It almost snowed yesterday

Hey everybody - that's right. It snowed in the higher parts of Southern Austria today; above about 500 meters or so, which means that it didn't snow on us in Wiener Neustadt (about 250m), but it really wanted to. This is good news because snow is great and last winter there was hardly any snowfall. I took this picture a couple weeks ago from the balcony of my school in Semmering, and those are the still-green ski slopes. In the meantime, before the white stuff comes, the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Cloudy, drizzling, windy and about 40 degrees describes an average day now: Have a look.

School is going very well. I am getting into the groove of teaching and the kids seem to be warming up to me and talking more than they did at the start. Both of my schools have their Maturaball coming up, which is basically a senior prom, but it specifically celebrates the students in their final year who have to take the Matura - a big test they have to pass to get into any University. I think I will be going to both events with my colleagues.

And I almost got hit by a car yesterday on my bike. Up until that point, the vast majority of drivers I have encountered have been very respectful of bike traffic - most of the time, though, it is not really an issue because the bike lanes constitute a separate traffic network. Anyway, I was entering a traffic circle after I had waited for all cars to exit it - the designated bike lanes end at these circles and they are open to all traffic. As I started riding around it, some guy pulled out right in front of me and just snuck by. That made me nervous enough, but then the car behind him also drove into the circle. I knew I would have to do something quick, and with a rush of adrenaline I turned sharply and hit the brakes. My back tire slipped on the wet pavement and I basically did a power slide and ended up about a foot away from said car's tire. Thankfully, he finally saw me as I was falling and he stopped as well. I got up without thinking and did my best to get mad at him in German. It was in broad daylight and clearly his fault. He rolled down his window and I asked him if he even saw me. He said no, apologized and asked if I was ok. My heart was racing, so even if I had been hurt I probably wouldn't have noticed. Still in the middle of the traffic circle, with the guy blocking the way of several cars behind him, I made sure that my bike was still working and told him to pay more attention on the road. Only after I walked away was I able to gather my thoughts and go through what had actually happened. Although the incident was not my fault, it still makes me a little wary of traveling on two wheels. My housemates recommended a less-traveled route to the train station that I will take in the future. Anyway, everything is fine and I suffered no injuries to speak of, not even a scar. Needless to say, I feel extremely fortunate about that.