Out The Door: Spring in Vienna

Prague, Czech Republic

Surrounded by brightly colored flowers, the smell of new plant growth, and the rich sounds of classical music, Vienna woke up from it's winter slumber and started spring with fantastic weather and plenty of sun. During April and May we took advantage of every warm day, had many picnics and bike rides along the river. Since the warm weather has come Vienna has transformed into an incredibly bustling city, from the constant festivals, such as the bicycle fest in front of the Rathaus (town hall), to the Steiermarkdorf, a country festival celebrating Steiermark's culture, music, wine and food. We were able to make it to many of these festivals and are planning to see more.

Our average day here consists of waking up around 7, and after a slow breakfast leaving the house around 8, riding my bike straight through the center of town, riding past Museums Quartier, the Parliament, the Vienna State Opera, and the Stadtpark (big central city park) before finally arriving to the kindergarten where I work half day's in the morning. At kindergarten, I work with another teacher, a Spanish girl, and together we have a very fun and exciting classroom, where the kids play, and do lots of activities. I teach entirely in English (sometimes they don't understand me) and She teaches in a mixture of Spanish and German. It is very exciting for me, because my level of German has risen to a level where I can have productive conversations with people (with terrible grammar), and I can speak with my co-teacher in Spanish, which is also very useful, so I don't lose all I have learned in Mexico and South America.

After kindergarten, I will ride home or meet with Laina in a park nearby. I am lucky enough to have a two hour lunch break between my two jobs. Lately we have been meeting outside and playing Rummy, not the card version, but one with tiles, that is played very similarly to the card game. It's really great to just lie down in the shade of a tree in on of Vienna gigantic gardens and take a small nap before heading back to work. My second job is in Hietzing, a district of Vienna near the Schönbrunn Palace. At this small private English center, I am the primary teacher, as I teach nine classes and most other teachers only teach one or two classes. Three days a week I come here and teach three hours of classes per day. I enjoy this job because I am fully in charge of my class, and the center's owner gives me the flexibility to tailor the lessons and overall plan to what I feel is important for the student to learn. This last semester I have been incredibly sucessful recieved many compliments, and even was told that one of my students is now the best in her classroom (at school) at English!

In the evenings, when I have finished both jobs, I will go home and meet Laina, where we will make a delicious dinner, and make plans for the evening. Lately, we have been meeting up with friends at a restaurant (we know two really nice but super cheap ones, like 3 euros for dinner!), and then heading to Museums Quartier for chats and drinks. Museums Quartier is a large outdoor courtyard, very large, and it can probably hold a thousand or so people. This courtyard is surrounded by at least 4 Museums. I have never actually researched how many Museums there are, but there must be at least four. Sometime in the past it was decided by the young population of Vienna that this public courtyard is going to be the cool place to go in the evening and drink with your friends. Eventually the city started putting up these giant furniture chair/bench things for people to sit and started advertising it as a place to come at night to hang out. Now, many years later, there are tons of these weird bench things and now hundreds of people. The appeal is that if you buy your drinks from the grocery store, for a fraction of the price of a restaurant, you can meet up with a big groups of friends and spend time outside relaxing without having to be at a restaurant. Also, I should mention that you are allowed to drink in public here.

We live in the 17th district "Hernals", but we are really surrounded by the 16th district, "Ottakring", This part of town is known for it's gigantic market, the Brunnenmarkt, on Brunnengasse. The Brunnenmarkt is by far the best way to buy cheap vegetables. While there are many outdoor markets in Vienna, the Brunnenmarkt has the lowest prices, while still maintaining good quality. If you visit on Saturdays, the whole area is super packed with people buying their weekly vegetables. The tight competition between the vendor is nearly tangible. As you walk by the tomato stands, you will notice that one stand will have so many people you cannot see the tomatoes themselves, as you push through the crowd, you may hear the vendor shouting 3 kilos for 1 euro, or may realize the same by seeing the overfilled bags that each customer is handing him with a small gold and silver 1 euro coin in their other palm. Especially around the Brunnenmarkt, you will notice that the vast majority of people are not Austrians, and they don't speak German. I guess you could call our neighborhood "Little Turkey", since such a vast majority of people are Turkish, and it really adds to the appeal and funness of living in the 17th district.

Prague

We knew that it was just a matter of time before we would travel to Prague, Czech Republic, the capital of Bohemia. After finding tickets for 14 euros each way, we decided to head out right away. Our friends Gerry from Greece, and Elisabeth from Germany came with us! Laina and Elisabeth headed out a few days before Gerry and I, since I had to finish the week at work. As we caught the bus from the Praterstern bus station in the north of Vienna, the sky started to darken, and we were worried about having bad weather for the weekend. 4 hours later we rolled into Prague, right as sun was setting and some rain clouds settling in. As you pass over the last hill and head down into the city, you can see why some call Prague "The City of a Thousand Steeples", the blanket of red roofed building was pierced all over by wiched black and gold gothic steeples from the variety of churches and administration building all done in this style. After buying some of the local currency, Czech Krowns, we took the metro to meet up with Laina and Eli. Our weekend was full of seeing the different churches, walking through the parks, and trying many of the local Czech "Pivo" their word for beer. Czech out the pictures! (no pun intended!) :)

Laina’s Farm Adventure

I just returned from three weeks in the Austrian country side, where I spent my time on two different organic family farms. I had a wonderful time, despite the fact that Nick was unable to join me, it was very relaxing and enjoyable. I was also able to do research for our family, which we hope will be inspiring for our future. The country side of Upper Austria is very quaint, to me it looks like "storybook land" a place where Cinderella or little red riding hood could have taken place. It is essentially all farm land with rolling green hills and different fields of wheat, barley and spelt or pastures, punctuated by old farm houses and barns, with the occasional small village and bit of woodland. Occasionally, there is the ruins of an old castle or windmill. Small twisting roads weave everything together and the pace of life is slow.

I started my farm stay in Augendobl, Dorf an der Pram, a very small village in the Pram river valley, Upper Austria, about 45 mins from the border with Germany. Here I worked as a tree nursery helper. I spent my days driving the tractor to build big pumpkin heaps, using tools to clear out the green house, spending hours in the sun planting apple trees and also planted tons of tomato plants. In my free time, I was able to harvest and drink my own fresh tea from wild plants in the yard, create some of the most delicious salads using fresh greens such as red and romaine lettuce, mustard greens, and arugula, my favorite. The pace of life was really slow, and it reminded me of my summers in Donnelly, minus the large family and lake. Nick came and visited for four days and during his time there we found a second farm for me to go visit. After he left, I headed to the farm I would stay at , The Time Walk Garden in Neu Kirchen am der Wald, even closer to the German border. Here I spent lots of time with different animals! Pigs, sheep, goats, chickens and cows! The little piglets were my favorite!

The resaon that I spend this time on two farms is that it is part of an idea that Nick and I have for our future. We have be toying with the idea of living of eco-village somewhere, in the future. The idea of spending 9 months a year, living as part of a community (in the tropics), raising kids and farming, sounds very appealing to us. Of course this would have to include three months a year spent in Idaho in the summer and the occasional two year international living/traveling trip, and probably supported by some time of teaching, either part time at a small country school, or with 2 year contracts internationally. However, these are some dreams we have been coming up with, and it was great for me to spend some time farming to see if I actually like it.

Here are the pictures from Spring 2011: