Bike trips

Spring in Salzburg!

Just before Easter break, Austria experienced a heat wave.  We (the assistants) decided to take advantage of that fact and bike to strange places around the city.  Maija and I biked to a rather disappointing little lake where we stumbled upon way too many men in speedos that were way to small.  There are no pictures of that particular experience, for which you should be grateful.  The next day we biked to the next town, Hallein, which normally takes about an hour but we managed to make it take almost three.  Our third bike adventure was to Hellbrunn palace, where we wandered the gardens and searched high and low for ice cream before heading back to Salzburg for a cold beer at the Augustinerbräu.  Ah, what a difficult life I lead.

Maria, Annie and Maija

My bike! It has two fairly flat tires and is stuck on the highest gear, but it gets me where I need to go.

Taking a break

Dynamic duo

Hallein!

Stopping for a drink in Hallein

The group (Maija, Nora, Annie and her friend Louise)

The house that was used as the front of the Von Trapp's in the Sound of Music.  Naturally, it's covered in scaffolding

Biking

Senior portraits photo shoot (Maija, me, Nora)

Annie and Louise

The group

Fishies!

Not on our bike trip.  We thought this man was homeless until he whipped out an amazing camera and started taking pictures of the swans.

Schiwoche (Ski Week)

My ski group!  I'm on the very right, and Johanna is the one with the white hat and purple jacket in the back.

I have skied more this year than I ever have in my entire life combined.  I think I liked skiing about as much as I liked bowling when I was younger, and there was a point in my life where I would have rather go to the dentist than go bowling.  Skiing is exhausting and difficult, and I was not very good at it - definitely not as good as my brothers and cousins, who were the only people I'd ever been skiing with.  I finally started to enjoy it when I got out of the midwest and went skiing in Colorado in High School, where the mountains were real and so was the snow.  Still, if someone had told my 18 year old self that I would spend an entire week skiing in the Alps with a class of 12 year old boys and would actually keep up with them, I would have laughed in their face.  But that is exactly what I did.  I spent seven days skiing difficult runs from 9am until 3pm, and I only fell twice.  That's impressive!

The ski week started after a tearful goodbye with Dan.  I had packed my massive duffel full of ski pants and spandex the night before we left, and lugged it with me around Munich so that I could go directly to the mountain after dropping Dan off.  My duffel is ginormous.  It's big and blue and has my name embroidered on it, and it seems to be able to hold an infinite amount of stuff.  Imagine me with this massive thing, meeting two hippies from the UK on my train back to Austria who had a grand total of one backpacking backpack between them, and becoming incredibly insecure about the amount of stuff I had with me.  My train from Munich to the mountain took me back through Salzburg, and I had an hour between arriving and my train down into the mountains.  So I went back home and desperately tried to lighten my load.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I got to the mountain and found that some of the kids had brought TWO suitcases as large as mine (though I'm not sure why - they wore the same sweaty clothes every day.  I know because I could smell them from a mile away.)

Like I said in the post before, I took a train (Munich - Salzburg) to a train (Salzburg - Zell am See) to a bus (Zell am See - Hinterglemm) to a taxi (Hinterglemm - the top of the mountain) to our mountain hut (called an Alm).  We stayed in one of the remotest places on the mountain.  No cell phone service, no hope of getting to any civilization after dark, and no way down but to ski or get a 4-wheel-drive taxi to pick you up.  When I got there, the whole group had gone out skiing already.  I had no idea where I was, was a little sad and a little disoriented, and had no way to contact anyone since my cell phone was out of the network.  So I sat with my book and read until everyone got back.

Aside from the craziness of the beginning, the ski week was rather relaxing.  We skied intensely every day, had some free time, ate meals with the kids, did an activity with them most nights, and then stayed up late snacking and playing a game called 'Maxl' every night.  The weather was gorgeous - warm and sunny every day.  It made the snow pretty awful in the afternoons, but by the end of the week I was able to navigate even the most mashed potatoey of snows on the red slopes.  Often I was the person at the back of the group, waiting for one of the kids to fall.  Then I would ski slowly (well, slowly for the kids but normal speed for me) to the bottom offering kind words and encouragement in broken German.  My understanding increased so much over the week!  German itself is fine, but fast Salzburg dialect is a whole different level of understanding!

Even with the messy snow, we only had a few minor mishaps.  One kid fell and cut his chin on his ski, and ended up with stitches (of which he was incredibly proud).  Another broke his wrist, and I believe we had a few broken fingers.  But the real problem was this awful stomach flu that swept through our mountain hut like the plague.  One poor kid had it so badly that he wasn't sure whether to sit on the toilet or face it, and ended up pooping himself.  How mortifying as a young teenage boy!  I didn't catch this awful plague until I got back.  It knocked me out for two solid days, but Maija was nice and brought me some soup and ginger ale because I was too sick to get to the grocery store around the corner.  Aside from that, it was an excellent week! 

Skiing, day one

I skied this! 

We stuck to blue runs mostly

Some of my kids were awesome, like this one.  All of them went off the jumps. I tried and fell on my butt (thank goodness they weren't watching...but the teacher was and laughed at me)

I skied caboose for most of the trip, allowing me creepy photos like this one

Proof that the weather was awesome

My boys on the mountain

Johanna, the other teacher

Our mountain hut - home for a week

Sunset from our window

The reflection of the sun on the mountains. Gorgeous

Austrian Gems

My favorite graffiti in Salzburg.  It brightens my day every time I see it.

Side note: the text of this post was written on Friday, but the site was overloaded or my internet was bad or something so I couldn't post it.  Side side note: happy Mother's Day Mom!!! I love you!

Lately I have been reading the Book of Awesome online, which has helped me appreciate the smaller things in life.  Teaching is a job full of little victories: sometimes you're the hero, sometimes you're the villain, and sometimes you have to fall into the background (even if you don't want to).  I've had my fair share of good and bad days; some days have extreme highs and extreme lows together.  Wednesday of this week was one of those days where I feel like a hamster in a cage, and no matter how hard I work I feel like I've gotten nowhere.  Compare that to today, where an awesome idea dawned on me in the shower that allowed me to take the normally boring topic of 'Job interviews' and turn it into something worth doing again.  Instead of holding normal job interviews, I had them pretend like it was a blind dating television show.  Even better was the fact that the students came up with their own ridiculous jobs and personalities - we had people interviewing for the job of Obama's butler, undertaker, boss of a chocolate factory and NASCAR driver.  The answers were spontaneous and incredibly creative: one of the girls who wanted to be an undertaker claimed she would be good at the job because she had a sixth sense and could communicate with dead people, another boy who wanted to be a NASCAR driver said his experience was in driving quickly away from the police.

My kids surprise me on a regular basis.  A few weeks ago for April Fool's day, all of the fourth class from one of my Catholic schools traded with the entire fourth class from the girls' school nearby.  The teacher was pretty upset, but they had cleared it with both headmasters so she couldn't do anything about it.  You've got to admit that it's pretty creative!

There was the time that one of the boys in my class tried to list different natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions.  What he said, though, was volcanic erections.  He turned bright red when he was called out on it (by me, by the teacher, and by his classmates).  It was pretty funny.

 There was the group of boys who won the ultimate prize of American candy - Reeses - except when they bit into them they hated them so much that they had to spit the candy out.  I wish I had captured their faces on camera.  Peanut butter and chocolate together is an incredibly unfamiliar flavor combination to these kids.

I had a kid 100% honestly tell me that he would never live in America because the state doesn't take care of us in ways like providing health care.  It caught me off guard.  This kid is 16 years old.

And lastly, I recently had someone tell me that they spent the holidays planting 'semen' in their yard.  They meant seeds.  I guess they're similar....still it's not a mistake that is good to make!

Hope these little gems brightened your day!

Coffee at my favorite coffee shop in town - Cafe Alchemie.  Another thing that always brings a smile to my face.

Dan's Visit

The most epic picture of the two of us ever. Cue the 'awww's.

 Today is senior prank day in the school.  I remember witnessing this back in Lindau - the graduating seniors invaded the school dressed in hazard suits and gloves and masks and rounded up the teachers while wreaking havoc.  Surprisingly, it seems that my public school is fairly tame.  When I got to school this morning there was a sign on the door announcing that the school had been turned upside down (in German of course) and there were streamers and balloons everywhere.  I could hear trumpets and shouting from somewhere, but I guess I missed most of the fun.  Apparently as the students were arriving this morning, the seniors sprayed them with water guns full of water (if you were lucky) or beer (if you weren't). There was also a kid who hacked into the school's computer system and switched the security settings to allow blocked sites and block important sites like language dictionaries - which made test taking impossible for language students today.  He is apparently in big trouble.  No teachers have been rounded up yet, thank goodness.

So, back to the (ir)regularly scheduled blogging.  Dan's visit was the week of St. Patrick's day, so at least we're getting closer to the present.  Dan and I did not do much during his visit.  I was still sick, the weather was awful, and he's a fairly uncomplicated person and had no specific desires.  We had planned to go skiing on my day off but it sleeted all day long, which would have made for awful skiing.  I went to class Monday and Tuesday but called in sick Thursday and Friday (mostly to spend more time with Dan, but also because I felt crappy).  We did, however, manage to do some of the important things.  We explored the fortress, and I finally took the tour that I've never taken.  Dan spent most of the time pretending he was and enemy army and figuring out exactly how he would try to invade the fortress.  I think he concluded that the Salzburg fortress is pretty safe.  It is built into a mountain, after all.

Dan and I also hung out with my friends, which was incredibly important to me.  He and Maija started bantering within minutes of meeting each other - always a good sign - and he made friends easily with all of the boys when we went out for drinks at one of our favorite Irish pubs.  Later in the week we celebrated St. Patrick's day (but shhh, I was supposed to be sick that day and the next....actually I was sick, but St. Paddys took priority since it was Dan's spring break and he wanted to go out on the town a little).  All in all, we had some good food, we saw the sights, and we enjoyed seeing each other for the first (and last) time in months.  Hopefully he understands a little more why I want to stay here next year after seeing it in person.

The last night of Dan's visit was spent in Munich, enjoying Hofbräuhaus beer and the bewildered stares of American tourists as we sang 'Ein Prosit' loudly and then prosted with eye contact.  I explained it to at least two groups of tourists.  The next day we said (a slightly tearful) goodbye in the train station, and while Dan took the S-bahn to the airport, I took a train to a train to a bus to a taxi to the mountain hut for my epic ski week with one of the Catholic schools. 

The awesome high chair in the castle restaurant.  For baby knights? Totally authentic, I'm sure.

Dramatic scenery

Saaaaalzbuuuuurg

*Sigh*

The armor exhibit inside

One last dramatic scenery shot

Couple shot

Couple shot take two

Dan, representing Bowdoin while drinking beer in the Hofbräuhaus

Beer

My dark beer. Mmm so good.

End of Mom and Donna's visit, beginning of Dan's

Me, still sick, and Maija. From Donna's camera

 Before I launch into more of everything that happened two months ago, I need to update about something very present - I have been accepted back for a second year!!  This means that I will be staying in Salzburg next year, teaching in two of my three current schools.  I am keeping my two Catholic boys' schools, and have traded the public technical school for an evening/adult school.  I had hoped to be in just two schools, but the Austrian Ministry had other plans.  Oh well.  I'm excited to have it all figured out, though now the newest things that have been added to my to-do list are: find a summer job that will take me for two months, and figure out housing.  There's always something!

 After calling in sick for Friday, I let Mom and Donna wander Salzburg for a little on their own while I tried to sleep it off.  The last thing I wanted was to get sicker with the end of their visit approaching, followed by Dan's visit and my ski week!  Though my fever subsided, the head cold seemed to get worse.  I'm not exactly sure how one person can produce so much snot!!  Gross.  And though this kept us from having dinner with Martina (my roommate) as we'd hoped, we did still sit around for a little while talking on Thursday night, and I did manage to make it to Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) with Mom, Donna and Maija at the infamous cafe Thomaselli.  Thomaselli is the oldest cafe in Salzburg, and they do it right.  The waiters/waitresses are all dressed in their high-necked, old fashioned uniforms, and they wander around with a massive selection of desserts to chose from.  They're even kind of snooty. It's the full package! I'm glad Mom and Donna got to meet Maija, since she is one of the people I've spent the most time with.

Post Kaffee und Kuchen, we packed our things and caught an early evening train to Munich.  The train journey was uneventful, though we did have a rather chatty train worker talking to us about his American experience for a lot of the time.  In Munich we went to bed fairly early, since I had to get up at some unreasonable hour to pick Dan up from the airport.

Dan arrived with all of his luggage after a routine (though long) flight.  We dropped his stuff off at the hotel and met up with Donna and Mom, whereupon we had a rather uncomfortable experience involving one of the many erotic shops that surround the train station.  Ask Donna.  At some point, we found the Biergarten in the middle of Munich and stopped for a beer and a bite to eat.  Dan, tired and full of Bavarian beer, crashed and had to be taken back to the hotel.  I then rejoined Mom and Donna for the rest of their Munich experience, complete with a Hofbräuhaus visit - Munich wouldn't be Munich without a visit to one of the major Bierhauses.  The next morning we got up at ungodly o'clock (again) to get Donna to the airport for her early flight, and to get Mom there plenty early for her midday flight.  There were hugs and there were tears, but it was a trip full of good memories (and lots of tissues).

Munich! Donna's camera

A very jet-lagged Dan and a very sick Keri, still excited to see each other.  Donna's picture.

Ah, the infamous glockenspiel.  You will never believe that Pat told me he wants to see this AGAIN.  Wasn't he the one who declared it the most disappointing tourist attraction ever? Donna's picture.

Biergarten. Donna's picture.

Sick? Jet-lagged? Have a beer - the Bavarian solution.  Donna's picture.

Tons of police in the Munich train station, preparing for riots between the Hamburg and Munich soccer fans.

I love Hofbräuhaus' dark beer.

Prost! Except they're not making eye contact.  Bad news bears.

Pork knuckle, a la Chris 2009

Mom digging in

Donna and her good Bavarian dinner

 

Mommy enjoying my beer

Wood pile for Donna, taken on the way back to Salzburg.