Game On!-Woche 4

One month already!  I can hardly believe it!  This week started out not so good.  Dane was sick, Danyon got sick (both ends--all over Allynn--twice), and she dislocated one joint in her toe (falling down the stairs in the morning, getting a bottle for Danyon).  And, we were dumped on with snow - another 12 inches in 24 hours!  Despite the sickies, we doped them up with Tylenol (this we brought from home.  We haven't ventured into an Apotheke, yet), and we went with a family in our ward, the Meltons, to the Spielebox.  It is an extension of the Vienna public library, that has tables set up, and shelf after shelf of board games and puzzles.  You can play them there, or you can check them out.  We tried to stick with games that we were already familiar with, as all the instructions are in German.  It was a perfect activity to do while the snow fell.

Then we ventured out to get some lunch at the Brunnenmarkt.  It is an open market that has stands of produce and meat.  The prices on meat were much cheaper than the grocery store.  The produce was about the same, but the selection was much better.  We found persimmons and huge pomegranates.  Dan couldn't resist the lamb chops and the cheese shop.  He was a little hesitant at the cheese shop because it can be difficult to understand the pricing signs (difficult for us).  But, he still came away with a nice chili-Gouda.  There are also carts and stands that sell food, ready to eat.  There are several open markets in Vienna, this one seems to be predominantly Turkish.  We found a backerei that has brick ovens with open fires and they make their bread on the large tables behind the sales counter.  I cringed when the owner picked out our bread with his not so clean hands, stuffed it in the bag, took our money, and then went to grab the next persons bread, all without washing his hands.  Department of Health, where are you?  It turned out that the bread was good enough that it didn't matter.  We'll be back.  We tried a huge assortment of breads (potato-stuffed, feta cheese-stuffed, pretzels, flat bread, and some awfully good baklava (pistachio and regular).  We tried other delicacies at the market as well.  We had a falafel sandwich, and other things that were kind of like a flat, homemade thick tortillas stuffed with spinach, garlic, and feta.  Dane ventured out and  tried one with spicy ground pork.  We spent the rest of the day visiting with the Meltons at our house.  It was a fun day.  The kids couldn't believe that we didn't make it to the IKEA.  They were heartbroken, they said, as they jumped for joy.

The rest of the week went pretty slow.  The kids were back in school and Danyon was too sick to take out in the cold.  Dan had meetings out of town and was gone for three days.  Getting Danyon to the bus stop was a chore some mornings.  Tuesday morning, I got the kids up, and helped them get ready for school.  They were not being very helpful, in that no one wanted to help anyone else make their lunch.  At the last minute, I ended up making Dane and Deagan's lunch, as Dyllan was already finished.  I finished just in time to head out the door to the bus.  Just then, Danyon coughed so hard that he puked all over himself.  I had to clean him up as fast as I could.  We finally got him dressed in his warm outfit, and were out the door.  We ran down the street to the bus stop.  Dyllan was even running with her cello on her back.  When we turned the corner, with one block left to go, we could see that the bus was already at the stop.  I thought for sure that we were going to miss it, and I had no car to get them to school.  They were going to be late because it takes so long to get there on public transport.  We ran down the street and waved our hands in the air.  By some miracle, the bus saw us and waited.  We arrived and the kids boarded the bus.  After Deagan got on, the chaperone on the bus came down the stairs and said, "Please be here 5 minutes ahead of time", at which I would have had a really good come back, if I had not been out of breath.  So I just smiled at him with a snarl under my breath.  (As a side note, the bus is not free here.  It costs about 8 Euros a day per kid to ride to and from the school.  I think with three kids missing, it was worth waiting a couple of minutes in order to get paid that day.  And as another note, Thursday, another kid missed the bus, and on Friday, even another kid missed the bus.  He is not supposed to get to the stop until 7:30, but he has been leaving the stop at 7:26 for most of the mornings this week--yes, 4 minutes makes a huge difference when there is puke involved.)

We had our first experience with the health system here.  By Wednesday, Danyon was still not feeling much better.  His fever had broken, but he was not eating, which we all know, means he was not himself.  Thurday morning, we found a doctor (by recommendation) that could speak English.  We made an appointment for Danyon that evening.  When I called, it was the actual doctor that answered the phone.  I was excited because he had evening appointments.  Also, it was a chance to get the whole family to meet him.  So we waited for Dan to get home from work, and we drove to the doctor's office.  It was in an apartment building.  We walked up the stairs, and the doctor opened the door and greeted us.  He brought us back into a room that was decorated with old toys.  He even had an old carousel with marionettes in it.  It was very cool.  As it turned out, Danyon had actually been eating all day and was feeling much better.  He was still raspy though, and the doctor confirmed that his lungs were clear.  He gave us a prescription for some cream to help with his eczema.  That will be our first journey to the Apotheteke.  The doctor then informed us that he was on call "24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and here is my card with my office number and my cell number.  Please call if you need me.  Also, I can come to your house, if it is needed."  We paid him, and left.  It was quite a different experience than what we were used to.  Another thing to add to our list of things we will miss about Austria - a doctor who makes house calls and is willing to spend more than 30 seconds with you, and to top it all off a lot cheaper than the US even without insurance.

We did have some respite this week.  A dear lady in the ward, the primary president, stopped by one night and had three boxes of toys for the kids to play with.  She also brought some towels and a couple of baby blankets.  (She saw Deagan fighting to get Danyon's blanket on Sunday at church, and figured we were short on blankets).  She brought over books for me to read, if I had extra time.  One of the blankets and toy was a gift to the baby.  Also the next day, she took time off work and volunteered to drive me around to any stores that I might want to go to.  She gave me a tour of a neighborhood with Euro (dollar) stores and other stores that were slightly cheaper than the ones in our district.  She also drove me to a second-hand shop, and to the store where she gets pet supplies and does her grocery shopping.  It was a fun day, and she was very helpful.

Dane's primary teacher had given him a European candy that he absolutely loved a couple of Sundays ago.  He has been begging me for 2 weeks to get some.  I've looked, but have not been able to find it in the store yet.  When I was together with the primary president I asked her where I might be able to find them.  She told me to try Billa or a couple of other stores.  To Dane's disappointment, we didn't have time to stop at one that day, although he did get to go to Ikea (frowns all around).  When I was with the primary president I had accidentally left Danyon's jacket in the car.  While we were at Ikea she came by the flat to return the jacket.  With it, she brought a box of the candy that Dane had wanted so badly.  We found the coat and the candy stuffed behind a bush at the entry to our complex.  She made the kids' day!!

While I was shopping with the primary president she convinced me that I needed to buy a rolling cart for my shopping.  The next day, I decided to try it out.  I was going to ride the bus to the Q19 (shopping mall with the grocery store in it.)  I wasn't sure how I was going to manage a stroller and a cart, so I tried it out at home first.  I discovered that I can't manage both.  I decided to forget the stroller and just take the cart.  After all, I would only have to carry Danyon for 2 blocks until I got to the bus stop.  Everything went great (except that Dan told me the wrong price for a bus fare, so I had to hold up the bus for a bit trying to find the exact change.)  We safely arrived at the grocery store.  I put Danyon and my rolling cart into the shopping cart.  We finished our list and made sure that everything would fit in my roller cart.  Then we headed back to the bus stop.  What I failed to realize is that in order to get on the bus, I had to be able to lift my cart, while holding the baby.  I almost didn't make it.  It's a good thing that I used to lift weights, because I had my cart full and to lift it with one hand, without spilling all its contents, took a lot of strength.  When I got to my stop to get off, an elderly lady stepped up to help me, as she saw the trouble I had getting on, she took the cart and lifted it down to the ground, but she about fell out of the bus because of the weight.  I thanked her profusely and hiked the rest of the way home.  I can't wait for my baby backpack to come.  It will be so much easier if I have two hands and don't have a 25 lb. baby in my arms.


"Well in Whoville they say, the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day".  I don't know who's heart grew, but we certainly felt like the Whos.  Our air shipment, the smaller shipment that came by plane that had some more of our essentials arrived on Friday.  They brought back our baby stuff, they brought back our clothes, they brought back our plates and they brought back our bowls.  We even got hockey sticks and guitars to play under the Vienesse stars.  So they didn't bring everything back, but it is a start!!  It is amazing how much a drawer full of silverware can brighten your day.  And even with the arrival of more toys for each of the kids, they still had the most fun with the cardboard boxes.