Visa, Moving in, Teaching, Lecture, Alpenverein, Stadtpark, Schloß Eggenberg, Drink with Bettina!

Hi everyone,

it's so great to see how many people are keeping up with the blog. I know I can always count on my family (Sandlers count therein!)

Well, I guess its been a few days since I've updated, so i'll give you the lowdown on the most important things that i've done.

On tuesday my school in Leibnitz told me that it was ok not to come in so that i could go pick up my Residency Permit and open a bank account, which I could only do during the morning hours. So I got up and went to the Amtshaus where i could pick up the permit. I had already gotten all the forms signed this summer and stamped and sent in to the consulate, and the Fulbright Commision did the rest of the work, so all I had to do was pick it up. But of course, as government offices tend to be, there was something wrong. The computers were down for about an hour and so I waited around reading a book I picked up at the bookstore by Arthur Schnitzler, an Austrian author. After about an hour and a half the computers went back online and all the woman had to do was type in my name and then pick out my file which had the permit and ID card in there. I paid my dues and peaced out.

I also moved in on tuesday. Bettina showed me around the apartment. how to turn on the hot water boiler for when i want to take showers (takes about an 1-2 to warm up enough, I guess we dont leave it on all the time to save some money) how to change the water from going to the shower to the washing machine (basically unscrewing some metal apparatus and attaching it to the washing machine apparatus), how to answer peoples calls when they ring my "doorbell" downstairs, etc. Unfortunately Otto's sister who lives in the apartment right next to me is on vacation so I won't meet her for another week or so.

Teaching has been going great. Students are really responsive to me and tend to be interested in what I say, although the very first period classes can be kind of hard. I've talked about American school systems (elementary, middle, high, university) and learned some stuff about it as well (like did you know only about 38% of high school graduates go to college?! I definitely thought it was more). I've also done a class about advertising techniques (since that what they were discussing) and brought in my favorite ads from american magazines that i brought with me over here. I also taught one class about American literature by bringing in 4 of my favorite poems (Frost, Silverstein, Wordsworth (ok ok hes british but its still in english) and of course Whitman). So far everythings good, and the teachers are really nice to me. My betreuungsleherin even invited me on the Lehrerausflug (teacher's trip) to the Czech Republic next weekend!!!, so im excited about that and I'm sure it will be fun. Fritz is going too. woo hoo!

On thursday I decided to go to a lecture at the local university called "Warum sterben wir?" meaning "why do we die?" It was part of a 3 part lecture series put on by a philosophy group about basic human questions. Most of the people there were old, as in over 60. there were a few younger people, but they were mostly with other friends, so i didn't really get a chance to talk to them (darn!). I understood almost all of the lecture which was really exciting, although i know it was in Hoch Deutsch and not the regional dialect, because when the locals would ask quuestions, I couldn't always understand them. After the lecture was over I went out into the hall. There was a woman there, probably in her 30s that asked me how it was. i told her what I thought and she started asking me how I would answer the question, which was different than the lecturer, who didn't really give an answer except at the end when he said "finally we see, that the question 'why do we die?' is the same question as 'why do we live?'" and answered mostly by talking about how various religions see the self. she ended up being a christian telling me God is love and that reincarnation is self deception and that its not logical. so i asked her, is it more logical to you that jesus was resurrected in a spirit body? to her it was. dunno, but either way it was fun to have a debate with her in german about this stuff.

On friday i didn't have to teach! My schedule is such that (at least at Leibnitz) i don't have to teach on fridays, which is quite nice. that means when i travel i can start on thursday night or friday. I went to the library to see if i could get a card (but it costs money here, damn!) and then i went to the Alpenverein, which is the local hiking club. It seemed reasonable to me to pay 38 euros to become a member and then be able to go on hiking trips and such with them. I even signed up for a trip coming up in a couple of weeks which i am really excited about. We are hiking from Graz to Mariazelle, which is about 120 km = 75 miles. we are doing this in about 4 days. we are going to be staying in guest houses and hiking in country ( i think! ) which should be beautiful. woo hoo!! we don't get back until monday, so i hope that i can take that day off at my Kaindorf school, which I am teaching at this coming week.

I took a walk through the stadtpark on friday too, which was beautiful! it is definitely my favorite place in Graz, and its right outside my door, which is awesome.

Here is my favorite tree in the park: (I love the changing colors and how leaves just seem to fly off at any given time)

There is also a little monument to Kepler who taught in Graz:

Yesterday it was raining and cloudy so I figured I'd do something "indoor" so I went to the Schloß Eggenberg which is about 15 min outside of Graz by street train. The castle grounds were pretty and had peacocks walking around!

And albino ones!

Heres a cool tumorey tree

The castle itself isn't the most awesome castle, but it had a really cool room called the Planet Room which had black and white checkerboard floors and depictions of all the planets (in their human forms of course) of which they only knew 7 at the time and included the Sun in that count. There were also depictions of the 12 astrological signs around the room and the 4 elements in the 4 corners. check it...

On my way back to the city i heard some sort of sport event coming from a small stadium across the street from the schloß, so i went to check it out. i didn't seem to need a ticket to enter, so i ended up watching the last 20 or so minutes of an American Football game being played by what looked like high school students. I didn't expect that...

I called Bettina and asked her if she wanted to go out for a drink and she did! So i have finally gotten to hang out with a couple of austrian people. i didn't really want to let her know how damn excited i was, lest i seem indigent :)

I also went out to an irish pub with some of the americans that are here in graz. we watched the last half of a soccer game between Ireland and Italy. Soccer is always fun to watch in europe, people are so into it!

anywho, thats all for now. love you all!