Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Christmas break has begun! And, once again, the airlines are not being my friends. We had some fun doing the Christmas thing the last week or so, went to a cookie exchange, where we somehow ran out of time to exchange cookies, a Christmas concert that was fun, but seemed a bit like we were in a high school gym/lyons club hall. But... the director guy really looked like the happiest man alive and it was entertaining enough. Although, the girl they had singing in a tiny little skirt was a bit painful to watch, every time she bent over to get a glass of water we would all cringe and try not to stare, but for some reason couldn't help but watch and torture ourselves. The rest of the week at work flew by, had a Christmas party, talent show and a random snow day.

Speaking of snow... I was supposed to fly out Monday morning, but... all of Europe is a mess because of the snow. How it is this shocking that there is snow at this time of the year is amazing. Heathrow and Gatwick have all but shut down and flights in'/out of Germany aren't much better. I was supposed to go through Paris, but after arriving at the airport a little before 5am and a few delays, I realized I wouldn't make my connection and went down to get reticketed for a different day and by the time I got there they had cancelled the flight, I was lucky and was only 4 or 5 people back, but it still took nearly 4 hours to get rebooked. Oh, and it made me wish I was in a wheelchair or had a kid, because apparently then it it TOTALLY ok to walk to the front of the line and ask ONE person if it's okay if you go ahead of them because of your situation. It happened a couple of times before this guy just lost it and started yelling at anyone that even tried to ask a question, let alone cut in line. It's crazy how long it takes to reroute one person, it's like 20+ minutes... I felt bad for the people that worked there. I had an option to try to fly again the next day, but they told me it was unlikely the flight would make it, so if I lived here, it would be wiser to go for the next confirmed flight I could get, which was the 23rd. Whatever, and in typical fashion... they couldn't locate my checked luggage and said it would take at least 5 or 6 hours before they could get it to me. So, instead, I can just go the day of my flight, pick it up at Lost Luggage from Austrian Air and then recheck it on my KLM flight through Amsterdam. I'm sure that is totally going to work out. I decided that I will go out to the airport tomorrow and try to locate my luggage and get it checked in. Who knows if that will work. Unbelievable really. I had to laugh at this point, my luggage situation is now just a joke. My carry on is probably enough to get me by for a week or two... Steve was really great too, he was planning on flying home that morning, but now stayed here instead, you know, to entertain me. Ha! I'm frustrated and annoyed, but at the same time, what can you do? I have had some time to go to the gym, wander around shopping, enjoy Starbucks and clean my house a little, so it's not all bad. I have a hard time relaxing, but not a lot more that I can do!

I can't wait to get home! I was doing okay with it, but talking to my sister last night made me a bit sad about the whole thing. In the whole scheme of things I guess it's only 3 less days at home, but when you're only home two times a year for a few weeks, it seems like a lot... oh well. I'll be there soon enough! Crossing my fingers that the airports are all up and running by Thursday!

Sleigh bells ring...

I am so ready for Christmas Break! Work is ridiculously busy and I feel like I am just running around but somehow getting nothing accomplished. Annoying. I’m also starting to realize what a HUGE time commitment this Ironman thing is going to be. On paper I realized that it would be a lot of time, but after only two weeks, I’m realizing it’s even more time than I thought it would be. Getting to/from the gym and working out somehow takes twice as long as I think it will. We had Wednesday off and my one hour swim and 30 minute bike ride somehow took nearly three hours when you factor in getting to/from and changing and all that. And, that was a workday workout normally, how will I have three hours in addition to working all day? Especially when the commute to and from work takes up a minimum of an hour and a half per day… Swimming hasn’t been nearly as bad as I thought it would be, 2400 meters in less than an hour without stopping, so, I doubt I’ll drown in the Mediterranean. I had to laugh though, this guy decided the best option in an empty pool was to share the swimming lane with me, which was annoying and he had the nerve to be splashing me. Hmm, I’m guessing that might happen when I am in the middle of the race. Let’s see, what else? I went out for a run on Sunday and it was -12 degrees, that was fun. I didn’t realize my eye sockets could somehow hurt from the cold. The rest of the day I was super lazy, never left the house again. Tuesday I came home from work to find all kinds of chaos happening in my apartment building, I never did figure out what happened, but there was a door that looked like it had been kicked in that is now boarded up and another door on the same floor now has some pad lock and thing all hooked up on the outside. Who knew that I lived in the ghetto?! There was this new notice downstairs, of course it was in German, so I took a picture of it and spent the next 45 minutes typing it into Google translate thinking that it might tell me what happened, nope, all it said was that people are putting the recycling in the garbage or garbage in the recycling and this is very, very bad… I’m really glad it’s the weekend, we are doing a Christmas cookie exchange and going to some concert on Sunday, and it should be fun. No plans the rest of the weekend, I need to get some Christmas shopping done, or at least started…

Catch up....

I am SO far behind! Not only in writing in this blog, but life in general… okay, it’s been just about forever since I’ve written last so I’ll try to make it quick…
Time is just flying by, I think I have been out of Vienna more than I’ve been in Vienna. For work I went to Hallstatt with the 6th Graders, which was beautiful. We went to an ice cave, salt mines and we hiked a bit. I did some running around a lake and up in the hills, it was beautiful!

A couple weekends later Bridget and I went to Berlin for a long weekend. I ran the Berlin Marathon, it was absolutely POURING down rain. I actually wore a pink poncho during more than half the race and my phone and iPod died within the first three kilometers because they got so wet. My shoes were soaked and I have never seen the type of blisters I had on the soles of my feet. It was funny though because I knew that I hadn’t really trained enough for the race and with the conditions (and lack of music) I didn’t have any time goals, I just wanted to finish. For the first time ever in a race, I walked through water breaks, stopped at the bathroom, stood on the side and stretched at one point and was SO annoyed that I finished in 4:00 and 41 seconds… are you kidding! I could have totally gone 41 seconds faster, but I had no idea I was so close to breaking 4 hours. Annoying. When we finished we made our way back to the hotel, showered to warm up and then drank a delicious bottle of champagne while lounging around the hotel room, we did eventually venture out to a really great Italian place for a celebration dinner.

A few weeks later my mom came, we had such a great time! I love having her come, we just hung around Vienna, did a bit of shopping, a lot of eating and not much else. We then flew to Istanbul for about a week. We stayed in a really great place right next to the Blue Mosque and it was just perfect! The room was pretty tiny, but the location was great. I think I had Chicken Sis for every meal. I loved it! It was a perfect amount of time to be there. We had plenty of time to see all the main sights, but could do it at a leisurely pace, with plenty of time to stop at Starbucks, which I insisted we did almost every day. We also went to this traditional Turkish Bath. You know how I am with naked people… well, we were in our swim suits, but most people were just walking around with nothing on and just sitting there and ahhhhh, where are you supposed to look! Steph and her mom came the last night we were there and we all went out to this traditional Turkish dinner, it was really fun! We also saw my friend Brycen, it was nice to have a “local” to take us around one night. Fortunately we just missed the bombing… it happened the morning we left. My mom and I had a few more days to hang out in Vienna before she left. I am always so sad when she leaves, this time I wasn’t sure when I was going home again next too, so that always makes it worse.

A couple weeks after that, I took our MS Girls Soccer team to Lug, Switzerland for our SCIS tournament. We had a really great time. It’s always nice because Steph coaches the other team, so it’s a little bit like we are on vacation… well, a vacation ruined by coaching… no, we had a great time. It poured down rain the first day, but was beautiful the second day. I was hoping to see a friend of mine from Dubai, but, I was just too exhausted to make the trip into Zurich, even though it was only 45 minutes away. Maybe next time. We went into Luzern for a team dinner and it was such a cute place, kind of want to go back.

I came back to Vienna for a couple of days and was back at the airport for the ECIS Conference in Nice, France. Nice was absolutely beautiful! I am excited to go back in June… more on that later… but the conference was fine. The best part was reading on facebook that another girl I am friends with from Dubai, now working in Cyprus, was at the same conference. So, I stalked her and eventually found her at the conference. We went out to a great French meal that evening and it was WONDERFUL to see her! It was one of those long dinners when you talk about absolutely everything and nothing all at once. I miss dinners like that. When I flew back into Vienna, Wade, Katie and Amy were there waiting for me, without their luggage. Must be because they were visiting me that it got lost… We had a really great time while they were here. It was great to meet Wade, and always a good time with Katie and Amy. We had way too much wine and food, I feel terrible! We mostly just walked around to different Christmas Markets, shops and Italian restaurants for a few days. They also saw some museums and churches and other things that I have never seen even though I live here… We went to my friend Kent’s house for Thanksgiving, it was such a good time. Great people and great food. I was also able to check something off my life list… make a cheesecake, so exciting! I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake, had to be a bit creative with the ingredients, they just don’t sell everything here. The next day we rented a care and drove to Lake Bled. Driving to Lake Bled was sort of like a near death experience. I feel asleep for a bit in the backseat and when I woke up I was so excited to see the pretty snow… that ended pretty quickly. It was seriously whiteout conditions and icy snowy roads, if I remember correctly we got in front of the snow plow… We did eventually make it there and had our gourmet meals with goose liver and wild boar, massages, castle touring and wine tasting. It seriously looked like a winter wonderland. I went on a great run the first morning around the lake, breathtaking! We left early and got back to Vienna in time to eat at the Gulasch Museum, who knew that existed? Wade and Katie left that night… sad. Amy and I basically didn’t do too much the rest of the time she was here, but I loved having her (and Wade and Katie) just be around, I miss good friends from home like crazy and it was so good to be able to talk to them about anything and everything and hear all about their lives too. It’s hard living away, so I am SO thankful that they were able to come visit. Amy just left this morning at 4:30… she’s actually flying as I type.

So that’s the traveling/work part of life… let’s see what else? My U2 tickets were a scam, good thing I recommended the site to my boss too… oops! Went to another concert, I don’t remember who it was, but it was fun and there were lots of normal people there. We also did the Vienna Night Run again, which was great. Eddie had us all over before the race. Ciara and Andrew had a little girl, Amara, I was the first visitor at the hospital besides the grandparents, I just couldn’t resist! She is SO cute and they let me watch her the other night when they went out to the Marine Ball, she really is the cutest baby ever and has such a great temperament. Actually, speaking of her, there is a baby shower for Ciara this afternoon, I made a carrot cake and can’t wait to have a piece! We have been meeting up at lots of different Christmas Markets. I still love the Thai Punsch at the Karlsplatz market the best, but also love going over to the Spittleberg market, it’s just so cute over there. We are planning on going to a Krumpus market, or something like that on Saturday. It has been snowing excessively for the last few days, there must be nearly 10 inches of snow up at school, it’s beautiful. For now I love it, but I’m sure in a few weeks I’ll be sick of it. What else… Oh, I started taking the school bus to work and it is seriously life changing, lots more time in the morning and no standing outside and waiting for trams and busses. I love it. I also went out and bought a few more things for my apartment and signed on for another year, I guess it’s time to start settling. I’m sure I’ll get my place just the way I want it and then be ready to move, that’s usually how that works out. I’m currently wanting to get a soda water maker and a rice cooker/vegetable steamer but don’t want to carry it home. We were in Saturn the other day for hours looking at small appliances. I am also trying to convince Steve to get a coffee maker to make my life better. He ended up with a toaster instead. Maybe next trip. I finally bought a new cordless phone, but I can’t seem to figure out how it works, all the directions are in German, it’s driving me crazy! So, I still haven’t magically learned German, weird, right?! Ha. Oh, and in other news, I signed up for an Ironman in Nice, France on June 26. Not sure what I was thinking!

I’ve officially bored myself… so, while it may seem like it's so exciting and I get to do so much over here I am absolutely exhausted. I feel like I have NO time to do anything and am always running from one thing to the next. As usual, many of the planned things are fun and things I want to do, but it's just like summer. Exhausting. I keep trying to do things differently, but because of work, or coaching, or training, or whatever reason, I can't seem to keep any time to just relax. And all the traveling has put me pretty far behind at work also, which then just stresses me out. I feel like I need a break, and while I am SO excited that I decided to go home for Christmas, I'm really worried I'll do the same thing and end up running around like a crazy person. What I really need is a day at the spa...

Back to life, back to reality...

Things are going well. Not too much to report actually. It's already freezing, which I find very irritating, I was actually considering wearing my wool jacket the other day, but then refused and chose to freeze instead. Blah. We went out to dinner at this tapas place that I love the other night which was fun. Went on some fun bike rides, random lunches, Steph and I just had wine and cheese at a great place right near my house, I now eat a zillion times a week at this place called Vapianos. It's Steve's favorite place and I don't mind it, but it's no 6th Street... Soccer started last week, it should be a fun season. Too many girls for one team, so we need to find another coach. I'm not entirely sure my athletic director realizes that I think we need a full time coach, not just someone to help me out. Practice was a nightmare today. The bus didn't come to pick us up and take us to our practice field, so after a long time of waiting, I made the girls change and run the mile and a half to the field. You would have thought I asked them to walk on water they were so confused. Then it was a zillion of them and one of me. Fortunately my boss came down and helped out. Should be interesting. We have games this weekend and only one more practice and I haven't picked the teams. Oh, and I looked great running down to the field in my work clothes this afternoon... no wonder I had to go have wine and cheese tonight... Then next month or so is insanely busy...

Sept. 10 - 11 Soccer Tournament
Sept. 15 - 17 Fall Trip (Hallstatt)
Sept. 24 - 27 Berlin
Oct 2 Budapest
Oct 17 - 31 Mom's visit... and our trip somewhere really fun, yet to be determined...
Nov 11 - 13 SCIS tournament in Switzerland
Nov 17 - 19 Conference in NIce, France
Nov 19 -30 Katie and Amy come and we may travel for Thanksgiving...

I was exhausted after a summer of traveling and swore I would be more settled once I got back here, but things just seem to take on a life of their own. Of all those things, the only one I wanted to do was Berlin... and now that seems like it wasn't the best idea. I signed up for that marathon last January... haven't done much along the lines of training. Oh well, what can you do, right?

Ok, it's way past double digits... time for sleep.

Summer lovin had me a blast...

Highlights... let's see. After a crazy 20 hours in Vienna, half of which was spent paying a taxi driver a zillion dollars in order to hit nearly every district in Vienna to eventually collect my bridesmaid dress, I think it only cost around 250 Euros to get that taken care of... packed one big bag with all of my favorite clothes and the dirty clothes from S. Africa and a quick dinner at Vapianos I collapsed at Steve's house. We woke up early the next morning and we came to my house to quick pick up my bag and then he was going to drop me at the airport to catch my flight to Portland, where I would arrive at 1:30 in the afternoon the day of the rehearsal dinner for a wedding I was in. Well, of course we get to my house and instead of everything going as planned, I mean, when does that ever happen for me? I get there and I was completely locked out of my house. Eddie, my friend's boyfriend, was so kind as to drop off my black dresses at my house that Steph had borrowed so I could bring them home. Little did he know, he had locked a bolt that I did not have a key to. Captain Chaos, that's what Steve called me. Eventually we sorted it out and managed to get into my apartment, the best part was, when I looked at the black dresses, there was about 238 of them, she had given me ALL of her black dresses, but not the two that I had loaned her, the one I was planning on wearing to the rehearsal dinner and/or Jesse's wedding at the end of the month. Ha!

I had an overnight in NYC to meet my friend Jen, which was so much fun! We went to a great French place and drank delicious wine, ate wonderful food and listened to good music. Very fun. Of course, shockingly enough, my bags didn't arrive with me to Newark. I left the next day for Portland and now I'll just give the condensed versions...

Erin and Ben's wedding was amazing. We had a great time at the rehearsal dinner, I'm sure there were all kinds of really great people there, but I was so excited to see Erin and Ben, Casey and Myra, Shane and Mark. They are such a fun group of people that I don't spend nearly enough time with. My mom was amazing, driving me all over town, fixing my dress... while she was dropping me off at the rehearsal dinner, I just looked over and said, I bet you didn't think when I was 33 years old I'd still be asking you for rides... I thought the same thing the next morning when she was picking me up from my friend's house, really?!

The morning after the wedding, I must have still been a bit jet lagged, I decided I couldn't wait one more second and I drove out to Gearhart to see my sister and her family. I didn't call them I thought it would be fun to just surprise them, well surprise, when I got there, they weren't there. Ugh. Not to worry, I called Eric and they had just left for Seaside, so they came back and picked me up. It was great to see the kids. I decided to stay with them and then go up to their house for a few days until Anika arrived on the 7th. We had Gavin's birthday party, which was at a park and just kind of hung out and did a lot of nothing, it was great!

Anika arrived and we spent some time at Katie's and I saw my brother and some other friends, which was awesome. I showed Anika all my favorite places, we went out to HR, where we stayed with Lindsey and Simon, and just drove around taking pictures and of course went to 6th Street, it was as great as I remember it! It is still where I want to live if I ever go back to the States. Then we headed down to Missy's in Dundee for a wine half marathon. It was great, we met up with my best girlfriends and went wine tasting, bbq'd at Missy's and then they went out and Anika and I went to sleep so we could do our race the next morning. The race was hard, but beautiful. At the end of the race, I was sitting back, sipping a glass of wine and lounging in the sun and looking at all the runners "tasting" wine and thought, finally, I have found my people. We watched the World Cup final that day at this dive bar in McMinnville, and it was SO fun! We went for a great long lunch and then some wine tasting after that. Anika and I stayed down another night and it was great to just sit and catch up with Missy. The next day we went and sat in the Spruce Goose at her work, which was cool. Then we headed up to Portland so we could see the family I used to work for. Of course, things didn't go smoothly, Captain Chaos strikes again... we were on the freeway and things just didn't seem quite right. So, yep, the car I borrowed broke down and I ended up paying a zillion dollars for a rental, had to call my poor mom AGAIN to help me. Right, so we were at Washington Square and she was in Troutdale and it was rush hour traffic. Convenient.

I can't say enough about how great the family I used to work for is, I keep saying that their kids have spoiled me, I think all kids should be like them, and they most certainly are not all as much fun, smart, creative, funny and well, just all around PERFECT kids. I am sure I am not biased at all. I never feel like I have enough time to see them.

Anika and I then picked up my friend Heather from the airport and we all headed up to Seattle to see our friends Andrew and Ciara. We sat out on this beautiful deck on Alki Beach and sat and talked and had a great time. We then walked around a bit and then headed back down to my sister's house where we drank some wine and sat on their deck relaxing. We had to drop Anika off in Seattle the next day, so we had lunch up there and then Heather and I came back and went to a kid's track meet with Kristin, Eric and the kids. It was good fun, both Ella and Gavin won some ribbons. It looked like they were having such a great time. It was really great to spend some time just relaxing with their family.

Heather and I went back to Portland where we hung out with my brother and friends and had a BBQ one night, went to Noble Rot, my favorite wine bar, walked all over Portland, it was just great! Heather left and I went to a family thing and then my mom, brother and I went out to the beach for almost a week. It was by far the most relaxing part of my summer. I love being there, somehow I turned into the official soccer ref. It was great, yellow cards, red cards, the whole deal. We also went and listened to some music, watching Dane dance was absolutely hilarious.

Oh, did I mention I didn't have my luggage for 15 days? Seriously? I have the worst luck with that. It was also interesting trying to remember what time zone I was in. I think I spent a zillion dollars texting Steve good morning, or good night, or have a good day, now what time is it there? It seemed like about every 4 hours it was time for one of us to get up or go to sleep.

From the beach I went up and did the Ragnar Relay. It was more fun than I thought it would be, I mean, I was excited, but it was even better. It was great to see Kim and Steph and see Shane again too. Ragnar Relay started right at the US/Canada border in Blaine, WA and ended on Whidbey Island. We were the Northwest Heat (after my Dubai Soccer team) and dressed up like Devils... ah, all in good fun I suppose. The race was hard and tiring, but great and I would definitely do it again. After the race finished Steph, Kim and I stayed with Shane in Tacoma. After our delicious Mexican dinner in Seattle, we were going to go out, but... next thing we knew it was 9 the next morning. Oops.

Shane dropped us off at my sister's and we all drove down to my Grandma Rivera's house. Michael organized an awesome BBQ, with family and friends and the most delicious Filipino food ever, it was SO good!

I had a few more days in Portland, I saw Jess, went out to HR again, had a family BBQ, did some shopping and spent some time with my mom. It was really, really fun. Then I was off to the East Coast for a few days.

I'm not sure exactly what my plan was, but I ended up renting a car and driving from Newark to Harrisburg where I met up with Kate and Becky. We had a great time as usual. Kate somehow managed to take the worst pictures of me I have ever seen and she was so kind as to post them to her facebook account. Really? Oh well. We didn't do much, but I loved every second of my time with them. It's hard to believe we all used to live in Dubai together, seems like a lifetime ago. I drove from their to Philly to meet up with some more Dubai people for Jesse's wedding.

Jesse and Gibber's wedding was so great it almost made me think I may want to do that some day... it was in her parents' back yard and it was gorgeous. I've never seen anything quite like it. Somehow relaxed and fancy all at once. The food was actually part of the decorations and delicious too. We also toured around Philly a bit too, fun city. The family that we stayed with when we went to Oktoberfest a few years ago was there too, it was great to see Klaus! Jesse and Gibber both looked so happy too. Seeing people from Dubai made me miss it a little!

From there, Gregg, Mye and I drove into Newark, it was quite a long drive, traffic was terrible. Eventually Gregg and I met up with some friends in NYC and we had a fun night out. I took some train back to Newark and was a bit sketched out, but survived just fine. At this point, I just couldn't wait to get back to Vienna. I was excited to see Steve and not be living out of a suitcase.

Back to reality... I had a week or so with no work, which was great. Spent time in the sun, went on a bike ride that was supposed to be quite reasonable, but turned into an experience... Captain Chaos... followed a random Austrian to find the correct path and we ended up at an elderly nudist colony, what should have been a 3 or 4 hour bike hour to Bratislava turned into quite an ordeal. If nothing else, we did get some exercise.

Being back at work is fine, today was the first day with kids, which was nice because it just goes by so much faster. Let's see, what else, since I've been back I guess it's just been movies, dinners out, Rathaus, time with friends... all good things.

I'm SO happy to be back and am trying to get a bit more settled in. It only took me a year to realize that I live here. Steph and I painted my apartment, which has made a huge difference. Kristin drew a picture of how my apartment should look, so I am trying to follow that. I've been looking around trying to find some decorative things, but haven't had much luck yet. Soccer is starting next week, it will make for some very busy nights and weekends. We also have our fall trip coming up and then I'm going to Berlin too. I guess I'll have a little down time in December... My mom and Katie are both coming to visit. I can't wait!

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to write more often and less wordy... I am currently trying to download some new pictures to Picasa so I can put them up, but so far no luck.

Cape Town - London - Vienna - NYC - HOME!

You know that part of a vacation when all you have left is the trip home... I hate that part... I'm sitting at Beads cafe in Stellenbosch waiting for the citihopper, my own personal taxi service, to pick me up so I can start the zillion hour journey home. I'll have an overnight in Vienna, which means I can grab some summer clothes, then about 11 hours in NYC to see my friend Jen, then I arrive into Portland just in time to go to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding that I probably won't even be in... I shipped my bridesmaid dress USPS Priority Mail, which should have taken 5 - 10 business days over a month ago, the dress never made it. I could not feel worse about it, but have NO idea what I could have done differently. I keep calling and e-mailing school to see if it arrived, but no luck. Today is my LAST hope. Sad. But anyways, back to the end of this vacation...

We had an interesting drive to Stellenbosch, we stopped at this great place called the Wine Village where we tried wine and olive oils, it was great! Then we eventually made our way here, checked into our hotel and then went and watched the England Germany game... talk about some bad calls! We were at this really cool champagne and tapas place though, the food and wine were delicious! We went back and hung out at our hotel for a bit and then went to the Big Easy for dinner and to watch another game. Very fun.

The next day was great, we went on the only kind of hop on hop off tour I like, the one that takes me to different wineries :-) They were all beautiful and the wine was good. We had a really fun day, wine tasting is definitely one of my favorite things to do. We "rested" back at our hotel and then went out to this amazing Indian dinner where I was reminded why everyone hates American tourists. There was the most obnoxious group of American men I have EVER seen in my life. They had bought one of those HUGE bottles of wine (25 bottles)while wine tasting and were so loud and annoying I was embarrassed for them. As we were leaving they were telling us they loved us and offering everyone in the place wine. Ugh.

The next day we went out to lunch in a different town, it was unreal how many different wineries we drove past. It was absolutely pouring down rain and Katie and I looked real cute in our bright orange ponchos. I was SO sad that it was our last day together! We had a hard time finding our way back to the airport, but we eventually made it and dropped off the rental car. I was happy to be rid of that thing. I only nearly killed us once, so that was good. We caught a shuttle back to Cape Town and watched the Spain Portugal game. We had great seats and the game was an exciting one! We were right in the middle of a bunch of crazy Spaniards, but it was fun! Tony, some driver we had met the day before while wine tasting, came and picked us up and brought us back to Stellenbosch, it was a long, but good day.

Katie left at 5:30 this morning for a safari and I am just waiting to start the long journey home... I can't believe this trip is OVER! S. Africa is definitely on my top 5 list and I am already planning my next trip here... and Brazil in 2014 too!

Can't wait to get back to Vienna for the night and then head home!!!!!!!!!

USA! USA! USA!

So, you know when you think something is going to be fun and are really excited to do it and then it comes and you feel slightly let down? Well, that would be the exact opposite of how this trip has been. Cape Town was amazing and even better than I thought it would be. Seeing Katie and Nicole has been great too. Quick rundown... I met Katie at the hotel on Sunday, we watched all three games and ended up meeting up with the co-worker of a friend of mine and his friends and what was a relatively calm afternoon, turned into a long, long, but fun, night. My cousin Nicole arrived a couple days later for a few days before she moves to Zimbabwe.

As far as touristy stuff in Cape Town, we went up to Table Mountain and did the rappelling off the side, Robben Island tour, drove through Chapman's Drive, or route, down to Cape of Good Hope and then shark diving today. We spent a ton of time at the V and A Waterfront, watched a whole lot of soccer, ate a ton of good food and drank some pretty amazing wine. I NEVER want to leave the people are great, the city was full of this crazy fun energy, it feels completely safe and well, everything about this place is great. A few notes on the different things we did. Rappelling, not sure what made me think it was a good idea, we were standing on the edge waiting to go and I was fully just pretending that it was fun and I was comfortable, but I think it worked, because by the time it was my turn, I felt totally ready to go and just hopped on over and went for it. Midway down there was no longer a wall and you were just sort of dangling there, very scary. The hike back was actually more dangerous than the rappelling down. These British guys waited for me, which was nice, but we were all sort of wondering if one of us wasn't going to just slide right off the side of the mountain, which is 3000 meters high... Robben Island, half cool and half boring. The tour guide was a former political prisoner and listening to him speak and describe what it was like to be imprisoned there was very interesting and walking through the grounds and the prison cells was too. Although, it was so nicely kept that it was deceiving because it looked so nice and I'm sure it wasn't nice to be stuck there. The other part of the tour was a bus tour, and I just can't stand those.

We also went to two games, the Portugal vs N. Korea was amazing, seven goals and we were sitting right there at the corner. The Netherlands vs Cameroon game was also fun, but our seats weren't quite as good and the game wasn't quite as exciting. Our next game is Spain vs Portugal, it should be amazing! Watching the US game the other night was really fun too. We were at this place called Quay Four and they were showing the US vs Algeria and England vs Slovakia game, so it was a crazy mix of Brits and Americans. Very fun.

Yesterday we rented a car and drove around to where we are now, not sure of the name of the city, or village, it is outside of Stanford, another little town. The driving is crazy, the driver is on the right side, you drive on the left, it is all very confusing. We managed to make it all the different places we wanted to go, Cape of Good Hope, Penguins, Chapman's Peak Drive and a cool winery. We dropped Nicole off at a random train station, made sure she got on a train back to Cape Town and then we kept on our way. Of course it took way longer than we thought it would and it was dark, windy and a little scary to drive, but we did make it here. Our hotel is awesome. The guy drove us into town for dinner basically because I was so stressed after driving I didn't want to drive one more second and I wanted to have a drink. We had yet another delicious dinner and bottle of wine. Our room and the view is pretty amazing, it's right on the coast and you can see mountains and on some days whales... but not today. This morning we went shark diving. COLD. It wasn't actually as scary as I thought it would be, but the water was just freezing and being on the boat that long was hard because I was feeling seasick and people were just hanging off the side getting sick. Yuck. We've been lazing around the rest of the day, went out for some lunch, just watched Uruguay make it past Korea to the quarterfinals and now we're waiting for the US game to start in a couple of hours. USA! USA! Tomorrow we leave for Stellenbosch, and wine tasting. MY FAVORITE! I never want to leave.

Start of Summer break and WORLD CUP!

The last week of work flew by, I had another headache and ended up back at the hospital and then got an MRI, I wasn’t really too concerned about the whole thing till the jerk doctor at the hospital explained to me how stupid it would be to fly and/or go to S. Africa without knowing the exact cause of the headaches. He then mentioned how he would never give a “person like me” the needle in the back thing because I would likely flinch and end up in the hospital. Whatever. The MRI was fine, so off to S. Africa I went…

Anika and Steph helped me celebrate my last day of work by drinking a bottle of Moet and then a great dinner at this tiny Vietnamese place at the Naschmarkt. We decided that should really be part of our monthly plans next year. I mean, we deserve the champagne lifestyle. I’m still obsessing with the Swarovski Champagne glasses, I want them so badly and can usually justify purchasing most things, but… can’t seem to do it this time. Friday we watched the US game… that last goal TOTALLY should have counted!!! And then the English game after. We did break up the game evening by doing some Sake Bombs at a fancy Japanese restaurant, I’m sure they loved it… I think I’ve watched more soccer in the last week than I have in years or at least since last World Cup.

I was planning on taking public to the airport, but Steve was flying out the same time and came round with a taxi so we ended up at the airport way too early and then both of our flights were delayed. We just sat at Starbucks for hours for the second time that day. It was nice; I love Starbucks, it’s just like being home and they have soy milk.

I am right in the middle of a 23 hour journey to Cape Town. So far it’s been easy. I watched the Australia game in a bar at the London airport, got on the overnight flight to Johannesburg, had a glass of wine and Tylenol PM and woke up when they brought me my breakfast the next morning… Now I’m sitting at a coffee shop waiting for my flight to Cape Town. Almost there!!!!!!! Can’t wait to be there, just being in the airport feels exciting and there is World Cup paraphernalia everywhere and people running around in their full country gear… and down jackets. I’m going to FREEZE. I just couldn’t take the thought of putting on my long down jacket again, I mean; I was still wearing it in APRIL. Unbelievable. So, instead, I’ll just freeze. I thought about stealing the airline blanket so I could bring it to the games with me.

Ok, off to catch my flight…

Jen's Visit to Vienna

I'm so sad that Jen won't be at my house when I get home! We had a really great week. I was laughing because before she arrived I had asked her what she wanted to do while she was here, and she wrote something like, I'm not really into old churches and museums, I just want to see you and where you live... Perfect! We had the best time, I think I made her walk just about a million miles, we tried a bunch of great new restaurants and wine bars. My kind of visitor! I love being able to show people from home what my life is like, they get to see all the great parts, cool restaurants, beautiful architecture, the weather was gorgeous, but then they also get to experience the craziness of trying to get things done around here. Or that my washer drains through a hose into the sink and you have to sit at home while it's going so that if the hose flies out, you can sprint into the bathroom, dodge the flying hose and fix the problem. Or what a fun adventure ordering breakfast can be, I mean really, you should have seen the size of the muesli Jen got one morning, it was about the size of a thimble... well, I exaggerate, it was the same size as the espresso cup... She's off to Spain and I need to catch up on my sleep! We're heading out right after work today to watch the first World Cup game, but it will definitely be an early night and hopefully I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow. Even though I NEVER do, I'm hoping tomorrow I can. We'll see! Tomorrow night we have a big table reserved to watch the US vs England game. Should be great!

HOME!!!

I am SO ready to come home!

I had a great weekend in the sun, finally, but last night right as I was getting ready to go to sleep I got this massive headache and burst into hysterical tears... but first the weekend. Friday night I met Anika and Steph at Wein and Co. for tasting and a glass of wine, went out to dinner with Steve and then early to sleep. Saturday was a beautiful day, met Steph and Anika for a run and Dr. Falafel, then we all met up again near the Danube canal, or river?? for some non-Viennese fun. And by that, I mean there were people with tattoos and accents and actually smiling, how non-Viennese. We laid out on concrete slabs and I loved to see the sun again, this was followed by dinner at Mas! (saltinis included) and a rooftop terrace birthday party and a VERY late night. Sunday Anika and I met at Stadtpark for more sun and some lunch at Le Bol. Then I met Steve for Starbucks and rented a few movies, we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I liked it.

Ok, so now for the horrific headache and hospital experience. So, right as I was about to go to sleep, out of nowhere I had this instant headache that was so bad I could not stop crying and was gasping for air. We sat there at home for about an hour before I finally agreed to go to the hospital, I hate doctors and hospitals and kept thinking it would get better, but it just wouldn't. The doctor was nice enough and knew enough English, but it was just awful. I was crying the whole way there and then when we got there I was ok for a bit, then the headache would come in waves and I would be hysterical again. Walking through the hospital there were beds that had obviously already been used and had dirty/bloody towels on them, which of course set me off into more crying, then they would speak German to me and give me German forms I couldn't fill out, so I'd be crying again. And, my head hurt so bad I wanted to throw up. After a zillion tests and cat scans, they worked out that I was fine. There was some percentage of a chance that something could be wrong and they wanted to take spinal fluid which brought on another round of hysteria. I said no and had to sigh a waiver saying I refused the recommended treatment, but there was NO way I was going to let them do that, they couldn't even get the IV line in without blood squirting everywhere and running down my arm. Then they gave me three different options of what I could do and I just was way too tired to know what to do, all I wanted to do was go home so once again I just started crying. So I just said I wanted to do whatever it was that was going to let me go home the fastest. Little did I know they would give me some sort of IV fluid medication in this large room that looked similar to a medic tent in a refugee camp with people sprawled out all over the place and ugh, it was just awful. Although, once I finally got the medication (about 3 hours after arriving to the ER)the pain eased up and I was tired and delirious enough that I was able to sort of doze off while I got the drip. I think I was just out of it because of the pain, I really couldn't even think clearly and I have a hard enough time with decisions as it is normally. Anyways, the doctor finally released me a little after 4 in the morning and gave me an "entry ticket" to go back the next day at 8:00am (which I decided not to do...) and then they ripped out the IV thing and again it started gushing with blood. I held the cotton thing on there for a minute, then threw it away. As we were waiting for the taxi to go home, I felt something on my arm, looked down and there was a huge amount of blood just running off my arm and dripping to the floor. So disgusting. When we got home, I collapsed into bed and was asleep in like two seconds, but had to come to work today because there is far too much to do and the school year is almost over, but now I'm just tired and exhausted. Jen is coming today, in fact, she should have arrived by now, and is being dropped off at Wein and Co. near my house. Can't WAIT to see her, but it may have to be an early night tonight. My head hurts and I'm exhausted... All I could think about last night was how much I wished I was at home, with my Mom in the ER at ANY hospital in Portland.

Time for Summer!

Ok... it's been far too long since I've written... let's see. Life is going really well, I am SO tired of the cold and miserable rainy weather and if one more person tells me that this is the worst Spring in 15 years I might actually hit them. Whatever. So, since I've written last... not too much has been going on! We did a long bike ride and had to take cover in a random restaurant and wait for the big storm to pass. I've noticed that when it comes to any sort of physical activity, I automatically assume it's a race and just have such a hard time enjoying the ride and instead wanted to just go as fast as possible. Some day I may learn to relax! There was a food and wine festival that we went to at Stadtpark in Vienna that was really fun, we did a miserable race that would have been fun if the weather was nice, but instead I was SOAKING wet and freeing cold and running around the city of Vienna paranoid that the "seekers" would find me... we had a couple of long weekends, but I ended up just staying in town and going on a few day trips. Yesterday it was sunny and beautiful, I even sat out in my bikini and wore a strapless dress! Unheard of in Vienna... Let's see... what else, well nothing really. Boring.

I am really looking forward to summer. I think I have most of the summer planned and figured out. S.Africa for World Cup June 19 - July 1st, July 3 - 28th I'll be in Portland, HR and Seattle area. July 28 - August 2nd East Coast. Two weddings, a wine half marathon, the Ragnar Relay, it should be BUSY! I get back to Vienna August 3rd and will have some time to relax and might travel a bit, we'll see.

Can't wait to get home and see my niece and nephews and the rest of my family and friends too! I have a couple of friends visiting the NW and it will be fun to show them my "real life".

That's all for now... nothing much to report!

Guilty...

So, it's been a week or so since I've written, since then I've returned to work, run a marathon and just finished a nice long dinner (surprisingly pizza and wine...) with a girlfriend from work.

First, work. Well, it's work. I would like to just be independently wealthy.

Second, the marathon. Well, all I can really say is I'm happy it's over. I knew I wasn't ready, but it was the worst marathon I've ever done. Not only was it the worst time, I just felt awful during most of it. Instead of feeling energized by running these days, it just feels awful. The time itself, wasn't that bad, but anything that could feel bad or go wrong did. The morning started with me thinking I'd sliced off the tip of my finger. I was trying to cut a roll so I could toast it, turned into a bloody mess. Then, at kilometer 15 my iPod broke, I could still see my time, but the music stopped playing. I was carrying my phone, so I texted Steph and she met me at kilometer 23 or so with her iPod and some water, which I was SO thankful for. Right around the same time, 15 km, my eyes started doing that thing where it goes all tunnel vision and sparkly for a second and then returns to normal, by kilometer 22 or 23 I was starting to have this weird shortness of breath thing that seemed like a panic attack, but I was able to calm myself down. Well, I could go on and on, but you get the idea, it was awful. There were periods of time where it felt ok, but overall, it was bad. The second I finished I was happy though. It was really great to have some friends cheering me on at the finish and then we all went to 1516 for drinks and lunch, then a lazy afternoon at home baking cookies and drinking wine. So all in all, it wasn't a bad day. And, the next day I got up and went on an easy run and was wearing high heels to work, so as far as recovery time goes, I feel just fine.

Dinner... pizza and wine. Good way to relax after a long meeting at work. The weather is starting to get nice again finally. I wore heels and a skirt to work the last couple of days and you would think I had shown up in an evening gown. It's pretty hilarious, all the same clothes I wore to work in Dubai, and here my boss was asking me if I had a job interview. Whatever. It's been interesting lately, we've been having all kinds of interesting conversations about the summer and going home and traveling and how much time and money we spend over the summer and then end up just running around trying to fit it all in. I was mapping out my summer schedule and realized that's what it is, a schedule. I'm trying to fit it all in, time with friends, weddings, time with family, having visitors and also trying to make sure I still take the time to do things I want to do too. I signed up for two running races (even though at the moment the last thing I want to do in the world, is run another race). It's amazing how badly I want to be in two places all the time. I feel like I'm missing out on tons of things at home. I miss my family and friends and being part of peoples daily lives. But, at the same time I know financially I couldn't hardly afford to be a teacher in the U.S., well, I could, but it would involve giving up traveling and working two jobs. When here, in Vienna, I can work only one job, and still be able to travel all over the world. I just got back from Italy, which I loved, and am going to go down to Zagreb in a few weeks to play in a soccer tournament. I definitely couldn't do that if I was home!

Things are going really well in Vienna, I'm happy here. The job is fine, the city is beautiful, I still think the people are pretty lame overall in the city, but I have met great people through work and then friends of friends. I'm starting to feel like this is where I live, I want to go away and travel and see things, but at the same time, I kind of like just normal life stuff. I love my Saturday routine and the fact that the I think the people at Dr. Falafel are my friends and that the guy who is begging for money at the grocery store I live above now just says hi to me... With the weather changing, all the outdoor seating is back and we are starting to hang out at the Naschmarkt again, which I love! We were there last night and I ordered this huge summer spritzer, because you know, I wasn't drinking... I guess I shouldn't feel guilty about being happy, but it's hard not to feel like you're letting people down by not being around. People are marrying people I don't know, my best friends kids have no idea who I am and I"m not entirely sure my youngest nephew knows me. How can you not feel guilty about those things? Maybe it's just the time of year, but I can't wait to get home and see everyone!

Back to reality...

Just got home from pizza and wine at Il Sestante... the best pizza in Vienna, in my opinion anyways. Yesterday I was nearly in tears as the plane touched down in Vienna. I just wasn't ready for my Italian vacation to be over. I could bore you with all the details, or I could just break it down to a few words. Wine. Friends. Food. Sun. Views. Italian Men. Ha! We were sitting at dinner the other night, saying that if you're single and needing an ego boost, Southern Italy is the place to go. I don't even think we could count the number of men that were talking to us, ranging from bus drivers, bartenders, old expats, old Italian men, I mean, we were just loving our wall...

Okay, let me back up a bit. We had last week off work for our April Break. We went down to Rome for Easter Weekend, then headed south hoping for some sun. We went to Positano and Sorrento. The conversations were great, what I love about good friends is that you don't see each other often, or you see each other every day, and still you never run out of things to say. We didn't have much of a plan, so our entire trip was basically wandering around and waiting for it to be time to eat or drink again.

Some highlights... Rome, running in the park, seeing Vatican City decorated for Easter, delicious fried artichoke for desert, endless conversations about all the stereotypical girl things and wandering around cute cobblestone streets and window shopping... We made our way down to Positano where we met a random man, Frank, who's business card said "Adventurer" which I loved, and he suggested an amazing hotel with this huge sitting room with an amazing view. Our first night we were there we were sitting at dinner and I got a text from the guy I'm dating and it just said, I was talking to a guy at the gym today who used to date an American runner who used to live in Dubai, could only be you... I really think that's the kind of stuff that only happens to me. Ha! We went on a hike that caused my legs to shake like crazy after all the steps, we met Misty the mystical dog... amazing views the whole way to the next town. Next, we went back up to Sorrento where we hung out at the wall, were asked out by bus drivers and Steph and Heather both hopped in a random green car for some great photos, even had some free gelato, the way to a girl's heart for sure. Found a great hotel with a view there too, Heather and Steph went to Pompeii and I sat in the sun reading all day. We also found a great bar and they sang some karaoke and had some free drinks and spent some time staring at the best looking Italian man ever. His wife and child were at the bar the night before. I know, a baby, at a bar, normal, right? We did finally have to leave Sorrento and head back to Rome to catch our flight home. We ended up on the same train as my friend Claudia and all decided to have one last night out. She knew of a great wine bar, so we went there, had amazing wine and great food. We also stared at an incredibly good looking Australian guy the whole time. I love vacations.

Eddie picked us up from the airport and Steph and I were both just grumbling about the weather and hating Vienna and, nice guy that Eddie is, he brought us both presents. A bunch of baking supplies we can't get in Vienna, some cream cheese frosting, chocolate chips, saran wrap and ziploc bags. So nice. Who knew that would make us both so happy.

I am desperate for the school year to be over so I can get home! I've been feeling a bit homesick for the U.S. of A these days. Found a great deal on a ticket home, but it means I'll be arriving back to Portland at 12:50 and have a rehearsal dinner that night and a wedding the next day... should be interesting! Can't wait to get home to see friends and family, but, am still loving life abroad too...

Choices...and settling...

We all make them, some are good, some aren't so good. All day I sit and talk with students, parents, teachers, friends and I always feel like I'm saying everything is a choice, and with the choice you make there is a consequence. And, not making a choice is, in itself, a choice. At work I have to be really careful not to use the word punishment and instead say consequence. Somehow consequences always seem bad, but can't they be good too? I mean, if you make a good choice then you get a good consequence, right? I made a few not so great choices recently and it's funny, because somehow, when you only have yourself to blame, it just kind of, is what it is, and there's nothing you can do but move on and keep on going, right?

I've been talking to a friend of mine who hates where he lives, but has stayed for years and years because the job is fine and the life is easy, but not good. Settling... So why does it seem we often let fine be good enough? It seems like everyone sort of lives at this ok level and lately it seems like many people I talk to keep saying the same thing, there has to be something more than this, right? I know that I personally find it especially annoying because my life is good, but I'm always just waiting for the next best thing. Work for instance, a big part of my plan was to eventually get to the point where I could afford to work and live in Western Europe. I had this idea that I would have to go to Dubai, then another big school in Asia somewhere, save a ton of money and then come to Europe. Fortunately, or so I thought, I found a great job that pays well and skipped the big school in Asia part, but now that I'm here, I'm thinking really? This is what I wanted. Sure, it's great, good people, tons of travel, lots of fun times but what else is there? And, it's not even like I'm miserable, I just think I should be happier than I am. And, I'm pretty happy.

Last night I went out to dinner with a group of people, one of the girls was visiting a friend of mine and she is currently living in Portland. It made me SO homesick, I couldn't stop thinking about all the people, places and ease of life that I miss so much. But, when I really think about it, I know I would go crazy at home and be so bored and so broke.

Settling... another word than often has a negative feel to it. People talk about settling in terms of relationships, jobs, all kinds of different things. But sometimes settling means you know what to expect, it may not be great, but it's not scary, it's not the unknown. There are many a time that I sit with a glass of wine and a girlfriend or two and talk about whether or not it's a good idea to settle, at the end of the day for myself, I'd say no. But, the more I think about it, the more I can understand why someone would make the choice to "settle" and just like how maybe consequences aren't alwyas bad, maybe, for some people, settling isn't always bad either.

Finally...

So I have finally had a few good runs! Saturday was great, Steph happened to wake up early, so she did the first hour and a half with me, then the next hour and a half was with the rest of the group. And, at the end, I felt good, not exhausted and irritated. I'm wondering a little bit if the weather has something to do with it. The rest of the week was good, went to Steph's and ate some dinner and watched the Bachelor a few different nights, stayed in and caught up on some US tv and watched Gonzaga get crushed by Syaracuse... sad. Saturday was a great day, we ran, it was sunny, met at the naschmarkt for Dr. Falafel and then Steph and I bought those little ramkin things and made chocolate molten lava cakes. DELICIOUS. It tasted as good as they do in the restaurants. We have about 5 more recipes to make and then we will figure out which is the best one... fun, right?

Managed to get lost this morning on my run. I thought I would head over near the Prater and come back through the third district. Problem is, I have no idea how to navigate through that area and ended up who knows where. I eventually found a tram line I could follow back to the ring and managed to get to work without being late. Barely.

This is my first week without German class, I couldn't be more excited about the prospect of doing NOTHING after work every night this week. YEAH!

Just another week in paradise…

Well, not exactly, but things are going well. Running is still pretty terrible, just need to slow it down I think. Ran into Anika this morning running around the ring at 6:15, or so, that made for a nice distraction. German classes are over tonight, which I am both really excited about and a little disappointed. But, not so disappointed that I’ll be signing up for the next session. We did all pass though, so that’s good!

A group of us went to Budapest last weekend for Steph’s birthday. I had to laugh because we were sitting in the dining area of the Meridien where we stayed and I looked over at Steph and just said, this just feels right, doesn’t it? And had to laugh, since when did it become normal to be sitting in a 5 star hotel sipping on champagne and ordering endless espressos and eating plates of delicious food. Oh right, since Dubai. Didn’t realize how much I would miss that life, or how normal it felt. Still think my best line ever was one night at the Westin in Dubai after returning from the bathroom and looking over at my friend and telling her… there was no one in there to help me. Still not sure what exactly I thought I needed help with… Ugh. Anyways, I digress. Budapest was such a cool city. We left Friday after work and arrived into Budapest and to our hotel, which was gorgeous and in a great location, by 9:30 or so. We dropped our bags and went to a cool bar called Black and White. It was a great place and people seemed relaxed and spoke English. The next day we had our delicious breakfast and then I was drugged and put onto the hop on hop off bus. Well, I wasn’t actually drugged, but UGH, I hate those things! Oh, I also did my long run, just under 20 miles, I managed to end up on this island thing with a track and toured about the city, it was nice. Then we just walked around a bit, tried out the sauna and steam room at the hotel and then lounged around the hotel and lazily drank some wine, champagne and got ready for Steph’s birthday dinner. We went to this Greek place that was delicious and then to a few other bars. I really liked the feel of Budapest, I don’t think I realized how uptight Vienna is until I get away from it and to a real city. People were nice, bars were fun, people spoke English and it was less expensive than Vienna. Who knew? I guess we’ll just have to go there more often, I have a friend who will be working there next year, maybe it will become our weekend escape…

I made a turtle cake for Steph’s birthday, it was fun to make something new. I need to find more new things to make like that, although, it’s a bit of a challenge with the limited supplies of things that I think should be readily accessible, like chocolate chips, all purpose flour, baking soda etc… I just can’t get used to it! It’s still snowing. Irritating. But, this weekend it may get up into the 60’s… that will be VERY exciting! We’re heading to Rome in a few weeks for an Italian adventure, we have no plans, no idea where we want to go, no hotel reservations oh, and it’s Easter weekend in Rome, I’m sure it won’t be crowded at all. Ha! Whatever, it’ll all work out.

Where does the time go!

I keep meaning to write, but then think I want to upload some pictures and get very bored with that idea... it always takes forever. Life has been very busy and fun lately. Let's see. I had a great time with Kristin and Eric! While I would have LOVED to see the kids too, it was a really fun time to just be with the two of them for so long. They got in on Sunday afternoon, we went on a little walking tour and then to Il Sestante for Pizza with some friends of mine. Happy Valentines Day to us!

The next couple of days were filled with as many tourist things we could squeeze in, what was it I called them? Turbo tourists? I think they saw more museums and Vienna sights than I have. But somehow it didn't feel too rushed, we did things like long lunches at Cafe Central, Dr. Falafel at the Naschmarkt and some time just sitting around my house. They also met some of my friends, which is always fun for people to get to see part of your normal life. After a few days in Vienna we went up to Prague for a couple of nights. The train ride there was hilarious. The entire car was empty and Kristin had moved across the aisle and was sitting and reading and out of nowhere this lady came and sat right there. Even though there was a zillion seats. I don't really know what her deal was, she was speaking German, English and just not making a whole lot of sense. Then she would just stare at us. Very weird. When the person came to check tickets, this woman said something about going to Italy. Wrong direction. She ended up getting off at the next stop and just wandered off and got on a different train. Hopefully she eventually made it home...

We arrived into Prague and found our hotel, which was in a perfect location, and then just spent the next couple of days wandering around Prague. It was cool, one of Eric's friends used to live there so we had a whole list of things to do and some restaurant suggestions, which is always really helpful. The dinner we had the first night was SO delicious. Prague is a really beautiful city. One of the days we were in this church and for whatever reason Kristin and I took it as an opportunity to try to figure out our cameras. I think I have just about 8 zillion pictures of the stained glass windows. Very necessary. We walked all over the place and ate tons of good food. One night I tried to order the local hard alcohol, I'm not even sure what it was called and the waiter suggested to make it a long drink with tonic water and lime. I asked if I could have it with soda water and he just simply said NO, that would not be good. And refused to bring it to me. Interesting. The train ride back was fun, we drank some wine and played scrabble. When we got back to Vienna it was sad because it was their last night here. We grabbed a quick dinner at Tin Tan and then they packed. I missed them before they were even gone! I just wish Vienna and University Place were a bit closer, would love to just be able to go there for a long weekend.

The next few weeks were busy too. Between German classes, tutoring, dinner club, running club and Sunday Funday every moment of my life seems to be planned. Speaking of running club... running has been miserable for the last couple of weeks. I used to feel energized when I was finished and lately the runs themselves have felt awful, twice I had to walk home, and at the end I'm exhausted instead of energized. Maybe now I can relate to why some people hate running. If it was like this all the time I'd never go. It is driving me crazy though. I took 5 days off last week and went this weekend, yesterdays long run was okay and today we had a race and it felt pretty good, not great, but good enough. Oh, and it's snowing again. Boo.

Back to Sunday Funday, I hosted last weekend, it was fun. We had good food and everyone had to wear summer clothes, strapless dresses, board shorts, etc. Ciara and Andrew made these really good champagne/sorbet drinks and there were some cold salads and other things that remind us of summer. Oh, I am just dying for it to be warm. On Friday I had decided that I was just going to dress for Spring and wore high heeled open toes shoes, when it started snowing on the walk home I realized it was a bit early. Yesterday after run we went to Cafe de Provence near my house for brunch and then spent the day shopping and wine tasting on Mariahilferstrasse, which was totally fun. Then we decided to meet up for a Dubai type evening with shisha and Middle Eastern food. It was only the third time I've ever tried shisha and there is NO need for me to ever do it again, it made me SO sick. I actually had to leave the restaurant and come home.

Today I had a race, cooked for the week and cleaned. When did I become so boring? I'm trying to catch up on life, just haven't had the time lately during the week to get anything finished. I'm debating about whether or not to take the next German class. While I want to continue, two nights a week for nearly 3 hours is just such a big commitment and once the weather gets nice I know I'm going to want to be outside all the time... I have another week or so to decide. Taxes... I need to put that on my list of things to do... Hopefully I'll get around to adding pictures soon!

Venice Carnival 2010!

I just got back from a GREAT trip to Venice. Seven of us boarded the "Party Train" to Venice late Friday night and just got back this morning, Sunday. We got on, relived my Gonzaga in Florence days, only we were a little classier this time around... ha! We were in 2nd class sleeper cars for an overnight to Venice, spend the day at Carnival and then back on the train for an overnight back to Vienna.

What a trip! We drank, played loaded questions, ate chips and salsa and dipped girl scout cookies in homemade cream cheese frosting on the train. Delicious! We also went down to the "Disco Car". When we arrived to Venice we were basically kicked off the train because we were moving so slowly... trying to drink our mimosas and eat our bread, salami and cheese... ha! We spent most of the day wandering the streets of Venice making our way towards St. Marks Square, taking tons of pictures, stopping in a zillion different shops, drinking super rich hot chocolate, stopping at cafes and bars for drinks and food, a nice long lunch, where Steph and I decided it was a totally reasonable option to do hand stands and give directions as if we had some idea where we were or how to get anywhere...

We watched an insect parade, a fire show and popped a zillion bottles of prosecco, drank mini bottles of wine and ate more pizza and gelato. We eventually made it back to Vienna this morning. I slept just fine, well thanks to the Tylenol PM. I love that stuff... now I'm just finishing uploading pictures to facebook, checking e-mails and waiting for Kristin and Eric to arrive. They missed their connection in Paris, same one I missed coming back in October. I wonder if they'll get their luggage...

Can't wait for them to get here! I have a week off work, we'll be here for the first half of the week, then we're off to Prague. FUN!

Life.

I've been sick for just about EVER. But... things are still good here in Vienna. My sister and Eric will be here in a few days and I can't wait! Let's see... since I last wrote we have had a few more running club Saturdays, which have been great. I am loving meeting up with friends and running every Saturday. It still shocks me that we run in snow. And, that I haven't fallen. I know, I probably shouldn't even say that.

We made it to Wabi, the spa in Hungary. Amazing! We drank champagne from these hilarious glasses and celebrated a friend's birthday, I'm going to have to upload some pictures soon... When we arrived, they had all of our appointments scheduled for the next day. They managed to fit all of us in for all of our treatments, which was great! We had a really fun time and ran into another friend and her husband and all went out to this great dinner, which, since we were in Hungary vs. Austria, we had twice as much food and drinks for half the price.

It's "Ball Season" in Vienna, a group of us went to one the other night. A few of us got ready over here at my house, had a few drinks and then met up with everyone for dinner at the Sky Restaurant. The ball was fun, but I was feeling so sick I ended up leaving early. Once I realized I was using the ice bucket for the champagne to cool off I decided it was probably time to go home.

The last week of work flew by and then it was time for break. YEAH!

Gold Medal Flour...

Who knew you could miss something so simple. In the good ole U. S. of A, we can just buy Gold Medal All Purpose Flour and make delicious cookies, cakes and breads. Well, here in Austria they have about 8 million varieties. I know I keep talking about it and asking people and trying different ones, but at the end of the day, you end up with a million different answers to the same question AND terrible cookies. Boo. I made some cookies to bring in for this class I just started teaching, stars to represent what they are good at already and shooting stars to represent their goals... Fun, right? Well, I hope with enough frosting they taste good.

We finally booked our spa treatments and figured out the train situation to get to Sopron, Hungary this weekend. I've never been to Hungary... we plan on having out own personal wine/prosecco tasting on the way there.

Fun!

Sunday Funday

Another busy week that ended in Sunday Funday... German classes started on Monday, we meet twice a week for about 2 1/2 hours. The teacher is great for me, he speaks mostly German, but is willing to explain in English when we all look at him with these blank stares. Work has been going well, I'm settling into my new office and we just finished the 2nd Quarter. I can't believe the year is half over, that just seems crazy! But, I guess that's just the way it goes, life is just flying by!

Ciara and I had a crazy annoying experience trying to fine the running store last Thursday. I have been there before, but went a different way. Long story short, it snowed all day, but we decided we would run to my house and then catch public down to the store to register for this race, pick up a few things and try on some winter clothes. Well, it took us nearly an hour to wander around this area searching for the store. Poor Ciara was in capri pants, it was probably below zero. It was SO cold and I wanted to hit things I was so frustrated. It didn't help that once we foudn the store, they couldn't find my race number, so I couldn't even pick up the chip I wanted to, go figure.

After the mess, I went to a friend's house for dinner, one drink turned into two, turned into Champagne, turned into great coversation... definitely a fun night! Dinner club week two went well.

We also had week two of running club. Again, awesome run, Starbucks and falafel. I could get used to that! Steph made a great dinner that night too, then a bunch of us got up and ran this race, you could select your own distance, 7km, 14km, or 21km. It was absolutely FREEZING cold out, people passed me on cross country skis at one point... but we all did it and were happy about getting out there, even with the cold and miserable conditions. Since I had run a super long run the day before, I thought I might take it easy, but once the race started, I got all weird and wanted to run a certain speed. I ended up running the "predicted speed" the Smart Coach on runners world thinks I can complete the marathon in. After doing it for 14km, all I can say is NO WAY! We'll see...

This week will be busy with German Class, friend's birthday and then this weekend we are going to go to the spa and then try to do some cross country skiing too! I'm super excited about it, I haven't gone forever, but think it's a great workout and I love the idea of getting out and doing something fun in the snow instead of staring at it an thinking it's pretty, or staring at it and thinking it's ruining my running schedule...

Oh, so Bridget hosted Sunday Funday this week and it was great! We ate delicious food, drank Champagne and wine then had some cake and banana bread. So fun!

Ah, what a rough life.

Danube Canal Striders

Today we had our first DCS run. I used to be part of the Dubai Creek Striders, which totally got me into long runs every weekend, to the point that I felt like I was slacking off if we ran anything less than 16 or 17 miles, with most runs closer to 20 miles. Since moving to Vienna I've continued running, but the long run was closer to 10 miles and most weekends... I'm looking to change that! A bunch of us are runners and most of us are training for the Vienna full or half marathon, so what better way to train then as a group! We met this morning, did our run and then went to Starbucks and Naschmarkt. I ran about 16 miles and it felt great! I'm hoping we can be consistent with this... Last night I went to The Buena Vista Social Club. It was amazing! I loved the music and they did have us up and moving around a bit, but it would have been a totally different type of show if it was at a smaller venue where we could all be dancing and drinking, but the music really was awesome!

It's just about over...

any sort of life I might have had... Next week German classes start, which will be fun and all, but will leave NO time for anything else. A few of us signed up for these German classes at the University right near my house. While I am TOTALLY excited to be back in school and learn German, finally, I am realizing between class two times a week, not being able to run in the mornings (ice + dark = danger)and shops only being open till 7:00 or so... life as I know it will be over. We also started a dinner club, which I am really excited about, but that means every night during the work week I will be busy. I guess that will help me out financially. This whole world cup thing is KILLING me! I know it is going to be fun and I will love every second of it while I am there, they are charging so much more for everything the whole time we're there! But... I can't wait! I am also trying to book a flight home for a friend's wedding in July and hoping to make an East coast appearance on the way back next summer. Ugh. I just wish I was rich! February is going to be a very fun, but expensive month too. And, I just figured out Nordstroms.com will ship to Vienna. Dangerous!

Cultural Tour of Vienna...

Well, maybe not. I had my first 6:00am morning in Vienna... We started out at our favorite Italian place, Il Sestante for Chianti and pizza, followed by Rioja wine and tequila shots (with orange and cinnamon) at Tin Tan, left for drinks at an Irish Pub, then swung by Roo's, an Australian bar and then of course we had to go back to Tin Tan, I mean, we did promise Luis... Jr. and Sr.! Ha! What a night! It ended with a little guitar hero, or some sort of game like that, I'm not sure which one of those WI or Nintendo or something..., but I was AWFUL at it! The next day we rounded off the tour with baking homemade cookies from the US of A and then Sushi and Sake... Ha! The whole night and following day was pretty hilarious, and the kind of thing I don't think I've done since college. Fun though! It snowed a TON that night too, the city is looking pretty awesome.

We had to go back to work today, sad. Well, it will be nice to be back in a routine I guess, but I really was loving just relaxing in Vienna. They moved my office over break, it was quite a disaster, I have a lot of work to do. I've already broken a huge shelf thing, I put too much weight on one side, but, in my defense it was a three part cabinet thing and they only put wall brackets on two sections... of course the one with no brackets is the one I chose to put old test materials in... now it's all rigged up with this funny t shaped random wood thing. I'm sure they'll fix it all up tomorrow...! It's supposed to snow a ton tomorrow, which would be great!! I wish it would snow tonight so we could have a snow day, but that is pretty much not going to happen.

There are a bunch of fun things coming up... I think we are going to a concert this weekend if there are still tickets available, Naschmarkt (I LOVE it there!!!), Buena Vista Social Club concert the 15th, German classes start the 18th, we may try to pull together a ski weekend, the ball February 6th and I think we are going to try to do this overnight Venice Carnivale thing and then my sister and brother in law come!!! Can't wait!

I just bought the Nike iPod thing, I used to have it years ago, but it died and I never got another one, but seemed like a good idea... we'll see. My friend and I just signed up for a series of races this winter, I guess you get to chose your distance the day of the race. Interesting!

Highlights of 2009... Prosit Neujahr!

Just wanted to have a little "Best of 2009" entry... Pictures are on the sidebar!

One of my favorite quotes...

For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.Happiness is a journey, not a destination. -Souza

January
Everest Base Camp, Dubai Marathon and camping in Oman.

Everest Base Camp
The year started off with a little hike... Katie, Syma and I hiked to Everest Base Camp. I have never been so cold in all my life! But, the views and the experience is something I will never forget! I love that I've done it, but even a year later, I can't highly recommend it for everyone.

Dubai Marathon
My personal best! I ran the Lisbon Marathon in December and only got in one long run before we left for Nepal, but whatever I guess the altitude training must have worked! I felt great during the whole race and feel like I could have actually run a bit harder. We celebrated with a delicious lunch at, surprise, surprise,Barasti. I miss the Tuna sandwiches there as much as I miss the sun... and the carrot cake from Lime Tree and my friends.

Camping in Oman
Mark and I left "right" after school, or on Mark standard time, whatever... We went down a little south of Muscat to Wadi Shab. I'm pretty sure I spent the majority of the time talking about vampires... and I quote "I can't believe they lied about Vampires in Interview with a Vampire." Right, because Twilight is the "truth." Poor Mark! We arrived at our first campsite, and I use that word loosely, at like 2am or something. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that we just sat in the car talking, didn't really know where we were going, stopped for a nice long dinner and to buy some pans to cook with and then when we told the border guy where we were going, he just sort of stared at us and pointed in the direction we had just come from... oh well! I think it might have been my favorite camping trip while in Dubai, totally relaxing, no hurry, no stress...

February
James Blunt concert with Kim and Heather, Barclay's Tennis Championship and running races nearly every weekend!

Barclay's Tennis Championship
I went to a couple of different days of tennis. I took a personal day one day to go and attempt to get money back from a speeding ticket that I didn't actually get, I was in the states when they photographed "my" license plate. I tried to explain it all to the RTA people, but of course they told me I had to just pay the ticket and then go down to the main office and they would just reimburse me... Ha! As usual, the office hours were like 9:00 - 3:00 or something, it was in an area I was completely unfamiliar with and I ended up in Sharjah. At that point I decided the best option was to just call it a day, park my car up on the sidewalk near the Tennis Stadium and grab a vodka soda, or two, or three and wait for Liz.

Race Season!
Race season in Dubai... I had a race nearly every weekend. I did a few 10K's the different Running Clubs were hosting, the RAK half and the Wadi Bih relay. They were all great! Kelli, Alyssa and I went down to RAK the night before, ate a buffet dinner with wine and then got up and ran the next day... Kim and Heather also ran the half and a few other girls joined Alyssa and they did a relay. We all had brunch at this golf club with my running club after, very fun! The Wadi Bih Relay was really cool. We divided up into two groups and had a few cars, drove up to Dibba, camped and then each took turns running between 3 - 8kms, or something like that. Sort of the same idea as Hood to Coast, only a shorter distance and a bit more scenic and hilly and dusty.... After the race there was a brunch/lunchish thing at the Golden Tulip, some people rushed on home, Jess was nearly left behind... Mark and I met up with another group of our friends and camped another night. Very fun!

March
My mom came to visit. We went up to Musandam, Abu Dhabi, a dinner cruise on the creek, fun dinners out, Lime Tree, the beach and lots of other fun things!

April
Philippines with my brother and sister and Katie's visit!!! We made a home base out of the Trader's Hotel in Manila, played "Amazing Race" and hired drivers to drive us all over from the town where my dad was baptized, to help us find our relatives house, up to the rice fields, then we flew and boated out to the most beautiful beaches and snorkeling I've ever seen! Too bad it was the last night that we figured out it was self service all you can drink wine for the equivalent of 10 USD at our hotel in Manila!

Katie's visit
We had an "All You Can" weekend, tons of trips to Lime Tree, the beach, Fujairah, she pretty much bought out the souqs, well the spice and perfumes ones anyways! It was great to show her my "Dubai life" and she was AWESOME and brought me my favorite wines from home. She clearly knows me well!


May
Month of "All You Can's," goodbye dinners, birthdays and everything was one last time... I also broke my ribs this month playing soccer. PAINFUL. Very inconvenient for life in general. When we went into the ER because I woke up hysterically crying at 5:00am because I was in so much pain, the doctor thought is was "funny" to joke about how the person that brought me in was probably beating me. Hilarious. I seriously think there was at least one major event every weekend... if not more. One day we did a brunch and then went to the Sophomore Dinner... which of course we were quite late too... Seriously? We also had a Bachelorette party, and... we were those girls, you know, the one's you make fun of? That have on crazy outfits and show up to bars in a stretch hummer??!

June
More of the same in Dubai... plus the added funness, I realize that's not a word..., of packing, moving, selling and all that... Goodbye Dubai bye! Then... home for the summer!

Jen's Bachelorette party in San Diego
We had such a great time! I arrived into SF on a Thursday, went and stayed with Erin and her family one night, then met up with Jen at the airport and we all flew down to SD together. I think it was Monday by the pool that I finally realized I was in SD... the whole weekend was kind of a blur!

Joel and Ashley's Wedding
It was BEAUTIFUL! I was so happy that I was able to make it home in time to go to the wedding. It was great to see my family and we had a great day!

July
It was a busy month with a week at the beach for Gavin's 5th birthday, 4th of July, family BBQ, wine tasting extravaganza, including my fake bachelorette party, rafting with Teri and Jess and then the move to Vienna and a quick trip to Duabi.

Wine tasting... seriously? What was I thinking with my "challenges"? And, how could one day be that much fun!

August
Busy month... met all the Newbies, looked for a place to live, Gregg came to visit, started work... went to Poznan, Poland.

Poznan had a very cool old town area, beautiful old buildings and World Cup Rowing, because as you know, I'm a BIG fan. Ha! I couldn't find a place to live right away and LOVED living with Steph. When I finally did find a place I didn't want to leave! As part of our "newbie" events, we went on a biking tour that was pretty fun through vineyards and then had a great lunch in a really cute small town.

September
Coaching soccer, 8th Grade trip, Amber came to visit, Semmering hiking trip and another trip to Poland, this time Warsaw. Fall might be my favorite time of year in Vienna, gorgeous weather, pumpkin soup and well, just everything about it is great!

October
Busy month! I did the Vienna Night Run, Graz Half Marathon and then went back to the states for Jen's wedding in SF and then up to Kristin's for the rest of the time.

November
Finished up soccer and took the girls on a trip to Munich, Christmas markets started and I went back to Dubai for Thanksgiving. I LOVED seeing everyone and also was happy to lay in the sun! Eating carrot cake and talking with friends, it was hard to imagine why I ever left! We also went to Aquaventure, haven't been to a water park in probably 20 years... so fun! I was wearing a strapless dress, flip flops and LOVING life!

December
Month of visitors, Christmas markets and holiday celebrations. It might have been the best and least stressful holiday season I have ever had! When I got back from Dubai Heather arrived the same day. It was so much fun to have her here! My mom arrived the day Heather left. We had so much fun exploring all the different Christmas markets, walking around, hoping we wouldn't freeze to death and also just relaxing at home! Of course we watched the biggest loser a few nights too. My mom also bought me some new bedding. The day before my mom left Jess arrived and stayed through the New Year. SO FUN! We were lazy, I mean, we took advantage of our time off to relax. Ha! She really helped me fix up my apartment, not sure what took me so long to pull it together, but I now have shelves, pictures and mirrors hung. We decided to host Christmas Dinner for some friends that were in town, and my friend Damien flew in from the states too, so I had a full house. And LOVED it! New Year's was great fun too! We did the Silvester Trail, which basically involved starting with waltzing lessons at 2:00 and then going to different stages set up around town all with live music and/or dj's. We ended up at the Rathaus for the majority of the night listening to a Michael Jackson tribute band and then a Bryan Adams cover band. I get Michael Jackson, but Bryan Adams?

Well, those were some highlights...! Year round fun included... Saltini's, soccer, lunch club, beach, lime tree, running club, seeing friends and family at home over the summer and starting a whole new life in Vienna... Prosit!

While I am not a big fan of the word "lucky" I might have to say... I feel SO lucky that I am living in Vienna and have met the people I have met so far and am really looking forward to learning GERMAN so that I can actually communicate with people here...

PLEASE COME VISIT!!!!