Seasons and Five days..

So heres the post i promised oh... 3 weeks ago. SORRY. and those happened to be 3 very eventful weeks. where to start...

OK so it was a monday. first week of december ( i think) And the night before I got a call. from the Schmidls. For those who do not know, THE schmidls (Johann and Brigitte) are the people who we lived with when I was a little girl. They are also the parents of my aunt (no, NOT my grandparents. she married my moms brother) and they have more kids. and two of their sons + their families . And the schmidls who called me were one of those families. And they happen to live in the apartment where we lived. Which has been remodeled since then. and i've been waiting and waiting for an invitation to go see it.. and finally they called. and invited me for dinner and family home evening.
so on monday after school i walked the familiar path down by the school. Except it was muddier than i remember. but the fence was still there. and the deer on the other side of it. and the big green hills (yes, they are alive with the sound of music) i also saw the place where we found a baby deer once. well, i think it was the place.
then further down i saw the woodpile and the big pine trees. and the house. still the same on the outside.
the little kids (the family i visited has 3 little girls and a baby boy) ran down to meet me. then we hurried inside. cause it was freaking cold. the stairs up to the apartment were still exactly as i remembered. the apartment though... WAAY different

first of all, the wall between the living and dining room was broken down. second: the bathroom is now a storage closet. yeah, its that small. third: there is a wall dividing the room we used to sleep in. its two rooms now. one for kids, one for parents. theres also a new (bigger) bathroom attatched to the parents room.

i played with the kids while rafaela made dinner. we (me and leoni (the oldest) ) were trying to teach marina (second oldest) to write her name in cursive. ella (the youngest girl) was sitting on the table sticking her hands in the juice pitcher. she also dipped a pencil in it and licked the tiny droplets off the pencil, then dipped it again. she also drank out of every cup. that is, after she dipped her fists in them.

then oliver got home, and dinner was ready. I wasn't going to say anything about ella, but oliver caught her in the act and got new cups and a new pitcher. dinner was goulash, pizza, and salad. the salad was really good. the goulash had hot dog in it and was well, goulash. the pizza had a whole wheat thin crust. it was kind of tasteless and soggy. (lets just say, moms crust is better)

then we cut twigs off pine branches so rafaela could make an advent wreath. after i sweeped up the floor, the kids and i played a game called blinde kuh (blind cow) where you have to tag someone blindfolded. i just stayed in the corner and tried not to get tagged. the little girls, however , were running around. shreaking. after the game we all sat down on the couches and oliver told a little bit of the christmas story. about how no one believed the prophets that christ was coming, but then they were right. and how the prophets are always right.
then we went to the table and ate krapfen and the little kids had m&ms and gummy worms. ( the picture is of krapfen)
after that, the kids got ready for bed and i read to them until they fell asleep. then rafaela took me home.

that weekend (saturday) we went to a christmas market in Linz. It was at a school that goes from first to 12th grade. and it was beautiful! it was so artsy. i'll write more on that later..

OK then the weekend of the 6th, I was sick.
on thursday i was talking to eva about how mom sometimes gives us ''mental health days'' where we stay home from school. she told her mom about it, and her mom said she could stay home on friday, but i had to go to school. I didn't sleep very well, and when i woke up friday morning i had a cold. one of the achey ones. but, i went to school anyway. All day at school i felt like crap, and i REALLY was not up for two hours of PE. so i texted eva and asked if i could come home. i did, and when i got home, i had a fever. 38.6° celcius i think. i slept better that night. then i felt fine sat morning. the fever was gone. I went to a friends house in the afternoon. (carina gstöttner who was in my first grade class) it was fun. we played with her rabbits (named hoppel and susi) they are both really fat and soft and HUGE. we also watched a movie (aquamarine) it was actually really dumb. we also ate a pizza :)
then her mom drove me home. and back at home the fever came back. I was really mad becouse i had been planning on going to the sperrers sunday morning.
i slept bad again that night.
in the morning, i got up early and got ready to go, even though i wasn't feeling too awesome. then monika told me to take my temperature. 38.7. she didn't let me go. i went back upstairs, frustrated and sleep deprived, and slept a bit longer.
eva woke me a few hours later. we went downstairs and ate breakfast and got our ''german christmas '' (st. nikolaus day) things. just nuts and chocolate, basically.
monika told me if i was feeling better, i could go to the sperrers in the morning.
i did some homework, and the fever was gone.
it came back (AGAIN) at night though . i slept ok.
no fever in the morning. but monika wasn't mentioning anything about me getting to go. this was also the day of evas debutant ball. (the one we went dress shopping for) then at lunch, monika brough up the topic of what i was going to do. she asked me if i would mind staying home alone. (they would be gone from 8pm to about 230. ) i felt like she meant sperrers were out of the question. i said i was ok with that.
i helped eva get ready. then they left. i felt like cinderella.
i stayed up until 12 talking with coco on facebook . then the next morning i slept in. REALLY long. i think it was 10ish. didn't do much on tuesday. no fever though. but i did get out of going to school on wednesday. haha
that weekend (last weekend) we went to vienna. it was amazing! we stayed in a nice hotel. and i felt like such a tourist. i took at least oh.. i dont know.. maybe 400 pictures. its such a beautiful city :)
on sunday morning aafter a fancy hotel breakfast, we went to the spanische hofreitschule (picture above that i didn't take) and we weren't allowed to take pictures, which is dumb (but i snuck a few, the computer just wont upload my pictures). it was SO COOL! the horses were beautiful. everything was so perfect.
the ground also got cold enough for snow that weekend. yay!!

and i only NOW feel like its december. it was wierd without the snow. my seasons are out of whack. i blame it on no halloween and no thanksgiving..

sooo now its wednesday and i'm about to finnish off my last week of school :(
yesterday for PE we went ice skating (in peuerbach). it was pretty fun. the rink smelled like smoke , and a really old guy worked there (he was the only worker) and he always nodded his head, he also sold old , stale, overpriced haribo candy. and afterwards i went to a friends house in eferding. we were there for .. maybe an hour and then we went back to peuerbach and met up with a few more people and saw a movie (the princess and the frog) it was good. we were actually talking through most of it. but there were only 2 other people in the theater. it was fun . and when we waited to get picked up, i swear it was -30 degrees. i was SO COLD!!!
school is going well. i actually am really going to miss it. its waay better than clayton (no offense) but the teachers are nice. and the people are nice. its just.. nice.

well i only have 5 days. (AHHH) and i really can not believe it. i swear i've been here for a week. i am really going to miss this place.

i'll post before i leave
<3

Stress

Just first of all, I only have 5 weeks and i am starting to realize how much i still need to do. and in my head i've been trying to plan out every day of my next 5 weeks. Like trying to plan visits to everyone I want to see, everything I want to see, (and eat for that matter)
But I realize, if I stress like that I'm not going to savor anything. So things are just going to happen as they happen. And now I feel a little better :)

So not much is new. I got a good grade on my english test (go figure) and had a big german test today. But it was pretty easy I think. I finnished with 20 minutes to spare. And school in general is going well. I passed my informatik test. This week has been good so far. I haven't had too much work or anything. Art class is really good. My teacher is kind of wierd, but he gives us really interesting assignments.

. Eva and I went for a run today, because the sun was out. Which it hasn't been lately. The sky is just gray all day with no rain or snow. But for the past few days we've had sun. Its perfect for running because the sun is warm but the air is cool. We went running through a beautiful forest. It really is like a fairy tale here. There was thick moss covering the ground and mushrooms and tall skinny mossy trees. I forgot my camera but i'll go back tomorrow. And we stopped when it got muddy. We did war paint of our faces with it. and then kept running. We talked about how fun it would be to put on dirty clothes and slide down the mud hill. I don't think she was as serious as I was.

So this weekend I am going to New Moon with some girls from my class. And maybe do some shopping. Sorry this update is a little dry, I'll put up a better one with pictures tomorrow.

update: LONG weekend

Well, nothing really special has happened this last week. But a few exciting things did this last week. But i'll elaborate when i get there.
so from where i left off--
last tuesday after school (and homework ) eva and i went running. at the end of our run we got some spples from an apfel hof. (well deserved, juicy apples)
i think thats basically it for last week. on Friday though, i had a long day. And in PE we played volleyball, which I really can't do! But everyone in my group kept saying i was getting better, and passed to me even though i told them not to. I guess they realized I really couldn't get it down, and they stepped in front of me everytime the ball came, or put me in the back. Which was ok with me. when i DID hit the ball, i hit it wrong, and it went crooked, or on the floor, either way injuring my wrists and hands. Volleyball is definately NOT my thing.
After two painful hours of this, school was done. And so was I. I got on the bus and got off at Hummel (a roofing place where i usually get picked up on long days) and got picked up by Monica and Eva. From there, we drove about 10/15 minutes to a dress shop in Wels. Eva has a ball in early December, and wanted to get her dress.
The shop is called Hänsel und Gretel. I am pretty sure they mostly have wedding dresses (cause thats mostly what i saw) . We went inside and waited for someone to come help us. I felt extremely out of place. I was wearing boots, jeans, and a hoodie thats waay too big for me, in a shop where you probably have to pay to stand on the perfect floors. . The workers were all in gray, white, and black. Mostly pencil skirts, or fancy pants with little accents on them. And one came to help us. She took us into the big room with all the dresses hanging on racks on one wall. This room had a very very high ceilling. and we walked through it. on the opposide side of the dresses were changing rooms with two soft chairs and big mirrors outside of each one. We walked up some stairs to a higher spot, which looked over the big room. The lady pulled a few colourful resses off the racks, and we went back down to let eva try them on. i hate to say it, but on the hangers, they all looked awful.
the first one she tried on was a purple short one with ruffly sleeves. it was actually really cute. everyone said over and over how ''luftig'' it was (luftig=airy) but i thought it was funny how Monica, Eva, and the saleslady used the word at least 4 times each.
There were some other ones she tried on, my personal favorite was a sleeveless, floorlength dark green one, with a fold-design on the top. it was really beautiful. But then she tried another, a purple one, similar to the green, but it swooped (swept?) out near to the ground and had lots of toole (tutu material) underneath. it also had a corset-tie in back. and it came with a shawl. It seemed to be the favorite. So that was the one.
Friday night i skyped coco for a good .. two hours. it was good to catch up.

Saturday: i slept in until 8ish, which may not seem late, but compared to 5, ANYTHING is sleeping in. I got up, got dressed, and tried to make my hair look like i put some effort into it. Then, down for breakfast. Bread. Butter. Nutella. What else do i need??
After breakfast I got my purse together and Rudi drove me and Eva to Plus City, a big mall in Linz.
Shopping was fun. We played in an electronics store for about 1.5 hours, followed by 3 hours in H&M. but that's a store you can really spend lots of time in. I got a long-sleeved shirt, a new hoodie, and a t shirt.
at about 3..or maybe it was 4 .. we went to McDonalds for a well-deserved break. Shopping can wear you out. And there was some sort of Poker /casino thing set up in the .. central hall/room, so that mean even more smoking. It was kind of scary when we had to run across the floor in there, and ever´n when you get out, it feels like there's a cloud of smog around your head.
I think we left the mall at 6.. maybe 530. and after a short stop at the house, we went out for chinese. To a restaurant we went to a few weeks ago. I wasn't hungry yet (still full of MCd) and Eva wanted to share something. she asked me a few times if i'd rather have duck, or chicken . and even though i'd rather have chicken, i let her choose, knowing which way it'd end up.
Duck. its not so bad. it just seems (and tastes) like theres more fat than meat. So i mainly ate rice.
The restaurant is really cute. really asian. theres a fish tank with a small ray and a bunch of almost pastel orange fish. they are big (not hunge.. maybe the size of an orange) and look flan from the side, but their sides round out. they move slow and make kissy faces at eachother, and the people watching them. And theres always soft piano music playing. that, and the fish, really makes me think of spirited away. i really wanted to take pictures of them, but everytime i took my camera out, a guy who works there looked at me like i was stealing something. But i'm sure we'll go back, and i'll get the picture.
also, there was a group of people eating a few tables away. And a guy at that table looked exactly (not even kidding, he had a ponytail and EVERYTHING) like the guy who plays james in the twilight spoof on youtube. I was laughing really hard (internally, so the Hinterbergers don't think i'm more psycho then they already do)
When everyone was done, we headed home. i showered, and went to bed.

SUNDAY: sunday i got up early (if 6.45 is early), but daylight savings happened the night before, so i got an extra hour. that was nice. I ate, got ready for church and got picked up by the fuchs'
church was good. Judith Hansen taught yw, and Marcella Strihavka gave a talk. me and Hannah were giggling though, during her talk, cause she was loosing her voice and it was all crackly and uneven.
After church The Fuchs' drove me home, and i think we ate something.. and went to Schaunburg (a castle)
it was marvellous. there were some places i remember from it so clearly . And it's amazing how its still holding together. Especially the highest part. The one with a little scaffolding-like staircase that zig zags up it. And from the top, you can see everything. The whole Castle (castle ruins, that is ) and all the little towns spread around it. (the tower (above))
Monica's parents came along. And after the castle, they showed us some deer, that come right up to their fence for you to feed them.
When we got home, we had some chocolate cake. And we did homework, and watched tv.
MONDAY: slept in again. no school today! and ate breakfast, and watched two and a half men.. for about 3 hours. then, we ate lunch, and watched some more. (knitting, as we watched.) time passed like that until it was about 3.30. me and eva made something called jogurt nockerl (jogurt, gelatin, lemon rhind, whipped cream, sugar) and it had to sit for an hour before we ate it. an hour later, we ate it. it was actually really good. before it was done, i watched spongebob (in german!!) and while we ate the jogurt stuff (which is served with an ice cream scoop) we watched avatar. it was an episode i' d seen before, and eva thought it was stupid, but i was soo happy to see it.

today i slept in until 5.30 and it was weird to have a light sky when we went outside. school was pretty good today. i usually have my first hour on tuedays in art with a class 3 years younger than me, cause my class has latin. And everyday, if a teacher is sick, or not there for any reason, they post on a bulletin board what class you have instead. turns out my art class had math instead, and i tried the doors to the art room for about 10 minutes. And i couldn't go back to my class, cause they'd already started. so i drew in the hall for an hour. I also have a really big math test next week. Today in PE we played dodgeball. My team never passed to me when i got out. And when they did pass, and i got back in, i got out again really fast. I think they target me because they know i'm not paying attention. Oh well, the game isn't that fun anyways :)

I can't believe I have less than half of my time here still. And for those who are wondering, (i ALWAYS get asked this ) I am coming home december 22. only two more months !!
i will update again soon
ciao-

*** the pictures-- unicorn and poker - from Plus City, the three girls went to first grade with me. and the leaves are in Eferding by my bus stop.

It's been.. a while

Well, now I have been here, for almost two months. and as cliche as it sounds, I feel like I got here yesterday. The first weeks of my arrival, I was staying in Altmünster (as pictured) And almost every day, (even when it rained, and at night) we swam in that lake.
Austria is like a fairy tale land. Complete with the rolling green hills ( now changing color for fall) castles, all the little animals (hedgehogs, rabbits, deer, etc.) Everything here is wonderful.
Everything, with a few exeptions:

-School- every morning I wake up at 5. No later than 5.20. The bus every morning comes at 6.00 And after groggy wake ups, trying to get everything together without collapsing, we ( me and eva) go out in the dark (now freezing, and sometimes foggy) morning air, and wait for the other neighbor girls to come. When everyone is there, we walk down the steep (18% decline) hill, which is more like a mountain, especially when you're walking up it. And we get our bus right by Maria Scharten. After the driver finnishes his cigarette (that he smokes ON the bus) we wind through Scharten, and slowly make our way to Eferding, where we exit, cross the street, and get on another bus.This one is nicer. Its always a tour bus, the kind with the nice CLEAN seats. And this one goes another half hour until we arrive at school.
School (Gymnasium Dachsberg) is actually not that bad, the days seem to go by pretty fast. It is different from American school though, in a lot of ways. You have the same people in every class, because all the teachers come to you, except the Physics, Chemistry, Art, and Music. The people in my class are all really nice. And there are two of them (Katharina and Carina) who I went to first grade here with.
Anyway, today it was especially difficult to wake up. This past weekend, two good friends of mine from Altmünster had a Karate meisterschaft. (championship) And I stayed with them for the weekend. They both did really well! Hannah won first place Kumite out of everyone in her age group in Austria!! and same with Jamie. And I think they will be going to Morocco for World Championships. I had fun, too. The spectators weren't allowed where the Tatamis were ( the mats where they fought, did Kata , etc.) but I got in past the security a few times. Me and Hannah only got caught once. . . Anyway, the Meisterschaft ended around 9 last night, and it was in Salsburg. Afterwards, we ate at a really nice McDonalds ( A McCafe one) with candles on the tables and everything. It was great. Then, we went back to Altmünster, to get Hannah and Jamie's school bags. They go to a boarding school in Linz, but they come home every weekend. And then we left for Linz. And only after dropping them off did we head for Scharten. And by the time we arrived, it was about 12.20 am. (yes, I had to get up at 5 again) and I let myself in, everyone else was asleep. Once I was in, I realized how filthy I was, and took a fast bath. by then it was 12.35-40 ish- then I tried to fall asleep. I know, I was exhausted, but for some dumb reason, I couldn't sleep. And when sleep did come, it was 1.00 .
Four hours later, I was back up. I wouldn't have made it, except the night before when we stopped at a gas station, Chris got me a redbull, for my breakfast the next day. And it saved my day.
Well, I really am going to update more frequently. I have some homework I should probably go do, but I will write again soon!
-sage

I'm off

I'm leaving on Friday. It's funny, we've been planning for so long but now that it's the final week. . . I feel like there's so much to do.
I'm starting school at Clayton tomorrow. I only have to go until Thursday because Friday around 1030 am I leave. I've still got to pack! I'll update later.
-sage