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!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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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