November Weekend Getaways

As I got ready for my time teaching in Austria, there were a lot of things I had to keep in mind. One of which was the rather strange pay schedule. Unlike most jobs in the United States, my paycheck came once a month instead of every two weeks. Another issue with the program was that most assistants don't receive their first paycheck until November 15^th. Our teaching contract+ filling out all the paperwork starts on October 1^st—but for October pay info to be processed it needed to be turned in in mid-September. So once November 15^th rolled around, lots of TAs all around the country received two months salary all at once.

^ That was basically my life some weeks ago. It was great. Even better? The 15^th fell on a Friday

Since I finally had money, it was time to do a little travel!

Bamberg, Germany (November 15th-17^th)

Luckily in my time here, I already made a few solid friendships. Two of the people I spend the most time with are Stefan and Karen.

Karen is another American TA who lives in Villach. She's great for rescuing me from my landlord's laundry habits (long story) and accepting my obsession with knitting

(us—watching a Norwegian knitting marathon show)

Another friend here is Stefan. He moved to Villach about a year and a half ago from Germany, and has been instrumental in me meeting other new-ish people in Austria outside the group of Tas.

Stefan is from a little village near Bamberg and wanted to go back for the weekend, so he invited me and Karen along!

It's about a 5 hour car trip from Villach to Bamberg (8 hours by train) which we filled with lots of singalongs.

We stayed at his parents' house. They and Stefan's sister were super nice and welcoming.

That Saturday Stefan went to visit some of his old friends while Karen and I explored the city. It just so happened that one of Karen's good friends also lived in Bamberg, so we hung out with her and she showed us all around the city.

I have to say, it was VERY different from what I'm used to in Austria. Bamberg's influence was stronger centuries before Austria's was. In fact, at one point in time Villach belonged to the diocese of Bamberg. I definitely made an effort to take pictures of the Michaelsberg Monastery, something I remember learning about in one of my old professor's classes.

Even though Bamberg has about the same population of Villach now, it certainly seems much bigger. Maybe because this part of Germany is much more densely populated? Who knows? Anyway, great city; I wouldn't be opposed to tagging along with Stefan again.

Vienna, Austria (November 22nd-24^th)

While Bamberg for me was a place of new people and new sights, Vienna was all about nostalgia.

I had visited Vienna a few times before during my exchange year

And did some of the touristy sights. So this time I was able to go to ones I missed at a more liesurely pace.

More importantly though, it was super nostalgia. I got to meet up with all sorts of wonderful people!

I got to meet up with Amelia!!

Amelia and I were great friends all through New College. She put up with me when I first got back to the States and wouldn't shut up about Austria. So this marriage of New College+ Austria was a long time coming.

While we were both indecisive and terrible with directions, we still managed to see some good sights including the Modern Art Museum (where only AFTER I left did I realize how much fun it would be to screw with people and sit and start knitting in the middle of the exhibit halls),

The Natural History Musuem–with the Venus of Willendorf! Also, me nerding out way too much about HOW knowledge was represented in the museum—both the older parts and newly renoved parts. *Heterotopia-gasm*

Plus Amelia taking us to a ballet—3 Euro for standing room—not bad at all.

Not to mention a bunch of Christmas markets+ Gluehwein

Another part of my visit included finally meeting up with classmates from exchange! While I saw my host families last time I traveled around Austria, I didn't meet up with any classmates. This time I got to meet up with Eva for most of the afternoon and Petra for some of the evening. A lot of fun catching up—seeing what changed, what didn't and just having that time to hang out. I never thought my New College and exchange parts of my life would be so neatly reconciled, but there you go.

And I'm looking forward for a few weeks from now when I'll be BACK in Vienna—meeting up with my mom and sister!

Life in Austria: Teaching

So, I knew I'm pretty bad about writing blog posts, so hopefully this next series of posts will make up for things. Now that I've been here almost two months, I want to write a series of themed posts about my “life in Villach.” This post will be about teaching.

So what are they paying me to do anyway?

I am employed here as an English teaching assistant. This means I go around to different Austrian classrooms and present lessons and activities on various topics. The main goal of this is to engage the students and get them to talk and communicate in English.

I present almost no grammar lessons and am not responsible for grading any tests or assignments. The techers are also always present in the classroom, but usually don't interfere. Some of the topics I've talked about include:

-Diversity in Florida

-Halloween

-Fracking

-Discussing an assigned play

-Discussing assigned articles

-The American school system

Though it was a little difficult at first figuring out if something was too boring/difficult/confusing, I feel like I caught on pretty fast as to what worked and what didn't. Occasionally a lesson will work GREAT with one class, and just okay with another.

Planning the lessons has also been a lot of fun. I end up going on internet research tangents about stuff I'd never look up otherwise. I also learned just how many different ESL resources there are out there.

Who are my students?

I am one of the lucky TAs who is only assigned one school. I teach thirteen hours a week. Some classes I have every week, and a few I have every other week. So, all together I am assigned 16 different classes. I've met over 300 different students, so, unfortunately I have almost NO chance at remembering more than a few names.

I teach at a Gymnasium school which means it is a high school more geared toward academic study at a university. Some other types of high schools students can attend include a HTL, one geared toward architecture and engineering; a HAK, geared toward business; a Tourismusschule, geared toward tourism and hospitality, among other types.

Age- and grade-wise my students are between 14 and 18, their grades equal to that at an American high school. The numbering system is a bit different though:

5^th form= 9^th grade

6^th form= 10^th grade

7^th form= 11^th grade

8^th form= 12^th grade

At the other types of high schools the numbering system is still different, and many students attend high school for 5 years instead of 4 at other schools.

Other “fun facts” about School

-The students all take the same classes together, and have their own classroom for most subjects. The teachers move around instead. This means each class really has its own personality, since the students have been together for so long.

-Since teachers don't have their own classrooms, they all share a Konferenzzimmer and have a spot at a table where they do lesson planning. Students aren't allowed in.

-Students have to wear house shoes, or slippers, inside.

-They don't have the same classes everyday. Most subjects are 1-3 times a week. The students' days also end at different times every day

-There's no real cafeteria. There's a place to buy sandwiches, pizza, salad, fruit, etc during the 5 or 15 minute breaks between classes, or during free periods. Some students also leave campus in the afternoon if they have several free periods to go home (if they live close) or to the nearby supermarket or Kebap restaurant

-There are no “school zones” students pick which school they want to attend. This means a few people commute from really rural villages—or even from the next town over. The other American TA's flatmate attends a HTL, lives in dorm-style housing during the week, and goes home on the weekends.

-Classes also have some pretty epic field trips. One class I didn't meet until my third week teaching because they were in London for over a week.

A Long Weekend Trip Down Memory Lane October 9th-14th

I have a feeling I will me pretty “meh” about blogging, and even worse about adding photos, so bear with me. The catch-up posts might be long and rambly too. Many of the photos here are actually from my exchange year....

This past weekend I had a very long weekend which lasted essentially from Wednesday afternoon to Monday evening. Thursday, October 10^th was a holiday in my state to celebrate the Volksabstimmung. On this day in 1920, a mostly ethnically Slovene part of Carinthia decided to formally join Austria instead of Slovenia. Carinthia also designated Slovene as a minority language, which is kind of cool (though it seems very few people, except more recent immigrants actually speak the language)

Friday my school STILL had classes but I don't teach on Fridays

The students had off Monday. Why they didn't attach this to Friday I don't know, but not complaining about an extra day off for me

SALZBURG

I spent most of my time in/around Salzburg. Many of you know I spent January 2009-July 2009 of my exchange year outside of Salzburg and LOVED it. It was the first place I really went out on the evenings and the first time I felt like and independent and confident adult (never mind at 19 I was still on my parents dime).

Now I live about 2.5 hours away by train, which means it's definitely somewhere I can only visit on weekends. At about half an hour outside of the city, I started passing other places I frequented and felt emotionally overwhelmed. I could not believe that after 4 long years I was coming back! (Those feelings of disbelief waxed and waned the whole weekend).

I stayed with the lovely Maddy and Amy in the city for two nights, and went out to one of my old hangouts, an Irish pub in the middle of the city.

The next day was great just for wandering around the city. I swear I spent a solid 6 hours walking my old paths, letting the memories come back. In my exchange year I also spent a lot of time hanging out at a youth hostel. Thursday afternoon I was able to make up with the guy running the place for the first time in YEARS. He was one of the first people I saw again from my exchange year again and who knew some people I did. Surreal.

HALLEIN

The actual town I lived in was a small village called Oberalm, right outside of a town called Hallein. Hallein is one town where I attended school. It turns out that one of the TAs this year is the assistant there! So I got on the 8:15 train to the Hallein Bahnhof to relive the walk I took so many dozens of times before.

Two old pics from my walk to the train station to school.

Something exciting about the walk this time, though, parts of Austria got their FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON! So there was snow. The entire walk there. It was pretty surreal. Wish I had my camera on me.

The school time was a little awkward, though. I remembered about 4 teachers, and only 1 was still there. Not to mention that all of my classmates graduated and were elsewhere. I still found a school photo of all of them, though, so I spent way too much time staring at that.

A few days before I left for my long weekend, I emailed my host mom but she wasn't able to write back. She was such a wonderful, welcoming host mom. It helped that she trusted me enough to allow me to go out and make my exchange the best experience it could be.

So even if she didn't answer, I was going to make a meet up happen. I knew where she worked and decided just to... show up... after visiting my school and see what would happen.

Sure enough she was there! Like most of the trip, it was unbelievable seeing her again. We went out to lunch, and I spent Saturday night/ Sunday morning at her house catching up. This is where I learned

-Her flat looks almost exactly as I remember it

-Except for one of the only new things was a Christmas card I sent them a few years ago

-My host brother is so grown up!! How is he 18?!

-My host nieces and nephews aren't toddlers anymore!

-My exchange wasn't a long dream after all

-She was on a years-long quest for the spice mix, Tony Chachere, and I helped her find it

Kitchen from my last night of exchange, July 2009. Not too many changes =)

So yeah, pretty much the best vacation down memory lane. I'm definitely visiting several times before I leave Austria

Me leaving "my" train station after a wonderful visit

GMUNDEN: Sunday-Monday

I lived in a different part of Austria from August 2008-January 2009. This is what I'm calling my “bootcamp” part of exchange. It's where I learned a LOT of German, life lessons, and confronting extreme shelteredness and social awkwardness head-on. It wasn't exactly fun most of the time, but possibly one of the most valuable and emotional places/times of my life. In fairness, too, the region is BEAUTIFUL.

I was back again to meet up with someone very near and dear to me, Maggi. She was the woman I stayed with in December '08 when things went horribly wrong with my host family. Her presence always seemed so full of life, joy, and love. She, more than almost anyone I know, gave me an appreciation of the beauty of the everyday, of the home.

Maggi!

Me, at Maggi's house--just like old times

It was such a relaxing, quality visit. We visited her daughter's gallery, went to the swan-filled lake, got ice cream, and had visits and conversations in her house that I've been needing to have with her for months.

just the view from Maggi's balcony; no big deal.

SO MANY FEELS!!!

After our visit, it was time for a 4 hour train ride back to Villach for another week at school. But, I will be back. And this time, I won't wait 4+ more years.

What a Wonderful First Day!

Today was AMAZING! And not just for teaching. It really was an awesome day filled with so many new, exciting things.

This morning before class even started (8:35 for my first course) I had to go and pick up my residency permit card. I got to the right office at 8am, signed for the card, and went about my day. I felt extra smug picking it up on the day the US Government shut-down started. The Austrian State/Province/District I'm in is paying me, HA! Anyway...

I had already go to my school on Monday to take care of some bureaucratic stuff. I had received my schedule. It turns out they were able to get Fridays off for me! I also got my key and met most of the other English teachers. So this morning I walked in feeling somewhat prepared—but still nervous.

I had prepared the same powerpoint and class activity for all levels, just because it was the firt

The first class I taught was the 5^th years (same age as 9^th graders in America). They haven't had as much English but it still went pretty well.

The next two classes were 8^th years (12^th graders in the American system). Both fun and interesting to work with but VERY different ways of acting as a whole.

I at least feel confident I can be a pretty good assistant, so that's good.

Some observations or differences about the school system for my readers. I already experienced the school system at the Gymnasium, so most of this is review for me but some differences are:

-Different high schools for different education tracks. But most of them end with a special diploma, a Matura, which opens up many jobs for a lot of people.

-Each class of students has their own room, and teachers move around throughout the day (the classes still have a sort of “homeroom teacher” though)

-No cafeteria, but instead a small place to buy snacks and sandwiches

-Required subejcts are usally done for students around 1 in the afternoon, and they have some electives a few times a week (at least at the Gymnasium)

-Classes aren't every day. My students will have English either 2 or 3 times a week

-Teachers all have places at tables in a large Konferenzzimmer. Since I knew about this before it was kind of awesome being on the other side of this sort-of forbidden place for me

-Back in my day, students didn't try to friend their teaching assistants in high school. Then again, back in my day Facebook wasn't as ubiquitous....

After teaching I was surprisingly tired and napped. I figure it'll be like this the next week or 2.

My evening was also somewhat productive. I was able to meet up in-person with another Austrian I'd been taking to online for a while. It was GREAT! I had tea and we got to speak in German the whole time. Hopefully I can get to know his friends and start to form some semblance of a Villach-based social life.

And right after the meet up, I received a perfectly timed phone call from Maggi!!

For those of you who don't know, Maggi was one of the most amazing people I've ever met. We met during language camp of my exchange year and I stayed with her for most of December and part of January when things didn't work out with my first host family.

Sorrynotsorry for the off-centered crop. It's for reasons (including at least SOME of the landscape must be in the pic)...

Anyway, she called to invite me to stay with her over the weekend! I CANNOT WAIT to meet up with her since it's been over 4 years now... and possibly about 3 since we've even heard each other's voices. I know a lot has changed for both of us in that time. Gah, she was so central (in one way or another) to connecting so many parts of my life over more than half a decade, I'm getting all emotional!

Anyway, what this means for you guys is pictures of a different, VERY beautiful part of Austria

So to sum everything up awesome about today:

-First classes going well!

-Meeting new contacts FROM around Villach

-Plans to reconnect with a pivotal person in my life

""Oktoberfest"" and Orientation Week

An eventful week!!

So, it looks like I already have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. The only reason I'm updating this now is I start teaching TOMORROW! SO much has happened since I last posted. I also realized I am not very good about taking photos so many of these photos are courtesy of other TAs. This batch has a lot of photos from the other American TA in Villach, Karen.

OKTOBERFEST

So this past weekend I attended the Villacher Oktoberfest. In the past this was originally celebrated to honor the wedding of “royalty” in Bavaria way back in 1810. Obviously since then, Oktoberfest has become famous for being a huge fair full of Bavarian food, large steins of beer, and Tracht (dirndls, lederhosen, and other outfits constructed as “traditional”). Because of this fame which has nothing to do with dead married people any more, a few nearby areas began to hold festivals for a few days overlapping with the 16-day Oktoberfest in Munich. Villach is one of those places, and even titled it “Villacher Oktoberfest.” Villach has it's own festival in late July/early August called the “Villacher Kirchtag”, but why NOT have another excuse for pretty dirndls and delicious beer 6 weeks later?

So naturally myself and some other TAs in Villach and Klagenfurt attended one afternoon

Of course the obligatory tent, large Bier, and Dirndl pic

And now just the Dirndl

Note too, the huge Austrian flag/banners everywhere. There was also a large flag of the town shield/coat of arms. Which seems a little strange (or involves a trip to the museum/asking around as to WHY a severed bird leg).

ORIENTATION

From Monday to Friday this week I was at Orientation. The location, Saalbach-Hinterglemm was supposed to be central for everyone teaching in the western half of Austria.

Above is the map of Austria showing where I am in relation to the camp. It's located IN the alps (my town is south of them) and in the winter is a popular skiing area. Orientation was a LOT of fun and probably the only time I'd get to see so many other TAs in one place at once.

The group was full of characters. Our “teachers” were all wonderful. The one assigned to us was Hans. He loved playing up essentialized “Austria-ness” which was infectious.

Here's Hans walking up the Alps, in Lederhosen, probably yodeling

Though Tuesday was mostly filled with lessons, the other days were full of some interesting experiences.

Wednesday afternoon we hiked up a local mountain. It was pretty strenuous since I'm not used to hiking AT ALL. But it was beautiful and so worth it. There was a little restaurant near the top, where a bunch of TAs played music and danced. All in all it was very gemuetlich.

I also geeked about the cows and sheep (their wool will be mine!!) just hanging out around the mountain

That evening there was also a hired Folk Dancing group. One part of this was the Schuplattler section, invoking a “traditional” dance of slapping one's thighs, and stomping, and hitting one's shoes. There were lots of other dances, and the dancers frequently grabbed members of the audience to go out on the dance floor. Since I was wearing my dirndl, I was probably and easy target. I didn't have my camera with me, so these pics are all courtesy of Karen

I have since done very basic surface research about Schuhplattler. I assumed what we were watching that night had its basis in something very old and variable. But had since been transformed with the expansion of the Austrian Empire, forces of nationalism, AND tourism both generations ago and especially in recent years. Sort of accurate without any specifics, I guess.

Factoring into these strands of reinventing this dance, though, are women and LGBT groups also laying claim to this. There are a few all women groups, when the dance had been previously only for men. Something I had NO idea about was how some members of the LGBT community here have also laid claim to the dance. For instance, in 1997 a group from Munich formed calling themselves the "Schwuhplattler" (Schwuh is sort-of Bayerish-German for gay). I can skip over anthropological gushing and rambling about identity politics, but in short, I think this is the coolest thing ever.

Anyway, here's the website for "d'Schwuhplattler" which also gives a good brief history of the dance and its ever-changing forms and contexts (in English)

http://www.schwuhplattler.de/index.en.htm

I just graduated from studying anthropology, of course I would analyze a dance that only made up an hour and a half of my week =P.

Back on track: meeting the other TAs and people from the program was amazing. Sad I probably won't get to see all of them in one place ever again, but I'll manage. I'm glad it'll be easy to meet up with many of them in my Austrian state, at least + have some people to visit when I want to travel.

I should go to bed soon since tomorrow IS my first day of teaching, and you'll all get a very different sort of blog post very soon. Bis bald!

Time for Exploring!

Hey everyone =)

I'm slowly settling into my new life in Villach, and it's been pretty great so far.

There were a few bureaucratic things to take care of in the beginning, most of which went smoothly, so I had plenty of time to explore new new home.

Whenever someone move to a new town in Austria, they have to fill out a "Meldezettl", basically let the town know they live there. Little did I know, they closed at noon on Friday, my first full day in town. So I will have to take care of that once this is posted. It should be pretty straightforward (I hope!)

Opening a bank account wasn't too difficult either. There's a bank literally across the street from me. I filled out the paperwork (never mind I don't really know financial terms in German that well) and meet with them this coming Friday to get my ATM card.

Getting a phone wasn't too bad either, though a little round about. Getting new, basic, cheap phone at a place called "Handywelt" (Cell phone world) isn't the right place though. Instead I had to go to an office/school/? supply store called "Libro". It was a bit chaotic since it was the first week of school for everyone and it was PACKED with kids scrambling to get all the exact folders and pens for each class. But now I have a pre-paid phone. Another plus is it only costs money (kind of a lot) to send texts or make calls NOT receive them.

Grocery shopping was manageable too. Even though the grocery store, Interspar, near my house is HUGE I somehow remembered enough from my few times shopping to make it out of there alive and with tasty ingredients. Its really nice to be maybe a 2-3 minute walk away, too.

Aside from a wonderful Saturday evening with Megan, a former TA who stayed in Austria, and her Austrian boyfriend and friend, I've been doing lots of wandering around Villach.

And now the fun part...pictures!

Breakfast: Tea, amazing bread, delicious cheese (Bergkaese), SPECK (like bacon but smoked and somehow even tastier)

View from the other side of my apartment. Coincidentally, those mountains also form the borders of Italy and Slovenia. I small a short train-adventure in my near future.

A view of the Hauptplatz, an area that's car-free and has lots of shops, cafes, and all sorts of cool stuff

Part of the Altstadt, the oldest part of town. I WILL check out the Stadt Museum there!

One of my favorite parts of the city so far is that it's on the Drau River, which is gorgeous. There's also (no joke!) a Gail River just a few miles away. 

For my social justice friends: Compare and contrast what you know about Sarasota benches (purposely designed to make it difficult to stretch out/sleep-- or else non-existent) with THESE in Villach.

Visiting Megan, Matthias, and Tom Saturday night was also lots of fun (and full of delicious chili). I played my first game of Risk--and won. Hope to see them again soon and can't wait to meet the TAs coming to town soon!

Arrival in Austria!

I am writing this from a beautiful cafe on the Drau River (one of the few places I've found with Wifi). Aka... I'M IN AUSTRIA!!

Time for catch ups?

I left Sarasota on September 4^th after selling my car. This gave me a week to just relaaaax and spend time with family and do some last minute preparations. It was really great to be able to visit my sister, currently attending school in Tallahassee—especially since I rarely get to spend time with her.

The last few days also involved a lot of repacking: Fitting everything in the suitcase wasn't too difficult, but staying below the weight limit was. And with only a small backpack and purse as extra storage, it was an interesting exercise (and I definitely wore my winter boots on the plane).

My parents took me to the Tampa airport the morning on September 11^th. I am very glad I got to spend some time and say my good byes before heading off through security

Though I arrived on time (in fact earlier than originally scheduled), the flight was a mini-adventure in itself.

I was supposed to fly from Tampa to Chicago to Madrid to Vienna, arriving at 11ish.

About 5 minutes after boarding was supposed to begin, there was a mechanical problem with the plane and they had to change my flight to Tampa-Miami-Duesseldorf-Vienna, arriving at 10:20.

And that plan worked to get me there. My luggage was not so lucky. It arrived today, Saturday. About 48 hours later. Luckily squishing everything in my backpack was a good idea: when I woke up, I had a brand new outfit to wear plus plenty of extra socks and underwear.

After landing in Vienna, I took a bus to a Vienna train station, and then it was a 4 hour trip to Villach. Once in town, the skies greeted me with a double rainbow, which was pretty awesome.

(The double rainbow showed up right after I took this pic, unfortunately)

There my Betreuungsleherin (teacher I'm working under) picked me up from the train station, took me to get a few very basic groceries, helped me get to my apartment, and took me out for a small bite to eat. And then I slept for 10.5 hours.

Stay tuned for more posts about ACTUALLY being in Villach! It's been great so far.

As a quick spoiler, I present to you the view of the city from my bedroom window: