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

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.