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Published: November 28th 2008
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Die Ladies
Yes, that's a German word ["Ladies"]. Notice in the oven you can see our turkey steaks. It was Poland [left] and Hungary's [right] first Thanksgiving. Grüßi.
Though I talked to several of you yesterday, I figured I'd update this thing with some more information, etc.
Yesterday in Austria was....totally normal. It was very odd because I knew it was Thanksgiving but it didn't feel like it. I slept in, hung out for the morning and afternoon, and then went to class at 3. Not terribly exciting. However, since it was a holiday , I decided to take the day off and do absolutely no homework. It was a beautiful day.
As I've said before, the Americans can't play well with others. I'm considered very odd that I don't hang out with Americans (or native English speakers), and that I'm taking regular university classes, not the easy ones designed for the Americans. Since I'm sure to get some comments saying I'm bashing America and the Americans here, I'm not. I'm telling it like it is. Anyways, the professors of the American classes put together a Thanksgiving dinner thing and invited all the Americans, regardless if they were in the class or not. I, however, chose not to go.
After I got out of class, I
Slavic Pride
The Slavs on their first Thanksgiving. The Czech decided to celebrate Thanksgiving in his pajamas. went to the grocery store where I purchased frozen vegetables, potatoes, and turkey steaks. When in Europe and on a budget and still learning to cook, you've got to be creative. Anyways, I got what I needed and came home to attempt the task ahead of me. I asked Libor to celebrate with me, and also invited Martyna and her roommate Kitti, who's from Hungary. Kitti was the life-saver, as she helped me cook most of the stuff. It all turned out actually pretty good, though, and the Europeans got to celebrate their first Thanksgiving and try their first baked potatoes. They were all pretty baffled when I was preparing them, and then when they were finished and I demonstrated how to eat it, they all got quite the kick out of it, but hey, they all enjoyed it and said it was good and a new thing they'd never known about.
We finished dinner around 9:30, and then the girls went home. I just hung out for the night and relaxed, enjoying my personal victory of expanding my cooking skills. Libor and I also bought our tickets to the Czech Republic! On December 18th we're going to catch
Ich bin schon Kochmeister
Cooking. Wore my lumberjack shirt in honor of the day. the train in the morning up to Vienna and spend the day there seeing everything for Christmas. At 18:30 we hop on a bus and 2 1/2 hours later arrive in Brno, in the Czech Republic (not Czechoslovakia--that ended 18+ years ago...I won't say names, but...haha). We're going to spend 2 days in Brno at his grandfather's house, and then from there drive up to Linhartice and Moravská Třebová. We'll be there until the 26th, when we'll go back down to Brno. Things then start to go up in the air, but I think I'm going to leave on the 27th. Libor's meeting some Czech friends on the 28th and going up into the mountains for New Year's , and I have to be in la città eterna on the 30th to meet some grimy American tourist. I'm currently flirting with the idea of, instead of coming directly back to Graz from Brno, taking a night and going to Bratislava, Slovakia. That might be a bit too much traveling, though, as I'd go from Brno to Bratislava, spend the night there, then come down to Graz, spend the night here, and then the next evening hop on the
Dinner
Humble, but good. train and shoot down south to Italia (it's about a 13 hour trainride to Rome...the things I do for Julie Barber). I'm also waiting to hear back from one of my professors at UVM who's from Florence. He's going on sabbatical at the end of this semester so will be in Italy for next semester. We'd talked a few weeks ago about trying to meet up somewhere in Italy or Austria, and now that I have definite plans to go to Italia, I'm just waiting for a reply and Miss Barber and I could be spending a night in Firenze as well (Regina, please don't cry).
Oh, one last thing! I have decided to give myself (or maybe this can be Mom or Dad's Christmas present to me?) a trip to Salzburg! If the French are good for something, it's finding deals. Thomas and Nico have spent a few days scouring the internet and making calls and this and that, and they've found a way for a group of us to go to Salzburg with trains (7 hours, ouch) and lodging costing about 40euro. Ladies and Gents, that's pretty freakin' awesome for Salzburg, especially Salzburg during Weihnachtszeit. Since I'll
View from the Kitchen
It looks nicer in real life with the snow on the roofs and this and that. be the only native English speaker on the trip, it's looking like I won't be doing The Sound of Music tour
, so I'll have to wait for when Lisa and Regina and Kristy make the hike over...though I don't know how much I trust the 3 of them not to reenact scenes and break into song and dance.
All in all, it's going to be a big month ahead, traveling to Salzburg, the Czech Republic, potentially Slovakia, and Italy, but it'll be a good month to say the least.
Now Libor and I just have to find a way to sneak into our apartment a Tannenbaum but somehow hide it from the Putzfrau and Doorman...hm...
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kristy
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you know we would totally break out in the hills are alive! At least Regina and I would - your mom would be too cool!! So...no, it was just the 5 livis and lucy here yesterday all sitting by the phone waiting to hear from you! Actually, Chase, noel and I did the turkey trot. A 2 mile (lots of looping) trot which I had Chase on my shoulders fro 1 mile of! Needless to say, I can barely move! So, David has headed off to RI and I am lame with a heating pad trying to make festive leftover dishes! Love the snow!! xok