My Broadening Mind...

Dad and I were talking before I left for Austria about what an amazing adventure it would be and wondering what God had in store. We knew that this year would be instrumental in developing my character. "Travel broadens the mind," he reminded me. Over the past few days my view of this year has shifted, and I would like to explain why...

On Friday I went paintballing with some people from church; one of the girls had invited me. It was a really difficult day. Before I launch into why it was difficult, I should say that I actually had a great time and it was so cool to be included. The problem was that all of the people there were teenagers or in their twenties, meaning that the German they spoke was a very colloquial form of Kärntnerisch (Carinthian dialect). I probably understood less than a quarter of what was said to me. It was extremely disheartening and absolutely exhausting! We did go for McDonald's afterwards, which cheered me up considerably...

Anyway, that made me want to be more pro-active in learning German.

Meanwhile I was getting very frustrated about not having heard back from some people I was emailing, obsessively checking over and over again. Then I realised that I needed to be spending time with God for my fulfilment. My time with him has been less than regular recently, but on Sunday evening I had a really good time reading, praying and even listening to him a little bit! It made me see myself more clearly, and showed me that I have just been letting things happen to me here, wanting to be served more than to serve and thinking of myself more than I think of others.

That made me want to be more pro-active in developing a godly character.

Finally, some videos on YouTube combined with a friend's blog convinced me that one person can make a difference in the world and that it is necessary for me to have an outward-looking, "broad" mind. God is passionate about this world, and I should be too!

That made me want to be more pro-active in world-mission.

You have probably spotted the pattern. Watch this space...

Good Morn-fter-vening!

I just woke up feeling very bewildered because it's 6pm, I have been having a nap, and I couldn't remember what had happened or where I was or whether I was late for something. I think I have been watching too many youtube videos, because my dream was just about three of my favourite video bloggers* tickling me. Anyway, this post was already finished, so... here's one I made earlier!

Nutella Jar of Shame

I think we should get the Nutella levels out of the way this week, as it is a rather shameful picture.

Nutella level: Shockingly low

Total Nutella consumed...a jar and three-quarters.

That is correct; I have eaten nearly a whole jar in a week. My only defence is that I have been homesick and have ridden my bike a lot. My legs are aching from three trips to the lake this weekend. I also have bruises in awkward places; some of the cycle paths are really bumpy. It is well worth it to spend a day in the Autumn sun by the water reading and praying and thinking, though. This is definitely in the running for my favourite year abroad place.

Last week was a struggle. I was feeling tired, disorientated and very far from home. However...I did manage to make it to the Bible study at church on Thursday and mentioned to Bettina (the girl who invited me back to her house for lunch a few weeks ago) that I was feeling a bit homesick. She immediately started to make plans to get me involved in case any of the other students were meeting up and later sent me an email inviting me paintballing! I am going with a group of them on Friday, which I have free because it is a national holiday. I've never been paintballing before, so I am very excited!

This week is going better so far. I am getting into a better routine of early nights and mornings and am looking forward to teaching a couple of lessons on Shakespeare. Today I did a rather disorganised whistle-stop tour through the NHS with one class. I am not really sure if the students learnt anything at all, but hopefully they at least know what a GP is now. I much preferred my second class, which just involved them telling me all about their recent trip to Italy. It made me look forward to my two upcoming trips even more. I am going to Vienna with Nao and Tom and then to Milan because Chloe and I are visiting Lucy!

That seems to be all my news at the moment. For now, I will just say goodbye and thanks for reading. I love seeing that people have been looking on here and working out who it is based on the countries which come up on my stats page. Speaking of which; is that you, Laura? Or is it somebody else in Russia?

Hopefully I'll write again soon,

Bryony xxx

P.S. Mum & Dad, that skype connection was rubbish, but it was still lovely to hear your voices. Looking forward to hearing more about that book and can't wait to give you both a big hug at Christmas. (60 days!) Thanks in advance for the package; I am really looking forward to it!

*and it probably says more than I would like you to know that I have more than three favourite video bloggers.

Servus!

Some things here are really different, like the fact that everyone speaks German or that everything happens earlier (first lesson is at 7.45 am!). Those things I was fairly well prepared for. It's the little things that I am having fun with at the moment. And by "fun", I mean sometimes it's fun and sometimes it's really, really...not. You might enjoy reading about some of them, so I have made a list for your amusement:

• Nearly all of the windows here have three settings; open from a hinge at the side, closed and tilting from the top. When I first discovered the third setting, I thought I had broken the window and it was falling on top of me. Now that I am over my fear of Austrian windows, I think it is a very clever feat of  engineering.

• You're not allowed to cross the road when the red man is showing even if it's clear, you just have to stand there in front of an empty street, which makes me feel ridiculous. I was expecting that, but what I was unprepared for is that the traffic lights around the corner go green at the same time the green man appears for the pedestrians. It is pedestrian right of way, so it's safe, but ES MACHT KEINEN SINN! (It doesn't make sense!) Also I keep looking the wrong way when I cross the roads; I do a mental air-punch every time I look the right way without having to work it out first.

• I may have mentioned this before, but I will say it again because I think it is a good idea. Whenever you go out and order a coffee, you are also given a glass of tap water.

• People here say "servus" as a greeting, but at first I thought there were just lots of friendly people called Servus around and kept replying, "Bryony!"

•  There are stop buttons on the flushes of toilets. In the UK, we are only trusted to decide between a big flush and a little flush. Here you have the responsibility of deciding exactly how much flush is required.

• When I set up my bank account, I was given a keyring with my bank name and a special code on it. If I lose my keys, the person who finds them just has to post them anywhere and they will be returned to my bank for me to collect. Genius!

Who would have thought that opening windows, saying hello and flushing the toilet would be the new and interesting experiences of my year abroad? If those things cause problems, goodness knows what is in store for the rest of the year!

Wish you were here...or wish I were there...but not at the same time...that would defeat the object...

Right now, I am sitting at my kitchen table drinking coffee, eating Lebkuchen and feeling sorry for myself. I woke up late this morning and fell off my bike on the way to school; Austria decided that today would be a jolly good day for a torrential downpour; the first really rainy day since I have been here. I got soaked, and now have a lump on my left knee and a bruise on my right thigh. When I did arrive at school, I realised I was not only late for my first lesson but unprepared for my second (I should have prepared a text but forgot). The teachers were very nice about it, though. In the first lesson they were talking about food, so I just joined in. I hadn't met the second class yet, so I did my introduction and then moved on to talk with them about environmental issues. They were a fun class; lots of them answered my questions and I think nearly all of them were at least listening because the discussion occasionally sparked off into mini debates (mostly in German, but I think that responding to the topic is a good sign anyway). It worked fairly well despite my being disorganised, but I don't think I should do it again too soon!

New resolutions:

• Be an early riser.
• Be punctual.
• Be organised.
• Be tidy

The last resolution is because Ulli came to give me a travel guide to Vienna the other evening and the flat was a tip. It was quite embarrassing. I have cleaned it now, though. Heinz and Ulli are still being great. The travel guide is for November when Nao and Tom are visiting.

On Saturday we went to Heinz's brother's house for lunch because Heinz and Ulli had bought some wild mushrooms at the Buschenschank (see Dear England post), but there were too many for the three of us. Ulli, the brother's wife Uschi and I prepared the mushrooms by coating them in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Afterwards they were fried. Normally I am not a fan of mushrooms, but I tried a little bit of these and they were not bad! I didn't have a whole piece because we had, in true Austrian style, already had soup and salad, so I was already quite full. We also had pizza, but that's not so traditional. If you like mushrooms, I would definitely recommend these. They are called Parasolpilze or Parasol mushrooms and they smell nutty.

After dinner there were lots of cakes and Grießschmarrn, which tasted quite a bit like rice pudding but is made more like a pancake. Like Kaiserschmarrn, it's comes in a pile of pieces. It is popular with children and Naschkatze (literally a "nibble-cat"; it means somebody with a sweet-tooth or who is always munching on something sweet). Are you a Naschkatze? I definitely am. At the moment I am nasching on my Lebkuchen. When we had finished eating dessert, the children took me upstairs under false pretences. They claimed to want to show me the piano, but instead I found myself sat on somebody's bed, trapped in a fort of cushions and being jumped on! What have I learnt this week? DON'T TRUST AUSTRIAN CHILDREN.

On Saturday evening my Dirndl had its first outing. We English-speaking language assistants met up in a nearby town to celebrate Veronica's birthday by dressing in Trachten (Lederhosen for the boys, Dirndls for the girls) and playing drinking games (don't worry, I only drank one Radler in the end; it's like a Shandy - beer and lemonade). The others then went to a bar for Currywurst and Champagne and slept over, but I left early because...


On Sunday morning a friend of Heinz and Ulli's daughter met me and we cycled to church together. The service was nice, and the children sang a couple of songs because it was Harvest, but the sermon was really, really long and difficult to understand. Afterwards there was a meal, I played table football (badly) with some of the teenagers and then the youth group did an auction, which was hilarious. The boys introduced each item as "made of real wood" or "genuine glass" or "a collector's piece", the adults bid ridiculously high just to support them and the men competed to buy the handbags. I wasn't confident enough to bid for anything, but now I kind of wish I had tried for the barometer... I will definitely go back there, because I have made some friends (the girl who took me back for lunch at the other church was there; apparently it's her regular church and she was only at the other one to support her boyfriend while he was preaching for the first time!) and the church is much closer to home, so hopefully I won't get lost! I'm going to their Bible study on Thursday.

In spite of having a bit of a rough day today, I am really starting to like life in Austria. It is difficult not to be counting down the days until Christmas (69) and until I can go back to England and see my family (66), but once I get a bit more used to my routine, I can see myself having a great year. I just have to practise seeing this as a permanent situation, which is hard when I just keep thinking, "when I go back to Exeter..." and "in fourth year..." and "when I see so-and-so again...". I also keep wanting to place people from home in situations here, like "Dad would love this coffee" and "Mum would love the walk by the lake and these Autumn colours" and "Naomi and Ellie would definitely know what I'm talking about, but no-one else gets it!" and most recently "Tom would get on so well with the boys from the youth group". I have heard that it can be frustrating when you get back from a year abroad and people don'e understand what you mean or what it was like or how you have changed through it, too. I'm rambling. Stop rambling, Bryony.

Almost forgot: Nutella consumption
Nutella levels: Full jar! After my disastrous morning, I decided to get some comfort food; Lebkuchen and Nutella.
Total Nutella consumed: 800g; one jar


In conclusion, this morning was a bit of a fail, generally I am getting on well and I am still getting used to life here. It is great to know that God is with me no matter how far away from home I am, and really cool to know that people all over the world are praying for me, as I am for them.


Lastly, I need to say hello to my lovely little sister. She flew to India yesterday with her BMS team. Here is a link to their blog, which Ellie is in charge of writing:
http://www.actionteamblogs.org/category/india-kolkata/
Ellie, if you are reading this, I hope you had a great flight and are enjoying India so far. I am so proud of you and I'm praying for you and your team.

Loads of love and Heimweh*,
Bryony
xxx

*Literally "Home-hurt" - it means homesickness, but I think it describes it better; like that ache you get when you miss home.

Replies...

I was going to post this in the comments section, but it got too long so I just thought I would make a new post. So to answer your questions, Nao and Tom:

Yes, I thought the nutella would last longer, too! I am increasingly discovering that I can resist something forever...until it is open. Then it's as good as gone. I don't think I will be "such a tiny child" for much longer!

As for typing things on my slides, I don't know how they did it, but it certainly wasn't me who wrote "hey" on my presentation! I had the same class today and they were fine, but a couple of girls in another group kept giggling and nobody would tell me what they were giggling about. Very suspicious...

Hardly anyone has heard of "The Sound of Music" here, although some of the English teachers have been showing it to their classes in order to warn them about what English speaking people will expect of them! Edelweiss flowers are quite common motifs, especially on traditional costumes, but I do not think many people would be able to sing the song for you.

I thought smoking would be banned in pubs here, too. Austria is such a clean place, but England is winning on that front, at least in my books!

Marmite is not the only thing I miss here, although I think it is a good symbol of what I miss because people here either don't like it or don't know what it is, and my students certainly don't understand why I miss it when I explain what it is*! I also miss the sea and the green hills and the sound of the boats clanking and the smell of brine; although the lake and the mountains and a man playing the accordion and the smell of autumn leaves have been pretty good substitutes over the last few days. Of course, there are no substitutes for my family and friends back home, but I hope I will eventually grow to love some people here enough that I will miss them just as much when the time comes to leave.

And I agree; I will try to post whenever something interesting happens so that my posts are in more bite-sized chunks!

*To be fair, "a jet black, salty spread made from yeast" does not sound particularly appetising.

Dear England,

Well, I was intending to write every week, but unsurprisingly that has not happened. The past three weeks have been a mixture being busy and excited and bored and overwhelmed, settling in, making friends, feeling lonely and homesick, enjoying Austria, doing and waiting and forgetting to do and worrying and making a big mess of my flat and now cleaning it up again. I have learnt so much and the more I know, the more I realise I have still to learn.

I wish I had brought a jar of marmite with me.

Here is a summary of everything I have been up to:

Week Two
This was a week of training in Hinterglemm, Salzburg. I had been really excited about meeting the other assistants and making some more friends, but forgot that it would take time, so when we were in the awkward first stage of meeting and getting to know each other I was really discouraged and missed my friends back home a lot. However, after a few more days I was feeling better and ended up having a really good time. We learnt a lot about teaching. We were lead up a mountain by a man wearing Lederhosen (he got us lost). By the time we reached the summit, we were exhausted, but cooled down with some lovely Austrian beer.  And as if all of that were not Austrian enough, our trainers had organised a demonstration of traditional Austrian dancing and music. An alpine horn, edelweiss on the cowbells and 'schuhplattlern' (the famous dancing with thigh-slapping and more Lederhosen!). It was great!
The food was pretty good too, but very salty.

Week Three
My first week of teaching. I introduced myself about ten times (and I'm still not finished with introduction lessons). One class was so enthusiastic that I didn't even need my powerpoint because they asked so many questions. At another, I used the powerpoint, two games and everything else I could think of to get them talking, but still finished ten minutes before the lesson. The teacher let me go early. The rest of the classes were somewhere in between, although somebody in my last class on Friday got hold of the remote control to the projector and was flicking through my slides and typing on them as I was trying to give my presentation. I still don't know who it was, but I am tempted to put ultra-violet ink on it next time and catch them out!
The best bit of last week was Thursday afternoon, when Heinz, Ulli and two of their friends all went out to a Buschenschank and took me with them. I thought it was going to be a sort of fair, totally misunderstanding the German. Instead, we went to a restaurant and drank apple juice and elderberry cordial and ate Jause, which is often translated as 'snack', but was much more filling than that; it was my lunch and my dinner. The waitress brought us a big basket of bread to share and then platters of meat and cheese and grapes and a kind of lard spread, like dripping. It was delicious! The others talked very quickly in dialect to one another, but made a special effort to translate into high German or English for me. They roared with laughter when I tried out the only phrase I knew in dialect (I bi heu dramhappat - I'm exhausted). There was a lovely atmosphere; relaxed and chaotic at the same time. It was obvious that the two couples were very good friends. I felt as though I was seeing a very beautiful and private side of Austrian life, and truly experiencing the famous Austrian gemütlichkeit*.

Week Four
I did some teaching on Tuesday (more introductions). I will be teaching again tomorrow too, but as Wednesday is a regional holiday**, yesterday and today are free for me. So on Tuesday evening lots of assistants took the opportunity to meet up and get to know our counterparts. We were a mixture of French, English, American, Spanish and Italian assistants, with a couple of university students there too; one from Austria and one from Germany. That was fun too, but there was more smoking than I would have liked - every time I go to a pub here, my clothes come back reeking of smoke! I'm looking forward to meeting up with some people to do something other than going out for drinks. We haven't agreed on a date yet, but some of us were talking about getting together for baking.
I missed church on Sunday because I got really lost on my bike, hurt my ankle, gave up and came home. I didn't go to home group yesterday either because I forgot. I'm really annoyed about both of those things, but I think I'm going to another church this weekend which is a bit closer to home.
My last bit of news before we get on to the 'regular' sections: I have a Dirndl! I'm so excited, and I will put up pictures when I have them, but as a bit of a clue, the one in the picture above is pretty similar to mine.

Regular Slots

Nutella level: low. I have nearly finished my first jar. My downfall was finding out that nutella hot chocolate is not only delicious, but really easy to make (milk + nutella + microwave = possibly not fitting into my new Dirndl for long-oops!)

New words
I can't really think of any new words from this week, but I have learnt a new phrase in dialect:
Schau ma mal - let's have a look/we'll see/maybe


Hopefully I will write a bit more often now. I am beginning to love it here but I still miss you very much.

Bryony xxx

*It means "a situation that induces a cheerful mood and peace of mind, with connotations of belonging, social acceptance, cosiness and unhurry."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gem%C3%BCtlichkeit)
**to celebrate the fact that Carinthians were allowed to vote on whether they would become part of Slovenia or Austria in 1920.

Woche Eins: Ulli und Heinz!

My internet was not working very well last week, which is why this post is late.

Day seven and my first week in Austria has been a success. Nao suggested I write about my favourite bits of each week, so here are some of my highlights from week one:

·         Heinz and Ulli have to be at number one.  Best landlords ever!

·         800g jars of nutella. Either Nao or Tom (can’t remember who, sorry!) gave me the idea of posting my weekly nutella consumption, so here it is:

Week 1 nutella jar level: Almost Full

  Total nutella consumed since arrival: A smidgeon!

·         Meeting my mentor teachers. One of them showed me around his school, introduced me to teachers and generally put me at ease about starting work. The other didn’t show me the school at all, but took me out to coffee instead! She treated me to my first authentic Austrian apple strudel and talked more specifically about what I would be doing in lessons. We got to have a proper chat and get to know each other. The first was almost completely in English and the second was nearly all in German. I loved having both types of meeting and I’m so excited about starting work!

·         The water hydrants. Some of them just look like this...

...but there are others that look like these...

 ...this one is outside the Unfallkrankenhaus (A and E) and is covered in blood and bruises and plasters:

 They were painted by teenagers as part of a community project.  I think they are brilliant!

·         My first friend. She’s a teaching assistant called Amanda from Chicago. She’s good fun and is just as indecisive as I am, so it’s difficult to get anything done between us! She was in a sorority, which is, like, totally awesome*! And she thought it was really funny when I said “brilliant”. I don’t know, either.

·         Being called a “Prinzessin”! A man drove past me on a mobility scooter on Wednesday and said (in German) “Sorry, all the seats are taken! Have a nice day, princess!” That cheered me up.

Tom has been requesting advanced German lessons as he feels he needs some help in progressing beyond the challenges of “Was ist deine Lieblingsgruppe?”, to which he always replies “Meine Lieblingsgruppe ist fünf”**. You can tell when he went to school! Anyway, I thought I might include the new words I learn each week, so you can be sure you are learning something with real life applications, unlike some of the phrases I had to translate for him when he did his German lent challenge^. Here they are:

Neugierig-curious (neugieriger und neugieriger – curiouser and curiouser)

Kuemmel-I thought I was buying cumin, but apparently that is Kreuzkuemmel. I had actually bought caraway seed, which I had never used before. Still, it went very nicely with my carrots!

Jungzwiebel-Spring onion

Gruess Gott-this literally means “God bless”, but here it is part of the regional dialect and is used as a general greeting, especially between people who don’t know each other very well. You say it to people working in shops or cafes, to neighbours and to strangers on the street.

*You have to say that bit in an American accent.

**What is your favourite group? My favourite group is five.

^E.g. Entschuldigungen Sie mir bitte. Ich muss gehen. Meine Giraffe steht in Flammen=Excuse me please. I have to go. My giraffe is on fire.