Who am I to blow against the wind?: November 2011

And oh, it's been another month gone by! Christmas markets are open, chestnuts are roasting and gluehwein is flowing.

In the past few weeks I've continued on with my adventures in Austria: a weekend excursion to visit Crista in Krems, which included a visit to a heuriger (a restaurant type of place where they produce everything they serve in house, including, and most importantly, the wine). Six of us then proceeded to cram into her modestly sized room for some zzzs that turned out to be more restful than expected.

Thanksgiving was last week, so I taught my students about the festivities and black Friday, and had them make their own cartoons. You'd think I was at a school for comedians rather than farmers. Since I was a little homesick for America at the time, it was pretty great to have the Austrian students get into the holiday a bit. Incidentally, I found sweet potatoes without really looking for them on Thanksgiving day, so I had Jeannine and Stephan over for sweet potato grilled cheeses made with cheddar that Jeannine's sister brought from Ireland on her visit. Nom. Also, the day before Thanksgiving, I met a girl at the train station on my way to my school in the boonies. Turns out, she did an exchange year near Conway when she was 16! She invited me over to her parent's place, where she was visiting for a day, after I got off work that evening. What hospitable and fun people! When it comes to kindness like that, Vienna is a bit anemic, so it was wonderful to have such a lovely encounter, especially the day before Thanksgiving.

We let Stephan believe that we were doing a proper Thanksgiving meal on Friday, while we were actually plotting his surprise party, complete with party hats and kazoos. Who cares about some pilgrims and turkeys when you have a wonderful buddy's birthday to celebrate!?

Of course, we've made many a trips to Christmas markets, which are a group of outdoor stalls that sell Christmas decorations, delicious food, and mulled wine or alcoholic punch. Bundled up in your warmest clothes, you go to these markets, browsing the stalls and clutching your mug of aforementioned drink, timing the speed of drinking just so that you keep your hands heated on the mug, but manage to drink it while it's still warm enough to toast your insides. Austria is worth visiting this time of year solely for the Christmas markets. Each one has it's own specialities and personality, so it's fun to hop from market to market soaking up the different vibes.

Christmas market!

Stall at a Christmas market

Jewelry at a Christmas market

Puppets at a Christmas market

Ornaments....guess where?!

Yes, those are indeed leather bowties

Fortunately, my month has been filled with cute dogs. This is one of them.

How to drink mulled wine

Breakfast in Krems! Daaaang

Krems at sunset

Smooches

Guess who won?

Our sleeping situation in Krems minus Crista (bed spot) and me (sleeping bag spot)

Happy birthday Stephan!!

Jeannine graduated, so I gave her a trophy, as you do.

Also, I'm sorry to say, I don't know what sound a turkey makes in Austria. Stay tuned and perhaps I'll find out by the time I make my next post.

I've returned from my travels to Ireland.

What a lovely country. With lovely people. And funny words.

I spent the week in Galway, a university town about 2 hours from Dublin. I knew it would be a good week the moment I arrived: smiling faces everywhere and a bus driver who was delighted to have a nice chat with me before we departed. This would never happen in Vienna. Jeannine and her sister, Raffaela, picked me up from the bus station, and thus began our week of shenanigans.

I got to see a fair amount of the countryside on the not so rainy (and even sunny!) days. On my first day, we took a long walk along Salt Hill, a beautiful shoreline walk right in Galway. We also took a day trip to Connemara where we saw some beautiful lakes, a castle and plenty of sheep. In fact, I morphed into a sheep myself... Ireland is a magical place, at least on Halloween.

GAME TIME!
Guess which of the following is a false statement:
In Ireland...
...Condoms were illegal until the 1980s
...Sheep are ferried in boats to very tiny islands to graze
...I met 3 charming leprechauns at the end of a rainbow

Yeah you guessed it... There were only 2 charming leprechauns, and they were both taken. Bummer.

Anyhow, I got to meet all of Jeannine's friends who were just as amazing as she told me they were! I have to give a special mention of Raffaela, though, who gave up her bed and home for us, and never once made me feel like I was putting her out. Thanks so much! I think the main reason I love Ireland so is for the wonderful people I met there!