Good things and bad things...

Hmmmm this week I have realised several things. The first is that I took my life as an assistant last time for granted as I had it so easy in all of my schools. Also I took for granted where I lived. Also I took for granted that I did not stay still for long enough to think about missing anything (or anyone) in the UK. The other thing I have realised is that I probably think about my year abroad through rose tinted glasses, and that maybe this time I am not giving things enough time. I think I was kind of expecting things to be totally amazing from the start. This, unsurprisingly is not the case.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy here. There are just certain aspects of life here that could be better. For a start, I wish the Austrians would just stop smoking all over me. And stop barging past me in the shops, and getting onto public transport, and I wish they would generally stop being so rude. They're not all bad, but I can certainly tell a huge difference between the people here in Wienna and where I lived last time, in that they are much more friendly in the countryside.


Even though I have only been working for three weeks, I have got a favourite school already. The other one. Camillo Sitte is OK, but everything about Rennweg is just so much nicer. The teachers are friendlier, the students are more enthusiastic and interested and the coffee is better. None of the teachers at Camillo Sitte speak to me in the staffroom and they don't seem particularly helpful. Yesterday I went to school for the second lesson, which starts at 9.05. As I walked in the teacher said "Oh, Ruth, how nice of you to join us. Perhaps maybe next week you could try and make it on time". I was actually not late, she'd just misread my timetable. I really did not appreciate being told off in front of the class, it's just not on. Also, the students at this school do not make things easy. I understand that English is not their strongest subject and that they are not really interested in in but would it really be so much effort for them to participate? Especially when I'm trying to make things interesting and fun for them. It's so difficult to get them to speak in English, this is not helped by the fact that some of the teachers speak a lot of German with them, even in the English lessons. It just makes no sense to me!


Not all is bad though, some classes really enjoyed the game I played with them this week. So much so that the teacher has asked me to do a similar quiz for different topics. I was really glad to be off today and I've had so much fun. I met up with Abby and Stella and we went for lunch at Flanagan's Irish Pub (mmmmmm, real chips!) and then went shopping. We have two Halloween parties to go to, one of which is pirate themed, so we have to find two costumes. As a reward for all our hard work we decided to go for coffee and cake at Aida.

While we were there we realised that there are 28 branches of Aida in Wienna and at least this many types of cake so we are going to attempt to go to each one and have a different cake every time. Also we have started making travelling/celebrating plans. Between Austria/Britain/USA I'm pretty sure we'll be able to find something to celebrate every week!

That's all for now, Tschau!