Vacation's Over!

It’s back to work for me!

It isn’t exactly as though I’ve been sitting on my hands lately. In fact, I’d say that even though I haven’t worked at a traditional office for some time, with preparing to leave the U.S. and getting settled here (not to mention the teaching I did last year), I've been working pretty hard!

But a major part of the plan in moving to Vienna was to be able to find employment so I could support myself in my new life. And I am happy to report that this has proven to be not only possible, but abundantly so.

I had anticipated that not having a longer track record in teaching would be a hindrance, but — as Karma would have it — my business and entrepreneurial background seems to more than compensate. Choosing to go for the CELTA certification, as opposed to quicker, less expensive and less reputable ones, was also a good decision, as the Cambridge University imprimatur does carry weight here.

I’ve hooked up with what I consider two of the best language schools that cater to an Austrian and international business clientele. My first class was for a pair of lawyers who work in the area of telecommunications and regulation. I’m also teaching employees in the accounting and HR departments of the Austrian branch of an Italian company, some association marketing execs and a business consultant — for a total so far of six classes a week.  Their levels range from elementary to intermediate, and they’re lots of fun to teach. I also actually enjoy commuting to the various work sites, as it tangibly enhances the feeling of being more than just a tourist or visitor, but rather being someone who actually lives here. That’s always been my goal.

Now this is not going to cover all my expenses, but basically it does take care of my rent, and that’s a good start. I’m also meeting with administration officials at schools and American-based universities with campuses here that teach in English, to investigate the potential for not only teaching positions but freelance communications work as well. So far people seem receptive. Still on my agenda is the U.S. embassy and their American Chamber of Commerce (the ‘amcham’), although perhaps a little later.

In the middle of all this I’ve been going to various meetings and seminars — on issues such as Austrian income tax liability, social (i.e. health, pension, etc.) insurance and other relocation matters — offered by various agencies and organizations here. I’ve gotten involved (on a volunteer basis) with the AWA’s imminent rebranding campaign, and continue to study German, meet with friends and go about other daily affairs. In the process, I’m discovering new ways to get around the city and (finally!) getting a sense of the geography.

Vienna continues to nourish me aesthetically, and that’s even before the grass greens and the trees and flowers burst forth. But that is coming soon, as I can actually feel the days getting longer. Certain people — and you know who you are! — are already making plans to visit, and that is something else I look forward to.

I do have to continually monitor Scout’s virally-transmitted intestinal problem, which, I’m sorry to say, has become an ongoing and unexpected corollary to living in a city with so many dogs and their less-than-conscientious owners. She’s a hardy little beast, though, and seems completely unfazed by it all, so it’s just a task and an expense that I must deal with.

And finally, you may be wondering, what’s with all these window photos? Well, there wasn’t really much to illustrate in this post, so I decided to share something that I have found so enjoyable here: the beauty of the architectural detail that goes into even  the most prosaic of structures, apartment buildings. These are all from within a two-block radius of my own apartment. Other neighborhoods are even more spectacular. Hope you like ‘em!

Getting Settled

One month down, a lifetime to go

My things are unpacked, my financial affairs are finally in order, I’ve got my Jahreskarte (annual pass) for the transit system, an ever-widening circle of friends, and NO SNOW. So life is good!

Where has the time gone? I know I haven’t written in a while, but honestly, it’s because life is so normal for me here that it’s hard to single out events or impressions to talk about.

The Albertina - formerly the largest residential 

Habsburg palace, now one of Vienna's signature 

art museums, named for Duke Albert of Saxe-

Teschen, son-in-law of Empress Maria Theresa.

My days are spent very much like they were, or would be, in the U.S.: making my to-do lists and checking things off, running errands, making phone calls, writing e-mails, looking for work (more on that soon), grocery shopping, doing laundry (can’t get away from it!) as well as business and social networking. Only here, when I step out my front door, or look out the Ubahn (subway, metro, T …) or tram window as I travel around town, my eyes are treated to architectural wonders and many hundreds of years of imperial splendor. Yes, I know it wasn’t splendid for many who lived in centuries past, but how can one not marvel at the beauty and grandeur? (Check out my ride and the Opera House.)

A balmy Sunday afternoon at the
Belvedere to see the exhibit
"Rodin and Vienna"

A fair amount of my time is actually spent studying maps and Web sites to get to know the city better. With a somewhat dysfunctional innate GPS, it sometimes takes me a while to get my bearings and figure out where I should be headed – especially in the winding streets of the old city. But it is gradually sinking in, and since the tram and much of the Ubahn are above ground, I pay particular attention as I go along. This way I also get to make mental notes of shops, cafés, restaurants and places of interest that I want to make a point of going back to. And, yes, I have been to a few so far! 

I’ve been doing some German studying on my own, but have also just signed up for a course at one of the (many!) language schools here. I’m not a complete beginner, but without any formal instruction or solid background, I’m not yet an advanced beginner, but somewhere in between. So I’ve been doing a little bit of crash studying this week in order to be able to join an “in between” class that is already in progress. I’m also lucky to be able to attend a weekly conversation class for slightly-more-than-beginners at the downtown office of the AWA (American Women’s Association), where grammar, story-telling, conversation and quite a bit of fun are provided for an hour and a half every Tuesday morning. 

My German course workbook

There is, of course, television. I do try to watch, or just listen, to programs in German, although they are often from Germany, not Austria. I’ve mostly enjoyed their nature programs and documentaries, a growing portion of which I’m getting to understand. But when I need ‘relief’ I switch to English language broadcasts. Sadly, my only recourse is CNN and BBC, and they focus on just a handful of international stories … ad nauseum! Watch five to ten minutes at a time and you will have seen the entire day’s programming. There’s also EuroNews and – oddly enough – Russia Today which do broadcast in English, but they are similarly repetitive. (You think you’ve been hearing a lot about Egypt???) And while it seems that licensing laws  prevent most networks and broadcast sites (e.g. Hulu) from streaming outside the U.S., I can - for better or worse - get my fix of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, even if it is a day late! Strange thing is, when I’m on my computer, the Internet gods know I’m in Vienna, and tell Google and Facebook to run ads for local Viennese retailers and services, and in German. Spooky!

I am also steeping myself in European history thanks to those who gave me all sorts of books on Vienna  before I left. I particularly enjoyed Thunder at Twilight by Frederic Morton (thank you, Michael!), which beautifully, almost poetically, describes the cultural, social, political and psychological spirit of turn-of-the-century Vienna - the brilliant and prolific yet doomed epicenter of the Habsburg empire - and how the Austrian and German monarchs were essentially powerless to stop the locomotive and train of events that brought on World War I. Now I’m jumping ahead a bit to post WWII cold war Europe with Armageddon by Leon Uris, borrowed from the wall-length collection at the AWA office.

So not to worry … even though I’ve chosen not to bore you these last few weeks with the quotidian details of my life, I have been enjoying myself enormously and feeling so very much at home in this amazing city. I can’t believe that tomorrow it will already be five weeks!

I plan to do at least an entire blog post on this!

Music

The meaning of life

It only took me a week of being in Vienna to find my means of transportation to the sublime – at the beautiful Konzerthaus Wien.

I’m sure this won’t be the last time my blog contains musical chapters, but here is my first. For a mere five Euros, I was privileged to attend this morning a concert rehearsal by Concerto Copenhagen, the premier period instruments ensemble of Scandinavia, led by its director, Lars Ulrik Mortensen. The program was one piece: Georg Friedrich Händel’s oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (The Triumph of Time and Truth). You can read below a brief description I found online.

While I do love Baroque music, I claim no particular knowledge of, or even affinity for, vocal music, but today’s experience was truly transcendental. Mortensen’s kinetic energy was riveting as he pulled, pushed, swayed and cajoled the musicians into brilliant playing and moving interpretation.

I often feel a deficit of musical appreciation, because my training does not include extensive theory or expertise. I miss a million subtleties, nuances and compositional genius because of this. And I certainly cannot objectively critique a performance. But on a morning like this, I just drank up the sheer beauty of the sounds and knew that music must be the only meaningful thing in this world (aside, of course, from love!).

The soprano’s voice (my favorite) was like clear, glistening spring water, rippling and rushing in a stream. The first violinist’s technical skill and dynamics were a marvel. And since this was a rehearsal, I was able to observe the amazing work that goes into making really, really good music. Yet how the director could know the work so completely, and hear so well each note played and sung, so that he could articulate his desired improvements … that kind of gift is so beyond me, I simply have no words.

I managed to record a few excerpts (this was the first time I’d ever used the video feature on my camera), but unfortunately I couldn't upload them to the blog. Instead, try clicking on these links:

http://www.youtube.com/v/13d1vuhJHpI?hl=en&fs=1 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9md7BDKvs0 

But if all that weren’t enough, after an hour and a half, the orchestra took a break, and we (the guests with the women’s group I joined) were treated to complimentary Viennese coffee and cake. Does it get any better? Well, yes it does. While I enjoyed this treat, I watched out the window to see the locals enjoy ice skating in a rink right next door.  Wunderschön. Then it was back for another hour of delicious music!

For an mini-clip, click here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPHrrifTypg

As I headed down the stairs to leave, I heard a cacophony of music, and realized that during the rehearsal a market of sorts had been set up in the lobby for vendors of Baroque instruments, predominantly recorders of all shapes and sizes. What a sight! 

Then home on the Ubahn to walk Scout (the weather was actually balmy today), and a late lunch (or early dinner) of knockwurst and salad.

And that was my day today.

-----------------------

Il Trionfo del Temp e del Disinganno

There are 5 characterizations: Beauty, Time, Deceit, Pleasure, and Counsel or Truth. Beauty, admiring herself in a mirror, wishes she could arrest the passage of Time, whereupon Pleasure promises that her charms shall never fade. Counsel advises Beauty to follow Truth, warning that youth does not last. At this, Pleasure initiates a trial: Who shall give the victory, Pleasure, Beauty, Time or Counsel? In the midst of the arguments, Deceit intervenes. It's quite entertaining and not difficult to follow, and the music is delightful as Handel can be most of the time.

Welcome to my Neighborhood

A quick photo essay

Vienna is divided into 23 districts, all of which surround the Innere Stadt (inner city), or first district – its business, cultural and tourist center. Once a walled city, Vienna’s first district is now literally encircled by a boulevard called “The Ring.” I live in the ninth district, also known as Alsergrund, to the northwest of the Ring, and between it and a larger beltway, called the Gürtel (you can probably figure that one out yourself!). FYI - the famous Danube River, known in German as the Donau, runs along the northeast of the city.

If you would like to know a little more about the area and what can be found here, click this link:  Alsergrund

Meanwhile, here are few quick shots of my neighborhood to help set the scene. It may  look a bit dreary, I know, because of the cloudy weather, but what can ya do? I don't feel dreary ;-)  By the way, you can enlarge any of the images just by clicking on them. Hit the back button on your browser to return to the blog page.

Stepping out my front door,
looking to the right

Stepping out my front door,
looking to the left

View out my window, looking northwest
as a train goes by

A scene on Nussdorferstrasse, the district's main thoroughfare,
which runs parallel to my street, two blocks over

Another shot on Nussdorferstrasse,
featuring my favorite pastry shop, Aida, where you can buy
cakes named after artists like Klimt and Schiele

A tram zigzags down Nussdorferstrasse

Look how close I am!

My Ubahn (subway) station, designed by the Austrian architect, Otto Wagner, in the Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) style.
The trains run every few minutes, and even though they're only two blocks from my apartment, I barely hear them.

You Dirty Dog!

Scout on the streets of Vienna

Never, and I do mean never, has Scout been so dirty.

How, you must be wondering (as I did), is that possible in one of the most cleanliness-obsessed societies in the world?

Well, honestly, it’s not the Viennese’s fault. There’s been a lot of snow this winter, and it is a city, with cars and other pollutants. Even though most of the snow is gone right now, dirt pebbles (thank goodness, not salt) are used for traction. Now, as you all have seen, Scout has long, flowing locks of fur in a lovely light shade of blonde, and she stands not all that far off the ground. So every time I walk her, she returns home wet and black underneath. A fair amount of towel drying removes the worst, but she is now a few Clairol shades darker – at least until I bathe her, which right now seems absolutely pointless.

My only solution, so far, has been to give her a significant haircut! So, gone are those cute wisps that hung airily from her legs and all along her underbelly, and yes, the fluffy pantaloons on her derriere. It doesn’t entirely eliminate the problem, but it surely reduces the cleanup time!

And, although it pains me to say it, I think I’ve already found my next political cause:  getting citizens to clean up after their canine charges. I didn’t anticipate this at all, since during my last visit, when I stayed in the third district, and walked all over the first (the main downtown area), I seldom encountered a problem.

So far, I love everything about this ninth district (more in my next post) – except that I really do have to watch where I’m going. It’s not everywhere, but prevalent enough to make you have to be cautious. The strange thing is:  there are doggie bag dispensers on almost every block and places to drop them. What gives?

And honestly, Scout is not impressed either! Her first few days here were all about prancing prissily through the rare patches of dirt to find a place to do her business. (Is this TMI?) I’ll never know the real reason – it might have been nerves, jet lag, or something else entirely – but it took nearly 24 hours and several very long walks to persuade her that, “No, this is not Teaneck, or even Portland, and you’re just going to have to get used to doing it the way Viennese dogs do it – on pavement!”

Well, day four, and I’m happy to report that she’s gotten the picture. All is well in that department! We still go on long walks – there’s so much to see (and smell!) – but not every time. I think she’s even getting to recognize where we live, and pays special attention when we pass by the front door.

Indoors, things are quite fine. Not as much floor space as before, but the outdoor walks make up for that. She knows where her bowls are (duh! What dog doesn’t?), and she has taken her place at night by the foot of my bed. Even though she’d grown attached to her crate, it really would take up too much space in the apartment, and, lucky for me, there is storage space available in the basement. So I just put down the blankets she had been lying on in the crate, and this appears to suit her quite well.

Schlaft gut, Scout!

Hallo von Wien!

And so it begins.

Yes, I am here, and I don’t quite believe it. I have been trying for days just to figure out how to explain how I feel, how to describe this momentous occasion in my life, but the truth is – it just feels normal. So it must be right. Right?

And so, putting profundity aside for now, I’ll simply fill you in a bit about my trip here. It was essentially without incident, and I like the way my son described my departure:

“That's one small step for Mom...one giant leap for Momkind.”

The day I left was actually a bit surreal - almost too mundane for what was about to happen. Although I always get a bit anxious before air travel (worse, the older I get!), it was all systems go on Thursday morning. I was packed, ready, and strangely calm. My only real concern was about how the trip would go for Scout.

The young man who checked me in at Austrian Airlines was really sweet. He said, “Bad news. You have to pay for your dog, and you have to pay for the extra bag.” I was prepared, and said, “I know.” So he referred me to the lady whom I would pay for Scout, and he told her that the dog was medium-sized (which was really a downgrade from the online weight guidelines, according to which Scout was a Large). So her ticket ending up costing only $215, rather than the $400 I was expecting. Then, I think he simply forgot to charge me for the extra bag – and, he never even weighed them. So that was a good beginning, ja?

Scout was clearly suspicious about what was going on at the airport. She didn’t put up too much of a fuss going into her crate, but it was very hard for me to hand her over to strangers, knowing that she was confused, scared, and whining for me. But I had to hurry … the security check-in snake line went on forever, and was moving slowly. I finally boarded – barely 20 minutes before the scheduled departure; then we sat for about an hour and a half on the runway. Amazingly, we made up the time, and arrived only half an hour late.

And what a sweet arrival it was. My bags came quickly, even though it was another anxious 20 minutes or so until Scout was brought out. She was clearly a bit distressed, but quite happy to see me. Then we proceeded through the gate and met our wonderful landlady and her son. Such a comfort to see her familiar face, and not to have to even think about how to get to the apartment.

The apartment was just as I had remembered it, and she told and showed me everything I needed to know. It’s now day three, and I feel completely at home here.

Scout and I have taken several long walks around the neighborhood and started getting to know our surroundings. I also did a little grocery shopping to pick up a few items. Other than that, I have been mostly unpacking, organizing, writing e-mails, Skyping, planning, and studying maps and language. In other words, I’ve been ‘nesting’ in my new home. It’s a completely different experience than coming to a place to visit or tour. I’m staying here to live, and I feel no time pressure to run out to do or see things.

For better or worse, the rainy weather that bade me farewell in NJ was here to meet me in Vienna. But it doesn’t faze me and, as I said at the beginning, it can be considered good luck, and perhaps an auspicious beginning. Very auspicious, in fact, because the forecast is for rain and/or snow until the 15^th!

So I guess all in all, it was an easy birth. The baby giraffe is already standing and making her way in the world, this new world. (I promise – that does it for the giraffe metaphor!)

Specific plans are already developing for this week, and I will let you know how things go. Until then, here are some photos of my new digs. More to come.

Old world on the outside ... 

The front door of my apartment building.
Come on in.

Climb the stone steps up one mere flight to the first floor.
Good thing too, because the lift is not yet working!

Apartment 6.
No doorbell .. just knock!

New world on the inside ...

A quick peek at my küche

Trying to get the hang of news
auf Deutsch!

Labor Pains

Mama giraffe is in transition

My due date is fast approaching, and I believe I am already in the transition stage of labor – that most intense period when contractions are the strongest and most rapid, and the urge to push is overwhelming.

Expecting

I have known for over a year that this day was coming, and I have known for several months that the actual date would be January 6^th. But when people ask me if I am excited or nervous, I really can’t say. It feels just like it does when you’re having your first child:  you know that on a specific day, your life will change forever in ways that you can’t even imagine, and yet you are itching with anticipation and filled with curiosity about what this new life will look like.

And like an expectant mother in the throes of nesting, I am maniacally trying to tie up all the final details of my departure. There’s a lot left to do in these last three days, believe it or not, but the list is definitely dwindling.

My biggest disappointments in all the preparations I made are (1) that I didn’t get to spend as much time as I’d hoped to studying German, and (2) that my nine boxes will not be waiting for me in Vienna as planned. Invoicing disputes, the holiday season, U.S. customs (in general, not specifically about me) and the storms along the west coast of Europe have conspired to delay my shipment, which for all I know could be still rolling along on the bounding sea. The latest communiqué from the shipping company projected delivery to my apartment about a week after I arrive. Keep your fingers (and toes) crossed please.

One area of better-than-expected accomplishment, however, is how well Scout has adapted to her travel crate. You may remember my earlier attempts to acquaint her with it (see photos in my post “Pet Prep”) while we were still in Teaneck.

Not long after Thanksgiving here in Maine, I reintroduced her to it, and found after a few short days that she was wandering in of her own accord. I think it helped that I rather slyly positioned it right in front of her favorite window, and she had no choice but to venture in so that she could peer out into the world. But she soon seemed to appreciate its coziness, and began to take naps in it.

Then I brought out and let her sniff the cover for a while, and finally wing-nutted it into place on top. Lo and behold, she liked it even more. Now it’s like her own personal bedroom (with a canopy bed, if you will), and she spends quite a bit of time each day and at night sleeping there. (She’s in it now as I write this.)

And while this over-anxious pet owner still worries about how the experience of the flight will upset Scout, I take some comfort in knowing that at least she will feel like she is in her own place (even if it is noisy, somewhat cold and very lonely).

And now, dear readers, it’s time for the giraffe to give one last push, and to say ...

Gute Nacht, auf wiedersehen, und nächstes Mal schreibe ich von Wien!

[Good night, so long, and next time I’ll write from Vienna!]