Eine Woche (fast) Deutschfrei!

I think I’ve managed to pack in a lot during the week off German course – it was well earned after receiving my first certificate in German language proficiency after scoring a surprising 79 out of 80. Besides working in both schools this week, I’ve been to Hungary (twice!); celebrated St. Patrick’s Day; welcomed Steve, a good friend of mine visiting from NI; acted as a tour guide around Vienna; and experienced an adventurous, Austrian road trip! 

Before diving into the adventures of Hungary, which has led me to the thought that I’m cheating on Finland with Hungary, let’s reflect on the real beginning of spring in Vienna. I say spring, but what I really mean is summery weather. A couple of weeks ago, summer peeked its bright, warm head around the corner with 19 ˚C sunshine. We took advantage of it and spent our Friday afternoon trekking up to Wilhelminenberg, a mountain on the edge of the city, sporting a castle overlooking the cityscape. The views were simply spectacular. Since the weather really called for ice-cream, we ended up submitting to the temptation of an irresistible, organic ice cream place in the city centre on, none other than, St. Paddy’s night. This was after we had the obligatory drink in an Irish pub that’s tucked away in the windy streets of the old town, where we struck lucky with what appeared to be somewhere only the locals frequent. 

The first trip back to Hungary was to Sopron, to pay another visit to my au pair family. They are always so welcoming and fulfilling to be around that I see them almost on a monthly basis, even just for a day. On the most recent visit, we spent the day enjoying a beautiful meal at a lovely, local restaurant in a nearby village that specializes in fish. As always in Hungary, the portion sizes were huge and after the rather filling fish soup starter, I didn’t manage to polish off the fillet of fish main. Nevertheless, from the leftovers I had the next day’s dinner sorted. Following lunch, we took a stroll up to a viewing point where we could see the Lake Fertő, despite the fact that it’s concealed by so many reeds. Later, the family took me to pick wild garlic for the first time. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until I saw one of the kids simply picking a leaf and happily eating it. It was surprising how full of flavour they were and I picked enough to take home and freeze or cook with as I please.

I really feel I struck lucky with my Hungarian au pair family, as they were also happy to offer me and my friends a place to stay in Budapest. This turned out to be a wonderful insight to real, Hungarian way of life for Steve and Scott during a short weekend trip to the capital. Before that though, I was excited to culture Steve while he had the intention to be. Because the spring weather was so beautiful and unusually warm (easily hitting 20˚C), I introduced Steve to the Danube beach, where there’s the possibility to swim in the river. Thomas and I had had a refreshing swim there during July 2013, which happened to be one of the hottest weekends on record (39 ˚C), but it still remains rather, wintery cold even in March.  Despite his dare-devil intentions, Steve stuck with simply dipping his toes.

After a fun drive around the city in Steve’s Hungarian rental car, we parked on the edge of the inner ring, near a huge, Russian landmark near Karlsplatz in Vienna’s city centre, to take a walk around the Ringstraβe. In my opinion, this beautiful ring of the inner, old city, which entertains a tourist tram, is best enjoyed by simply strolling along it at dusk. The magnificent, elaborate buildings are even more stunning lit up against the backdrop of the darkening sky. The whole thing can almost replicate a backdrop itself.

The next day, upon the request of seeing a mountain that’s not too far away, I had the idea that Steve and I could drive to the nearby Schneeberg (literally called ‘snow-mountain’). I had heard about it but never seen it myself and after typing it into ‘Mandy’, Steve’s Sat Nav, we were on our way. Or at least we thought we were. Even though Mandy’s accuracy has been questionable, we didn’t realize that she had recognised ‘Schneeberg’ as the tiny, minute village north of Vienna, close to the Czech/German border, instead of the mountain south of Vienna at the foot of the Alps! Nonetheless, she led us on an epic adventure that I’m sure we won’t forget!

One slightly questionable direction Mandy gave us was, “Turn right and board ferry.”

“Board ferry?” Steve and I both questioned at the same time, as if Mandy would provide some kind of logical explanation. 

We drove down to the barrier anyway that was the gateway to a ferry that would take us across the river Danube (there were no bridges at this point of the river, evidently). However, the sign read, ‘Fähre beginnt am 22. März’, which meant that the ferry would only start running the next day, as we were there on the 21^st March. It clearly doesn’t run during the winter. Since that particular spot seemed to be a popular place for driver’s to admire the view, I took the opportunity to spontaneously converse in German with a local who offered to take a picture for us. I asked him where the next possibility to cross the river is and he told me it’s a further 20 minutes’ drive, followed by an appreciated comment he said regarding how well I can speak German. That was a rewarding moment for me - it's nice to feel that the language learning pays off.

We drove on and again, Mandy presented us with the direction, “Turn right and board ferry.” This time, there was a ferry running, but one that we weren’t sure we’d fit onto. It looked deceivingly small as we observed it crossing from the other side, and there were already three cars queued up in front of us. Fortunately, four cars comfortably fit there after we made it down the very dubious, rickety, wooden ramp. 

Despite leading us in the opposite direction from Schneeberg, Mandy took us on an amazing driving route that we would never have seen otherwise! Steve still managed to achieve the thrill of driving up a mountainous road with endless hairpin corners and our ears even popped with a similar altitude as we would have experienced, had we have ended up in the right direction. The Austrian countryside was simply stunning and with gorgeous, green forest and a calm, quiet lake, I was mentally transported back to my beloved Finland. Until Steve drove us into the forest on a slightly off-road journey, before realizing there was clearly no driving path left and crashing into a tree while turning to go back! Luckily, the tree bared more damage than the car (or us), and that section of the car was already marked on the rental form as damaged, due to a tiny scratch just above where it had hit the tree. It was time to return to Vienna!

Upon our return, we had just enough time to take a breath before going into the city centre (using public transport this time – no more driving that day!) to meet some friends of mine for a bite to eat and a Friday night beverage. We went to one of my favourite places in Vienna but the service that evening was really quite disappointing. As understanding as I am, having been a waitress myself, even I got frustrated at the lack of attentiveness of the waiter. I still felt the need to tip though, as a kind of passing on of karma when I received tips in spite of the fact that the service I provided was dire. However, our experience in a lovely restaurant in Budapest resulted in even the most sparsely tipping person I know, leaving a well-deserved tip for the assiduous service we received.

Our trip to Budapest was short, but eventful! Mandy served us well directing us there and reaching our destination exactly on time. We had arranged to meet with the Granddad of my au pair kids and we couldn’t have timed it any better. He kindly showed us into the house, we had a light lunch, and then he left us at the metro station. It was very helpful of him to organize our metro tickets for us because we wouldn’t have known that the cheapest way to travel would be with a 24-hour group ticket, with which we would always have to travel together. We actually kind of overlooked this clause almost 24 hours later when Scott and I needed to get off a couple of stops earlier than Steve to catch a train back to Vienna. The tickets are always checked on the way in to the subway but not necessarily on the way out. This time, they were checking and of course we were caught without a ticket. I said that our friend has our ticket and I can ask him to come back to this stop. I'm sure they hear excuses like that all the time. After consulting his colleague, the man said we could do that. Luckily for us though, his colleague was much more understanding and she let us go a couple of minutes later. No fuss, no hassle.

With basically only 24 hours to spend in Budapest, we were on a mission to fit in what Steve had missed during his first time in the city and what the country is actually quite well-known for: thermal baths. We spent several hours enjoying the naturally heated pools with minerals; experiencing different temperatures, from 18 degrees to 40 degrees; and allowing ourselves to completely relax in the saunas and allowing me to mentally escape to, and reminisce about, Finland. The boys couldn’t resist photographing the stunning spa and dared to bring their phones into the outdoor pool. Of course that meant that I was taking several pictures of them to document their day there, attempting to cope with the pressure from the warnings, “Don’t drop my phone!!” and “Two hands!!!!! Always hold it with two hands!!!!” The phones survived, thankfully, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that in future!

Later, we devoured a delicious meal after drinking a traditional shot of Hungarian Pálinka. I enjoyed a beautiful grilled salmon fillet with grilled vegetables, though I wish I had have chosen the beef shoulder on the menu. Scott ordered it and it was to-die-for; I tortured myself after tasting a bit. Next time, that’s definitely on my agenda! Thomas, take note – this is what I was talking about. ;) The food was rather fancy, but reasonably priced, meaning you can enjoy fancy food that you may typically avoid at home or in other countries due to the sheer expense. 

Our evening ended up leading us aimlessly along the river Danube, admiring the night view of Budapest’s amazing riverside, while searching for a nice bar to have a drink before planning to take the last metro back to the house. Well, inevitably, we missed the last metro because we randomly came across a riverside rave set up with a proper DJ set outside, as well as a mobile sauna and very cheap booze (actually with only recommended donations of about £1 per drink!) Not surprisingly, the police turned up shortly after midnight following some noise complaints from a nearby hotel, but, they left without any hassle and, as I suspected, no one showed any concern with the same understanding that it’s only a problem if the police come 3 times!

When the party finally started dying down, we typically decided that would be a good time to search for a late night kebab. While the boys settled for a below average kebab shop, I went with the aim of indulging like the locals in some greasy Hungarian lángos. Much to my disappointment, the queue was too long and by the time the boys had finished their kebabs, it felt like it was about time to pack it in for the night. We chanced it with a taxi in the hope that we wouldn’t be totally ripped off and I could feel my city paranoia creeping in as I was on full alert mode walking through the city and while being taxied home. The boys didn't seem in any way paranoid, or alert, as they nodded off in the car. Nevertheless, we made it back just fine.

We went on our separate ways the next day, as Steve prepared to fly back to NI, while Scott and I were taking the train back to Vienna. After buying our tickets and boarding the train, we only realized when the conductor started checking them during the journey that we had been sold return tickets instead of one way tickets. We asked what could we do considering we should probably get some money back, but we were of course fobbed off – the conductor could only speak Hungarian and thanks to a friendly lady sitting in front of us who translated, we were told just to go to the office in the train station once we arrive in Vienna. I figured this would be pointless, as we were sold the tickets in Hungary, and we would be better to just try and sell the one way ticket back to Budapest. First, we had no metro ticket when we were checked in Budapest, and now we had too much ticket when checked on the way out of Budapest! Turned out that a return ticket was actually cheaper than a one way ticket, so there was no problem after all! I only found that out after persisting and asking several people before disturbing another conductor in the 1^st class carriage of the train. He said to just give it away or sell it if we don’t want to use the return. Happy days, I thought!

It’s amazing the amount of fun you can have when you have a week off between German courses! A lot can also fit in around Mon-Fri working in the schools! I keep adding more and more to my travel plans, as well as to the increasing number of visitors planning to come here – let’s hope I can fit in as much as possible in my already hectic schedule! More updates to come.

Meanwhile in Vienna…

March has crept up like the sneaky spring has come from nowhere! February disappeared with a blink of the eye and with it, so did winter. The ice rinks have closed for the season, birds are singing, flowers are blooming and new things are happening. 

I joined my tandems for a spin around the ice for the first and last time this winter at the Eislaufverein, the ice rink next to the beautiful Stadtpark of Vienna. I’m always anxious with my first few steps on the ice but after a few rounds I found my balance and managed to set my pace. I’m finding a similar experience with running. (Though I must be careful to not injure my ankle again!)

I’ve taken up a new hobby of running this year and hope to continue to show improvement. The great thing about running is that you can see the results very quickly. I use the Runkeeper app on my phone to track my runs and set goals to achieve. Today I ran my first 6k, in preparation for two runs I’ve signed up for in April and May: Frauen Fun Run und Österreichischen Frauenlauf – a 6km women’s fun run and the 27^th Austrian Women’s Run, for which I registered to competitively run 5km. These are the first runs I will take part in and my aim is just to compete with myself and gain nice, wee medals at the end!

Not only have I started a new hobby, I have also started my new job. This week I officially started teaching in a private primary school in Vienna for one day a week, and where I will hopefully continue come September on a full time basis. In the new job, I’m responsible for teaching English grammar and science to the 4^th grade classes (of which there are two: 18 children in both classes.) It is incredibly refreshing to teach again like a regular teacher, without so much emphasis on English as a foreign language, even though for all of these kids it is at least their second, if not third, language. But because they have been taught different subjects through the language of English, it comes a lot more naturally to them. This is the reality of the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) method of teaching, whereby children learn the language and the content at the same time while being immersed in it. I’m very excited to be a part of this school, while also having the opportunity to compare my experiences in a public primary school in the same district through my Comenius position. 

As a Comenius Assistant, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve found my stride now, in a much more stable way than during the early months. Comenius is a kind of EU project that is difficult to define and that becomes clear when you start working in a school in another country, as no one really knows what you’re supposed to do. Now, with less than four months left, I can say that I have grown immensely since September by using my own initiative and trying to find ways to engage children who don’t understand the language I speak. I have received incredibly positive feedback that I try to use to stimulate further creativity and improvement. What I’m really glad of is the ability to work with, and get along with, other members of staff, because that can make the world of difference.

Meanwhile, I just signed up for my next German course, as I’m about to complete the first half of A2 level German. The time has just flown by since I started studying German at the University of Vienna in January and the exam is already in two days. I need to pass the exam to move on to the next level, but hopefully, judging by the result of the practise test, it should be fine! I decided to continue in the university, as opposed to in a Volkshochschule (VHS) like I did last semester or somewhere else, because I feel that I’m pushed to work hard there and the more serious environment makes me take language learning more seriously too. While my course from September to December in VHS was a lot of fun and helped build my confidence and fondness of the language, I’m now at the stage where I would like to progress in a way in which I can clearly see the improvement. I have learned that I very much respond to concrete goals that I can work towards achieving. 

In between all that, I’ve managed to check out some other new places I’ve never been to in Vienna. I finally tried out a couple of local restaurants that I’ve had my eye on; one Japanese place where Thomas and I enjoyed fabulous, freshly-made sushi; and one typically Austrian place where I attended a parents evening for my new school. The purpose of that was to provide an opportunity for parents of 4^th graders to meet up for possibly the last time, and also to initiate the transition from the teacher going on maternity leave, to the new teachers, one returning from maternity leave, and me. It was a very interesting and enjoyable evening where I felt very welcome in my new school community. 

Exploring new districts has become the norm too, especially since another fellow Comenius friend, Scott, has moved so many times! This time we were invited to his place for dinner where we enjoyed a prawn cocktail starter, made by me, a delicious salmon carbonara, Scott's speciality, and Steffi's yummy, homemade lemon cake, all washed down with a lovely bottle of white wine, brought by Laura and Agnieszka! Scott even showed us his amazing skills playing the violin. We are like a little Comenius family!

 

As last weekend was the first weekend of the month, some city museums were free on the first Sunday. I decided to take advantage of this and visited the Wien Museum Karlsplatz with a surprise visitor from Turku and my fellow Comenius friend, Laura. We tailed onto a free guided tour of the museum, depicting Vienna through the centuries to how it looks today. It was rather enlightening to see how little it has actually changed since medieval times and we tend to share the same thought sometimes that living here feels like living in a different era! Later, Laura and I visited the Uhrenmuseum (Clock Museum), though I didn’t find it as engaging as the previous one. I think there are more interesting clock/watch museums in Switzerland. Nevertheless, I can't really complain when it’s free! 

I have many plans coming up now that will fill my weeks and weekends at least until May! I will have visitors coming to Vienna from NI and I’m also looking forward to spending the Easter break with Thomas. In the meantime, there’s plenty to be getting on with!