Residency and housing

Man, it seems like forever since I wrote in my blog! Ben and I have been busy with lots of stuff going on. We more recently came across some issues with our residency permits, but thankfully things have been going well with the paperwork that we need. We still (unfortunately) haven’t been able to turn our residency applications in yet because of these paperwork issues, but we are working on it, and hopefully it won’t be too much longer until we are able to submit everything. One of the things that we might have to change because of our residency is housing (where we currently live is not situated to have a married couple), so keep us in our prayers while we look for new housing, and other possible options. Also, that if we are able to find another option that Ben is not “locked in” in his current housing. Even though some things have been rough and stressful, we trust in the Lord who brought us here, and we know that He has a plan and we just have to let him show us what it is.

Other than housing items, life has been going well. Ben was finally able to start his archival work and seems to be enjoying it. Since the books he’s working with are so old, he has a bunch of white linen gloves that he has to use when looking at them as not to mess up the print and such. Today he came home and said he was able to find a lot of good stuff to work with so that’s great. I know he’s been stressed worrying about all this paperwork, but it’s good that he is still able to be able to focus on the reason why he is here, his research.

For me, nannying has been going well. Yesterday was the second day for the English class, and the Mom wasn’t there because she was on a business trip. She got a “substitute” to take over for the class, and I was mainly just there to help, but I was still able to help the kids. When I arrived at the church where the class is taking place I saw the substitute standing outside in the rain, so we quickly went inside and started talking. She joked with me saying that she easily recognized me as the person she was looking for (since the Mom had told her about me) since I was the one walking around in the rain in capri pants-the Mom obviously told her I’m from California (haha) and obviously I need to buy better clothes for this type of weather. During class the kids did work sheets with basic greetings, then filled out a sheet about them, their eye color, hair color, name, family, hobbies, etc. Since I know very little German, it was quite funny to see the kids acting out their hobbies (like swimming and gymnastics) so I could then tell them what it is in English and how to spell it. Otherwise, nannying has been pretty calm. I go there around lunch time, heat up lunch, we eat, she will do her homework, and we will play games. Fun and simple.

During the week, Ben and I have stayed in town and have just explored. Last week we walked a few blocks down and found a really busy part of down town, which we didn’t think we were really close enough to. So we spent the day looking at shops and walking around. For the past few weekends, Ben and I have gone a little outside the city going more into the forests surrounding Vienna. This past weekend we went to Hermesvilla outside of town, which was another palace built by the emperor for his wife, who apparently didn’t much like the city life. This was their “getaway” house complete with huge stables, and obviously forest ground. When we went it was raining a lot so we looked around as much as we could with out getting too wet, then we went inside the palace to visit the museum there. We went through the house and we were able to see relics that had been in the palace when the emperor and empress still lived there. I wish I would have been able to take pictures, because it was so neat! The palace was huge and had amazing elaborate furniture; it would have been really neat to be able to live in such a place. Overall, a pretty good weekend.

For the most part, Ben and I during the week have been staying in town doing our work stuff, but this week (tomorrow evening) we will be taking a train to Salzburg to stay the night and spend Thursday roaming the city. We want to go to the factory where they make the Mozart chocolate, possibly do the Mozart museum and overall just explore outside of Vienna. As soon as we get back I will write another blog describing our first real experience out of the city.