Week 9: Theatrical Adventures

This post aptly bears the name "Theatrical Adventures" due to my adventures at several performances over the weekend and another experience in the classroom of my teaching internship, which left a deep impact on my heart and soul.  These things happened a little later in the week, so you will have to endure reading about Monday-Wednesday, before getting to the truly "theatrical" part of my week. Sorry!

9 March

I really enjoy the feeling of waking up and feeling like I completed the majority of my responsibilities the week before, so I can have a fresh start to the new week.  Most of the time I have a few leftovers from the week before, but I really felt on top of everything this morning.  Eva Maria had not assigned me anything from the week before, so I went to my classroom not knowing what to expect for the day.  I ended up working with the students on practicing basic English sentences one-on-one on the side of the classroom, while Eva Maria taught a biology lesson.  With the younger class, we used a game with puppets to talk about people coming from different countries.  I had the chance to leave early and so I headed over to IES to catch up on emails and prepare for my presentation in Managing Behavior in Organizations.  My professor made my day in the afternoon, by telling me that he planned to delay my presentation until the next week.  We instead needed the entire class time to make our visit to the Freud Museum!  So that afternoon we made an excursion to the very apartment where Sigmund Freud and his family lived in Vienna during the late 1800s and first part of the 1900s.  I found it fascinating to walk through the rooms where Freud and his daughter, Anna, held their psychoanalysis practices.  The main lesson I pulled out of the visit in regards to business is that people often have a psychological reason behind their behavior in organizations, which may not immediately be visible.  Good to keep in mind, but I still think Freud is one sketchy dude.

10 March

We continued preparing for our next play viewing in Viennese Theater today.  The next piece would be "Am Ziel," written by Thomas Bernhard, a critical Austrian play writer and novelist who lived during the 20th century.  We got rather off-topic today as dear Günter explained Austrians' fascination with visiting graveyards.  Apparently, some Austrians are quite intrigued by funerals and visit the graveyards of their loved ones with religious frequency.  He said his wife once went to a burial and people asked her the next day at work about how the burial went!  Funny to hear about the things which fascinate people in different places around the world.

I worked on homework in the afternoon at IES after class and then headed over to a language buddy hangout, where IES students and their language buddies all got together for a dinner.  The restaurant was called "Bierteufl" and is known as the "House of 100 Beers."  I enjoyed a Gösser Bier and a dish with potatoes, eggs, and salad, while getting to know other IES students and Austrians sitting around the table.  I even guessed the meaning of Eislaufhalle (ice skating rink) for an Austrian who needed help translating the word back into English.  I love when I can pick up on the meanings of words from their roots, without having heard the actual word before.

11 March

Woke up extremely early to go to Gebetsfrühstück (prayer breakfast) with people from ÖSM.  I had a bit of trouble finding this little side street where the breakfast would take place.  Successfully made a first impression on someone that I am from Austria, but someone later prayed for me that my time in Austria would help improve my German.  Easy to make the first impression, hard to maintain it after about 3 minutes haha. After Gebetsfrühstück, I headed back to IES for my Cultural History of Austria class.  I brilliantly forgot that I was supposed to summarize a couple pages for discussion today, so I kind of had to make it up when my teacher I asked to present.  Rather embarrassing...and annoying when my teacher would keep cutting in with extra information.  BUT...class was totally worth it afterward when we went to see the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library) in the Hofburg Palace.  All I will say is that this library inspired the library in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Karl VI lookin' gooood!!

Beautiful books, so beautiful

Then we went to go see the Kapuziner Gruft, where about 800 years worth of royal Hapsburger bodies are enshrined.  Let me tell you, that Maria Theresia had one heck of a tomb.  After staring in awe at these incredible works of art, I went home to tutor Laurenz and get caught up on school for the week.

The Hapsburgers made sure no one would forget them after they died...

12 Thursday

My week started getting more theatrical today, but not in the best kind of way.  I headed in to school for my teaching internship and found that Eva Maria had begun experiencing a week full of difficulties on Monday.  One student had previously stolen money from her purse, then someone stole her lunch, which caused her blood pressure and stress level to soar.  Additionally, the high level of energy and difficulty going on among the students caused a fight to occur, in which a student received a black eye.  The students had tried to console Eva Maria by bringing her flowers and chocolate, which was sweet.  She continued to remain upset, because she did not know who had stolen the cookies and money from her desk.  Thus, the students received a very strong lecture from her at the beginning of class, instructing them to come to her privately for a solution.  Eva Maria had the students use the period as a catch up period, rather than an actual teaching time.  I tried asking her some questions about the situation, but it was better to give her time to recover from the difficulty of the reprimand.  We moved on to the younger students in a different classroom.

Now, the classroom we needed to use for the students today was different than our normal upstairs classroom.  We instead went to a dim classroom in the basement without the normal projector.  I started trying to ask the students questions about themselves.  But the questions didn't work so well and it seemed like the students were not understanding.  After other students arrived with the laptop, I started my presentation and wanted to play music from an online video linked to my presentation. Second shock of the day: the school had no WiFi.  I thought this piece of technology was necessary in all schools in Europe or the US, but this experience opened my eyes to realize that WiFi does not exist in all schools.  So I moved on with the presentation, but the students continued not to understand.  I planned to talk about St. Patrick's Day, but apparently the students did not know where England was.  Eva Maria told me to imagine the situation as attending school in an Arabic country and not knowing any Arabic.  That situation describes well the understanding level of my students.  She eventually told me to simply point at objects and have the children repeat in English and in German "This is a (object name)..."  The whole situation scared me and made me frustrated, since I honestly had no idea what to do except what Eva Maria told me.  The situation seemed different than what Eva Maria allowed me to do with the younger students in my presentations before and the way she spoke German with them.  I felt extremely shaken up and had no idea what to say, remaining mostly quiet as Eva Maria and I talked for the remainder of the class.  After leaving school, I totally forgot that I had class and wandered through Brunnenmarkt, munching on an apple.  Tears almost came to my eyes as I walked and walked and I remembered Jesus' words in 1 Cor. 1:27, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong."  Jesus loves these kids so much more than I ever could, He is able to do far more with me and with them than I could ever imagine.

The first step of that was talking with my German teacher after class (which I suddenly realized that I needed to attend about 15 minutes beforehand...needless to say I was quite late).  We talked about different levels of language education and my students.  She pointed out that normally developed students should know past tense after being in Germany for a few months and that of course, students should know of the UK, generally regardless of the location of their education or culture.  She suggested that I talk with the teacher further, because she thought the students lacked a normal level of understanding.  (Follow-up in upcoming post on Monday, March 16).

13 March

Friday did not end up being terrifically exciting, mostly a catch up day due to plans for Saturday and Sunday.  I did tutor Laurenz for an extra time in the afternoon, since his admissions test for the international school was scheduled for March 19.  Experienced a hard time tutoring him today, since I felt disinterested and pressured to work on my own schoolwork later.  I enjoyed a long run after helping Laurenz and got a little lost in Vienna, but eventually found my way back home thanks to the maps posted on the Straßenbahn stops.

14 March

My Cultural History of Austria class had an incredible excursion today to Klosterneuburg, one of the royal residences of the Hapbsurg family.  We met early in the morning at 9 am in downtown Vienna and then headed by bus to Klosterneuburg, where we saw the abbey, church, and partially finished palace of Klosterneuburg.  The residence was founded, because the wife of Leopold Babenberger III (the Babenbergers are the guys who ruled Austria before the famous Hapsburgs) once lost her very expensive veil in the area while hunting.  Nine years later she found it in the exact same spot, and of course, Big Daddy Leopold needed to build a monastery to thank God for helping his wife find her veil (at least, that's how the story goes...).

Super cool statues in an unfinished chamber

Brilliant ceiling fresco

The famous winged Verduner altar

After finishing up at Klosterneuburg, we headed back into town to check out one of Beethoven's many apartments which he owned in Vienna.  He supposedly wrote his Heiligenstädter Testament (testament privately written to his two brothers about his life struggles) in this apartment.  We read the letter there and solemnly discussed the things which Beethoven wrote about.  I was deeply moved by the struggle of his difficulty with his deafness, yet his will to keep Iiving due to God's call to him to produce his art.

Beethoven's moving Heiligenstädter Testament

I experienced some beautiful art in Vienna with my friend, Franzi W. (not my language buddy), when we met together at the Wiener Musikverein (Vienna Music Society building) to hear the world-famous Vienna Philharmonica play in concert.  The music was absolutely mind-blowing, but the standing spot area was incredibly hot and I struggled to stay standing for the entire concert.  Afterwards, Franzi and I went out to eat with Katie and two of her visiting friends from King's College, all of whom had gone to the concert with us. We ended up talking for nearly 3 hours together and it was incredible to hear all about England and Austria and talk about our lives together as students.  I am so thankful for friends like these in Austria!

Vienna Philharmonica

Hanging out with friends after the concert!

15 March

I went to church in the morning and heard an encouraging message, then caught up with a few people afterwards.  I ended up going home to eat lunch and keep chipping away at some school responsibilities for the coming week.  Franzi ended up inviting me to go see Dorian Gray in the evening, which the Burgtheater decided to spontaneously play due to sickness of a cast member for the previously scheduled Shakespeare play.  I had a hard time understanding the play, since the story is quite intricate.  I could manage to follow the main plot points and had fun discussing the play later with Franzi and her friends as we ate dinner at a canteen.  I unfortunately had to rush off a little early, because my language buddy, also Franziska, had invited me to a poetry reading of hers at Café Anno.  She is part of a translation group which writes and composes poetry, often on the subject of refugees.  I found I could understand German poetry some, but I still need significant improvement in my German auditory comprehension.

So, as you can see, this week ended up being quite theatrical after all, beginning with drama at school to a concert, a play, and a poetry reading on the weekend!  All I can think after both challenging and exciting times like these is, "Thank you a million times over, Jesus, for the incredible blessings you have poured upon this time here.  But I pray, give me strength to be a light in the surrounding darkness."

Week 8: Misery in Vienna (with a few bright spots)

What?  A week studying abroad can actually be depressing?  Yes, after getting back from Köln last week, I had a mountain of work to catch up on and began to feel sick.  Completely honestly, the stress of the weekend made me wonder if I want to travel a lot more while abroad.  Travel can drain me and make me feel rather tired during the next week.  At the same time, I recognize that I only will live in Europe for one semester and need to make the most of the time I here.  I decided to make a "check list" of things to do before and during each trip to ensure my travel goes as smoothly as possible.  I remembered my mother's statement regarding sewing when I was little, when she said "Measure twice, cut once."  In reflection on this statement, I realized that my time traveling might not prove so stressful if I plan for it better beforehand.  I'll gladly take that as my new philosophy going forward.

3 March

Woke up feeling sick-ish and tired.  Not the flu, but a sore throat and weakness that made me not want to move around the city.  I had several papers of German homework to turn in today, but fortunately completed them on my numerous bus and train rides during the weekend.  Interesting discussion and reflection on modern influences in the last play we saw in Viennese theater.  I went out with my roommate, Georg, and several of his friends in the evening.  We hung out at the apartment for awhile and then headed out to a local club.  Unfortunately, the club was closed and so we found another place to hang out for awhile.  We were all pretty tired and decided not to stay out for too long.

4 March

Still feeling sick-ish and dragging around, only wanting to sleep between classes and activities.  On the bright side, I experienced the most lovely day tutoring Laurenz.  I finally began to find techniques to help connect his imagination with his reading.  I used things like a map and acting out or exaggerating different scenes to make the book come alive.  What a difference in his reaction!  I really loved being able to practice his reading with him and hopefully having him enjoy it more! After tutoring Laurenz, I went to a bar in the evening with Lisa.  The bar was called Kolar, a delicious hole-in-the-wall place with incredible flat bread and yummy beer.  A person I met back at the Consulting Workshop's visit to West Monroe Partners in Chicago actually recommended it to me and it ended up being a lovely night with Lisa.  It's so fun to see the point to where my German is developing!  So much easier to have conversations now than at first.

5 March

Still feeling sick this morning with a weird headache developing during my classes. I felt tired and had to sleep between classes instead of chatting with my cousin, Anna, about travel plans to visit her family in Germany.  I planned to go on a night hike through the Wienersald with my program in the evening, but backed out due to not feeling up to the intense hike.  Katie, my awesome new English friend, then texted me and asked if I was going to the ÖSM kickoff that night.  Well, I didn't want to miss that, so I trekked my way across the city and met Katie at the kickoff.  It's fun to now understand spiritual topics better in German!  And to express myself on them too...even if it's a little rough haha.

6-8 March

This weekend offered the perfect time to catch up on the work left from last weekend's traveling disaster.  This included writing a veritable mountain of blog posts (5 to be exact) for your reading pleasure and my need to spill my guts through processing everything that happened during February. I recently downloaded the Google Blogger app onto my phone, which means I can far more effectively use my time traveling on the Straßenbahn and U-Bahn (metro) in Vienna, by writing posts and uploading them when I have access to wifi.  iPhones are sheer genius.

Beyond the blog posts, I completed reading and paper writing for my classes.  I struggled to get into a rhythm with my work and felt frustrated by a distraction on Saturday.  I can't complain about my distraction, because Vienna distractions are truly lovely.  In the middle of the day, I "had to" take a tour of Schloß Schönbrunn for a class and see the beauty of the decadent place where the Hapsburg family lived.  Afterwards, I visited a modern art museum called Die Sezession with my language buddy, Franziska.  Truly wonderful break!

After church on Sunday, I kept hacking away at schoolwork and arrived at a much better point to start the week.  My planner certainly looked better and my body was starting to feel better, but such cooped up weekends while studying abroad make me feel rather depressed.  I looked forward to the week ahead and getting back to normal.

Vienna: Checkpoint Immigration

A range of emotions and thoughts lie on my heart as I begin to write.  Before I begin, I want to mention that my pondering contains reflections on the effects of immigration and war which I have seen in the people around me.  I intend to make no political statements and want to use this post merely as an expression of the impressions made upon me, fully realizing the privilege I have to live safely and freely.

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned I wanted to process more from my first day of class in my teaching internship.  This day in class made me view my time in Vienna and Vienna itself as a sort of crossroads, a high point from which to see people´s journeys in their trek across the world.  That sounds horrifically philosophical, but I guess it´s how I envisioned my experience in my mind.  More concretely, my experience in Vienna is colored by the immigration stories of several different people.

Every student in the classrooms where I work comes from a country other than Austria, including Afghanistan, Syria, Bosnia, Serbia, Turkey, and Croatia.  The older students range in age from approximately 15-17 years old, while the students in the younger classroom range from 13-14 years old.  Different religions and different family backgrounds are represented.  Many of the students are refugees, who came to Austria within the past 6 months - 2 years.  The younger classroom contains students who arrived in Austria less than a month ago.  This creates an interesting dynamic, making it important to pay attention to Eva Maria's advice to keep the big picture in mind and not lose focus.  Eva Maria sets an amazing example as she works with them, creating a loving, but firm and ordered atmosphere.  The students truly and deeply respect her.

The experiences which the students have undergone truly struck me as I tried teaching English phrases to a little girl named Lydia, who arrived most recently in Austria from the Middle East.  She is trying to learn German and English at the same time - a challenging task for a 13 year old!  Her life circumstances plunged her into this new situation, where the entire world likely seems unfamiliar.  As I sat with her, I tangibly grasped a piece of the struggles of immigration and the conflict which often causes it.  Memories arise to my mind as I reflect on that moment with Lydia.

I am laying on the floor of my uncle's living room on the family farm in Canada, as we recount the stories of my great-grandfather struggling to establish himself as a farmer.  He had fled with his family from Russia during the revolution to escape religious persecution.  To flee the soldiers who would come and raid their homes, maybe even rape their wives and daughters.  We talked about the home the family first lived in that was like a barn.  Coming home one night to find the Christmas candles had burned the house down.  My Opa told us he often did not receive enough food at the table to feel full.  Years and years of tilling land and laboring to establish the farm.  The debt paid off a few years ago.

These stories make me proud of my heritage, thankful for my Opa, his father, and their relatives who stood strong and paved the way for a better life.  The German which my Mom passed on to me connects me tangibly to this heritage and brought me back here to Europe, the old country, where I can study it further.  Our stories of immigration thus brought us together, as Lydia emigrated to Austria with her family and I returned to the German-speaking world to deepen my understanding of the language of my heriditary language.

As these stories of immigration leave their imprint upon me, I see that as human beings we all search for a place we can call "home."  We want to belong and to understand from where we come.  However, definitions of "home" and "familiar" radically differ across the world, as my students also demonstrated to me.  One day, the students were given pictures of people from different nationalities which they need to color and cut out.  They would choose the figure they wanted and then use English phrases to describe its nationality, personality, and life.  Without a question, a couple students proudly said their figures were from Afghanistan and began to describe them. One of the students was wearing a scarf which he earlier told me came from Afghanistan.  These expressions from the students reflected to me their pride in their home country, Afghanistan.  In America, we don't often associate "home" with Afghanistan.  We think of a dusty country.  We think of war.  This experience made me recall the memories of those whom I know who view currently conflict-ridden countries as home.

I walked out of class at Bethel College, talking with an international student who explained she came from Afghanistan.  The words popped out without thinking, "Oh, my brother is there right now."  Her response: "Really?  Is there a part that he likes a lot?"  I did not know how to respond...what should I say when he went there to fight a war?

Last fall, I sat in a café in Bloomington talking with a mentor of mine who lived in Syria for two years.  She explained about the people they knew, the places they walked, the buildings from ancient times which they saw.  "Syria was home.  Now, we don't have as much contact.  The places we walked...many are destroyed, torn by war."

I counseled for a high school youth camp this past winter and had an girl in my counseling group, who grew up in Yemen for several years of her life.  I remember years before when her brother told me she was one of the last American teenage girls still in Yemen.  At the camp, the girl described the time when she came back to America, "We had a normal life in Yemen.  I loved it.  It was home.  When I walked off the plane in America, everything seemed strange and different."

These places are people's homes.  They are the familiar of my students.  They were torn away from what they knew.

These stories and my students provide a different perspective on Vienna as a high point and crossroads of people coming from different nations.  Originally, I viewed this flow of people as beautiful and inspiring.  The contrasts shine with beauty in the rich depth of personalities, clothing, backgrounds, and traditions coming together in one place.  But the reasons these people have come to Vienna often contain much pain.  War, conflict, and lack of resources likely drove many of them away from their homes.  I can only imagine the fear many experienced and the destruction they saw.  I remember back to my own ancestors - they came to Canada with little more than the clothes on their backs.  They left behind the village, farms, and wealth they created in Russia.

Acknowledging the difficulty of the present, the question for me now becomes: what role do I, as an educator, play in the lives of these students?  How can I contribute to helping students establish successful cross-cultural lives here in Vienna, in order to overcome the brokenness of the present?

Cross-Cultural Tension

At the beginning of this blog, I promised you all that I would write a few thematic posts along with my journal entry style posts.  So many events happen here each week that I find it hard to record  more than the raw details of daily life!  As my life continued to develop throughout February, I realized I wanted to use this blog to process my reactions toward my experiences more deeply.

I often find myself in the middle of a cross-cultural tension here in Austria, which requires a constant dance of grace in the give and take between cultures.  As a foreigner here in Austria, I need and thankfully am offered much grace by the Austrian people around me.  On the giving side, I need to pass this grace on to the people around me.  I have loved and studied German for a long time, but honestly my study abroad program is geared more toward students who speak primarily English.  Through a series of fortunate accidents, I found a living situation and community connections which help me become more immersed in local Viennese life.  This often creates a internal tension for me, since I live more independently than the other students in my program.

On the one hand, I sometimes feel proud that I networked to my current situation.  On the other hand, I need to remember that I am only here due to God´s guidance in my situation and the kindness of people whom I met.  I find the examples endless.  Dr. Chaouli connected me to Amina, my landlady, whose family he has known since his childhood in Iran.  Amina took time out of her day to rescue me when I got lost in Vienna during my first days here and helped me when I forgot my passport on the way to the airport.  Georg, my roommate, showed me how everything worked in the apartment, even when I had to ask multiple times about our persnickety door or the wi-fi password.  Georg and his sister, Lisa, both introduced me to their friends and often ask me to hang out with them, despite silly things I've said and miscommunications in German.  People at church have warmly invited me into their homes and lives, even though I am only here for 4 1/2 months.  The Austrian staff at IES constantly answer students' questions about culture and language, as we develop in our understanding.

I sometimes can turn around and get frustrated at my fellow American students, when they struggle to use the language or act and speak loudly in ways that make it obvious they are foreigners.  This particularly happened before a local soccer game, which I attended with fellow students.  Struggling to know the best way to speak and act in response, I suddenly found the tables turned on myself.  See, we were standing in line at a Käsekrainer (cheese-filled sausage) stand and I made a very "unique" realization about Käsekrainer.  So, the sausages are very long, probably around 10 inches or so.  They are then stuck in baguettes with a hole in the middle, as this picture demonstrates:

Käsekrainer - Austria´s delicious version of hot dogs

I had always wondered how they made a hole in the baguette for the sausage, since American hot dog buns are sliced open down the middle.  Well, lo and behold, each Austrian sausage stand has a tool to make that hole!  The tool is a long, warm metal rod with which they puncture each bun and create the hole (scoured the Internet for pictures but couldn´t find one, sorry!).  Totally baffled and amazed by this realization, I blurted out rather loudly "So THAT´s how they do it!"  My friends and a few locals gave me some weird looks..."Uhhh, you´ve never seen that before?  Have you been hiding under a rock for the past 6 weeks?"

Moments like these remind me of the constant grace I need in this daily cross-cultural experience.  All the more, they remind me to pass on the grace I receive to the people in my life, regardless of their background.

Week 7: A Whirlwind Week

22 February

I went back to church at Rotenmühlgasse this week and felt more comfortable, since this was the 4th time I attended at the same place.  Each week progressively becomes more comfortable, as I grow in my understanding of the congregation and the best ways to relate to them.  I was excited to meet an English international student, Katie, who visited the church due to a connection with an English woman who goes there.  We hit it off well and I introduced her to a leader of ÖSM, Johannes, who also attends our church.  We went out for a lunch at a Bosnian restaurant nearby with the English women whom Katie knows, Rachel.  Although we all speak English as our native language, we ended up speaking German together at lunch.  Rachel has lived in Austria for several years, so I imagine she is almost more comfortable in German than English.  Katie and I now often talk in German to practice with each other!  I really love finding other Anglophones comfortable enough to carry conversations in a foreign language, even though we have the same native language! 

23 February

On Monday, I went to school early in the morning for my teaching internship.  In the first period, I helped my older students with a small craft they needed to complete.  They created cut out paper figures with images of people from different nations and then pasted them onto popsicle sticks.  The students then practiced several English phrases by describing their different characters.  With the younger students, I shared a presentation with basic facts about myself to help them become more familiar with the daily life of a person in America.  They then copied down several phrases from the presentation as practice.

For this presentation, students from two different classrooms combined to listen to me speak.  Eva Maria pointed out the difference between her teaching style and the other teacher´s style.  The students they both work with become rowdy quickly, meaning she constantly needs to keep in mind the big picture of the routine and student behavior in the classroom.  The other teacher often gets caught up with small problems or individual conversations, thus more easily losing control of his group of students.  Eva Maria also pointed out that I am hyper-aware of my surroundings and will pick up slack where other people are not working.  She explained that I need to learn from the other teacher´s behavior and my own, in order to avoid burnout in future professional situations.  Keeping the big picture in mind and delegating tasks to others will prove vital in the future to manage people well, so the group remains calm and becomes more independent by completing tasks on their own.  I appreciated her advice and stowed it away for future application.

I endured another murderous Managing Behavior in Organizations lecture in the afternoon and headed to a museum in the evening, called Haus der Musik.  One of the student services staff took students on a tour there earlier in the semester, although I unfortunately missed the tour with her.  The museum showed a variety of things related to music, particularly the history of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra is extremely selective, pulling musicians who have already played at the Royal Viennese Theater (Burgtheater).  Other exhibits included displays on the life of famous Austrian musicians including Mozart, Beethoven, and members of the Strauss family.  A particular fascinating exhibit includes an explanation of the hearing process in the human body. Going to museums like these helps stretch my German understanding and absorb new words, especially more scientific words like the parts of the ear (all of which I remember perfectly, of course...not).

24 February

We had an exam today regarding separable and inseparable verbs today in German.  Basically, some verbs exist in German which have a prefix.  Sometimes the prefix is placed at the end of the sentence. Such verbs bear a completely different meaning.  The only difference is whether the first or second syllable is stressed.  Fun, right?  Only way to survive this concept is to memorize a list of verbs. Fortunately, the test turned out well!

In the evening, I attended a play at the Burgtheater for my Viennese theater class.  The play was called "The Evil Spirit, Lumpazivagabundus" and the plot focused on three young tradesman controlled by the evil spirit.  The drama was set in the context of two warring fairies, who made a bet about the result of the tradesmans' lives and whether or not they would make wrong choices.  We had prime seats in the theater, right in the center on the first balcony.  Our teacher said they were among the best he ever managed to buy for his class!  During the pause, our teacher showed us the lobby of the theater and explained the artwork and paintings in it.  I appreciated his explanations of famous actors depicted in the paintings and the philosophical meanings of different scenes.  So often old European buildings contain gorgeous artwork, but I cannot appreciate it as well without an explanation of the symbolism. Our teacher, Günter Haika, is pretty awesome...I mean, he plays in a rock band, no big deal.

25 February

Today marked my third meeting with the young boy whom I tutor in English, Laurenz.  He is the nephew of my landlady, Amina.  I have not tutored someone this closely before, so I am learning alongside Laurenz, albeit on the educator rather than student side.  Each week I learn more about his personality and new strategies to help him with his reading comprehension, like asking Who/What/Where/Why/How questions.  Last week he wanted to complete English homework with me, which his mom encouraged.  This week he asked for help on that again and I realized afterwards that we should focus on reading first in the coming weeks.  Doing the homework takes time away from practicing reading comprehension, since he will soon took an entrance test for an American international school.  After tutoring Laurenz, I finally had the chance to meet Yasmin, his mom.  We talked over things together and I appreciated getting to meet another member of Amina's family.  It's so cool to be a part of an international network of people who know one another!

In the evening, I went to a play called "The Boxer" in Theater in der Josefstadt. I had met a friend of Lisa's during my first week here and we talked about going to the theater together before.  We finally found time to go together to this play in one of the most beautiful theaters in Vienna!  The play's plot focused on the family of a gypsy boxer during World War II.  Similar to Jews, Gypsies were persecuted during the war based on their race.  The play shows a researcher conducting a massive project to track the Gypsies in Europe.  Despite his race, the boxer ends up winning several competitions, particularly against one well-known German boxer.  The rest of the play recounts the tragedy of their fate within the war, in which they all pass away in concentration camps.  The Boxer survives nearly until the end of the war in a concentration camp, where he reunites with his brother and faces his old German boxing competitor.  I enjoyed watching the play with Franziska (not my language buddy, Fransizka).  She studies German at the University of Vienna and loves going to the theater.  She showed us lots of details about the theater and introduced me to other friends of hers who came along!  A wonderful night...thankful for Austrians who take the time to hang out even though I am only here for a few months!

26 February

In Viennese Theater, ever awesome Günter reviewed with us the play we went to see on Tuesday.  We talked about the importance of different costumes and stage sets for this production of the play, along with the meaning of different points within the plot.  He also introduced to us the next production we would see, entitled Am Ziel by Thomas Bernhard, a critical Austrian playwright and author.  I began to look forward to learning more about Thomas Bernhard, since Dr. Chaouli back at IU had mentioned his unique writing style to me.

After classes, our small group had Bible study again due to vacation coming to a close.  This Bible study occurred about a month after the original one which I attended.  I enjoyed noting the difference in my ability to understand between my first small group meeting and this one.  Although our leader speaks quietly, I could understand him much better now and more fully express myself in response on theological concepts.

27 February - 2 March

I planned this weekend to visit an old family friend and her husband, who live close to Cologne.  I booked a flight to Düsseldorf, which is quite close to Cologne and planned to take a train down into the city.  Unfortunately, the weekend ended up being a nightmarish travel experience.  My problems started on the way to the airport, when I realized I had forgotten my passport.  As I planned to board the train to the airport, I realized that my passport was not in my purse, thus preventing me from getting to my flight on time.  Booking a flight a different weekend would cost a significant amount of money, so I decided to take a super cheap overnight bus to Cologne.  13 hours later I arrived in Cologne, tired and hungry, but still ready to see the city with Heather.

My visit to Cologne turned out very nicely, allowing me to see several beautiful sights inside the city.  In the morning, Heather and I walked around the old town area of Cologne, where she showed me Alter Markt and the Kölner Dom.  The Rhine cuts through the center of Cologne, dividing the old town and the more industrial side of the city.  The overall atmosphere of the city feels more industrial and modern than other European cities.  However, the soaring Kölner Dom, one of the oldest and largest cathedrals in Europe, defies all efforts to modernize the Cologne skyline.  The inside of the cathedral is lit by sunlight streaming in through the original stained glass windows, which depict a plethora of scenes from the Bible and saints' lives.  A shrine in the center of the church supposedly holds the bones of the three wisemen, whose history I read about in its connection with the church.  I left the cathedral profoundly touched by its beauty and the way it has pointed to God for many long centuries.

Heather and I headed to a pizza and pasta restaurant for lunch, where I enjoyed a yummy pasta with mushrooms and tomatoes.  We headed off to explore a couple museums in the afternoon after lunch, particularly the Romanish-Germanisches Museum, which contains a huge amount of Roman ruins.  One of the highlights of the museum are the original tile floors from old Roman houses which exist within the museum.  The floors contains millions of tiny tiles which form designs of Roman philosophers, gods, and mythological figures.  Amazing that the floors still exist after all these centuries!

We finished up our afternoon at the Schokoladenmuseum, which shows the entire process of how chocolate is made.  It depicts the process from start to finish, from growing cacao beans to processing and making them into chocolate.  The museum even contains a mini chocolate factory inside!  One of the neat temporary exhibits was a model of the Three Wisemen's Shrine, completely made out of chocolate!  I also enjoyed reading about the history of chocolate in Europe, which described how it originally come to the continent and became a widespread good.

After returning to Heather and her husband's house, we had a snack of bread, cheese, and yogurt and then headed over to the church to hang out with the youth and Heather's husband, Mike, the youth pastor.  I noticed right away that the German of people in this area is clear, but very fast!  I found it easier to catch on to them than Austrians, but it took a little while since I am accustomed to the Austrian lilt and accent.  I also broke another barrier in German today, because I was able to play Taboo in German.  I guessed several words and described several properly to help my team! Definitely not as well as in English, but I still contributed! :-)

On Sunday morning, I went to church with the Lepperts and heard Mike preach.  I appreciated his sermon on grace and living out of God's strength, rather than our own.  It's such a joy to worship in another language and understand the majority of what is happening!  I found that joy a little hard to maintain later in the day, though, as I headed home.  Upon arriving at the airport, I realized my booking agency had cancelled the second leg of my flight.  This meant a 2nd 13-hour bus ride back to Vienna...during which I accidentally lost my wallet.  I fortunately remembered the exact place I left it and asked the bus driver the time of the town and gas station where I left it.  This meant another 2.5 round trip bus ride and a short taxi ride to pick up my wallet.  I endured a 2nd half of my Managing Behaviour in Organizations lecture in the afternoon and finally got home by about 7 pm in one piece, only missing every ounce of energy in my body!

Week 6: In Which I Attempt To Become An Educator

16 February

I headed into the school for my teaching internship, not in the least knowing what to expect. Upon arriving, I discovered that my teacher would arrive late due to complications from the weekend.  I was thus assigned to help my students fill out a worksheet of the digestive system.  The worksheet was in German and I was incredibly thankful for the answer sheet, due to the fact that I knew basically none of the digestive system parts in German except for der Magen (stomach).  Did you know that the duodenum in German is called der Zwölffingerdarm?  Learn something new everyday!

After Eva Maria arrived in the classroom, she reviewed with me her weekend misadventures. Unfortunately, she accidentally lost her insurance card, in addition to facing problems with her application for a sabbatical to teach in Egypt (after 42 years of teaching in Austria!).  We talked things over and then I helped another teacher, Bianca, as she reviewed German literature homework with students in the next period.  I helped review the students' homework for grammar and content, but faced difficulty with one student who would not accept my correction of her spelling of the word Stiefmutter.  As an excuse, she told me I don't speak very good German, which is true to some extent. I cannot speak fluently like her teachers and sometimes need to ask for help with words.  I find such situations challenging, because I simultaneously know some right answers while still requiring much growth.  I need to remain firm in the areas where I know the answer, asking for support from teachers.  (In subsequent days, my prayer became that God would "give me a voice"...a voice to glorify Him in all I do, a literal voice to speak German well, and a voice to remain confident in difficult situations).  Ultimately, I asked the classroom teacher to help the student make the proper correction.

I finished up my morning with Eva Maria by helping with a younger class, who recently started to learn English.  Certain children in this class had arrived in Austria only 3-4 weeks before and faced the challenge of learning both German and English.  Eva was teaching the children Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions and used me as an example for her question answers.  I then worked with the children one-by-one on the side, asking them to repeat the questions and answers with me.  I found myself completely at a loss for a solution with one girl, Lydia, who arrived in Austria about 3 weeks before.  She did not understand the difference between a question and an answer in English and thus repeated my words after me, regardless of whether they were a question or an answer.  Eva Maria later explained that you must use body language and learn phrases of the child's language, in order to help them understand.  As I pondered my experiences in the classroom while traveling back to IES, I felt overwhelmed and somewhat inspired by my experiences.  Also a little shocked with the amount of new things which I witnessed in 3.5 hours.  More to come on this topic...

17 February

Normal school day, although I received an e-mail today letting me know that I received a German conversation partner through IES's language buddy program!  Her name is Franziska and I began to look forward to meeting her, especially since we have similar linguistic and cultural interests.  As far as our school, our Viennese Theater teacher was sick.  We watched a recorded version of the play we would soon see, but the echo in our classroom and the challenging Austrian dialect made the play rather difficult to understand.  Experiences like these make me feel like I can speak hardly any German, but I must remember to keep persevering.

18 February

My Cultural History of Austria class had our first excursion into the city today!  We visited the Roman ruins museum in Vienna and saw some original ruins, which were discovered during the bombing of Vienna in World War II.  Our tour guide spoke quite quickly, but I could understand the majority of her discussion of water purification and aqueducts in ancient Roman times!  We then visited St. Ruprecht's church, a Romanesque style church with original parts from the late 700s.  Crazy to see a church that old!

In the afternoon, Fransizka and I planned to meet on Thursday and I quickly became excited about meeting her.  The highlight of the day happened in the evening, when I went ice skating in front of the Rathaus with my roommate's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Max.  The Rathaus is a large political building in Vienna, which holds meetings and offices for Austria's two governing chambers (similar to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, although the power distribution differs).  The Austrian government creates an ice skating area with two rinks and several paths during the winter season.  I smiled as we glided along the paths, the cool winter area rushing past my face.  (Reality check: this smiling happened after I figured out how to ice skate again, since I had not skated for several years!).  The lights of the Rathaus glimmered from the soaring front of the elaborately sculpted and carved building, while the Burgtheater rose behind the rink.  I switched between talking with Lisa and Max and enjoying the permeating calm of sliding across the ice.  All in all, a magical night!

19 February

Fransizka and I met in the afternoon at Café Alte Wien, where we become acquainted with one other by explaining about our current work and studies.  Fransizka works part-time in a literature archive here in Vienna, while translating and composing poetry on the side.  I explained to her in German my business major, Operations Management, which proved quite challenging.  I broke down the explanation of my studies into smaller sentences, describing each part with the words and constructions I know.  We then went to a reading of works from Ludwig Wittgenstein, an influential Austrian philosopher and linguist.  I could understand most of the reading if I followed along with the pamphlet, but found it hard to concentrate and absorb the full meaning of the reading if I merely listened.  These linguistic experiences challenge me to continue expanding my German and adapting the vocabulary I already know to function in new situations.  Listening comprehension on deeper topics is definitely tough, but that's what listening to German news is for, right?!

Fransizka and I left the Wittgenstein reading early, because we both planned further events for that night.  I headed over to the Rathaus for ice skating again, since my small group from church wanted to see each other during the February.  February is basically like Christmas break for the Austrian university students, so our small group decided to take a break from meeting for a couple weeks.  I enjoyed meeting new people who have come to the group in the past and hanging out with our leaders.

20-21 February

My Managing Behavior in Organizations class decided to assign a ridiculous amount of reading, which kept me cooped up amongst other household tasks for the weekend.  I was not particularly happy with my professor at this large assignment of reading and realized I would need to skim the readings in the future for important information, rather than reading word-for-word as usual.  Trying to absorb 90-120 pages fully from an Organizational Behavior class would waste my time, especially since I already learned many of the concepts in former psychology and career preparation classes.

The redeeming night of the weekend occurred on Friday, when I went to a performance at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna National Opera) for the first time.  A group of friends and I went to go see the ballet, Schwanensee, a dazzling performance with a live orchestra alongside gorgeous costumes and stage sets.  I had no complaints standing for 3 hours to watch the performance!

You might be wondering at this point why I stood to watch the performance.  Seats naturally cost a decent amount of money at the opera, but you can also buy a ticket for standing spots from which you can view the performance.  These cost between 3,50-4 Euro, although you need to stand in line a long time to ensure your spot.  We were actually the first in line after arriving at 3:45 for a 7:30 performance.  It's great fun going through each stage of the line and then experiencing the relief of finally getting your spot.  Once you get your spot, the staff admits you to the Stehplätze (standing places) sections.  You mark your spot by tying a scarf on the railing in front of you and then you are free to go get delicious street food before the performance, such as a Käsekrainer.  Käsekrainer are the Austrian version of hot dogs.  They actually call them hot dogs here, but they are 1000x better!  Picture a long baguette with a hole in the middle, into which is placed an even longer sausage inserted with cheese.  Nothing short of delicious, fatty goodness (which you should really eat only once in a long while)!

Week 5: A New Beginning

Royal Hall at Prague Castle

Courtyard of Prague Castle

8 February

Laura and I visited Prague Castle and Strahov Monastery before heading back to our respective study abroad cities further east in Europe.  Prague Castle is a well-preserved seat of the Czechoslovakian rulers throughout the centuries and provides incredible examples of royal and military life from the Middle Ages to the present.  As we walked around the castle, we saw exhibits of old military defenses in the castle, goldsmiths in the Middle Ages, and royal halls which hosted political and court functions.  The design of the castle was not overwhelming with detail and gold, unlike some castles fashioned in a more Baroque style.  After seeing the castle itself, we walked through the church´s chapel, St. Vitus.  The chapel's gothic beams soared above us into interwebbed arches and the altars in every cove alongside the church nearly took my breath away with their beauty and intricacy.  I preferred the Gothic architecture and enlightening stained glass of St. Vitus, since it invoked a deeper sense of peace and pointed more toward heaven than Baroque-style cathedrals.

Daddy Armor, Kiddie Armor...'nuff said

Breathtaking stained glass at St. Vitus

Pointing heavenward

 

More stained glass and a winged altar

After the castle and Strahov monastery, Laura was kind enough to let me visit the Kafka Museum for a short while during our remaining time in the city.  During the past semester, I had learned about Kafka and his incredible writing style - a veritable labyrinth of imagination, confusion, and reflection on the politics of his day.  I greatly appreciated visiting the museum to understand more about his life and see originals of his letters and drawings, several of which have inspired my German honors thesis!

Outside the Kafka museum

Laura and I departed from Prague during the afternoon and I returned home an exhausted mess after a very intense week. As I sat at my laptop catching up on e-mails and finances, a myriad of emotions washed over me.  I could not tell if I was happy to be back in Vienna, if I was overwhelmed by the sights and experiences of the past week, or if I wanted to change my attitude toward study abroad. After musing for awhile, I realized my trip raised up two desires within me. One, to remain in the present and take action to use my time wisely in Austria by building friendships and absorbing as much culture as possible.  Two, to seek a balance of the ways I spend my time, seeking opportunities with both American and Austrian friends (recognizing that plans will not work always as I expect) and gaining a deeper understanding of my home city.

9 - 15 February

Monday marked the start of classes at IES.  After a relaxed morning doing homework and preparing for the day, I headed to my one class taught in English.  My "Managing Behavior in Organizations" class lasted three hours on several topics which I had already studied before regarding international business and organizational behavior.  Our professor has a wealth of fascinating international business experience, but I knew I would struggle to stay engaged with the 3-hour afternoon lecture every Monday.

On Tuesday, I experienced my first German class after our intensive 3-week German course.  The class continued to teach us about various grammar topics tailored to the areas where our class needs improvement.  My afternoon Viennese Theater class introduced me to the incredible world of Austrian theater, whose wonders would begin to unfold within the oncoming weeks.  In independent study last semester, a professor had mentioned a couple Austrian play writers to me.  Today we began learning about the "Old Vienna People's Theater" and two of its most important contributors, Johann Nestroy and Ferdinand Raimund, whom my professor earlier mentioned.  I enjoyed an evening catching up with IES friends at Der Bettelstudent, a local restaurant, after classes.

Early on Wednesday morning, I went to my first meeting of Kulturgeschichte Österreichs (Cultural History of Austria).  I knew I would love this class, after our teacher introduced us to the historical roots of Austria.  Hearing about the background of the incredible cultural development and sites in Austria fascinates me, since it gives me a fuller understanding of the environment in which I currently live.  In the evening, I attended a meeting for my teaching internship where we met the teachers to whom we were assigned.  At the beginning, the woman coordinating our internships, Heidi Rössler, pointed out a woman who would soon retire after many years of working with teaching interns.  I found out later that I was assigned to this experienced friend of Heidi's, Eva Maria Bannert!  Apparently, my choice for teaching 10-18 year olds from ethnic backgrounds fit perfectly with her classes!

Thursday ended up being a repeat of Tuesday with my German grammar class and Viennese Theater class, although I also walked to the school where I will assist Eva Maria.  I had planned to observe a class period, but we experienced a little miscommunication on timing and I accidentally came after she began teaching during a class period.  After classes at IES, I headed home for an evening of catch-up tasks - making my schedule, cooking, homework, and planning for Vienna sightseeing.

The weekend ended up being a rather quiet one of further catch-up, homework, sleeping, and a relaxing Sunday.  I accidentally went to a church meeting on Sunday afternoon, which I originally thought was a prayer meeting...definitely a challenge for my German to hear about everything from constructing a new building to planning events!