Sept 6 - the "real world"

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Dear followers - sorry for not updating you in a while. I am unable to blog at work, and my internet is currently down at home. So, I've been busy touring the city and having a good time instead of being online. That being said, I have a lot to say and not much time to say it (before my battery dies).

I suppose I will begin with work.

I started my first day last Wednesday (Sept 1st) and have had three days in total thus far. First day I met everyone and did a whole lot of security clearance stuff. Nothing overly great or spectacular. The people on the other hand are awesome. It's good to know that I have people around me who share that specific "Canadian humor" that I have. Not many people have that kind of humor it seems, and it's good to be back laughing about pointless misunderstandings, or whatever it is Canadians love to laugh about. I've gotten to know one intern quite well so far over a lunch-coffee and an after-work beer. And we seem to get along quite well. The other intern showed up on Thursday night, so I have only seen her for a short period of time, but I can tell we will work well together as well. There seems to be a lot of positive chemistry amongst the interns and I don't see any problems arising.

We had a meeting on Thursday, which had all the member states of the OSCE. And I was put in charge of taking minutes for Canada and writing a report of the happenings - my first project. So, I took notes on what the Russian ambassador and the American ambassador said as well as all other nations. Like I've told others, "I never knew people could talk so much without saying anything." Some of it seems so pointless, but I suppose it takes a long time for international politics to move forward. It was good experience however, and the report afterward took the rest of Thursday and my workday on Friday. That concludes my work week. Today is Monday and I don't work because it's Canada's labour day weekend, and so I get it off work (a plus since I also get some Austrian holidays off).

That concludes the work portion, but I also did not mention that I got Friday morning off in order to go pick up Eliza from the airport! So, my sweetheart has just started her Austrian adventure - and seems like she's having a good time thus far. Over the weekend, I tried to share with her my limited knowledge of Austria by showing her around a few of the places. We saw the Stephans Church which is directly in the centre of the city and is a GIANT extremely gothic church. I believe it took a few hundred years to finish. It is definitely a sight worth seeing. Next we went to a newer church - just a few hundred years old. There, skeletons belonging to a few martyrs are lying around the church. I forget the name of this one - but it is awesome to see. A few cafes and the shopping district later, its time to relax.

Yesterday Allison took the two of us to a wine tavern up the hills. We had a gorgeous sight over all of Vienna, and had some young (about a year old) wines grown at the tavern. Alongside that: pepperoni sticks, mountain cheese, wine cheese, sundried bell peppers and grilled mushrooms, pickles, salt-bread, peasant loaf, gorgonzola, and a bell-pepper/cheese spread. It was delightful, and picturesque.

Besides that food (this is apparently now the food section of the blog) I have now tried about 10 different cheeses, 5 different kinds of beer, I have had about 6 kinds of sausage (including spicy and cheese-filled), 5-6 kinds of bread, 4 odd kinds of coffee and (just now) a slice of cake. I cannot complain about the food here - though sometimes the bread has been a little stale, overall the food is ten fold better than that from back home.

Bon appetit until next time!!

PS. If you would like to hear more or less about specific things on my trip please send me a message and I will be sure to incorporate it into the blog. After all, this blog is for you!

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Comments

[Dad]

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How do you get around? What is the temperature like at this time of the year? Did you try the black beer? Remember that obesity is an issue in Austria (Is this too direct for someone working at the OSCE?) I enjoy reading your blog Rob. Brings back memories of my own. Go see the Lipizzan stallions if you have a chance.