another abandoned blog?

Hi there. It's obviously been a while--over two months in fact. I'm sorry that I've not updated at all over the Winter, but I know you've been just fine without me writing to you. Perhaps when you've been bored enough to come to this site you have at least found that I've continued to update my pictures.

January and February were hard. Despite a masters degree in what comes down to recognizing and labeling feelings, I had a difficult time just figuring out how I was doing each day. On the one hand, I have continued to enjoy traveling, Vienna, and forming relationships with my new group of students. Who has an excuse to feel down when your days involve cooking good food, showing people your favorite spots in a city, and booking accommodations for a spring break in Switzerland? Please don't get me wrong--this is part of why I haven't written much--I realize that I've been ridiculously spoiled to have the job I've had this year, and I've felt pretty silly airing any complaints to anyone. What it all comes down to is this: nothing on this earth will ever make me happy for long, and there will always be a part of me which feels lonely and out of place.

As C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

Learning this lesson yet again has been painful at times but ultimately good in the deepest sense of the word. I'll leave it at that. Also, Vienna is no longer completely dark at 4:30 in the afternoon...that helps too.

But I do have some nice pictures to show you. Now that I'm launching my job search and trying to resist the idea of staying another year in Vienna, I'm sure I'll be updating more regularly (because, let's face it--writing this is loads more fun than writing a cover letter).

thank you, troy.

It is almost 4am and I cannot go to bed until I know my Steelers are going to the Super Bowl. After Troy Polamalu's interception and 40 yard touchdown run, I am finally turning out the lights.

What a great week--a visit with a brand new baby, three concerts at the Musikverein, two museum visits, a day of skiing in the Austrian Alps, the fruition of a great enchilada recipe, and now an AFC championship.

Here we go, Steelers, here we go...

(My sister's dog Gracie is also a Steelers fan.)

into the woods

Today I took eight of the students with me on a hike through the Vienna Woods, a hilly part of Vienna that overlooks the city. Great excuse to get outside and wear snow pants.


It's easy to get there from our house--quick tram than bus ride, and within 30 minutes it feels like you're far away from the city below. Small vineyards are sprinkled throughout the hills, as are trails leading to playgrounds or other hidden things.



One playground had a zipline. Yesss.


I like getting into the woods up there. A small church, dedicated in the nineteenth century by Franz Joseph to the Emperess Elisabeth, has been remodeled within the last ten years and looks like a pristine play house. I probably took ten pictures of the contrasting white church, blue sky, and black tree limbs.


We ended up at the Lebensbaumskreis, a park I've visited before but never understood.

As illustrated above, twenty types of trees are planted in a circle in this park. Small pedestals in front of each tree house information about the tree's characteristics and speakers that play a classical music selection each weekend.


Today, we stumbled upon one of Wagner's Ring pieces...from Tristan and Isolde, maybe. Couples were walking around the park, children were throwing snowballs, and generally people were just taking in the music and scenery. What a fantastic idea to incorporate music into this outdoor space!



I was glad I brought my camera. (Several more pictures from today are on that picture website I have--click here to see them.) I also was glad I brought the students; I had planned to be by myself today, but really enjoyed showing them a place I've gotten to know.

hi there.

Happy 2009 to you. I decided to take a bit of a break from this site, given my hectic schedule over Christmas and my wish to focus more on journaling for my own records. Now I'm in a place where I think I can do both, so read on if you'd like and enjoy the pictures.

Christmas Tour 2008 -- Nineteen WFU affiliated people were in our house for ten days surrounding Christmas.


Here's what things looked like before they got here.


I enjoyed getting to know several of these folks, and was encouraged by how easy it was to show them around Vienna (even compared to a few weeks earlier when Kate and her parents were here)--I really am getting to know this place well. My dear friend and former camper Cortney was here for a few days at the beginning, and we had a great time catching up and taking in a great performance of Mozart's Magic Flute.


At the same time, it was difficult to be away from family during the holiday. And given the high number of folks at the house, I was relegated to either a couch or the home of a couple from my church (about 25 minutes away on public) for the duration of the tour. Strange thing to feel homeless in your home.

I came out just fine on the other side, though, and of course am so thankful that I had the chance to see Christmas in another part of the world.



Christmas Day was great. Some of the Christmas program folks and I went to a midnight mass at a local church. Christmas afternoon, I went to a dinner with the WFU folks and then to Terry's for a party with her family.


Then, on to Der Nussknacker.


Kristi and I went to see the Nutcracker at the Staatsoper on Christmas night. Jeremy was playing in the orchestra, so we had great seats and a free coat check (he took our things down to his practice room).


New Year's 2008/9 -- What a blast. My good Vanderbilt friend Christian Marshall is studying viola in Graz (1.5 hours south of Wien) right now. We've been trying to coordinate our schedules for the past few months, and finally settled on New Year's in Vienna. Christian and some of his friends came up for a few days and we cooked, played, and celebrated the New Year by going up to Kahlenberg--a big hilltop from which you can see the whole city.


People were setting off fireworks EVERYWHERE--for at least a half hour after midnight, there were probably 100 fireworks going off at one time throughout the city. It looked like an air raid or something. Here's what was going on where we were:


New Year's morning, Christian made a pancake breakfast extravaganza. I continued eating the leftovers for the next three mornings. Below are some of the toppings we had...


And now? Now the house is filled again, with my 12 new students.


They're young (sophomores) and pretty wild. But they've got good intentions and it's been fun to get to know them thus far. I just sat on the stairs with three of them for the last hour talking about what they're hoping to gain from their semester here. I know this sounds cheesy (as does much of this entry...), but it really is such a gift to be able to share this experience with college students.

We're almost done with their week-long orientation. Once that's out of the way, I'll spend some good time working on a few lists--things I want to do in Vienna before May, people I should probably contact regarding job opportunities, places I might want to live, and other lists for now and later. A lot of the Fall feels like it happened TO me as I adjusted to a fair number of whirlwind circumstances. Now that I've got my bearings a bit (read: I go the wrong way on the u-bahn once a week instead of every other day), I'd like to be more intentional with the way I spend my time here and the way I plan for what's next...while still remaining open to whatever comes up and learning to live with the where-to-go-and-what-to-do ambiguity that will accompany me from here on out.

But tomorrow I'm just going hiking. Lists can wait until Monday.

"The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me;
Your love, O LORD, endures forever--
do not abandon the work of your hands."

Psalm 138:8