Getting Started- Woche 2

For any of you that are familiar with Fiddler on the Roof, there is a great scene when the tailor finally gets his first sewing machine.  It is a day for celebration and of course, everyone breaks out in song.  All Monday morning, Dan pranced around the house singing "Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles" as we not so patiently waited the arrival of the washer and dryer. (One difference, unlike the people of Anetevka, we didn't have the Rabbi come to bestow any blessings on the appliances.)

They finally arrived and then we were told that the washer had to run without clothes for the first time.  The wash cycle took an hour and a half.  But, after that long wait, I was able to finally start cleaning all our clothes and blankets.  The dryers here do not vent to the outside.  They put heat into the clothes somehow and then all the steam is condensed into water and is saved in a container that I empty after every load.  A lot of people here don't even have dryers (Energy costs a ton here and I think that maybe people can't afford it).  With the long wash and dry cycles, it took me two and a half days to get caught up on the laundry.  No thanks to Danyon who seems to need to change his clothes more often than a teenage girl.

Speaking of Danyon, he now is the proud owner of 4 teeth.  The two top teeth came in this week.   Dan is not very excited that he gets to be the high chair for awhile.  Danyon doesn't seem to mind.  Just keep it comin'.  He has been sleeping a ton.  I don't know if it is out of boredom of the same 3 toys, or if he is growing.  He seems to enjoy the short walks to and from the bus stop and our occasional outings.  He has already learned that the floors are hard and when he rolls over, he needs to hold his head up to keep it from smacking down on the stone.  He's pretty smart!  He does, however, manage to get himself into some tight squeezes.  You can get yourself pretty stuck when all you can do is move backwards.

You would think that in a land with so many mountains, there would be Hidden Valleys.  But alas, there is no Ranch dressing here.  The closest thing we found is a yogurt based creamy dressing with chives and parsley.  It is more tangy than Ranch.  The kids are adjusting just fine, as there were no complaints when they dipped their chicken nuggets in it.  I had a craving for Red Vines this week.  I don't even know if I can buy them here.  Every time I go to the candy aisle, I get so caught up in all the good chocolate, that I don't even know what other kinds of candy they sell.  We are eating more than our share of chocolate each week.

Dan's boss invited us over for dinner one evening.  It was very generous of him, as there are only two in his household--he and his daughter.  We overtook his house and ate him out of house and home.  It was very delicious.  He is from Spain and he served Spanish appetizers and the main course was Greek.  It was good.  The kids only embarrassed us a few times with their comments of "This is disgusting!" and "Do I really have to eat it? because I don't like it."  Other than that, it was a very enjoyable evening, AND we got to sit on couches!  As we wanted to bring a gift and didn't know what to get, I tried making chocolate chip cookies to be as American as we could get.  Despite the butter being in grams and the the sugar being larger crystals and the absence of real vanilla, they turned out pretty good.  We took half the batch over and baked the other half when we returned home.  There wasn't even a crumb left for the next day.

Even though we have had our phone number for a week, we just figured out two days ago how to call out.  The good news is, now I can.  Don't expect phone calls any too quickly though, I'm not sure that I know how to make a long distance call.  If you call us, and we don't answer, don't be alarmed at the German answering machine.  I believe she says to leave your name and number after the beep, but I'm not sure.  I also don't know how to change the message into our own, or even, if we can.

The kids almost had a snow day this week.  It was all Dan's fault.  He said that he didn't want to buy Dane snow boots because winter was nearly over and spring is about to begin.  That sealed the deal this week (much like the groundhog on Feb. 1), that we would be consigned to a week of cold and snow.  They were expecting 20-25cm one day.  (You do the math).  That was enough to almost get a snow day, as we didn't really get that much.  But, we still had snow.  The kids got to play in it.  I'm loving the courtyard and garden (everyone calls the backyard a garden here).  They can go outside to play and be completely safe and I don't have to go out with them.  And thanks to the fact that we don't have curtains yet, I can see them from almost every room in the house.

The second graders start strings at this school.  Dyllan picked a cello.  It is almost as big as she is.  She lugged it home on the bus and gets to practice everyday.  She had private lessons with the music teacher every morning this week for 15 minutes before school started to get her caught up with the rest of the class (they started at the beginning of the school year).  She starts without a bow until she learns the strings and notes and how to play.  Then she earns her bow.  Dane gets to play the recorder.  Again.  I think it won't take him long, as he was a black belt in Indiana and they do the same program here, just a few different songs.  He can join the band next year with brass.  He missed out on strings, so if he wanted to play one of those, it would require a lot of private instruction to get him caught up on the four years he has already missed.

Valentine's Day came and went without much ado.  We think that they do celebrate it here as we heard commercials on the radio that said "Valenteen's tag".  However, Dan said that on his way home from work, he didn't see hoards of people going out to dinner.  No one in our complex had flowers delivered, so I think it is much less celebrated here than at home.  As for us, Dyllan and Deagan exchanged Valentines in their classes and Dane got to eat a cupcake.  We had love songs playing all day and ate the kids' favorite meal:  stromboli--who cares if I forgot to put in the cheese.  For dessert, I made strawberry eclairs.  I used vanilla pudding powder to make the base for the filling.  The vanilla pudding here is not as sweet as at home, and it doesn't have a lot of vanilla flavor.  It tastes strongly of cornstarch or pectin.  Dan's comment on the dessert was that he would have to bring a suitcase of pudding back with him the next time he traveled to the states.  As for me, I'm still in amazement of my skills to pull off such meals with only the use of a 9 x 13 pan, a pot, a fry pan, a can opener, vegetable peeler, spatula, and wooden spoon.


We took the kids to their first professional hockey game.  The Vienna Capitals played on Friday night.  They lost the game, but it was so much fun.  The fans really get into it.  They all know the players names, they all know several clapping/spirit chants.  There are drums constantly being beat and the noise level is pretty high.  Deagan still managed to sleep through it--until the Capitals scored a goal.  Then the noise level was enough to wake the dead!  At the end of the game, the winning team's fans sing songs and do other crazy things while the team kneels on the ice in front of them (I wonder how you get the job to lead the songs and other chants at the end of the game--he wasn't a cheer leader in the American sense of the word).  Then the winning team salutes the fans and everyone goes home.  It was a lot of fun.  We enjoyed Kaisekriners (foot-long polish sausages, filled with cheese, wrapped in bread dough, lined with mustard) during the game.  They put the Dodger-dogs to shame.

We liked them so much, we tried
 making Kaise Kriners at home

The hockey game allowed us to have our first experience on the subway this week.  We were able to catch a bus a couple of blocks from our house, and then transfer to the underground at the main station in our part of the city (Heiligenstadt).  It sure beat driving to the game and we were home in 35 minutes without dealing with parking or traffic.  There were a few drunks on the subway, but they kept mostly to themselves.  We watched a guy down at least half a bottle of wine straight out of the bottle over the duration of about 5 subway stops.  Must've been a tough loss.  The great news is, though, we have never felt unsafe on public transport anywhere in Vienna.  Except for when Deagan tries to jump in front of moving busses, trolleys, trains, etc.  We still have some training to do there.

Our Demel cake box

We are slowly getting more furniture built.  It takes me awhile to get things built having only one person to manage such big pieces of furniture.  Danyon isn't much help in that department.  Yesterday, he just laid there critiquing me, blowing raspberries every time he didn't approve.  Despite his remarks, I built two armoires this week and am working on a locker.  The kids make it even more interesting as they scatter their new found toys of cardboard and styrofoam all over the house.  What a mess!! 

The last great news of the week, we got it approved from the company to get some temporary furniture until ours arrives!  They are sending beds over for all of us and a couch.  We'll have them on Monday, we think.  They had to make sure that the delivery truck would be able to fit down our street and be able to park in front.  As it is a one-way road, they can't block it.  The company still hasn't even sent any of our stuff, as they are waiting for the proper paperwork.  It is slowly coming together, but it will be nice to have somewhere to sit and it will be very nice not to have to sleep on an air mattress.  We must be getting old because our backs can't take much anymore.  For those of you coming to visit, my apologies in advance, because you will all get air mattresses to sleep on.  Sweet dreams!