Wein, Weib und Gesang

An endless staircase draped in red cloth welcomed revelers past the watchful eyes of a long-lost emperor, people ascended ever upwards through rooms built from immense wealth and sweat, through showcases of rebellious America, sensuous South America, old world Bavaria, leading all to the grand elegance of the Austrian capital.  Men and women looking regal in their flowing evening gowns and evening dress mingle cheerfully amongst the crowd of students, professors, politicians, and party-goers.  "Opulence" is but the shadow of the magnificence of Friday evening's venue, the famed Hofburg, the imperial palace of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and one of the world's most renowned estates.  To think that one of the most powerful families in the world, the Habsburgs, used to live in this building is mind-staggering.  It was a surreal experience, casually walking up to the monumental edifice at nightfall with ticket in hand, and then entering a bustling foyer filled with handsome looking people - as Humphrey Bogart once said, it's "that stuff dreams are made of."  The rooms seemed to multiply as we passed through room after room, leaving always one beyond unexplored.  Gold leaf adorned the ceilings and door frames, masterworks hung on the wall, a dynasty's treasures were spread out before us.  For once in my life, I felt under-dressed in black tie.  The researchers here in Austria were invited to attend the Technical University's annual ball, a tradition dating 1815, making it one of the oldest balls in the world.  We gathered in the main ball room for the opening ceremony, in which the honored guests (rectors, deans, professors, trustees, and politicians) paraded in with their spouses to fanfares and marches. The orchestra played the Austrian national anthem, and to my surprise, the European anthem, which is a variation of the 4th movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the famous "Ode to Joy."  Then, about 100 students who had trained for several weeks performed the choreographed opening dances.  The very thought of American college students willingly dressing formally and waltzing for a school event makes me laugh - only in Austria, and boy, do they know what they're doing!  At the conclusion of their performance, with the Prussian-like command, "Waltz!," the dance floor opened to everyone for the night.  Walking through some of the many rooms with some friends, we were taken to 1960s American with a rock-n-roll band in one hall, the sexy nightclubs of Buenos Aires with tangos and such in another hall, and the mountains of Bavaria with a folk music group performing in yet another hall, with spectacular views of an ancient gateway and courtyard below the window.  Throughout the night in the grand hall, the musicians played the luxurious melodies of the Waltz King, Johann Strauss II, such as his most famous composition, "An der schönen blauen Donau," (On the beautiful, blue Danube).  Waltzes, polkas, marches, quadrilles, and fox-trots sounded throughout the night.  Though we tried to dance several times, however, there were just so many people present that it was nearly impossible to move, so much of the night was spent simply watching and walking around the palace in pure adoration at its exquisiteness.  In terms of fun, it pales in comparison to last week's Edelweißball in Salzburg, but simply for the experience of attending an authentic Viennese ball in the most impressive of locales, it was way, way worth it!  

One word: surreal.

When we awoke Friday morning in Vienna, the weather was quite literally a breath of fresh air.  Near 50°, blue skies, and not a cloud in sight.  What a relief!  It was back to Salzburg, however, and that evening a small group of us gathered at Augustinerbräu to celebrate a friend's birthday.  On Saturday, a good group of us traveled across the border to the 500-year old salt mine buried far under Hitler's Eagle's Nest in beautiful Berchtesgaden, Germany.  I had been there once before in 2011, but this time was equally as delightful.  Fitted as true miners in blue coveralls with reflective stripes, we descended into the mine on a miniature train.  After a short introduction, we had to descend to the next level by a giant wooden slide.  There are two of these slides within in the mine, and they're a real thrill ride!  It's incredible to walk up to a wall, touch your finger to one of the reddish spots, and then taste the salt on your finger tip.  Two of my friends just went for any spot on the wall the first time, and, well, now they know what stone tastes like!  My favorite part of the tour is when the guide leads us to what looks like a vast cavern.  In reality, it's a subterranean lake that is so still that the cave ceiling is perfectly mirrored on its surface, creating the illusion of a jagged floor.  After crossing this lake on a wooden barge, we were invited to sample the water.  It has a salt content of 27%, which is partly why the water is placid, and tastes positively horrendous!  After we finished the tour, received our commemorative salt shaker (where's the pepper?), and gathered our things, we realized we had only two minutes to run up to the road to catch the bus, lest we wait around two and a half hours for the next.  Tired and hungry, we were trying to think of a place to eat back in Salzburg, when one of my friends had the brilliant suggestion of going to the lone Mexican restaurant (read: lone restaurant that uses spice) in town, and what a meal!  I could have rolled out of there, I was so full.  

Today was a hectic day at the school.  They were officially dedicating a new wing of the already massive building, and Austria's minister of education was doing the honor herself, along with more politicians than should be in any one place at any one time.  The students were balancing on a tightrope of discipline today, and the bustle of security personnel and a lot of people thinking they were more important than they were seemed to have gotten on a lot of teachers' minds, but it was exciting.  Only three days of teaching this week, Monday-Wednesday, and then so begins a 2 week vacation from work, to which I'm really, really looking forward.  No definite or big plans made, but maybe a few day trips to better know Austria and the surrounding regions, and I'm even thinking about an overnight trip to the far west of the country, to where Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland meet, to do some sight-seeing.  We'll see what comes, but as for the rest of the week, it looks like drinks with the gang on a rooftop bar, coffee and cake at a café with a friend, and a party with everyone on Thursday.  Halfway through, and still finding something daily that amazes me about this experience.

God Bless Italians

Warmth and sun were today's themes, finally!  The overnight rain washed away the snow, and the sun shone brightly over the fresh landscape.  A bird who hadn't yet flown south perched outside my office window this morning, mimicking the joyful song I was singing inside.  It's incredible how something as simple as a few degrees can make such a difference in the world.  After nearly a month of rain, snow, and gloom, I felt alive again today, soaking up what is sure to be only a passing glimmer of the hope of an early spring.

Due to a fire drill, I only had two classes this morning, down from 3, so the day began on the right foot.  I had coffee with a young teacher in the teachers' lunch room, which I hadn't yet visited.  Her English is flawless, and much to my surprise, she had never been to an English-speaking country, nor had practiced with a native-speaker before.  It made me cringe to think back on my experience, after having studied in a German-speaking country 3 times before, and having always studied under a native speaker, that my language skills are so poor comparatively.

Undoubtedly the highlight of my day, I enjoyed the short walk to the little Italian shop around the corner to fetch some more of my coveted Pecorino Romano cheese.  I walk into an empty shop, and as soon as the door closes, with the energy of Roberto Benigi's performance in La vita è bella, out pops the friendly proprietor, Antonio from Apulia on the Adriatic, bursting with song.  He hurries me to a small table along the window, and immediately pours me a glass of Chianti.  Still singing, he asks me what I'd like.  "Pronto!," he replies, and off like a bat he races to the back of the counter to get my cheese.  I add a few bags of pasta and some sauce to my order, and he comes back with a small plate of new cheeses, cured meats, olives, peppers, and some fresh crusty bread to soak up the olive oil.  Antonio isn't very good at German, and I'm no good with Italian, but we made conversation.  His eyes lit up when I said I was American, but that part of my family is from Sicily.  "Ah, it's-a beautiful day-a!"  More wine, more food (all on the house, by the way), and then, after running to the back of the store, he comes back with a pastry filled with marscapone, ricotta, and lemon zest - to die for!  As I'm about to leave, he stops me in my place, putting his hand up like a traffic officer.  He comes back with a giant loaf of fresh bread - "ein Geschenk von mir," he says, "a gift from me."  It's on days like today when it hits you in the face, and there's nothing you could do to avoid it - despite all the terrible things that happen in the world, it will always be filled with wonderful people.

Summit of Fun

Very little could have put a damper on this past weekend, as it was filled to the brim with laughs, smiles, and good times.  The weekend began a bit early, with a 6 hour round trip to Vienna Thursday afternoon.  My mission: to learn how to waltz.  The 15 or so researchers here in Austria were invited to one of the oldest formal balls in Vienna, that of the Technical University, this coming Thursday evening in the imperial palace.  It seems like one of those once-in-a-lifetime things to do, so I have been looking forward to it since landing in Europe in September.  It's a far cry from the dances I've been to before in one sense, namely, that one has to know how to actually dance to participate!  There'll be an orchestra playing away to unforgettable Strauss tunes all night long, and the name of the game is the waltz.  Seemingly simple, with it's 1-2-3, 1-2-3 rhythm, it requires some tricky maneuvering, as I found out.  I arrived in Vienna about 45 minutes before our lesson, stopped by the Fulbright office to catch up with some people over coffee, and then headed to the dance school across the busy street.  As I walked down the staircase to the studio, large posters of dancing giants stared down at me.  Passing a judgmental-looking portrait of Jerome Robbins, I suddenly got that feeling of being up that infamous creek without a paddle - "what am I getting myself into!?" I thought.  Intimidated didn't begin to describe what I felt.  As I checked in, a few of my friends meandered in, as did our friendly organizer, an elderly Austrian women who seemed very, hmm, "tough."  In a manly low voice, she said that we we had better situate ourselves at Point A to view the opening ceremony at such and such a time, "or else I kill you."  And to be quite honest, I'm not too sure she was kidding.  So, now fearing for my life, I walked onto the dance floor readily believing that the fate of my mortality rested in my performance.  Our instructor, Vlad, gracefully entered the floor.  Waltzing, I can do this.  "Okay everyone, we're going to start with the Merengue."  [Heart drops into stomach]  We only did that for five minutes as an exercise to loosen up, and I actually got the hang of it quickly, and sort of liked it, too.  We then learned two types of waltzes: the English waltz, which is a standard box-step movement, and the Viennese waltz, which is a bit quicker in 6/8 time, and has a lot more moving around.  Both were really fun, and I think the hardest part at first was not looking at our feet.  Once we looked up, it just flowed, which was a great feeling, especially on the first try.  We ended the course learning the fox trot, which is a series of four steps over 3 beats, so that the rhythm is 1, 2, [3,4].  Slow, slow, quick-quick.  Its simple until you come to a corner and have to pivot at the same time.  Didn't quite nail that one, but again, it was a lot of fun to try.  After our lesson, we all headed to a popular student restaurant by the office for dinner.  As I had to return to Salzburg for classes the next morning, I left right after dinner and had a sleepy ride back.

Friday morning's classes were a bit dull, as it seemed absolutely no one wanted to be in class (me, included).  But, Friday night most certainly made up for it.  One of my friends here, Alice, lives with a host family who graciously offered 4 tickets to a ball here in Salzburg.  The ball was called the Edelweiß Kränzchen, which is thrown by one of the oldest Alpine clubs in Austria.  My friends Alice, Alice, and Cecilia were going, and they invited me along.  The day before I had mentioned to one of my teachers that we had scored tickets, and her face just illuminated.  She was so, so excited for us, saying that it's one of the most exclusive balls in Austria, by invitation only, and that it would be wildly fun.  She was absolutely right.  In typical Salzburg fashion, white tie and tails and regal dresses were set aside in favor of Trachten, the traditional mountain clothes of this region.  Men in Lederhosen and women in Dirndls of every shade of the rainbow filled the venue.  I've never seen so much Trachten in my life - Oktoberfest offered but a fraction of the splendor before our eyes.  4 large stories were jam packed with handsome couples, close friends, young and old, amidst wine, beer, sausages, an extravagant buffet, Champagne, and colorful clothes.  After a few moments of taking in the scene, we walked up to our table in the balcony overlooking the main hall, which was filled with cheerful tables around the dance floor, before which sat two bands, a 10 piece traditional band with brass, accordion, drums, harps, and guitars, and a 20 piece brass band, who played in tandem.  The ball opened with a march of the Club members and their wives.  After about an hour of drinking our Weißbier and chatting away, we decided to join in the dancing.  At each quarter past the hour throughout the night, the traditional band would instruct the crowd in a few Austrian folk dances.  Stomping, clapping, yodeling, twisting, galloping, waltzing, and dancing the polka were all thrown in for good measure.  As we were 3 girls and myself, Alice and Cecilia spent most of the night dancing together, which earned its fair share of quizzical glances.  At one point, 2 guy friends around our age approached them and each took one as his partner for a few dances.  At the announcement for the next dance, lots of people quickly vacated the dance floor, and I took their cue and moved aside to watch.  Thank you, dear Lord, for that!  Alice and Cecilia got stuck dancing the most insane dance I've ever seen in my life.  For most of the dance, the partners' hands never part, despite turning and twisting in mind-puzzling directions, often so their arms looked like pretzels wrapped around one another.  It quickly became evident that these two boys hadn't the faintest idea what they were doing, as was the case for half the men on the floor, but they stoically stuck with it and improvised where they could, while Alice and I were in stitches on the side watching the utter hilarity unfold before us.  Ever see those German dances were the guys slap their shoes?  Yup, there was plenty of that, too!  Alice and I even danced a four-person dance with a kind Austrian couple.  I've never danced so much in my life, and never enjoyed doing it more!  We shared a few rounds of beer throughout the night, and danced all the traditional dances, with a few waltzes and polkas on the side, and stayed until 3am.  Hands down, it was the most incredible thing I've ever done in Austria, and with my three great, beautiful friends at my side the entire night, sharing so many laughs, smiles, stories, and dances, it was most definitely one of the most wonderful, purely wonderful, nights of my life.  The English language doesn't contain enough adjectives to describe just how fun it was - bliss.  

If ever there was one, A Night to Remember.  Best abroad experience by far!

Until evening, Saturday was a bit of a blur.  Had a fantastic sleep-in, and then met most of the other assistants for dinner at one of them's apartment.  It was the first time all the assistants in the province had really gotten together socially, but the others I did meet (Italian, French, and I think Spanish) were very nice. A few of us left a couple hours into it to head to a bar in the Altstadt for a glass of wine.  It was really quiet inside, and non-smoking, which is a big plus for any place in Austria.  Sunday started off quiet, but then I met with my three friends from the ball for a walk up one of the mountains directly in the center of the city, the Kapuzinerberg, so named for the Capuchin monastery fortress that tops it.  The paths were a bit icy, but it was a warm day and we spent a nice time together walking up and down the mountain.  We gathered together after dinner to go to one of our favorite places in town, Augustinerbräu, the largest beer hall in Austria, run by the Augustinians.  We got a big table and played some really fun card games for a few hours before calling it a night.  

Festung Hohensalzburg in a fading blanket of snow.

The next few days are just filled with teaching, and then I have Thursday and Friday off.  Directly after my last seminar class at Uni, I'll jump on the train with my friend, Kim, the other researcher here in Salzburg, to head to our ball in Vienna.  As much as I'm looking forward to dancing the night away, I'm equally excited to return to Salzburg Friday morning, as I'll be joining Cecilia and Alice to volunteer walking dogs at the local animal shelter!  

'Twas a happy, happy week!

"Castle" in the Clouds

Today was a glorious day!  The sun was out for the first time since I've returned, the temperature was in the 40s, the sky was brilliantly blue, and I breathed a sigh of relief after finishing most of my responsibilities for the week.  After teaching three lessons this morning, I met a few friends in a new café which occupies the first level of the Mozart family's second home in the city.  I ordered a coffee with steamed milk, a dollop of fresh whipped cream, and a dusting of pistachio, and also a cake with pistachio, vanilla, and chocolate layers, based with raspberry jam and topped with a dark chocolate fondant.  It was deliciously decadent, and surprisingly inexpensive compared with other cafés here in town.  

This past weekend, I traveled to Graz, a city in southeastern Austria, with three friends.  We arrived midday Saturday and explored the Altstadt.  A city lying on the cultural bridge between Austrian and Slovenian culture, Graz has a rich, mixed history and sense of tradition, and international legacy that continues to the present day with its large multi-national university student and ex-pat communities.  A quick walk from the train station lead us to the main square.  Just beyond, we started ascending the Schloßberg on which once stood a supposedly mighty fortress. Midway we stopped for lunch in a quaint, local restaurant, and then completed our rise up the mountain.  The summit offered wonderful panoramic views of the city skyline, though the castle of the "castle mountain" seemed mysteriously absent.  Graz's iconic structure is a 16th Century clock tower, which was one of the very few buildings at the top.  Aside from the brick façade of a mountain home, a Baroque-era belfry, and a few red brick walls, there was little to impress.  According to the historical markers, the fortress was once besieged by French armies during Napoleon's quest of domination in this corner of Europe.  After months of unsuccessful attempts to capture the mountain redoubt, Napoleon abandoned efforts and proceeded to Vienna, where he found his victory.  After defeating the imperial forces, one of Napoleon's first orders was to tear down, brick by brick, the fortress which defied him, leaving what little remains today as markers of the once-powerful installation.  It had continually snowed for a week, and it was still quite cold out, so after our descent, we sought shelter in a warm café along the river.  Braving the cold again, we explored the riverbank and a shopping mall before heading to dinner in a traditional restaurant, where we met a colleague of mine for a nice meal.  After dinner, we visited an English bar for a short while before calling it a night.  After a sleepy start the next morning, we bid farewell to Graz and boarded the train to Salzburg, looking out the window in sheer awe at the magnificently tall mountains on our winding path through the Alps.  The city had a very different feeling from Salzburg.  Fewer tourists, arguably less charm, but also a very "real" atmosphere.  Sometimes one can get swept away by Salzburg's beauty and fairy tale-ness, but Graz is a large, livable, working city.  Different, but a nice place to spend a short weekend, and I'm very glad to have visited.

One of the few remaining castle structures, this snow-covered belfry stands tall above the old city sprawled below.

While in my office at school this week, there was a knock at the door, and I was surprised to hear the voice of a fellow American.  She was sent by the board of education to speak with the English teachers at my school, and several others I hear, with the proposition of offering what she called "community service teaching."  She runs an exchange program here in Salzburg for an American university I've never heard of (I almost presume it's one of those fake online schools, or a foreign country-based "college"), and would like her participants, who do not speak German and are not trained in interacting with students, to teach cultural lessons for 20 hours over the upcoming term.  My supervising teacher, who was sitting across from me, would hear none of it.  He rather enthusiastically defended me and my position, as the sole native speaker and cultural ambassador to his school, which I didn't expect, but totally appreciated.  The idea did sort of seem like competition, and it came so out of the blue, that neither of us knew what really to make of it.  Other than that bit of excitement, the week's been mellow, and there's a general listlessness amongst both students and faculty as the semester slowly nears its end in two weeks' time.  

There is usually a week break in between terms (for which my supervising teacher has graciously given me an additional week), and up until last week, my little brother was planning on visiting for his short leave of service in Afghanistan.  I was hoping to show him around Salzburg, Bavaria, and even a surprise visit down south, with beer gardens and cafés thrown in between, but, in typical military fashion, they cancelled his leave just last week, to my great dismay.  Hopefully it'll just be postponed a month, but as it is the U.S. government, I'm not holding my breath.

Tomorrow I have the day off from work, and no university seminar, so I'll be taking an early afternoon train three hours east to Vienna to attend waltzing lessons organized by Fulbright.  Next week the 16 researchers here in Austria were invited to one of the most famous balls in Vienna at the Hofburg, the imperial palace in the city center.  Also, a friend here in Salzburg invited me and two other friends to a ball nearly across the street from where I live in the provincial congress house.  Typical for Salzburg, dress is Trachten, the traditional mountain clothes of this region, and it looks like so much fun - I'm really looking forward to going with them and enjoying the night together.  If I'm reading the website correctly, the ball is for an Alpine club, so I'm sure they'll have there own incredible customs, dances, and songs - should be a blast!

Return to a Fairy Tale

After being home for three weeks, I find myself back in this old border town, staring up at magnificently clear  midnight skies, snow covered mountains (snow covered everything, for that matter), and beer so good that, as one friend once described, "if you hold your glass up to the sun, you can see the Face of God."  It still hits me that, at least until July, this incredible place is home.  I think returning from a short hiatus strengthened that sensation even more, having a place that's mine to come back to, slipping back into work and classes amongst people I now know, walking through familiar corridors and jumping straight into a network of great friends.  It's nice to be back.

This time around, jet lag truly got the best of me.  The weekend was a blur, and Monday night I saw the back of my eyelids for a whopping 2 hours before an early wake-up for school.  I was hoping to force myself into a reasonable cycle Tuesday night, but that was not to be.  Guitar Hero returned from Colombia, ornery and drunk, at 1am-ish.  Slamming doors, loudly playing music, and singing something that sounded like a cross between Elvis and Spanish hip-hop, which, under normal circumstances would have been irritating, but for 6 hours without end, despite my ignored pleas for silence, it was intolerable.  It was my first all-nighter, and boy, did that make for a dreadfully long day.  I filed a complaint, and ever since, as he's been threatened with eviction, he's been as quiet as a mouse.  It's nice having a card up my sleeve, lest he decides to start playing that one song he knows in the wee hours of the night.  The day ended on a high note, however, as I met with a bunch of my friends for dinner at an Indian restaurant, another first for me.  It was so great catching up over a good meal.  Everyone seemed to have had a wonderful break, but I was reminded that half of our group, most of the English girls, will soon have to leave for their next semester abroad, a fact which I'd much rather overlook at this point.  The only bright side to them leaving, is that I'll have friends to visit in new cities once the weather warms in the spring, to which I'm really looking forward!

Thursday was a long morning in the school.  Earlier in the week, I had met with my supervising teacher to plan my schedule through March, and, as I had been visiting with only the upper-level students, he thought it prudent that I start meeting with the younger students, who are supposedly eager to meet and speak with me.  This means another 2 months of introductions.  I'm half-expecting that that's it I'll do the entire year.  It's a lot like Groundhog Day - day in and day out, I walk into a classroom and do the same things over and over.  It's easy, and I change it up a bit each week just to retain sanity, but I'm highly anticipating the day when I prepare something novel.   After all, I'm only there through May, and I do not foresee that I'll be doing a terrible amount of new material in that short span.  My supervising teacher, though, is top-notch.  He's clustered my classes near the weekends, so that one week I'll have classes Wednesday through Friday, and then classes Monday through Wednesday the next week, so that every other weekend I'll have a six day weekend to travel.  I was surprised at how animated my teachers were to see me this week.  I think they are truly grateful for my presence, and they seem to make every effort in welcoming me to the faculty, Salzburg, and Austria.  It's a really nice feeling, walking into school, and everyone, students and teachers alike, call out my name to say "Hi!," and want to catch up and practice their English.  Though I've grown weary of giving the same lesson, as I had once doubted the effectiveness of my being there, I feel as if I have made an impact, simply by seeing how excited everyone is to speak with me, and that has been so rewarding.

The university semester is coming to a close, too.  Term ends the end of January, and my seminar meets just once more before.  I presented my semester work this week in a roughly hour long presentation to my peers, and it went very well, I think.  I lucked out this time around, as my course fit hand in hand with my research, but the offerings next semester don't quite align.  I think I'll be registering for two courses: a survey of 19th-21st Century Austrian history in German, and, just for fun, a course entitled, "Civilization of the British Isles," taught in English by a professor from the UK.

After the seminar on Thursday, nearly all of us gathered at a friend's place for tea and cake, which was just terrific.  Good tea, amazing cakes, and good times catching up with everyone.  I wasn't schedule to work Friday, so after getting in from tea Thursday evening, I headed straight to bed and slept to 10am, which, after a week of about 8 hours total sleep, was heavenly beyond belief!  It was nice to fall back into rhythm, and, keeping with that theme, I made my way to a café this afternoon with a few friends for some coffee and conversation.  Tomorrow, it's off to Graz, a city in southeastern Austria, for a weekend of sightseeing and exploring with a few of the girls.  It's good to be back!