Es Regnet Ganzen Tag-Woche 21

So, Summer came and went.  We had rain, rain, and more rain this week.  We're not to the flooding point here again yet, but things are pretty soggy.  This made for an interesting week stuck inside with all the kids.  There was a lot of T.V., movies, Wii, and toys.  We only went swimming in the pool once, and it was still too cold out for me.  Although this is a huge house for Vienna, we still find it pretty confining when we're all packed inside.  We weren't really stuck, but I didn't really want to take the baby out in the rain.

Dan and I had our physicals to get Austrian driver's licenses.  We had to do an eye test which I nearly failed without my glasses in one eye, but she said that I barely passed.  Then we had to do a series of hand-eye coordination tests, to make sure we were fit for driving.  Luckily, we passed those without any trouble!  We still don't have our licenses.  I'm not sure what comes next in the process, but we'll keep working on it.

 Dan spent a few days in Madrid.  He found it to be a fun city.  In Spain, dinner doesn't begin until about 9:00 or 10:00 at night.  That's when the city really comes alive.  He spent most of his time in meetings, but did find time to do a walking tour of the city and see a flamenco show.  He was really impressed by the dancers.  At least one of them is a Spanish celebrity and treated much like the movie celebrities in the states.  Dan is excited to go back.  Ole!

After returning home, Dan had a very hectic schedule.  He had been asked to speak at a luncheon for the entire Lilly Alps staff.  It was a little nerve-wracking as this was Dan's first public exposure to the entire staff in the Vienna office (not just the Elanco team).  Typically, the leaders from the different business areas use this as an opportunity to provide a business update, but Dan decided to mix it up a little bit, and say nothing about business results.  Instead he chose to focus on corporate responsibility and introduced the entire office to the seriousness of global food insecurity and how Elanco is working to address this issue.  He was even able to get the country director from Heifer International (a non-profit that Elanco works with to provide livestock and training to needy families in third world areas) from Romania, to fly in and share the program with them.  The meeting went really well and Dan received a lot of compliments on mixing it up and getting the office to think about the bigger impact Elanco has in helping to produce food around the world.  Since the guest speaker was from Transylvania, we thoroughly checked Dan's neck over when he returned and found no bites.

In his absence, we were not without excitement for the week, however.  Tuesday night, I tucked the kids in bed and I headed to bed myself.  I watched a movie as I waited for Dan to call.  By the time he called, it was close to midnight.  I finished my movie and went to sleep. 

It seemed like seconds later that I was woken by the sound of my alarm clock.  I rolled over to turn it off, and realized that it wasn't my alarm--and it was 2:25am.  It came to me, as I slowly was coming to my senses, that it was the smoke alarm going off.  At this thought, I jumped out of bed, and headed down the hall to get the kids out of the house.  As I went past Dyllan's room, she was already up and followed me down the hall to the boy's room.  As I passed their room, Dane asked what was going on.  I told him that it was the fire alarm and to get out of the house (I was glad that he was at least awake, as per previous posts, I thought he would sleep through it).  He and Deagan followed me down the stairs.  I got them all safely outside, and headed back in to find the fire.  With the alarm still blaring, I searched every room in the house on every floor and could not find any fire or smell any smoke.  I was so scared that I checked every room in the house again, just to make sure that I hadn't missed it.  After the second time through, I decided to head outside to look things over out there.  I searched all around the house and still could not find anything.  I told the kids that they could come back into the house, and that it was safe, as far as I could tell. 

The alarms were still ringing.  I went in and tried to remember how to turn them off.  I finally got the one in the dining room off, which turned off all the alarms up stairs as well.  However, the kitchen and entry alarms were still ringing.  I got the kitchen one off.  Then moved to the entry way.  I got a ladder and tried to get that one off, but could not ever get it to stop ringing.  I finally just took out the battery and left it unplugged for the rest of the night.  The kids were all still terrified and asked if they could all sleep in my room.  As I was still shaken up too, the thought of having them all close to me in case there was another incident, made me feel better.  So, we all piled into my bed--Dyllan, then Deagan, then me, with Dane, Marco, and Pollo, (oh yes, the cats even found a place to snuggle in) across the end of the bed.  If Danyon were not still in a crib, I would've had him there as well.  As it was, the kids and cats were able to fall asleep.  I sat there in bed for at least another hour or more just listening and sniffing, and trying to decipher if there was a fire or not.  I'm glad that we had already told the kids what to do and where to go in case the fire alarm went off, but it is still VERY nerve wracking to be in charge of the safety of all the kids, animals, and anything important in the house all by yourself.

 Dan said that if he were there, I would've made him check the house while I slept (obviously he wasn't here, because no one can sleep through the smoke alarm, but if you could, he's probably right!)  That all made for a very groggy Wednesday which added to the fun-ness of being stuck inside.  Luckily, later that day, the landlady happened to have an appointment with me for something else in the house.  I mentioned the smoke alarm scare the night before.  She informed me that the smoke alarms were sensitive and would go off even with dust in the air and that it was probably from an open window.  I was still iffy on the reason, and the electrician also happened to be in the complex so I had him look at the smoke alarm.  I was relieved to find that he could not get it to turn off either.  Phew, it wasn't just that I was dumb!  There was a malfunction in the smoke alarm and he will be back later next week to put in a new one.  Can anyone tell me why the malfunction had to happen at 2:30 in the morning AND on a night that Dan wasn't in town???

Later in the week, we did have some fun.  It had been a long time since I took portraits of the kids and I was getting antsy to try some pictures again.  We went out and tried to get some good shots, then we stayed and played at the park.  The kids really had a good time.  Anything to get out of the house!

Dyllan made her basil quesadillas and refried beans this week.  They turned out superbly.  Deagan made yogurt parfaits for his dessert.  He used plain greek yogurt and made an apricot compote to mix in.  He even baked his own granola to sprinkle on top.  They were a perfect dessert for calorie counters.  Dane made spicy nachos and they were yummy!!

We found an English speaking movie theater here that was playing a kid friendly movie on Saturday.  We thought it would be so much fun.  The kids are free on public transport now, for the rest of summer, until local kids start school again in the Fall.  We decided to take the u-bahn (subway) over to the theater and surprise the kids.  We saw (well, some of us saw) Monsters University.  It sounded like a good idea and the movie was cute, but Danyon apparently does not like surprises.  He is now to the point of not being able to sit quietly through a movie, no matter how much food or bottles we stuff in him.  Dan spent the majority of the movie in the hallway.  Needless to say, we won't be going to another movie for awhile.  So, back to buying movies at the Saturn or Media Markt, and auf wiedersehen to movie theater popcorn, which they sell sweet or salty here.

The church bell that we hear every hour

Allynn had a little communication mishap at church today.  I was teaching the older kids (7-11 years old) a lesson about the sacrament and the importance of renewing our baptismal covenants each time we take the sacrament.  Dyllan got the question:  Who can pass the sacrament?  She didn't seem to know the answer, so I tried to help her out a little.  The first clue I thought of was that the Deacans need to hold the priesthood.  Boys are the only ones to hold the priesthood, so I asked Dyllan, "What do boys have that girls don't?"  I immediately realized what I said and chuckled a little bit, but to quickly smooth over the situation, the first thought that came to mind was to give Dyllan another hint.  So I then said, "It starts with a . . ."  I didn't even finish, as I realized that I really put my foot in my mouth even further, so I just said, "Priesthood.  Deacans that hold the priesthood are allowed to pass the sacrament".  And then I quickly moved on to the next question!  This happened at 10:00am this morning and Dane is still laughing uncontrollably as I write this at 6:00pm.  We'll see if I still get to teach the kids next month.

Es ist Heiss, Ich Weiss! -Woche 20

Dan traveled quite a bit this week.  He went by car, to Hungary and Slovakia and Czech Republic.  He had meetings to launch a new product in each of the areas.  Although traveling by car seems like it would be neat, this week, it turned out to be not so good.  We've had a heat wave come through here with record breaking temperatures.  We were in the high 30s (Celsius--it got to at least 96 degrees Fahrenheit) and for June, that is very hot!  It was hot enough that the car air conditioner could not keep up, and poor Dan did not have air conditioning at his hotel.  He said it was pretty miserable.  The meetings went well, however.

As for the rest of the family, when it's hot, we head out to the pool.  We spent quite a bit of time out there this week.  It was nice to get to use the pool.  It is a lot of fun.  The pool temperature changed from 14.7 degrees to 25.5 degrees in the pool, in one week. (For those of you not on the centigrade system, 22 degrees is room temperature.)  The first week of summer was spent just as it should be.  We swam and relaxed by the pool, we swam some more, and then we came in the house, slightly sunburned, and watched movies in the evenings.  We got Danyon into the water this week.  We learned that he really likes it.  He loves to splash in the water.  He floats around in his little tube and has a great time. 

I have started a summer type program to keep the kids busy and their minds from turning to jello.  We, of course, have our normal chores, but in addition, we have added some other activities.  Each of the kids do a research report during the week.  They type it up and then report on Monday.  I have not heard any of the reports as of yet, but I know that they all were on the computer this week, presumably working on their reports. (I think Deagan might have used his time to just play games, so we'll see what he has to report.)

Dane and Dyllan are required to plan, shop for groceries, and prepare a dinner every week.  Deagan's task is to make a dessert.  This is fun for the kids to plan their meals, gives them something to do during the day, and it saves me time.  I think it's great!!  Dyllan made some delicious quesadillas with fresh basil and had refried beans on the side.  We all enjoyed it so much that she is repeating her dinner choice again this week, so Dan has a chance to taste her culinary masterpiece.  Deagan made a large loaf of banana bread that within a few hours was reduced to crumbs.  Dane made hamburgers and a fruit salad.  Sadly, Dane's meal was consumed so fast that I didn't have time to get a picture!  We'll keep you posted on the future endeavors of the kids' culinary feats.

This is our street.

We tried walking to the store one day.  Our family causes quite a scene as we look like a parade, with just our family.  It was so hot, that by the time we got to the store, the kids were complaining that they had already melted and they couldn't possibly walk another step.  We had fun picking up a few treats and one box of ice cream treats seemed to rehydrate them enough to make it home.  Poor Deagan didn't fair so well, as his ice cream melted and it fell to the pavement.  I let him have another one, since he had only had a couple of bites of the first.  Unfortunately, that one melted all over him and his shirt, ran down his legs, and on to the floor.  I don't think he got to eat much of that one either--judging by the size of the puddle.

Friday, Dan got to come home a little early to join us at the pool.  He still had to work, but it was much nicer to work by the pool than at a desk.  He was starting to get a little envious of the summer life of the rich and famous, that his wife and kids got to enjoy, but he didn't.



The thousand year old church at the end of our street

Since we missed out sightseeing for the week, (it was too hot to even leave the confines of the air conditioned house--unless of course it was to go to the pool), on Saturday, we took the kids to the Schonbrunn Palace.  We took the tour.  It was the summer house of Franz Joseph and Sisi and Maria Theresia before them.  The tour was similar to the one at the Hofburg, but again, we couldn't take pictures.  We did learn more history that we hadn't realized.  Franz Joseph's mother was Maria Theresia.  She had 16 children (11 daughters), but we learned that it doesn't really pay to be royalty.  Of all the daughters, only 1 was allowed to marry for love.  The rest were arranged for them for political reasons.  The Habsburg Dynasty chose to rule and keep peace by forming alliances rather than wars.  So, all the daughters were married off to whoever was or could pose a threat to the throne.  One of these daughters was Marie Antoinette, another was married to Napoleon (his 2nd wife), and another was the queen of Naples.  I found it interesting (not being a history buff) that so much power in the world came out of Austria.  Also the fate of several of the children and grandchildren was not nice.  Of course, among them were beheadings, executions, suicides, and assassinations.  I guess there is a price to pay to live a life of seeming luxury.  After the tour, we took the kids to Zanoni & Zanoni.  It is an ice cream place.  They were in heaven eating their sundaes.  We had to eat fast, or else we were eating milk.

Saturday the weather was slightly cooler, but we decided to go for a swim that evening.  We got outside and found ourselves in the midst of a mosquito hey day.  We could not believe how many of them were mercilessly attacking us!  Our dinner by the pool was quickly canceled and we headed back inside. 


We did not see many bugs out during the heat of the day, but once it cooled down, watch out!!

We ran into a family at church today who we had known in Fort Collins.  They were taking a 3 month tour of Europe and just happened to visit our meeting.  It was great to catch up with them a bit and what a surprise!  It's a small world after all . . .

School's Out For Summer! School's Out for Ever!! Woche 19

Getting on the bus the last day of school

Well, maybe not forever, but we're certainly very excited around here!  It seems this week has been a crazy one.  They have so many fun activities for the kids on the last week, that Danyon and I spent most of our week either at the school, or getting to or from.  The good news is, that I found a new favorite way to get to the school with public transport.  This route only takes 45 minutes, instead of the 55, and I get to take buses the whole way (which are more stroller friendly than some of the older trolleys).  We drive up the street and head into the hills and vineyards.  We travel to the top of the hills, get a great view and then travel through forest almost all the rest of the way to the school.  It's beautiful! 
One day, there were only 2 of us on the bus.  That's much less crowded than the other way.

Tuesday was Deagan's class' picnic and awards day.  Of course, it was pouring rain.  That didn't stop the fun.  We just ate our lunches in the cafeteria and we had the awards ceremony in the classroom.  Deagan got the Mr. Sunshine award (the teacher loves his smile, although she admits that it is often a mischievous one).

Wednesday was Dyllan's class' ice cream social.  All the kids loved it!  They got to eat ice cream and play on the playground for a couple of hours.  The entire last week of school, there is no work.  There is a lot of extra play time and lots of fun.  Danyon was the hit of the party at this event, however.  He had about 5 girls surrounding him at all times.  They all thought that he was so cute.  You should have heard the shrieks and swoons coming from them after they found out that he could clap.  Watch out!  This one's going to be a ladies' man.  If all he has to do is clap and smile and he gets that much attention, dating life will be a piece of cake for him!  I might suggest sticking to girls a little closer to his age, however.  After that, it was my chance to show the kids the new way home.  We hurried to the new bus stop, just to watch the bus pulling away.  The next one didn't come for another 30 minutes.  I told the kids it was worth the wait, but they overruled me.  So, back to the old way.  We did get a newer, stroller friendly trolley though.  That made it nicer.

Dane with his teacher, Mr. McFarland

Thursday was field day and Dane's Moving Up Ceremony.  Fifth grade is still considered to be in elementary school here and so, Dane moved up after fourth grade, moved down when we moved here, and now is finally moving back up to middle school.  After having made a transition similar to this one in Indiana already, he appeared to be unaffected by the whole thing.  They had a nice BBQ for all the families (and they had Cheetos).  The graduation was nice and relatively short.  Afterwards, it was the first time that Dane opted to stay with his friends, hang out and ride the bus home, rather than coming home early with his parents.  Boo hoo, cried Dan.

We got report cards on Wednesday.  The report cards here are not based on the letter grades (A-F), but on a number scale (4-1).  I was very proud of all the kids for doing so well.  They had all 3s and 4s, which I thought was great considering that we turned their lives completely upside down and they were still able to focus on learning and adjusting to their new home all at the same time, and all in the middle of a cold and depressing winter.



Friday was a half day of school and the kids had planned a little water party with two of the kids from the bus stop.  One is the same age as Dane, and the other is in between Dyllan and Deagan.  They had water balloons and guns, they swam, they jumped on the trampoline (which we were finally able to set back up again, after 4 years) and they ate, and ate, and ate.  I think that everyone had a great time.

When making our summer plans, I conferred with the kids and asked them what kinds of things they would like to do this summer.  I was expecting to hear, "Let's go to this museum and let's go here, and here and here", since public transport is free for kids in the summer.  But, the first response was, "Please, don't make us go sightseeing everyday!"  With that thought in mind, I settled on just going sightseeing one day a week.  The kids were more worried that they might not be able to enjoy the pool and trampoline this summer than missing one more museum or old building.

So, Saturday, I didn't make any plans.  We just went grocery shopping and we took it easy.  We invited another couple over and we hung out at the pool.  It was Dan and my first time getting all the way in the water.  It was still cold, but bearable if the sun is shining and the wind isn't blowing.  We jumped on the trampoline and played Wii.  We had fun and it was the kids' perfect vision of what the summer months should be like.

Danyon went off regular milk bottles just recently

Dyllan had the quote of the week this week.  We were watching a year-end slide show video of Dyllan's class.  They had a United Nations day and kids had baskets full of items from countries all over the world.  "She's from Russia", or "He's from Germany", we would say as we tried to name each of the countries based on the flags attached to the baskets.  One basket had a red flag with a white cross on it.  Dyllan very quickly announced, "He's from the hospital!"  We obviously have to work on  geography around here, considering that "hospital" flag is from one of our closest neighboring countries, Switzerland.

After a month of being on a diet and doing Insanity again, I have to report our results so far.  Dan is looking great and has lost 15lbs in the 4 weeks.  I have not done as well.  I have only lost 5 and I had to fight for all 5 of them.  It seems that the best time to experiment with new desserts is when you are on a diet.  I tried a new lemon tart that was really good.  It has a shortbread crust and tastes like a lemon bar, but better!  It also got us thinking back to when we were in Samoa and we had banana cream pie with a shortbread crust.  Dan wants me to try to make that one next week.  (Easy for him to say, as he has lost big lbs this month).

Dan went to Russia this week.  He really enjoyed being back in a country where he was comfortable speaking the language.  He loved being back in Russia again, too.  He found time to go to the Banya (Russian bath).  He really enjoyed his coworkers there.  Things have changed a lot since he was there on his mission.  He was able to find all kinds of things to buy and all kinds of things to eat.  On his mission, he was lucky just to find food, let alone have choices!  The city he was in was small (500,000 people.  Population becomes relative pretty quickly when you're living in a city of 1.7 million people), and he really liked it.

Father's day is not widely celebrated here.  Actually, Austrians celebrated it last week.  We were a week late for them, but right on time for home.  Dan told me he wanted to be pampered for Father's Day.  I told him that Pampers were much too expensive here to be just wasting them on him.  He would have to settle for Pretty Baby (the local generic brand).  He didn't find that very humorous, but he did enjoy his new cow tea pot, his wasserkocher (a quick water boiling machine-cup of herbal tea in less than 60 seconds), and his new shirt.  He even found time to read in the sun this afternoon (he'll be enjoying his sunburn tomorrow).  Of course, the kids all gave him breakfast in bed and they made him cards full of love.  We didn't grill, but we had a great dinner.  It made me break out into song, "Welcome to the Cafe Mexicali, such a lovely place, such a lovely face . . . "  The menu sounded pretty basic, but it really took us about 4 different stops at different stores to pick up all the ingredients to make Sweet pork quesoles, cilantro lime dip (except that they don't have cilantro here, it's Koriander leaves for a substitute), homemade salsa, and chips.  After finishing, I must say, it was well worth all the trips.  We're off to eat one of Dan's favorite desserts:  Frozen strawberry delight.

By the way, "Plenty of room at the Cafe Mexicali . . ."--when are you all coming to visit???

Holy Cow, Batman!

Here's something that you don't see everyday!  We found this cow at the Westbahnhof (West Vienna train station).  This purple and white cow is the trademark for the Milka chocolate company.  We have found Milka to be one of the very good things about living here.  I think we have single handedly paid the salaries of several Milka employees.  It is probably the sole reason that we gained 10 lbs right off the bat when we got here.  Dan and I have worked hard for 3 weeks straight now to get it off. 

We were not at the train station to travel anywhere, it is just the place to start the Mariahilferstrasse shopping tour.  This is a long street lined with stores of all kinds.  We walked up and down the avenue and enjoyed the window shopping.  We found a another KFC and the kids were so excited that we had to eat lunch there. The only other thing we bought were 3 noodles for the pool for the kids.  After the shopping, we came home and relaxed by the pool.  The kids got in and swam for a bit, but the water temperature is still too cold for me.  Dan and I enjoyed just sitting in the sun and relaxing.

We had another first this week.  There was a big sale on apricots, so of course, we bought lots.  We decided to make jam.  They have sugar here that is already mixed with the pectin and you just buy it and add it to the fruit, cook and viola:  you're done.  You can buy a 1:1, a 2:1, or a 3:1 ratio of fruit to sugar.  From that, I'm guessing that canning is a big deal here and that a lot of people do it.  We fit right in.  We made the 2:1 and it turned out great!  Dyllan keeps eating it by the spoonfuls.

Danyon is getting around better and better.  He crawls normally now and still does the army crawl on occasion.  He has come up with a new way of sitting that he really likes.  One leg is out to the side front and the other is bent at the knee backwards.  He seems to like this because he can keep his balance as well as move forward to crawl or lay on his belly faster to get to his toys, or lay backwards in a hurry to drink his bottle.  It looks to me like it would be painful, but he does it all the time.  Maybe we should work on his splits.  He seems to be more flexible than any of the other kids.

After being here for almost 5 months, we thought we should report on a few of the differences we have found in Austria vs. North America:

Eggs don't come by the dozen.  They come in a variety of sized packages, the largest being 10.  The eggs here are predominantly brown.

Sweetened condensed milk comes in a tube (like toothpaste), not a can.  Both baking powder and baking soda come in little packets like yeast.  And whipping cream can be found in little plastic yogurt containers.

There are no craft stores here.  Finding sewing supplies is difficult.  There are only 2 fabric stores in town, and I haven't been to them yet, but any craft supply seems to be hard to find.

There is not a store that carries everything.  Some try, but you still end up going to another one to find everything on your shopping list.  However, the kids argue that everything we need can be found at Manner.

Austrians love their car horns.  They honk at everyone, for everything.  I've even seen someone get honked at for waiting for a pedestrian to cross the street.  Someone else honked at my kids for trying to cross the road at a crosswalk. (I have to admit, the last was unusual.  Most people here stop for any pedestrian all the time).  It might be a cultural thing, but I still find it rude.

They have favorite words that are used in almost every conversation.  Learn these three, and you will fit right in:  So, Super, and Schon.  Pronounced "tso, zoopair, and shown".

You can not find some baking items that seem to me to be staples:  shortening, corn syrup, maple syrup, molasses (don't ask me how they make gingerbread at Christmas time without it--and they must make it because Hansel and Gretel ate it), and liquid vanilla.

The typical Austrian style food is deep fried (schnitzel) or full of fat (hot dogs, sausages and brats) and there are bakeries on every corner, but, there are few overweight people here.  Most women have toothpick legs and are very slim.

Cheddar cheese is very expensive over here, but Gouda and Ementaller are very cheap.  We have yet to find string cheese.

Pepperoni pizza does not exist here.  Even though they have pepperoni, they don't put it on pizza.  Salami is the closest you can find.

Even the really cheap bread (like the take home and finish baking rolls, or the pre-made garlic bread you bake) is really, really good.

If you go to a bank and ask for a ledger to balance your check book, they will give you a weird look, and then inform you that they don't have any.  If you need to find the balance of your account, you go to the bank and print out a statement.

You can not put a stroller on the bus through the front door--even if they fit.  They have to go to the middle or back of the bus or trolley. (It sounds a bit like a human-rights issue to me).

Everyone here wears a scarf--including men (I do have to add, that scarves are found mostly in the winter).  And, it seems the more colorful, the better.  Some colors or patterns in America are considered to be more masculine and others more feminine.  Here the boundaries are completely broken (and I'm not just talking about pink).

Men generally wear their hair longer, and dress in fitted dress shirts and I've even seen some pairs of "skinny" suit pants.  Also, I have seen my fair share of capris on men.  Traditional Austrian attire for both men and women, is never out of style.  People wear it to church and other events where dressing up is required.  Some wear it daily (but those are mostly for the tourists sake).  Children will wear lederhosen all summer long.

Everyone dresses warmly--even when it's hot out, people will have on a sweater.  Babies are no exception.  Most parents buy fur-lined covers for their strollers that they zip the baby into.  Underneath, the baby will have on a winter coat, hat, and gloves, a long sleeved shirt, and a long-sleeved onsie, pants, knee length socks, and shoes.  This is not just for snowy days.  They keep them in this much gear until a certain date--no matter the temperature.  I think the date is in May.  It refers back to the Ice Saint days (around mother's day).  I was even approached by a woman who scolded me for not keeping Danyon warm enough.  He was dressed and had a sweatshirt and blanket besides. I'm not sure what the temperature outside was, but I do know that I was sweating with my sweatshirt on.

It is absolutely unheard of here to not drink the coffee or the wine.  Both are world famous and we've been told several times, that we "might not drink them now, but you will".  Yet after 5 months, I still don't have a problem ordering hot chocolate at a coffee shop.

People here use English swear words all the time.  This does not mean that they use them in the appropriate context or in the appropriate situations.  I've heard them from my German tutor, workers in my home, and Dan, of course, hears them all the time in work meetings.  Kids seem to be using them everywhere.  You can tell that they learn them from the movies, thus using them in the wrong context.  It seems weird to me though, because they have the same words in their own languages.  Dane learned a few in his German class at school (okay, okay.  He only learned them because some kid pronounced something incorrectly and ended up perking the ears of the teacher who said, "No, no.  Don't ever say it that way."  I have to admit that I haven't heard Americans going around saying German, French, Italian, or Russian swear words (however, I do live with a Canadian who occasionally uses Russian swear words).  Maybe it will be a future trend.

Furniture is smaller, in order to fit into smaller apartments (not because they are smaller people or shorter).  Beds do not have box springs and mattresses.  They have wooden slats and mattresses.

The local children get out of school by 1:00 or 1:30 everyday.  They have to go to school a month longer than the kids in Indiana.  It saves money not having to provide lunches and the kids get to eat lunch with their families.  Lunch is the main meal here.  It does make public transportation full of wild, English swearing kids in the afternoon. There are no school buses and we see kids as young as 5 years old traveling on public transportation by themselves.

Driving in Vienna is a completely different matter.  I still can't tell if we're ever in the right lane.  They have some lanes for buses, some for trolleys, and some for cars, and sometimes we all share the lanes.  Generally the Viennese are very polite drivers and have no trouble letting you in a lane if you messed up.  However, we have had the fun experience of someone getting so upset at something we did that they got out of their car at a stoplight and came up to the window and started yelling profanities at us.  (These were not in English, so I can't tell you what he was upset about).  I guess it's possible that he was just complimenting my beautiful brown eyes, which happen to be the exact shade of the eyes of the Milka cow.

Getting to Know Royalty--Woche 17

In Sisi's Private Garden

Dan was in Abu Daubi until Wednesday this week.  He said it was hot.  He did get to stay in a real 5 star hotel.  He said it was really nice.  He had fresh flowers in two places in his room.  The turn down service left a box with a chocolate turtle in it every night.  He came home with green ones and brown ones.  Since we are back on the diet, he gave them to the kids.  I told them that since it was from a hotel and in a box, it was probably the hand soap.  It took them a few hours to figure out that they were really chocolate.  I took a bite of one, to say that I had tried it, but I wish I hadn't.  The chocolate was so waxy compared to here.  I guess they have the heat to deal with, so they have to put wax in it.

The kids and I had a movie party Wednesday night, waiting for Dan to come home.  Netflix and Amazon Prime do not work here.  The government has not approved them yet.  So, in order to watch movies in English, we have to go to our own collection.  But we figured out a way that I can't explain-it all sounds technical to me, but it allows us to watch Netflix and Amazon so that makes it worth it!

The kids and Dan had Thursday off.  We boarded a new trolley to find out where it went.  The trolley took us downtown.  We thought we were getting off at St. Stephens Cathedral.  We got out our umbrellas because it was pouring rain, and we walked the few blocks to the church.  It ended up being the wrong church, so back we went to the u-bahn station.  We got on a different subway and it took us to the real St. Stephens Cathedral stop.  Right in the subway stop, there is an one of a kind archaeological find.  They have discovered an entire church structure all built underground--complete with high cathedral vaulted ceilings.  The sign said it was the only one like it in the world.  They hope to open it to the public soon, but the temperature and humidity have to be a specific levels, so for now, you can only view it from behind glass.  After that, we went on to St. Stephens.  We went inside and discovered that there was a service going on.  There were several tourists in the church and most of them were not very respectful of the fact that people were worshipping there.  I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of the inside which was lit up with purple lights that gave a cool look to the naves.  Apparently, they change the light colors and schemes, but I don't know how often.  Feeling uncomfortable to be in there as a tourist, we hurried outside.  We later found out that we could have gone to the catacombs and also gone up to the bell tower and had a great view of the city.  We'll do that another day when the weather is better and when there isn't a service going on.

Luckily, we found a Manner store right across the road.  Manner is an Austrian company that make wafer cookies and other chocolate treats.  We found a great sale on the Mozart balls, and I have to admit that Deagan spent his allowance money wisely.  Even though it was pouring rain, Dan still wanted to stop for ice cream.  So we sat outside, under an umbrella, eating ice cream.  We were all cold by then, so we headed home to dry off.  We took the kids to the Greek restaurant up the street as a fun way to end the soggy day.  We found that we can't take Dan out anywhere.  He bit into a pfefferoni (banana pepper) and squirted it clear across the table and smack into Dane's eye.  After Dane was finished crying, we told him that it was probably good for his eye and he would probably have better vision because of it.  Dan decided it was a good thing that it hadn't happened at one of his work dinners.

Danyon and Rhubarb don't mix well

Friday, Dan had to go back to work, but the kids got to stay home.  It was still rainy, so we stayed indoors.  The kids had planned to have friends over, but they were unable to come at the last minute.  It all worked out for the best though, as I discovered that Danyon was not feeling well either.

He had woken up in the night screaming, as if in pain.  I hurried to his room, and comforted him.  I put the soother back in his mouth and he fell right back to sleep.  I thought that it may have been just a bad dream or something.  Well, on Friday, the kids noticed that there was blood in Danyon's ear.  I looked and found the same.  I called the doctor and scheduled an appointment for him.  That night we found out that Danyon had burst his ear drum!  The doctor didn't seem to be very concerned--unless it happened a lot.  This was our first time ever---even with all the other kids, but the doctor said that it wasn't uncommon.  He said it happened more often in babies than in adults just due to size of the head.  So, Danyon didn't show any signs of being sick and had no fever, but apparently he had an ear infection.  The doctor prescribed some antibiotics for him.  However, it was Friday night and I know this town doesn't have anything store-ish open that late on Friday--and I know the Apothekes are not open.  However, the doctor informed us that every district has 2 Apothekes that are on call all the time.  They rotate the schedule for which one is open on the different evenings or weekends.  There is even a booklet that tells you which one is open when.  We drove to the pharmacy and it was closed.  However, there is a buzzer that you ring, and they come to the door to help you.  I was able to get the prescription and all the directions for administering it, in a mixture of German and charades.  I don't know how long his infection has been going on, since he wasn't showing any signs of being sick, but he is on medicine now and hopefully will be over it soon.  Another first for Danyon this week:  he tried rhubarb for the first time.  I think he really enjoyed it.

Deagan posing as horse poo

Saturday, we wanted to do something fun.  The weather was better than it had been for the last few days.  We got some shopping done, then we drove downtown.  We went to the Hofburg Palace.  There are several tourist attractions in this part of the city, but we decided to go to the Silver Collection, the Sisi Museum, and the Imperial apartments.  The silver collection includes just a few of the thousands of dish sets, centerpieces, linens, and silverware that the Emperor used.  We got to see the actual silverware and plate sets that are used for important royal and presidential visitors' banquets put on by the Austrian government.  They even have a specific napkin fold design that can only be used for the Emperor or these other royal visit dinners.  There are only two people in the world that know the secret to the design and it has been handed down by word of mouth for centuries.  We took a picture of it, but you can't use it at your houses--OR ELSE!  The banquets for the Emperor would have been about 14 courses and lasted no more than 45 minutes.  When the Emperor put his knife and fork down on his plate, everyone was done.  They ate off of silver plates for even their everyday meals.  Porcelain was only used for desserts and soups.  I wouldn't have wanted to be the silver polisher.  I guess they would have had job security though.  We found some interesting pans used in the palace.  They had an asparagus pan (used during Spargel season).  It is a rounded oblong pan with an insert to steam the asparagus.  The empress also ordered a duck squeezer from Paris.  It is a contraption that you put a duck in, turn the handle and it squeezes all the yummy juices from the duck.  Easy as pie!  (and probably just as tasty!)  They used the juices to make a special sauce of boiled blood and wine.  I probably would've skipped that course and moved onto the ice cream course.

The special napkin fold

Next we went to the Sisi (pronounced see-see) Museum.  Sisi (Empress Elizabeth) was the last Austrian Empress.  She was assassinated about 100 years ago.  She was a mysterious woman that wasn't seen in Austria much for the last 10 years of her life.  She took to traveling under a pseudo name after her son committed suicide.  She didn't take much interest in her children and let her mother-in-law raise them.  She was close to her youngest daughter, however.  She was very athletic and very beautiful.  She was considered one of the prettiest women in her era.  She was 5'8" and weighed 103 lbs with a 20" waist.  She seemed to me to be very selfish as she spent 2-3 hours daily having her ankle length hair styled, and it took a full day to wash it (using egg yolk and cognac).  She also didn't care much for her husband, but he adored her.  The Austrians have only liked her since her assassination, where she gets pitied and all bad things are forgotten.  During her time, the people tolerated her because although early in her husbands monarchy he was not liked very much, later in his life, the people came to revere him.

Going up the staircase to the Imperial Apartments

We got to go through the imperial apartments, where Franz Joseph and Elizabeth lived.  It was interesting to me to see that even though dining seemed to be a very grandiose and formal affair, the living quarters were much more modest.  They were nice, don't get me wrong, but they were smaller rooms than I had imagined.  They each had their own series of separate rooms, but they were all small, probably about the size of our house is all.  We didn't get to see the ballroom or other key rooms.  They had their own private parks and their own green houses now which are open to the public.  They even had their own butterfly pavilion.  It is now open to the public as well.  The Hofburg is a huge complex with over 5,000 people living or working there.  All of the government offices are part of the complex.  In ball season, there are several balls that are held there as well.

Brass Music Festival

After the three different places, the kids were worn out.  But it just so happened, that on our way out, we heard music in the street.  We went to go explore.  There was a brass music festival and parade going on.  We caught the tail end of the parade, and fell in line after the last band (the military band) and headed to the Rauthaus.  It is the city hall.  There were several bands all lined on the steps of the building and they stared to play at the same time.  We sat in the park and ate lunch and listened to the bands.  When the kids had had enough, we headed home.  It was a fun day. 

That night, Dan was supposed to work, and I was supposed to plan a lesson to teach the kids at church the next day, but Dan ended up falling asleep on the couch and I ended up planning a bit, but saving most of it for the morning.  Talk about procrastination!!  Since our house is just like the Emperors, I'm sure there's someone on staff who will do it for us.  In the meantime, we'll be spending all our time with the napkins trying to figure out the "secret" for ourselves.

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.