Schnitzel and swimming

JUL. 4

I woke up at 4:30am and happened to see the beautiful sunrise over Linz, so I snagged some pictures. The next time I woke up, Peter was sayin

g, "Emma, Emma. You want to wake up now? Because the boys are going to over to my father's in half an hour and you come with?" It was 11am. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I assured him I was getting up and I would be coming.

The meal Peter's father cooked was delicious. It's striking, the impression these Linz people make; I can't remember his name, but Peter's father is the most congenial man. He greeted me smiling and said, hello, my name you will hear a lot of times again. Or something like that. He was wearing a button up dress tshirt, a shef's apron, and a speedo. That's another thing- people here are always much more formally dressed than we are (well I mean except the speedo, because it was hot out and evidently he'd been tanning or swimming).

For lunch we had schnitzel. In this case, that was pork patties fried in batter, kind of like fried chicken or something but much better and less greasy. We also had seasoned lettuce salad with vinegar, corn, and seeds of some kind. And little round, oiled and seasoned potatoes. YUM. Wondervall, as I told him.

I was too full to finish. But, a little while later, when he asked if I wanted ice cream, I couldn't refuse. And I'm glad I didn't- chocolate ice cream cake sort of thing with strawberry ice cream and lots of strawberries. I only wish I'd taken a picture.

Peter's father and mother (his mother spoke only German. Luckily I can say "ya" and "danke, danke schün") had to go somewhere, leaving Konstantine, me, and Manuel to lounge around and eventually go swimming in the pool. Haha of course we only swam for about 5-10 minutes and layed in the sun the rest of the time. Ahhhhh. But then a storm came out of nowhere and it began to rain, so we went home. The storm blew through. Meanwhile, Konstantine and I watched Wimbledon/Monsters Inc. and the storm went away.

I think we are having dinner in a while, and I don't know what we're doing after that. But the storm has cleared and again it's beautiful. In the distance, behind the city, you can see the beginning of the Alps.

LATER...

Güten abent/ gütenacht. If you are good at math, you will realize that it is 2:14am here. I know I ought to be sleeping, but the heat is more than at home, and it is really morning in our time, so I just can't sleep. The computer is right across the hall and will not disturb anyone, so I thought I'd pass the time until I feel more tired.

This evening, I sat in the yard and read my required college reading. I also listened to the neighbours and passer-bys speaking. It's easy to love these people, laughing and enjoying the weather.

After Peter and Konstantine returned from driving practice (Konstantine has his final driving practice, sort of like behind-the-wheel, tomorrow), we had cheddarwurst for dinner. Then, Christa and Konstantine and I watched a movie in the family's home theater that Peter built himself. Konstantine made me choose the movie (even though I had no idea what to choose, and really didn't care); I picked "Wall-E." I guess it is one of his favorite movies, so I chose well. Then we were off to bed, because they still have school here and tomorrow Konstantine has to go by eight. Christa doesn't have to go until 5:30 pm, when they are beginning an end-of-school overnight party with the children and she is chaperoning.

That is all I can think of, for now. Tchüß.

the first day in Linz

JUL. 3

I was hardly fazed at the new day at first, but by the afternoon it caught up to me.

First, I arrived and toured the house. I will certainly need to post some pictures, because it is a gorgeous house like out of a story. After that, Peter, Christa, Konstantine and I had tea. (Christa is the mom, Peter the da, Konstantine is 17. Manuel was not there, but he is 19). Konstantine had a tennis tournament that afternoon, so Christa and I walked around Linz. Everything was so new

that I did a lot of staring.

Linz has many shops like ours. It has a lot of very nice, contemporary clothing, which made me think that it is a tourist town, but Christa says it is mostly industrial. I guess they just like to shop. There are multiple castles and cathedrals. I

saw both the 'new' and 'old' cathedral (so called, even though both are pretty old).

the left is the new and the right is the old church. in the foreground is a miniature replica of Linz when it was younger.

Then, we drove up the 'hill' to a touristic, children's trainride about the Austrian folktales. Christa says they take all their guests there. The train was a dragon that rode around and we saw lit-up models of dwarves stillframed as scenes

from the tales.

This is one of their rabbits. Apparently they just depict poor sick rabbits that the nice dwarves take care of. It seemed sort of creepy to me.

Finally, I went with Christa at 6 (oh, after a delicious dinner of pork, beans and lettuce with us two) to the Catholic school where she works. There was an exhibition of an famous

abstract artist, and the children had done a mimic gallery that exhibited beforehand. There was a phenomenol twelve year old pianist who could've showed up anyone I know in a second. The paintings, also, were very deep. I was surprised how much graphic nature and intense themes

they allowed the children to include, but it was very good to see the expression they put into their work. After touring the gallery, there was an opening ceremony. I regret to admit that I was nodding off, partly because everything was in German, and partly because I was very tired, having been awake for over 24 hours. At last, we went home and I slept. And slept. And slept...

This was my favorite childrens' painting at the exhibit. I'm not sure what it meant, but the empty

room and bed and cowering figures were just striking.

Flight

Hallo! I don't speak much German, and imagine that, it's the main language spoken here. I get along well by smiling and nodding though. And many people do speak English.

My flight connections all went very well. First, I flew from Minneapolis to Toronto. I met a girl who is studying Archaelogy and was flying to Israel. It was cool because, after unboarding, easily finding my gate, and exchanging some American $ for Canadian $, I went to eat at the

Toronto food court ^

found court and saw her there. So we passed a good three quarters of an hour talking (she is in Chicago, but grew up in Minneapolis, so we had a lot to talk about). It was at Toronto that I began noticing all the German-speakers.

At Frankfurt, the connection was almost even easier, even though I had to get another boarding pass. I was concerned about my luggage, but turns out it transferred too, and I guess it said that right on my luggage pass that listed the luggage destinations. In Frankfurt, all the checkins were electronic, which

scared me a little. However, you only have to scan in your passport and type your flight details in and, voila, a perfect boarding pass prints out. Then, I spent my first Euros on an overpriced and disgusting fruit drink.

At Linz, everyone spoke German. I waited for my luggage, and talked briefly to a girl returning from a Rotary trip to Australia. Once I had that, I went outside and Christa was waiting for me.

Germany/ Austria from the sky

Here is my luggage (or "baggage" as the airline calls it) to get me through one month of travel and adventure. How does it all fit?

Mom and I will be staying in Minneapolis tonight and my flight goes out at 11am sharp tomorrow. Not sure when I'll be able to get to a computer next, maybe in an airport during one of my layovers.

See ya!

Preparations- I'm going to Austria!!

This summer, I will be traveling to Austria through the Lions' International Youth Exchange Program, fondly known as YEP.

My plane will depart on July 2nd, and I will return again July 31. In between then, I will stay with a host family for two weeks and then attend a camp called "The Sound of Music" for two weeks. In the camp, participants from around the world will sing and play music together and explore Austria, the setting for the movie "The Sound of Music."

I will try to keep you posted on all my adventures, so you can [almost] feel like you are here with me! Enjoy!