The Hills Are Alive (But Only When They're Actually Open)

I.

My landlady and her husband speak in heavy Salzburger dialect. Which means that I understand about 65% of what she says, and that our conversations usually go something like this:

Landlady: "Have the roommates shown you how to use the washing machine yet?"
Me: "Nope, I don't start work until Monday."

Landlady's husband: "If you prefer, you can pay the rent in cash instead of with Dauerauftrag."
Me: "Yeah, I thought it was a beautiful day yesterday as well."

Her and her husband always have a way of looking highly amused every time I ring the doorbell to talk to them about something.

I admit that I have not taken a single picture of Salzburg so far...I know...now that everyone has arrived and orientation is behind us, all of us TAs here are just starting to explore and go on outings. Last night we met at a brewery, and today were are going to an opera. So I should have many more pictures to come soon!

In order for anything to get done in Austria, the stars must align and the gods must look favorably upon us. Which is why almost two weeks into my tenure here and I am still not registered with the local authorities.  Not that they care. Austria, being positioned between Italy and Germany, approaches rules in a sort of some-rules-are-made-to-be-broken way. So in order to register, the following needs to happen: I have to be in town, my landlady needs to be in town, and the Meldeamt needs to be open. In the entire time that I have been here, all of these things have only happened once, which was the afternoon I got here.

I don't really know how anything gets done in Austria, though you could easily add Germany and much of W. Europe to the mix. Banks, magistrates, and basically every institution necessary to establishing one's residency and LIFE are seemingly never open. Forget about getting anything of importance or of any official capacity done on the weekend or in the afternoon. I was able to get the brunt of it all figured out before I left for Saalbach, but I still have loose ends to tie up. And having left on Monday morning for orientation and gotten back on Friday afternoon, that's two weekends in a row, which means every place I need has been closed. So in sum...while it's not a difficult process, it is a long one!

My landlady is going to California next month to visit her son. She said she is excited to go to the store late on a weekend night to buy groceries. When I asked her on Friday if the Meldeamt was open that afternoon so that I could finally submit my registration papers, she laughed like it was the funniest thing she had heard all year: "Are you kidding me? On a Friday in Austria?"

Don't even get me started about the continuing nightmare that is setting up internet in my apartment. 


II.

I arrived in Salzburg on September 18th and immediately got to work completing the bureaucracy I described above. I was one of the first TAs to arrive in Salzburg, so I was really glad when Rachel arrived later in the week and I finally had some social interaction and someone to run boring errands with. The parentals came for the week (FREE FOOD AND EVERYTHING PAID FOR) and brought me my bike, which I've been using a lot to get around.

On Monday a big group of us British and American TAs here in Slzburg traveled to Saalbach Hinterglemm together for a week long orientation. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was about as idyllic of a setting as it gets.

This last picture was taken when we went hiking one afternoon. Our orientation leaders, all either Austrian or having lived here for decades, described it as a "walk." The leaders, anywhere from 10-40 years our senior, practically ran straight up the mountain. The rest of us Americans and Brits, used to somewhat flatter landscapes, finally made it up the mountain in several ragged bands huffing and puffing the whole way.

This whole Salzburg experience  really proves what a small world we (or I?) live in...in addition to some Wooster friends who live in Salzburg or nearby, I met so many people at orientation with random connections to either Wooster or who know people there. Home away from Home!

The Tramp Decamps in Austria

I remember visiting Salzburg several times when I was about 13 or 14. At the time I thought it was pretty much the most boring place on planet earth.

Me: "This city is wayyyyy too small. Can't we just go on a Sound of Music tour and skip everything else?  Or at least can we go back to the hotel now pleeeaaassee!"

My mom: "Oh just watch out I bet you will live here one day!" 

Me: "Over my dead body. And I want a Magnum cone."

Fast forward almost ten years and I can say I am happy and excited to be back! Especially now that my bratty teenage self has been replaced by my responsible English-teacher self.

The moral of this story is that mothers are always right. 

I've been in Austria for about a week visiting the parentals in Mäder, Vorarlberg. I hadn't planned on updating the blog until I was officially moved in to my new diggs in Salzburg, but there's been plenty going on around here. Instead of recapping the past week, let's take a quiz.

View from Viktorsberg in Vorarlberg

Q. Which of the following events have taken place since I left for Austria?

a) During my eight-odd hour flight to Zurich, I did not wear any pants for about a good third of the flight. 
b) I had a cyst removed from my neck shortly after arriving.
c) I made last-minuted preparations for my move to Salzburg.
d) All of the above.

A. If you picked "d," you win.

a). I'm not a fan of flying (is anyone?) but I was particularly dreading this trip as it would involve lugging some massive suitcases containing my entire life halfway around the world. By the time I had weaseled my way out of several hundred dollars worth of overweight bag fees, cleared security, and arrived at my gate, I was ready to pass out. My seat partner ended up being a nice lady traveling back to India. I returned to my seat to find that I had, along with my seat partner, been served a specially ordered Indian vegetarian meal. We were both like, Huh? Do we look related? This was certainly fine with me, the meal consisted of some sort of vegetable curry that was really quite good and significantly better than the dog food the rest of the cabin got!

And then I dropped the can of club soda I was holding onto my lap. After about five moments of sitting in soaking wet pants, I had a Lady MacGyver Moment of Inspiration. I made sure I was completely covered with the airline-provided blanket from the waist down and wriggled right out of those jeans. My seat partner is to be commended for pretending this was totally normal behavior and not raising the alarm about the exhibitionist sitting next to her.

b). The Cyst. I'd felt a pretty significant lump on the side of my neck just the day before my flight. As some of you know, my neck has been the scene of some serious crises over the years. So of course I freaked out, which had me on the way to the doctors office shortly after I arrived in Mäder. Can I just say that it really helps to have doctor friends and family in situations like these. An ultrasound confirmed that there was indeed something there, so we made plans for some more scans and tests in preparation for surgery next week to remove what I was completely sure was a positive lymph node.

I had been hoping for a somewhat less dramatic first week in Austria...Only the next day, during the biopsy, to find that what everyone (me and the doctors) thought was a lymph node was only a cyst that had filled with blood. In other words, totally harmless. Crisis averted.


c). Unlocked my phone, conferred with my landlady, applied for my Vorteilskarte....not much to report here.

d). You won.

See you next week in Salzburg, at least I hope so! Although given my track record for this week it would not be entirely unrealistic for something else to go completely haywire and for all we know my next update could be from Helsinki.