Random musings!

Well hello again! I thought it was about time you got just a random blog about the life and times and state of living in Austria! First of all I’d just like to state that this seems to be a country of many long lasting things… First it was the everlasting winter, then the multiplicities of strawberries, followed by the neverending (but sadly now ended) apricots. The latest in this list of holder ons in Austria is that of the Saturday morning (or indeed, any day of the week, and any time) lawn mower… I don’t know hoe many lawns they have here, but there certainly must be something in the soil to make them need so much mowing…

We’ve had summer… It seems official, but there were three days of sunny blue warm loveliness, and we’re back to the grey skies (although today it is not cold, I’m only wearing two layers…).. I fare ye well summer… Actually, still suffering from weather jet lag or something, so really all the rain now seems fine to me, it’ll be the snow at winter and new years (haha) that’ll get to me… I’ll prolly leave here, it’ll be -30°C get to Australia for 30°C temps!

Bibi has had a cold/flu thing for the past week, I’ve avoided it, despite spending inuman amounts of time watching trashy tv with her… Worst was a talk show, they’ve got millions of Oprahs and Dr Phils (including one really popular one where the guy is orange), with a 30 year old man, still lives with his parents.. Ok, that’s not SOOO terrible, but it got worse. This man’s mother was on the hunt for a girlfriend for him, he didn’t want one (the moderator lady’s decision was he had made himself neutral on women and men)… Ok, so far, bearable… It got worse. This man’s poor father sleeps on the couch because his son sleeps in the same bed as his mother, because (according to her) he ‘needs his mother’. Now at this stage I was thinking, can this scenario really get any worse? It then came out, when the mother was saying how her son is really lovely, not bad looking (if one goes for the spends 23.9 hours a day in front of computer in a cellar look) and divulged that his body wasn’t bad, which se knows from washing his back when he bathes…. I at this stage got a little weirded out and went on a food search…. That is strange right? It’s not just me?

Well anyway, enough about strange German men (ruth, are you sure I should be looking for sven here?) Last night my body decided to do its camp ‘hey lets be really hungry, and be the rubbish bin for everyone’s leftovers’ thing. The one catch was that it wasn’t camp, and ruth wasn’t around with half a plate of spag bol for me to finish, followed by half a carton of left over custard with tinned fruit… Instead, after eating 2 rather large bowls of salad and some chocolate, I moved on to greener pastures (well actually I moved from greener to whiter, but that’s not really the point at this stage!) I moved onto the toast. Now Imo K can also verify this, the toast here is weird. They buy bread specifically for toasting. This means it has no ends, is already slightly dry, and is almost always white. It takes practice to spread butter on it when it’s toasted without tearing massive holes all the time… I ate 5 pieces of this, with delicious strawberry (and rhubarb) jam (and one piece with milka choccie spread), then moved on to cheese and walnuts by the fire, while thinking (and saying) what a beautiful fire it was for marshmallow toasting (which they don’t do here, although apparently marshmallows are a lot rarer and different…)… I could have kept on eating, but there was unfortunatle nothing else that I really wanted (could have kept going wit hteh toast, but was a little toasted out, after the 4 pieces I’d eaten for brekkie)… and it was bed time… My host mother thought this was because it was a full moon (everything at the moment is blamed on the full moon) but I think it was because it was my ‘hungry time of the month’ (sorry, too much information? I could complain about the lack of range in feminine hygene products too, but don’t really want everyone to stop reading my blog for ever and ever!) Anyway, moving on now!

I have a word of warning for all you people out there at schools with your own laptops… DON’T GET ATTACHED TO YOUR LAPTOP! I don’t mean like Adrian Mole and the model plane (just read that this afternoon), but emotionally attached… This is a very sad confession, but I miss my laptop! I think it’s actually missing unlimited internet, having everything organised just for me, the games (donkey kong especially), and just the general aura of my own special workspace. Sad I know… But after 6 years, I think there is bound to be a little pain at our first parting…

Well I think that’s all really, will go read my emails (and I know I have about a million! Hooray!) and se if I should add anything, then post this once and for all!

Btw, saw Mr and Mrs Smith last week, wasn’t expecting much, so I really enjoyed it! Good action sequence at the end, fairly predictable, but good for a rainy afternoon! There is a strange movie routine here though, you don’t pay more for adult or student or pensioner or whatever. There are two costs, the first 4 rows (dad, you’d like this) are the cheapest, then the rest is about €1.50 more. You choose your seat (or they ask, is this one ok) and you go and sit in your numbered seat… Different cinemas have different cheap days, although Cineplexx is Monday Tuesday and Wednesday for €5.50 (about $8.50) which is rather good! Confusing system though!

And, coolest german words so far: Nacktschnecke (pronounced: knacked shneka) and Dudelsack (doodle sack). The first person to tell me in a comment what they mean will win a prize... of sorts... and yes you may guess, they don't mean anything rude, particularly obscure (not medical or anything)