Lost and Found

I am in a better ‘space’ right now after my last blog of complete hysteria. I went home, cried a bunch, went for a jog , ate 2 lbs of M&M’s and felt much better.
Telekom Austria is coming on 9/8 (Happy B-day that day to Tracey – the BIG 40!!!), so until then we only get on the internet when I can get to the hotel down the road and pay 3 Euro for an hour. I don’t think it would be good to plug in my magic jack phone in the lobby and call anyone as I think I would be too loud and most likely look like a fool as I cry talking to someone.

I did meet a nice friend and was thinking I could ask her if I could make some calls from her house using her WIFI, but timing is hard with the time changes. So, blogging and emails will have to suffice right now I think.

Today (Wednesday.. I am posting this on Thursday) the kids seem to enjoy their 2nd day of school. They both like German class, which is fun. Evan really enjoys playing soccer at recess with the “soccer mad 4th graders” as they are all called. We ran into a new friend, Paul, on the bus to and from school and he and Evan sat together and walked to and from school together so that is nice. Evan really is a great conversationalist as I heard him asking Paul things like, “Who is your favorite soccer player?”, “Where else have you lived?”, “Did you get homework today?” etc… This boy is in his 3rd year at AIS and will be on Evan’s soccer club team we think.

More on soccer…. There are about 14 (we think) soccer clubs in Vienna. They are organized in the U categories like we do in WA. The age cutoff is different though… Dec 31st… so Evan plays U11 this year (by 15 days)… so he is the youngest on his team by far. Luckily he had some great experience with Lisa and Mike Seed “playing up” a year in WA, so he doesn’t seem intimidated. Each club (Evan’s is Wien Fortuna) has their own clubhouse, practice field (turf – we had to buy another pair of soccer shoes!!), locker rooms etc… He has practiced and played a friendly match with the U10 team last week and early this week. (the U-11 team coach has been out of town) The soccer at these clubs is fairly intense and the level of ability of these kids is very high. Each of the kids is as good as Evan or better. All the kids on the team speak German, some are Americans. The coach is Austrian…. It should be a good ride! (Starts Monday officially)

Julia seems to be doing really well. She loves her teacher already… although she says not more than Mrs. Fox! I think we are all craving our ‘stuff’ and for our home to feel like home. It is odd to have it so empty for so long and just have a card table and chairs. We did get Evan a mattress at IKEA and a bed frame. The other night I sent him to his room for a little while after he pounced on Julia (Again!) and when I went in to talk to him, he had taken the initiative to begin assembling his IKEA bed frame. Well, the bed slats that the mattress lies on our sort of strung together by this thick string/ribbon. He had taken his jack knife and cut each one of those apart thinking it was packing material!!

Lesson #1: Don’t send your 9 year old to his room with a jack knife and something to put together

Lesson #2: Teach Evan to read directions better

Lesson #3: Never pay more than $40 for a bed frame in case your child destroys it before it can be used

Thank God he didn’t hurt himself and we didn’t pay more for that frame!

I had a nice day today (Wed). There is a woman that just moved here about when we did from California. She doesn’t live that far from here and we thought it would be fun to go for a walk today. I suggested maybe we do a once/week walk where we go to a district/area of the city and walk and walk and explore. So we did this today and we intend to do it once per week. We left after school (about 8:30) and explored/walked till about 2:00. We hit some stores, lunch, coffee etc… so it was really fun. She is a very nice person and it was nice to just feel normal hanging out for a day.

This city is unbelievably accessable and beautiful. Walking down any street is such a treat with beautiful architecture and wonderful things to look at. I keep thinking… this is so European and I love it! The outdoor markets and cafes are really neat and trying to figure out where to buy things, what things are, what to order etc… is pretty darn fun most of the time.

After school today the kids and I took the bus and Ubahn (subway) to Eric’s work to check out the commissary. Like Miliary, the UN has a commissary that we can utilize. Eric can just pop down there before he leaves for work. Food is a little cheaper but more importantly there is familiar things there that you can’t find easily here (i.e. taco seasoning) I definitely should have done a HUGE HUGE COSTCO run before leaving and sent it on the boat. Kara (from above) did this and I am jealous! Anyway, the commissary was really great and now I know what is there so I can ask Eric to bring certain things home.

We then hit a mall we heard about over that way to grab a bite to eat and figure out more about that area. The mall was huge and will require me to go back myself one day to explore more. I will be starting German classes at Eric’s work in a few weeks, so that will be a good time to check that out too. Eric plays softball on WED nights… so Evan and Eric headed to that and Julia and I headed home. She said “lets take the way that we take one more subway and that one bus so I don’t have to walk at all!” She is funny and getting the different routes a bit. I did get on the bus and then have it stop suddenly a ways away from where I was trying to get. I thought maybe we were on the last bus of the night for that particular number. After trying to talk to the driver (NONE of them speak English) – I figured out I could jump on another one (‘fearzig A’ – 40A – I am getting better at numbers!) and get home still.

I am proud of myself for navigating around quite a bit and exploring quite a bit already. I have a lot to see and figure out, but am pleased with my progress so far and not ‘nervous’ at all to get lost etc…

I am typing this at our card table and will cut and paste it into the blog at some point. I am now listening to the washing/dryer machine which sounds like small jet is going to take off. Who the heck invented these things and why don’t they buy a clue from America with regards to washer/dryers? I am wishing I had a clothes line like my Grandma Oliver did and also thinking I am glad I didn’t live in a time when we didn’t have any appliances!

Okay -- now it is Thursday and I am posting this. I did the grocery store this am (only what I can lug home on the bus/walking) and then I tried to find Crossfit Vienna. I was so pumped....but bummer I wrote down the wrong address and walked for an hour trying to find it. Apparently they have no signage and it is in a basement, cuz I didn't see anything. I am going to email the dude now and try to find it tomorrow or Sunday or Monday? (depending on if we go to Salzburg this weekend)

I am going to go for a job after this for my excercise instead....plus the hour I walked looking for it. That should do it :)

We may got to Salzburg this weekend. Still deciding...it is a 2.5 hour train ride.


Ta Ta for Now