Demons and Nails!

This trip was awesome but was also a little melancholy as with my time on exchange dwindling fast it really highlighted the differences between Austria and Australia for me. It is only 2 months now before I have to leave this beautiful country and I'm already starting to get sad... At least it has jolted me out of my complacency and I will definitely do my best to make the most out of the time that I do have left.

Firstly the most obvious difference is the landscape. I was constantly awestruck whenever I had a rest and just looked around. There are mountain ranges on every side of the glacier and looking down into the valleys you see blankets of clouds and frozen lakes. None of my photos do it justice, so you all have to go to the Austrian Alps some time and see it for yourselves! :P It might as well have been the moon, it is that different to Western Australia. However surprisingly this is not what I think I am going to miss most about Austria. It is hard to put a finger on exactly what it is but there were two specific incidents I can think of that may go someway to explaining the attraction.

Every day after boarding we would meet at a bar half way down the mountain for apreski (after ski). These bars are very common in ski resorts all over Europe and they all play terrible songs like Hey Baby and serve every type of alcohol under the sun. So you can imagine my surprise when I spotted, sitting right in the middle of the bar, a hammer and nails on top of a big block of wood. After consulting a few of my friends I learnt that it was a popular Austrian game where you have to hit the nails into the block of wood with the hammer. Didn't sound so hard so I wandered over, picked up a nail and gave it 3 good hits driving it all the way into the wood. Instead of the praise I expected they all just looked at me as if I was an idiot... Apparently the point of the game is accuracy and you have to hit the nails in with the other end of the hammer (a sharp pick axe). So for the next hour or so I entertained myself by trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to hit nail after nail into the wood. :P Can you imagine seeing that in a bar with drunk people everywhere in Australia. I mean pick axe, nails and copious amounts of beer... Sif!

The second experience happened on our last night in Zell am See. It was the 6th of December and every year on this day they have a procession called the Devil Festival . This is held in the town square and involves over 100 guys dressing up in really scary demon costumes and parading around. Its origin was a bit of a mystery to me but someone said that they are meant to perform the opposite role to Santa Clause. Where he gives good children presents, these demons hit children who have been bad. And they get really stuck in too! They all carry long sticks or hair whips and go around hitting anyone they feel like. They mainly target children and women but if you get in their way they are more than happy to give you a whack! When we arrived everyone was really scared of them and ran away when they came near which I thought was a bit weak, that is until one of them hit me. They hit you as hard as they can on the legs and trust me, you get bruises! We had been warned not to retaliate so I just stood there smiling at him but I can only imagine what would happen if this same festival was held in Perth. I don't think these guys would last 5 minutes!!! But then, I think that that tells you a lot about Austria, or maybe more about Australia...

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