Tomorrow I Am Off To Prague

Hey guys, sorry there haven't been too many blog updates this past week. Wednesday - Friday didn't have too much going on. Basically I spent my time gearing up for Prague, which I leave tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 7am.

On Thursday Gerlinde and I went to the train station to buy my train ticket. I am leaving at 7am on Sunday (Gerlinde will drop me off at the Freistadt train station on her way to work) and I arrive back in Freistadt on Tuesday night at 9:45pm (this is perfect because Gerlinde has school Tuesday night until 9:30). The train ticket cost 55 euros which is about $80. The train ride is a little less than 4.5 hours. I don't have to change trains which is nice.

Alex and I are staying at a hostel only 200 steps from old town square. The name is called Prague Square Hostel (I know, very original). We will be staying in an 8 bedded room. It only costs about 14 euros per person per night (that is about $20).

We really don't have a set itinerary so we will be winging it for the most part. We definitely want to see the Prague Castle (it is supposed to be one of the biggest in the world) and this should take about half a day and the rest of the time we will probably just walk around old town and the jewish quarter.

Sorry to disappoint but I will not be updating my blog until I return. You will probably go through some sort of withdrawal but hang in there. You will have something to look forward to on Wednesday morning.

Update Time

Hello to all my readers. Since the prom I had a few things going on. On Sunday an Au Pair from Oregon who is living in Salzburg for a year come to visit in Freistadt. She got in around 4 in the afternoon. We walked around old town and had a coffee. At six we headed to the Freistadt Brewery for the release of their seasonal (strong) beer. Luckily it wasn't too cold because this party was outside. The had a band playing rock music from the 60's and 70's. They played a lot of Rolling Stones and CCR. They had a lot of fires going just so you could keep warm. The party started at 6 but the new beer, called bock, wasn't released until 8. Apparently if a beer is more than 7% alcohol then you can't call it beer. So I heard they just print 7% on the label but the alcohol content is more than that. There were a ton of people there. There was a national holiday on Monday (I think flag day) so everyone stayed out late on Sunday. My friend took the last bus from Freistadt to Linz (since that's where she was staying with a friend) at 9:15. I went back to the party for about another hour and a cab took me home. On Monday I was able to do some tutoring with Gerlinde.

On Tuesday I went back to the school to visit with two new English classes. It was the same routine as before. Before school I went to Sparkasse Bank. All this week all the banks in Austria are giving away little gifts to their customers. Sparkasse's mascot is called Spar Froh. I heard from my collector friend in Sandl that they would be giving away a dispenser of Spar Froh. I got to the bank as it opened and there was a line of about 500 people (just kidding). I walked right in and the teller asked if he could help me (but he said it in German). I just said Spar Froh and Pez. At first he didnt understand but then he knew what I was talking about. He walked over to a big box and brought one over to me and said I could just have it. I said danke (that means thank you). I was happy. The rest of the week should be pretty quiet.

I did plan a little trip though. I am going to Prague on Sunday through Tuesday with another English tutor named Alex. She is tutoring in Munich and will meet me in Prague. I am going to be staying in my first ever hostel. This should definitely be interesting. I can't wait for Prague. Everyone has said so many great things about it.

It's Prom Night

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. This trip is flying by. I've been here for about 4 weeks and in 5 weeks I will be home already.

Friday and Saturday (during the day) were pretty quiet days. I needed to rest up for the big prom on Saturday night. The prom started at 7:30 and was supposed to go until 3 or 4 in the morning. The prom was at a big hall in Freistadt. I think there was about 2,500 to 3,000 people there. Ingrid and Konrad picked me up at 8. In the center of the hall are tables and only the guests of the senior class are allowed to sit there. One major difference between their school dance and a school dance in America is the number of bars they had there. There was a beer bar, cocktail bar, wine bar, champagne bar, and schnapps bar. Another difference is the music. Up until 12 they played mostly classical music but after 12 they opened it up a bit, I think I heard The Twist at some point. I pretty much walked around the whole night saying hi to friends that I previously met from school. I didn't hang out with one person the whole night, I guess you could say I was a social butterfly. Ingrid, Konrad and I left at about 2:45. Actually at 3 in the morning their daylight savings ended so now I am only 5 hours ahead of you (until next week when USA daylight savings ends).

My Utopia was more like a Fruitopia

First off I would like to give a special birthday shoutout to my girl Erin over at Prosperity Consulting Group. Hope it was a good one.

Sorry for no blog the past couple days but didn't have too much going on until yesterday (Thursday). On Monday I bought shoes new shoes for the prom (they were only 20 euros which is about $30) and on Tuesday I went to Gerlinde's English class at night. Her class is from 6 - 9:45. This class is mostly for older adults (20 - 45 year olds). Her teacher asked me what I should do and I told him that when I went to the high school's English class I gave a little introduction about myself and then the students would ask me questions. We did this until about 7 and then there was a break. At the break the teacher asked how long I was here for, and I said November 28th. But he meant for the class. I said until whenever you want me to be here. Then he asked if I wanted to teach the entire lesson. I was hesitant at first because I never really taught anything before and 2.5 hours was a long time but I couldn't say no. The 2.5 hours went by really quick and I think the students enjoyed much more than if he was teaching the lesson.

So yesterday was the big day. The tour of the Pez Production Factory in Europe (in Janossomorja, Hungary to be exact). It really ended up being the longest day in my life. The bus was due to leave the Mariott Hotel in Linz at 9:15. I had to wake up at 5 because Gerlinde's sister (who also takes the bus from Freistadt to Linz) was picking me up at 5:30. We took the 6am bus and got to Linz at 7am. I had only about a 10 minute walk to the Mariott. I stopped at a gas station to get some breakfast. I then went to the hotel and read the USA Today until it was time to meet my fellow nerds (these collectors are much more hardcore collectors then I am). The website had the itinerary as follows: Leave hotel 9:15, a three hour drive to facility, 1.5 hour tour, three hour drive back, stop at a winery, have lunch at some point and get back to the hotel about 6 or 7. We didn't leave the hotel until 9:45. There were about 13 of us, including 3 other Americans. One of the Americans was Shawn Peterson, he is a big collector from Kansas City and a famous author (has written a price guide book for Pez). From Linz we stopped in Vienna to pick up four other nerds. Everything seemed to be right on schedule. So we made it in Hungary and was driving and driving and driving. And eventually we drove ourselves in Slovakia. Obviously the bus driver got a little lost. I am wondering why the organizer didn't really we were heading into another country. So the bus driver turned the bus around and we EVENTUALLY made it to the factory, at about 2:45. Two hours later than I originally thought. Now I was beginning to worry about which bus I would catch back from Linz to Freistadt. The tour itself was about 1h and 45 min. At the factory they make a lot of the candy and other food products but I didn't see them making any dispensers there. At the end of the tour they gave everyone a goody bag which included 3 pez (one of which I needed) and an awesome pez umberella. So we left there at 4:30 and thought based on our way there I would get back to the hotel around 8:30 which would mean I would have to catch the last bus to Freistadt at 10:55. I thought for sure then we wouldn't have enough time to go to the winery. So when we dropped off the 4 people in Vienna at around 6 (meanwhile we were supposed to be back in Linz between 6 and 7) I asked if we would be back by 8:15 and she said no. Meaning we were definitely going to the winery. And of course this winery was in the middle of no where and about 1h and 45 min away). So we get there at 7:45 and now I am beginning to worry that I might even miss the last bus from Linz and Freistadt and I would have to pay for a hotel room somewhere. So we were at this winery until 8:30 and that would give me 2 hours to get back to Linz to catch the last bus. Of course we weren't anywhere near a highway so we had to take all back roads from village to village for like over an hour. On the bus the organizer said if we don't make it I could stay in the suite with the other 2 Americans (a mother and her son). Not exactly how I wanted to spend my evening after being in a bus for about 10 hours. So as it was getting closer and closer until 10:30 we were getting closer and closer to Linz. We made it back to the hotel at about 10:35. After we dropped off some people the bus took me to the bus station and I had 10 minutes to spare. I got on the 10:55 bus and headed back to Freistadt. Although, how was I going to get back from Freistadt to my house? I told Gerlinde to have a taxi waiting for me at the bus station at 12. We got in a little early at 11:40 and I didn't want to wait at the dark bus station all by myself. So I thought it would probably be best to head into old town where a lot of bars are. And sure enough when I got in front of Alcanto there were two taxis. The first one gladly took me back to Helbetschlag. I didn't get home until midnight. It was such a long day but I guess in the end I am glad I went.

Update coming soon

Hello everyone, I'm at mcdonalds now using the Internet since it is down at home. I already wrote an update in word and will post it as soon as I can. Stay tuned!!!!

I PEZzed in my pants today

Usually I would have waited until after the Ravens game to update my blog but after being down 17 points mid-way through the 4th quarter I figured I could get a head start. Dawan Landry is really bad and the weakest link on an average defense.

Anyway, yesterday (Saturday) was a pretty quiet day. I went to Mitterbach Saturday night with some friends and had fun. This morning Hans Puchringer, a big pez collector from Sandl, picked me up and took me back to his house so he could show me his collection and so we could deal some pez. When he told me what pez to bring to Austria I thought he was a small time collector. Boy was I mistaken. Hans could very well be the #1 pez collector is the whole world. I need to check when I get home but I think in my pez guide, most of the rare and expensive items came from Hans' collection. (note - Ravens are now winning, will blog later) As it turns out he had every single pez I brought here and just wanted them to resell to other people. Not only did he have every pez I brought him and but very well might have every single pez ever made and then some. There used to be a pez factory in Austria and when it shut down he bought so much pez memorabilia. He had everything from molds, to tools, to signs, to vending machines. You name it he had it. (note - Ravens just lost the game, that's 3 times in last 3 weeks where it came down to the end and all losses, NE - Offense lost it, Cincy - Defense, Minnesota - Special Teams) Back to Hans and his pez. I honestly believe he has every single dispenser. He has dispensers with extremely rare color variations. He knew a guy that used to work in the factory and sometimes the factory workers would make a few dispensers a different color and sell them for a lot of money to collectors. Pretty brilliant if you ask me. So after looking at his collection it was time to make a deal. I brought 60 pez for him and each one was about $1-$2 a piece. A couple weeks ago I emailed Hans telling him which current european pez I needed. So he got all the ones I had asked for. It was probably about 15-20 dispensers that he got me. So then he pulled out a briefcase that had about 50 old (probably from the 70's) non-footed dispensers. He said to start taking the ones I want and he will tell me when the value is about even. I ended up taking 6 of these dispensers. These 6 are now definitely the oldest dispensers in my collection. See pic above of Hans and one with me and his daughter. Hans was one of the nicest guys I have met on this trip. Maybe I just think that because we are pez brothers.

Good news, I found a suit to wear to prom on Saturday. I tried on some of Gunter's current suits and they were too big. Then Gerlinde found the suit he wore on his wedding and it fit perfectly. Unfortunately his shoes are too small for me so I might have to go buy a cheap pair of black shoes this week.

Can you believe he missed that field goal? I mean come on.

TGIF

Hey, what's up? So yesterday (friday) was another day when I got pimped out to more English classes at school. I think now that I started I am going to have to go to every English class at least once. But like I said before I don't mind at all. I think it's a lot of fun. I ended up going to 4 classes yesterday. It was the same format as it was on Monday. I gave a little introduction about myself and then it was Q&A time for the rest of the class. I pretty much was asked the same questions as I did on Monday. One question that was asked repeatedly again yesterday was "Are you going to the prom?" On October 24th the school is having their prom. After talking with the students and teachers I found out that their prom is nothing like our prom. First of all it is being held in the fall when ours is traditionally in the spring. Second their prom is for the whole school. Third seniors can bring eight people as guests and will usually bring parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. Fourth they will have a band that will play classical music the whole night. So there will be a lot of waltzing that night. I'm sure there are lots of other differences but those are the main differences. And as it turns out I think I am going to make it to the prom. I can't let all my students down. I am going to see if Gunter has a suit I can fit into.

After classes a student came up to one of the English teachers and wanted to interview her and I for a radio station he works for. From what I gathered the radio station is doing a project where they try to get 2,000 people giving a 2-3 minute monologue about anything they want to talk about. He said that I will be on the radio next Saturday. I just spoke about what my experience has been like in Austria thus far.

Last night I went out with some friends. I took the bus into town to meet them and took my first taxi took get home last night. The ride was about 9 euros which isn't too bad. It's really refreshing how nice everyone has been to me. When it was time to go home they called a taxi for me and made they told the driver exactly where to go so I could make it home safely.

Today (Saturday) should be a pretty quiet day. Gerlinde is working today so no tutoring today. Probably won't write back until Sunday evening after the Ravens lose. :-(

Another Day of School

Hello all, so Gerlinde dropped me off at school around 1:15. One of the classes I visited on Monday also takes cooking classes. They wanted me to come in today so they each could make some food and then they could tell me about it in English. Their professor thought it was a brilliant idea (the professor studied English in England for a year). So the professor and I walked into the service room and the students (I guess there were about 16 of them) had the table all set up for us. As we took our seats the students began to explain what we were having. They had a little trouble explaining but the teacher helped them out. For lunch we had a pasta salad, hard boiled eggs, cheese, vegetables, a potato spread, schnitzel, smoked pork, bread (whole grain and white), and apple juice. Most of the students made these items, even the apple juice. And most of the ingredients the students used were stuff from their own farms and gardens. It was very very good. After we ate lunch the class and I went to the kitchen in the school. The professor wanted me to go through different items and tell the class what they were in English. Little did she know I have been living with by myself for over 4.5 years and I have not once made a meal in my kitchen. Luckily I knew most of the basics like sink, fork, knife, oven, pot, pan, etc. All of you are going to be very impressed with one of the items I knew. They pulled out a meat tenderizer and I knew what it was. The professor didn't even know the English name for it. After going through many many items we went back to the service room for dessert. There we had Linzetorte and Sachertorte. Both were very good. After class the professor took me back home. On the way home she thanked me very much saying the students really enjoy having me there. That means a lot and I am so glad I have had this opportunity to not only volunteer at someone's house but also at a school. And I really think the students do appreciate me coming in because all this evening I have been getting random friend requests on facebook from the students in the class today. They all thank me for coming in and tell me how much fun it was with me in there.

The teachers are even starting to fight over who gets me. Tomorrow (friday) I will go with one teacher for the 1st and 3rd period, then I will go with another teacher for the 4th period and finally I'll go with the final teacher for the 5th period. So tomorrow will be another busy day at school but that is fine with me. I really enjoy going.

Here is something I probably should have wrote about a couple weeks ago. As it turns out I live in a "suburb" of Grunbach (if you can believe a town of 1,800 has suburbs). The village I live in is called Helbetschlag. There can't be more than 200-300 peope in Helbetschlag. And in all the villages there aren't any street names. The street name is the town you live in. So my address is 66 Helbetschlag. If you lived in Lichtaneu your address would be 32 Lictaneu. Some of the bigger towns, like Freistadt, will have street names but none of the small villages do. Anyway I just that that was cool.

Alright well I will probably have a lot to write about tomorrow so if you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

Let It Snow

Well it appears the weather forecast was correct. See the picture above (it is a shot from outside my bedroom window this morning (Wednesday)). As you can see there is a little bit of snow on the ground. Some villages in higher elevations got a couple of inches of snow. Can you believe that? It is the middle of October now. But I guess it shouldn't be that surprising since it's also snowing in parts of the USA, just not Baltimore. The weather is kinda crazy and changes by the minute. One minute it will be sunny then the next it will start to snow like crazy.

As for yesterday (Tuesday) I went to Linz to meet with the program directory of the Austrian Agency that helped place me. We had lunch at a really nice restaurant. She was very nice and I had a good time. I am actually the second tutor that has been placed in Austria (the program is pretty new, just started in June).

Today I have been tutoring Gerlinde in English and tonight I will be going out with some friends to dinner.

Wishing everyone a great Wednesday.

Back To School

Hello to all my trackers, but not followers, out there. You know who you are.

Can you believe the Ravens lost yesterday? They couldn't beat the Bengals at home. That is very embarrassing. I mean where is the pass rush? At the end of last year we said, we just needed a rusher that could get to Big Ben. So we drafted Paul Kruger in the second round of the draft. He has been inactive for 4 games. I don't get it. Who cares if he doesn't play special teams. Anyway Sunday was a pretty quiet day except for the Ravens game at night.

Last week Gerlinde contacted her cousin, Helga (who is an IT teacher at a secondary school (I think that is what they call it, they tried to explain to me their school system but it was too confusing)), about me coming into the school and visiting some of the English classes. Helga talked to the English teachers and they decided that today (Monday) would be a good day to come in. Helga picked me up at 7:30 so we could be at school by 8. When we got to school Helga introduced me to Sandra, one of the English teachers, and she was delighted that I was there. I went with Sandra to her 1st class. Her 1st class was her most advanced English class, they were level 5 (meaning they were going to graduate next June). She had me introduce myself and then she paired the students up so they could come up with questions to ask me. I answered their questions and asked some in return. This went on for about the remainder of class. After class we went to Sandra's next class, where it was the same routine. This class was a little bit younger and had a little bit less English lessons. After class we had a break and went to the teachers' lounge. There Sandra talked to another English teacher, Ava, and she wanted me to stop by her next class for 20 minutes to have a question and answer session. So after the break I went with Ava to her class for 20 minutes then I went to Sandra's 3rd class for the remainder of the time. For the rest of class it was the same routine. This 3rd class is in the home economics tract at the school and Sandra thought it was a good idea if I come in Thursday and the students make me all this food. I think it sounds like fun and will blog about it later. After this class we went to Sandra's final class of the day. This class is at the beginning of their English lessons although most of them could ask questions pretty well. Some of the questions I heard today include: Do you like Barak Obama? (i believe every class asked this one) Do I like Austrian food? Do I have any brothers or sisters? Do I like tennis? Where in the USA am I from? What did I pick Austria? Why am I so sexy (just kidding they didn't ask that but I know they were definitely thinking it, ok maybe not). Also, the 3rd English teacher wants me to come in Friday so I can visit her class. All in all I think the teachers and the students were very happy that I came today. Sandra said there is nothing better than a native speaker coming to their class. I also had a good day and am looking forward to going back and helping the students.

After school today I had lunch and yes it was McDonalds. They got the Jalapeno burger at the McDonalds here and it was very good. I stayed there for a lil because they have free wifi and I had to wait until the bus came. While walking to the bus I saw the most incredible rainbow ever. I didn't have my camera on me so I had to take a picture from my cell phone and it just doesn't do it justice. I have a larger photo I can send via email if anyone is interested.

Tomorrow I go to Linz to meet with the Austrian Program Director for the exchange program for an orientation.

Oh, they are also calling for snow this weekend. I'm not a fan.

Czech Please

Hello, I am writing here tonight to give you an update of the past two days. Yesterday (Friday) I didn't do much during the day but at night I went out with some friends. We went to Alcanto Cocktail Bar in Old Town Freistadt. It was a lot of fun there but everyone in Austria smokes so you really smell when you leave there. One of the school was having their prom last night (their proms are different their our proms) so there were a lot of kids all dressed up and hanging out at Alcanto. One kid sat next to me and when my friend told him I spoke English he turned to me and said "I want to buy a Dodge Charger". I thought it was pretty random but also funny. See above for a picture of Julia and I.

Today (Friday) I went to a country I have never been before, the Czech Republic. Gunter's cousin, Bernhard lives there so he was going to show me around. Gunter dropped be off at the train station in Summerau (10 min drive from the house and about 20km from Czech) at around 8. The train (I think it was two cars) departed at 833 to Ceske Budejovice or Budweis. It costs 5 euros for this trip which is about $7.50. The train ride was about 1 hour and 20 minutes. When I got off the train I had no idea what Bernhard looked like but I thought I saw a guy standing there who was waiting for me and I was right. Bernhard is originally from Austria but moved to Budweis 9 years ago to teach German. He is a very intelligent man. We walked from the train station to the town's main square. This walk was only 10 minutes long. The main square is one of the largest in Europe. While we were walking we stopped in a book store and Bernhard ran into an ex colleague of his. Her name was Vivian and was the first American I have seen so far during my trip. She moved to Italy 32 years ago to teach English and moved to Czech 11 years ago to do the same. She teaches at Southern Bohemia University. She is originally from New York and Illinois. Anyway, Bernhard invited her to go to a meeting with him tonight and she agreed and met us later. After that encounter Bernhard and I walked around some more and then we walked up the "Black Tower"(see pic above). There were some really nice views from the top. After the Black Tower we went souvenir shopping (you know what the means Mom). They didn't have a good selection and not even sure if it will stick to the refrigerator but it will have to make do. After walking around the center of town for a couple hours Bernhard and I drove to a mall to have lunch and meet Vivian. Things in the Czech Republic are SOOO cheap. For lunch I got a chicken cordon bleu w/ french fries and a pepsi light and Bernhard got some meat and potatoes and sauerkraut dish and a drink and the total for our meals were 159 Koruny which is about $9.00 (Helene maybe you can move here, it is a little closer than Macau). So there we were eating and we were talking with Vivian and I told her where I was from and OF COURSE she has a aunt that lives in Catonsville, a cousin that lives in Baltimore and a cousin that lives in, you guessed it, Owings Mills. Her cousin's name is Karen Gibbs and lives on Heneson Garth. I mean seriously people, what are the freaking chances? I mean WTF (pardon my German)!!!!!! Here I am in some random mall in Southern Bohemia with the only American I've met in 2 weeks and she has a cousin the lives on the same street as the Asher's and the Warranch's. If this world isn't the size of a pea I don't know what is. Anyway after lunch we had to drive an hour to pick up a friend of Bernhard so they could go to this meeting together. He drove around the country roads to get there and they were really nice. We stopped at a few towns along the way. His friend lived near Cesky Krumlov (apparently the beginning of the movie The Illisionist was filmed there, it has the 2nd largest castle in the Czech Republic). I might get back to there and explore another time. Bernhard dropped me off at the train station (this time Kaplice, which is only 40 minutes from Summerau) and I got back home around 4. Czech was an interesting country and I'm looking forward to hopefully go back and visit Prague in early November.

I mean seriously people, her cousin lives in Owings Mills. Can you believe that cause I certainly can't.

Past Two Days Update

Hello all, I'm here to tell you what has been going on the past two days. Yesterday (Wednesday) was a productive studying day with Gerlinde. Since Gunter doesn't work on Wednesday Gerlinde and I were able to study English in the morning and the early afternoon. I helped her with her homework and we did some other exercises. After studying her, michael, richard and I went out for a little walk. The weather here has been perfect. Probably about mid 60's and sunshine. I don't think the weather is going to last like that for much longer though.

Today (Thursday) started out a little crazy. Gerlinde, Michael and Richard left around 845 to go to some play center and they would be back around 1045. While they were gone I decided to take a shower. In their bathroom they have a stand up shower right next to a bath tub. I went to turn on the water and noticed that the lever to turn on the water wasn't there. So I tried to turn on the water without it by turning the knob and it worked without a problem. So i'm showering and think to myself I wonder if I can turn off the water as easily as it turned on. And the answer is of course no. The knob is stuck and won't move. The thing is when I turned it on I must have turned on the water full pressure because the water is taking too long to drain. I think of great I am going to flood the entire house. So using my intuitive skills I took the shower head and the cord (I don't know what it's called but its the one you can take down and sing into like a microphone) and I put it over the wall so the water could drain into the bathtub. So no big problem except I don't want the water running for over an hour. So I get the phone to call Gerlinde and she didn't answer. Then I call Gunter and he did answer. I explained to him the problem and he said to try to turn the knob. I've already tried but I will try again. So there I am in the bathroom, naked (sorry) on the phone trying to turn the knob and the next thing I know I hit the cord and the showerhead falls into the shower and the head breaks off and water is going all over the place. I try to hang up with Gunter as fast as I can and tell him I will figure something out. So the first thing I do is get the head part back on the shower head. That was pretty easy, then I put the showerhead back into the bathtub. Then next to the bathroom sink I see the lever. I look at it and say to myself "Self, how in the hell does this fit into the knob?" You know they say in heat of battle you just let instincts take over and that's exactly what happened. Lets just say the next thing you know I got the lever in the knob and turned off the water. Phew.

After that ordeal and after lunch, Gerlinde, the kids and I went to a spa/indoor swimming pool in Gmund (Gmund is about an hour away located in the state of Lower Austria). We spent about 4 hours there swimming around. It was very nice there. The water was very warm and it was salt water. They had three different pools you could swim in. One was an indoor/outdoor pool. You know what's kinda funny, today, in Austria, in October was the first time I went swimming all year. I do everything back asswards. When we got home I had a sandwich but not any sandwich. A sandwich on a roll!!!! This was the first time (except for McDonalds) that I had white bread. You don't realize how good (and probably unhealthy) white bread is when you have been eating wheat bread (actual wheat bread, not just something that says wheat bread but still has tons of glucose in it). It was delicious.

Alrighty y`all. Catch ya on the flip side.

My day in Linz

Hello to all my loyal blog followers. I wanna give a special shout out to all my Hertzbach followers. Sorry there was no new blog yesterday. I don't think I will be able to write a new blog everyday cause some days I don't do much. But today I went to Linz all by myself. I had to take TWO buses to get there but I figured it out flawlessly. The ride from Freistadt was about 50 minutes. For my new blog followers Linz is the 3rd most populated city in Austria. It is mostly an industrial city but the old town is really nice. I pretty much just walked around and I went into the biggest church in Austria. It is called the Neuer Dom. I tried to take pictures of it but it was just too BIG.

I stayed in Linz for about three hours then took the bus back to Freistadt. I had fast food for the 1st time since my arrival over a week ago. I had McDonalds, a big mac meal to be exact. It costs 5.50 euro (which is about $7.70, I guess you aren't coming to Austria Helene, better off in Macau).

So that was my day. I am teaching Gerlinde tomorrow since Gunter doesn't work on Wednesdays. Keep it real America.

So Close Ravens - Day 7

Hello, I just finished watching the Ravens game and boy was it a nail bitter. If it wasn't for the fumble on the kickoff and Flacco's interception things would have been a bit different. Oh well, life goes on.

Today was a pretty quiet day here in Grunbach. Nothing new to report on.

Local Celebrity Status (day 6)

Today was a very busy day. After breakfast Gerlinde and I had another "formal" English lesson. We worked on her homework, read articles in English and worked on vocabulary. I am starting to learn some German words. Uberfallen means invade (I am sure that will come in handy one day).

After our tutoring session Gerlinde dropped me off at her friend Maria's house so we could go to the botanical gardens. Maria's husband Kanji (he is from Japan) came with us. Before we went to the gardens we stopped at a mini mall so Maria could get coffee. Kanji and I stopped by the supermarket so we could get drinks and I could look for Pez. Guess what - I bought 3 new ones there (two winnie the pooh detective series and bambi). From the mini mall we drove to the botanical gardens. There really wasn't much to see but it was a beautiful day and it was nice to be outside. I took a picture of a snack we had there, a traditional German/Austrian meal. On our way back home we stopped at another mall but this one was bigger. They had a Toys R Us there so you know what that means, another pez hunt. This time I bought 4 new ones!!!!! (the monsters vs aliens set and 1 Thomas the Tank). I am going to need another suitcase to bring home all this Pez. After the mall we were driving past Linz and Maria asked if I wanted to stop real quick at the carnival in Linz (this carnival is held twice a year and is exactly like an American carnival. there were rides, food and games), I of course said yes. Since we didn't have a lot of time she suggested the I just ride the ferris wheel. Maria was not able to find parking so she just dropped off Kanji and I. So there I was on a ferris wheel in Austria with a Japanese man (I never thought I'd say that sentence in one million years). The carnival was right next to the Danube (see pic above).

When I got back from Marias and Kanjis I needed to get ready because I was to go out with Ingrid, Konrad and Alex again. This time to a big party (not like one person's party, the whole town was throwing it) at an old farm house in Mitterbach. Ingrid picked me up and we met Konrad at one of his friends house. They were there to pregame. One of his friends works at Freistadter beer and had a mini keg. All their friends were really nice but didn't speak much English (that is until they get a little drunk). Most Austrian people are a little too shy to speak English so alcohol helps solve that problem. After the pregame we picked up Alex and headed to the party at Mitterbach. There were a ton of people there, most of which were pretty young. The drinking age in Austria is 16, can you believe that? They had a cover band there that played so decent music (Black Eyed Peas, Green Day, Pink, etc). After hanging out at the bar Konrad and I walked around for a little bit. Some people must have heard us speaking and caught wind that I was from America, that is where my local celebrity status comes in. All of a sudden a group of 5 people started talking to me, in English. They said that have met many people from England but never an American. They asked me many questions, such as how do I like Austria, where am I from, what am I doing here? This group of people probably hung out with me for about an hour and even bought me a drink. In the meantime 5 other people must have heard me talking in English and came up to me and started talking. They were really interested in me and what I had to say. Everything there was extremely nice and I had a lot of fun.

5th day

Well today was a very relaxing day. After breakfast I hung out with Gerlinde and the kids until lunch time. For lunch we had Apfelstudel as our main course. It was very good and didn't realize that it just wasn't a dessert. This afternoon I made Michael's day when I saw that Dora The Explorer was on at home. So I signed onto Slingbox and from 3 - 4 we watched Dora. It is one of his favorite shows. He didn't move the whole time.

After dinner Gerlinde, the children and I went to her mothers house. She needed to pick up milk from the cows and needed to pick plums. We were there for about an hour and a half.

Tomorrow they will drop me off at one of their friends house and we will go to Botanical Gardens in Linz. Their friend lived in the USA for a couple years so they know English pretty well.

Catch you on the flip side.

Day Number 4

After breakfast and lunch (for lunch I had Speckknödel (dumplings with pieces of bacon), this meal is popular in the Tyrol region in Austria) (editors correction, i had Spatzle a type of egg noodles and small dumplings found in the cuisine of Germany and regions of neighboring Austria) Gerlinde dropped me off in Freistadt. I was on a mission, a pez mission. And let me tell you this - mission accomplished. I bought a couple European Pez at the grocery store. I can go home a happy man now. After going to the grocery store I just walked around Freistadt for a little bit. After walking around I took the bus back to the house for the first time. It was really a piece of cake or shall I say strudel.

Once I returned to the house, Gerlinde, the children and I went to Michael's teachers house. Gunter and Gerlinde are really going out of their way to introduce me to a lot of their English speaking friends. The teacher has goats (which they use for milk and cheese), chickens and even 1 turkey. She lived in the USA for 3 years a long time ago. She worked herself across the country. She made chocolate muffins for us, they were good.

At 9pm, Gerlinde's sister, Ingrid (see pic above), her boyfriend, Konrad (see pic above), their friend Alex (he was the Austrian version of AI, Beth, Bev and mom know who I mean), and a coworker of Ingrid, Petra went out to a club in Linz called A1. It opens at 10 and closes at 4. We stayed until 2. It was a lot of fun there. Alcohol is definitely a lot more expensive in Austria. I drank Heineken and it cost 4.5euros which is about $6. Here is something different, we took a shot of tequila and instead of pouring salt on your hand they used cinnamon. Ingrid said you use cinnamon because it was a gold tequila. Maybe I'm just out of the loop when it comes to drinking. Conrad was drinking coke with white wine. I tasted it and it was pretty good. The club itself was made up of 3 rooms (2 music rooms and a bar). One end played (as the club described it) house, techno and black music. The other end played oldies, 80s, 90s and pop music (songs I heard in this room include: the twist, grease lighting, and surfing USA).