Much is Happening

So, We had our Thanksgiving program here last Thursday. The video can be found here. It went off better than I hoped it would. My German introduction and prayer were also pretty good, although I kept forgetting announcements.

Then, I got sick immediately after at the same time that it snowed (am I allergic to snow?). I'm still a little sick, but it's not a big inconvenience.

Yesterday we went to Salzburg for the Christmas Market and a Christmas concert. My favorite part of the evening was seeing the "Krampus." Essentially, they are people who dress up in devil masks and furry suits and walk around with St. Nicolaus scaring people. The more you react to them, the more they go after you. I was pretty unaffected, as you can see in the following picture.

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Gray

Okay, not really unaffected, I may have been laughing my head off at him. What you can't see is that Amanda is huddled behind me, clinging to my coat and whimpering (there may have been some crying as well). He was after her, but I thought he was kind of funny looking.

I bought some gifts at the market and a nutcracker for myself (because I love nutcrackers). Then we went to the concert, which was about 7-8 people playing such instruments as:  dulcimer, harp, violin, guitar, piano, accordion, and cello. 2 of the people were also singing and one was reading. IT was pretty good, especially at the end when they sang songs with tunes that I knew.

All in all, it was pretty fun. Then today I received my care package from Southern. Apparently they don't believe that I am brushing my teeth (they sent floss, toothpaste, and mints...although oddly, no toothbrush). I also got a $25 online visa card and a $10 iTunes card. It was pretty exciting.

This Last Week

So, on Friday I went into Braunau/Simbach with 4 other guys. We shopped a bit (I bought 2 pairs of gloves at the Army Shop) and then we went to Subway. It was fun, if a bit loud (specifically the car ride).

The activity that dominated the last week was the "Battlefield Hollywood" organization, which is two guys who used to work in Hollywood and now feel that most forms of electronic entertainment are bad. While I agreed with their general points (repetition of themes makes one eventually accept them, violent video games can be harmful, etc.) I disagreed with the examples they used. For instance, Mario is obviously a stand-in for Christ because he had a blue-collar occupation, traveled to another world, loves a woman who wears a crown, and rides a dinosaur (okay, they referred to it as a "steed"). In reality, I think Link would have been a better choice for a Christ analogue, if you're going to do that. Also, they said that in the movie "The Dark Knight," Batman represents Satan and the Joker represents Christ. Raise your hand if you noticed that in the movie...no one? Well that just shows that you're being brainwashed.

Yesterday I went swimming at the city pool in Braunau. It only costs 2 Euros for 2 hours with my student ID card. It was fun. It turns out one of the guys I went with is a swimming instructor, so he was giving us lessons on how to swim properly.

Last night was Talent Show. I thought of something really cool that I could do...during the program. A little late, but there might be another opportunity to do it. There were some pretty good acts, and I filmed most of it, so some of that might appear in this space sometime in the future.

I played soccer Saturday night and had a ball hit me in the face so hard that I had a headache the next day. One of the other shots bounced off the ground and into my chin, making me bite my tongue. It now hurts to eat. Also, the Battlefield Hollywood guys played with us and further reinforced the idea that Americans are good goalkeepers.

New Room!

I got a new room on Friday. It happened like this: on Thursday, I was informed by some other language students that when the second trimester started, I'd be moving to another room. Then, on Friday, my roommate (and his current roommate) approached me and asked if it was okay with me if they roomed together. I said this was fine, and they asked when I had time to switch rooms. A few hours later, I was in my new room. The main reason for the room switch is that my new roommate can be kind of abrasive at times and he snores pretty badly. Neither of these things is really a problem for me, although everyone kept expressing sympathy for my new circumstances. All in all, I have a new room.

Another Long Weekend

So, this will be the second long weekend we've had in a row. Luke is currently sitting two seats down from me trying to figure out what to do this weekend, but I don't have a lot of hope for that.

Last weekend, we didn't do much at all. We went to Munich on Monday and I bought a lot of stuff (mostly for people back home). I don't really want to go anywhere for awhile because I don't want to spend any more money. A side note, completely unrelated-toy stores here are awesome!

We've been doing some activities that are apparently very similar to those on our final exam. Mostly, it involves reading people's situations and then deciding which advertisement will help them the most. It's actually pretty easy for me, although that may just be because it's designed to be logical.

Bogenhofen celebrates Thanksgiving because of the American students. We (the language students) have to make food, decorate the gym, and serve the other students. We also have to provide some sort of entertainment. So, Luke and JC are writing music for a Thanksgiving musical, and I'm directing and narrating the in-between-songs action. I'll post lyrics and possibly music if I get them.

Interesting Note: Work afternoons keep getting shorter and shorter, mainly because I'm getting better at my jobs and manage to finish early pretty much every time.

Sickness and Other Stuff

So, I got a little sick this past week. The food in the Mensa had a couple of bad days, and so did I. But now I'm feeling better and eating less, lest I suddenly feel the urge to vomit. That was pleasant, wasn't it?

I'm understanding pretty much everything that the teachers say in class. It's a very weird thing to realize that these strange words mean something to me. Words that most of you reading this wouldn't understand at all are flowing out of my mouth at an ever-increasing rate. I no longer have a headache after classes each morning. Today my work supervisor said, in German, "Don't worry about all the leaves, because more will fall. Just get the majority of the leaves off of the street." That may not have been exactly what he said, but I understood the concept without thinking about it.

I haven't really done anything of note recently. Wait! That's not true. I went to an organ concert last night. This was significant because the organ being played was the largest cathedral organ in the world and the largest organ in Europe. It had 17,000 pipes. That is a lot.

I have little else to say, except that this is a long weekend, and I don't know what exactly I'm gonna do. We'll see.

Wien und Salzburg

So, last week we went to Vienna. On the first day, we went to Stephansdom and climbed all 343 steps up to the top of the tower. It was long and tiring, but really cool. Then we ate at an Italian restaurant, which was, oddly enough, the same place I had eaten at earlier when on Mr. Baker's German tour. The food was as tasty as I remembered.

The next day we went to Die Ringstrasse, which is a big circular street with lots of stuff on it. We also toured the Austrian Parliament and the Hofburg, which was the winter residence of the Hapsburg dynasty (including, rather importantly, Empress Elizabeth, also known as Sisi). It was pretty cool, as was the Apple Strudel I had in the Cafe Central. That afternoon, I wandered around the city all by myself (don't tell my Mom). I had the largest pieces of pizza ever. That evening we ate at Zanoni, and I had an excellent berry mixture with bilberries, strawberries, and raspberries with cherry and bilberry ice cream. It was amazing (also, amazingly expensive).

Third day we went to Schoenbrunn, the summer house of the Hapsburgs. We then went to the Labyrinth and played with all the toys therein. Then we (Amanda, Annalee, Luke, Eric and I) went to the Natural History Museum. We then went shopping and I bought a Vienna T-shirt. That evening we went to the Ballet and saw "Onegin" by that Russian guy who wrote the 1812 Overture (I know his name, I just don't want to spell it). Luke, JC and I all wore our suits and looked good!

Our last day we went to the Belvedere, which is an old hotel that is now an art gallery. They had David's portrait of Napoleon, which is as big as it is inspiring. That afternoon Amanda, Luke, Annalee and I went to a comic store where I bought 5 Asterix books. Then we came back to Bogenhofen.

Then, Friday, I worked in the Park, which entailed pulling weeds up from the patio behind the church to prepare for the baptisms, which were taking place in the baptistry behind the church.

Today (Sunday), I went to Salzburg with Luke. We went up to the fortress/castle/thingy and went to most of the museums. Best of all, we saw an axegun. It's a gun, that's also an axe, or an axe that's also a gun if you prefer. I also bought a T-shirt that says "No Kangaroos in Austria."

That's pretty much everything. My parents are coming to see me for Christmas break in Berlin and I'm excited about that.

The Alps and Other Things

So, exciting things that have happened here. We went to the Alps and hiked up a gigantic mountain. I stood at the top and looked down on what we call "mountains" in Tennessee. I also got blisters on my heels from my new boots, but they weren't really that bad.

I need to set the record straight from my last post. Apparently, work assignments change every time Arbeitsnachmittag comes around. So, while I may have raked leaves the first day, I cleaned the dorm on Tuesday and then swept up some leaves on Friday. So far I haven't done any work that I detested, although that day might come. Also, my class schedule is really fluid right now. I have nine classes: Schreiben, Sprechen, Horen, Lesen, Religion, Kulturkunde, Vokabeln, Lituratur, and Computer. In translation, that is: Writing, Speaking, Hearing, Reading, Culture, Vocabulary, Literature, and Computer. Because of music lessons for the high school students here, their schedule isn't set yet, so our schedule is also not set.

We go to Vienna next week. I just finished working on all my homework for the next week so that I don't have to do homework in Vienna. Several of the places we're going are places I've been, and we're gonna stay in a hostel, so I'm pretty excited about the trip.

I've been into Braunau several times this last week. JC, Luke, and I went and got JC a suit and Luke a phone fairly early in the week. We managed to get everything we needed even with our limited German. We are also becoming regulars at the Can Kebap pizza place which is run by some Turkish guys. The pizza is really good, much better than the Thai restaurant we went to on Tuesday for Ben's birthday.

I haven't really been getting up for breakfast, although I might start pretty soon (I say that about getting up for breakfast a lot). I think I've been up for maybe 2 breakfasts since I got here.

I've been playing volleyball as much as I can, and last night I played soccer in the gym and then when everybody (including the other language students) left to go play outside, some students and I played an interesting soccer game which I wasn't very good at (only one person lost and it wasn't me so I'm happy). They had a "bonfire" last night, which was really more of a campfire. In my mind, a bonfire is big. I didn't go 'cause I was playing soccer, but they seemed like they were having fun. I then called my parents and talked with them for two hours in my room.

Speaking of my parents, they sent me a package which was really exciting. I now have slippers! Mom sent cookies as well, but the slippers really excited me...I'm not sure why.

I'm probably forgetting stuff, but I will leave you with this picture:

First Week

The first week got off to kind of a rocky start. I missed my flight in Frankfurt (that is the most annoying airport EVER!), so I had to wait for four hours until the next available flight. I tried to stay awake on the approach to Salzburg, but I just couldn't and I actually slept through the entire landing. Alejandro, who picked me up, was a little late, so I changed my money into Euros. I slept some more in the car on the way to Bogenhofen, and after I got all checked in, I slept through supper.

The next day we took our placement tests and I got put in the advanced class, although I was told I would have to do some catching up, but that it would be okay because others need to catch up as well. That's about all we did.

Then, on Wednesday, we had our first German class. It was taught by Amy, who is basically a teacher's aide. It went well, since she was just as scared of teaching us as we were of learning from her. After class, we registered for our international student ID cards and Austrian train passes. I also registered my computer so that I can now access the Internet in the library pretty much anytime I want.

We also participated in den Vorstellungsabend, which is basically just a program where each group (SMs, Thelogie, Gymnasium levels, Sprachshuler, etc.) introduce themselves through a skit of some sort. Ours was “The American is always right.” It was a gameshow with the following questions (the American answers are provided):

What is the capital of Austria?
Venice

Who is the president of Austria?
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Where is Austria located?
Somewhere near Afghanistan

What do Austrians eat?
Goat

What year did Austria go to the World Cup?
1939 (the host then comments, “No, Austria has NEVER been to the World Cup!)

What is Mozart known for?
His chocolate balls.

What animal is Austria known for?
Kangaroos

What is Austria shaped like?
A boot.

Name some famous Austrians.
Hansel and Gretel

What is the Austrian National Anthem?
The Sound of Music

What do Austrians speak?
Austrian

Who was the Austrian Empress who was assassinated?
Princess Diana

At this point in the sketch, Amanda stands up, yells that the answer is Cici, corrects the “boot shape” answerer and explains that 1939 was the World War, not the World Cup. The host asks her who she is and where she’s from. It is revealed that she is from Canada, so she is disqualified and the Americans win and sing We are the Champions.

Thursday, we had our first full day of classes. Because I'm in the advanced section, we have German, Writing, Reading, Culture, and Religion. Religion was by far the easiest class to understand. Thankfully classes are only in the mornings and we have most afternoons free. We have "arbeitsnachmittag," or work afternoon on Tuesdays and Fridays. My work detail is essentially landscaping, which, since it's Fall, means that we rake leaves.

So far, I've slept through breakfast almost every morning, listened to several sermons in German and traveled to both Braunau and Hagenau.

I will leave you with this picture of rock stacking: