- When we were shopping for a new vehicle every car-dealer let us take out the car for a test-drive by ourselves. New Yorkers that we are…or should I say…Ghettoites that we are, we considered not coming back…but only for a moment… ;)
- People look at you funny when you blast your car-stereo (especially, when it’s Reggaeton)…the Ghetto is deep within us. ;)
- the y is where the z is on the kezboard….aaaargh….keyboard.
- speaking of the computer, you have to press CTRL+ALT+Q to get an @ sign.
- Kindergarten is not like Kindergarden…i.e. not first grade but like pre-school..and not even that is correct…since they really just go there to play at first. No alphabet training until they’re maybe 5 or 6.
(I am wondering if I am holding Maia back now… did I mess up any options?… how important are these early years really?…aaah…paranoia subtly surfaces).
- kids walk to and from kindergarden (hmm…daycare, pre-school) by themselves ! (nowadays they wait until the kids are around five before they let them walk alone, though.)
- post office clerks are the probably nicest people in public service you will meet. Or maybe I just met a few freaks. I was just standing there thinking…this can’t be true….nobody can be this happy and friendly all the time…to every costumer….but after a few visits I lost my doubts.
But seriously, there are some incredibly friendly sales-people here…performing jobs, you would think they should hate and thus would justify any and all attitude. I am still trying to understand this phenomenon. If I solve the mystery, I’ll let you know.
- a hero with turkey, cheese, pickles, eggs, ….the works, so to say...doesn’t cost 7.50.- but about 1.99.-. This I really don’t get, for you only get sandwiches in the supermarket where you order from the bread-counter girl, who then takes your bread of choice to the meat-counter to cut and weigh your meat of choice, then moves on to the cheese-counter to do the same and last but not least cuts the condiments of your choice. Needless to say, I am wasting her time ordering this kind of sandwich and still get only charged a buck and a half.
- it takes a minimum of a month to get internet (huff & puff)…at least in Vorarlberg.
- people can wear the same clothes two times in a row to work and won’t get stared at (except by me, maybe)
- some people still refer to black people as negroes here and think this is perfectly acceptable. :O They don’t mean it in any racist way, either…it’s just…really weird and …of course, ignorant…to me, anyway. (Vern is gonna have a blast when he comes visit. Especially if he brings his favorite T-shirt that says No, white lady I don't want your damn purse.) ;)
- at the gas-station, you pay after you put gas in.
- when you get a speeding-ticket you pay the cop in cash (yes, I got a ticket already, …test-driving one of them damn cars…and no, I wasn’t fooled…you really do pay them cash…you get a receipt.)
- there is no take-out coffee! ... the whole fast-food and take-out/delivery thing is generally not really present
- all shops close at 5 or 6pm..a lot of them are closed on Saturdays...and ALL businesses are closed on Sundays and state-holidays. Coming from NYC, the city that proverbially and literally never sleeps, this is quite an adjustment.
To be continued
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Maia sez
Dario is sleeping in late. Around 9am Maia has had enough.:
Mom, she says with an annoyed tone of voice, what is it with Daddy? He is just sleeping and sleeping. ...He's like Sleeping Beauty.
----------------
Maia is getting on my last nerve. I am trying to put baby down for a nap and every time she's almost asleep, Maia bursts in the door, ignoring all my pleas to leave. After the 3rd time, I lose it and yell out: Dario, would you please tie this child to a chair or something. She is driving me crazy. (don't know where that came from but sometimes you don't think what you're saying at high stress times).
Anyway, later in the day...the incident long forgotten....Maia calls me into her room, seemingly annoyed by her little sister. Mom, she says in a calm, very polite and by-the-way kinda voice, could you please tie baby to a chair...she is keeps on messing up my puzzle.
MAIAAA, I cry, that was only a joke! (and secretly I panic: oh my God, she is going to repeat that on her first day at school...and that will be the end of my beautiful family-life here.)
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D to Maia: We have to go the Rathaus (German for City Hall) tomorrow.
Maia: I don't wanna go anywhere where there are rats running around.
--------------------
Mom, she says with an annoyed tone of voice, what is it with Daddy? He is just sleeping and sleeping. ...He's like Sleeping Beauty.
----------------
Maia is getting on my last nerve. I am trying to put baby down for a nap and every time she's almost asleep, Maia bursts in the door, ignoring all my pleas to leave. After the 3rd time, I lose it and yell out: Dario, would you please tie this child to a chair or something. She is driving me crazy. (don't know where that came from but sometimes you don't think what you're saying at high stress times).
Anyway, later in the day...the incident long forgotten....Maia calls me into her room, seemingly annoyed by her little sister. Mom, she says in a calm, very polite and by-the-way kinda voice, could you please tie baby to a chair...she is keeps on messing up my puzzle.
MAIAAA, I cry, that was only a joke! (and secretly I panic: oh my God, she is going to repeat that on her first day at school...and that will be the end of my beautiful family-life here.)
------------------
D to Maia: We have to go the Rathaus (German for City Hall) tomorrow.
Maia: I don't wanna go anywhere where there are rats running around.
--------------------
checking in
It’s weird to log into my American laptop after such a long time. Outlook reminds me of forgotten birthdays, classes I was signed up for, and that play I didn’t want to miss.
It looks like I won’t have any internet access for another 4-6 weeks (if I am lucky….a colleague of mine tells me she waited 3 months for her connection). At work I hardly have time for anything private. I barely can get in important administrative errands, forget about anything leisurely private such as writing blogs (this one I am writing, saving on a stick and posting later), preparing images for my online albums, or answering e-mails of friends. In combination with not having a land-line (only a cell-phone that charges me 20 cents/ minute) and the fact that we still are without car I would say the circumstances are rather simple, maybe even difficult here. But for some reason I really enjoy this “back to basics” first phase. I am walking to the bus in the morning, Dario walks into the village to buy groceries with the kids, and at night we heat the place with our fire-place.
It took me a few days to learn how to make fire. The first day I smoked up the whole apartment and we had to open all the windows as not to suffocate or die of gas-poisoning, which in consequence made the place even colder than it was before.
The kids are outside a lot (probably because we don’t have any toys, yet….they are still sitting in NY, being held by the moving company I’ve been bitterly fighting with over the past two weeks.) Oh, and here my first step in my mission to make sure they don’t get other business (ha, ha…well, within the group of 20 people who read my blog…or however many there are): If you’re looking to move, don’t go with INFINITY Moving and Storage Co. ….they're nice and cute until you have a problem, which, let’s face it, moving always brings some sort of problems and you have to start talking to their ghetto-fabulous costumer service rep.
I will post my e-mail correspondence with the girl later, if you care to read it. It’s long and you might not care….but …oh well, this blog entry is rather long….and really, I find it kinda lame today. It all sounded much better in my head…but that was days ago….this always happens…the perfect entry comes to me when I am in no way able to sit down and write.
Dario is calling. He made left-over lunch. He’s been great so far. Building, fixing, assembling, cooking, you name it. ...but I think, it is finally sinking in that he is pretty much alone here. No social circle, no language, and last but not least, the only stay-at-home dad in the neighborhood.
Other that that it's been good..specially now that spring is coming …but I really…really miss my friends in NY.
It looks like I won’t have any internet access for another 4-6 weeks (if I am lucky….a colleague of mine tells me she waited 3 months for her connection). At work I hardly have time for anything private. I barely can get in important administrative errands, forget about anything leisurely private such as writing blogs (this one I am writing, saving on a stick and posting later), preparing images for my online albums, or answering e-mails of friends. In combination with not having a land-line (only a cell-phone that charges me 20 cents/ minute) and the fact that we still are without car I would say the circumstances are rather simple, maybe even difficult here. But for some reason I really enjoy this “back to basics” first phase. I am walking to the bus in the morning, Dario walks into the village to buy groceries with the kids, and at night we heat the place with our fire-place.
It took me a few days to learn how to make fire. The first day I smoked up the whole apartment and we had to open all the windows as not to suffocate or die of gas-poisoning, which in consequence made the place even colder than it was before.
The kids are outside a lot (probably because we don’t have any toys, yet….they are still sitting in NY, being held by the moving company I’ve been bitterly fighting with over the past two weeks.) Oh, and here my first step in my mission to make sure they don’t get other business (ha, ha…well, within the group of 20 people who read my blog…or however many there are): If you’re looking to move, don’t go with INFINITY Moving and Storage Co. ….they're nice and cute until you have a problem, which, let’s face it, moving always brings some sort of problems and you have to start talking to their ghetto-fabulous costumer service rep.
I will post my e-mail correspondence with the girl later, if you care to read it. It’s long and you might not care….but …oh well, this blog entry is rather long….and really, I find it kinda lame today. It all sounded much better in my head…but that was days ago….this always happens…the perfect entry comes to me when I am in no way able to sit down and write.
Dario is calling. He made left-over lunch. He’s been great so far. Building, fixing, assembling, cooking, you name it. ...but I think, it is finally sinking in that he is pretty much alone here. No social circle, no language, and last but not least, the only stay-at-home dad in the neighborhood.
Other that that it's been good..specially now that spring is coming …but I really…really miss my friends in NY.
Friday, April 14, 2006
quick quick - austria arrival
so much to tell but so little time. In the meantime, I am using my e-mail correspondence to capture some of the events. More to come.
----------------------------------
beth writes:
Hi....just a quick note to say I Hope the trip was safe & uneventful!!!!
......I started crying when I got home and started doing a 'pick-up' of the toy scatter left by Sunday mornings activities!!!!!!.....I will miss my girls (& their parents too!)
.....get me your mailing address ASAP.
...Nayla's birthday is in less than 2 weeks!!!....it hardly seems like 2 years since I carried her out of the hospital on her way home for the first time!!!!
....will call Rosa tomorrow to see where she needs help getting your apt. into shape.....
Love always
B (& Howie too!)
XXXOOO
----------------------------------------------
sisi writes:
I cried, too ... a couple of times. ; (Then the eventfulness of the trip set in. Forgot diapers for Nayla, then 2 hours waiting in the plane (some missing screw somewhere), then waiting in Zurich cause the plane tunnel thingy didn`t work...then Nayla fell in that plane tunnel thingy and bled from her nose for like a half an hour, then 2 hours at the Zurich airport trying to maneuver 8 bags, 3 backpacks, 2 kids and a stroller from the terminal to the car and most importantly INTO the car. We should have taken a picture of us and the bags squeezed on and into that vehicle. I still can`t believe it. Then we had to drive an hour and a half to our new place, drag all the bags up a long set of stairs, then drive to Bludenz (another hour) to fulfill lunch (at that point dinner) date. I think I was falling asleep talking and finally went to sleep around 8.30pm on Monday. Anyway...it`s 2am now and I gotta get up at 7am to continue the 18.000 chores I have to do before work starts on Monday. ;)
Rosa could definitely use some help. I feel bad having left her with so much shit to do. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR BEING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE FRIEND!!
I love you and I miss you already! xoxoxo
s.
PS: xox also to Howie.
----------------------------------
beth writes:
Hi....just a quick note to say I Hope the trip was safe & uneventful!!!!
......I started crying when I got home and started doing a 'pick-up' of the toy scatter left by Sunday mornings activities!!!!!!.....I will miss my girls (& their parents too!)
.....get me your mailing address ASAP.
...Nayla's birthday is in less than 2 weeks!!!....it hardly seems like 2 years since I carried her out of the hospital on her way home for the first time!!!!
....will call Rosa tomorrow to see where she needs help getting your apt. into shape.....
Love always
B (& Howie too!)
XXXOOO
----------------------------------------------
sisi writes:
I cried, too ... a couple of times. ; (Then the eventfulness of the trip set in. Forgot diapers for Nayla, then 2 hours waiting in the plane (some missing screw somewhere), then waiting in Zurich cause the plane tunnel thingy didn`t work...then Nayla fell in that plane tunnel thingy and bled from her nose for like a half an hour, then 2 hours at the Zurich airport trying to maneuver 8 bags, 3 backpacks, 2 kids and a stroller from the terminal to the car and most importantly INTO the car. We should have taken a picture of us and the bags squeezed on and into that vehicle. I still can`t believe it. Then we had to drive an hour and a half to our new place, drag all the bags up a long set of stairs, then drive to Bludenz (another hour) to fulfill lunch (at that point dinner) date. I think I was falling asleep talking and finally went to sleep around 8.30pm on Monday. Anyway...it`s 2am now and I gotta get up at 7am to continue the 18.000 chores I have to do before work starts on Monday. ;)
Rosa could definitely use some help. I feel bad having left her with so much shit to do. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR BEING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE FRIEND!!
I love you and I miss you already! xoxoxo
s.
PS: xox also to Howie.
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