Grüss Gott from the land of hte talking letterboxes!

That's right! Tlaking letterboxes! They've got bright yellow boxes here (as i nthe ones for when you want to get rid of a letter) which all have stickers on them saying 'Ich fühl mich so leer' (I feel so empty) and other such things... tix a slightly strange phenomenon!

Well I talked to the class, then had to talk to the geography teacher's next class too because the video player wasn't working and you would have been proud of my hand waving efforts. I warned both classes that Icould get quite fast speaking when I'm on a roll, and to just ump up and down and tell me if it was too fast, but would they do that... no...! Instead, in the secod class, after describing Hobart and stuff, I got asked 'so where in Tasmania do you come from?' the guy then admitted that I'd been going too fast!! Maybe my enthusiasm levels were a little too high.. I could see some ofh te guys in my class commenting on my hand expressive nature, so I think it really was quite good... Ooops! Anyway, my actual class seemed to understand, although now i know how exchange students feel, when no one wants to ask questions...!!!! Was fun though! Teacher kept on writing notes on the board behind me, which was a little disconcerting... they were completely random as well!

IÄve written a list this time of htings I have to write about, so could be quite a random blog!

My current language crisis is telling hte difference between möchst and magst. The former means 'would you like' and the latter means 'do you like'. They sound almost identical, and I've almost dug myself into a few holes by responding the wrong way - if one meant 'dance aroundi n circles' and the other 'd you like' I could cope, but instead....!! Toaday I have no i dea if I was asked if I like vacuum cleaning or if I would like to vacuum... although in that situation the answer has to be the same 'of course, my favourite pasttime'....

There are a lot of weird piercings around here. Especially lip piercings, but skewed to the side. Met up with the other Australian exchange student, Elise, today, which was good. She seems really nice, and has a skewed piercing. Got it done in Aus, but says no one else in Bendigo has one like that. Here there are millions of piercings and dredlocks. All very freaky. AS we have been drilled to say though, 'it's not wrong, it's just different'. Some things here are wrong though. People actually using hte toothpicks provided in restaurants and cafes fro instance... erk!

Ate a strange Austrian delicacy on Tuesday. Hawaii Toast - ham, pineapple ring, cheese on toast... Is actually surprisingly nice (as is their incredibly processed ham!). Apparently everyone eats it, a Dane was telling me (I'll get to my amazingly multi-cultural Tuesday in a mo!), and I can almost understand why. The only bad bit was the cranberry sauce on top. I'm not surprised they make Hawaii Toast though, looking at the homemade pizzas! Generally just abase with cheese and sauce, dipped into tomato sauce, like party pies. Had very good pizza today thouh from the other train station (not actually mine, but Elise and I were looking in the newsagent for an ENglish newspaper!). 2 slices for €2 (about $3.50), but good sized yummy slices!

I think I'm starting to look like a local or something! In the sapce of two days I was asked by 3 people doing street surveys, and 2 people seeking directions. The best way o get rid of hte surveyers is just to haltingly say 'ich spreche kein Deutsch' (I don't speck German). One guy responded in ENglish, and asked me all about Australia, but htat was ok! Is kinda good htough, I don't feel like a tourist, alhtouhg I can put the tourist thing on, like today when I forgot to get a train ticket (running late, hopped o nthe train, happened to be the only day this year an inspector was on there!) Just did the whole English, huh, what's going on, oh no, I forgot thing, and didn't feel so stupid!

Made a very nice buy last week. 3 books for €18 (about $30). Normally €10-12 each...! Read them all alreaddy though... Marian Keyes, way too addictive! Now onto my fmial ENglish book, A Tale of Two Cities. Am starting to read my German textbook though, in an attempt to improve my German!

Spring here is compltely different to how I think of Aussie spring (yep, it's finally arrived!) Because everything has been covered with snow for so long, all the grass is brown and mushy. When I think of spring, I think of lots of new flowers and greenery, but here it really reminds me a of a factory, shut down for annual maintenence - not meant to be seen by people!! OR something like that.

My first time on a train, going home, I thouht I'd accidently fallen alseep, crossed several boarders and some water and landed in Wales when I looked outside the window at a station name. Achleitnersiedlung. I'm serious. That has got to be the best name in Austria I've found so far (Rottenegg is next). I thought someone had sneezed onto the sign or something. just laugh everytime I see it (hence the fact I look the other way at that station!)

Red meat is very expensive here, and right now I could really use a good Mince Lasagne. Or anything with mince or red meat really. I even thought about how NICE a mea pie could be... Oh dear! Actually I think it's canteen food deprivation. I wold love a Cheese and Spinach pasty as well, don't think that's a possibility though..! No idea where to look!!!! Generally they eat a lot of chicken (dunno why, no issues with eating chicken, but 'hünchen' is just too much like hen and that's not as good sounding!)

Well on Tuesday I went to youth group. Was nvited along as a guest to watch them make films for some Oberösterreich film festival. This meant travelling all over the area (not quite sure way, it was only the leaders going places!), but I actually got to do some sight seeing - y host fmaily hasn't quite got the hang of taking me to see the sights yet - will suggest it soon though! The lady directing was Danish, lovely English, the filming lady was Austrian and her boyfriend/helper was a Sydney guy living in Vienna for the year (lived there for three years, last year in Aus, back to Austria this year). Slightly freaky. Such a strong accent htough. Dunno if it twas ust because I haven't heard it for a while, but took some adjusting! First native English speaker I've spoken to for 3ish weeks. Actually didn't like him particulalry, struck me as a little arrogant and condescending. Still meant I spoke to him, and revelled in not having to dumb down and make it understandable!!! Lovely! Then Elise today, which was nice, we spent most of hte afternoon talking about our host families and stuff. She's here until July, 6 month program, but Magdalena ( our support person here) wants the three of us to do some stuff together, instead of meeting us individually once a month!

Can someone please explain to me the thing of non-Christians always apologising on first discovering you're 'religious' for blaspheming? Always strikes me as a funny thing to apologise for. There are plenty of other sins out there, why not apologise for committing htem???

Anyway, everytime I move at the moment I get a whiff of cigarette smoke. DUnno which item of clothing it is, but something as absorbed the smell and is wafting it in front of me!! Seriously can't understand smoking inside - that is my biggest European thing I cannot come to grips with. Alhtough I am starting to get used to it happening, I can't understnad how people can do it. Spent Saturday at a Judo thing, people were smoking at the tables near the canteen, and there was just this smoke haze. I had to tie my hair back for sleeping so I wouldn't die from the smell during the night... Yucky!!!!

Must do another post, for Erica's sake (and I'm sure for lots of other people who've just been too scared to ask!) If you want to know anything specific about my time here, just ask, I don't know what people find interesting. My parents sent me this massiye long list of questions, about the school and basic everyday stuff. I can stick them on here if people want to know about that stuff""