TU Ball 2012

Whew! This past week has been tiring! On Thursday Ben and I went to the TU Ball at the Hofburg Palace, which we have been preparing for this whole New Year. A few weeks ago, my Mom sent me a dress from the States along with shoes, a bag, Ben’s shoes and other essentials for a Black Tie affair and we we’re getting as prepared as possible for the long night ahead. Plus, since it was cheaper and more worthwhile to do so, Ben bought a tux! Which I must say he looked rather dashing in. Having all the clothes and attire ready, we then had to take a waltzing class to at least learn the basics, so we didn’t look totally foolish for the TU Ball.

Last Thursday we went to the waltzing lesson, which really wasn’t long enough (only for an hour). Ben and I tried to get the steps, but since Ben is left-handed/left-footed the natural way for him to turn was the reverse way so we had to “relearn” it a little bit, but eventually felt a little more comfortable with the steps. The steps themselves were easy, but it was more keeping to the beat of the music, and trying to keep up with the music. So we all waltzed around and practiced then were turned loose to practice at home over and over again until the Ball a week later. So throughout the week, Ben and I would move some furniture around in our apartment and practice waltzing around our living room, and eventually we got a little more comfortable with the steps, but still want to continue practicing.

This past Thursday evening was the TU Ball, and we had already made arrangements to get together with some friends ahead of time to have dinner and get ready, so I went over early and dropped off all of our Ball Attire, then went on to nannying. I was nannying for 3 hours and the whole time I kept checking on the time to see if it was time to go get ready yet, eventually the time passed and I met up with everyone at Tessa’s apartment for dinner then we all got ready to head to the Ball. Ben and I had brought some champagne but didn’t really have time to drink it before, so we brought the bottle with us and drank it along the way. Yes, super classy I know.

We arrived at the Hofburg quickly checked our coast and tried to scope out a good place to see the “opening ceremony” type performance, which was absolutely beautiful. After all the VIP’s walked in there was a quick little speech and the dancing began! First we wanted to check out the other rooms, so we saw the Main Ballroom with all the waltzing, then we went into another room which had some jazz and swing type dancing, next we went to the Polkanaise room, which had a little Polka band playing and Polka dancing, since we had just arrived we didn’t join in for the Polkanaise, but I wish we had because it actually looked really simple, very much like “Follow the Leader”. Moving on we went back to the Main Ballroom to watch the Quadrille, which is really hard to explain. It’s a huge line of people and it’s sort of like a “Square Dance”, but much classier. It looked pretty complicated, so it was nice to enjoy it from a far at first.

After the Quadrille they played the “Blue Danube Waltz” and of course we had to take to the dance floor for the most popular waltzing song ever. So Ben and I braced ourselves and started waltzing…well we TRIED to waltz. There were so many people on the floor that everyone was running into everyone! It eventually just became a game of spin and shuffle around trying not to hit or get hit. It really was like a huge game of Bumper Cars. However, it was fairly enjoyable, and even though because of the limited space we didn’t really get to do any of the official waltz steps, I still really enjoyed it.

We danced a little while longer, then wanted to try to find some seats, unfortunately there really weren’t any. The Fulbright had reserved about 4 tables with 4 chairs at each table for about 80 people including the undergrads in the exchange program. It was pretty ridiculous and weren’t really able to even sit down until 2 am because the undergrad exchange students were at the table for the whole time, which I don’t understand. You’re at a Ball in Vienna, go dance! Don’t just sit there buying drink after drink, getting drunk then just take up space. Eventually we were able to sit down and rest, but it wasn’t for too long, we eventually got a few more dances in and then were able to do the Quadrille which was at 2:30 a. That was interesting, but really a lot of fun, and probably one of the more interesting dances.

We left at around 3:15 in the morning and took an hour long night bus to get home, so we didn’t even get into bed until 4:30 am, so needless to say we were pretty tired! Overall, we had a great time and it was a lovely experience. Now we just need to practice our waltzing and save up some money for a really nice reserved table for the next time we’re in Vienna ;).

Also, for those who don’t know I recently started working with another family, just once a week on Thursday afternoons as a “Mommy Helper” with her 3 year old and 9 month old, but it’s been a lot of fun. The 3 year old goes to an English preschool and the mother wants me to help her with her English. On this last Thursday she started talking to me more in English as opposed to German which is obviously her first language. She started singing some songs to me in English like “The Vheels on the Bus” which was absolutely adorable, haha. I’m really enjoying working with little ones again.

I’ve also been looking into job opportunities for when we come back to the States, mainly at Summer Camps or something in San Jose for when we first get back, so we can save up some money for a deposit on an apartment once we go back to So-Cal, so keep us in your prayers for trying to organize as much as possible for us to come back home and ease in to our life back in the States. We still have 5 months or so before we head back, but we’re trying to get a jump on things so we can hopefully have something set up for when we come back. Like I said, keep us in prayer!

Love,

Katie

Bonsall Family Vienna Trip 2011

Well this morning my family headed back to the States after their visit here with Ben and I for Christmas and New Years. We had a great time with them, but we are both so tired since these past couple weeks have been so busy! Even before my family got here, we had to do a lot of running around trying to get everything ready for their visit, so today we’re planning on just staying home to catch up on some well needed rest, laundry and dishes. Even though we are totally pooped, we had a great time and got to do a lot with my family.

My parents and brothers arrived in Vienna in the evening on Christmas Eve and Ben and I were super late meeting them at the airport, but eventually got there and headed back with them to the hotel. The plan was to go see the Christmas Eve lights downtown, but since we were so late we didn’t really have time, and once everyone was at the hotel, everyone just wanted to relax and wind down from the trip, so we quickly went to a restaurant down the street for some pizza then off to sleep they went.

On Christmas everyone ventured over to our apartment (I was so proud of them taking the public transit all by themselves!) we opened our presents (thanks to the amazing awesome family for the Kindle by the way, Ben and I have been fighting over it since we got it haha) then headed over to Schönbrunn Palace to check out the Christmas Market and do the museum there. We all got some punsch, glühwein, and coffee as well as some pretzels, Nockerl, and Krapfen to taste Christmas in Vienna then did a little bit of shopping. We also walked around the grounds and got to see a beautiful view of the city of Vienna. It was so neat to show one of our favorite places here to my family and see how much they enjoyed it as well. After walking the grounds, we checked out the museum, then headed back to the apartment to relax and start out Christmas dinner. Overall, our first Christmas dinner was a success! With the American traditional ham and mashed potatoes, but we also had some German/Austrian Spätzle and Kipferl. After our Christmas dinner, we walked my family to the train station and sent them back to the hotel.

The next day we met at the U-Bahn station downtown and got to see Stephansplatz. We walked around the huge church taking pictures, and just overall taking in the downtown Vienna experience. With our tour guide, Ben we walked over to the Hofburg Complex and walked through it with Ben explaining the history of each part of the palace. For lunch we headed over to Café Frauenhuber to have some traditional Austrian dishes, at the Café that Mozart and Beethoven had played. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the food and the coffee, so that was a good sign.  We then headed back to St. Stephan’s to look on the inside and my Dad and brothers did the Catacombs tour. After St. Stephan’s we headed over to the Natural History Museums, and got to check out a bunch of cool Roman and Egyptian artifacts. After the first floor of the museum, my parents and Casey were pretty tired so they headed back to the hotel while Ben, Andrew and myself stayed to check out more art. It’s a good thing we stayed too because we got to see some Monet’s and even a Van Gough painting, so overall it was a great museum. PLUS Ben and I finally got our museum passes so we can go to it (as well as like 5 other museums around Vienna) as many times as we want! When we had our fill of art, we headed back to the hotel, and my mom, Ben and I ventured out to find some quick and easy food. We came across some kabobs and they all got to try some kabobs, then we all turned in early.

Our third day started off super early, meeting at the McDonalds at the WestBahnhof at 7:15 am to make sure we caught the train to Salzburg. We had a nice relaxing train ride to Salzburg playing cards, reading, listening to music and arrived in Salzburg around 10:30 in the morning. We quickly got to the sightseeing areas walking through the palace in Salzburg then pointing out the houses that Mozart had resided in as well as the big church there. We then had a fairly quick lunch, and my family did the Fortress while Ben and I walked through the St. Sebastian’s cemetery where Mozart’s father was buried then walked up the huge hill to the monastery. We met up with my family a couple hours later then walked through the town back to the train station to catch the later train to Munich, Germany. We stopped at a grocery store to get a few snacks got on the train and arrived in Munich around 10 pm that evening. We checked in to our hotel and all quickly fell asleep.

We woke up early the next day got all our stuff then headed to the train station to put our stuff in some lockers, get some coffee/breakfast then took a train to Dachau to see the Concentration Camp and Memorial Museum. Surprisingly we spent almost our whole day in Munich at Dachau. It was such an amazing experience, and although it was completely emotionally draining it was also very humbling, putting a lot of things in perspective. For those who don’t know, Dachau was originally a prisoner camp, that at first just held P.O.W’s and then extended becoming a Concentration Camp for all the targeted people of the Nazi Party. Dachau was never meant to be a “Death Camp”, so they didn’t originally have ways of disposing of the bodies, so seeing the pictures of bodies just piled up was absolutely gut wrenching. Also, towards the end of the war when the Nazi’s realized they had to start killing off their prisoners, the gas chamber and incinerators were constructed…by the prisoners themselves. We walked through the gas chamber with the sign saying “Bad” in German meaning “Bath”, since the prisoners were told they were going into the shower room. Overall is was such an emotional experience, and we all really enjoyed seeing this place to be able to put it all in perspective. Hearing about the horrors of the Concentration Camps were one thing, but actually being there seeing the places where these poor people stood, was quite another. Since we didn’t have a whole lot of time in Munich we then headed back into the City Center area to find a Beer Hall for dinner. We walked around down town Munich which was fantastic, seeing the lights still up, all the people walking around, and over all just enjoying the atmosphere. We ended up going to the Augustine Beer Hall, which is apparently one of the older beer halls and had a very yummy traditional German meal, including a liter of beer all around! Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we headed back to the train station got our stuff and began the 5 hour train ride back to Vienna which was actually a lot of fun, playing cards, chatting, laughing, drinking, etc. Once we arrived in Vienna we all went our separate ways to get some well needed rest.

For Thursday, we all slept in a little bit and I met up with my family at the hotel in the morning, we all kind of hung out the relax a little bit, then headed out to check out the Belvedere Palace. We met Ben there and walked around the grounds, then headed over to the Soviet Monument which was erected to thank the Soviets for liberating Austria during WWII. We then headed over to our favorite place to eat, Pizza Venetia, which is cheap and delicious. We all had a filling late lunch, then we headed over to the Opera. We got some coffee first, then waited in line for a few hours for our standing room tickets to see the Marriage of Figaro, which was awesome by the way. Since we were one of the first groups there, we got in line first so we could get the first row of the standing area, unfortunately two woman in front of us decided they were going to pick a spot and not move, which for those of you who don’t know, isn’t allowed. You pay 4 Euro a ticket for standing room so you don’t get to just choose to stand in the center. These two woman made a huge dramatic scene out of it when the ushers told them they had to go to the end of the aisle, and one woman responded, “If you keep talking to me like this, I am going to sue you,” umm what?! You’re going to sue an usher for telling you that you have to follow the rules of the standing section? Needless to say we made fun of them the rest of the evening, and unfortunately we got split up between 2 rows, but we were still close to each other. When the opera was over everyone was tired from standing for so long, so we once again split off to our respective beds and went to sleep.

For that Friday, the original plan was to head to Budapest, but we were all so tired from everything we had been doing that we decided to still hang out around Vienna. We met up in the morning and basically walked around the downtown area to see the Rathaus, the University and Votivkirche. After seeing a few of the sights we all stopped at Café Landtmann to get some coffee and Austrian pastries to share (Sacher Torte and Apfel Strudel mit vanilla sauce) it was quite the Viennese experience. We all just sat around and were reminiscing about being kids, playing with our cousins, and hearing stories from our parents, so it truly was a great day. When we were done downtown we headed back to our apartment to relax, have some dinner and just overall enjoy each other’s company.

On the morning of New Year’s Eve we met up with everyone took the U-Bahn to Simmering, got some coffee and pastries then took a tram to the Zentralfriedhof, mainly to see the “Musicians Graves”. We walked around the old cemetery and found it interesting to see all the old tombstones. We finally came across the Musician area, which had the graves of Beethoven, Johann Strauss, Brahms, and a monument to Mozart, since he was buried in a Pauper’s grave, and no one really knows where he is. It was really neat to see the final resting place of these famous musicians. We then continued to walk around the Cemetery and got to see the WWII monument as well as a whole section devoted to Soviet Members who had died in WWII as well. Something not seen typically at cemeteries in America. After sufficiently looking around the cemetery we headed back in to town to get some Käsekrainers for lunch and walked around the Naschtmarkt, with the family doing a little souvenir shopping. We once again then spent most of the early evening at our apartment relaxing and taking naps so we could be well rested for New Year’s Eve. We were going all out and decided to go to downtown Stephansplatz so celebrate with the rest of the city of Vienna. New Year’s Eve was…interesting to say the least. We got down town around 10, and it wasn’t too crowded so we did some souvenir shopping, walked around to the different concerts, hung out mainly at the Rock Concert area, then started to make our way back to St. Stephan’s. We tried to stake out a spot near the stage, but quickly moved because of some idiot teenagers lighting off firecrackers in a crowd. A few of them even came towards us and pretended like they were going to throw them at us….idiots. So we quickly moved away from them, and right before New Year’s my mom and brother went to go find a bathroom, but it was so crowded that they didn’t make their way back to where we were for the New Year’s chime. It wasn’t really what anyone had in mind, but we did it and probably won’t do it again.

New Years Day was pretty calm, since it was the last day that my family was going to be here, we basically just went back to Schönbrunn to do some shopping, then downtown to finish shopping. Overall, just trying to take in as much as possible. After shopping we met up with Ben and hung out at the hotel for a few hours, then went back out to check out the UN building, which we could only appreciate from a far, as well as check out the Danube and the Prater area, which everyone seemed to enjoy. When we all got hungry we decided to go back to Pizza Venecia for dinner since it was cheap and delicious, so we enjoyed a nice big meal for their last night in Europe.

My family left this morning and I already miss them so much. I can’t wait to see them all again, but until then I will enjoy this experience of living in Europe with my husband as much as I can. Continue to pray for us, and we miss you all back home! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!