A photo tour through a typical day in Austria

Head to the train station in Pöchlarn...

and catch this tiny train to...




















Wieselburg...

passing through fields with sheep.



Do some teaching at Francisco Josephinum...

drink some coffee and eat some cake after lunch...

and then head out on a bike ride down the Danube river.

Along the way, pass by marvelous castles and churches...

and finally drink some delicious Austrian wine.

Ireland

Three weeks after our Christmas break, it was time for another break...this time a week off to mark the end of the first semester.  I could really get used to all these days off!  This break is basically ski week for all of Austria.  In fact, so many people go skiing during this break that they must stagger the semester break for each part of Austria over three weeks so that the slopes are overloaded with skiers.  This time, we broke tradition and headed off to Ireland instead of hitting the slopes.  Our good friend John has been living and working in Galway since November.

I was so excited about this trip and it sure didn't let me down.  We arrived in Dublin on Friday and met up with John.  We spent Saturday enjoying the beautiful weather as we walked through the city, enjoying all it has to offer.  For lunch, we grabbed some fantastic fish and chips and then headed to the Guinness brewery to top it off with a pint.  We couldn't have asked for a better day and we sipped our pints on top of the Guinness brewery with a 360 degree view of Dublin.  We then headed off for Galway for the next leg of our journey.
The Aran Islands are a group of islands off the coast near Galway.  John says its probably his favorite place on earth.  That's all the endorsement I needed to hop on board a ferry and head out there.  We spent Sunday and Monday on Inishmore, the largest of the islands but still small enough to explore by bike.  These islands are very remote and only in the summer are they bustling with tourists.  Being in there in February gave us a great feel for the remoteness of the islands and the slow Irish lifestyle led by the inhabitants.  In this part of Ireland, the Irish language is still holding on and is spoken by the natives.  The weather was perfect again (a miracle I thought considering it was February in Ireland).  We biked to various rock forts built 3,000 years ago, walked through fields with goats and horses and crawled up to ocean cliffs dropping hundreds of feet below us.  It was spectacular!!!  The pictures don't do justice but they give an idea of what it was like.

Monday night we headed back to Galway and on Tuesday we got to explore the town a bit more.  Our final night was spent at a local pub listening to students from the university playing traditional Irish music.  As we headed back to Dublin, we enjoyed the Irish countryside once more before boarding the plane to Vienna.

Back in Pöchlarn

We've been back in Austria for nearly two weeks after spending ten days at home in the US.  Even after only 10 days at home, we had to remind ourselves how to speak German.  We got comfortable being home and it was difficult when we first came back.  We've since settled back in though and have some exciting things on the horizon including a trip to Ireland in a couple weeks to visit our friend John living in Galway.  The last two weeks have been full of several different adventures.  Immediately after returning, I had several recording sessions with my choir for our new CD.  We recorded at a small studio in a nearby town called Steinakirchen.  It was a fun experience, although exhausting at points.  We recorded the songs we had sung for the last two concerts.  I will give an update when I know more about when it will be released.
Before starting back up with school, Josef took Angela and me skiing about an hour from here.  Unfortunately, Elsa cannot ski this year due to her recent back surgery.  Massive by our standards, small by Austrian standards, the ski resort provided lots of challenging runs with beautiful mountain views.  We had a blast skiing all day with beautiful weather.  I'm sure we'll have several more skiing trips to talk about before spring comes.


The biggest news since we've been back has been Angela starting to teach at another school in Wieselburg.  While home in the US, we received confirmation that she had been hired on as a teaching assistant just like me.  The assistant who was supposed to teach there never showed up in the fall.  Since then, we've been working through the Austrian bureaucracy.  Finally though, she has started and had a great first week.  She is really excited about this new opportunity.  She will also teach at another school in the town of Scheibbs, which is about 20 minutes further with the train.  We can't believe how well things have worked out!

Pics!

Stammtisch

Stammtisch = regulars' table. This can be like a happy hour gathering on a regular basis or some other get together of a group of people which occurs regularly. A week ago, Angela and I went with Elsa and Josef to a local Stammtisch. It is held once a month at a local restaurant which is out in the boonies. You wouldn't stumble across this place by accident. Josef is an accomplished musician. He plays the clarinet, Styrian harmonica (like an accordion), guitar, piano, directs the school band and sings. He knows just about every Austrian folk songs out there. This Stammtisch is a gathering of locals who want to play and sing folk songs. We arrive early and get some food to eat. The others begin to trickle in. Upon entering the restaurant, they make the rounds greeting every single person individually. This is a custom we're beginning to get used to but it still surprises us sometimes. For the next half hour we greet the 30 others who join us. We also begin to notice Josef's local celebrity status. His music has made him quite the guy in this area. Things settle down and song books are passed out. A few start playing and singing their favorite folk song to get things started. There is no leader or specific order. The musicians just get up and play as they please. We are the only ones in attendance under the age of 50 and the only ones from outside a 20 mile radius. Josef plays in a trio, he on clarinet, another on the Styrian harmonica and the third on a trombone looking instrument. For the next couple hours, we sing and socialize with the locals, soaking in the authentic experience. You wouldn't find this at your cafe down the street in Vienna.

First choir concert

Saturday I had my first choir concert here in Austria.  We performed in Klein Pöchlarn, which is right across the Danube from where we live (Gross Pöchlarn).  The day started with lunch at one of the choir members' house.  We had a huge feast of meat and potatoes capped off with plenty of desserts and some schnapps to settle the stomach.  We reheared afterwards and made the final preperations.  The concert was held in a large room with a stage in the city hall.  Over a hundred people showed up to see "the best choir in Lower Austria."  Angela came with our "Austrian parents" Elsa and Josef.  The concert was a blast!  We performed everything from Schubert to the Beatles with some Austrian folk songs mixed in.  Afterwards, we gathered and enjoyed some young Austrian wines.  Unlike France where old wines are considered the best, here enjoying the young wines is most common.  We brushed up on our local dialect for the next couple hours as we conversed with the locals and other choir members.  Next up on the schedule is our concert in Vienna city hall on the 19th.  We then start recording our new CD in January.

The Holiday Season

The Christmas season has started here in Austria.  Without Thanksgiving to celebrate, they began putting up decorations a week or so ago.  Each day, more and more Christmas markets open up around the country and soon they will all be up and running.  This is truly a great time to be here in Austria.  Every town hangs up lights over the streets and puts up at least one tree.  Just outside our apartment we've got a tree, a wreath hanging and lights over the street.  Our Christmas market hasn't started yet but a trip to the neighboring towns offers plenty of them.  Last weekend, we visited Salzburg.  It is one of the nicest cities in the country, especially during the Christmas market season.  The old city is full of big and small markets.  Night and day, the markets are bustling with not just tourists, but natives as well.  There's plenty to eat and drink as you make your way through the rows of booths.  Glühwein (mold wine) and Punsch (hot alcoholic punch) are served at nearly every stand.  No wonder everyone looked so happy!  In addition to the markets, Salzburg has an ice skating rink put up next to the cathedral.  This weekend, we will visit the Vienna Christmas markets for the first time.  The biggest one is in front of the spectacular city hall.  After New Year's, they convert this area into a massive ice skating rink, much larger than the one in Salzburg.

Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here.  The Austrians have a similar holiday but it is much smaller and not nearly as big of a deal.  Do you feel bad for us since we didn't get the Thanksgiving break.  Well, don't.  The Austrians have their fare share of holidays.  Basically, any possible Catholic holiday is celebrated.  Banks, shops and school close.  Many probably don't even know what holiday it is because they just had one two weeks earlier.  Additionally, they take a week long semester break 3 weeks after the Christmas break in order to boost the skiing economy.  The different areas of Austria have their breaks at different times to keep the crowds on the slopes from getting too large.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and we look forward to being home over Christmas.