That was my word of the day yesterday - impactful! One of my friends called it an "Oprah Moment" - funny! Anyway, there is a family at our school - daughter in highschool, with a Mother that is a Holocaust Survivor. This woman came from Israel to our school to speak with the 10th grade students as they are learning WWII history right now. She also spoke to any parents that wanted to come -- there were about 20 of us in the room.
She is almost 82 and has written a book about her life journey called Life is a Gift. I purchased the book and already began reading it. She leads a 'quiet' life she says and hid what happened to her for decades. She told us after that she was nervous and doesn't usually do 'talks' - she was SO eloquant, that I was sure she did this on a speaking circuit.
Back up a little, I have been reading a book called War and Rememberance by Herman Wouk - Eric suggested I read it. It is a story about WWII - not just when the USA entered it, but when it began. It follows a fictional US miliary family - so for me, it makes learning the history more real and 'fun'. I have really enjoyed learning a lot more, specificalliy because we live in Austria now. I have friends that have visited concentration camps near Prague, in Poland etc.. I have Jewish friends that live here and we talk about what it feels like to live in a place where Jewish people were persecuted and killed. I have walked around the Jewish Quarter here and the Jewish Memorial and have seen the only standing Synogogue in Vienna from the war. (It was saved because non-Jewish residents lived connected to it on a city street) I say all this to say, I am living 'closer' to it now, so it has taken on more meaning than when I lived in the USA.
So back to the speaker, her story was awe-inspiring, tragic, magical in ways, and most certainly impactful. She finished and I felt like my life had just been impacted in an important way. She was given life 3 times - once when she was born in Berlin 3 months premature in 1928 and they wrapped her up and put her in a box to bury. She screamed out to let them know she wasn't dead. The 2nd when was 9 and 1/2 she was rescued after 2 brutal weeks (physical, emotional, sexual abuse) in an underground cellar. She was captured and abused by her brother's best friends - young neo natzi's trying to impress Hitler. The third was when she was the last boat out of Germany on the "Kindertransport" to be adopted by a London family. Her parents were killed/burned at Auschwitz and she doesn't have record of her brother, but he was not adopted and assumed killed.
Her lesson was - we are all Given the gift of Life - use it to it's fullest and if you see an injustice happening use your voice. This beautiful woman went through all of this and still has this message... amazing. I truly wish you all could have listened to her and met her. There is so much more to the story - if you want to borrow it, let me know!
A few other quick notes:
--The kids are having a fun week with Spirit Week. Evan brought this idea to his school and got it approved and planned it all out with a few friends, so we were proud of him!
--Today was also the fun run at school to raise money for Japan and Julia ran 13 laps around!! This is the girl that would say "Hold Me" after taking 10 steps a year ago. Moving here has changed her - we walk SO much more here - walk everywhere!
--We had a WONDERFUL trip to Garmische Germany to meet up with Christy (my sister in law) and her family. The kids all had so much fun, I missed Christy so much so it was so great to see her, AND I brought back great American stuff from the Commissary! :)
-- Eric is recovering nicely from his hernia surgery. He is biking again and doing some other things as he can without pain.
-- I am recovering fine from my bout in Turkey -- went to the dr. today and we are doing some follow up tests to make sure all the parasites are gone! Yuck!
Signing out...........
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Spring Break Trip 2011 - Turkey
Pictures: 4 wheeling in Cappadocia, Hagia Sophia (once a Christian Church then turned into Mosque) not a museum - FASCINATING, Outside Blue Mosque, down under in the Basilica Sistern, Balloons taking off while we were.
So much to tell, but how to keep it short and sweet? Well, I guess if it is too long, you can just skip it! :) I will just do random notes and thoughts.
High point: would be the hot air balloon ride but see low point below. So, I would have to say our ATV tour or sitting inside the Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque.
Low point: the day and night I spent in a Turkish Hospital
We left for Turkey on the Friday morning before Easter. We found it a bit strange that we would be in a Muslim country on Easter Sunday, but we still talked about it as a family and remembered Jesus and what He gave up for us and how we try to incorporate his teachings in our lives. Eric and I actually relished the additional religious exposure for the kids (and us) as we think it is an important part in growing in your own faith.
Anyway... we got to Istanbul with time to see plenty on Friday. We also had Saturday and Sunday for touring around. We hit all the wondeful famous spots in Istanbul; the beautiful Blue Mosque, the Basilica Sistern, the Spice Market, the Grand Bazaar, the Hagia Sophia and much more... plus ate our way along every street.
There are mosques EVERYWHERE as they (the Islams) have a call to prayer 5x per day. Interesting is that they have a literal 'call' to prayer through HUGE speakers on every Mosque that echo through the entire city. Try to picture this - 5 times per day a loud arabic speaking voice chanting about 6 lines. It is odd, beautiful, unusual, fascinating all wrapped up in one. One got 'used' to it - but have to admit by the last day I was kinda like "enough of the loudspeaker thing" no disrespect intended.
We also took a cruise up the Bosphorus River which connects the Sea of Maramar and the Black Sea... and did a stop off in a small town on the Asian side of Istanbul. We all thought it was fun to be on Two Continents in one day! It was nice to see the beauty from the water also.
The major sights are beautiful, the history fascinating and the people extremely friendly. But the rest of the buildings are not nice looking, there are TONS of people in that city and it is definitely quite poor. This is just my observation. Plus: things are CHEAP!! We could eat and shop so much less than in Vienna - that was fun.
The Grand Bazaar is this GIGANTIC shopping area where you can haggle to your hearts content. We spent a few hours in it, but decided to hold off on purchases until we returned back to Istanbul to avoid additional lugguage on our trip to Cappadokia. This turned out to be a mistake: to be explained later...
On Monday afternoon/evening I came down with a fever and bad body aches but powered through with some Tylenol and Tuesday morning we flew out to Cappadocia, Turkey. This is a region in Central Turkey with lots of rock formations (from volcanos), chimey fairy rocks, cave formations etc... It is gorgeous, different, aweinspiring.
We took a 2 hour ATV/4 wheeler tour that first afternoon. We all had a blast and we let the kids sit in front of us and drive most of it. No one wanted to ride with me because I was slow and a worry wart. Everyone wanted to ride with Daddy, so they kept having to switch off and be with me sometimes. Too funny. It was a really fun way to see quite a few areas and famous formations.
I was feeling pretty bad by dinner time again so went to bed. Besides my fever and aches at this point, I had NO appetite whatsoever - and verging on naseau.
Early (5am!) we had to be up on Wednesday for the much anticipated Hot Air Balloon Ride! I planned this months ago and have been looking forward to it. I was still pretty sick in the am and had also added another symptom....what would you not want to have to do every 5 minutes while 1,000 feet up in a balloon. Well, by the grace of God I was able to take that 1 hour ride. I did have to sit down every 10 minutes or so because I was so sick and weak I could barely stand. I was still able to enjoy the beauty, but admitedly the experience wasn't as great as I hoped it would be. I am still thrilled we were able to do this as a family and I hope our kids remember it for the rest of their lives.
By 9am I was back in bed and didn't get out until the next morning when we headed to the hospital. I got so bad it was apparent I needed to go. Good thing I did as I had blood in my you know what and a bad case of Amoebic Dysentary. IV Fluids, IV antibiotics and lots of other stuff I don't know as no one spoke English. (very scary experience but they were so nice) I was there about 24 hours and then we flew out to Istanbul. I was still fairly sick so Eric and the kids did the shopping at the Grand Bazaar. I am so sorry I missed it, but I was just too weak and needed to be close to a bathroom.
Saturday we flew back to Vienna. I have never been so happy to see my own bed and own toilet in all my life! :) By Monday I was feeling a ton betteer and as of today, Tuesady, I would say I am back to 85%.
Side Note:
My friend just arrived back from visiting her family in Pakistan, not far from where Osama bin Laden was killed. She got out just in time before airport delays etc... and I was able to ask her all sorts of muslim/islam questions I had after visiting Turkey. It sure is fun to ask her these questions and have these conversations. I am growing so much in this regard.
Hope Spring has Sprung where you are!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Update
Hello!
Eric had a hernia surgery last Wednesday and he is doing really well. The surgeon fixed it orthoscopically which helps his recovery time. He is walking well now and back at work. The hospital experience was interesting -- tested our German language skills (luckily most spoke English when necessary!) and gave us a glimpse into socialized medicine in a public hospital. We could have waited a few weeks for the surgery and been in a private hospital, but Eric wanted to do the surgery quicker as he was in a lot of pain and unable to run etc... You know him, not high maintenance and has a great attitude - so he though the hospital experience was a nice glimpse into Austria life. (I thought it was gross!:))
He was back home after a night in the hospital (and fainting on me once after going to the bathroom - turns out I cannot hold up a 6'6" man by myself!) and a few quiet days on the couch. He was doing well enough to take our 2 kids and my running friend's two kids downtown to watch us run the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning. I am so thankful that Eric could do that as we loved seeing them and it was a fantastic morning.
The race was fun and a well run HUGE (over 33,000 runners!) spectacle. The weather was beautiful and I felt great the entire run. Good to check that off my list. Ida and I are enjoying the training - keeping us motivated and 'sane' so we will continue to look at future things to train for. I still have a thorn in my side to check a full marathon off my bucket list - but not sure I want to invest that much time to be honest. I'll think it over a bit. I'm thinking Destination Marathon sounds like a blast -- saw one Nice to Cannes on the French Riveria - wouldn't that be fun?!!
The kids are doing great. Julia's latest funniest story is on Sunday. Believe it or not, people just strip down and change after the race wherever they are. After seeing like 6 naked men Julia says "Boy, we sure have seen a lot of worldwide tallywackers since moving here!" I about died laughing.
Evan has a field trip tomorrow to the Natural History Museum, The Parliment and the Globe Museum. So glad he gets to do these things. Unfortunately I don't think the school does a great job tying in all the cultural things that are possible in Vienna to their curriculum much. Seems like the field trips are 'after thoughts' and depend on how hard the teachers want to work. Julia hasn't even gone on one yet this year. Another thing I would love to see improved at the school. Big news from 4th grade too... the AIS 4th Grade was asked to sing at the Hofburg Palace (the main residence of the Hapsburg royal family for 100's of years) for the opening ceremonies for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Science and Technology 2011 Conference. Parents cannot attend (doesn't that SUCK) but they are trying to set up a live feed for us to watch it via our computers. I am going to see of Eric can go 'for work' so he can see them!
We leave on Friday morning for Turkey. I have been trying to arrange last minute details, but I still have more to work on. It is fun though! We will be seeing Istanbul and Cappadocia and we are all really excited. Count on a blog after our return! :)
Eric had a hernia surgery last Wednesday and he is doing really well. The surgeon fixed it orthoscopically which helps his recovery time. He is walking well now and back at work. The hospital experience was interesting -- tested our German language skills (luckily most spoke English when necessary!) and gave us a glimpse into socialized medicine in a public hospital. We could have waited a few weeks for the surgery and been in a private hospital, but Eric wanted to do the surgery quicker as he was in a lot of pain and unable to run etc... You know him, not high maintenance and has a great attitude - so he though the hospital experience was a nice glimpse into Austria life. (I thought it was gross!:))
He was back home after a night in the hospital (and fainting on me once after going to the bathroom - turns out I cannot hold up a 6'6" man by myself!) and a few quiet days on the couch. He was doing well enough to take our 2 kids and my running friend's two kids downtown to watch us run the 1/2 Marathon on Sunday morning. I am so thankful that Eric could do that as we loved seeing them and it was a fantastic morning.
The race was fun and a well run HUGE (over 33,000 runners!) spectacle. The weather was beautiful and I felt great the entire run. Good to check that off my list. Ida and I are enjoying the training - keeping us motivated and 'sane' so we will continue to look at future things to train for. I still have a thorn in my side to check a full marathon off my bucket list - but not sure I want to invest that much time to be honest. I'll think it over a bit. I'm thinking Destination Marathon sounds like a blast -- saw one Nice to Cannes on the French Riveria - wouldn't that be fun?!!
The kids are doing great. Julia's latest funniest story is on Sunday. Believe it or not, people just strip down and change after the race wherever they are. After seeing like 6 naked men Julia says "Boy, we sure have seen a lot of worldwide tallywackers since moving here!" I about died laughing.
Evan has a field trip tomorrow to the Natural History Museum, The Parliment and the Globe Museum. So glad he gets to do these things. Unfortunately I don't think the school does a great job tying in all the cultural things that are possible in Vienna to their curriculum much. Seems like the field trips are 'after thoughts' and depend on how hard the teachers want to work. Julia hasn't even gone on one yet this year. Another thing I would love to see improved at the school. Big news from 4th grade too... the AIS 4th Grade was asked to sing at the Hofburg Palace (the main residence of the Hapsburg royal family for 100's of years) for the opening ceremonies for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: Science and Technology 2011 Conference. Parents cannot attend (doesn't that SUCK) but they are trying to set up a live feed for us to watch it via our computers. I am going to see of Eric can go 'for work' so he can see them!
We leave on Friday morning for Turkey. I have been trying to arrange last minute details, but I still have more to work on. It is fun though! We will be seeing Istanbul and Cappadocia and we are all really excited. Count on a blog after our return! :)
Monday, April 11, 2011
New Experiences...
We had a fabulous weekend! Friday night we set aside as Evan's celebration night. We continue to be so proud of how he has handled himself during all of the trials and tribulations of fussball (soccer) here and celebrated him being on the U11 team. He decided he wanted to go up to the school to see the High School musical/play and eat at the Boosters booth - hotdogs, hamburgers and chips. Even though it was a 'taste of America' it wasn't that great! I do look forward to a good hamburger when we get back though! :)
The play/musical was The Drowsy Chaperone and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It had quite a bit of adult humor and we laughed a lot. It also had some Rated R lines that I was glad Evan wasn't really paying attention to and they went over Julia's head. We were amazed at the quality of the production for the small size of the school - excellent talent.
Saturday brought Evan playing a soccer game and having loads of fun. Julia and I missed the game as we headed downtown to go to her friend's birthday party at the Spanish Riding School (Spanisch Hofreitschule) to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. This was an amazing party that I will have trouble describing. First of all, the parents had invited siblings and parents if anyone wanted... so nice. I couldn't pass this one up! So we all went to the show for an hour and then got a tour into the stable area (you can't usually go into the stables. The history of the riding school is over 430 years old and royaly used to sit in this same arena. Not easy for these 7 year olds to understand how cool this all was, but it wasn't lost on me :)!
We then headed into the palace for a luncheon. The kids were served smoothies (as many as they wanted) and 3 course meal. Parents were served wine, mimosas, etc.. and a 3 course meal. Can you honestly believe this? So amazing! We left and Julia says "That was awesome! I am SO having my party there next year!" Obviously she doesn't think in Euros like Mom and Dad have to!
After the party, Julia went to play at a friends house for a few hours. This is a great family that just moved here from Colorado in January. They are so nice and the kids all get along. Hopefully we will see more of them. Julia got to eat dinner with them and had a great day all together!
Evan had a good friend spend the night on Saturday night and they had so much fun. So great to see Evan having a good time! we took the boys out to Sushi - the 3 boys (Eric included) love Sushi. They played a ton of soccer and WII, watched a movie, ate junk food and didn't sleep much.
Sunday we went to one of the Easter markets at Schonbrunn Palace. There are about 3 Easter markets in Vienna. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to browse the market and then we walked about the beautiful grounds. There are painted eggs everywhere here. They blow out the eggs and then paint them and have ribbons hanging from them. The Austrians put pussy willows in a vase and then hang the eggs from the branches. I plan to come back with at least enough to carry on this tradition when we return home. So pretty and fun!
We had to head back to meet our Ski group at a restaurant for our Ski Week Family Reunion. One of the Dad's put together an incredible movie picture slide show of our week and we watched it and had shared desserts at their house. What a blessing that Scott put that together for us - talk about a memory keeper!
Eric heads in tomorrow for another new experience -- surgery at an Austrian hospital. He has to have a hernia repaired tomorrow. He will spend at least one night - a requirement in Austria no matter what surgery you are having. It is a routine surgery and we are hoping for a quick recovery for him. All prayers are welcome! :)
Another new experience... I will do my first 1/2 marathon on Sunday. Ida and I have been training and we are really excited. Over 35,000 runners are registered for the marathon, marathon relay and 1/2 marathon... Wow!
I am really really enjoying learning more about different cultures as I meet people here. Last week a friend of mine from Pakistan had me over for lunch. She cooked traditional foods, which I LOVED and I so enjoy asking her questions and learning more. I have also been able to begin nice conversations with a young girl from Iran in my German course. She just moved to Vienna a few months ago and is a newlywed -- has lived all her life in Iran until now. I was asking her about women in Iran, 'dating', marriage etc.. and she started by saying "In America you meet, have a baby then get married - this is right?" I was like in America Hollywood!! :) She was surprised to hear that isn't the "Norm" and it is still not necessarily looked upon very nicely to not follow the "traditional" pattern. I look foward to coffee meetings with her - I think it would be fascinating.
Hope all is good with those reading this!
The play/musical was The Drowsy Chaperone and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It had quite a bit of adult humor and we laughed a lot. It also had some Rated R lines that I was glad Evan wasn't really paying attention to and they went over Julia's head. We were amazed at the quality of the production for the small size of the school - excellent talent.
Saturday brought Evan playing a soccer game and having loads of fun. Julia and I missed the game as we headed downtown to go to her friend's birthday party at the Spanish Riding School (Spanisch Hofreitschule) to see the Lipizzaner Stallions. This was an amazing party that I will have trouble describing. First of all, the parents had invited siblings and parents if anyone wanted... so nice. I couldn't pass this one up! So we all went to the show for an hour and then got a tour into the stable area (you can't usually go into the stables. The history of the riding school is over 430 years old and royaly used to sit in this same arena. Not easy for these 7 year olds to understand how cool this all was, but it wasn't lost on me :)!
We then headed into the palace for a luncheon. The kids were served smoothies (as many as they wanted) and 3 course meal. Parents were served wine, mimosas, etc.. and a 3 course meal. Can you honestly believe this? So amazing! We left and Julia says "That was awesome! I am SO having my party there next year!" Obviously she doesn't think in Euros like Mom and Dad have to!
After the party, Julia went to play at a friends house for a few hours. This is a great family that just moved here from Colorado in January. They are so nice and the kids all get along. Hopefully we will see more of them. Julia got to eat dinner with them and had a great day all together!
Evan had a good friend spend the night on Saturday night and they had so much fun. So great to see Evan having a good time! we took the boys out to Sushi - the 3 boys (Eric included) love Sushi. They played a ton of soccer and WII, watched a movie, ate junk food and didn't sleep much.
Sunday we went to one of the Easter markets at Schonbrunn Palace. There are about 3 Easter markets in Vienna. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to browse the market and then we walked about the beautiful grounds. There are painted eggs everywhere here. They blow out the eggs and then paint them and have ribbons hanging from them. The Austrians put pussy willows in a vase and then hang the eggs from the branches. I plan to come back with at least enough to carry on this tradition when we return home. So pretty and fun!
We had to head back to meet our Ski group at a restaurant for our Ski Week Family Reunion. One of the Dad's put together an incredible movie picture slide show of our week and we watched it and had shared desserts at their house. What a blessing that Scott put that together for us - talk about a memory keeper!
Eric heads in tomorrow for another new experience -- surgery at an Austrian hospital. He has to have a hernia repaired tomorrow. He will spend at least one night - a requirement in Austria no matter what surgery you are having. It is a routine surgery and we are hoping for a quick recovery for him. All prayers are welcome! :)
Another new experience... I will do my first 1/2 marathon on Sunday. Ida and I have been training and we are really excited. Over 35,000 runners are registered for the marathon, marathon relay and 1/2 marathon... Wow!
I am really really enjoying learning more about different cultures as I meet people here. Last week a friend of mine from Pakistan had me over for lunch. She cooked traditional foods, which I LOVED and I so enjoy asking her questions and learning more. I have also been able to begin nice conversations with a young girl from Iran in my German course. She just moved to Vienna a few months ago and is a newlywed -- has lived all her life in Iran until now. I was asking her about women in Iran, 'dating', marriage etc.. and she started by saying "In America you meet, have a baby then get married - this is right?" I was like in America Hollywood!! :) She was surprised to hear that isn't the "Norm" and it is still not necessarily looked upon very nicely to not follow the "traditional" pattern. I look foward to coffee meetings with her - I think it would be fascinating.
Hope all is good with those reading this!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Spring is here
Well, I think it is safe to say that spring has arrived in Vienna. The trees are budding out, the forsythias are bloomed, the tulips are coming up and the weather has been pretty darn nice. (yeah)
We had a fun April Fool's morning as Eric and I stayed up late trying to think of something funny to do to the kids. It isn't easy as they begin talking about April Fool's jokes on March 27th! Well, we got them. Long story short, Eric 'pretend' threw up at the table (milk, cereal, etc...) while we were all eating breakfast. I swear I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard. Evan was like "That was AWESOME! You totally got me!" and Julia ran crying from the room cuz she was sad that she thought Daddy was sick. So funny! Hope you all have a great day.
Eric had a good trip to Kazahstan --I think I spelled that right. It was interesting for him and always super cool to experience other cultures. Luckily he had plenty of translators around him as he doesn't speak any Russian or Kasah.
We have been waiting on Evan's player card for the Fortuna soccer team - it is now in so he is officially part of the team as of right now. He may not get much game time yet as he has to 'earn' his time, but that is okay - practices are good and he is getting excellent play time with very good players.
We just got back from going 'downstairs' for dinner. The 1st floor (they call it ground floor here) family are from Denmark and very nice. They moved in a few weeks ago and they have a 1 year old and 3 year old. They are fun, kind, funny, great conversationalists, wonderful parents, and easy neighbors so far. We all had a blast down there tonight and I think it will become fast family friends.
Julia had a party tomorrow and we are going on Sunday to the Bike Festival downtown at the Rathaus. They have trucked in TONS of dirt and made a jump course for bmx bikes... right in front of the Rathaus - you have probably seen us send pictures of this place where the ice skating was and several other events. As Evan said today "They don't go more than a few weeks without doing something HUGE at the Rathaus!" www.bikefestival.at I think they have a bike ride around downtown at 11am on Sunday - so maybe we'll just bike down there.
Been running with my running buddy Ida a lot training for our 1/2 marathon. The Vienna Marathon and 1/2 is April 17th and there are over 35,000 people already registered - this is by far the BIGGEST race I have ever been a part of. We ran about 12.5 on Tuesday so I think we are okay to do it, but I a may be a little slower than I would have wished. I just didn't put in the weekly total run miles that I should have... but on the other hand, if I run too many miles I think my body will break down. We are pumped and it will be really fun. My first 1/2 marathon. I have to say a full is still on my bucket list, but I would really have to have a buddy to do it with. Ida and I were thinking about going for it and seeking a cool destination to do it -- what fun would that be! Or maybe we'll just do a cool destination with another 1/2!
Headed to bed... supposed to be sunny and 70 both weekend days- YEAH!
We had a fun April Fool's morning as Eric and I stayed up late trying to think of something funny to do to the kids. It isn't easy as they begin talking about April Fool's jokes on March 27th! Well, we got them. Long story short, Eric 'pretend' threw up at the table (milk, cereal, etc...) while we were all eating breakfast. I swear I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard. Evan was like "That was AWESOME! You totally got me!" and Julia ran crying from the room cuz she was sad that she thought Daddy was sick. So funny! Hope you all have a great day.
Eric had a good trip to Kazahstan --I think I spelled that right. It was interesting for him and always super cool to experience other cultures. Luckily he had plenty of translators around him as he doesn't speak any Russian or Kasah.
We have been waiting on Evan's player card for the Fortuna soccer team - it is now in so he is officially part of the team as of right now. He may not get much game time yet as he has to 'earn' his time, but that is okay - practices are good and he is getting excellent play time with very good players.
We just got back from going 'downstairs' for dinner. The 1st floor (they call it ground floor here) family are from Denmark and very nice. They moved in a few weeks ago and they have a 1 year old and 3 year old. They are fun, kind, funny, great conversationalists, wonderful parents, and easy neighbors so far. We all had a blast down there tonight and I think it will become fast family friends.
Julia had a party tomorrow and we are going on Sunday to the Bike Festival downtown at the Rathaus. They have trucked in TONS of dirt and made a jump course for bmx bikes... right in front of the Rathaus - you have probably seen us send pictures of this place where the ice skating was and several other events. As Evan said today "They don't go more than a few weeks without doing something HUGE at the Rathaus!" www.bikefestival.at I think they have a bike ride around downtown at 11am on Sunday - so maybe we'll just bike down there.
Been running with my running buddy Ida a lot training for our 1/2 marathon. The Vienna Marathon and 1/2 is April 17th and there are over 35,000 people already registered - this is by far the BIGGEST race I have ever been a part of. We ran about 12.5 on Tuesday so I think we are okay to do it, but I a may be a little slower than I would have wished. I just didn't put in the weekly total run miles that I should have... but on the other hand, if I run too many miles I think my body will break down. We are pumped and it will be really fun. My first 1/2 marathon. I have to say a full is still on my bucket list, but I would really have to have a buddy to do it with. Ida and I were thinking about going for it and seeking a cool destination to do it -- what fun would that be! Or maybe we'll just do a cool destination with another 1/2!
Headed to bed... supposed to be sunny and 70 both weekend days- YEAH!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Checking out Czech
We headed to Prague early Saturday morning...what a beautiful place. We are about a 3 hour and 15 minute drive, so not bad at all. It would be much faster but most of it is 2 lanes and through a lot of small towns. I wouldn't call the drive pretty, especially this time of year...but the City of Prague (Praha) is fantastic.
Pictures: Jewish Cemetary (see below), open air market with tons of food booths - this one was the biggest pan ever cooking a potato,onion, bacon concoction, Toy and Barbie Museum (see below), soldiers outside of the big palace/castle, our family on the famous Charles Bridge.
We arrived in town by 11:30 and spent the rest of the day and through Sunday at 3:00 exploring. There is much to see and even more to eat! The city has some amazing history - as do many European towns, but it is fun to learn as we go. One fact that stunned me as there was a thriving Jewish culture in Prague, about 120,000 successful and hardworking Jewish people and after WWII there were only about 10,000 surviving. Astonishing and sad to learn more and more. We were able to see the Jewish Cemetary and a few synagogues, but we look forward to seeing and learning more when we go back. The cemetary was somber and interesting, they only had so much room (not much) for their dead so they had to keep stacking graves and dirt up so the ground is all uneven and the tombstones are leaning all over.
The food and lodging was inexpensive, which was a nice change from Vienna. We found some really great local food. Lots of potatoes, cabbage, dumblings, ham, these dough sugar things (Trulniks or something like that) YUMMY!! Eric had to roll me back into the car.
The people were SUPER friendly there. This was also a nice change from Vienna. There are MANY things I enjoy about this city - but the general friendliness is NOT one of them. I think I have been here long enough that I can make a generalization: The Viennese are crabby. Not ALL, but most. They do NOT smile often - especially to strangers. I asked a local about this and he said that it is considered flirty -- so I guess I have been flirting with many people these last few months! I understand it all a bit more after talking and learning - but I still miss the friendliness of the USA.
The Czech's were very friendly and welcoming of the English language. I know this sounds crazy - but I had such a wonderful feeling speaking English and not feeling badly about it... and actually enjoying it!! I didn't have to try to think so hard for a weekend and it was lovely that they didn't look down upon you for being a foreigner.
We went to the Toy and Barbie Museum - random but fun. Julia and I LOVED the barbie section -- ones from the beginning all the way to now and even prototypes that weren't ever made. They had so many I didn't know existed - including Gestational Barbie (not really the name I don't think!) -- I laughed ALL weekend on this one.
That is definitely a city we will have to return to at some point prior to our departure from Europe!
Eric leaves tomorrow for Kazikstan (I think I spelled this wrong!) He is excited...
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Shamrock Shake Hunt
So the Smith Family is jonesin' for a McDonald's Shamrock shake. Julia 'heard' that one of the Vienna McDonald's has them....but we need better data from her! I am going to attempt to make some on Thursday if they can't be located. Funny the weird stuff you miss!!
Busy and fun weekened. Friday night we watched Big! (Tom Hanks) I have been trying to think of 'older' movies that are kid friendly as Evan is out of the animation all the time movies and Julia is still little. Any ideas? We did Jurassic Park I last weekend - Julia didn't finish it yet as she had to head to bed. Not sure if we'll finish that one with her.
Saturday brought a beautiful day of weather and fun. Evan had a soccer game and it is official that he made the U11 team that he didn't make this fall. We are very proud of him. It is a good team and he will have to earn some more playtime, but his German and soccer have improved and the coach seems happy with him now. This is great news. He then had basketball practice. He has practice 2 times per week but games are few and far between. He has been asking to stop for a few weeks now as soccer picked up again. It is hard because, once again, he is smallest and youngest by almost 2 years... but he has hung in there really well. The season's kind of go all year here, which I think is dumb. Anyway - he played in a tournament today (2 games) and then he is calling it for this season. Eric would really like for him to keep his foot in the door a bit so when he gets back to the States he can still play if he wants.
After soccer, Julia and I went shopping for a friend's birthday gift. We had such a great time in the jewelery and walgreen type store and she did a great gift of nailpolish, lip gloss, headbands, jewelery, etc... We had so much fun shopping and we haven't spent enough time together lately, just her and I. We often talk about all the extra time we had together last year with her in 1/2 day kindergarten and we both miss it dearly. It seems evenings go by too quickly and there isn't enough time for dancing around, playing games, hanging out stuff.... quite an adjustment this year for us both :(!!
After we watched a little of the basketball, Julia had her party. It was a great party at her friend Olivia's house. A posh dressy luncheon...so cute. I left for a bit and sat at Starbucks to do my German homework. Eric and Evan hung out at the park (it was really warm and nice today) and tried his slackline for the first time. It is like a bouncy tight rope type sport... I'll have to take a picture. They said it was fun - can't wait to try it.
I have been working on our Spring break trip -- end of April. We are headed to Turkey for a week. We are all very excited. I am interested in going East a lot from here as it is SO much cheaper and more accessible than from the States. We would also love to see Greece - I am banking on that next summer :) I would also like to go camping on the Coatian coast before we leave for the States, after the kids get out of school - but not sure Eric could swing that work wise! Those are my lofty plans so far!
We watched some CNN English tonight of the devastation in Japan. So very sad. I have a good friend here who moved from Tokyo in April and is married to a japanese man. All of their family and friends are okay, but a cousin was missing for awhile. Such devastation there - so sad.
Eric heads to Kazakhstan on Monday for a week... a really cool trip for him.
Have a great week!
Busy and fun weekened. Friday night we watched Big! (Tom Hanks) I have been trying to think of 'older' movies that are kid friendly as Evan is out of the animation all the time movies and Julia is still little. Any ideas? We did Jurassic Park I last weekend - Julia didn't finish it yet as she had to head to bed. Not sure if we'll finish that one with her.
Saturday brought a beautiful day of weather and fun. Evan had a soccer game and it is official that he made the U11 team that he didn't make this fall. We are very proud of him. It is a good team and he will have to earn some more playtime, but his German and soccer have improved and the coach seems happy with him now. This is great news. He then had basketball practice. He has practice 2 times per week but games are few and far between. He has been asking to stop for a few weeks now as soccer picked up again. It is hard because, once again, he is smallest and youngest by almost 2 years... but he has hung in there really well. The season's kind of go all year here, which I think is dumb. Anyway - he played in a tournament today (2 games) and then he is calling it for this season. Eric would really like for him to keep his foot in the door a bit so when he gets back to the States he can still play if he wants.
After soccer, Julia and I went shopping for a friend's birthday gift. We had such a great time in the jewelery and walgreen type store and she did a great gift of nailpolish, lip gloss, headbands, jewelery, etc... We had so much fun shopping and we haven't spent enough time together lately, just her and I. We often talk about all the extra time we had together last year with her in 1/2 day kindergarten and we both miss it dearly. It seems evenings go by too quickly and there isn't enough time for dancing around, playing games, hanging out stuff.... quite an adjustment this year for us both :(!!
After we watched a little of the basketball, Julia had her party. It was a great party at her friend Olivia's house. A posh dressy luncheon...so cute. I left for a bit and sat at Starbucks to do my German homework. Eric and Evan hung out at the park (it was really warm and nice today) and tried his slackline for the first time. It is like a bouncy tight rope type sport... I'll have to take a picture. They said it was fun - can't wait to try it.
I have been working on our Spring break trip -- end of April. We are headed to Turkey for a week. We are all very excited. I am interested in going East a lot from here as it is SO much cheaper and more accessible than from the States. We would also love to see Greece - I am banking on that next summer :) I would also like to go camping on the Coatian coast before we leave for the States, after the kids get out of school - but not sure Eric could swing that work wise! Those are my lofty plans so far!
We watched some CNN English tonight of the devastation in Japan. So very sad. I have a good friend here who moved from Tokyo in April and is married to a japanese man. All of their family and friends are okay, but a cousin was missing for awhile. Such devastation there - so sad.
Eric heads to Kazakhstan on Monday for a week... a really cool trip for him.
Have a great week!
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