A Bureaucratic Nightmare and A Moment's Hesitation

Considering that this week was a Bad School week, it has actually been surprisingly good. This possibly has something to do with the fact that one of my worst classes was away on their ski trip but nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to have almost enjoyed going into work. Turns out the lesson I did about Jamie Oliver and school dinners using this article provoked quite a reaction and a lot of discussion which I really wasn't expecting. I also got to meet a couple of new classes as I offered to make up the hours I was missing because of the ski trip which made a nice change because I usually only see the same people every fortnight. Hopefully things have turned a corner. In fact, I was so taken aback by how much better things have been going, I almost made a very big decision on impulse. I was sitting in the staffroom, minding my own business when my Betreuungslehrerin came over and said "Hi Ruth, what are you doing next year? Would you like to stay another year? If you like I can just put your name down on this form and it would all be sorted." Well, she kind of caught me off guard. I thought "Wow, things are really not that bad and I do actually quite like Wienna at the moment, what would be the harm in saying yes?!" So I actually hesitated! Then I remembered how much moaning I have done about everything and thought better of it so thanked her very kindly for the offer but said that I was planning to return to the UK to do... something. Anything (barring Toys R Us)!

In other news, I finally decided to go and sort out what I hope is the last bit of stupid paperwork that is necessary for living in this country. Some of you may remember that when I lived in Bischofshofen I was hunted down by the police and ordered to either pay a 50 Euro fine or spend 18 hours in prison. Why? Because I didn't fill a form in. Yes, seriously. Despite this whole charade causing much hilarity amongst my friends, I decided that I couldn't be bothered with the faff again this year and that I would just sort out the paperwork. If there is one thing the Austrians love (apart from racism and miniature dogs), it's forms. Oh, and inconvenient opening times. Of course, the office I needed to go is only open from 8-12 which just so happen to be the hours I work pretty much every day. I had Wednesday off but that's when they're closed all day. Luckily, for the convenience of everyone they are open for an EXTRA 2 hours a week- from 3.30-5.30 on a Thursday. This was when we, and what appeared to be the majority of the migrant population of Vienna decided to go and sort ourselves out. After trekking down the longest road I have ever seen, we got to the Magistrat. Stella and I joined the back of the queue, which was well over 100 people long before the office even opened. It actually moved pretty quickly and as EU citizens, we had to do a lot less messing about. First we joined a queue to photocopy our documents. Then we joined the queue to speak to someone. Next we had to leave the queue to fill in a form and then join the back of the queue again. After quite a wait I got to the front, only to be told that I had to photocopy something else. Obviously the queue to use the copier was huge, and by the time I got to the front it had broken. So I had to fix it. I finally got back to the desk and the lady stamped everything and told me I had to pay 30 Euros. Somewhere along the way I had bumped into another assistant so I decided to wait for her. She was not told to pay for anything, so she questioned it saying that I had had to pay. This woman was very rude to me, telling me I should have mentioned that I am only here until the end of May. Luckily, the other lady who had served me overheard the conversation and ripped up the form and told me it was "erledigt" (don't know what this is in English!). So, after all that faff I had basically wasted an entire afternoon and got my blood pressure up for nothing!

Other things that have amused me in Vienna this week: the street artists seem to be back after a break over the festive season. My favourite from this week was by Stephansdom, an old man wearing neon lycra and a neon headband pretending to play a tennis racquet as a guitar along to either the Klaxons or Hadouken, I couldn't tell because it was turned down low. V funny. Another thing is that three people have talked to me on public transport this week, just because I was reading. They have all commented on how unusual it is and how nice to see. For all they are a bunch of miserys, sometimes the Wiennese are not all that bad. I cannot believe I just said that so I think I had better go and have a lie down. Goodbye.