Well the big day was yesterday - the Telecom Austria guy arrived and we now have Austrian TV channels, an Austrian home phone number and INTERNET - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He didn't speak very much English but was very kind as we muddled through trying to communicate. After he ran around for 30 minutes he came in and said "No Telephone Line!" I almost started crying!! Long story short, he found what he needed and we are hooked up. He was also trying to show me how to turn the heat on in this place - it was HEIT (cold!) here yesterday!
It was so great to get hooked up yesterday as it was my wonderful friend Tracey's 40th birthday so I got to phone her via our VOIP phone and talk to her. A real gift to me on her b-day! :) We have a 509 (Washington state) number so if you ever want to call - please do! 509-723-2717. The time change is kind of a pain, but it will be great. I also got to talk to my sister today - what was so nice as I haven't heard her voice. It sure is nice to reconnect with voices too!
Took a nice long 2 hour hike in the Weiner Wald yesterday with my friend Kara. It was pouring rain and cold but we had planned to hike and figured we better just go. It was actually fun and beautiful. It is a very large forested area with trails everywhere for hiking, biking etc... Waterfalls, lizards, trees, creeks, etc... The kids school is right up against the Weiner World as Kara calls it... western edge of Vienna.
Another newbie, Ulreka from Sweden, invited a few of us over to her house for coffee this morning. It was so nice- we sat and talked for over 3 hours! Karina from Denmark was there and Elizabeth from New York City (living in japan the last 12 years though). We had so much fun and it is so great to learn about all the different countries. Apparently the public school system in the scandenavian countries is horrendous and after telling us about it I was so thankful for this school and for our schools in America (or at least Richland Public School!:)) Amazing.
My new New York/Japan friend took me to the Commissary this afternoon too - always a treat to get some groceries with a car! :)
The weather turned very nice this afternoon so we hit the park after dinner where Evan got in a pick up game of soccer (of course!) and Julia plays in the sand and at the park with anyone that is there... so cute!
Evan had his 2nd violin lesson today and his teacher was so proud of him as he can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star already. So cool! I posted a video of him on Facebook practicing his scales and we all laughed so hard cuz Tonia (who is watching our dog Mia) said that Mia was howling the whole way through the video! Apparently the sound is a little high for her ears! (she does this with sirens too!)
Eric has tomorrow off so we are taking the kids to school and we are going to have a long hike and then go to one of the Heurigans... I am spelling this wrong but basically there are a lot of 'wineries' around here that have smallrestaurants and make their own wine and have the grapes on their properties. We are planning to hit one for lunch tomorrow after we hike!
That is all for now.......
Yea! So glad you are connected now! What a great feeling that must be :) Good to hear about your times with new friends and the adventures of the kids...keep the blog reports coming! I love em!
ReplyDeleteIt poured in the Tri yesterday and this morning (just as the boys headed out to the bus) and seems unseasonably cool for this time of year. Fall is definitely here, if not on the calendar, then in the weather. Glad you are still getting out in spite of the rain to do some fun things...I haven't been so good about that. Maybe I should take my inspiration from you.
Looking forward to more updates and photos as you have time.
Love to all,
E
I'm glad you're making friends, too! Hard to do when you're not a kid with classmates! We'll give you a call soon!
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