Living like the Locals-Woche 16

We finally got to sing to Dan for his birthday.  Since there are no Dairy Queens here for his traditional ice cream cake, he asked, instead, for a chocolate pie.  Saturday we were too chocolated out from Zotters to eat the pie.  So Sunday, we finally sang to Dan.  It wasn't such a bad deal for him.  He got to spend his birthday in Salzburg, open presents the next day, and then eat pie a week later.  The party just kept going!!  It was hectic week again, for Dan.  He's trying to keep up and catch up with everything going on at work.  It doesn't ever pan out though because he spends 80% of his time in meetings trying to solve all the problems of the company, but never gets any time to actually work.

The week started out great.  Of course, there was a holiday.  I don't know what day we were celebrating, but we decided to have a BBQ at our house anyway.  We invited three families over.  We didn't have enough groceries to feed three families, but no big deal, we would just go on Monday morning to pick up some more stuff.  Boy were we wrong.  We drove all over town and could not find a single grocery store open.  I thought we were doomed.  I did have some meat in the freezer, but I only had 1 small bag of potato chips, and no fruits or vegetables.  My snack cupboard was empty and even my chocolate stash was gone.  We really had no food.  Luckily, one family had to cancel and although we were sad they couldn't come, we were relieved that there were only two families who would go hungry at our BBQ.  The only signs of life in the whole town were a few bakeries.  We stopped to drown our sorrows in krapfens (Austrian doughnuts).  We ended up buying several items, hoping to cheer ourselves up.  It was fun to come home and try all our finds.  The BBQ ended up working out just fine.  Dan found some potatoes and made a German potato salad.  I found a box of powdered sugar hidden in the drawer, and I was able to make another chocolate pie.  Our guests ended up bringing stuff to add to the meal, and we ended up with a feast.

We recommitted to an exercise and diet program, starting after the holiday.  Insanity every morning really wakes you up.  Staying on the diet has been okay--first week down.  Finding foods that are diet foods is a little harder here.  It takes some time to figure out where to purchase low fat cheeses, and where to find lower fat cuts of meat.  When we first got here, we were just excited to find anything we recognized.  It didn't matter how many calories it contained.  The diet craze seems to be only a thing in the U.S.  Finding protein powder or meal replacement shakes or bars is very difficult here.  There are a lot of fruits and vegetables, but they do not keep very long.  It seems that a container of strawberries or tomatoes can go bad the day after you buy it.  I guess that is why people seem to shop everyday.  Not only are the refrigerators small, but the food doesn't last as long either.

It is now Spargel season.  It this the time of year when asparagus is ready and abundant.  It is almost celebrated, as the Austrians and Germans buy the asparagus and serve it in all kinds of ways for every meal.  The local delicacy is weiss spargel (white asparagus).  I think that they grow it under some sort of cover, where it doesn't get to see the sun, thus the chlorophyll can't turn it green, or something like that.  It is a specialty, but it actually contains fewer nutrients than the regular green.  This year, because of the crazy weather, the crop season is small and short.  I bought a bundle of asparagus from a local farmer and paid 5 Euros for a half kilo.  At that price, we're not buying tons and certainly not serving it at every meal.  Hopefully next year, we'll be able to enjoy Spargel season to its fullest extent. 

All the kids were in their Spring concerts this week.  They put the concerts on during the day, so Dan was not able to attend.  Dyllan needed to be wearing a white shirt and black pants or skirt.  No problem, I thought.  I went down to the store to purchase them.  Unfortunately, they didn't have anything black because it is Spring.  So, I went to a few more stores--without any luck.  Dan got home from work, and he drove us to 6 more stores, all of which did not have anything black in Dyllan's size.  Sometimes, I miss not knowing where to go shopping even.  Finally I called a friend and she suggested a store.  It was close to Dan's work, so I had him stop by on his way home the next day.  He found a cute black skirt and white shirt without any problems at all.  The good news is, now I know where to go shopping for clothes!

At the concert, Dyllan played her cello and sang some songs.  Deagan got to sing a few songs with his class as well.  They both did a great job.  Their music teacher is a really fun lady who does a great job with all the kids--even the pre-kindergartners.  Dane played recorder in his concert and sang some songs as well.  I was unable to attend his concert, as I had an appointment to meet the pool guy to set up the pool for the season.  Since so many people are unable to attend the concerts during the day, there is a high demand to record them and sell them on DVD.  I was sad to have missed Dane's concert, as was Dan, to have missed all of them, so I think I will be buying the copy.

So, the pool is cleaned, filled, and turned on!!  It is sparkling and very inviting!  The only trouble is that the weather turned this week and it is cold.  The higher hills got some snow in the past couple of days.  We didn't get snow here, but it is certainly too cold and windy to swim, or at least, I thought it was.  The kids couldn't withstand the beckoning pool.  They begged for us to go swim in it to try it out.  I finally let them get in, telling them that it would be cold.  They all decided to see for themselves.  Deagan jumped in and swam about 4 strokes and clung to the side and got out.  Dyllan took about 15 minutes getting in the pool, and only swam about one foot farther than Deagan, just to say she had done more than him.  Dane didn't bother even getting his swimming suit on.  He hiked up his pants, and only went in to his knees.  That was enough for him.  Deagan, however, when he discovered that Dyllan had gone further than him, was distressed enough to jump in, swim farther than Dyllan, get out to warm up, then jumped in again to swim just a couple of feet more, just to seal the deal that he won.

Both Dane and Dyllan were invited to birthday parties on Saturday.  It is unusual for a party to be on a Saturday instead of Sunday anymore, so we try to support the ones who keep their parties off the Sabbath.  We took the kids to the store to buy the birthday presents.  Then we were off to Dane's party.  The traffic was horrible on a Saturday, and it took us about an hour to get him there.  By the time we arrived, it was time to leave to get Dyllan to her party.  It was, of course, on the other side of town.  We drove over to her party.  Her party was only 2 hours, so we didn't think that it would be worth the 30 minute drive home to have to come all the way back out to get her.  So, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were two kids down for a couple of hours--shopping, here we come!!.  We had already parked in a garage, so it made more sense to walk to a store.  I looked for the closest store on my phone, and we headed that direction.  We walked and walked and walked.  It seemed longer than it was, because it was chilly and windy outside.  We were not finding the stores we were looking for.  Finally, after about a half hour of walking, we finally got to the mall.  There happened to be a McDonald's there.  Deagan noticed it right away.  He asked if we could cross the street at the intersection.  Dan said that it would be okay to cross.  Deagan said with a very excited voice, "Since we're here, can we stop at the McDonald's?"  Dan said, "Well, maybe".  Deagan, trying his best to sound convincing said, "but Dad, McDonalds is cheaper today."  Dan asked him what would make them cheaper today, a normal Saturday?  Then Deagan said, "We don't have Dane and Dyllan with us so we don't have to pay for them!"  After that clear display of clever smarts, we couldn't help but buy him lunch.  After the lunch stop though, it was time to head back to pick up Dyllan.  We never made it to any stores.  We did pass a KFC on the way.  Good to know that there's one in Vienna, just in case.  And as you might guess, after picking up Dyllan, it was time to head back over to get Dane.  We spent just about all day in the car on Saturday.  It was still fun to hang out and to see parts of Vienna that we hadn't explored yet.

That night everyone was sugared out and tired.  We settled in for a movie night.  You wouldn't guess what the kids wanted to watch.  First on their list was The Sound of Music.  It made me smile to realize that maybe somehow through all this, our kids are learning something and will remember this experience for the rest of their lives.