Der letzte Tanz

In only a few hours our shuttle to Munich will arrive. We'll spend the night near the airport and fly out early tomorrow. We are giving everything a quick cleaning while Nikolas enjoys his last morning at school. If there was a compelling reason to stay, we would. We love Europe and the European life style. We'd love to come back some day for another extended period of time, but that will be some day...

The most compelling reason to leave here is the people we've missed so much and the ones we can't wait to see again. It will be good to be home. Our bags are packed and we're ready to go. Like all good journeys, this one must come to an end. It's been quite a ride.

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The Top Ten things I'll Miss

Before a good-bye email, I'll tell you about the things I'll miss. In no particular order (ok, there's a bit of an order):

The food: Austrian/German food is great stuff: Schweinebraten mit Knödel, Wiener Schnitzel, Geröstete Knödel mit Ei, Tiroler Gröstl and, of course, yummy desserts. Luckily, they didn't get the better of me (see Taking the bus, train and bike below!).

Taking the bus, train and bike. We loved our car but the fact that you can get around reliably by bus and train is something we just don't have at home. And as far as going to the Universität or into the Old City, there's no quicker way than riding a bike. Plus, it helped me shed some pounds which means I'd better get a bike in New Jersey or else I'm in trouble!

Parks and playgrounds. We have these in New Jersey, but they're not the same! The climbing and sandbox structures are much more interesting, and then of course there's the "sideways" swing which we don't have at home.

The views. I've never gotten tired of my ride to the Uni. The Untersberg and Staufen on my left, Gaisberg on my left, the Fortress right in front of me...there are uglier rides to school.

Nikolas' Kindergarten. Thank you Irene and Christina (teachers), Monika (lunchtime teacher), Erna (cook)--what a great year Nikolas had! They are people who aren't in it for a paycheck. When we've run into these people outside of school, they've always had so much time for Nikolas as he explained whatever it was that was important to him in that moment. Never were they bothered or in a hurry, and Nikolas appreciated it as did we. Nikolas loved his people there, and they loved him back.

The students and the Uni. I was lucky to have the group of students I had. I really enjoyed their sense of humor, listening to their troubles, and sharing laughs. I worried sometimes if I was "doing right" by them, thinking there was always something else I could be doing. But they seem to have enjoyed themselves, and they learned a lot! The Germanistik was the same building, the same halls I walked 18 years ago. In fact, so little had been done to the building, it could've been 1990! There are some professors still here from that time. When I told one professor what I remembered from his course back in 1991 on Austrian dialect, he promptly took me to his office where he presented me with a free copy of a book he'd written on the topic since then.

Nikolas and Jenny learning so much German. Sure, I'll continue to speak German to them just as I've done with Nikolas since Day 3 or 4 (Jenny had to actually convince me when Nikolas was an infant that I needed to start and start YESTERDAY). But there's nothing like being here, being immersed in the language. Even though his two best friends at school were Canadian and English-speaking, Nikolas learned so much from his teachers, staff, and his other little buddies. And what I couldn't accomplish in teaching German to Jenny with lessons here and there over the last 14 years, the German-as-a-foreign-language department could! Now the mission: maintaining the language and trying to learn more.

Travel. We did get to travel this year, but don't be jealous. If you were in Pennington and said you were going to Long Beach Island, nobody's THAT impressed. You just do it because it's so close by. That's the way it was here. Being in Salzburg, beautiful cities, towns and regions such as Regensburg, Krumau, Innsbruck, Schladming, Vienna and Südtirol were just too close to pass up. Yes, we also went to Turkey and England twice, but I'm telling you--if you can just afford to get to Europe, traveling around IN Europe is not a bad deal at all.

Radio. Bayern 3, Antenne Bayern, Ö3, Radio Salzburg... Whenever I went out in the car or did the dishes, I turned on the radio--great memories from long ago! In 1990, when I moved to Salzburg, my mother was with me and she bought me a little radio. I thought, "Jeesh, thanks," being the ingrate that I was. But she explained that when she moved to America, she listened to the radio all day and it helped her learn English because she'd found that if she couldn't read people's lips, she couldn't understand as well. Dang if she wasn't right! Danke, Mutter.

Roggenbauer. Professor Roggenbauer was one of the reasons I stuck with German back in 1987. The other two were Professors Small and Zollitsch. Theses guys cared--they all opened up their home to us, fed us, entertained us. Who did NOT want to learn German under these conditions?! My original plan was to take one year of German just because my mother's side is German and I figured I should learn a little. Roggenbauer proctored my German 102 (second semester German) exam, even though he wasn't my professor for the course. I asked him after the exam if the word that I heard my mother and grandparents use (it sounded like "won") was really the German word "geworden" which means "(has) become". He laughed and said, "Hmmm, Bavarian dialect. We say the same thing in Austria--I need to meet your mother." (Read an earlier blog to see how ironic that statement was!) Roggenbauer is retired and lives in Salzburg today, and we enjoyed meeting up with him throughout the year. He's the reason I came to Salzburg the first time--he was MY resident director. If you believe that life events can fall like dominoes, he's the reason why I came the second time when I met Jenny. And so he's the reason why I came the third time. Vielen Dank, Herr Roggenbauer!

Danke!

After making such a nice birthday card for me back in December, my students went and did it again, this time making a nice "Danke" card.

The cover is full of inside jokes, trips we took this year, stories I told, even some famous quotes by Nikolas such as, "Why is she biting her finger?" I was amazed at how much they remembered! Thanks, Amanda!

The inside of the card is a picture of Salzburg done using cut-outs! Thanks, Krystal!

What a nice card! Thanks for everyone's kind words on the back. What nice memories! What a nice group!

To get a car or not, that was the question

To get a car or not, that was the question weighing heavily on my mind before we ever returned to Salzburg.

I remembered quite vividly how much freedom a car afforded my buddy John when we worked at the international school in Salzburg back in 1992-1994. I was able to tag along on many occasions, and we were able to see so many towns in the area.

Yes, the trains and buses are much better here than in the States. And yes, it IS possible to get to many places. But it simply takes longer. And a bus or train can't take you everywhere.

Jenny wasn't sold on the idea at first. And I admitted that it was an outlay of money. But I was certain that a car would make our experience here more enjoyable.

I looked at a used car which a young kid was trying to sell. He gave me a list of things the state inspection service (ÖAMTC) said needed to be done within the foreseeable future. I thanked him and visited the ÖAMTC the next day, and they not only told me about the repairs--they looked up the car I was interested in buying! This would never happen in the States. The guy told me that I could do better.

I got on my bike and told myself that I was stopping at the first car dealership I passed (and then hoped that it wasn't going to be BMW or Mercedes). It was Citroën, a French car manufacturer. I didn't know anything about it. But, I asked Herr Wieland what his cheapest car was, and he showed me: a cute little red buggy. Part of me was convinced. Part of me was still second-guessing.

I actually sat on Herr Wieland's information for about two weeks. Jenny sort of gave in over time, telling me to just do it or else I wouldn't stop talking about it! I think we were both convinced, though, the Sunday the three of us tried to find a bus stop across town where a bus would take us to the Freilichtmuseum outside the city. We were at the wrong bus stop, even though it shared the same name as the one we were supposed to be standing at, and the bus shot passed us, the driver waving his finger "no" at me. I wasn't happy.

The next day I stopped into Citroën and asked Herr Wieland to get the ball rolling. I think he'd thought he'd never see me again, but there I was. He even set me up with an unorthodox 10-month lease! Within days, we were car owners...or Leasers as they known now in Austria.

Was it the right choice? Well, 162 car rides later (incidentally, the number of games in a baseball season!), I'd have to say "yes." There were many short rides (18 times to Nikolas' Kids Club Tennis during cold/bad weather months, 12 trips to the video store) and then some great trips to Cesky Krumlov, Regensburg, Südtirol in Italy, and shorter trips to Gröbming, St. Johann, Schladming, and Werfen.

Today, I took the little buggy back to Citroën. It cost money, but we had a much different year than we would've had without it. A better year.

Thanks, C3!

Below, all the places we went....

American International School - Salzburg
Augustinerbräu (restaurant, brewery)
Austria Video 12x
Train station 2x
Bank 4x
Bauhaus (store)
BauProfi (store) 2x
Bowling 3x
Bozen, Italy (1 hour from hotel)
Brixen, Italy
Cemetery (Regensburg)
Cesky Krumlov, Czech Rep. 3 hours
Doktorwirt (hotel)
Dr. Grabherr (Nikolas)
English Center
Eurospar (Friedenstrasse) 3x
Eurospar (Sterneckstrasse)
Flatscher Lukas’ b-day party
Stocker (butcher/Thanksgiving)
Flee Markets (various) 10x
Florada (flower shop)
flood (Salzburg)
Freilassing, Germany 2x
Freilichtmuseum
Gaisberg 3x
Glockengasse (dorm) 6x
Golling, Austria
Gröbming, Austria 2x (1 hour away)
Hangar 7
Hellbrunn 3x
Hinterbuchner Family (Bergheim)
Hoppolino (indoor amusement) 3x
Hofer (grocery) 3x
Hofer (Schladming)
Humboldt (dorm) 4x
IKEA 4x
Kern family
Kindergarten
Königssee, Germany 2x
Langenloiser (restaurant) 7x
Ristorante Milano/Minigolf (pond) 3x
Lepibad (swimming)
Lucas/Thomas’ house
Lüson, Italy (3 hours away)
Maximarkt 3x
McDonald’s 4x
Minigolf 2x
Mostwastl (restaurant) 3x
Paracelsus (dorm)
Recyclinghof 2x
Regensburg (3 hours house)
Reiterhof (restaurant) 2x
Roggenbauer family 7x
Schider Schilder (sign store)
Schladming, Austria (1 hour away)
St. Gilgen, Austria
St. Johann im Pongau, Austria (1 hour away)
Stieglbrauerei-Fest
Paracelsusbad (swimming)
Tennis 18x
Toys R Us
Trampoline (Regensburg)
Watzmann Therme (swimming)
Werfen, Austria 2x

Auf Wiedersehen!

A friend told me once when I was at my first German immersion May Term in Camden, Maine, that life was full of Abschlussfeiern (good-bye parties). It was the last day of our 15-day experience, and everyone was furiously exchanging addresses...real snail-mail addresses, not email addresses. It was, after all, 1988.

Yesterday, we had our Abschlussfeier: a gathering here at the apartment with frankfurters, cheese, salad, rolls. Ironically, it was essentially the first meal we had here as a group that September evening before orientation began when most everyone was just getting off a plane, exhausted, starving. We had starving students last night as well, many saying that it's time to go home because their money's dried up. Some things never change with time--it was the same for me 18 years ago.

After an afternoon of hanging here, watching Peter Pan (Nikolas' choice), and eating, most everyone headed to Augustinerbräu, a raucous beer hall on everyone's list of places to go on a nice summer evening. Eightteen years ago, my Abschlussfeier which was also held at my place happened to fall on the first day of sunshine in what had been three straight weeks of miserable weather. My landlady, Frau Ballwein, was gracious enough to let us host some 35 of us. We started at noon and the last people went home at midnight.

In 1991, leaving people you'd just spent a chunk of time with might mean that you wouldn't see them again. Letter writing worked in only a few cases and that for only certain lengths of time. Today, through Facebook, I've connected with about 18 of the 40 people who were in my group. I was largely motivated to contact people because my resident director, Herr Roggenbauer, lives in Salzburg now. He remembers the group fondly and often wondered aloud about where all the "kids" may be now.

It's been a great time getting in touch with these people. Marriages and births, of course, have taken place over the years. Sadly, even one of our 40 left us before any talk of reunions could take place. Kevin Greene, a great kid from UMaine, went on a 5-mile jog one morning, something he did a lot. He came back home, walked through the doorway, and collapsed.

My students are also on Facebook and I'm already connected to them. Unless they defriend me or unless Facebook goes totally screwy and makes it difficult for people to stay with them, I don't anticipate losing touch too easily. I look forward to hearing about their career choices, their marriages, their parenthoods, their travels. It was a great bunch of kids, each one very different than the other, but each one unique and interesting in his or her way.

I feel for them--I remember my year AFTER Salzburg. Your experiences are still fresh in your mind, you want to share stories with old friends from home and show them photos. But people are only interested for a few minutes-- you get the feeling that they don't want to hear any more. In many cases, people just won't understand why you went away in the first place. You heard songs all year, English ones, that were popular in Austria, and no one's ever heard them in the U.S. You complained about the food in Austria, but once you're back home, all you want is a currywurst with fries. Around October, you're walking to class remembering that just months ago, your walk to the Universität took you across a picturesque river and past as castle.

But there was a reason why we were coupled up with them just like there was a reason why Herr Roggenbauer led us to Salzburg in 1990. I know now why I had to come all those years ago. For my kids, it might be years before they truly understand why they did. But they will.

German educators can't throw anything away (except for me)!

Where were you in 1996?

I've been astonished all year as to how many broken or incredibly old and useless things have been left in our apartment, in our storage unit in the basement, and in my office at the University.

When we first moved in, we had the chance to toss many things in the Big Garbage Day we wrote about at the beginning of the year. Among other things was the couch missing a side.... But since then, we've continued to toss. Finally, we found an IKEA shelf to take the place of the shoe storage case in our hallway that was essentially standing on one leg.

The funny thing is that there's a budget in our program to replace old, useless things. For whatever reason, people have been reluctant to use it, I guess.

I think it's a German teacher/professor thing. It's got to be. Why would people year after year keep stuff that should be tossed. Afraid someone will find out? Who would know if it's suddenly gone.

The final straw came when Jenny was organizing the medicine cabinet the other day. There were countless open and unopened medicines, some of which we did toss. When we saw the unopened bottle of eye drops at the beginning of the year, we must've thought that it was still good since it hadn't been opened.

But then Jenny took a closer look the other day--you can have a look, too--it expired before Clinton was elected to his second term!

There are lecture notes in my office at the University that don't even belong to our program but must've been there when the program started sending a resident director to Salzburg back in 1979. The notes are from the 1960s! I am NOT kidding! Yet, no one has had the nerve to toss them, and they take up a HUGE amount of shelf space. They're the only thing I haven't tossed yet.

Maybe it's the German teacher in me.

Rain, rain, rain...

When I was a student here back in 1990-1991, it rained all year, I swear. I lived about 20 minutes by bike from my classroom buildings and often I would sit in class totally drenched, chilled, miserable. I ruined more than one pair of shoes.

When I worked at the international school here, I didn't bike as much so I don't remember the weather as clearly. Jenny claims her year here was pleasant, and I believe her.

But Salzburg can be so miserable, and that's what it's been lately. It's the end of June and we've seen day-time temps between 50-55. Today is the first day in about 8 where we've seen the sun, and that was only after a full day of rain.

Back in the fall, we were a flea market and I saw these pair of galoshes. I asked the guy how much they were (something like $3), and because the fall had been so pleasant, I then asked him if he could guarantee that it was going to rain this school year so that I'd use them. It's an inside joke if you're from Salzburg because it always rains here.

A new professor in the German department (he's been here a month), a young guy from Southern Germany, told me yesterday, as I'd never heard anything like it, that he'd ruined a pair of boots the previous day peddling to and from the University.

Willkommen in Salzburg, buddy.