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.

shodda

My students are gone now.

I don't want to talk about it.

In an effort not to mope, I've been decorating the house for the Christmas vacation package that will start on Wednesday. Our big (I'm talking at least three stories big) blue spruce has supplied me with lots of pine cones and greenery, and I've had fun accumulating various ornaments, candles, chocolates, and other odds and ends over the past few weeks to sprinkle around. I've not taken many pictures of the house for you so I'll do some photos once I'm done and put them here.The house is starting to look ready for the Holidays, and I began thinking it even smelled like Christmas in all the rooms...until I realized I had pine syrup all over my left hand from cutting up all the greens.

Oh, I miss Kurt, Nathan, Becca, Katie, Mollie, Megan, Natasha, Meredith, Jamie, and Megan. Not fun.

december thus far

Poor Greece. The unrest in Athens right now is very scary, and the students and I are glad to have missed the riots by exactly a week.

While I still would like to write up my time in Athens and Santorini, the week and a half since that trip has been so eventful that I'd rather document that first.

We returned to Vienna the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and from that evening until the following Saturday night, I had one mission: to finish this blasted book chapter once and for all! If you've not been keeping up with me until recently, I've been working on a writing project with one of my Wake professors since last June. Our paper will become a chapter in a book about self-esteem across the lifespan. Our chapter talks about the idea that when older adults do creative things, it can help their self-esteem.

I won't bore you with details, but for a variety of reasons it was difficult for me to make much writing progress this summer and this past fall, despite the fact that I've taken a big binder full of journal articles EVERYWHERE with me for the past 6 months. What matters most is that I've got 20 pages of decent writing and over 70 sources to back it up! Sending this second draft to our editor was absolutely exhilarating.

I stole the picture below from Kristi's blog to show you our women's Bible study at the Christmas party we had on Wednesday:


These women are wonderful, and I am thankful that I can continue to get to know them when we start up again in January. My attendance this Fall was pretty sporadic, given some travel conflicts and general confusion about whether or not I was free to leave the house on some Wednesday mornings. I think it'll be a lot easier this Spring.

Speaking of dear Kristi, we spent the day on Tuesday at one of the largest malls in Europe--totally overwhelming. I will be in Vienna over Christmas to help with a Wake Forest vacation package for 17 Wake Forest alumni and their families. Part of my responsibilities for this include decorating the house, so Kristi and I did our best budget shopping at IKEA and other places for some beautiful things that Wake Forest can use this year and in Christmases to come. I'll take some pictures for you when I get the place all gussied up.

My dear students! Today's their last day in the house all together. Most are leaving tomorrow, some are traveling for a bit and then flying out of Vienna in a few weeks, and one is staying on for the Christmas package at the house with his family. I am so sad to see them go--I have SO enjoyed getting to serve these kids this Fall. Each one is so bright and unique, and I'll look forward to keeping in touch to see how their lives unfold from here. I don't know. You probably think all of this sounds cheesy. But I love 'em, and I'll miss them a lot.

christmas for a month and a half

It seems that, since there isn't a Thanksgiving holiday in Austria to keep people busy, they just head right into Chirstmas after Halloween's over.



Last night, some of my students and I went to the Christmas Market at the Rathaus (town hall building), which just opened this weekend. Before long, the city will be covered with smaller versions of the market we visited. Rows of little wooden houses decorated with pine branches and lights sell everything Christmas and Austria related: ornaments, roasted chestnuts, nativity scenes, a traditional mulled wine (really good...served hot in mugs), gingerbread, homemade candles, pretzels the size of frisbees, etc.. Vienna's known for its Christmas season, and now I'm beginning to understand why.







The Rathaus is all gussied up for the Holidays, and each window along the top of the building is covered by a number (1-24) to make a giant Advent calendar. I'm not sure what will be behind the windows, but I'll be sure to document it for you.


The 24th window is the big one in the middle...must be some sort of grand finale.

We were completely giddy when we left (80% because of the atmosphere and 20% because of the wine), and I have no doubt I'll be frequenting this and other Christmas markets until they close down on Christmas eve. Am off to the grocery store to shop for a salmon and lentil dish I'll be cooking for Jane and Bill tonight. Terry has my favorite cookbooks (Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa series), so I've been borrowing them and using the photocopier in our library to stock up on new recipes. Earlier today I counted all the outgoing linens for our linen service, walked Terry's dogs, and took a student to the doctor for what turned out to be a case of strep throat. Good day. Thank you Christmas markets and Barefoot Contessa.

door bells and sleighbells and...

WIENER SCHNITZEL!

I've had these pictures for quite a while now but am just getting around to loading them up. We had a schnitzel-making class in place of German about a month ago.

When I say 'schnitzel,' the first thing that may come to mind is a song from the Sound of Music, a movie whose course of events and Hollywood filming took place a few hours from Vienna. Schnitzel with noodles, however, is found only in kitschy restaurants trying to snag American tourists. Schnitzel, particularly Wiener Schnitzel (which translates to Viennese Schnitzel), is most often served with french fries or a European-style potato salad (made with a vinegar dressing instead of a mayonnaise-based one) as well as a slice of lemon to squeeze on top. The best schnitzels are made with veal, but you'll often see pork and chicken schnitzels around the block. I've had it at least four times since I've been here; it's really good.

So. Our pictures below will take you through the schnitzel-making process, step by step. If raw meat grosses you out, I suggest you wait a few days for the next blog posting.


Jamie here is using a mallet to pound the already-thin cuts of veal to an even thinner state. It's loud and you have to be careful for the little drops of meat juice that are apt to fly everywhere.




The next step isn't one you might think about. One must essentially cut fringe around the edges of the meat. This keeps the schnitzel from curling up when it's fried later in the process.



Isn't this picture totally gross AND cool at the same time? Both sides of the meat are then dipped into an egg mixture.



Special bread crumbs are next. This picture was taken after many schnitzels were dipped in the bread crumbs...so everything's a little more eggy looking than it might otherwise be.




Here we have a glorious pile of raw schnitzel.

I don't have a frying picture, but this video should give you a sense. An equal ratio of oil and butter was poured into a pan and heated. Schnitzels don't take long to cook because they're so thin...so a few minutes on each side, and you've soon got a golden brown crispy piece of meat for your platter.



Schnitzels are fun to make with lots of people because everyone can have a job along the assembly line.



Those who don't have a job with the meat can be working on the potato salad. I forget what's involved here, but there are definitely a lot of potatoes and onions in that bowl. Generally speaking, I like this kind of potato salad a lot more than the mayonnaisey stuff in America.



Here's the finished product--our schnitzel feast in the dining room. You might be able to see the bottles of apple juice and seltzer water on the table. Austrians love apfelsaft gespritzer, which is simply apple juice mixed with seltzer water. I order it sometimes...it's good.

november? really?

I wrote the first half of this ten days ago. As life here gets more complicated, it's harder to sit down and pound out exactly what's going on in my planner and in my head.

The last few weeks have been an absolute blur--so much has happened that I can't believe it's only been three weeks since I was in Spain on Fall Break. I suppose this means I don't feel like my life is some sort of strange vacation anymore. I have definitely put down roots here in Vienna--how do I know?

• Someone just called to see what I'm up to for dinner
  
• I borrowed food from a neighbor the other day
  
• I have something concrete going on each day of the week
  
• I've hosted guests in my house
  
• I babysat last Thursday evening

The more I build a life here, though, the less connected I feel to relationships and places back in the states. I will never know what to do with this trade-off, particularly given that I'm supposed to be back in the US in just six months.

So that's how I'm doing--not entirely sure when I zoom out and think too hard about it, but well in general.


My goodness, there's so much to tell you. I suppose I'll resort to some bulleted highlights (that often become paragraphs) yet again...not sure what order to put all of this in, so just read what you want until you get tired of it.

• I found pumpkin. Rather, it found me--Houston, my Vanderbilt friend who came to visit wth his sister and her classmates, brought me three 29 ounce cans of Libby's 100% pumpkin. I've used one and sometimes open up my kitchen cabinet to make sure the other two are still there. What a great week I had with these folks. Best part (well, there were many best parts) was a trip up to the Vienna Woods on the outskirts of the city. Vineyards, hiking, and great views...what else do you need?

• Both before and after Fall Break (10/10-19), I enjoyed spending time with my new friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth works for Wake Forest as an international admissions counselor; she's in month two of a three-month tour of Europe, and in the spring she'll spend another three months in Asia. She contacts international schools and travels to a new country every few days to speak to students about Wake Forest--a great opportunity, but totally crazy (she rarely sleeps in the same bed twice). She used the Flow House as a base for speaking to students in Austria and the Czech Republic. We really enjoyed talking about our time in Europe and life in general (she's thinking about doing the Wake Counseling program), and decided it would be fun to hang out again. So, I'll head to London next weekend to share her Wake Forest-sponsored hotel room and see the city (as well as a Vanderbilt and another Wake Forest friend) for a few days!

• Two of the students found a big pumpkin for 14 euro, and we carved it a few days before Halloween. I tried my hand at roasting pumpkin seeds and had success with a cinnamon seasoning I found online. Below are Megan, Sophie (our Wake professor's daughter), and Katie with the pumpkin:

• Halloween weekend was spent with forty middle and high schoolers and seven other leaders around my age for our church's annual youth retreat. I was involved with some of the planning (and a lot of the baking!) for this weekend, and once again was thankful for all the summers I spent as a camp counselor at Summer's Best. I had a small group of four ninth grade girls, and loved getting to know them a bit as well as listening to them struggle with questions of faith (two of my girls considered themselves to be Christians, one had dropped out of her Catholic confirmation class, and one had been raised in a Muslim family). Terry Kole, who's been like a surrogate mom/great friend to me here, was mostly in charge of things; she pays incredible attention to details and as a result the kids were treated to a ridiculous amount of baked goods, excellent presenters and music, afternoon workshops (drama, cartooning, sports, photography, etc.)...basically a non-stop amazing weekend. My dear friend Kristi put together a great video using footage from the weekend. You'll see me eating cupcake crumbs toward the end...classic. Watch it here if you'd like to...she did a GREAT job.
  

Leaders from top left: Bill and Laurie Matthewson (they live down the street and I babysit their four kids often), Petrina (friend from Tanzania who's lived in Vienna for the last ten years), Kristen (American but grew up in Vienna), Kristi (see below), me, Peter (from here but sounds American; he heads up the youth group stuff and our whole church teases him because they think he looks like Barack Obama), Patrick (student at University of Illinois who's studying here this fall; his roommate goes to Vanderbilt!), and Em (from South Africa and working here as an au pair). The couple standing on the right is Scarlett and George Tice; they live in Ireland now but lived in Vienna during the last eight years. And sweet Terry is the blonde sitting below them.

• Have I told you about Kristi? What a blessing she's been to me during the short time I've known her! Kristi and her husband Jeremy are from a little town near Nashville, and she studied at Belmont while I was at Vanderbilt (Belmont's a great school located just down the street from Vandy...Kim and I used to walk through it all the time). She graduated in '04, got married soon after that, and last year an absolutely incredible turn of events led them to Vienna where Jeremy has become the only American to play for the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (the best orchestra in Vienna and some say in the world...!). He plays the trombone. Jeremy and Kristi are expecting their first BABY sometime around Christmas! Anyway. You'll hear lots about Kristi in months to come, I'm sure (last night we went out to dinner near Shonbrunn and then back to her apartment for hot chocolate). She updates her blog a lot more consistently than I do these days, and it's especially fun to go back and read some of her entries from when they were adjusting to life in Vienna -- http://theviennawilsons.net/.

• Last weekend, the students and I visited Cracow, Poland on our third and last university-sponsored trip. What a great city--I'll get some pictures up in a few hours and write a little more about our time there at some point (I know I always say that...this time I'll try to do it). This picture is right after I asked them to make Renaissance arches (Megan down in the corner there thought I said something about hearts and wasn't sure what was going on):

• London this weekend, and GREECE the weekend after that! The students and I are going to Athens and Santorini for our long Thanksgiving weekend, and we're getting really excited about it. I have spent many hours researching hostels, hotels, ferries, and other logistical and touristy things for the trip (I am busy around here, but I don't have to do papers and reading like they do...). Most things are worked out at this point but so much shuts down at the end of October that it's difficult to know exactly what will be available to us once we get there. Somehow, I think we'll be okay. :)

• I continue to cook dinners twice a week for Jane and Bill (a busy American couple who live right across from the Rathaus!). As I described when I first moved here, grocery shopping can be quite an adventure around here, but I've got a pretty good gameplan for my cooking days. Just skip down to the next bullet if you don't really care. Here's what I do--first, I walk (about 15 minutes) down to the BioMarkt, one of Vienna's best organic grocery stores. Recipe (and index card with food translations) in hand, I usually can find at least two or three things I need here. For the rest, it's on to EuroSpar (twice as big as my local Spar Gourmet, it boasts a greater selection and better consistency but still doesn't compare to an American grocery store). A tramline just down the street from EuroSpar can take me to InterSpar (the MOTHER of all grocery stores in Vienna. I was there yesterday and just wandered for ten minutes before I even put anything in my basket!) if I am still missing something for the meal, but so far I've not had to play that card while cooking for Jane. Then, it's back home for as much advance prep as I can do (chopping vegetables, that sort of thing). I pack up my groceries and prepared food in a cute shopping bag, and hop on the bus to go down to Jane's house. The bus drops me off about five minutes from her condominium, so I enjoy a leisurely walk through a fun part of town (stopping at a butcher along the way if my meal requires a special kind of meat) and buzz her to be let in. Once dinner is well on its way, I let Jane know what she needs to do to complete it ("Here's some fresh oregano; when Bill gets home, just throw that in the soup and you can serve it 3 minutes later!") and am on my way with reimbursement for my groceries, a generous reward for my time, and often a fun coupon or set of tickets she doesn't think she'll be able to use. So much fun, not to mention how lucky I am to be able to have someone else pay for my kitchen experiments! I've been cooking (well, baking) for the students quite a bit as well. Kurt especially liked this carrot cake with melted chocolate on top.

• Hmmm, what else. I got a haircut yesterday. Despite the fact that I live in a country where I can't converse well with people, I decided to have the stylist cut bangs for the first time since I grew out my bowlcut in fourth grade. Armed with a recent picture of Reese Witherspoon, I gave her my best "das ist gut," and let her go to town. Not really...she spoke pretty good English, actually. But, as she was explaining that she was going to cut my bangs a little shorter than Reese's picture dicated, she literally paused, frowned, and used the phrase "well, it is difficult to say in English. But it is best." "Okay," I said. And it was fine. Now, my bangs look almost like they did when I was three. But more Euro.
  

off and running

I'm so sorry I've not been updating you more consistently this month; things have been moving so quickly (particularly during the past week and a half) that I've not had much time to sit down and process everything.

I am leaving in twenty minutes for a weekend youth retreat, so before I forget everything, here's what's been going on for me...

• I guess I am now a personal chef, technically speaking. A friend connected me with Jane and Bill, an American couple who live in a really fun part of town. Their lives are quite busy right now, which leaves little time for food shopping and cooking, so I've started making dinner for them twice a week. I've done three meals for them so far. I really like Jane and it's been fun to come up with menus and try out some new things (the two soups I made came out really well...when I get back from the weekend I'll post the recipes for you). I definitely underestimated the convoluted grocery shopping process in Vienna (grocery stores are often out of pretty basic items...and there's that pesky little everything's-in-German issue), particuarly when one is shopping for a specific recipe instead of just buying what looks good (as I usually do). But what a blessing it is to get to know Jane, try out new recipes on someone else's dime, and have some extra money to buy wedding gifts!
• GUESTS! Houston (a Vanderbilt friend), his sister Jane (who goes to Vandy but is studying in Florence this semester), and their friends John and Sydney came to town this week! I was able to have them at the Flow House this week from Monday until an hour ago, and we had a great time running around Vienna and just being being here at home as well. It is just so good to see old friends, as cliche as that sounds. I learned a bit about hosting people here in Vienna (it's a little different when it's not actually your house and not actually your country...), so I'll be a pro by the time you get here. The highlight of our week was driving up to the Vienna woods to hike around vineyards and little communities on hills from which one can see all of Vienna. There may have been some Julie Andrews-esque spinning involved.
  
• Definitely a few rough spots during the last ten or so days. I lost my set of keys (mailbox, gate, and front door), which isn't exactly the most responsible thing ever. Luckily, they're not labeled in any way (so, as Dr. Rupp said, unless someone saw me drop them in the street and followed me home, there's no way it's a security problem). This little fiasco, along with a few others of a similar trivial-but-it-all-adds-up nature, added up last weekend and I found myself frazzled and frustrated. It's gotten a lot better since then, and since Terry is now here to pick me up for the retreat so I'll just leave it at that.
  

where can i get some good kurbis around here?

Hi there. I've got a lot of pictures and stories for you, and plan to do some writing tomorrow and Friday. For now, you can see photographs from last week's travels here. It's been great to be back in Vienna, and I have fun some new activities to keep me busy these days.

What I'm most concerned about right now, however, is finding this:

If you've lived with, lived near, or just known me during the last four years, you'll understand immediately why I'm upset right now. Austria has a TON of pumpkin seeds and pumpkin oil (it's very dark and is considered to be a delicacy) in its stores, but the people here don't seem to think it's a good idea to do anything with the rest of the pumpkin. My two favorite things to bake, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin chocolate chip bread, require the canned goodness pictured above...and it is nowhere to be found. I've checked Julius Meinl. I've checked the Spar, the Gourmet Spar, and even InterSpar, the mother of all Spar grocery stores. I've also asked ladies at church. They sigh, shake their heads, and tell me that they understand. They try to bring as many cans of pumpkin in their suitcases as possible. I am not making this stuff up.

There's a long-shot chance with a British store named Bobby's, apparently. I've been told they have it on occasion at around 6 euro per can.

I can handle the fact that brown sugar here doesn't really taste like what I'm used to, and that the equivalent of vanilla extract is just some packets of Splenda-esqe powder. But the idea that I will have to buy actual pumpkins, scoop out and strain the innards, and try to mash the pulp into something like Libby's 100% pure pumpkin just may be one of my biggest tests of character yet in this town.

I'll let you know how it works out.

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

I enjoyed a run/walk/window shop this afternoon. The weather has been beautiful this week, so I thought I'd take a few pictures around my neighborhood for you.

Here's what my street looks like right now:



At Turkenshanz Park--a big green space with running trails, a few ponds, playgrounds, and a good restaurant. The park is less than two blocks from our house:



Lots of rich colors around...



This is Sievering, one of my favorite neighborhoods. In the distance are some vineyards and the Vienna Woods.



I spent a little time in a large cemetary, located near Sievering (a ten minute walk from home). This site was particularly striking, but all the sites were unique and strangely beautiful. I decided not to take other pictures after this one--particularly because there were a few people in other parts of the cemetary, I didn't want to appear disrespectful. I wondered if it was disrespectful to photograph gravesites as art even if no one sees me doing it.



These hydrangeas, which belong to a home down the street from me, are starting to dry up.



German engineering at its finest, and a distant uncle of my dear Jetta. (I don't miss driving nearly as much as I thought I would.)



A home down the street:

This evening, I went to a clothing swap with a bunch of female teachers from the Vienna Christian School (everyone brings clothes that don't work for them anymore, and you can pick out new things from among the piles). I met three girls my age (FINALLY!!) and really enjoyed talking with them. One of them, who hosted the party, lives only 4 U-bahn (metro) stops away from the one closest to me!

What a blessing it was to meet these girls. I wish I had another week before Fall Break (I leave for Dublin on Friday) to plan a coffee date or two, but trust that they'll still be around and willing to hang out with me when I get back. I have been lucky to meet a lot of older women with families who are interested in me and eager to get to know me well, but I really would love to have some girlfriends at some point. Patience, right?

nothing like a room full of 3rd graders

What a fun surprise it was a few hours ago to see that I had just missed a Skype call from Mrs. Johnson's third grade class from Summit School! (I interned at Summit last year while working on my masters, and worked there after graduation and throughout the summer).

I called her back immediately. The next thing I knew, rows of children were yelling "HI MS. MARTIN!!!!!" at the top of their lungs, waving ecstatically, and making weird faces at me. So I sat in the living room, smiling and waving at my sweet second graders who are now third graders, and telling them that I have already had dinner (even though they've just had lunch), that no, it's not raining over here right now, and no, there are no kangaroos in Austria.

It feels good to be missed.

Mrs. Johnson gave me contact information for a friend of hers who is living in Vienna (as the children proceeded to jump up and down, give her bunny ears, and make more faces at me), so I'll look forward to following up on that soon. We also made tentative plans for me to have another Skype date with the class to talk more about life in Austria.

what happened between paris and prague?

I think of this little website a few times a day and say to myself, "Beth, you really should write some stuff down." The longer I go without updating, the bigger the task seems...until I remember that you don't really care. You'd just like to see some nice pictures and hear a story or two so that you can have a break from your job or whatever it is you have going on.

Paris was two weekends ago, and Prague (with the students and professors) was this past weekend. Here are my favorite things that happened in between, in Vienna:

I met my first celebrity, for one. I imagined I might stumble across someone with a recognizable name while in Europe. Our encounter was brief but genuine, and it inspired me to write to my jazz band teacher in high school (I sang) and my History of Jazz professor in college to thank them both for introducing me to Herbie Hancock so that I could introduce myself to him on Wednesday afternoon.

Herbie Hancock has been well-known in the world of music since the 60s, when he began playing piano for Miles Davis and writing innovative standards such as "Watermelon Man." Remarkably, he has continued to reinvent jazz music ever since--Wikipedia says that he's contributed to the genres of jazz fusion, jazz-funk, modal jazz, hard bop, post-bop, electro, and pop rock. He even a 2007 Grammy for Album of the Year! TIME Magazine had him in their list of 100 Most Influential People of 2008.

My friend Ryan (really Allison and Brad's friend, but when you're in Austria anyone is a friend), a Wake Forest student here this Fall through a different study abroad program, asked me if I wanted to try to get tickets to Herbie Hancock's show in Vienna last Wednesday. Of course I said yes because 1) I love jazz music and 2) Ryan is such a crazy kid that I knew somehow it would be an adventure.

We agreed to meet at 5pm, 2 1/2 hours before the show, to see if we could manage some student rush tickets (Wake gave me an international student ID card, and it's come in handy several times). While I stood outside the KonzertHaus waiting, I saw a few tall men walk in with hanging bags. I wondered if they were in the band, and whether I would know Mr. Hancock if I saw him. Then, I did. I recognized his purple glasses and started smiling like a goon. We had an awkward but very warm encounter: he shook my hand and I told him I'd look forward to seeing his show that evening.

Story's not over, though. You can skip down to pictures if you want, but I've got to tell you about the ridiculousness that followed.

Ryan arrived shortly after Herbie did. We checked into tickets, and learned that the show was sold out but we could check back at 6:30 to see if any tickets had been cancelled. Well, that doesn't stop Ryan Crimmins. First, he suggested walking around to try to get in the auditorium. This was 2.5 hours before the show started, mind you. Somehow, we actually made it past the ushers and ended up sitting in a box right above the stage just as the band members began to walk onstage to rehearse. We discussed our options at this point in whispers (hide in bathrooms until show starts?) and decided to just sit there quietly and see what happened. The men were talking and laughing, and Herbie was just great. They played a few seconds of songs, but mostly checked their sound.

Just as they were getting settled into their places on stage, Ryan decided to do something that was not in the plan.

"Hey, where are y'all headed after Vienna?" The words he yelled down to these men hung in the air, and within about three seconds I did three things:

• kicked him
  
• closed my eyes
• sunk down in my chair.

One of them nonchalantly answered that they were going to Germany, and the rehearsal resumed. I proceeded to tell Ryan (I whispered because we really were that close to the musicians) that there's a line with these kinds of things and I like to not get near that line. His line of thinking, according to him, was that we could make friends with them and they'd give us tickets. Oh, to be male and 19.

Shortly after that, we were kicked out.

Luckily, after a quick dinner--with more discussion about the balance between having adventures and having tact--we somehow navigated the sketchy last-minute ticket system and scored two great seats (albeit just behind the sound board) for the show. What a fantastic concert!! All of the musicians were incredible, and they played a variety of songs together or in smaller groups. Several times throughout the performances, I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to be hearing and seeing original art here in Europe--not just a poster of Monet's water lillies, not just a jazz CD, but the real thing in a genuine context. I don't know. It's just really great.

The video below is from the band's encore performance. Herbie was at the piano for the majority of the concert, and even played a solo piece that bordered on a classical sound (he was trained as a classical pianist when he was young). He busted out a keytar for the encore and walked around to trade eights with most of his band members. So much fun.