Much has Happened

It is the middle of March. Time for an update. The problem is that so much has happened in the last month that I am going to again to resort to list form. Otherwise this will be an update of epic proportion that no one really want to read anyways.

Lets see start:
Weekend of Feb 7-8th went to see Peter's final presentation of his car. He designed small electric cargo van for city contractors. It is quite interesting. I caught a ride with his parents. Because they were leaving so early in the morning I spent the night at his parents house without him. I also got to meet the grandparents who had just stopped by from Prague, and the cousin, and brothers etc. It was fun though.

Long weekend Feb 13-15th Peter and I went to Prague. His grandparents have an apartment there. Was great to be a tourist with your own apartment. We went to see a play at the national theater. It cost 50 Czech crown (koruna) which converts to less then $2.50. We sat way up high, and had binoculars and were all fancy. The National Theater is beautiful inside. The play was in Czech. I don't understand Czech. Peter speaks some. The play had enough action, and not a lot of really long dialogs, so with Peter's translations I could understand mostly what was going on. It was definitely worth the $2.50. It was a good imte

Feb 15-Feb 23 My mommy visited me. I went straight from Prague to Munich. I picked her up from the airport. The first two days we touristed, and visited in Murnau, and Munich. We ate, and then ate some more. Next stop was Salzburg. Unbeknown to us this would be our last day of sun/decent weather. We spent most of our time either eating, or going up to place where you could look out across the City. Salzburg has a burg (castle) it is very cool. Thursday night through Monday afternoon we explored Salzkammergut (the area of the Austria Alps where I live). We had miserable weather. It snowed...A LOT. My mommy saw no mountains. It was sad. I kept telling here behind those clouds are amazing mountains. She didn't believe me. Though she did get to experience some Fasching. This is the Austrian version of Marty Gra. She got to see the Fetzenumzug. It's celebrated in Ebensee, and is the opposite of Venice Carnival. Instead of elaborately beautiful costumes, they wear fetzen (rags), and have grotesque carved masks. Here is a picture: http://www.ebensee.at/foto/Fetzen1.jpg I did not take it. Haven't had the time to organize me pictures. Someday I'll put up my pictures. Despite snow it was a good time.

Feb 27th Sissi Party. Sissi was the Kaiserin of Astria from 1854-1898. She did not have a happy life. But there were films made of her life in the 1950s. Think Gone with the Wind without the Civil War. Pretty dresses, a love story, and a happy end. Chick Flick extream. Sissi met Franz Josef the Kaiser of Austria in Bad Ischl. Therefore I decided to have a Sissi Party. It had two types of cake, noodle kugel, Feuerzangenbowle. We did only watch the first of the three movies, and then Barfuss. An another chick flick, but a good one. It was a good time all around.

Feb 28th-March 1st I was a surprise guest at Rita's birthday party. She didn't invite me, because she knew I was having a Sissi party. When I walked in she was opening a present. So I stood next to her. Then I had to start laughing. She looked up confused because she couldn't figure out who was laughing. When she saw me her expression was great. The rest of her birthday was nice: Good food, and good company, aka a good time.

March 8th-13th I got to go on Ski Week with my school. All schools in Austria go skiing for a week. In the HAK (one of my schools) it is the 15/16 year olds that go skiing. I got invited along. I had not been skiing for about 2 years. SHAME ON ME. Yes I live in the Alps. Yes I should have done gone skiing more this winter, but me had no time. Plus ski boot hurt my feet. It was fun, but I was super tired by the end of the week. It was good to meet up with my students outside of school. I now have a much better at understanding the local dialect. Also on the last night we went out to the disco with about 15 of the students. Where I officially did not see them drinking any alcohol. It was definitely an interesting experience, and something that could never happen in the US. It was a good time.

March 13-15 I am home in Bad Ischl this weekend trying to get caught up on all the things I haven't done in weeks. Like updating my blog, writing letters, cleaning my bathroom, reading my book. (side note did you know: "Percentage by which the average incidence of fires and traffic accidents on Fridays the 13th differ from that of other Fridays: -4%" Harper's Index) On Friday I got back around 12:30 in the afternoon. I came home, ate some lunch, and then about 4 PM I decided that I wanted to read in bed for a bit. I am reading the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. It is a great book... After about 2hrs of reading I closed my eyes and woke up the next morning. Saturday was quite productive. Today it is raining cats and dogs. I'm staying home and continuing to be productive. Or at least that is my goal. I'm almost completely preped for Monday, and my blog is almost done and it is only noon thirty. So proud. Hopefully the rest of the day will be so productive.

Upcoming events: March 29th Freiburg half marathon. Yup not quite in the shape I should be, but I hope to survive, and not be the last person across the finish line. Yesterday I went on the slowest run ever. My head hurt to run. Might take today off due to pouring rain.

April 3-13th Nita and Chloe are visiting me!!!!

There I tried to keep it short. It is hard when I've been so busy. Does make one appreciate having a weekend at home.

Hope you all are doing well.