catching up

For those who have been asking, here are the first photos of our apartment, specifically, Rich at the dining table and the living room. (on the internet, where we both seem to spend a significant amount of time.)

It has been a busy few days and I am fighting a cold so I am staying in today to try to catch up and clean up!

First I should go back to Friday which I missed. I went with Rich to the Fullbright offices in the Museumsquartier. (Just as orientation, this is a huge complex that started life as the imperial stables and has become a massive arts complex, with numerous museums, galleries, performance spaces, artists studios and offices of cultural institutions. I won't go into it too much now because I think I will be spending lots of time there.) Thursday and Friday there was an orientation for all the Fullbright people from all over Austria= about 15 or so. I let Rich go himself on Thursday as the subjects interested me less, but I went also on Friday. They had speakers from the American Embassy, talking about Austrian-US relations, a political scientist professor talking about the Austrian political situation, someone talking about the Viennese school system and another presentor about the sociological and cultural aspects of the place. All very interesting and fun to meet some of the other Americans here and find out what they are doing. I am very glad we are based in Vienna instead of any of the other towns in this country. While I hope to visit, I don't think I would enjoy 4 months in Salsburg or Graz as much as Vienna. At the end of the day, they took us on a short walking tour of the imperial city, in the rain, and then to what they said was a really traditional Viennese restaurant.

While we are really enjoying much about this country, the one thing that is less than wonderful is the traditional food! Very heavy, fried, greasy and meat-based! Good bread and pastry, but I can do without more schnitzel! It is not hard to find other things to eat tho- lots of restaurants of other varieties and lots of markets with fresh fruits and vegetables. Actually, almost everywhere you can find lots of organic produce and even meat and dairy. So eating at home is actuallty preferable in many cases.

In my job as observer of local people and customs, and according to some of what was said on Friday, I am beginning to see the Austrians as much more relaxed and easy-going that we anticipated. We were both expecting to find the Germanic efficiency and harshness, but have actually found less of that than we thought. While busses seem to run on time, one of the people on Friday joked about the clocks (particularly those at the University) never being accurate. And while people will not smile and say hello on the street, they are very helpful if you ask a question directly and they seem to really be demonstrative with their friends. (OK- lots of generalizations here, but bear with me) From what we read also, there is a cultural tendency towards a "whatever" approach to life.

The major political issues are with the immigrants from the Balkan states, many of whom are Muslim and often of lower economic status. The history of invasion from Turkey actually brought the beginnings of an eastern cultural influence many centuries ago, but it obviously has become a bigger issue in recent years, especially since they (like so many European nations) need the immigrants to do many jobs and the native birth rate is so much lower than that of the immigrant groups. And of course the recent upheavals in those countries brought many fleeing across the borders. (Here is an amusing tidbit- In Mexico, the people who bring illegal immigrants over the border to the US are called coyotes- here they are called schleppers!)

The other interesting factoid we learned is that the reason chefs here could develop the strudel is because the Turks brought filo dough with them when they came. I love the way all these cultures intermingle!

I think that is all for the moment. I will discuss our Purim adventures in the next installment, but must go do some yoga first!