This past week has been so busy! On Thursday, I went with Ben to his orientation and learned a lot about Viennese culture in many different ways, so that was really neat. After that we had a pretty relaxed evening.
On Friday I was nannying, and it was my first day with just the daughter and myself. I was nervous about being just with her, but her English was great and we were able to talk a lot and play games as well. She showed me all her favorite singers on youtube (like Selena Gomez for one haha), and we had lunch then she went off to her Jui-Jitso classes and I went home. Not a bad Friday if you ask me!
This weekend was really busy for Ben and I since the weekends are our days to explore the city and do our “touristy” things. Since the weather was so nice on Saturday we went to the Schonbrunn Palace and walked around the property. It was absolutely beautiful with an enormous garden and sculptures through out. We didn’t get to go inside to do the tour, but we will do that eventually. We then walked up the property to the old “hunting property” for the Kaiser’s family. It was quite a steep walk up the hill, but when we got there we had a beautiful aerial view of the garden as well as the palace and the rest of the city of Vienna (pictures on my facebook!). After the walking around the massive garden in Schonbrunn we took the U-Bahn to St. Stephan’s Cathedral where we got to walk around inside the old Gothic Church. It was another gorgeous sight! The high ceilings, the stained glass, the architecture and pews we’re all just breath taking. While we were there, Ben noticed that there was a tour of the “Catacombs” which is basically a “burial ground”. Yes we did a tour underneath the church where people are buried. First we went to the room where the bishops of the church were laid to rest. Their coffins we’re in little cages and the cages were labeled by the bishop that inhabited them. After that we went to the room where the founders of the University of Wien had been laid to rest, although these coffins we’re not in cages, these coffins were right in front of us. Around the coffins we’re embalmed parts of previous Emperor’s of Austria in jars, which were also in little cages, but oh it gets better. Then we got to look into a room full of bones of people who died in the plague. A room filled with actual human bones, it was…interesting to say the least.
Since our Saturday was so eventful, on Sunday we just decided to go to church. Ben had come across a church in downtown Vienna that did an English service, and it catered to many different denominations. Their service seemed to lean a little more on the Lutheran side, so it was nice to experience something a little different. We got to hear an organ playing for the music and hymnals which was neat, and also for the Communion at the end of the service they offered real wine or grape juice. I took the wine, just to try having an “old fashioned communion”, but I thought it was neat that they offered wine for Communion! Just the way Jesus did it!
So that brings us to Monday. I worked again today which was nice and the Mom and I mostly discussed some scheduling (what days/hours will she need me, etc.), but we also discussed a lot about the English Class we will be teaching together on Mondays for some of the kids from the daughters school. We discussed lesson plans, and other ideas. I’m super excited to start helping teach the English Class, and hopefully it won’t be too difficult since most of the kids have no starting knowledge of the language. Then on my way home the U-bahn got stuck for like 10-15 minutes (of course only 1 stop away from my exit), but still overall it’s been a good past few days!
Also a few other “pros” and “cons” that I’ve noticed:
PRO: In restaurants you have much more freedom to do what you want. First off, when you walk into a café you basically just sit yourself. Find a comfortable place and take a seat, unlike in the U.S. where you have to wait for someone to seat you. I’ve made the mistake a few times of going in to a café and standing while I wait for someone to tell me where to sit, then they look at me like I’m crazy and I have to ask where I should sit. Once you sit you basically order what to eat and what to drink, and the waiter or waitress leaves you alone. The other day I went to dinner by myself while Ben went to hang out with some people he met at the Fulbright Orientation, and I sat at my booth, drank my wine and ate my dinner slowly while I read my book and I was left alone to do my own thing. It was very nice and relaxing!
CON: People here just blatantly cut in line. I can’t count how many times I’ve been in line to get on the U-Bahn and a person just walks right up and steps in front of me. Ok this may not sound like it’s a big deal, but it’s happened so many times! Like at the airport we were in line at the information desk to ask about getting a taxi, and out of nowhere some guy just runs up to the counter while Ben was walking to the counter. I’ve also seen people clearly take seats on the U-Bahn when someone was obviously walking towards that seat. One of the annoying things that bugs that crap out of me.
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