Okay, my name is Jenn and I am addicted to being connected to friends and family via the internet. Hee hee! After I had the DT's in the mountains, it wasn't bad not being 'connected' a few days...but I like it better when I can chat, blog, email, etc... I cannot tell you what a boost you all have given me via blog posts, emails, FB, etc... I can feel the love and I need it - thank you.
I am definitely a bit homesick right now. We were getting food tonight and I said to Eric "I just want to be able to understand something right now!" The language thing is a bit frustrating some days...although we are definitely getting by knowing a tiny bit of German, having a few books with us, and relying on many people that speak at least some (or a lot) of English.
On the homefront: We decided on the castle flat and are awaiting paperwork to be completed and reviewed by Eric's work. I would be surprised if we were in before Wednesday...so back to the hotel in Vienna for a few days. We are pumped to hit IKEA for tons of stuff!! :)
We go to Spar (grocery) each day and get breakfast stuff for our hotel room. We can also order belegte brots (sandwiches) by ourselves in german and are happy cuz they are cheap :)! Things are very very expensive here, so we get excited when things are cheap.
Speaking of cheap... the only thing we have found to be much less expensive is cell phone plans! We checked that out today since we have an address now. We need Eric's "Legit Card"...which shows he is working at IAEA and has diplomatic priveledges, then we can get our phones. This won't help much in contacting USA, but will help for our lives here a lot.
The kids both got haircuts today..Evan stayed 'long' but we cut the mullet. Eric and I like it better short, but this is something we are letting him go with right now. Julia wanted chin length again. Again, not what we would choose, but it must be good for them to make these decisions. Speaking of making decisions, a plug for a great book I am reading... Parenting with Dignity. It is SOOOO good to all my parent friends out there.
On our mountain trip: We packed 2 bags and headed out Wednesday on subways to the train station to catch a train to Semmering, Austria. About 1.5 hours southeast of Vienna. It is in Alps region of lower Austria-- beautiful area. I think I told you a bit about it...but you can take the gondola up the 'ski' mountain and ride "rollers" down. These are souped up scooters... Evan LOVED it. Eric rode about 3 hours with him and then I did an hour with him. Julia was too young to go :( ....she really was too little to handle them - it was STEEP in sections.
We are dying to bring Scott Child and Trevor White to Semmering to do that hill on their mountain bikes. They are the two best down hill mountain bikers we know and they would LOVE it. These guys were in full gear coming down FAST, doing jumps, etc... We are talking X-games stuff. super cool!
We stayed at a cute pension (hotel with breakfast), did more sandwiches for lunch and had a couple of great Austrian dinners. We almost stayed one more night, but rains came in for the weekend and we figured there were more indoor options in Vienna along with better weather forecast.... so we hopped the train back.
I have so much to say.. Eric would say I have diarhea of the mouth.... sorry to bore you. This is good for my mental health :)
Love to all!
You are far from boring, Jenn, so keep the posts coming! As much as you love and need to write, we love to hear about your adventures!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good time in the mts. The rollers sound like lots of fun. I don't know if they have them in Austria, but if you get into Germany some weekend Julia could probably ride the bobbahn - like an outdoor roller coaster but each person rides in their own "car" and controls the breaks and speed as they go down the track through the fields. I can't remember if you can ride double on these or not, but they were definitely lots of fun. I'm sure you could google-search and see if there are any near to you.
Hope your moving goes smoothly and that you have fun shopping at IKEA - as if you wouldn't :) I'm sure it will feel good to be settled in a home, and once school starts I'm sure you'll all find lots of new friends as well.
Thanks again for the updates!!
Love to read your posts!!!!!! Blogging is great therapy
ReplyDeleteHello. My name is Carrie and I am addicted to reading Jenn Smith's updates!! :). Seriously. I am enjoying your addiction. It really is great to live vicariously through your adventures. I am sure it is tough but also so very exciting. My heart goes out to Evan though. Can't imagine how much of a wreck Syd would be in his spot. And her other friends left on their 24 hr trip moving to Brisbane, Australia for two years.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in getting into your new home. That will probably help Evan a little. And let me know if you think Syd writing to him would be good now or if she should wait.
Carrie
Keep the posts coming! Our whole family is enjoying reading! :) I am happy you got the castle flat- it sounds wonderful. Can't wait to see more pics.
ReplyDeleteHugs to all! :) XOXO Miss you!
Hey Jenn-
ReplyDeleteRollers sound great! Glad you are already site seeing before you even move into your new flat! So fun!!! I love reading, so keep writing.
btw- can you change your font to white, it's very difficult to read black against dark green.