Updatings

Hello lovely people! I thought it was time to write again and fill you in on the daily goings on of a wannabe Wienerin. So, did I mention that I have now moved out of the totally amazing flat which I had all to myself and into the other flat? I don't think I did, so now you know. It is a really nice flat, but my bedroom is smaller, the bed is smaller and I am sharing with my flatmate and her boyfriend (I don't know how long he's going to be here, he may have to go back to Nigeria for a year) Anyway, here are some pictures...

So yeah, I am all unpacked properly (or as properly as I will ever be!) and have all my things up on the wall. I especially love the one Spaddock made for me (see above) though it kind of makes me a bit sad that my time here is already going so fast! Either way it is a much appreciated reminder of home.

What else is there to update? Errrrrr... This week I started working at my other school properly. Even though I've only done two days I really like it there, more than at the other school I think. The teachers are so nice. The English teachers have their own staffroom and it is totally brilliant because there is always cake or chocolate. Today it was Guglhupf. Think I will take some mince pies in when it's Christmas. Maybe I'll even MAKE THEM. Oh actually on second thoughts I probably won't because my spare time seems to be very full of doing nothing at the moment. I am really enjoying working with classes of all boys so far, they all seem much more up for a laugh. I got them to make name cards so I didn't have to just point at them. One kid insisted that his name was Stormtrooper. None of them seem to be able to get their heads around why I've chosen to come back to Austria. And when they ask what I don't like about Austria and I say Sundays they look at me in a very bemused fashion. So far I have only got the giggles uncontrollably once and I felt very bad.

Me: Do you like English?

Student: *Silence*

Teacher: Hey, Ruth just asked you a question! DO YOU LIKE ENGLISH?!

Student: Oh yes, very much. Music has been my passion for many years. I always listen to music the whole time when I am driving with the bus or writing my homework or such things. I am playing the guitar since 10 years and the drums since I was 12 years old. I like it because I can express my emotions through it and there are so many different types of music, there is something comfortable for everybody.

Me: (through my giggles) Well that's very interesting, but how do you feel about English?

Then I felt really bad because the rest of the class laughed at him. My bad. Oh, and I had another very funny lesson talking about the internet with a 3rd year class. We were talking about advantages and disadvantages and one boy shouted out "Chat Roulette!" So I wrote it on the board and then this boy and I spent about ten minutes trying to explain to this teacher (who is around 60 I would say) why she shouldn't go on the site "just to see what it's about". The only thing I don't really like so far about this school is having to get up so early to be there in time for my first lesson but this is not an insurmountable problem, just means I should probably not stay up watching The Joy of Painting (new favourite programme) so late.

What else... oh yes, things that I am not particularly impressed with in Austria: bureaucracy. I had to faff around yesterday going from one school to the bank to the other school because of the Austrian obsession with signatures and stamps. The bank didn't stamp or sign a piece of paper to say I'd opened my account and without this apparently I wouldn't get paid. Why school couldn't tell me this when I first took the form in I don't know. Oh, another thing is the postal system. Karin just told me that according to a new report, the Austrian Post is the fastest in the world. I think this is A HUGE LIE. Unless they are referring to post sent within the country, because my parents sent me something over a week ago and someone else sent me a parcel last week too and I have received neither. Boo hiss.

One last thing... I just found out that I have the week after next off! So I guess I need to find somewhere to go. First I thought about going back to the UK for a couple of days but then I thought there was probably not much point as I'll be back in December anyway. Most flights are pretty expensive now so I will probably get the train somewhere like Hungary or Czech Republic and do some exploring .Whether anyone will be up for coming with me, who knows! Watch this space!

TTFN dudes!