Christmas Fun!

I can't believe how much fun Christmas in Vienna is!


Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. Snow. Bikes. Vienna. Love it!


Gorgeous Christmas ornaments from the Schonbrunn Palace Christmas market.


More market photos, not sure what I'm going to do when they're over. Don't worry... there are Easter markets.

Bridget and I, again, please notice the lack of hat, scarves and gloves!


While we were out at the Schonbrunn Christmas Market Jess was sitting on this bench, taking a break and when I went to find her, she was sitting there, kind of holding her shoe. I looked at it, and she was like, is this normal? Do you think this is from the chemicals? We had to still make it home and the shoes were looking a bit sketchy... but we did make it home. Eventually.



Damien and I... I knew Damien was coming in on the 24th, but we didn't have a set time/place to meet. So... I knew he was coming in by a train at 3:00, so I went to one of the train stations to just sort of check things, thought I might just run into him?? Ha, but while we were there, Damien called and he was at the other train station. We did eventually meet up with him and ride a bunch of metros till we got home. We enjoyed some wine and snacks while we sat around the house. Angella stopped by and we just had the typical Christmas Eve dinner of crackers, red pepper dip, cherry tomatoes and cheese filled sausage. That's normal, right?!



Jess, Damien, Bridget and I went over to David and Stacy's place for more wine and appetizers. Jess was showing us her Kabuki moves while we waited for the metro.


Damien having some gluhwein and checking out the line up out front of St. Stephen's Cathedral.


Stacy, Bridget and I getting ready to head out for midnight mass after super delicious snacks.


Waiting for midnight mass at St. Stephen's Cathedral.


Jess, Damien, Stacy, Bridget and David waiting outside, listening to the stampede warnings from the random English speaker behind us. Please note: NO hat, gloves or scarves!


Inside the cathedral

Midnight Mass in German, very moving. Well, maybe if we understood it? They did a few things in English, but mostly we just sat, stood and started. It was VERY touristy and really packed. throughout the whole service people were coming and going. When communion for the zillion people in there started, we went ahead and snuck right out. We when we left, the whole group of people that were sitting near us left too. I know, we're total trendsetters...

The walk home was not that fun, I decided I could wear these super high wedge shoes and wander about on cobblestone. Then we saw these random drag racing car things happening. I was pretty sure we were going to be smashed, obviously we weren't and we did make it home.

Now on to Christmas Dinner...

Jess set up the table for our dinner. Very fun and festive.

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Our appetizers and check out my Christmas dishes...!

Damien taking over turkey duty with VERY limited supplies... Who knew you could substitute a wet towel for tin foil. I wasn't worried about that at all...


Check it out! Damien's first turkey.


Salad and bread station...


Sitting down to enjoy our meal.


Look at my new cool trick. Uh, not nearly as exciting as my "challenges" from wine tasting this summer.

Moving day...

One last picture from the move... it was so hilarious! Jess and I went to the furniture store where the information lady gave me the evil eye and spoke in rapid German, it went something like this... you are a stupid non-German speaker, I am going to angrily glare at you, talk about you to my co-workers, slam my phone around a little bit, hold the paper that you gave me, act like I have no idea what is going on, then find an English speaker and stare at you some more. Fun. Fortunately, Lisa (Wow, we have the same name... she was so excited) came over and translated for us. Basically, I just handed them my US drivers license, bank card (I may, or may not have) used my "free money". I have been accidentally using this "Quick Laden" savings plan, well, it's not really it's a savings plan. I interpreted the Quick Laden button on the ATM machine as Quick Cash at home, where you would just get 50 Euros right away. Well, every time I tried it over the last four months, money never came out, so I would just do it a different way until money would come out. Most people would have tried to figure out what Quick Laden was, well, I couldn't be bothered to do that. So, it was a forced savings account, the money went somewhere, but I had no idea where. When I did finally call the bank about it one time, she gave me clear, precise directions in order to access the money. Unfortunately the directions were in perfect German. I just gave up. But, the other day when I was with my mom at the furniture store, the Quick Laden option came up as a way to pay, there were hundreds of Euros in there! Ha! So anyways, back to my new best friend Lisa. After I paid (I think) for the second half of the furniture, the "car rental" and the rest of the items she sent us around the corner to find the rental. She told us we had three hours to get the car back and asked if I knew the directions. I confidently lied to her and said, oh of course.

Jess and I walked around a bit and eventually found the area we were looking for, strangely enough, all the boxes were just sitting right there waiting for us. Jess confidently hopped into the MASSIVE moving van when the guy gave me the keys and asked that we just back up to the loading dock. Right between so huge garbage thing and some other poor person's car. She was reversing and I was directing. After about 10 minutes we had moved the van about seven inches closer than it would have been if we just left it where it was... So, off we went! We were cracking up, of course the van was HUGE, a stick shift, it was snowy and Jess had NO IDEA where she was going. Not that I really knew either. I told her to follow the tram tracks, but when it appeared that only trams were allowed, just follow the cars in front of her. I know, precise directions. It was great. So, it all actually went quite well! We started following the wrong tracks, but most trams lead towards the center of town, so we did make it with no major incidents. We parked the van right near my place and unloaded the furniture and managed to get it up to my apartment with little incident.

As we were driving back, we figured out that left turns aren't allowed anywhere and we drove a long ways out of the way. I figured it was just a "tour" for Jess. She was busy driving and the side mirror only hit one sign. Then she panicked a bit and was like roll down the window, fix the mirror. Then, I got a little nervous and kept saying, you're really close to the curb over here... then she would say she's really close to the cars on the other side of her. We determined the van was just too big for the road. Surprising in Europe, right? We did eventually make it back to Moma or Momax, whatever we want to call it... turned in the car, which they didn't even look at. Very successful. And hilarious. If I ever need to move anything again, whether it's from Momax or not, I will be renting that thing, it's way cheaper than the random, lazy mover guy I hired before...

Today is another big day. Goal= Gym, Naschmarkt, Karlsplatz Christmas Market and pants for Jess. She had a "minor packing error". She only brought one pair of pants. One of these days I'm going to show Jess how cool Vienna is... but for now, we're still playing a day in the life of Lisa.

One thing that is cracking me up about Jess's visit is the pure excitement about the availability of pork products and wine. Amazing what Dubai can do to a person!

Two more quick things...

It's so cold even the birds are leaving... this is taken from my window, snow covered roof and tons of birds.


This is the potholder in the garbage... it should be illegal to sell potholders that don't work. My finger is still burning from using it. Garbage.

Pictures say 1000 words...

Here's a bunch of pictures from the last couple of weeks, out of order I think. Some from Dubai, Heather's visit, my Mom's visit and the start of Jess's visit! Yeah to Christmas markets and snow!!!


My mom, Steph and I at the Schonbrunn Palace Christmas Market, trying to stay warm with our punsch.


Steph, Angella and I using our best German to order dinner



Mom and I at the market again...


My Mom and I enjoying a Mexican dinner, sadly my limited Spanish is still better than my German!


We went on a "night at the history museum tour" with Steph's school. The best part was the punsch and view from the roof. That's the Rathaus in the background, right behind is where I live.


My Mom, Sheona and I went to a concert, it was amazing and you know, cultural. We preordered champagne for the intermission break. Classy, right?


Anika, Steph, Andrew, Ciara, Bridget and I enjoying Thai punsch (my favorite) at the market in front of the church at Karlsplatz. I'm not sure what we're going to do when the markets end!


My mom and I up in Grinzing.


A snowy night in Vienna! This was the day my Mom left and the second day Jess was here. I treated Jess to a typical Viennese day... furniture shopping, internet surfing and Gluhwein at the closest market. We had a fun walk home in the snow taking a zillion pictures as if we've never seen snow before.


Jess, Bridget and I at the AKH Christmas market right near my house. And... the location of my upcoming German classes! Finally!


Steph, my Mom and I in the snow drinking again... see any themes? ha!


Rathaus Christmas market, the most touristy one, but I love it! Helps that it's close too!


Heather came to visit and it was SO great to see her and have her see my life here in Vienna! We tried this tapas place right around the corner from my place. Does the picture look a little foggy? Why yes, it does... that would be the third hand smoke...


Heather and I at the Spittelberg Market, where we surprisingly drank punsch.


Now for Dubai... Kelli and I on my last night in Dubai. We had a great time! She had some friends visiting and we went out for dinner and drinks right near the airport. I had a 2:00am flight, which conveniently got me back to Vienna just in time to go straight to work. Ha!


Gregg and I at Bar Zar at the Madinat, where I decided it was a totally reasonable option to start smoking sheesha, because apparently I do that now!


Again, I am now an avid sheesha smoker... this was Mark and I well on our way towards a long night... I'm pretty sure we finished our "strip" of drinks and then went home, opened up a bottle of wine, totally necessary, and sat around talking till 5:30 or so in the morning. Just in time for Mark to pack up and go on a camping trip...


Oh how I missed the sun! Laying at the beach was AWESOME!


Syma, Mark, Kim and I heading out to this new place. Sure, I miss the sun, people, etc. in Dubai, but what I really miss is throwing on a strapless dress and heading out to a beach bar, or any other outdoor place! I sorta wish I would have had some high heeled shoes too... here in Vienna the cobblestone and weather don't allow for all the clothes and shoes I've bought over the last couple of years. I seriously need to purchase a whole new wardrobe, hats, boots, gloves, jackets, everything you can imagine for the cold.

Ok, so a bit more about life... desperate to learn German. I signed up for classes two nights a week, they start January 18th, I'm sure I'll be fluent by the time my sister and Eric arrive in February. We have spent the last month or so going to every Christmas market you can imagine. I love the Gluhwein and punsch, my favorite is the Thai one at Karlsplatz. It's not too sweet.

While my Mom was here she bought me some new bedding that I love and we also went to this furniture store, Moma, which I am now obsessed with and I saw all kinds of things I think I should have for my apartment. So, on Jess's first full day we headed out in the snow and I ended up buying all this stuff. I'm not real sure what exactly happened, there was definitely some language issues happening, but I ended up buying a shelving unit, a bakers rack and... renting a car? Who knows, I got confused and sort of gave up and agreed to come back on Monday and pick up the large items and drive them home myself. It ought to be no problem for Jess and I to carry the 141lbs shelving unit up to my apartment, right? Ugh. I get so flustered when the whole German language starts up...

Speaking of confusion... apparently the flat downstairs has terrible water damage and it's all my fault. Which is strange because the plumber that came couldn't find any problems with my pipes... and it's so terrible that they haven't bothered to return any of my calls or be home when I arranged for the plumber to be here? Ugh. So frustrating. According to my rental contract (in German) I am required to have rental insurance, guess I should have had that translated... could be thousands of Euros of damage. Convenient. I do now, of course, have rental insurance.

Back to my apartment... Jess has been awesome, since she's been here furniture has been purchased, pictures have been hung and we are in process of selecting paint colors. So much to do and so little time. So happy that I don't work till January 7th!!!

I'll be hosting Christmas dinner with a variety of people bringing a variety of things... should be fun! We'll see how it all works out. Hopefully people won't mind sitting on the floor and drinking out of mugs... I did buy more wine glasses and some water glasses, finally... maybe someday I'll have all the makings of a real place to live!

Mom's here!

My mom arrived on Friday, of course, her plane got in early and she was standing outside my door when I walked around the corner. Fortunately it wasn't raining! I was SO happy to see her! She brought me lots of nice things for Christmas, including an awesome down jacket and some clothes to keep me warm. My sister sent along some gloves and a hat too. So fun! We went to one of my favorite pizza places for dinner and then walked around the Rathaus Christmas market. I know, surprising, right?!

We both must have been exhausted because we were asleep by 10:30 and I slept all through till 9:00 the next day! I think I'm still recovering from Dubai. That place is just crazy. We had a great weekend! We met Steph for lunch at the Naschmarkt and a bit of shopping, I know, something different. Then we went to the Haydn Mass with some friends, my school choir with students and teachers were performing, it was amazing! A bunch of us went to a Christmas Market, dinner at a brewery and then tequila shots with Luis at Tin Tan... Fun times! The next day we went to the Vienna Boys Choir, the world's longest brunch and made Christmas cookies and chocolate chip cookies (best to date) at Steph's while watching The Biggest Loser and then came home. You know, a typical weekend in Vienna...!

We have a "newbies" dinner tonight at a friend's house. It should be fun and I'm not sure what all is planned for the rest of the week. Tomorrow is a holiday and it is the Viennese equivalent of "Black Friday" shopping, so I'm looking forward to picking up some things for my apartment. My mom and I finally moved my wardrobes into my bedroom and figured out a place to store my shoes, but there is tons left to do! While we were watching tv last night, I was making a list of all the things I need to buy. Drinking glasses? What a thought...

It's about time...

So, I am having the BEST time with my friend who is visiting. It is so fun to have someone new here to go out and try some new things and show her some of my favorite things. Mostly though, it's just nice to have someone here that I love spending time with. I had to laugh though, she was part of my meal club in Dubai and when she saw me unpacking my groceries she looked at me like I was crazy. Well, of course that's an exaggeration, but she said something like I've never seen you eat so much pasta or prepackaged food! And, she is totally right. I love cooking and good food and wine. Half the time I was in Dubai I was dreaming of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat that I thought was good and farmer's markets... now that I'm here with all the great markets and fresh foods, my oven doesn't work and I eat cheap pasta and just add water soups. Seriously? Add it to the list of things that I just keep doing and can't figure out why! Who lines up shoes in double rows all around their room instead of buying a shoe rack? Uses an empty moving box as a table? Doesn't have a working oven? Doesn't hang pictures on the walls? Let's the washer hose drain into the sink instead of finding the correct piece to connect the two? Or, doesn't even have sheets that fit the bed? So, maybe I just needed someone who knows me to see what's going on and call me on it...! My mom comes tomorrow so maybe that can be our project. I'm sure she flew half way around the world to help me organize my spices... Really, I should just make a list of all the things I need to do and do them. I mean, how hard can it be to light an oven!

The grass is always greener...

When I left Dubai at the end of the last school year I knew I'd be going back to visit and when I was there in July/August I knew I'd be coming back for Thanksgiving. Leaving this time, I realized, this could be it, the last time I ever see this place. It made my unbelievably sad. I arrived back to Vienna this morning after an amazing weekend in Dubai. I saw my friends, spent lots of time in the sun, ran around Safa, ate some Carrot Cake at Lime Tree and basically tried to do as many of my favorite things as I could fit in. What I realized, and in a lot of ways I already knew, was that Dubai is a great place, but what made it a great place to me was the people. It felt so great, seeing my friends and having easy conversations and being able to talk about every and anything! Ordering food in English with no pointing and broken German felt like the most rewarding experience ever! Last year when I was in Dubai and looking for a new job, the goal was to get to Europe and now that I'm here, all I want is that Dubai life back.

Professionally I am much happier in Vienna, but the day to day life can be so frustrating! I really need to learn German, not being able to communicate with people makes me feel rude, stupid and annoyed most of the time. I wanted to move here and become part of the community, but it feels like such a closed group of people that seems nearly impossible to break into. Even when I do meet Viennese people that speak English (as a second language) I end up having to work so hard to get my point across, or watching what I say to try to make it clear what I mean, and little to no jokes or sarcasm that it hardly seems worth it to even try. So, while you meet people that might be really great, you can't really tell because so much is just lost in translation. I don't mean it to sound like I'm miserable or anything, because I'm not at all, it's just really hard. I think I keep forgetting that I've only been here four months.

The other weekend was great. Friday afternoon I met some friends at a wine tasting event, followed by shots at the Mexican place by my house. Saturday I went on a two hour run in the Prater, lunch at the Naschmarkt, shopping and then girl's night at a friend's place. Sunday was a great hike with a couple of Viennese guys and then an art gallery opening. Sounds fun? Well, in a lot of ways it was. Well, except for the part that I was completely under dressed (in hiking clothes) and couldn't actually talk to anyone because everyone was speaking German... but there was free wine. The next work week was short, which I loved and the night before I left for Dubai we went to a Christmas market (surprising) and then an Italian dinner, it was great! I couldn't be bothered to pack, so I just decided to do it the next morning before I left. Which would have worked out better had I remembered to put the washer hose into the sink to drain instead of leaving it out to flood the whole bathroom. I was running around like a crazy person trying to take care of the disaster. I did, obviously, make my flight. That's just one of the little things I haven't been able to figure out yet. I need to go to the hardware store and buy some sort of connector thing that connects the washer hose to the wall. I'll take care of that when I replace the upside down moving box with a proper end table. Which will be right after I get around to figuring out how my oven works... really? This is how I live?

It's just so funny, right now it seems like everyone is just kind of holding back a little and trying to figure out life. Some friends are considering their different options for work next year, others are thinking about having kids, or not having kids and everyone seems to be freaking out about money. It was so nice to just sit back around friends I'm super comfortable with and just sort of say, life's not what I expected it to be. We all should be happy, but are we? I used to look at people that were married, or had a house, or a job they loved or .... something else... and think, oh, they must be happy! But, when I look at my life it seems like I should just be thrilled because of all the fun things I get to do or all the traveling, the thing is, it's not that I'm particularly unhappy, I just wonder sometimes if this is it? Or, is there something more? Am I missing something?

There are TONS of really fun things coming up. A friend from Dubai arrives tonight for the week, my mom comes on Friday, another friend is coming for Christmas and my sister and Eric have booked their tickets for February too. I also found a run in Vienna on December 31st, so that should be fun. I'm also really looking forward to April's Montenegro trip and summer in Cape Town. And then day to day life... the Christmas markets are great, the city is beautiful right now, we have a few fun work parties set up and soon we'll be on break. I can't believe it's almost 2010, that always seemed like a lifetime away!

Catching up...

Pictures and an update... finally!



Just trying to catch up with some photos! I'll start with Graz... Cute city where we did the half marathon in October.



Steph, Bridget, Ciara and Andrew after we walked up a zillion stairs to get to this lookout point with a huge clock tower.



For some reason I loved this picture.



This was a typical pre race Greek dinner, who knew that was a good idea! The wine was delicious also. I wonder why I didn't get my personal best the next morning...


Perfect pre race breakfast; I ate tons of delicious cheese, bread and coffee.



Bridget and I celebrating our finish.



Anika was our expert champagne opener... I think we had about 4 bottles? and then some wine? It really reminded me a bit of my Gonzaga in Florence years, only we had glass bottles of wine/champagne vs. the boxes we drank in college.






A few pictures from my birthday dinner... It was great, we went out for pizza at this place right around the corner from me that I LOVE.

I arrived into SF and my friend Anna picked me up. We went out to dinner with her husband at a great little French place right around the corner from their house, where I was staying. I got up the next morning, went on an awesome run to Golden Gate Park and then the wedding festivities started. The weather could not have been nicer and the entire wedding was fun! We started out with a bridesmaid lunch, nails, cupcakes, rehearsal (where I thought the church lady was actually going to KILL JB (Jen's husband) for touching some really famous something or other, she was actually a scary lady), rehearsal dinner and then out to some bar. All of the people I met were SO great! The next day we got ready in Jen's hotel room, got our hair and makeup done, ate a champagne lunch, took photos, did the whole wedding in a church thing, rode around in trolleys and then back to the hotel for the reception. Great people, food, conversation, drinks, location, everything about it was perfect! I feel so fortunate that I was able to fly back for it!




Right near where they were filming Trauma...



Bridesmaid lunch



Jen and I at the rehearsal dinner.



Right before we got in the limo!



College roommates, 10+ years later!



Anna, Jason and I went hiking in the Marin Headlands the day after Jen's wedding. I can't believe I've never been there before! After we went and had some wine and snacks, fun!






Kristin and I at the Nordstrom cafe before they took me to the airport. It was SUCH a fun time with her family! I was able to speak at Gavin's school about Vienna, go to his Halloween party, attend a Gold Card lunch with Ella at her school and then go to a harvest fest at a church with them in their Halloween outfits. We also had lots of time to do nothing, drink coffee, play games, go on walks, just do normal everyday life things. Gavin and I also went on a run, it was so cute, he seemed really, really excited about the whole thing and we went all the way to the golf course! Which is a really long ways for him!

Ok, so on to creepy hotel... This is the hotel we stayed at for our SCIS tournament. I coached Middle School Girls Soccer this year and it was pretty fun. I think I'd like to do it again next year, but we'll see I guess. Anyways, back to the hotel. First, it is in the absolute middle of NOWHERE. Not near the school, not near public transport, not in Munich, just in this random area somewhere near the airport... In addition to crazy location, there is scuba diving, the smell of chlorine, naked people (what is it with Europe and naked people?!), overpriced food and wine, weird slanty rooms, uh, what else. Titanic posters on the walls and an underwater theme. Freakish. But, I did meet some really nice people. Steph was there with her team, which made it more fun. Then, when we were out the first night, one of the coaches mentioned that he was going to a wine tasting the following night. Steph and I basically invited ourselves along. Which I am SO glad we did, because it was literally exactly what I like to do. Only, it was in German. We tried tons of white and red wines and eventually drank a few bottles of red. It was just nice to be out and have people talk to us and drink wine and eat snacks... sounds just about right!





Look at that, you can watch people get certified while you are having a drink. Not strange at all!



My FAVORITE thing to do! I know, I work in schools, I'm supposed to say how much I love to read... but really wine, snacks, friends? What else is there in life?








Isn't it beautiful! When I got off the U Bahn Saturday night after our REALLY fun train ride home with all the soccer kids from both of our schools... there were a million people out and about and everyone just looked so happy! I texted Steph that we were going the following day, and we did! Wandering around the Christmas markets, drinking gluhwein and eating pretzels or spiced nuts, I really can't think of a better way to spend the next 6 weeks!