29.10.08

I went running this morning Miranda! Yeah for me! My friend Lisa and I met at the U6 subway station at 6:30 and ran from there past the Parliament building where the European studies class is going on Friday for a tour, right to the Volksgarten- a nice little park with a few fountains and lots of pretty flowers and a pseudoparthenon that must be being restored or something because it was all ‘walled’ off- and we couldn’t go check it out. Yeah- basically one or five other things are being restored here at any given point in time- because it’s all so blessed old! For instance Stephansdome – one of the coolest really old churches, (I’m pretty sure I have a pick of it earlier in my blog) is always, always experiencing construction- or reconstruction rather. But that’s especially because it was damaged during world war II- I think on e of the towers was demolished or something. So many things here were destroyed during that war. Schade.

Ok. Especially for Grandmas and mother I share this small experience/thought. Yesterday I was walking home from the institut/outreach center where I often go in the evening to do work or play the piano or whatev because they have computers and internet and USB ports on their computers (the 2 out of 7 comps that work at the Austro American Institut are ancient and do not have such useful features) ---Anyway--- so I’m walking home and I pass a stroller, and this darling little baby is saying bye, bye, bye over and over and looks and sounds so precious in its little baby-stay-warmer thing that people keep kids in strollers in in Vienna, and I looked back and smiled at it’s (probably his) mom and kept walking and thought to myself- how precious. A few secs later the baby let out one of those shocking shrieks that babies like to make in the form of ‘bye’ that babies like to make sometimes and I thought- hmmmm I think babies just like to be shocking and have an impact on the world when I they do that- in that way I am not so entirely unlike a small child myself- haha heheh heh… Anyway I few meters later I glanced up to see a mother and daughter walking along with another small child, probably 3, and she was saying a baby- a baby- and pointing to the stroller a short ways behind me, and I thought to myself- yes, these streets are quite safe, frequented by small children and their mothers… at least, that’s what I thought. And all that took place in about 40 seconds.

As you can see I enjoy details- and would love to tell all of you all about the entirety of my experiences here abroad, but alas- simply cannot, and should not, because I’m not here to log my life, I’m here to live it. But I WILL try and log more little experiences here on the blog and slowly catch up with the somewhat composite record of my experiences that I’m making with my pics as a guide, and I will show that to whoever asks later… it’s too big to post… In the meantime also, I will post more pics to my gmail account, and I think that will be easier. OK that’s all for now! Love you all J !!

Okay okay! Whew everyone! I just finished most of my nursing school application so now I just have to blog and I'll be caught up with life a little. :) Sorry it's taken so long... Oh and ps, it's been so long since I last posted that I've completely forgotten everything I once knew, and I am yet pressed for time, so this may turn out a little schloppy again. Just enjoy the pics and--- go on your way. :)
Well, the first is a picture for dad. Yes, I think of you in while in Vienna. Your name shows up randomly... This is just on a typical street in austria. In the bottom right corner you see the little round Strassenbahn Haltstelle or streetcar stop. That's where I wait every morning and during the day to take the street car to school and other exciting places. But to the REALLY exciting places, I take the subway. :) By myself. Like I did today when I had a beautiful success finding jeans to buy after like an hour of trying on different pairs. All of them were crap but the ones I bought. And -HA- they're from Canada! They're great. I'm just glad that I can stop wearing skirts all, all the time, as much as I love my pink courds, my only pair of pants that doesn't have a largely compromising hole.

Here are some pics out the window of our bedroom. I'll have to take more pics of the apartment eventually... but for now I think I'm doing pretty well taking bazillions of pictures, like I was advised (cough, Cory :) yay! I like taking pics now )
PS Right now I'm in Burgerking using the free internet, and they are playing my beloved classic rock. Right now they're playing "more than a feeling" and they've played tons of awesome music... All the music in stores around here is in English- from America or Brittain. Funny.
Oh, and also, the other night it was so awesome- I was just getting done being lost since the streetcar I normally take home was out of service and I was trying to find my way home w/o a map- haha. Anyway, I made it to our street, and the reason the streetcar line was out of service was because they had a ton of bands and street vendors selling random Austrian food and fruit all over. I stopped to listen to Dire straits... it was awesome. :)


The streets here are super narrow. Super narrower than in the US anyway.





































Here's a picture of Kasia and I with our Hausfrau (host mom, or grandma really) Frau Crenville. She actually has 3 last names: Folliot, Crenville, and something else I forget. She has an aristocratic backround through her husband; she's currently divorced. It's just me, Kasia and her! But we're all frequently out and about.







Here's a couple pics on the bus to Bratislava, our first Friday in Vienna.


This is Kasia sporting that awesome jacket Miranda never wore. I brought it because the color rocks, and come one, color is the most important thing to plan for when you bring few clothes but many outfits, eh? Men. :) For those of you who don't know me well enough try that last part again. It goes Amen. :)



Dang. I have a ton of pics to post. This takes way too long. I'll have to be very selective and share more later. Sorry everyone. But when it comes it will be good. :)

Quite obviously I'm new at blogging- and I'm not quite sure how to get all these pics and text just where I want them- maybe someone can give me the lowdown. I'm sure I'll learn- but for now, I'm going to bed, and I'll trust that everyone will be able to discern the order I attempted. For one, in the future, I'll have to work on the chronology... Good bye and good night everyone! :)





And our walk.








And pics of the apartment...











Here are pics from the bus trip to the hotel.

This is my dinner! Mmmm- so much detail- I love it! The tiny salad we had was half chicken- goodness! The entree is beef stroganoff with spaetzle. I'm not sure spatzle will grow on me- but Kasia likes it... See that half and half? Pretty sure that's for coffee- but, I drank it. :) I'm storing up for later. My budgeting philosophy? ALWAYS take food when it's free.- and going to be wasted.

Here's a random little girl who was quite attracted to Kasia- and kept dashing up the aisle to er-spout some nonsense we couldn't understand. However, I pretended to understand and spouted back to her in English. Kasia didn't think she spoke English. Later her mom scooted her up the aisle speaking French- Kasia was right.

This is me, stirring the salt and pepper into my tomato juice with a cool, pretty green stirry thingy. Yes I'm easily amused- it's a good thing, I assure myself. Plus, I kept that stirry thingy- I bet I could



This is Kasia and I basking in the take off sunlight pictured above- though you can't really tell... we just look cute.
Here's Ruth. Eating a hazlenut on our Austrian Air flight. Austrian Air is lots nicer than Delta. They had blankets and pillows for everyone, and served us 2 meals, and their upholstery and flight attendant outfits were pleasantltly colorful :) I like.


Haha- Haha! Whoa! I'm heeere! :) (Nervous/excited laughter) Yeayaa, this is so much fun I'm having right now. So here's a quick review of the 'day' (Which has really been a day and a half) traveling to Vienna, first in words and then in pictures, with commentary. Airport, hotel, walk, dinner. Now for the pics :)

Here is my good friend Kasia, graciously pointing to the Terminal 1 sign. Funny that that identification is no where on any map we found... Kelsey (my sister-in-law) was right. The JFK airport is confusing! Plus, since I'd had basically no sleep the night before (busy tying up loose ends- HA! Like I could ever tie up all the loose ends of my life... :) ) I was definitely out of it, and very grateful and fortunate to have a lovely group of BYU girls to navigate the airport with. And by group I mean there were 5 of us. It ended up that a JFK employee saw us puzzling over the fact that there was no "terminal" 1 pictured on the map and pointed us in the right direction. And we made it!

Introducing the start of wonderful things...ABROAD!

Oh hello. Soon Kasia Cook and I will enter the world of our dreams and make them come true. Thanks to our hard work and lovin' of life. :)