Sollen wir weiter gehen? (Shall we go on?)

It was what I will call the vast apartment hunt, and competition was fierce.  I think I was one of the few people who had arranged housing before arriving in Linz, so basically Ross and Josh spent 24 hours a day online checking new postings, discussing them, and awkwardly calling people in German (ie “Hallo…?  Ja…Ja…Super... nervous chuckle…Super”).  Ross was essentially homeless and so he slept on my couch for a week.  We spent a lot of time watching a Very Potter Musical and other youtube greats.  One of my favorites is apparently massive in the UK, but I’d never heard of it before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU 

Since viewing this I can’t count the number of times I have proclaimed a need to “chundaaa everywhaaa” or to be “culturally awahhh”

Anecdote: Another Roommate #1 story:  He still has not introduced himself.  One day I take a tea kettle out of the communal cupboard and use it, and then run out to get some take out with Ross and Josh.  Upon returning, a huge note is taped to the cupboard “This is my PERSONAL cupboard with my PERSONAL things.  You can use the kettle for now, but do not take my things.”  Josh and Ross found this extremely hilarious and proceeded to take photos of it.   I was basically wetting my pants in fear.  I wrote a small note on the side “Es tut mir sehr sehr leid, ich habe eigentlich nicht gewusst :-)” (meaning: I am so so sorry, I really didn’t know :-)).  Roommate 1 emerged from his room later to talk about the kettle issue, luckily he seemed much less angry in person.  He also said his name was Johannes…so apparently I have to take people’s things to get their names?  This kettle incident was about a week ago and I haven’t seen Johannes since…(cue ominous music)

A few days after I last posted, TAs started pouring into Linz  (they were poppin’ out of the snow…LIKE DAISIES!... if you get this reference comment for 10 points, lol).  So we went out Friday night.  And Saturday night.  And Sunday night.  And each night new people appeared!  

An aside for your reference:

I am going to give a list of the TAs I know in Linz, just so I can use the names in blogposts from now on:

Americans: Stephen, Jadon, Heather, Erin, Evan, William, Nick, Farrah, Erica, and Sarah

Brits: Ross, Josh, Calum, and Joseph.

FACT: Techno music and being surrounded by other people’s body odor does not make for a fun clubbing experience.

And then there was Hinterglemm.  On Monday, Sept 27^th Josh drove Ross, Joseph, and me to Hinterglemm for our orientation (ie workshops on teaching English and living in Austria).   It was so stereotypical.  We climbed a mountain, we sang Austrian songs accompanied by the accordion, we ate Wienerschnitzel, and there were even several people that at one point or another wore Lederhosen.

 

Fact: We heard the voice of the REAL Maria von Trapp!!!! It was her 96^th birthday and we got to sing her a song over Skype.  I think she was sort of confused, but I heard her voice and was thrilled.

 Above: the giant screen that had the Skype convo on it...yessss!

Other than the planned activities, the TAs went out a lot in Hinterglemm.  There are basically two bars there and also basically two locals that frequent these bars.  So we would swarm into the bar, scare Hans and Utta away, speak English really loudly, and run rampant around the tiny mountain village.  Extremely American in the obnoxious way, but I suppose what can you expect of about a hundred 20-somethings +alcohol.

Anecdote: It’s about 3:30 am in a bar called the Hexenhaus (Witch House).  An extremely creepy and older Austrian man who had clearly had more than his fair share of velvety magic starts talking to me.  Let’s go over the typical small town inappropriate flirting scenario:

Creepy Man: Hi*

Me: ….hi

CM: where are you from?

Me: the USA.

CM: HAHAHA deutsch deutsch deutsch

Me: blank stare

CM: putting hand on my back and leaning in way too close What are you doing here?

Me: Teaching English in Linz.

CM: Linz!  Deutsch deutsch deutsch

M: faint smile

CM: puts his hand on leg

M: stands up quickly….sooooo I am going home now with my friend.

*this is all in German - Deutsch deutsch deutsch just denotes what I couldn't understand

CONCLUSION: The man situation could have been better, lol.

Arrived back in Linz Oct 4^th and spent the weekend pretty much just chillin’.  Met two more roommates; Marcus and Ioan, both nice.  More stories on them later perhaps. 

In other news: Today was my first day of work, and I taught in two classes!  Strangely enough both teachers were named Ernst.   The first Ernst is like the McDreamy of teachers, young and handsome.  He basically put me in front of the class and asked me to talk, sat at a desk as though he were a student, and peppered me with questions – the conversation basically ranged from TV to plastic surgery to parties to abstinence-only sex ed.  He said the students liked my sense of humor…so I guess that’s thumbs up.  

The second Ernst stayed at the front of the class with me and had me talk about Minnesota the whole 50 minutes.  At the end of the hour Ernst2 said, “Ok, for next time 250 words in legible English about Minnesota stereotypes and ‘Minnesota Nice’ with examples.”  And I was thinking…uhhh, sorry guys?

But overall, yay teaching!  I think I will like it a lot.

Some photos of Linz:

 Linz Hauptplatz

 One of my schools!

 Danube

 Linz

My street!

Strassenbahn and ARS Electronica (a museum/cafe)

Doener Kebaps!

A pretty old church