3 weeks of info

Wow, it has almost been 3 weeks since I last updated my blog. This seems extremely strange to me, as time has been passing sooo quickly for me here (which is a good thing, i have been busy!)

I have so much to tell you about...where to start.

I have been trying to do something new every day. I haven't been traveling around Austria very much at all, rather staying in Graz due to my teaching duties and also many things, such as hiking trails and lakes, are closed for the Winter. I live right across the street from the Music and Art University, which often has productions. I went a couple of weeks ago to see the University Jazz Orchestra. They were really good (especially the drummer) and their conductor was this chill black dude from Chicago who spoke to the audience in english. I met a few of the musicians during the break. Most of them are not austrian. I remember one guy was Serbian. This kind of surprised me, but then I remembered what I had heard from Austrian university students that I have met, which is that many people come from Germany as well as many other countries to come and study in Austria because it is much much cheaper. This is one reason that universities are crowded and that is why there are protests currently going on in Graz. Most students want more money from the state to allow for bigger classrooms and more teachers. Some students want tuition to be instated as well (as of now it is free and there is no admission tests, since the philosophy of austria is that each student who graduates from an austrian school is equally prepared for college. I am not exactly sure about their foreign student admission policy).

I also went to a lecture about Darwin and God at a church near my house a while ago. I was definitely the youngest person there. It was alright. There was a biologist who spoke about the theory of evolution and then a philosopher who spoke about how religion can deal with evolution (throw it out, incorporate it, etc.) There was time for questions at the end which was actually kind of entertaining. The best part was when some guy said that evolution has produced nothing better, but rather everything that evolves has deteriorated from it's original "god created form". There was a silence and the biologist was like...uuuuh let me give you a few examples. Some other guy was just like 'how are new species created? HOW HOW? it makes no sense! evolution makes no sense!". Looks like austrians aren't any better than some americans.

I also have started singing in a choir. (i mentioned that i was at their St. Martin's Day party in my last post). I am singing Soprano, which is quite high, but they need more sopranos than altos. We are preparing some songs from Bach's "Weihnachts Oratorium" to sing on December 19th in the Evangelical Church. I think this is so cool! It is so austrian! I am, once again, by far the youngest member of the choir, but everyone is really nice to me and is excited to have some young blood in the group. We meet every wednesday, and only have a few more rehersals left until our performance. I have NO idea how we are going to pull that off. It is really hard getting 4 harmonies down well, and we have only practiced about 4 of the songs. I am glad I took that sight singing class in college, because it really helps me follow along and sing to songs that i have never heard before.

On November 20th the Christmas Markets opened here in Graz. There are a bunch of little stands that sell Glühwein (warm mulled wine, mmmm) and Glühmost (mulled cider) and also Punch and sweets and wooden crafts. Some of the Americans went out to visit them. They were SOO packed, becuase it was the first day they were open. They are really cute and we don't have anything like them in america!

I've been getting to know the americans better, and it is nice to know that there are other people my age and in my situation around that I can hang out with. I watched a movie called "Jawbreaker" at the dormitory where a couple of them live a while ago. I really liked it, although it was quite disturbing in some ways. An interesting fact about the dormitory that they live in: it is mostly all foreign students. They don't know any austrians who live there.

I also went "bouldern" with one of my students from school. Bouldern is like if you went to a rock climbing gym but climbed on the walls without any ropes. You have to be certified to use the ropes (the walls are higher) but free climbing anyone can do. It was lots of fun and there weren't too many people. That night we also went to Leibnitz (where one of my schools is) and watched the Perchtenlauf. This is the COOLEST thing ever. Perchten are basically people who dress up in fur suits and really intricate scary looking wooden masks which usually have horns attached to them (real horns!). They walk down the street and try to scare people. I think this derives from the idea that they are scaring the winter away. I am pretty sure it predates christianity. THere are also fire blowers and fireworks at the end. Many of them have large bells on their butts that make loud noises so you know they are coming. See?

THey tend to target little kids and blonde girls. THey grab their heads and shake around their hair. Many of them have large sticks that they hit people with (mostly teenage boys and girls) on the legs. THe Perchtenlauf in Leibnitz was apparently the second largest perchtenlauf in austria, with 960 perchten from 4 of the austrian provinces. It was also supposed to be "child friendly" so they didn't really hit anyone that hard. BUT there was also another one in Graz last Sunday which I went to where they definitly were more violent towards the people watching. This is ok with the austrian people, by the way. It is just tradition. I myself was hit in the leg by one of the perchten and also on the hand when i was trying to cover my leg with my hand. THis smarted for sure. But it is lots of fun. Some of the really little kids get really scared and some of them are totally relaxed when the perchten come and look at them right in the face with their scary masks. Here are a couple of videos I took of the perchtenlauf in graz. Sorry they are so dark. But you get an idea of what goes on. The first one they all stop and kneel for a picture of their group (which is quite unusual) and the second one you can see one of the perchten pull a girl out of the crowd and hit her on the legs with his stick:

Here are some pictures from the Graz perchtenlauf (unfortunately i dont have any from Leibnitz)

It is also kind of strange because St. Nikolaus is with the Perchten too:

Not a very good picture, but still interesting how the 'good' and 'evil' are balanced at the ceremony (although much more of the fun & scary evil!)

I have also been tutoring the daughter of one of the women i went on the hike to Mariazell with in english every couple of weeks. This is actually kind of hard because I know what is right but I often don't know the rules. For example, do you know why you say "chihuahuas are the smallest dogs" but "panda bears are the most dangerous animals?" Because if a word has more than 3 syllables you use "most" rather than "-est" ending. Also some vs any rules are new to me and so on. But it is nice to make a bit of money on the side and I also really like hanging out with her mom, Sabina, who is really nice and always gives me tea and cookies after tutoring is done. We talk and she tells me about austrian traditions and so on.

Thanksgiving also did not go unnoticed for me this year. Other than talking about it with my students in a few classes, I also was able to celebrate it! Sam (a nice guy I met at orientation from Britain) invited us to his house in the outskirts of Graz to cook dinner. Chris (also who we met at orientation) came all the way from Horn (about 4 hours) to celebrate with us, and also Krystal (from about an hour away). We made stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey breasts, apple pie, and i made lentil stuffed bell peppers with tomato sauce. It was all really good and we ate not only together, but also with the austrian family that Sam lives with, who really enjoyed the food and told us they were really excited to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving once!

This past Saturday I watched as the really big christmas tree was lit in the center of town. There were some people playing horns to celebrate. Here is a cut from the trunk this year:

It gets dark here pretty early nowadays, about 4:15. The city is really beautifully decorated for christmas time.

They line many of the streets such as the main street (above) with lights and decorations.

Here are a couple more pictures:

A carousel on Hauptplatz:

A special cute train that takes you to the different christmas markets around town:

I also went to another Matura Ball on Saturday, which was fun. I danced and talked to teachers and students and got a ride home around 3am when it ended!

On Sunday I had a GREAT time at a thermal spa with one of my teachers from the HTL. She took me and her son (22) and daughter (25) to Therma Nova which is about 45 min away by car. We spent 4 hours there in the sauna, hot tub, swimming pool, and eating and relaxing. I really really enjoyed the sauna. It feels so refreshing and my skin felt really good afterwards. I could do this every weekend! It was also a really nice view over a small valley.

This sunday was also the 1st advent (4 weeks before christmas). Here in austria everyone has an advent wreath which is like a wreath with 4 candles on it. You light the first candle on the 1st advent, and then the second the next sunday and so on. I bought one at the local farmers market, but you can also make them yourself and many people do.

Finally, I went to a Billy Talent concert on monday night. The music was pop/punk and i wasn't really into it that much, BUT i had a lot of fun. I went with Bettina (the austrian girl that lived in my apartment before me) and her boyfriend, friends, and brother and his friends. We were all dancing and moshing to the music. I saw a few of my students there too. I also took part in the biggest mosh pit i have ever seen. It was nice to finally be able to go to an event at the Stadthalle that I always pass by as well.

Everything is going well. I am very happy, love teaching, don't feel alone, and I am REALLY excited for mom dad and shanny to come visit for christmas. It should be really nice (although i don't think there will be any snow. Austria has been having a really unordinarily warm November which is nice but also i want snow!)

Also ben has planned his trip to come here in march and april. This morning i didn't have to go to work, so i spent the morning reading through my Austria Travel book and planning all the things i want to see in austria before I leave (june). I still haven't seen barely any of austria (other than graz and my hike to mariazell). I was in czech and denmark though, which is cool. But i really want to get to know austria better. I have many many plans to fulfill.

Oh one more thing. There is no santa claus here, but rather the Christkind which is an angel, neither male nor female, that brings kids presents. It flies through the window and decorates the tree and leaves presents for the kids. Aww.