Sep 29th entry

I just uploaded 2 entries! So make sure you read the one from yesterday before you read this one!!

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today i woke up earlier than i set my alarm (for 7:30) at 7 when i heard some bells coming through my window. I think they are coming from the Uhrturm (clocktower) up on Schloßberg. I took a shower and then went downstairs to eat breakfast (bread, cheese, butter, jam, musli, apple-orange fresh squeezed juice). A bus came for us at 8:30 to take us up to Schloß St. Martin where we got into smaller groups and met in a conference room to talk with eachother and our 'teacher'. Our group's teacher is named Otto. THey tend to speak to us in english and german. We spent a while talking about some lessons we can do with the kids, like providing 4 statements about yourself, 1 of which is false and reading them aloud and having the kids ask you questions about the statements and then decide which one is false. He mentioned to us that we should speak to them with large gestures, clearly, loudly, and slowly. We should exude energy so that they are not bored. We also talked about fears and expectations.

After our group meeting we went to go hear a couple of lectures. The first one was in German and about "Austrians". He provided texts from different sources (books, advertisements, poems) about Austrians to show that there is no ONE type of Austrian (just like american). Also we talked about the meaning of words and how behind every word there are subtler meanings that are associated with their cultural backgrounds as well.

We had a 15 minute break until our other lecture. As people were filing out of the room I went and looked out of the window over the valley (as we are up relativeley high on a hill). It was so beautiful so I decided to pass everyone by that were tlaking to eachother and just go outside and look. I saw my group teacher Otto outside on the bench also looking over the valley. I said "hallo", actually I said "Grüß Gott" and we spoke a bit in German. I told him that it was so beautiful and he agreed calling it "Traumhaft", a great german word meaing "like a dream" sort of. We talked about the various produce growing all around on the hills, like wine grapes and small apples and such. I almost started crying because of how beautiful it was (as you know from Norway I tend to cry at natural beauty I suppose). But also I think i was tearing up because the city down below (Graz) was where I had chosen to live, and yet it was sooooo city like. Big huge buildings and lots of people. Sure there are a lot of young people, but there are just so many people and so many big buildings. I was starting to have second thoughts about my decision after looking over these hills, which seem so beautiful and what I think of when i think of Austria. Otto told me that Leibnitz is a bit more like this countryside than Graz is, which also made me a bit sad.

The other lecture was half german (where we talked about the austrian school system and how students move from the beginning of their school career to the end, what options are open to them, and so on...it is really interesting and different from america, ask me more if you'd like.) and the other half was in english about all the administratorial stuff. This part of the lecture was very overwhelming for me. One of the first things that he asked was how many people still don't have housing. There were about 10 of us who raised our hands. He said that this was unusually large. Of course in order to get your bank account you need to have an address. And also we have to pick up our Residency Permits, which we have to have an address for, and we need to find out where to get it, which I am still not sure about, and also we have to have it before we report to our school on the first day. If we can't show them an Aufenthaltstitel then they might not schedule us to work. We talked about how the Americans have to pay taxes, and also the necessary steps to take if we want to try to get some of the tax money back at the end of the school year. We talked about our Dienstvertrag, which we will recieve on our first day of school which basically is our contract with our school. And we also should have been in contact with our Betreuungslehrer (the teacher at our main school that will help us get around), but she hasn't emailed me back since June when I emailed her, which, because I was accepted later to the program was the earliest I could do so, and by this point it was already their summer break. So I need to get in contact with her, but I haven't had any time because the orientations last ALL DAY, and the internet isn't really working here at my Convent right now either. We talked about our insurance too, which pays for most everything we would need for our health but it won't pay for transporting us to the hospital if we get hurt during our "liesure" time, which means whenever we are not at work. So if we are skiing and we have to be helicoptered to the hospital, that would cost us about 3,000 euros!!!! so they told us about how we might want to think about getting some insurance from mountaneering clubs or something in addition to what we already have. This was a lot of information in a short while. So basically I was sitting there kind of overwhelmed with all this stuff, mostly becuase I didn't have a house yet, NOR did I know if I actually wanted to live in Graz. I expressed my concern to Chris, a Bürse (austrian word for 'guy') from Michigan who I met and talked to yesterday and who is also in my small group, and he said, "well why don't we just go look at Leibnitz tonight when we are done ?" I was like, you know what, yeah.

We then went to lunch which was another catered meal by the Schloß. I got the vegetarian dish which was soup, salad, and a sort of zucchini and grain casserole with sour cream and brussel sprouts. There was also a good dessert. It was quite a bit of food and is really nice that it is included with the 70 euros we are paying for our food and accommidations at the Convent.

We then met back with our small groups and talked about working with the Austrian teachers. We can either be very passive and do what the teachers ask us to do, or they are more than happy (usually) for you to prepare something for the class and propose it to them as well. One good suggestion that a past teahing assistant made was to make an interview sheet for the students around the first class and ask them some questions to see where their english is at, and also to find out what sort of things they want to talk about relating to American culture. We then did a short exercise where each of us had to answer a question handed to us for 20-30 seconds as if we were talking to the class. So we practiced making gestures, speaking clearly and slowly (but not too slowly or unnaturally) and also using appropriate intonation and vocabulary.

We then went with our group to a bus outside of the Schloss which took us into Graz and we walked to a courtyard off Jakominiplatz to have a tour of the city by some Austrian Teenagers who were getting credit for school for doing this tour in english with us. We walked down the main street that I had walked the other day and then onto a strange bridge that goes across the river that is also a small coffee shop. It's very modern looking, as it is a big swirly silver metal creation sitting right on top of the Muhr. I didn't walk on that the other day so that was kind of cool. Apparently the citizens of Graz don't like it very much. We then walked over to Schloßberg, but instead of taking the Kriegstreppe that I walked up to go into the garden, we took a lift and passed by the prettiest part of Schloßberg. We walked down the backside of the hill and then into another open concrete courtyard where noone was and there was not a tree standing. We then walked to a Glockenspiel which when it rang on the hour opened to show an austrian man in lederhosen holding a beer mug and an austrian woman in a dirndl holding a napkin spinning around. It was pretty cute, and I liked this area of Graz (the Innen Stadt) much better than what I had previously seen. The walkways were cobblestones and there was a big historic church that we walked into that had paintings from the Great Plague. We wlaked up some random spiral concrete staircase that went to nowhere, but was cool to know it was there I suppose. The last thing we saw was the Opera house which didn't look much from the outside, but supposedly looks really cool on the inside. I think it would be cool to see an Opera there some time. Our cute little tourgide girl said that the inside was very in-tri-cue-ing inside (she meant intriguing but pronounced it really funny). The opera house was right next to the Stadtpark which actually looked really nice and I'd like to explore it some more cuz I didn't go into it at all and I'm not sure how big it actually is. The Stadt park is about 30-35 min walk from the train station.

Me and Chris walked back to the Convent to check the train times to head out to Leibnitz. There was one at 7:40 which we took. The train ride was 37 min long. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was expecting it to be really small, boring, and filled with old people. THis was the impression that Marc (the past teaching assistant in Leibnitz) gave me, since he said that none of the past teaching assistants that worked there that he knew of lived in Leibnitz, and that all of them lived in Graz. He said that people who lived outside of Graz were always coming in and wished that they had lived there and commuted to their schools. So that is what I was expecting. When we got off the Bahnhof in Leibnitz (which is just one stop away from Kaindorf an der Sulm, the other town that I am teaching in) there was a small walkway with grass adjacent to some small apartment buildings. It was quiet, but I already realized what a change from Graz that was. There was a small sports bar near the Bahnhof, so already there was something to do there. There was also a Sports Center right there. Around the corner was the main street which as we were walking first had a store for firemen and other government uniforms, a coffee shop (which had 3 girls my age in it, so already i saw some young people) and like a hotel, a shoe store, a dry cleaners. As you keep going it gets more and more "city-like" with lights on the street and lots of little shops, food places and such. It kind of reminded me of Göttingen where the street and sidewalk weren't really seperated, just slightly demarcated. The Rathaus (town hall) was a cool old building. I could already tell that I could appreciate the differences between America and Austria more when there werent SO MANy overwhelming tall buildings and street trains and cars and people. IT was quite. And that was nice. Also I didn't see any old people. In fact the people wlaking around and getting of the train with us were young, about our age. I stopped a couple walking down the street that seemed about 23 or so and spoke to them in German, asking hi i just moved to austria and am wondering if you like it here, they said yes, that there is "enough" to do, told me where the bars were and how its busy on the weekends, that they had lived there since they were young, that there was a disco and movie theatre, etc. THey didnt really know where I could find housing, but they were really nice to me and already I had talked to more Austrians that I felt cared about talking to me than in Graz. Yes there are more young people in Graz (since there is no university in Leibnitz as they told me) but is it relaly better if they are all so busy walking from one place to the next and crowing into bars that you cant meet any of them? We kept walking down this residential street which came off the main drag. It was quite. And i looked up and could see the stars. Suddenly I realized that I had only seen stars when i was at the Schloß up in the hills in Graz, since there are so many big buildings around you and lots of light pllution in Graz you can't see them at all, which I hadn't really noticed before. We came across a small river and walked over a bridge which lead directly into a nice biggish green park with lots of slides and swings and play things and benches and stuff. It was nice to be near trees right in the middle of the city. THere aren't trees in Graz except in the parks (of which I know 2) and the Schloßberg, and also down by the river a bit. To be fair I haven't seen the parks too well in Graz though. But thats because they are really out of the way I suppose. THen we came across an even bigger bridge over an even bigger part of the river, which was probably also the Muhr. Crossing this we ended up near a hill, which was one of many I could see in the dark when I stood on the bridge. There was a nice little path through the forest on the hill to walk up, so we did. On the top of the path is a small shrine to mary & jesus.

We walked back down and had some pizza at a restaurant which wasnt filled by any means (it is just a tuseday) but our waitress smiled at us when she knew we were american since we had an accent and asked us where we were from. She was young too! like about 26-28 I;d guess. There was also a group of young turks there and 2 late 20s girls that came in while we were eathing. there was one older guy at the bar and a middle aged (early 40s) couple that sat behind us. THey were playing german music which was also cool. I mean, she seemed interested in us because i bet they dont get many tourists unlike Graz where they are used to that. I mean the austiran guy that sold me my phone legitimately seemed annoyed with me when i was asking questions about the plan becuase i didnt understand it all the first time he said it. Probably because there were a couiple people waiting behind me, which is understandable when you have other customers. I asked her for the check and also if she knew where I might be abel to find a place to live. She didn't know but she called over a guy from the movie theatre which was attached to the pizza shop and he came over and talked to me and told me that i should go to the AltePost and how to get there.

I'm not sure if i was unclear that i needed a room to live in for a long while or if he thought i needed a room just for the night but the altepost is a hotel right off the main street (which had more small ground floor shops and was across from a bar showing a soccer match). i went in and asked if this was the alte post and she said yes. I asked if she knew where i could find a room in an apartment and she told me to talk to the owner of the hotel, who she brought me to! So I asked the owner, who I referred to as "Frau Chefin" mrs. owner which I wasn't sure whether that was right or not, but we had learned in our orientation today that you should ALWAYS adress your colleages as Herr/Frau Professor, so i just took that knowledge and applied it here. She seemed kind of stern and I thought she wasn't going to help, but when I asked her she was like "I don't know but come with me" (in german obviously). she takes me into a bar where the middle aged people in there are obviously loooking at us Americans speaking german with an accent and she tells me to talk to this woman sitting at a booth. She introduced me to her and then left us to talk. This woman told me that I should give her my phone number (which i didn't know, cuz its on a box at home) and she might be able to help me. I had no idea who she was or how she could help me but she gave me her card and asked me how much I was willing to spend. I said 350 euro a month. She said that its more expensive here and that lots of Leibnitz is owned by rich Italiens.

We had to get back to our last train that night back to Graz which was at 10:22 ( i should check what time the last one from Graz to Leibnitz is, just to see how easy it would be to go into the city for the night). I was overwhelmed the hospitality and charming (not so charming though as really cute cute old towns in Germany, those are sooo cute! but compared to a big city like Graz) nature of this city. I like the nature and I like how much I noticed. There were obviously things going on there. I saw a huge poster for a Jazz fesitval coming up in the next week, where a new musician plays every day, I saw posters for some hypnotist coming on the 2nd of October, I saw signs for a Film week coming up at the movie theatre that was about global poverty and hunger and also signs for a town hall meeting about being more sustainable and green. THese are not things that I might normally search out for myself, but they were advertised well, all were coming up in the next month, and I like the idea that I could go to all of them and learn something new about austrian culture without having to go search things out in Graz, which I am SURE has lots going on, but if there are signs about things they are hidden amongst all the other stuff in the city.

I really need to talk to someone about this! Mom and Dad! Ben! I want to skype with you guys as soon as I have internet more readily. I didn't have much luck looking for houses in Graz today. Not much is available (but I don't know how much is available in Leibnitz either). THe director of the Fulbright Program is coming on Thursday, so i am hoping to talk to her about whether or not it would be hard to switch my residency permit to Leibnitz. Although I'm still not sure whether or not I want to live in Graz or Leibnitz, I think I would prefer a more Naturey small town to a large cultural huge buildings and people and stuff town. I like the people I met in Leibnitz, and the greenery, even if it is small and kind of sleepy. I saw a sign for camping too! I have not seen anything like that in Graz, where people are really fashionable and shopping at H&M (no offense Shanny).

I love you all, and am still busy and kind of worried and confused. I can't wait to settle down somewhere.