shopping with socialists

so there's a street in vienna called "mariahilfer strasse" that is, i'm guessing, more than a mile of stores and boutiques offering everything imaginable. not being an avid or enthusiastic shopper, i was reluctant to check it out, but knew that it might be my one-stop shop for clothes, groceries and whatnot.
...
i made the mistake of going on a sunny saturday afternoon. for those of you who don't know me as well, i get a little anxious being in crowds of people who are all on a mission (i.e., places like crowded sidewalks, shopping malls, the bank, amusement parks, etc.), and BOY were these people on a mission. if i had stretched out my arms, i could have easily touched about eight people - there were that many people on the sidewalk, bumping into each other and jostling each others' dogs and baby carriages. i tried, i tell you, i tried to stay with the crowd as long as i could, and stopped for a breather at gelatto places and quiet bookstores.

while shopping today, i ran into an oompah band in traditional austrian garb. they had been playing for a while, and didn't look very amused to be marching down vienna's shopping mile, but i - the tourist with a camera - took their picture anyway.



later on in the day, after a good three hours of window shopping and tourist-dodging, i treated myself to a gelatto cone of coconut & hazelnut flavors and collapsed against a tree. just in time, since i heard a loud group of people from up the street yelling and drumming in rhythm. as the crowd got closer, i recognized their sea of red flags and "revolution" stickers: this was a demonstration by the socialists. it makes sense, since the austrian national elections are tomorrow and the SPÖ is one of the groups trying to get votes (SPÖ = Socialistdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or Social-Democratic Party of Austria). i snapped a couple of pictures of the demonstration, and caught a little boy walking with his mother holding a red SPÖ balloon on a string.



as i walked further, at the same pace of the demonstrators, i began to listen more carefully to their various chants - some of which were in english, but most of which were in the austrian german that i sometimes can't recognize. "Re. Vo. Lu. Tion." was one of the first, and i smiled and walked happily alongside them on the sidewalk, amused by the confused faces of passersby. i probably identify with socialist politics more than many other forms, and their chants and drums were energizing.



the tone changed for me, though, as i heard "No. No. U.S.A.". how strange, i thought, to be an american woman walking along vienna's shopping street in 2006, hearing her home country being verbally bashed for the sake of local politics. "George. Bush. Te.rro.rist." came next, and i could only agree with the crowd, holding their red "revolution" signs and handing out bright red socialist balloons to young people. if we are going to make change in the world, we need a revolution - not necessarily socialist, but humanitarian. even if the global revolutionary changes start within local austrian politics, on local streets such as mariahilfer strasse, it could make a difference.

Seminars, Sturm, and Schloss St. Martin

for the past five days, i've been attending an english language TA training seminar just outside the second largest city in austria, Graz. population? less than 300,000 people. i found out, too, that the entire population of austria is somewhere around 8 million, which just blows my mind. there are 11 million people in the state of ohio alone! (can you tell i've been researching on google?).

the training seminar/orientation was fairly amusing, and a good break from my usual routine of checking my email all day and taking myself out to movies at night. there was a colorful mix of american, british, irish, and scottish TAs, most of whom spent the week giggling and poking fun of the way the others spoke english. i tried my first (and second... and third...) glass of "Sturm": new wine that is only available for one month during the whole year. my first impression was that this "Sturm" tasted much like a liquid Jolly Rancher, then Jungle Juice, then a fizzy Christmas punch. if you find yourself in austria within the next few weeks, be sure to order yourself a cup.



the orientation took place in Schloss St. Martin, a castle on a hillside overlooking the city of Graz. the castle, complete with courtyard, tiny rooms, and a small garden, was much nicer than any venue i had dreamt up in my head. i was anticipating living in a hostel or dormitory situation, and instead was given a single room and three hot meals a day. ... it was a sweet deal.



on friday, i took the bus back to Wien Südbahnhof/Vienna South Train Station with several others who are teaching in Wien and the vicinity. it was a little odd watching a group of people bonded by four days of community-living and long seminars all hop onto different trains going in different directions, all about to embark on the same adventure but dispersed all over the country. although i didn't feel that i absorbed a whole lot from the seminar, it was helpful most of all to know that there were more than 200 other people who would be sharing many of the same experiences.

boy, do i feel silly

to think that the last time i wrote on this thing, i was having minor panic attacks about finding an apartment...

i actually just secured one a few hours ago, and it's AWESOME. a-w-e-s-o-m-e, awesome. if anyone has ever seen the movie "l'auberge espagnole"/"the spanish apartment", it reminds me a lot of that. i'll be living with four other people: a guy from germany, a guy from austria, a girl from austria, and a guy from columbia. we had a little interview/slash/introduction tonight over some darned good tea, and i think i charmed them into letting me stay. the apartment itself is on reinprechtsdorferstrasse (longest. address. ever.) on the edge of the 5th district, just a two minute walk from the vienna canal. it's very central, and in a pretty colorful, multi-cultural area with lots of shops and whatnot.
the best part? the door up to the apartment is right next to an ice cream parlor :)

as for adjusting, i'm heading off to graz tomorrow at noon for a week-long orientation with other teaching assistants assigned to eastern austria. it should be pretty fun, in that i'm meeting a bunch of people who are just as nervous (if not more nervous) than i am about teaching english to a bunch of austrian high schoolers, and about living in a new place for a year. hopefully there will be some like-hearted folk at the orientation, and i might meet a friend or two to hang out with.

so, in brief, i finally have an address:
Leah Steiner Suter
Reinprechtsdorfer Strasse 43, 10-12
1050 Wien, AUSTRIA

and a real phone number: +0043 699 81425484

i am getting settled. :)

apartment hunting, i have discovered, is a very long.. tedious.. drawn-out... complicated process. i have been on a search for only a week, and already i am in over my head in things called 'deposits', 'furnished/unfurnished', 'square meters', and 'non-refundable'... but everything in german. if this had all been in english, it would have been one thing, but the fact that every ad is in german, every e-mail that i write is in german, every set of directions is in german, and every interview is in german, well... is a little overwhelming. there's something to be said for language immersion. heck, instead of sending kids overseas for a year, just send them apartment-hunting in a foreign country. that'll get 'em learning. :)

so far, i have made appointments to see sixteen apartments, and gone to see seven already. a few of the appointments i made fell off the face of the earth, either because i decided the apartment wasn't in the right district (how i decided this, i'll never know... i don't know which districts are nice!) and sent the owner a 'thanks but no thanks' email, or i went and the person plain didn't show up. i've sent enough emails to various people that if i had a dollar/Euro for every email sent, i could probably pay for one month's rent already. tomorrow brings three more appointments, and the weekend should give me some time off. ... or more time to check the internet's various apartment databases. all i have to say is, i will be glad when i can look back at this particular week and laugh at myself.

enough with the apartment soapbox. i'm done. one thing that HAS been nice about this whole search process is, that i've been able to see lots of different corners of vienna, from the 2nd district all the way out to the 18th. with my handy Marco Polo Vienna Street Guide in hand, and a vaguely good sense of direction, i've been touring around places that, had i found an apartment right away, i never would have seen.

as far as the city goes, it definitely has a different flavor than berlin. it's a little more quaint, a little more 'gemütlich', a little more... well-preserved. the city wasn't bombed nearly as badly during the two world wars, so many of the buildings here are still very well intact. the streets are generally narrower, and wind around much more, which can be fun... but confusing for walkers like myself :)

since my wrists are a little tired from typing, i will leave you with two lists:
things i could probably do without:
having to sit in a bathtub every morning with a one-foot long, hand-held shower attachment (juergen hears me on that one)
going to three different stores to buy three different things (instead of going to an american one-stop shop)
all of the smoking
tiny sidewalks with people who are incapable of walking to one side
grocery stores with a limited variety of food
walking everywhere

things that i have missed dearly:
walking everywhere :)
the german language
efficient public transportation
good coffee, ice cream, and baked goods
environmental awareness
fluffy feather comforters
culture with a capital C: opera, concerts, film, art, theater, etc.
open-air markets
big city life

So I live in Vienna now. Tomorrow, I will have been here for one week, and will celebrate this one-week anniversary (midnight is coming up in ten minutes) with a new blog.

I met with my friend Eric today, who told me about this new-fangled device called "blogger"... hopefully I will be able to figure it out and it will be a useful tool in communicating with the virtual, outside world. If not, I apologize, and please feel free to send me an email :)

Here goes nothin'!