events, a fan behind me through a beer or some other liquid and it splashed all over me so I left in a terrible mood.
Today Marlene and I uploaded many of our wedding and honeymoon pictures online to design photo albums which we'll then order from Bipa. While looking through the photos I was reminded of a funny item from our honeymoon...
You know how I know your resort is meant for old people?
(Besides the fact that all your neighbors and all the people you see around the pool are old)
There's a non-slip mat and alarm to pull in the shower.
Today Marlene and I uploaded many of our wedding and honeymoon pictures online to design photo albums which we'll then order from Bipa. While looking through the photos I was reminded of a funny item from our honeymoon...
You know how I know your resort is meant for old people?
(Besides the fact that all your neighbors and all the people you see around the pool are old)
There's a non-slip mat and alarm to pull in the shower.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Waterford Crystal Story
Before the Waterford crystal story, I'll talk about a couple other things. First, on Tuesday I became an official season ticket holder for Austria Wien. There's my season ticket on the right, and a ticket to today's match which is for the Europa League competition.
We need to win by 2 or more goals to advance to the group stage. If that happens we could be drawn into a group with a big team like Man City, Liverpool, or Juventus. We'd play each team in our group twice, both home and away, and I've promised myself that I'll go to one of the away matches. If we don't win by 2 goals today (or tie, or lose) then we're out of the competition and my dreams are shattered.
Marlene is still a vegetarian, she'll be celebrating her 2 week anniversary tomorrow. Her weakest points have been the few times she's seen me eating meatballs which happened on two trips to Ikea and once during a lunch at her parents' house.
During the second trip to Ikea mentioned above, I designed a new desk for myself. They have several options there for table tops and table legs which can mixed and matched. I chose a solid wood top, it's much heavier than their normal wood-looking material, and it has one square end and one rounded end. For the legs there is one circular, metal leg for the rounded side, and a shelf for the squared end which will eventually hold a desktop PC.
Just imagine me sitting on that chair and typing on the laptop at this very moment!
Lastly, we finally received the Waterford crystal stemware that my grandma ordered for us as a wedding gift more than two months ago. My grandma's original hope was that they arrive prior to the wedding and we perform the toast at our reception with them, but unfortunately we hadn't received them in time. The sad part was that we could have if not for a few mistakes and miscommunications. The first error was that Waterford uses UPS for delivery to Austria. They are terrible here. They don't have keys to get into the apartment buildings like the normal Austrian post office, so they can't leave a shipping notice in our mailbox for us. The next error was that Waterford never provided a tracking number after their email informing us that the order was shipped. I asked them for the tracking number last week and when they sent it to us 2 days ago, we were able to figure out what happened and get the package yesterday. After submitting the tracking number to UPS's website, we found the package was marked as delivered on July 16 and had been signed for by PLANK. I ran downstairs to look at the building's doorbells but saw no PLANK listed, though about half of the bells didn't have names, including ours which wouldn't have helped the situation. So we called UPS and they told us it was signed for by the person in room 7 of our building. We went downstairs and left them a note because no one answered the door. A few hours later they called up to us and we got the package! On the delivery address it had room 8 instead of 18 which is ours, so that explained why we hadn't heard anything from our neighbor. Nevertheless, it turned out mostly okay since we did eventually receive it. We got the Dolmen champagne flutes and I did take a few pictures of the unboxing but I need one more pic of Marlene and I toasting before I upload them. Maybe we'll put our wedding attire back on for the picture so that in 50 years we can pretend they did arrive in time...
We need to win by 2 or more goals to advance to the group stage. If that happens we could be drawn into a group with a big team like Man City, Liverpool, or Juventus. We'd play each team in our group twice, both home and away, and I've promised myself that I'll go to one of the away matches. If we don't win by 2 goals today (or tie, or lose) then we're out of the competition and my dreams are shattered.Marlene is still a vegetarian, she'll be celebrating her 2 week anniversary tomorrow. Her weakest points have been the few times she's seen me eating meatballs which happened on two trips to Ikea and once during a lunch at her parents' house.
During the second trip to Ikea mentioned above, I designed a new desk for myself. They have several options there for table tops and table legs which can mixed and matched. I chose a solid wood top, it's much heavier than their normal wood-looking material, and it has one square end and one rounded end. For the legs there is one circular, metal leg for the rounded side, and a shelf for the squared end which will eventually hold a desktop PC.
Just imagine me sitting on that chair and typing on the laptop at this very moment!Lastly, we finally received the Waterford crystal stemware that my grandma ordered for us as a wedding gift more than two months ago. My grandma's original hope was that they arrive prior to the wedding and we perform the toast at our reception with them, but unfortunately we hadn't received them in time. The sad part was that we could have if not for a few mistakes and miscommunications. The first error was that Waterford uses UPS for delivery to Austria. They are terrible here. They don't have keys to get into the apartment buildings like the normal Austrian post office, so they can't leave a shipping notice in our mailbox for us. The next error was that Waterford never provided a tracking number after their email informing us that the order was shipped. I asked them for the tracking number last week and when they sent it to us 2 days ago, we were able to figure out what happened and get the package yesterday. After submitting the tracking number to UPS's website, we found the package was marked as delivered on July 16 and had been signed for by PLANK. I ran downstairs to look at the building's doorbells but saw no PLANK listed, though about half of the bells didn't have names, including ours which wouldn't have helped the situation. So we called UPS and they told us it was signed for by the person in room 7 of our building. We went downstairs and left them a note because no one answered the door. A few hours later they called up to us and we got the package! On the delivery address it had room 8 instead of 18 which is ours, so that explained why we hadn't heard anything from our neighbor. Nevertheless, it turned out mostly okay since we did eventually receive it. We got the Dolmen champagne flutes and I did take a few pictures of the unboxing but I need one more pic of Marlene and I toasting before I upload them. Maybe we'll put our wedding attire back on for the picture so that in 50 years we can pretend they did arrive in time...
Thursday, August 19, 2010
News in Brief August 20
Even though I thought mosquitoes only laid eggs in lakes, there were a ton in Madeira. They were especially mean to be doing all their attacking at night when I was helpless to resist. All my mosquito bites are just about healed.
Marlene decided to a vegetarian. She has lasted one week so far.
Yesterday we moved most of Marlene's possessions from Neusiedl to our apartment in Vienna and there's almost enough space for everything.
Austria Wien lost the away leg of the Europa League matchup with Aris Thessaloniki 0:1. The only goal of the match was scored in stoppage time by former MLS star Carlos Ruiz. They play the second leg of the series on Thursday in Vienna and I expect to be there. I'll also be buying my season tickets soon.
After arriving here one of the first things you notice as an American is the different models of cars they have in Europe, but one stood out from the rest and I finally got a picture of myself next to it... wearing my Twins hat of course.
Fiat Punto: The ultimate car for defensive drivers.
Marlene decided to a vegetarian. She has lasted one week so far.
Yesterday we moved most of Marlene's possessions from Neusiedl to our apartment in Vienna and there's almost enough space for everything.
Austria Wien lost the away leg of the Europa League matchup with Aris Thessaloniki 0:1. The only goal of the match was scored in stoppage time by former MLS star Carlos Ruiz. They play the second leg of the series on Thursday in Vienna and I expect to be there. I'll also be buying my season tickets soon.
After arriving here one of the first things you notice as an American is the different models of cars they have in Europe, but one stood out from the rest and I finally got a picture of myself next to it... wearing my Twins hat of course.
Fiat Punto: The ultimate car for defensive drivers.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Back in Vienna, Summary of the Rest of the Honeymoon
I'll just continue right where I left off last time...
Tuesday, Aug 10
We took an early shuttle to Funchal and boarded a catamaran to try our luck at seeing some dolphins or whales. Unfortunately all we saw was a lonely sea turtle. When we got back to the hotel, we chilled by the pool for a few hours. In the evening we had some drinks at the hotel bar then played some ping pong and billiards.
Wednesday, Aug 11
This was definitely the most exhausting day of the trip. We went on our own excursion by bus to the town Caniçal (not to be confused with the town our hotel was in Caniço), then hiked to the Eastern most tip of the island called Ponte de São Lourenço. You can see from linked map that Google maps is not very accurate for Madeira which proved quite frustrating when trying to find street names or restaurants in Funchal. The hike lasted all day, from around 9 to 4:30 and after we got back to the hotel, it was the most satisfying swim of the whole trip. We were pretty dusty and tired so it felt fantastic to jump in the pool then just lay in the sun for a bit. Then we went to the hotel's free steam bath and sauna for further relaxation. That night we stayed in and mixed our own cocktails since we found the hotel bar overly expensive. We determined everything in the hotel was overpriced compared to a bakery and bar right outside resort's walls.
Thursday, Aug 12
We took a shuttle to Funchal for our last day because Marlene wanted especially to visit Reid's Palace for a coffee or afternoon tea. We decided we were feeling lethargic so we went there right away for a coffee. The place was magnificent on the inside, if you scan through the history page on their website you'll see they've entertained guests like Winston Churchill and Gregory Peck. We wandered aimlessly around Funchal for the rest of the day. I halfheartedly attempted to find soccer-related sights so we went to a spot on the map marked Estadio which turned out to be a pretty pathetic looking pitch. It definitely didn't belong to one of Funchal's two Portuguese first division clubs. Then we shuttled back to the hotel and relaxed with some reading, some cocktails, and later packed up our bags.
Friday, Aug 13
Ooooh scary, Friday the 13th... Luckily our plane didn't crash and nothing unlucky happened. We made it back to Vienna and back to the apartment to assess the damage. We hadn't seen it since my brothers and friends who were staying there returned to the USA. It was better than I'd been expecting but it wasn't tidy enough for Marlene's standards so we've spent the last couple days cleaning it thoroughly and doing a lot of laundry. I'm very relieved that it's all finished including Marlene's Ikea wardrobe which had been sitting in an unfinished state for almost a month. I wouldn't say I'm as happy as her that it's complete though, I bet she'll have written something about it on Facebook by the time I'm done writing this.
Tuesday, Aug 10
We took an early shuttle to Funchal and boarded a catamaran to try our luck at seeing some dolphins or whales. Unfortunately all we saw was a lonely sea turtle. When we got back to the hotel, we chilled by the pool for a few hours. In the evening we had some drinks at the hotel bar then played some ping pong and billiards.
Wednesday, Aug 11
This was definitely the most exhausting day of the trip. We went on our own excursion by bus to the town Caniçal (not to be confused with the town our hotel was in Caniço), then hiked to the Eastern most tip of the island called Ponte de São Lourenço. You can see from linked map that Google maps is not very accurate for Madeira which proved quite frustrating when trying to find street names or restaurants in Funchal. The hike lasted all day, from around 9 to 4:30 and after we got back to the hotel, it was the most satisfying swim of the whole trip. We were pretty dusty and tired so it felt fantastic to jump in the pool then just lay in the sun for a bit. Then we went to the hotel's free steam bath and sauna for further relaxation. That night we stayed in and mixed our own cocktails since we found the hotel bar overly expensive. We determined everything in the hotel was overpriced compared to a bakery and bar right outside resort's walls.
Thursday, Aug 12
We took a shuttle to Funchal for our last day because Marlene wanted especially to visit Reid's Palace for a coffee or afternoon tea. We decided we were feeling lethargic so we went there right away for a coffee. The place was magnificent on the inside, if you scan through the history page on their website you'll see they've entertained guests like Winston Churchill and Gregory Peck. We wandered aimlessly around Funchal for the rest of the day. I halfheartedly attempted to find soccer-related sights so we went to a spot on the map marked Estadio which turned out to be a pretty pathetic looking pitch. It definitely didn't belong to one of Funchal's two Portuguese first division clubs. Then we shuttled back to the hotel and relaxed with some reading, some cocktails, and later packed up our bags.
Friday, Aug 13
Ooooh scary, Friday the 13th... Luckily our plane didn't crash and nothing unlucky happened. We made it back to Vienna and back to the apartment to assess the damage. We hadn't seen it since my brothers and friends who were staying there returned to the USA. It was better than I'd been expecting but it wasn't tidy enough for Marlene's standards so we've spent the last couple days cleaning it thoroughly and doing a lot of laundry. I'm very relieved that it's all finished including Marlene's Ikea wardrobe which had been sitting in an unfinished state for almost a month. I wouldn't say I'm as happy as her that it's complete though, I bet she'll have written something about it on Facebook by the time I'm done writing this.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Honeymoon in Madeira
Marlene and I have been in Madeira almost a week now, we return to Vienna on Friday. I'll try to give a quick rundown for what we've done so far.
Tuesday, Aug 3
We departed from the Vienna airport at 8:20 then had a several hour layover in Nürnberg where we did a little bit of shopping and watched How to Train Your Dragon on my iPod. We later arrived in Madeira after a fairly choppy landing at about 4 o'clock. There was a guy waiting for us with our names on a sheet of paper (I've never had this service before!) and then we boarded a shuttle bus that brought us to the hotel. We unpacked and enjoyed a complimentary bottle of champagne that was given to us since we told the receptionist that we were celebrating our honeymoon. Maybe we'll do that on vacations in the future too...
Wednesday, Aug 4
We met with a representative from the travel agency we booked with and she gave us a lot of helpful information about the island and helped us plan an excursion for the following day. The rest of the day we spent relaxing by the hotel pool.
Thursday, Aug 5
We woke up early to catch a bus for an organized hiking trip into the mountainous center of Madeira to specifically see canals and waterfalls. The canals in Madeira are ingenious! They seem to run along side every road I've seen and are still in use to this day. Marlene took her camera for this trip so we'll upload those pictures later.
Friday, Aug 6
We were both exhausted and Marlene was especially sore for the previous day's hike so we relaxed by the pool most of the day. In the late afternoon we took a shuttle to Funchal and had an amazing dinner at Restaurante do Forte. I know that probably none of my readers will visit Madeira but if you do, I would strongly recommend visiting this restaurant. Near our table, right along the sea wall, with the best view of the ocean, was a reserved table. When the gentleman arrived, I was sure he was a professional soccer player, though I scoured the rosters of both Funchal teams and other Portuguese clubs and couldn't find him. You'll just have to trust me that local celebrities also enjoy dinner here.
Saturday, Aug 7
We slept in late after having arrived back to the hotel late the previous evening. In the afternoon we tried to walk down to the beach but found our hotel is farther away from the ocean than we originally thought. We can see the Atlantic from our terrace but the roads to get there are windy and difficult to navigate. We traveled about an hour before getting to another hotel which owned the beach front property and wouldn't allow us entry without buying a day pass. It hardly seemed worth it since it was a rock beach and their pool was smaller than one in our hotel so we turned around and took the bus back.
Sunday, Aug 8
I was delighted to find out that not all businesses were closed on Sundays like in Austria, so we ate breakfast at a nearby bakery. Then we spent the majority of the day in the spa, hopping in and out of mint/eucalyptus flavored saunas, jacuzzis, ice baths, and pools.
Monday, Aug 9 (today)
We took an early shuttle bus to Funchal, then boarded a cable car built by the Austrian company, Doppelmayr. They also built the cable cars we used when we went on a skiing trip to Bad Gastein. You can view all of the pictures here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033933&id=78300124. Later in the album you can see the lunch we had. We had originally planned on going to a Brazilian steakhouse but then found a much more ghetto place near the gardens where we had a pitcher of sangria-like drink along with steak cooked on branches over a charcoal fire and delicious garlic bread. Marlene and I both agreed it was the second best meal we've had on the trip so far after the dinner at Restaurante do Forte.
We've still got a few days left in this beautiful island, hopefully I'll have another interesting entry to make. If you can't see the photos in the Facebook albums I've linked to, please friend request me!
You can view a Facebook photo album of pictures from our hotel here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033932&id=78300124 - as long as you're friends with me :-)
Tuesday, Aug 3
We departed from the Vienna airport at 8:20 then had a several hour layover in Nürnberg where we did a little bit of shopping and watched How to Train Your Dragon on my iPod. We later arrived in Madeira after a fairly choppy landing at about 4 o'clock. There was a guy waiting for us with our names on a sheet of paper (I've never had this service before!) and then we boarded a shuttle bus that brought us to the hotel. We unpacked and enjoyed a complimentary bottle of champagne that was given to us since we told the receptionist that we were celebrating our honeymoon. Maybe we'll do that on vacations in the future too...
Wednesday, Aug 4
We met with a representative from the travel agency we booked with and she gave us a lot of helpful information about the island and helped us plan an excursion for the following day. The rest of the day we spent relaxing by the hotel pool.
Thursday, Aug 5
We woke up early to catch a bus for an organized hiking trip into the mountainous center of Madeira to specifically see canals and waterfalls. The canals in Madeira are ingenious! They seem to run along side every road I've seen and are still in use to this day. Marlene took her camera for this trip so we'll upload those pictures later.
Friday, Aug 6
We were both exhausted and Marlene was especially sore for the previous day's hike so we relaxed by the pool most of the day. In the late afternoon we took a shuttle to Funchal and had an amazing dinner at Restaurante do Forte. I know that probably none of my readers will visit Madeira but if you do, I would strongly recommend visiting this restaurant. Near our table, right along the sea wall, with the best view of the ocean, was a reserved table. When the gentleman arrived, I was sure he was a professional soccer player, though I scoured the rosters of both Funchal teams and other Portuguese clubs and couldn't find him. You'll just have to trust me that local celebrities also enjoy dinner here.
Saturday, Aug 7
We slept in late after having arrived back to the hotel late the previous evening. In the afternoon we tried to walk down to the beach but found our hotel is farther away from the ocean than we originally thought. We can see the Atlantic from our terrace but the roads to get there are windy and difficult to navigate. We traveled about an hour before getting to another hotel which owned the beach front property and wouldn't allow us entry without buying a day pass. It hardly seemed worth it since it was a rock beach and their pool was smaller than one in our hotel so we turned around and took the bus back.
Sunday, Aug 8
I was delighted to find out that not all businesses were closed on Sundays like in Austria, so we ate breakfast at a nearby bakery. Then we spent the majority of the day in the spa, hopping in and out of mint/eucalyptus flavored saunas, jacuzzis, ice baths, and pools.
Monday, Aug 9 (today)
We took an early shuttle bus to Funchal, then boarded a cable car built by the Austrian company, Doppelmayr. They also built the cable cars we used when we went on a skiing trip to Bad Gastein. You can view all of the pictures here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033933&id=78300124. Later in the album you can see the lunch we had. We had originally planned on going to a Brazilian steakhouse but then found a much more ghetto place near the gardens where we had a pitcher of sangria-like drink along with steak cooked on branches over a charcoal fire and delicious garlic bread. Marlene and I both agreed it was the second best meal we've had on the trip so far after the dinner at Restaurante do Forte.
We've still got a few days left in this beautiful island, hopefully I'll have another interesting entry to make. If you can't see the photos in the Facebook albums I've linked to, please friend request me!
You can view a Facebook photo album of pictures from our hotel here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033932&id=78300124 - as long as you're friends with me :-)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wedding Wrap-Up
We last left off one week ago on the day after everyone attended the Arsenal-Neusiedl soccer match and then we had the USA-Austria beer games competition. So much has changed since then!
On Friday we had the legal wedding which was a fancier ceremony than I was expecting. It was held in a large baroque-ish room in Neusiedl am See's city hall. The town registrar sat at a table in the front, Marlene and I sat in throne-like chairs facing her, and then a group of just the closest friends and family sat behind us. I wore my wedding suit with a different shirt and tie and Marlene wore an all white Dirndl. Marlene's mom surprised us by having an extremely talented guitarist/singer there who was a family friend. Marlene had picked three songs she wanted to be played during the ceremony but he played them live instead. The town registrar then gave a speech giving advice and wishing us luck in our marriage, and one of Marlene's friends from university was the translator. We signed the wedding documents and according to Austrian law, we were married. Afterwards we went down to the building's inner garden, all the guests lined up to congratulate us and the next legal wedding filed into the room.
After the legal wedding we all went to a nearby town and had dinner together at a Heurigen. It's basically a restaurant which serves the freshest local wine along with cold dishes made up of bread, meat, cheese, and vegetables. If you're ever visiting Austria or Germany, it's a must that you have at least one meal at a Heurigen.
On Saturday was the main event - the church wedding. We woke up pretty early although we didn't need to. I didn't have anything to do in the morning and Marlene just had a hair appointment in the late morning. Everything started at 1:30 when we met to take pictures. Here are a couple of them courtesy of Franz Helmreich.
Here's the two of us under a willow tree
And here's the whole wedding party
After the pictures, we met at her parents' house for a pre-wedding party where people congratulated us and a band played. That lasted an hour before everyone was transported downtown a couple blocks from the church and we had a mini-parade with the band to walk into the church and immediately start the wedding. Everything went off without a hitch even though I was very nervous beforehand. Upon exiting the church after the ceremony, we were greeted by Marlene's folk dancing group who performed a dance for us then invited us to join in. We danced with them and then everyone lined up to congratulate us before we all had a couple glasses of wine and took some impromptu pictures and headed to the reception venue.
The reception was at a restaurant in a nearby town. The food there was amazing! It was pretty traditional Austrian cuisine, we had two kinds of soup to start, then main dishes of Wiener Schnitzel, roast beef, walleye fillets, and breaded vegetable patties. The side dishes were cabbage, zucchini, fries, potato wedges, maybe other things I'm not remembering right now because I didn't eat them. The folk dance group performed again after dinner and we also had a band and dance floor for normal dancing.
We had some American traditions like Marlene throwing her bouquet, me throwing her garter, and cutting the first piece of cake together. Mixed in were some Austrian traditions. At one point Marlene was kidnapped so I gathered a search party and we needed to go to surrounding bars to look for her where she's supposed to be pounding drinks until we arrive to rescue her. There weren't too many possibilities in the small town we were at so we found her at the nearest bar where we all had a couple drinks together. Then if the kidnapper brings along the bridal bouquet, Marlene's witness of marriage is supposed to pay the bill, otherwise the kidnapper has to pay. Luckily for the kidnapper, Marlene's witness of marriage was his mom, so she helped him find the correct bouquet, which took him a couple attempts, then paid the bill. The other strange traditions all happened in a hectic twenty or thirty minutes, Marlene and I were both lifted up on chairs and given glasses of wine which we chugged and shattered on the floor. Then we lowered to the ground and cleaned up the shattered glass. Marlene was given a wooden spoon and cloth which she put around her head to look like an old housewife. Then people threw tons of coins at us and we had to sweep them up while people continued throwing and ruining the coin pile I was trying to make. It was definitely my least favorite part of the night as I was on my hands on knees trying to collect thousands of coins, all the while having coins thrown at me and even shoved down the back of my shirt and pants! After what seemed like an eternity, the guests felt sorry for us and stopped, and a few of them helped pick everything up. There was more dancing and games and the party finally wrapped up at about 4 AM.
Marlene's parents gave us a ride to our hotel after the reception where some of Marlene's friends had brought our bags and already checked in for us. They were also nice enough to decorate our room with confetti, streamers, balloons, of course more coins, and some... ahem... adult toys. The coins were all over the bed and bathroom so we need to clean them before we could bathe and go to bed.
I wanted to continue and talk about the first day of our honeymoon, we're in Madeira right now, but I think I'll stop there and continue again later. We've got reservations at a Thai restaurant and this post has been long enough!
On Friday we had the legal wedding which was a fancier ceremony than I was expecting. It was held in a large baroque-ish room in Neusiedl am See's city hall. The town registrar sat at a table in the front, Marlene and I sat in throne-like chairs facing her, and then a group of just the closest friends and family sat behind us. I wore my wedding suit with a different shirt and tie and Marlene wore an all white Dirndl. Marlene's mom surprised us by having an extremely talented guitarist/singer there who was a family friend. Marlene had picked three songs she wanted to be played during the ceremony but he played them live instead. The town registrar then gave a speech giving advice and wishing us luck in our marriage, and one of Marlene's friends from university was the translator. We signed the wedding documents and according to Austrian law, we were married. Afterwards we went down to the building's inner garden, all the guests lined up to congratulate us and the next legal wedding filed into the room.
After the legal wedding we all went to a nearby town and had dinner together at a Heurigen. It's basically a restaurant which serves the freshest local wine along with cold dishes made up of bread, meat, cheese, and vegetables. If you're ever visiting Austria or Germany, it's a must that you have at least one meal at a Heurigen.
On Saturday was the main event - the church wedding. We woke up pretty early although we didn't need to. I didn't have anything to do in the morning and Marlene just had a hair appointment in the late morning. Everything started at 1:30 when we met to take pictures. Here are a couple of them courtesy of Franz Helmreich.
Here's the two of us under a willow tree
And here's the whole wedding partyAfter the pictures, we met at her parents' house for a pre-wedding party where people congratulated us and a band played. That lasted an hour before everyone was transported downtown a couple blocks from the church and we had a mini-parade with the band to walk into the church and immediately start the wedding. Everything went off without a hitch even though I was very nervous beforehand. Upon exiting the church after the ceremony, we were greeted by Marlene's folk dancing group who performed a dance for us then invited us to join in. We danced with them and then everyone lined up to congratulate us before we all had a couple glasses of wine and took some impromptu pictures and headed to the reception venue.
The reception was at a restaurant in a nearby town. The food there was amazing! It was pretty traditional Austrian cuisine, we had two kinds of soup to start, then main dishes of Wiener Schnitzel, roast beef, walleye fillets, and breaded vegetable patties. The side dishes were cabbage, zucchini, fries, potato wedges, maybe other things I'm not remembering right now because I didn't eat them. The folk dance group performed again after dinner and we also had a band and dance floor for normal dancing.
We had some American traditions like Marlene throwing her bouquet, me throwing her garter, and cutting the first piece of cake together. Mixed in were some Austrian traditions. At one point Marlene was kidnapped so I gathered a search party and we needed to go to surrounding bars to look for her where she's supposed to be pounding drinks until we arrive to rescue her. There weren't too many possibilities in the small town we were at so we found her at the nearest bar where we all had a couple drinks together. Then if the kidnapper brings along the bridal bouquet, Marlene's witness of marriage is supposed to pay the bill, otherwise the kidnapper has to pay. Luckily for the kidnapper, Marlene's witness of marriage was his mom, so she helped him find the correct bouquet, which took him a couple attempts, then paid the bill. The other strange traditions all happened in a hectic twenty or thirty minutes, Marlene and I were both lifted up on chairs and given glasses of wine which we chugged and shattered on the floor. Then we lowered to the ground and cleaned up the shattered glass. Marlene was given a wooden spoon and cloth which she put around her head to look like an old housewife. Then people threw tons of coins at us and we had to sweep them up while people continued throwing and ruining the coin pile I was trying to make. It was definitely my least favorite part of the night as I was on my hands on knees trying to collect thousands of coins, all the while having coins thrown at me and even shoved down the back of my shirt and pants! After what seemed like an eternity, the guests felt sorry for us and stopped, and a few of them helped pick everything up. There was more dancing and games and the party finally wrapped up at about 4 AM.
Marlene's parents gave us a ride to our hotel after the reception where some of Marlene's friends had brought our bags and already checked in for us. They were also nice enough to decorate our room with confetti, streamers, balloons, of course more coins, and some... ahem... adult toys. The coins were all over the bed and bathroom so we need to clean them before we could bathe and go to bed.
I wanted to continue and talk about the first day of our honeymoon, we're in Madeira right now, but I think I'll stop there and continue again later. We've got reservations at a Thai restaurant and this post has been long enough!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
First Batch of Americans Arrive Safely
On Sunday night my parents and youngest brother Ethan arrived well and we all stayed the night in Neusiedl am See. The next day, Ethan and I came back to Vienna and my other brother and friend arrive at the train station from their travels in Holland and Germany, and later that night Belén, who is Ethan's girlfriend from Bolivia who is working as an au pair in Germany, arrived at the airport. On Tuesday my friend Tom arrived in the early afternoon and then we all went back to Neusiedl am See to watch Arsenal FC play a friendly match against Neusiedl's team. Arsenal played all of their stars except for those who participated in the World Cup - Fabregas, van Persie, and Bendtner.
After the Arsenal-Neusiedl game, we all went back to Marlene's parents' house and had the USA vs. Austria drinking competition. The Austrians were very strong drinkers, unfortunately they don't play drinking games so we Americans had a distinct advantage. We won beer pong, lost flip cup, won quarters (which was played with American quarters), then won a straight up team beer chugging race. As a bonus game, Pete beat Austria team captain Wolfgang Lehner in a half liter beer chug. After the official beer games, everyone continued playing beer pong and chatting. Overall a fantastic time was had by all.
Marlene is continuing to work on the last wedding things in Neusiedl and I'll be joining her tomorrow. Hopefully it will all get organized before Saturday!
After the Arsenal-Neusiedl game, we all went back to Marlene's parents' house and had the USA vs. Austria drinking competition. The Austrians were very strong drinkers, unfortunately they don't play drinking games so we Americans had a distinct advantage. We won beer pong, lost flip cup, won quarters (which was played with American quarters), then won a straight up team beer chugging race. As a bonus game, Pete beat Austria team captain Wolfgang Lehner in a half liter beer chug. After the official beer games, everyone continued playing beer pong and chatting. Overall a fantastic time was had by all.
Marlene is continuing to work on the last wedding things in Neusiedl and I'll be joining her tomorrow. Hopefully it will all get organized before Saturday!
Monday, July 26, 2010
My family has arrived!
Last night both of my parents and my youngest brother arrived from Minneapolis. Marlene and I picked them up from the airport with the help of Marlene's father's beautiful BMW station wagon. It is a breathtaking vehicle and we are forever indebted to him for allowing us to drive it.
We delivered my parents to their hotel in Neusiedl am See and then we slept at Marlene's aunt's house with Ethan on the couch.
In the morning we woke up and soon split up so that Ethan and I went back to Vienna while Marlene and the parents went to buy wine for the wedding and do a few other wedding preparations. Ethan and I got back to the Vienna apartment, dropped off his things and soon picked my other brother, Turner, and one of my good friends, Pete (no facebook). Since picking them up we've been looking for equipment for our upcoming beer drinking competition which is my bachelor party. It will be a USA vs. Austria beer drinking competition involving internationally recognized beer games... though most (all) of them are from the USA.
We'll play beer pong, quarters/Euros, flip cup, Edward 40 hands, and have a boat race. The games may change between now and game time but that's the plan for now. After the beer drinking I'll make sure to write another blog to let you all know what's going on the rest of the week!!
We delivered my parents to their hotel in Neusiedl am See and then we slept at Marlene's aunt's house with Ethan on the couch.
In the morning we woke up and soon split up so that Ethan and I went back to Vienna while Marlene and the parents went to buy wine for the wedding and do a few other wedding preparations. Ethan and I got back to the Vienna apartment, dropped off his things and soon picked my other brother, Turner, and one of my good friends, Pete (no facebook). Since picking them up we've been looking for equipment for our upcoming beer drinking competition which is my bachelor party. It will be a USA vs. Austria beer drinking competition involving internationally recognized beer games... though most (all) of them are from the USA.
We'll play beer pong, quarters/Euros, flip cup, Edward 40 hands, and have a boat race. The games may change between now and game time but that's the plan for now. After the beer drinking I'll make sure to write another blog to let you all know what's going on the rest of the week!!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Quick Apartment Tour
Here's a quick tour of our apartment!
This is our entryway. There's a wardrobe with cleaning supplies in the middle of the pic and a wardrobe for jackets to the right. To the right (not visible) is a chair and our home phone. To the left (not visible) is a couch and small table. Ahead and to the right is the kitchen, ahead and to the left is the living room. Behind the front door to the left is the bathroom.
Here's our bathroom. You can see our awesome bath which has plenty of room to lie down in and has massaging jets. Around the corner to the right is our sink and some shelves with supplies. The door to the right hides the toilet.
Here's our small kitchen. The picture is taken from the doorway to the bedroom so the entryway is through the door on the right. The fridge is inside the cupboard on the left. The tiniest dishwasher ever is underneath the sink and the table is where we like to eat breakfast.
Here's our bedroom. The big bookcase separates our sleeping area on the right to Marlene's working area on the left which will be more useful once it's cleaned up. My new wardrobe is not visible to the right and Marlene's wardrobe is not visible to the left. This picture is taken from the doorway between the living room and the bedroom so the kitchen is through a doorway to the right.
Here's our living room. We've got a couch and TV, and a table to the right where we do our computing. The table will probably be used more as a dinner table when we get more organized.
This is our entryway. There's a wardrobe with cleaning supplies in the middle of the pic and a wardrobe for jackets to the right. To the right (not visible) is a chair and our home phone. To the left (not visible) is a couch and small table. Ahead and to the right is the kitchen, ahead and to the left is the living room. Behind the front door to the left is the bathroom.
Here's our bathroom. You can see our awesome bath which has plenty of room to lie down in and has massaging jets. Around the corner to the right is our sink and some shelves with supplies. The door to the right hides the toilet.
Here's our small kitchen. The picture is taken from the doorway to the bedroom so the entryway is through the door on the right. The fridge is inside the cupboard on the left. The tiniest dishwasher ever is underneath the sink and the table is where we like to eat breakfast.
Here's our bedroom. The big bookcase separates our sleeping area on the right to Marlene's working area on the left which will be more useful once it's cleaned up. My new wardrobe is not visible to the right and Marlene's wardrobe is not visible to the left. This picture is taken from the doorway between the living room and the bedroom so the kitchen is through a doorway to the right.
Here's our living room. We've got a couch and TV, and a table to the right where we do our computing. The table will probably be used more as a dinner table when we get more organized.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
First Post, First Week in Vienna
Hello loyal readers, who at the moment are non-existent. I've been living in Wien for exactly one week now. My flight was easy, just a four hour layover in Toronto which I spent reading 'How Soccer Explains the World'. I couldn't put it down but it didn't really explain the world, rather I thought it demonstrated how everything that happens in life relates to soccer clubs and their players/fans.
So far in my first week I've started the process of becoming a legal resident. I think I'll actually be legal once the wedding is over but there's still other registering and work permit stuff to be done. Right now I'm waiting on my criminal record check to come back from the USA. When it arrives I'll include it with some other documents to apply for a residence permit. I think I'll document everything I have to do so that other Americans can use it as a resource, I wish I'd had a step-by-step process that would guide me through it...
Apart from the boring legal things, I had a welcoming party for myself in Marlene's hometown, Neusiedl am See, and attended a graduation party in Vienna for one of Marlene's best friends, Martina. Both of them were a lot of fun and affected by sudden downpours. Luckily our grilling was finished before the rain started both times.
Since Martina's party we've been laying low as Marlene has been feeling unwell and had a fever. Today she felt better so we finished building an Ikea wardrobe which is fantastic because that allowed me to finally unpack my suitcases and put my clothes somewhere. I'd also like to give credit to Marlene's youngest sister Vroni who helped me build the largest part of the wardrobe yesterday. Marlene took some pictures during the building process, I'll post them when I have a chance.
Finally, several months before leaving the USA I made an important decision. There are two major soccer teams from Vienna and I had to choose one of them to support. I'd like to outline the reasons, in no particular order, why I chose FK Austria Wien instead of Rapid Wien now:
- FK Austria has a better youth team, including better young Austrians. They're not as dependent on foreigners.
- FK Austria's stadium is closer to my apartment. I'm living in the same place Marlene has lived for nearly a year so I figured this out in advance.
- FK Austria's main color is purple while Rapid's is green which reminded me of my American football team the Minnesota Vikings (purple) and their biggest rivals the Green Bay Packers (green).
- When I studied abroad in Vienna in Spring 2006 I attended a derby match between FK Austria and Rapid, which FAK (not a typo) won 3:0. On a later visit I attended another derby match which Rapid won 1:4 but I sat in the FAK section because Marlene had a friend who got us tickets and we had a memorable time.
- Rapid seems to be the more fashionable club, supported by the majority of Viennese and especially young guys who are the stereotypical Europeans that Americans think look so silly. Faux-hawks or mullets, tight jeans, keffiyehs around their necks, etc. I attended an FAK match on Sunday and all their fans looked like normal people - jeans and a sweatshirt.
- Saw a football rivalries show about FAK/Rapid and it told how the conflict was re-ignited recently when Joey Didulica fouled Axel Lawarée. I'm not going to argue it wasn't a terrible foul. He deserved the red and eight game ban he received but Lawarée brought a lawsuit against him which is totally unnecessary.
- The greatest Austrian player ever, Matthias Sindelar, played his entire career for FAK before his unfortunate death/suicide/assassination.
I actually think I had a few more reasons but I'm sure that's enough to convince you ;-) Until next time!
So far in my first week I've started the process of becoming a legal resident. I think I'll actually be legal once the wedding is over but there's still other registering and work permit stuff to be done. Right now I'm waiting on my criminal record check to come back from the USA. When it arrives I'll include it with some other documents to apply for a residence permit. I think I'll document everything I have to do so that other Americans can use it as a resource, I wish I'd had a step-by-step process that would guide me through it...
Apart from the boring legal things, I had a welcoming party for myself in Marlene's hometown, Neusiedl am See, and attended a graduation party in Vienna for one of Marlene's best friends, Martina. Both of them were a lot of fun and affected by sudden downpours. Luckily our grilling was finished before the rain started both times.
Since Martina's party we've been laying low as Marlene has been feeling unwell and had a fever. Today she felt better so we finished building an Ikea wardrobe which is fantastic because that allowed me to finally unpack my suitcases and put my clothes somewhere. I'd also like to give credit to Marlene's youngest sister Vroni who helped me build the largest part of the wardrobe yesterday. Marlene took some pictures during the building process, I'll post them when I have a chance.
Finally, several months before leaving the USA I made an important decision. There are two major soccer teams from Vienna and I had to choose one of them to support. I'd like to outline the reasons, in no particular order, why I chose FK Austria Wien instead of Rapid Wien now:
- FK Austria has a better youth team, including better young Austrians. They're not as dependent on foreigners.
- FK Austria's stadium is closer to my apartment. I'm living in the same place Marlene has lived for nearly a year so I figured this out in advance.
- FK Austria's main color is purple while Rapid's is green which reminded me of my American football team the Minnesota Vikings (purple) and their biggest rivals the Green Bay Packers (green).
- When I studied abroad in Vienna in Spring 2006 I attended a derby match between FK Austria and Rapid, which FAK (not a typo) won 3:0. On a later visit I attended another derby match which Rapid won 1:4 but I sat in the FAK section because Marlene had a friend who got us tickets and we had a memorable time.
- Rapid seems to be the more fashionable club, supported by the majority of Viennese and especially young guys who are the stereotypical Europeans that Americans think look so silly. Faux-hawks or mullets, tight jeans, keffiyehs around their necks, etc. I attended an FAK match on Sunday and all their fans looked like normal people - jeans and a sweatshirt.
- Saw a football rivalries show about FAK/Rapid and it told how the conflict was re-ignited recently when Joey Didulica fouled Axel Lawarée. I'm not going to argue it wasn't a terrible foul. He deserved the red and eight game ban he received but Lawarée brought a lawsuit against him which is totally unnecessary.
- The greatest Austrian player ever, Matthias Sindelar, played his entire career for FAK before his unfortunate death/suicide/assassination.
I actually think I had a few more reasons but I'm sure that's enough to convince you ;-) Until next time!
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