according to this website, I have been to 9% of the world. So much more to see and do!
it makes me want to travel much more...
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Pigeons. Those flying rats
the other day I was waiting for my S-Bahn at Rennweg and was watching the behaviour of pigeons on the tracks. They are quite bold, and scavenge around until the very last minute possible when the the train came snorting in before lazily taking flight and going either up, or on the platform, to get out of the way. The next day, I was in the same spot, off in my mental happy place. This is where commuters, I being no exception, go whilst waiting. Also recognised as the condition of being off in space. I noticed a wing sticking up above the track. Some morbid curiosity compelled me to move closer to the edge to look. So one bird didn't accurately judge train speed. I wonder about the pigeons here. Somewhere along the line, they've sunk in my estimation from European local colour and charm to being annoyances. Could have been being shat on (but that was Karma. I howled with laughter when CK got shit-bombed; less than a week later it was my turn. In my latte, no less. Then on my leg. Or maybe my attitude changed after being smacked in the head on several occassions by strong, beating wings as they take off. I've also had my hair combed a few times by befouled bird feet when the landing gear hasn't been raised yet in flight. They're either not good judges of speed/velocity of approaching trains and/or people, or, they simply don't care if their unmanicured toenails rake my head. So I'm not too troubled by a dead one.
However, there was a spate, last spring, of dead birds on the streets. I still can't figure it out. There's a carcass in our garden courtyard which interests Hazuki greatly, and periodically on the street I see one that's reached the end of its natural life, but last spring I saw 2-5 new corpses daily. The question is--was something in bloom that enticed them and then made them drunk or high and unable to avoid cars? Or made them fall over dead? It was weird. Nothing says winter's over like a spate of dead pigeons. Hmmm...
However, there was a spate, last spring, of dead birds on the streets. I still can't figure it out. There's a carcass in our garden courtyard which interests Hazuki greatly, and periodically on the street I see one that's reached the end of its natural life, but last spring I saw 2-5 new corpses daily. The question is--was something in bloom that enticed them and then made them drunk or high and unable to avoid cars? Or made them fall over dead? It was weird. Nothing says winter's over like a spate of dead pigeons. Hmmm...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
German words I love
Okay, literal translation is a minefield for miscommunication yada yada yada. I know. But I LURV how literal the language is:
gums--Zahnfleisch. Tooth meat.
mulled wine--Glühwein. Glow wine.
light bulb--Glühbirne. Glow-pear (think of the shape)
and then there's the -zeug ending. Zeug roughly translates as "thing/stuff":
Feuerzeug--fire thing (lighter)
Flugzeug--flying thing (airplane)
Werkzeug--work thing (tool)
Fahrzeug--driving thing (vehicle)
I snort every time I learn a new one:)
gums--Zahnfleisch. Tooth meat.
mulled wine--Glühwein. Glow wine.
light bulb--Glühbirne. Glow-pear (think of the shape)
and then there's the -zeug ending. Zeug roughly translates as "thing/stuff":
Feuerzeug--fire thing (lighter)
Flugzeug--flying thing (airplane)
Werkzeug--work thing (tool)
Fahrzeug--driving thing (vehicle)
I snort every time I learn a new one:)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
What would you pay for castor oil?
because today I paid 21.50 euro. That's roughly $30 for 500 mL. That's 1/2 a litre. That's a 1-l. milk carton at Safeway--but half.
No, I'm not constipated. I use it in soapmaking. It has to be bought at a pharmacy, which is The Business to go into in Austria if you want to rake in money hand over fist. These "apotheke" don't really sell anything "OTC", or, over the counter. They also don't sell, without a fight, anyway, any generic drugs. So you must pay premium price for everything they sell. And you can't buy anything they sell, anywhere else. Like aspirin, for example. Instead of going to Superstore or Safeway or London Drugs or Shoppers and picking A.S.A. off the shelf and trotting it to the counter and paying generic price rather than Bayer's Aspirin price--you can ONLY get Bayer's and you can ONLY get it at the Apotheke at a grossly inflated, hey! check it out, we're a monopoly! price. Burns my butt. Ghastly expensive. And the Austrians pay up, as do the Canadians, because there's no other option. When will capitalism come to this democracy?
No, I'm not constipated. I use it in soapmaking. It has to be bought at a pharmacy, which is The Business to go into in Austria if you want to rake in money hand over fist. These "apotheke" don't really sell anything "OTC", or, over the counter. They also don't sell, without a fight, anyway, any generic drugs. So you must pay premium price for everything they sell. And you can't buy anything they sell, anywhere else. Like aspirin, for example. Instead of going to Superstore or Safeway or London Drugs or Shoppers and picking A.S.A. off the shelf and trotting it to the counter and paying generic price rather than Bayer's Aspirin price--you can ONLY get Bayer's and you can ONLY get it at the Apotheke at a grossly inflated, hey! check it out, we're a monopoly! price. Burns my butt. Ghastly expensive. And the Austrians pay up, as do the Canadians, because there's no other option. When will capitalism come to this democracy?
Friday, October 31, 2008
Austrians and death
the local dj is playing Hallowe'en appropriate songs, starting his show with Michael Jackson's Thriller ("the only man this night who doesn't need a mask") and just played "Am Zentralfriedhof", a comic song about the party there tonight. Zentralfriedhof is Vienna's huge, famous cemetary. This is a shot I took of it in 2006. It's got about 2 1/2-3 million dead in it, and the Viennese use it as a place for a picnic and stroll. It has several entrances, bus, Schnellbahn, and tram stops. There's a Jewish section (several Adolfs, but none born after Hitler's rise to power, oddly enough...) and sections just for composers (such as Haydn and Beethoven and Mozart) and a section for artists, etc. It really is a lovely place. There are bullet holes in some of the graves, where a shoot-out took place in WWII. Purportedly, the Austrians are fascinated with death. The humour certainly is black here; it's what I love about the Austrians. They are a funny, witty people.
Weird school system and seasonal magic
Learned an interesting fact about the school I work at: new students transferring from another school don't get graded for two years to give them a chance to catch up. ????????????? TWO YEARS? High school is only 5 years (well, 8 here) and to not get grades for TWO of them? Of course, if they are good in a class, they can opt in to be graded. Otherwise...why work? you don't get a mark anyway. I find this beyond bizarre. What's wrong with doing poorly for one semester then catching up on the next? You not going to be that nuclear physicist if you have one poor mark, one semester, out of 8 years of high school? In a couple of weeks I'll be teaching the Headmaster English so maybe I'll inquire...
Autumn. October 31 today. Happy Hallowe'en! In school this week I had classes with windows looking onto the courtyard "garden" where the children play. The school has a couple centuries under its belt, so the trees are gorgeous and mature and in full fall colour. As I'm in class the sun catches the leaves in a glorious glow and they drift past the window as they fall. It's unbelievably beautiful.
It's also been 15-20 degrees out in daytime, so it seems a bit early for Christmas decorations but last week I went for a walk around the Ring (road which used to be the city walls surrounding Vienna) and noticed in front of the Rathaus (city hall, but I like Rat House. It seems appropriate somehow) all the huts were up already preparing for the Christkindlmarkt (Christ Child Market, the Christ Child no longer being the babe in the manger but some ethereal female angel in lieu of Santa Claus). And since mid-September, the new drogerie (drug store, without drugs--no pharmacy) across the street has had Santas clambering up its sparkling new facade. We complain in N.A. about the commercialisation of Christmas, but I tell you a country that is largely unfamiliar with Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving has no reason to wait until November to start with Christmas decorations and displays. However, Austria does Christmas very, very, very well indeed. It is a magical time. No late shopping though. Since this is a country with very early closing hours and no Sunday shopping (at ALL) I guess the retailers want to get all their Christmas earnings when they can. I am already sick with anticipation about the Christmas markets. I only managed 3 of them last year; I'm convinced I can do better this year. They are a marvel of impressions: wooden huts side by side, row by row, lit up and selling their wares, be it handcrafted wooden toys, artisan cheeses, glassblowers, honey and handmade beeswax candles sold by the apiarist himself, and of course the many stalls selling Punsch and Gluehwein (hot mulled wine) with people milling about stamping their feet, redcheeked from the cold. There's also a penchant for dark bread with salted lard on top. Sounds gross, but goes surprisingly well with the sweet Punsch. I also love the handmade advent wreaths (Adventskränze) with flowers and herbs and leaves surrounding the candles.
Considering it is warm enough to go out without a coat, just a top and pashmina, it seems peculiar to be anticipating Christmas, but I am! I'm hoping for a lot of snow this year. Our summer was rainy and cool compared the previous year (several humid days last year between 36 and 40 celcius) but we've had the autumn to make up for it, so I'm ready for toques and boots and pink cheeks and scarves and festive cheer.
Autumn. October 31 today. Happy Hallowe'en! In school this week I had classes with windows looking onto the courtyard "garden" where the children play. The school has a couple centuries under its belt, so the trees are gorgeous and mature and in full fall colour. As I'm in class the sun catches the leaves in a glorious glow and they drift past the window as they fall. It's unbelievably beautiful.
It's also been 15-20 degrees out in daytime, so it seems a bit early for Christmas decorations but last week I went for a walk around the Ring (road which used to be the city walls surrounding Vienna) and noticed in front of the Rathaus (city hall, but I like Rat House. It seems appropriate somehow) all the huts were up already preparing for the Christkindlmarkt (Christ Child Market, the Christ Child no longer being the babe in the manger but some ethereal female angel in lieu of Santa Claus). And since mid-September, the new drogerie (drug store, without drugs--no pharmacy) across the street has had Santas clambering up its sparkling new facade. We complain in N.A. about the commercialisation of Christmas, but I tell you a country that is largely unfamiliar with Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving has no reason to wait until November to start with Christmas decorations and displays. However, Austria does Christmas very, very, very well indeed. It is a magical time. No late shopping though. Since this is a country with very early closing hours and no Sunday shopping (at ALL) I guess the retailers want to get all their Christmas earnings when they can. I am already sick with anticipation about the Christmas markets. I only managed 3 of them last year; I'm convinced I can do better this year. They are a marvel of impressions: wooden huts side by side, row by row, lit up and selling their wares, be it handcrafted wooden toys, artisan cheeses, glassblowers, honey and handmade beeswax candles sold by the apiarist himself, and of course the many stalls selling Punsch and Gluehwein (hot mulled wine) with people milling about stamping their feet, redcheeked from the cold. There's also a penchant for dark bread with salted lard on top. Sounds gross, but goes surprisingly well with the sweet Punsch. I also love the handmade advent wreaths (Adventskränze) with flowers and herbs and leaves surrounding the candles.
Considering it is warm enough to go out without a coat, just a top and pashmina, it seems peculiar to be anticipating Christmas, but I am! I'm hoping for a lot of snow this year. Our summer was rainy and cool compared the previous year (several humid days last year between 36 and 40 celcius) but we've had the autumn to make up for it, so I'm ready for toques and boots and pink cheeks and scarves and festive cheer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
