So, I decided that this blog site isn't very good. I have found a new one that is much easier to use and put up pictures and such so, here is the new website
emily-in-austria.webs.com
Thanks!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Curse of Franz Ferdinand's Car
So, due to recent events, I have been unable to write in a while. My deepest apologies. So here is a quick overview of the past few months.
Christmas
Christmas was celebrated really differently. For starters, we opened presents on the 24th, in the evening after we had a sit-together dinner of sausage and french fries. Normally they have Sauerkraut instead of french fries, but I don't like Sauerkraut (I know, how horrible of me.) After dinner we sat down and prayed the Rosary, and then we waited for the Christkind to come and bring the presents. There is no Santa Claus in Austria, instead they believe the gifts are brought by the baby Jesus. We knew we could go to the living room when the bell rang to signal that the Christkind was finished. This year, my host siblings played the part of the Christkind. I wasn't allowed in the living room from the time they put up the tree until it was time to open presents. They also waited to put the tree up until the 23rd. It was really pretty, they had the lights turned off, and real candles lit on the tree. We sang some songs, then opened presents. Afterwards, we ate some christmas cookies, then went to church. I have to say, my host mom's gingerbread cookies were by far some of the best I have ever tasted. I really need to ask her how to make them.
New Years
New years eve was more or less the same as in America. We went to my Hostaunt's house for dinner. Christina and I learned how to play poker with our cousins and Johannes and some of the other cousins played games on the Wii. At midnight we watched the fireworks outside, and drank champagne while listening to the radio playing Strauss waltzes (and learning how to waltz to them).
So, you are probably wondering why exactly have I not written in a while. Shortly after christmas, my hostmother informed me that they only wanted an exchange student for half the year. This was something I was aware of, but had totally forgotten about, because my host family had never mentioned it before. I had thought that they had changed their minds, so when they told me I had to leave in a few weeks, I was really shocked. It was really hard to accept that I had to leave, I felt so much like I was a part of the family, to leave really mad me sad. I was told that I would leave in the middle of February, during the Semester break. I had finally gotten over the shock, and had started to accept my fate, when at school one Thursday, the girls in my class said they had heard that I was changing families on Sunday.. I was really confused, because from the information I was given, I was not scheduled to leave for another 3 weeks. When I got home, after having my hair cut (it is really short now) my host mom told me that I had to go live with an AFS volunteer on Sunday. It turns out that my family was aware of the move on Wednesday, but they didn't feel the need to tell me, or something. My host sister had sent text messages to all her friends, some of which are in my class, on Wednesday saying that I would leave on Sunday. I am really tired of being the last person to be informed of important matters concerning me. So, AFS had arranged that I would stay with a volunteer in the area until they could find me a new family. AFS sounded like the chances of me staying in the area were very slim. What I would like to know is, if they were aware that I would have to leave before I even arrived, and they knew that I would live in a small area, then why didn't they start looking for a family sooner???
I was beginning to think I would have to move somewhere else and start a new school, when a girl in my class said that she wanted me to stay with her for the rest of the year. She is really nice, and seems a bit more interested in helping me learn German. I went with her to a ball, and I was at her house for the day, and we read together German fairytales. It was a lot of fun, and it really helped. I will be moving to her house tomorrow. I am really excited.
The Struggle to learn German
So, where I live in Austria, there is a very strong dialect that makes learning and understanding German very, very difficult. I understand almost everything spoken to me in normal German, but nearly nothing in dialect. I was having a lot of trouble trying to speak German as well. The real test came 2 weeks ago, when I went to Vienna with my host dad's class for a week. His students said they didn't want to speak English all week, so they didn't want me to come for the whole week. But Hansi told me, that if I spoke German, and made them realize they didn't need to speak English, they would probably let me stay. So, the entire week I spoke as much German as I possibly could, and as little English as possible. It was hard at first, but it got a lot easier by the end of the week, and since then I have been speaking mostly German. The only time I speak English is if I absolutely have to, or when I sit here at the computer telling you all about my epic Austrian adventures ;) But I have read the first Harry Potter in German, and now I am reading Holes in German. I have never read Holes in English, so it is really testing how good my German is. I understand the main ideas, but not every word.
Vienna
Vienna was really, really cool. It is a very beautiful city, and very old. There is so much history just waiting for me to see. It was great. The first day, I got to see the Cursed Car of Franz Ferdinand. For those of you who don't know the story, Franz Ferdinand was next in line to be the Kaiser of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in the early 1900s. Franz Ferdinand wanted to tour his future empire. On June 28th, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were in Sarajevo when the driver of their car got lost. Garvilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand, then shot and killed both Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie as they drove by in their car. This was the event that lit the match and sparked the beginning of WWI. However, the curious thing about the car, is that everyone who owned it afterwards ended up dying. Few survived the car, and those who did were lucky and only had some very bad luck. For further reading, http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/haunted35.html
So, after seeing the car, we went to the UN building, and then saw the movie "Avatar" however it was German dubbed. I was not able to understand all of it, but I think I understood about half of it. The next morning, I forgot my camera at the Hotel, and we got to see the Belvedere castle, Stephansdom, and the Crypt where the Habsburgers are burried. We went back to the hotel for lunch, and I went to find my camera. I looked everywhere, but I could not find it. We called the Movie theature, which was the last place I had seen it, but they did not have it. Most likely, it was stolen in the subway. It was the curse. Fortunately, I had most of my pictures saved on the computer, so it wasn't a total loss. After lunch, we went to the Parliament, and then I went alone to the cinema to ask again about my camera. but no luck. The next day I was sick, (again, the curse!) but I got to see the Lippizaners and the Hoffburg palace. We then got to see a musical, Tanz der Vampire, which had really good music, but it was really difficult for me to understand. The next days we got to go to the Donauturm, and we got to go to the restaurant at the top. It was cool, because the building revolved while we ate, so we could see the whole city. The only problem was, the restrooms were at the center of the building, and they didn't rotate, so when you come back from the restroom, you can't find your seat again. We got to go to the Schönbrunn palace, but we didn't get to go inside, which was a little sad, but we went to the zoo that is there. It is one of the oldest zoos in the world, I think. It was really cool. As for my other misadventures due to the curse, I got lost in a Technical museum, and saw at least 5 different Starbucks, but didn't have enough time to go into any of them. I have only seen Starbucks in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna. But Austrian Coffee is really good, so it isn't too difficult "ohne Starbucks"
It is really funny when I talk with my friends in America, and start to write something in German. Sometimes I forget the English words.
Christmas
Christmas was celebrated really differently. For starters, we opened presents on the 24th, in the evening after we had a sit-together dinner of sausage and french fries. Normally they have Sauerkraut instead of french fries, but I don't like Sauerkraut (I know, how horrible of me.) After dinner we sat down and prayed the Rosary, and then we waited for the Christkind to come and bring the presents. There is no Santa Claus in Austria, instead they believe the gifts are brought by the baby Jesus. We knew we could go to the living room when the bell rang to signal that the Christkind was finished. This year, my host siblings played the part of the Christkind. I wasn't allowed in the living room from the time they put up the tree until it was time to open presents. They also waited to put the tree up until the 23rd. It was really pretty, they had the lights turned off, and real candles lit on the tree. We sang some songs, then opened presents. Afterwards, we ate some christmas cookies, then went to church. I have to say, my host mom's gingerbread cookies were by far some of the best I have ever tasted. I really need to ask her how to make them.
New Years
New years eve was more or less the same as in America. We went to my Hostaunt's house for dinner. Christina and I learned how to play poker with our cousins and Johannes and some of the other cousins played games on the Wii. At midnight we watched the fireworks outside, and drank champagne while listening to the radio playing Strauss waltzes (and learning how to waltz to them).
So, you are probably wondering why exactly have I not written in a while. Shortly after christmas, my hostmother informed me that they only wanted an exchange student for half the year. This was something I was aware of, but had totally forgotten about, because my host family had never mentioned it before. I had thought that they had changed their minds, so when they told me I had to leave in a few weeks, I was really shocked. It was really hard to accept that I had to leave, I felt so much like I was a part of the family, to leave really mad me sad. I was told that I would leave in the middle of February, during the Semester break. I had finally gotten over the shock, and had started to accept my fate, when at school one Thursday, the girls in my class said they had heard that I was changing families on Sunday.. I was really confused, because from the information I was given, I was not scheduled to leave for another 3 weeks. When I got home, after having my hair cut (it is really short now) my host mom told me that I had to go live with an AFS volunteer on Sunday. It turns out that my family was aware of the move on Wednesday, but they didn't feel the need to tell me, or something. My host sister had sent text messages to all her friends, some of which are in my class, on Wednesday saying that I would leave on Sunday. I am really tired of being the last person to be informed of important matters concerning me. So, AFS had arranged that I would stay with a volunteer in the area until they could find me a new family. AFS sounded like the chances of me staying in the area were very slim. What I would like to know is, if they were aware that I would have to leave before I even arrived, and they knew that I would live in a small area, then why didn't they start looking for a family sooner???
I was beginning to think I would have to move somewhere else and start a new school, when a girl in my class said that she wanted me to stay with her for the rest of the year. She is really nice, and seems a bit more interested in helping me learn German. I went with her to a ball, and I was at her house for the day, and we read together German fairytales. It was a lot of fun, and it really helped. I will be moving to her house tomorrow. I am really excited.
The Struggle to learn German
So, where I live in Austria, there is a very strong dialect that makes learning and understanding German very, very difficult. I understand almost everything spoken to me in normal German, but nearly nothing in dialect. I was having a lot of trouble trying to speak German as well. The real test came 2 weeks ago, when I went to Vienna with my host dad's class for a week. His students said they didn't want to speak English all week, so they didn't want me to come for the whole week. But Hansi told me, that if I spoke German, and made them realize they didn't need to speak English, they would probably let me stay. So, the entire week I spoke as much German as I possibly could, and as little English as possible. It was hard at first, but it got a lot easier by the end of the week, and since then I have been speaking mostly German. The only time I speak English is if I absolutely have to, or when I sit here at the computer telling you all about my epic Austrian adventures ;) But I have read the first Harry Potter in German, and now I am reading Holes in German. I have never read Holes in English, so it is really testing how good my German is. I understand the main ideas, but not every word.
Vienna
Vienna was really, really cool. It is a very beautiful city, and very old. There is so much history just waiting for me to see. It was great. The first day, I got to see the Cursed Car of Franz Ferdinand. For those of you who don't know the story, Franz Ferdinand was next in line to be the Kaiser of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in the early 1900s. Franz Ferdinand wanted to tour his future empire. On June 28th, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were in Sarajevo when the driver of their car got lost. Garvilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand, then shot and killed both Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie as they drove by in their car. This was the event that lit the match and sparked the beginning of WWI. However, the curious thing about the car, is that everyone who owned it afterwards ended up dying. Few survived the car, and those who did were lucky and only had some very bad luck. For further reading, http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/haunted35.html
So, after seeing the car, we went to the UN building, and then saw the movie "Avatar" however it was German dubbed. I was not able to understand all of it, but I think I understood about half of it. The next morning, I forgot my camera at the Hotel, and we got to see the Belvedere castle, Stephansdom, and the Crypt where the Habsburgers are burried. We went back to the hotel for lunch, and I went to find my camera. I looked everywhere, but I could not find it. We called the Movie theature, which was the last place I had seen it, but they did not have it. Most likely, it was stolen in the subway. It was the curse. Fortunately, I had most of my pictures saved on the computer, so it wasn't a total loss. After lunch, we went to the Parliament, and then I went alone to the cinema to ask again about my camera. but no luck. The next day I was sick, (again, the curse!) but I got to see the Lippizaners and the Hoffburg palace. We then got to see a musical, Tanz der Vampire, which had really good music, but it was really difficult for me to understand. The next days we got to go to the Donauturm, and we got to go to the restaurant at the top. It was cool, because the building revolved while we ate, so we could see the whole city. The only problem was, the restrooms were at the center of the building, and they didn't rotate, so when you come back from the restroom, you can't find your seat again. We got to go to the Schönbrunn palace, but we didn't get to go inside, which was a little sad, but we went to the zoo that is there. It is one of the oldest zoos in the world, I think. It was really cool. As for my other misadventures due to the curse, I got lost in a Technical museum, and saw at least 5 different Starbucks, but didn't have enough time to go into any of them. I have only seen Starbucks in Berlin, Munich, and Vienna. But Austrian Coffee is really good, so it isn't too difficult "ohne Starbucks"
It is really funny when I talk with my friends in America, and start to write something in German. Sometimes I forget the English words.
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