If they could only play on skis...

Austria might have a chance of winning their game today against Croatia. The tournament started in Basel and Geneva yesterday with one sloppy game and one exciting one. Today, Austria hosts its first two games. This is a message I recently received from the U.S. consulate in Vienna:

SUBJECT: Security for the Euro Cup

This Warden Message is being issued to alert U.S. Citizens traveling to and residing in Austria that Austria is hosting the Euro Cup (or European soccer championship) for 2008. The tournament will last from June 7 to June 29, and the matches in Austria will be held in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt. The championship game will occur in Vienna on the last day of the tournament.

The Government of Austria devised a thorough security plan in preparation for the Cup. American citizens should be aware that public disruptions may occur.

We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

The U.S. Embassy expects that the amount of petty thefts (i.e., pickpockets, street scams, etc.) will rise, as will other forms of criminal activity such as credit card fraud and the availability of illegal drugs.

Thanks for giving us the heads up, USG. It's no wonder Americans don't like soccer - our government refers to matches as 'demonstrations' and tells us to stay away from them for safety's sake.

The games today should be pretty soggy as it has been raining here almost constantly for the past week. My picks for today - Croatia 3 - Austria 1 ; Germany 1 - Poland 1. I'll try to get some nice pictures of Eurohooligans for you once the weather turns.

Der Schneeberg

The other day, I climbed to the top of the Schneeberg (Snow Mountain), the highest peak in the state of Lower Austria. I see it almost every day from my balcony and I thought it was time I had a closer look.

Wet and Wild in Austria

Hello there everybody. As you may have heard, these are some strange times in Austria. Unfortunately, it seems to be the case that the only news out of this country that we hear stateside is bad news. Amstetten is in Lower Austria, the same state where I live, and the whole country is having trouble dealing with what went on there. This case is very similar to one that rocked the Austrian media back in 2006, and the tabloids are still having a field day with this one. Currently, Joseph Fritzl, the father (and grandfather) of the family involved, is undergoing mental health assessments to determine whether he should go to trial or not.
Anyway, now, I know I mention the weather in just about every post, but it seems to make a huge difference in my mood here. I guess I'm just not a winter person. Spring has arrived and it has made my life significantly more pleasant. Accordingly, I have been spending a lot more time outdoors; hiking, biking, playing soccer and basketball, and even swimming. We have a little lake by our house here in Wiener Neustadt, and despite the fact that it is technically Verboten, the neighbors swim in it all the time. I took my first dip last weekend. It was still a little chilly but will be nicer shortly. The highlight of my newfangled outdoor life so far has been a weekend of whitewater rafting and canyoning in the Alps South of Salzburg. As seen in the picture, Richard (a fellow Tar Heel and Teaching Assistant in Austria) and I got to wear some fashionable and flattering neoprene wet suits for the whole experience. But really, that thing was a lifesaver. The water, much of it the product of melting Alpine glaciers, was über-cold. The Salzach, a river that runs from Tyrol, through Salzburg, and then forms the border between Germany and Austria, was the site of our rafting tour. The rapids were, naturally, rough at times, but mostly tame. Still it was a good time. I was near the back of the boat, and in one of the first rough sections, the front end dipped down pretty low I was sent flying into the middle of the boat. That was fun. They did let us jump into the river a few times so the others in the raft could practice the rescue procedure. Canyoning, as I discovered on the final day of the weekend, consists of navigating down a river by any means necessary - hiking, swimming, and rappelling down slippery cliffs and waterfalls. The guide gave us a lot of freedom during our trek and so I was able to see a bit more action.
In preparation for the European Soccer Championships in June, several new Subway stations in Vienna have recently been opened and I, in a much cheaper endeavor, have started a sticker collection. An Italian company, Panini (yes, like the sandwich), makes sticker albums and stickers that are available at cigarette shops and, of course, McDonald's. The complete set includes pictures of stadiums and sites, various emblems and football association symbols, as well as pictures of all the players involved. The total collection has more than 500 stickers, and I have been swapping doubles with my colleagues and students at school in order to complete mine.
I only have two more weeks of teaching until my contract runs out. After that, I will continue to do some English tutoring, watch a lot of soccer, and hopefully do a bit of traveling in June before I fly home on July 8. See you then.
Here are a couple more pics. The first one gives you a pretty good impression of the interior of the guest house we stayed in in the Mountains, and the second was taken at the train station in a town with a funny german name.

Recent Photos

Whoops

Hey everybody. Well, I thought spring was slowly making its way into Lower Austria, and I was thrilled. The days are getting to be normal length, the birds are chirping, and the first flowers are starting to bloom... and then, yesterday I rode my bike home from the train station in a blizzard, and today in the mountains the ski resort is making a fresh batch of artificial snow. I guess I just have to be patient. The second semester has started for me and I have several new classes. The older groups that I had last semester all have to prepare for their Matura, the big end of high school test that they need to pass in order to go to a University. I think I like teaching the younger groups anyway. We did have a vacation between the semesters, and I went to Prague with a friend. We stayed at the house of a complete stranger thanks to CouchSurfing.com. The picture was taken there.
This summer the European Championships in Soccer are being hosted by Austria and Switzerland, and the country is gearing up for it bigtime. You can buy cheap-o novelty soccer balls in pretty much any grocery store you walk into, and the Austrian team has played some big-time friendly matches in preparation for the tournament. They played Germany a couple weeks ago, losing 0-3. The result was not a surprise, but the optimism that many Austrian fans had after the game was. The next game is later in March against the Netherlands in the Ernst Happel Stadion, Wien. I've already got my tickets. To end on a good note, my team finally won the Thursday night pub quiz last week. We each took home 25 Euro. (that's almost $40 going by today's record-breaking exchange rate). Tonight we look to repeat. Wish me luck and all the best. I'd love to hear from you. Here is one more picture.

Jänner

Hello everybody. January is almost at an end and that can mean only one thing: I am getting older. My birthday is on Thursday. I will be twenty three. I'm back into the swing of things and have started doing a bit of English tutoring as well, with some students as well as people who live in Wiener Neustadt. The picture is from the Hirschenkogel, overlooking the mountains surrounding Semmering. It feels like real skiing when you can see jagged snow-capped peaks in the distance. Lately, the skiing has been terrible because of the warm temperatures. The snow just melts during the day and freezes again at night, making for dangerous and slippery slopes. I am going again with some students on Monday. I promised one guy I would try snowboarding if he did, so that may be what will happen. I recently went to Vienna's English "Theatre" to see a sketch comedy/improv group from the Second City in Chicago. Most of it was funny and satisfying, but they sang a number at the end called "this is the world we made" that basically sounded like an apology to the world on behalf of America. In the song, they mentioned several of the cliché negative stereotypes about America and it's people, which of course everyone has already heard before. I hope they were trying to be tongue-in-cheek about it, but it didn't come off that way, especially since they were performing for an audience that was almost exclusively non-American. I didn't think it was really clever or necessary and, honestly, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Since when did America create the world anyway?
I recently went to an interesting restaurant called the "Wiener Deewan" before my traditional Thursday night Vienna Pub Quiz. If the place had a slogan, it would probably be something like "all you can eat, pay as you wish". It is an Indian/Pakistani buffet-style restaurant that has no set prices on its food. The customers just eat as much or as little as they want and pay as little or as much as they want for their food. The drinks have set prices, but it was an interesting task to name a price for food I had already eaten. When it came time for us to leave the restaurant, the 'waitress' who was tending to the room we were in told us to pay at the door. She didn't give us a bill, we were just responsible for telling the guy in front what we had had to drink, and we could also tack on some extra Euros for the food. He says thank you to every customer after they pay. It would have felt like stealing had I looked the guy in the eye and only paid for my drink. I can't remember how much I gave for the food, but I think it was probably a bit more than what it would have cost if it had had a fixed price on the menu. I think that is probably the case for most people who eat there as well. It was very good, as were the service and ambiance, and it felt like I was paying for an experience more than anything else. A very interesting business plan. Well, hope everyone is staying warm and healthy. Hear from you soon.

Still Here

Sorry about the month-long update drought. Everything is going well and I have been keeping myself busy with lots of things. I have actually been sick for the past week or so. It's nothing too bad, just a sore throat and stuffy sinuses. Talking in class has not helped my throat though, and my voice was a bit deeper and rougher for a while. I kind of liked it, actually. Well, Christmas is coming up here in Austria as well and it seems that every little town has it's own little outdoor Weihnachtsmarkt (christmas market), where you can buy all your standard Christmas fare: advent wreaths, ornaments, trinkets, Christmas pastries, etc. You can also find Glühweinständl at these markets, where you can drink, yes, Glühwein (literally glow-wine) and Punsch, which are warm, spiced, fruity drinks that are great on cold, cold, cold nights in Dezember. Another December tradition around here is the coming of the Krampus or Perchten, as seen in the pictures. These ugly dudes are, according to the pagan legend, supposed to scare away the evil spirits from towns and villages, to make sure the coast is clear for Saint Nikolaus (who entered into the tradition much later), or something like that. There was a huge crowd in Wiener Neustadt when they came through. These costumes are pretty gruesome, as you can see, and most of the creatures also have huge cowbells around their belts and so they are not only very ugly, but also very loud. It was pretty funny to see some of the youngsters take off their masks after terrorizing little children in the crowd. Well, as I mentioned before it is very cold here, but what is worse is that it gets dark so early. As I write this, it is 4:03 PM local time and twilight has already set in. It is depressing. They do have lights, however, at the Hirschenkogel, the ski resort right next to my school in Semmering. I already got my hands on some ski boots and I should get some skis pretty quick so I can get out on the slopes and see how rusty I have really gotten. Pretty much everybody here is a skier and a lot of people I know have gone multiple times already this season. Earlier this week I went to a city called Sopron, which is actually in Hungary, but only about a forty-minute train ride from Neustadt. I actually got a stamp in my passport - the first of my entire trip! You can see the main
tower in the city in the next picture. It was a nice city, about the same size as Wiener Neustadt. I had a delicious pork goulash at a restaurant for lunch. Since the city is very close to the Austrian border, and basically surrounded by Austria on all sides, German is widely spoken there, and we got along no problem language wise. Shopping and some services are still a bit cheaper than in Austria - one Euro is roughly 250 Forint. Because of this, it attracts Austrian tourists and consumers. The first building I saw when I crossed the border was a plastic surgery office, dentist, restaurant and hotel all rolled into one. Crazy. This last picture is of myself, some students and some others at an event that was part of the "Christmas in Europe" program that the school in Semmering hosted. There were groups of students from all over the continent, and I believe the delegation from Albania is on the right-hand side of the photo. And yes that is Punsch in my hand. Cheers.