Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Travel Diaries -- Prague -- May 16-17, 2016

Oh man. It's been a long time since I've put a blog post here. I went through a period of high stress and didn't feeling like updating.
Anyway, back in mid-May last year, my parents came for their first ever trip to Europe. They took a bus tour for a week before arriving in Vienna and we planned to take them to both Prague and Salzburg during the week they were with us.

Here are a few pictures from when my parents were traveling with their tour group:


Both Chris and I have been to Prague before and thought it was an incredibly beautiful city. We had not, however, gone together and it was something we were looking forward to. We planned to take the train up in the morning and staying the night and then coming back the next afternoon.
Prague was as beautiful as we remember. Below was the view we had of the river and Charles Bridge.





We walked up to the castle and even saw some sort of procession.

They also had some sort of market going on! I'm a fan of markets and most European cities seem to have them.


We then walked down from the castle toward Charles Bridge.









We also made a stop at the astronomical tower.


My parents got a bit tired from all of our walking so after dinner, Chris and I went on an evening stroll.



I love European cities at night! Buildings and city structures are always lit up at night and makes it walking around at night a completely different experience to the same places during the day. I always try and go for an evening walk in every new European city I visit.
This is something that I’ve especially taken advantage of since I started travelling with my husband. When I travelled alone, I wasn’t comfortable walking around alone at night. If at a hostel, though, you can easily find other like-minded travellers with whom to go for an evening walk. I highly recommend this!





The next morning, we took a walk up to the Petřín Lookout Tower. We paid the fee and then climbed to the top of tower. It was super windy on the climb up! But the top floor is enclosed and you can have a great 360 view of Prague and its surrounding areas. Climbing to peaks in a city is something I always try to do when visiting a new city. For me, seeing the overview of a city is one of my favorite things to do.


Soon after this, we headed back home by train. I really love how everything so close to home and we can take a train or plane for a few hours and we’re somewhere new and exciting!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

More New Additions!

Recently, on April 16, we went to the annual Raritätenbörse in the Botanical Garden next to Belvedere. The Botanical Garden themselves are quite nice. We've been there once before in the winter and there wasn't much to see, but this time, you could really see the trees coming back into bloom for Spring. There are also lots of different types of plants and flowers but they weren't quite in bloom yet when we were there.

The atmosphere was quite relaxed in the Botanical Garden itself but the Raritätenbörse (directly translates to "Rarities Exchange" was much more hectic. There were vendors selling all different sorts of plants from the really small to good-sized trees. It was kind of fun to walk around and see what was available.

I had come in thinking about getting some strawberry plants because I thought it would be nice to have something to cultivate through the Spring. In the end, we left with three plants, a strawberry plant (Erd), a habanero plant (Haba) and a ribisel or red currant plant (Ribi).


Ribi - our Red Ribisel Plant 

Erd, our cute strawberry plant

Haba, our Orange Habanero plant. 

So far its been about three weeks and I've still managed to keep them alive, which is better than I normally do with plants. Chris will tell you that I had a black thumb back in San Diego, but I think I like having the balcony here because I can see the plants and remind myself to check on them and make sure they're watered (but not over-watered). Also, we have more rain here (every week or so) so if I forget once, usually they still get some moisture.

Anyway, I'm hoping that Erd gives some strawberries soon and that Ribi actually makes berries this season. I think I need to get a bigger pot for Ribi to grow into but that is on the list of things to do. For now, I'll just show you how they look at this point.

Erd's growing some good sized strawberries. Hopefully they'll start ripening soon!

Anyway, another short and sweet post. I'd definitely go back to the Raritätenbörse for plants next year. :) What are you all growing in your gardens this year?


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Vienna -- Months 10-12 (February - April)

This last quarter year just finished for us, and I'm finally just about caught up to present day on my documenting of our experiences moving and living here in Vienna. I think this quarter can be split into two parts: "the long, long tail of Winter", and "when Spring finally poked its head out."

The Long, Long Tail of Winter

Like I mentioned in the last quarterly post, January started off in a bit of a post-holiday/first true Winter slump. I was used to the Viennese Christmas cheer being all around to sort of alleviate the darkness and grayness of December but come January those things were all dismantled and the city was left in this dead, gray haze for most of the days from January until about the middle-end of March.

During these months, not only are the trees in hibernation, but it seemed like Vienna was too. The city which usually had so many festivals, events, and holidays suddenly went through a period in which it seemed like not much was happening. The Viennese population also seemed to experience this hibernation -- they were more grumpy and subdued and lackluster comparatively. This made these months even more sad and depressing.

I definitely think that emotionally this was the hardest few months for me, and yet maybe it wasn't. It's hard to explain but I felt the most emotionally dragged down during these months for no obvious reason. The previous months, I definitely felt emotional, especially those first 3-4 months but I feel like there was a good and valid reason for it then. For me, I knew by about February that I was adjusting and "getting there" but for some reason I was still in this low-energy, low-motivation zone with my emotions. I felt like during these months I had less of a valid reason for feeling so low, but yet I did, and I struggled with this a lot.

The only way to really lift me out of this was either a Snow Day (which as I mentioned in my previous post always seemed to hold a little bit of magic), or just forcing ourselves to go out into the City to do something -- anything -- despite the cold and the gray and the darkness. The first happened less than 5 times this winter, and the latter was often so hard to force myself to do, but once out there I usually enjoyed myself a lot.

Chris and I tried to go out on little outings at least once a week (usually Saturday) even if it was just to go to the Ströck to buy bread or into the city center to see Stephansdom. Chris quickly realized that once out and about, my mood could be lifted but I had trouble getting myself out there unprompted. I think this was largely because of how I felt about what Winter had done to the city. I wasn't used to living in a city, much less one that had suddenly been painted various shades of dull gray.

While going through these months, I did not have the outsider's view to see that this is how I was feeling. I think that now that I see how my mindset was and what actions could fix it, I will be more mindful of it the next go-around with Winter. Hopefully, I won't let Winter have such a strong hold over me in the future.

I think that as time went on I also felt better because the days were stretching longer and the weather was starting to let up a bit and I could finally see Spring was trying to make an appearance. Another thing I'll try and keep in mind in future Winters is that Spring will always come eventually.


When Spring Finally Poked Its Head Out

I feel like many people experience this each year, but I haven't experienced it for a long, long time because I lived in San Diego for almost 10 years before moving to Vienna. San Diego has eternal Spring/Summer weather and it is glorious, however, I say that with hindsight because I lived there for so long, I started to get bored (?!) of it... Now I wish for that weather a lot of the time. 

Coming in short spurts, Spring started to show up in early March but only for a day here and a day there interspersed with a week of winter weather. It gave glimpses of partially sunny and lighter days, but then was abruptly pulled away with the return of heavy gray skies and sometimes rain. But by the end of March, Spring had definitely started to win against Winter and my mood lifted with it. Since it has been a long time since I experienced a Winter to Spring transition (and this one is probably more severe than any I've ever experienced before) I was so surprised by this fact. I thought that I was just in an emotional rut and hadn't really correlates it with the weather, but it definitely made a difference. 

First sign of Spring! This tree is in the Sigmund Freud Park near Votivkirsche

As soon as the weather started to warm up, the trees started to grow leaves and flowers started to bloom around the city. Something about seeing plants blooming was so mood-lifting. In addition, the festivals and events started happening again. We went to the Botanical Garden where they were having a sale on plants (Raritätenbörse), there was a Little Styria festival in the city center, and we just started doing things outside again. We purchased bike helmets and started making use of the Citybikes -- taking rides up the Donau Canal and through the Prater park.

We were so excited about getting these helmets and being able to go cycling any time. :)

With the warmer weather and the increase in events and festivals, it seemed like the vibe of the city started to pick up again too! People were more cheerful and out-and-about. There was just more activity and a sense of happening all around the city. It seems like we weren't the only ones that went through the Winter slump and Spring shook a good portion of the population back into doing things again. 

A big milestone that we hit at the end of April was our One Year Vienna-versary! This felt like such a hard-earned victory, even bigger than our first wedding anniversary back in January. Somehow, that seemed like a given, but making it one year in Vienna was a hard-fought battle. But we made it! Honestly, I feel like we're still "getting there" but we're so much closer. I don't feel so terribly homesick all the time and that feeling of everyone staring at me all the time is subsiding. I feel more comfortable being here and I think that is a great accomplishment. 

Another thing that we started doing in March is taking an A1 level German course offered through our work. I think that while I haven't learned a massive amount, this has made a big difference in my feeling more comfortable. I now can understand basic replies and requests whereas before it as all just German. Now that I know what they say back, it makes me feel a bit more in control of the social situations that I am in and its a great feeling to start to get back that capability to complete basic social interactions without problems. 

Anyway, the overarching feelings on the year, I'll describe in my Year 1 Review, but as for these last three months, I think it was a learning experience. I'm also happy that I'm writing this post on the tail end of those three months, because I feel so much happier and more settled at the end of these three months. I still find it shocking how much a little change in weather, light, and warmth can make in my mood and also in the mood of those around me. It's a bit crazy but also something to take note of because, in Vienna, as with most places in the world (not so much California, or San Diego), this Winter to Spring transition is an annual thing and likely my feelings will be perpetuated each cycle. Knowing how I react to these seasons and ways to alleviate the worst of it will be good for me in future years to make this transition not so abrupt and the Winter slump not so terrible. 

All I can say is, "Welcome, Spring. I'm sorry that I ever got bored of you while living in the paradisal place that is San Diego." While I'm still not ready to call Vienna home, I no longer have such bad homesickness and I'd call that "getting there." :)

And finally, I'll show you a tour of the beautiful blooms around Vienna during the last couple of months! I think I've nearly squealed (or actually squealed) each time I've seen a patch of flowers around the city. I love love love flowers but I can't stand to have cut flowers in my house because they're essentially dead. I love that Vienna's city planners plant all of these little patches of living flowers around the city so that Spring really comes into its own in blooming, beautiful, bright colors!

These tulips literally made me squeal with happiness! They are sooo beautiful and the colors truly pop.

They were planted in large patches near the Belvedere Palace. 

They were actually planted at the four corners near the Soviet War Memorial and Fountain.




Can you tell I LOVED these tulips? :P 

There were also flowers in the gardens of the Belvedere. We were happy to have sun and flowers on this Saturday stroll. 

Flowers in front of the Belvedere. So pretty! I like the mix of yellows, whites, and pops of red. 

I love these dark purple tulips. They are in my favorite color and they look beautiful among the white and yellow daffodils. 

The Belvedere is beautiful year round but in Spring it is at its best, I think. 

We found Liechtenstein Park on a recent Vienna Wandering.  

We had such a nice day walking around the 9th district that Saturday. 

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Vienna -- Months 7-9 (November 2015 - January 2016) ... Winter.

** This post will be more a reflection of my experiences in those months. As I was not consistently taking notes during those months, these blog entries will be tinged with hindsight as I can see better my progress of adjusting looking back much better than I can whilst in those months and experiences.**

WINTER IS COMING! (I write this as someone who has never watched or read the Game of Thrones series, but that reference is so ubiquitous now and it has a dire feeling, doesn't it?)

The months of November through January were a major change for us, as we'd both lived most of our adult lives in California where winters are mild by the standards of most of the world. On top of that, we'd both spent the last half decade in San Diego, where winter just doesn't really seem to exist (though I've heard that this winter they got lots more rain due to it being an El Niño year).

These months were not actually that bad, in my opinion, at least for this first year because it was all so novel to have seasons. I found the chill and briskness of Autumn refreshing and novel, and really enjoyed being able to pull out and wear thicker, wool jackets that I'd always felt silly owning in San Diego. I really think that for the first month or so, I quite enjoyed the change of the seasons.

By early December, things had started to get a lot colder than I was used to (close to or below freezing -5 to +5 C/ 23-41F) and the shorter, darker days got even shorter and even darker. These negative effects of winter, however, were tempered by the fact that December in Vienna is filled with Christmas Cheer and Merriment. All around the city, Christmas lights were strung up above the streets, Christmas trees were dotted all around, and there were Christmas Markets all over the city. I think what made this month bearable was the novelty of living in a city that so openly celebrated Christmas by decking out all of the major parks and historical buildings. I also really enjoyed strolling around the various Christmas markets and seeing what trinkets were on display. We actually had a great time finding little presents for everyone.

Christmas Market at the Rathaus (City Hall) --> This one in particular was PACKED. 

I think December this year was also easier because we had a 16-day Christmas trip planned during which we would visit both East and West Coasts of the United States to touch base with almost all of our family members. This was our first visit home since we moved and we were excited to go home. This meant that we only spent about two weeks in December in Austria and spent the rest in the United States, so the increasingly dark and shorter days weren't so noticeable to us, because there was so much to be done before we left. We arrived back in Austria on New Year's Eve and rang in 2016 in our little apartment in Vienna.

January was where we started to feel the effects of the short, dark days and the cold weather. I think that a lot of people actually feel this way in January, due to the post-Holiday slump. To be honest, I kind of loved the cooler weather, but Chris' poor circulation in his limbs meant that he suffered more. The cold also exacerbated his eczema so that it flared up almost constantly during the winter. The part that I hated about winter was the darkness, I felt like we were in this impenetrable world of gray, with gray skies and gray concrete sidewalks and gray-tinged buildings. Without the green of trees to break up the streets, it felt so flat and dark. I really struggled to get out of bed and get started in the mornings during the first few months of 2016.

People who have lived here for a long time tell us that this winter was a relatively mild one but it dragged on for much longer than usual. I tend to believe them because I think we only got around 5 total days that it snowed and not more than a months worth of days where it was raining. But the darkness really was the worst and it seemed to stretch from mid-November and didn't seem to let up until at least the middle or end of March. I'm hoping that next winter will be easier, either by being more "winter-like" with more snow days or by being or seeming shorter. We'll see if that happens.

The days I loved the most this winter were the days with snow. There's something magical about a city that is blanketed in snow. It would instantly lift my mood because it made it seem like we were in a fairy tale with the snow-covered trees and streets. The lightness of sound on a snowy morning is something that I haven't experienced a lot in my life but I really love it. Its like this dampening of all sounds around where everything seems muffled and muted and peaceful.


Tango was mesmerized. Our little San Diego kitty experiencing weather for the first time. :)
In the end, for our first true winter, I think it went as expected for a couple of Southern Californian beach-dwellers. We definitely had a lot of adjusting to do and that will probably continue for the next few years. I really enjoyed the cooler weather, especially in contrast to the oppressive heat of the summer, but the darkness was terrible. I think next year we might look into some solutions to try and alleviate the low emotions that result from the winter season. I'm hoping for more snow next year and hopefully nicer weather earlier than the end of March, but I think I know what to expect so hopefully it won't seem so bad next year.

Saturday, April 30, 2016

Vienna -- Months 4-6 (August -- October 2015)

** This post and the next one in this series (Months 7-9), will be more a reflection of my experiences in those months. As I was not consistently taking notes during those months, these blog entries will be tinged with hindsight as I can see better my progress of adjusting looking back much better than I can whilst in those months and experiences.**

Months 4-6 (August-October)

This quarter year started out both stressful and beautifully relaxing (see our St Maarten's family vacation posts Part 1 and Part 2 for more details). It was our first trip outside of Vienna together since we'd moved here and it was much needed.

One of the things that I noticed was that I was starting to get a sort of cabin fever within the Vienna city limits. This wasn't something that I was expecting. Having grown up in Northern California Suburbia, and spent most of my adulthood in sprawling cities like San Diego and Seattle, I was actually quite excited to live in a true Concrete Jungle city like Vienna. When we moved here, I was mesmerized by the fact that the public transport worked -- a startling change of events from what passed as public transport in San Diego. The fact that you could walk to buy basically anything was enchanting. It was super weird and liberating not to have to save those purchases for when you had time to drive to a Target or Walmart or supermarket. These were some of the major differences in lifestyle that I noticed when we moved here -- and it is a plus in my opinion.

 We suburban kids learn to drive as soon as we're allowed, because that Driver's License gives you freedom that you wouldn't otherwise have growing up in "car-country." At 15, I eagerly signed up for driver's training so that I could get my license as soon as possible and at 16, once I passed my test, I was on the road all the time. Growing up in California, you had to drive to go anywhere and do anything, including shopping, sports activities, going to the movies, etc. But surprisingly, adjusting to public transport was rather easy in Vienna, which is likely because it is both convenient and runs very regularly. I don't think that I'd feel the same in a less well-connected city.

While there are significant upsides to having a whole city at your fingertips, one major downside of being in a true city like Vienna is this feeling of never seeing open space. I never realized how much I valued this. Growing up in the East Bay, I was used to rolling hills and being able to see across a landscape for a good distance. In San Diego, we had the ocean and there is truly nothing comparable to looking out at the ocean and seeing nothing but ocean to the horizon. In Seattle, there were mountain ranges on three sides of the city and lakes abound everywhere, giving this cozy feeling with beautiful year-round greenery. All of the places where I've lived there have been opportunities to experience nature without actively seeking it out.

Here in Vienna, like with many concrete cities, buildings are densely packed and tall, so if you are just going about your daily business in the city (going to work, home, shops, etc), you can easily go for several days without seeing much open space. I don't even think I realized it was happening but very quickly I started to crave seeing trees that grew naturally (weren't put there by city planners) and hills and mountains and rivers and lakes and OCEANS. God, I miss the ocean. There are regions just outside of the city of Vienna that are basically the opposite setting -- quaint European suburbs in the hills surrounding the city with trees and a view of the surrounding area, but you have to make an effort to get to those places. I realize now how spoiled I was growing up and living where I have so far, basically with nice, open spaces interspersed within my daily or weekly routines, so I never really had to seek them out to feel reprieve from too much "city."

Anyway, all of this to say that the trip at the beginning of August was meant to be a very relaxing and exotic break from our city life in Vienna. And, as detailed in the posts from that trip, it did eventually end up being a nice little break (but not without its major stresses). And the trip, ultimately, did reset us a bit and allowed us to start of this quarter of our first year in a more happy, relaxed, rejuvenated mood.

The major challenges of the second three months living in Vienna were:

{one} Exchange our California Driver's License for an Austrian one.

This involved dealing with yet another branch of the previously mentioned Austrian bureaucracy.

{two} Sorting out more Visa stuff.

More bureaucracy.

{three} Personally, I had a few major milestones to complete in my graduate program, including submitting a project proposal and also applying for a pre-doctoral grant.

{four} Adjusting to the seasonal weather.

We had to accommodate for the extreme 90-95F/ 30-35C heat in the Summer that was basically constant, 24 hours a day, for over a month. This is in contrast to Californian Summer weather, where the days may be just as hot but the nights cool down to 70-75F/21-24C. Since Austrians don't really believe in air conditioning, this was a major adjustment.

We're told that the length of the heat wave (lasting weeks and weeks) this Summer was abnormal for Vienna. Usually, it comes in 2-3 days spurts and then dissipates and cycles. Shortly after this Summer weather was our main concern, we had to start preparing for the first true winter either of us had ever experienced, at least in a long, long time (for Chris). This involved getting warmer clothes across the board from head to toe.

Most days, I still miss waking up putting on any clothes that I owned and walking out the door without much of a thought as to whether it will be too hot/too cold/not water-resistant, etc. I realize, constantly, how spoiled I was when living in San Diego. I think that people who say they love seasons must: 1) not have been to/lived in San Diego/SoCal, 2) not have allergies, 3) really like winter sports. I am mostly excluded from these three categories, because I do enjoy skiing occasionally but I'm not dying to do it each Winter.

Overall...


Emotionally, months 4-6 was a bit of a continuation of how I felt throughout the first three months. I felt constantly on the edge. While I knew that I was definitely slowly adjusting to life here and there were days that I felt hunky-dory, ready to enjoy life in Vienna, there was always days when I just hated every aspect of being here. My personality tends to focus more on the negatives than the positives and so usually when I got stressed about something (which is often when you're adjusting to such a major life change), I tended toward the second type of day. For me, it is really hard to pull me out of these moods. Chris usually tries to get us out of the apartment and walking around the city to try and lift me out of these moods. Getting out and exploring still seems to be the best way to lift me out of these depressive moods and I have also come to realize it.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Vienna -- Months 1-3 (May -- July 2015)

**I really meant to do more blogging and posting since we moved, but the crafty side hasn't had time and the lifestyle part of it has been different than expected. I think I'll be putting out the back-log of posts that I've started and not finished and then try and keep the train running with new blog posts of crafts and adventures.

The structure of what is below is what I initially wrote during those first months but never finished (colored purple). I'll continue/round out the experiences of those months best I can so that it will feel more comprehensive.

Months 1-3 (May-July)

First and foremost, I know I've been terrible about updating this blog. The reasons are many-fold, but I will state a few here:

(1) Most people usually only display to the public world a "good" view of their life. They show you the happy times but not as much of the difficult or sad or angry times. I would say that is especially true for me. I don't know who is out there reading my blog and I don't want to dump my feelings on them. That being said, I also want this to be a documentation of this time in my life, so I'm getting back into the blogging (attempting to at least).

(2) The other main reason is that this blog was meant to be a crafty, creative space in addition to a place for me to document my life as it is now in Vienna... however, we shipped most of our possessions (including all of my art supplies, my books, and most of my clothing) in late April, right before we flew across the world. The process was meant to take 8 weeks-- 10 weeks tops...we are now at exactly 3 months after we relinquished our belongings to a shipping company and we still don't have our belongings. The most recent update on that is that the ship has (finally, finally, finally) reached port in Hamburg and we are awaiting German customs to clear it (can take 10 working days) before it can then be transported from Hamburg to Vienna... It has been a bit of a nightmare, to say the least.

Life in Vienna. Let's start with the fact that I thought and knew this was going to be rough. I think some small (or not so small) arrogant part of me thought, "I know all these people who have done this type of transcontinental move say that it was really really hard but I can do better...it won't be as bad for me."


~~~

Wow. I didn't get far on the first post. There was good reason for it-- emotionally I was dealing with so much that I was having trouble coping on a day-to-day basis. Like I left off in the section above, I thought that while others had said it was going to be tough -- really tough -- part of my brain still thought, "I acknowledge that, but I'll be able to do better." Those first three months were like constantly eating humble pie about how well I thought I would cope. For some reason, I thought I would just take it all in stride; the reality was pretty far from that.

It is not to say that I don't think I handled it as well as most people do, especially ones who have as strong a desire for feeling stable and secure, and feeling like they know what is expected of them in possible situations. I think the first few months, I struggled really hard with the fact that everything was ... pretty similar but really different. Moving to a new country is a big change; I don't think anybody would dispute that. BUT moving to Europe--Austria-- from the U.S., is arguably the biggest change one can make in terms of the sheer number of differences one needs to adjust to. Everything, and I mean everything, is different... the language (German), the weather (Celsius), the distance (km), weight (kg) -- basically measurements in general (metric), keeping time (military/24hr), and the list goes on and on.

So in addition to learning to orient in a new city, all my normal "small-talky" ability was sort of stripped away from me because there was always a conversion that needed to be made and you are on constant alert to check and make sure that your audience understands what you said in English. I consider myself a fairly socially adept introvert, at least in the States... a lot of being socially competent is being able to carry a basic conversation and those often eventually touch on weather, distance, time, etc. I initially found this aspect so stressful. (Now, over 9 months in, it is admittedly so much easier).

I think the overarching thing that was the most difficult for me was NOT knowing what to expect, how to be prepared for things. Austria is a Germanic country in all ways to do with government bureaucracy. By that, I mean there are lots of rules, lots of paperwork, lots of sitting in various government buildings waiting to turn in/pick up/sign/get signed a form. And if you want to obtain permanent residence here, there are lots of these forms and offices, but the information about what documents are needed, which of those need to be Apostille stamped, and how many copies of each document you need to provide, is always a toss-up. (Even at this point, I still get really stressed about going to do one of these trips). Fortunately, as long as you have the application filled out and most of the forms, you can usually come back/email the remaining forms. But they have sooo many of these situations just tied to the first few stressful weeks of moving here -- for the electricity/gas, for water, for renting a place, for the "Meldezettel" which is basically registering with the Austrian government each of the places you live within the border within 3 days of moving in. Those are just the things for moving into a place.

For living here as a permanent resident, there is another special level of bureaucratic hell for third country nationals (i.e. NOT Austrian, NOT E.U.). For that you must go to the MA35 and sit with an alphanumerical number in your hand, clutching all of the documents you think will be needed for whatever residency permit you're applying for and wait interminably until they call your number. The thing is, they never call the numbers in any order and depending on the residency permit, you can wait anywhere from 30-40 min to over 2 hours. And there is nobody to ask about when your number will be called. Then they tell you to go pay at the cashier and then send you on your way, telling you they'll contact you in when whatever document you request is ready.

There's a lot of waiting, waiting, waiting, turning in papers, stamping, then paying some sort of fee (not nominal, often round larger numbers like €100) and then send you on your way... I hate that so much. It is infuriating and I realize how American I sound when I say that, but things just run so much slower here.

 

Below are a few things that we experienced in those first few months. 

The Smokers

This was something that I was not prepared for because I grew up in California. Since the mid-late 80s the USA has banned smoking indoors in basically all of its states. As a result, it is more inconvenient to be a smoker which deters people from starting or continuing to smoke. California has always been on the forefront of this issue and I have never lived in a place where smoking is allowed indoors, until we moved to Vienna. 

Austria has the highest proportion of residents who smoke. It is also behind the rest of Western (and a lot of Eastern) Europe in banning smoking indoors. This is slowly changing and supposedly by the year 2018 all indoor spaces will be smoke-free, but as of right now, it is about 50/50 whether a bar, pub, or restaurant will have "separate" non-smoking and smoking sections. Separate but really not because often the divider is a door that is both not sealed properly and often not closed at all. 

In addition to still allowing smoking in a lot of public buildings, it is very noticeable the increased proportion of smokers within the general public. In California, it was rare to end up walking behind someone smoking a cigarette (more often it was pot), and here its is basically unavoidable. I find this so disgusting because they're not only hurting themselves and their immediate families (the poor babies who breathe in that secondhand smoke) but also others around them in public locations. 

Right now, I am sad to say that I've gotten a lot less sensitized to cigarette smoke in my vicinity. I used to be super sensitive to it and never wanted to smell it at all, but since moving to Vienna, we can't avoid the smell so I will move as far away from the smoker(s) as possible but I'm not as all-or-nothing as before, because I can't be. I do choose not to go to bars/pubs that allow smoking indoors, because I don't want to subject myself to the associated risks of secondhand smoke in an enclosed environment. Hopefully, the 2018 smoking ban actually holds and it starts to change the topology of smokers in Austria like it has with the US and also other European countries. 


The "Summer Culture"

One thing, as Americans, we were not fully prepared for is the "Summer Culture" of Europeans. As an employee in Austria, you have days off work on all Catholic holidays and a few other national Austrian holidays. On top of that, you receive 25 days of paid vacations. This all sounds beautiful and idyllic but in the U.S., these holiday days would go to waste or get "rolled-over" until you retire or change jobs, when you are given the option of taking a paycheck for the equivalent of those vacation days. The U.S. does not give you many vacation days and those you do receive, you never really feel that you can take them because you'll get behind or your employer will view it as lack of motivation and your professional development will suffer.

Here, in Europe, and more specifically in Austria, people TAKE those vacations -- and boy, do they go on vacation. We had heard, as most Americans have, that summer is when the Europeans go on vacation. "Try not to travel in Europe during the month of August, because they'll all be on vacation too," we're told. Well... that is true, but its more extreme that we thought. And its not just the month of August, it also includes June and July.

This was not more apparent to us, than when we needed to get an appointment with a dermatologist during the summer months. In mid-July, Chris randomly started showing rash-like symptoms that ultimately was diagnosed as eczema, but for three weeks solid, we couldn't get anyone to tell us a dermatologist that would see him until SEPTEMBER. In the end we went to the hospital and were informed that a 3-week long rash was not an emergency. They referred us to a dermatologist located in a district far out who had clinic hours from 4-6pm each day. We got there right at 4pm and his office already had 15-20 people waiting and the influx was constant as the patients were slowly seen by the doctor. Its crazy that this doctor seemed to be the only one who would see patients without an appointment during that summer time period.

This is when the "Summer Culture" hit us, well-- really, it slapped us in the face. The reason that we couldn't see anyone for over two months is that every person seems to take 3-4 weeks for a nice, long, leisurely vacation somewhere. This is also true for those in the medical professions, and maybe even more so. As a result, the entirety of Vienna is short-staffed of doctors for most of June, July, and August. Those that are in town are often covering the patients of at least one other doctor who is away, and this gets reciprocated once those doctors return.


Living with only two weeks worth of clothes and none of your own belongings

I think the worst thing during the first 3 months was the waiting for our belongings to arrive. We shipped our stuff when we left San Diego in late April. It was supposed to take 8 weeks total to arrive in Vienna (arriving late-June). When it didn't arrive by then, I was starting to really lose my ability to stay sane. We had moved here with two large suitcases, two carry-ons, and our two kitties. We brought about two weeks worth of clothes for San Diego Spring, which is not the same as Viennese Spring -- it is consistently much cooler in Vienna. We had largely prepared for many of the challenges we were going to face in the first few months (housing, bank account, cell phones, etc), but in an rather large oversight, we did not bring appropriately warm clothing for the season in which we arrived. All of the obstacles and things to do in the first few months were easily remedied by buying or paying for something. In this manner, I felt like we were constantly bleeding money in those first few months and, having been raised extremely frugally, this did not sit well or make me feel secure. Feeling insecure because of all of the financial expenses we had to incur in those first few months was compounded by feeling insecure being without the belongings that made our house feel like a home. 

When late-June arrived and our boxes were nowhere to be seen, I started to unravel even more. I felt so ungrounded without my own "things." I know you're not supposed to feel so strongly about material things but considering the amount of change I had just thrown myself into, I wanted some things that I was familiar with to balance the whole affair out. We were obviously able to acquire more things but it wasn't the same and like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, all my craft stuff was in those boxes too. I usually do something artsy to decompress and relax, and without my art supplies, I was sort of left a bit off-center.

Things that we would have liked to know or at least have a good idea about:

{One} Shipping your belongings means that you are guaranteed to have delays; its a reality of the shipping industry bringing items long distances by boat.


For us, we moved from the West Coast of the US so the fastest way is through the Panama Canal. In the end our stuff took four months to arrive, which is over 2 months longer than the estimate. Expecting this probably would have assuaged some of the constant wondering whether our stuff would come next week, or next week, or never? While wondering whether your stuff will never arrive seems a bit overdramatic, the fact of the matter is that boats do sink.

We were so happy when our stuff actually arrived that we kind of just swallowed the delays and delays and rude customer service agents along the way. I think it is sort of like when a mother forgets within the first few months how bad the labor pains really were, because she finally has her child in her arms. Once our belongings arrived (and were finally unpacked... which took longer than you might think), things started to truly level out a bit and I could feel more at home in this strange new place. 

{Two} Austrian (and maybe all Germanic or European) Bureaucracy is very slow and each office has an indeterminate amount of rules and specifics they expect that you already know.

Except that nobody really tells you these "givens" as a foreigner. Such things include: 
  1. There are fees for almost everything from rental contracts to deliveries, which are never explicitly stated. They just expect you to know about it (and obviously, pay) but never tell you about it. Ask a local and they'll tell you that its true and look at you incredulous that you didn't know that. 
  2. Never trust that the list of forms/documents/etc listed on a webpage of whatever bureaucratic office you are visiting will be the complete list. You can try and be as prepared as possible but inevitably there will be some surprise document that you didn't bring which is required for your application. In the end, as long as you have the most important document (usually the application form or something similar), you can email/fax/mail the accessory documents that you "forgot" to bring. I put forgot in parenthesis because these are documents that are not listed on the webpage for whichever bureaucratic office you're going to but then is asked for when you are physically in the office.
  3. There are taxes that you pay to whichever religion you declare, and this is not explicitly stated when you are filling out the document in which you declare your religion. Once declared, the church will expect you to pay them some fee yearly. 
  4. And many more...
All of the above and some situations not listed fall under the "you should already know about it but nobody tells you about it" category mentioned earlier. It makes it really hard to anticipate outcomes, so for someone like me who likes to anticipate and prepare for all possible outcomes, this was, and to some extent still is, a special version of hell.  

{Three} You can't learn German by immersion in Austria (especially in Vienna) -- at least very easily.

Despite the fact that the best way to learn a new language is through cultural immersion -- and that the official language of Austria is German -- in Vienna (and maybe Austria) almost three-quarters of the population speak English, and good English at that. As a result, if they hear an American or English-speaker accent in your German, they will automatically switch to English.

As an English-speaking foreigner, this has loads of benefits.
  1. It means that you can get around and settle into a daily routine in a new country without the added stress of trying to learn the language. 
  2. It also means that, if you choose, you never actually have to learn German and will still be able to comfortably get around and live in Vienna. 
One of the side effects of most of the population speaking good English is that when you encounter someone who does not (or doesn't feel comfortable speaking English), they can often be quite surly and tacit about it. They will choose to curtly speak quick-fire German at you, rather than trying to do the age-old dance of each person trying to speak whatever broken bits of the other's language that they know, along with various Charades-like miming, to try and communicate. This is not their fault but it is quite a stark contrast to the rest of the population who do congenially speak English with you. 

Surprisingly, the highest population that I have found of this group is at the MA35, which is the government office that deals with residency permits and visas. Essentially, all the people that go to the MA35 are foreign people conducting business regarding their visas (be it applying, renewing, pick-up, etc). This is the one place that I don't understand why they do not hire people who speak decent English, since it is an office that works with people who are definitely non-Austrian, and often non-EU citizens. 

Once you've settled a bit in Austria, and decide "yes, I'd like to become at least conversational in German," you now have a different type of problem. 

Some of the major disadvantages to the fact that the population speaks such good English include: 
  1. If you decide to try and learn German, you never really get the chance to practice. This is what I mean that immersion doesn't really work in Vienna. Service people will switch to English so that business can be conducted quicker and more efficiently. 
  2. Also, no niceties or small-talk occur in normal business exchanges. At the cash register, they churn you through as quick as possible. They don't really speak to you except a curt greeting and asking how you will pay. As a foreign person, who works in a place where English is the common language, these exchanges at the supermarket, drugstore, etc are the main places that you encounter an opportunity to speak with native German speakers and practice your German. Unfortunately, these exchanges are not very useful for practice because of how truncated and rushed they are. 
Overall, the first three months living abroad in Vienna were, without doubt, the hardest time in my life. But looking at it now, almost a year in, even within those three months, I was improving and I can definitely see a difference between then and now (Apr 2016). So for anyone who reads this and has just moved to a new place completely outside your comfort zone: take heart, it will get better; push through the early months, they are the absolute worst! 

Saturday, April 2, 2016

The Vienna Wanderings -- Easter Market (Freyung and Am Hof) -- March 26, 2016

One of the nice things about Vienna is that they make use of all major Catholic holidays to try and spread cheer. A lot of this is marketing toward tourists and local shopoholics who like to browse and often buy little memories and trinkets. 

The Easter markets nearly passed us by this year. I only heard about it from my colleague the week before Easter, but it actually starts from the beginning of March. We decided that we would hit up a few of the closer ones. Like the Christmas markets, there are vendors that sell their handicrafts as well as various food and drink stands as well. This is the website that I looked at for information on the Easter markets this year, but a quick Google search should be easy enough. 

This year we went to the Freyung and Am Hof markets, which are actually only a block away from each other. The pictures below are from the Freyung market, where they have a large central area where thousands of painted eggs are on display for purchase. We had a fun time walking around and seeing what different styles there were. Popular styles ranged from decorative flowers with beading to beautifully intricate floral designs as well as eggs with various forest animals. The prices seemed to range anywhere from €4-5 to €20 each, depending on the style and size of the eggs. 





No market in Vienna would be complete without something very unique to set it apart. Here is the Freyung market's giant painted egg. 

In the end, we chose two eggs. The purple one is in the beautifully intricate floral style that I loved and the second is for Chris' stepmother, Nancy, because the dog portrait bears a likeness to their puppy, Lily. 






Just a short and sweet post, but another little something to look into if your find yourself visiting Vienna in the month leading up to Easter.