Jet Lag is aw... ful. Awful.

This is a really long entry, I'll try and keep the next one shorter and with more pictures. But I also tried to keep it interesting.  So please read it, I spent a lot of time on it.


Guten Abend von Marchtrenk, Ober Österreich!


I began my journey on the wrong foot.  (Kind of like Marley was dead to begin with)Tuesday night, January 4, I stayed up playing games with my family thinking that my flight left at 10:55 the next morning.  I printed my itinerary at about 8:00pm but didn't bother to go get it from the printer until after midnight.  Lo and behold, my flight was leaving a 7:30am. Meaning we needed to leave about 5:30 meaning I needed to wake up at 4:30 and it was currently 1:00.  Yay me! I don't know how I had this confused for the last several weeks but... whatever.
I woke up after about 3 hours of sleep and finished my last little bit of packing.  I also finally cleaned out my trunk (these are of course, things that I thought I was going to have time to do in the morning).  And so we were off.  At SLC International everything went mostly smoothly, one of my bags was 5 pounds over, the other was 2 pounds over.  The guy at the check-in let the smaller one go and then let the larger one go at 3 pounds over, which was very nice of him, and I only had to take out 2 hand bags :)  The line for security was pretty ridiculous for a Wednesday morning my family stayed in line with me until we actually got up to the roped off cueing area. I got to the gate with plenty of time, there were no problems with my carry on luggage or as they say here "das handgepäck".


The flight to Chicago was uneventful, I sat next to the emergency exit so I had about an extra 14" of leg room which was nice, but it was also freezing! I was able to sleep for a couple of hours after I put both of my coats on.  I sat next to a delightful woman with awesome hair and a Cajun accent. I also had the window seat, so I was able to watch my mountains disappear from view.  There is nothing quite as beautiful as flying over the mountains.


 My layover in Chicago was also uneventful but I didn't sleep because of paranoia that my macbook might wander away.  So I watched Across the Universe (for the first time.  The music is great but the story was really lacking and the psychedelic bits were too obviously modern effects, so much that is was distracting.  A movie that I would buy the soundtrack to but am glad I torrented the film).  I sent out a few last text messages, my phone doesn't work here, and I decided to contact a friend that I hadn't heard from in a long time, that I guess I had almost given up on.  We never had a fight or anything but somehow, we just grew apart.  I got around to thinking that she didn't care to hear from me and I guess she got around to thinking I wouldn't care to see her either.  It probably would have been awkward if we'd both shown up at the same New Year's party, that type of situation.  But I'm glad I shot her a text, I know we won't ever be as close as we once were, but I couldn't imaging embarking on this adventure and her not knowing about it.


At this point I had to officially check my trombone, they didn't charge me for it though, so that was nice. My transatlantic flight left on time, I sat next to a little old West African man and to a very nice and friendly Israeli couple.  This may seem a little juvenile but I still get excited when I fly on a 747.  When you first walk in and you see a stairway on a plane! It get's me every time. Then you walk back through 3 sections and over a gigantic wing.  I sat in the middle section which wasn't great, the sweet West African man was flying with his daughter and her grandchildren (across the aisle) he spoke hardly any English and required a lot of assistance to get up and that sort of thing.  Luckily on my other side was this lovely Israeli couple, they were more than willing to stand up if I needed to get up and stretch my legs.  Unfortunately there was a short somewhere in my inflight headphones (possibly in the socket) so no in flight movies for me (which was too bad because I hadn't seen either of them and I would really have liked to they were Eat, Pray, Love and Life As We Know it, gotta love that Josh Duhamel) Instead I watched About A Boy on my computer (which just about nixed my battery).  I couldn't really sleep on this flight even though I was exhausted, there just honestly wasn't room and there was a 9ish year old kid sitting behind me with the feet up on the back of my seat.  The food was actually pretty good though, it was kind of a chicken (das Huhnfleisch) teriyaki with rice (der Reis) and vegetable (das gemüse) and a kind of Orzo salad, a brownie, a roll (ein Brötchen) and some cheese (der käse). I tried to dose off a bit with out much success.   After we landed (an hour late) I figured I had plenty of time to I allowed others to deplane before me because other people were clearly rushed.  Turns out I didn't have as much time as I thought I did, I walked briskly for about a mile through the Frankfurt airport, I had to change terminals and therefore go through security again, as I was leaving the first terminal I had to wait in line to get my passport stamped.  Security is different in every airport, for example I didn't have to take my shoes off at Frankfurt, but I did have to take my external hard drives out of my carry on... which I didn't know, and so my bag got flagged and I had to go wait in line to get my bag hand checked.  I stopped to buy a phone card so I could call my parents and when I go to the gate it was closed.  I had packed my watch and my phone no longer works so I guess I didn't really have a grasp of the time.  I had a bit of a meltdown, I said some words, then I said a prayer.  I think the second one was more beneficial.  After I finished bawling like a baby (mind you I was frustrated and sleep deprived) I went to the restroom, washed my face with cold water (to reduce blotchiness) then stood in line to get a transfer ticket.  Every time I explained what had happened, the person would look at me like I was some kind of idiot and say "An hour twenty minutes should have been plenty of time" I would again explain about getting my bag searched (which in hind sight was probably not such a good idea) really all I wanted them to do was tell me what I needed to do.  It turns out I didn't have to pay for my transfer and I even had my seat upgraded because there wasn't any economy on the next flight.  The service lady said I was very lucky and the words seemed to taste like vinegar coming out of her mouth.  The only real drawback to this experience was the fact that I now had to spend an extra 7 hours in the Frankfurt airport.  I tried to sleep on one of the benches but it was so uncomfortable and I was so paranoid about missing my flight again, that I got a total of maybe 2 hours of sleep.  

out the window on the last leg of my journey

I finally got on my plane, the people were especially friendly I felt (tender mercy or low expectations?) The steward that was demonstrating how to use the oxygen mask and where the exits were was a nice (or creepy) middle aged man that could tell I was exhausted (or was just creepy) and winked/smiled at me a couple of times.  The flight is only about an hour, I ordered my orange juice in German (Orangensaft) and thanked the stewardess for my Milka™ Schokolade (that's right no peanuts or stale pretzels, a full 40g of Swiss chocolate) and quickly fell asleep.  When I got off the plane my luggage was still on the carousel and the Reisingers were waiting for me (they had come to pick me up earlier and were able to find out that I'd been booked on a later flight, also my father had sent them an e-mail and a message on Skype. Luckily it's only about a 15 minute drive and the 6th is an official holiday [Drei Königens Tag] so it wasn't too off putting for them.)  They are wonderful people and the girls, Melina and Emilie are really, really sweet.  We drove to the house, Thomas carried my bags in and they did everything they could to make sure I was comfortable.  I unpacked my things and fell directly to sleep.


I was awakened the next morning by Thomas telling the girls not to come wake me up.  That is real irony, not the Alanis type.  After a rather large breakfast we went into Pasching (a neighboring town) to go to the mall, I needed an adapter for my MacBook power block and some winter boots also Thomas needed to get his phone fixed.  The parking complex was really cool! I know what you're thinking... Psh parking complexes. But wait! Above every parking stall, at the back, is a little light.  Red if it's full Green if it's open.  No I am not so easily amused, think of the benefits, you can tell from the end of a row whether or not you should bother driving down it. It saves tons of time, ALSO you never have to be deceived by the SHORT CAR!  It's really quite brilliant.  Now you're going to find yourself wishing that  your local shopping mall was as advanced and conscientious as PlusCity!


We went first to drop off our coats in a neat automated locker area, you put your password into a kiosk and then select the locker you want to use and it opens it. Very cool.  On to mcworld to get my adapter, then up to Humaniacs to get my boots.  I'm a size 40 in European sizes (which make way more sense then American sizes and also they are standardized) I got some kind of puffy white moon style boots that come all the way to my knew and are comfortable, flexible and easy to walk in, albeit not really my style, but no one here knows that they're not my style, I can be whomever I want to be.  They're pretty cute I guess und sehr preiswert! (it means they're a good value).  On an semiunrelated side note, they have a pretend spaceship with game consoles in it so kids can play while their parents shop.


We then dropped off Thomas's phone with the "crazy phone gangstas" his words not mine.  Maria wanted to look at coffee tables for the living room, I kind of followed the girls around while Thomas rolled his eyes at Maria.  When Maria decided there wasn't anything there that she liked, Thomas said to me "let's hurry out before she spends all the money".  Couple dynamics are pretty much the same everywhere.  We then went to have lunch in what we would call the food court, but you will not find anything like a Chick Fil-a or Hot Dog on a Stick here, we had Turkish food, there was also Mongolian BBQ and the like, but every shop has it's own seating and theme and such.  Also a lot of people smoke here.  People can smoke inside, however, if they want to they have to go sit in a big plexiglass box.  They also serve alcohol in this box and have tables, so it's more like a bar (every where but Utah, where people can't even smoke in bars)  But the boxes are sponsored by cigarette companies.



Also the advertising is very different.  At least from Utah,  The entire mall is like a Victoria Secret window.  Best way to sell shoes? Naked people wearing shoes.  Best way to sell books, naked people reading books.  This may be some what an exaggeration but you get the idea.  Also, models in pictures smile here, every one always looks like they're having fun.  It's an interesting and different world.  After lunch we went to Check on Thomas' phone, they said another half an hour.  So we went and dropped the girls off at a day care that's in the mall.  It's free... I guess the part of the revenue from rent goes towards funding this child care.  It's basically a giant play house, it also has a mini movie theater.  I guess the idea is that grownups will spend more money if they aren't in a rush to get out with the children.  You can leave them but you have to check on them every hour.  If they had something like that in Utah, it could not be free, there are just too many children.  We then went to an Italian coffee place in the mall.  I had an Italian soda.  Maria and I went to get the girls while Thomas checked on his phone (which was still not ready, he ended up having to leave it over night).  Then back to the car and back into Marchtrenk, Thomas drove the scenic route so that I could see a bit of the country side, I saw my first glimpse of the Alps as the clouds had cleared a little by this point.  The Wasatch look like the Appalachians in comparison.  We drove through the center of Marchtrenk and the Thomas pointed out the "scary pubs" that attract the "crazy people" I went to the bank and changed my money all by my self.  I spoke English.  They had to find someone that knew how to do traveler's cheques.  ps. Traveler's cheques are a really dumb way of moving money from one country to another.  I should have left my money in my checking account and just used the ATM's.  You can't use cheques anywhere, not even at the airport, people are more likely to take a USD before a cheque.  So remember this for future international travel.  We then went back to the house.  I took a nap (jet lag :P) and woke up at about 5:00 when some friends had come over with their children for fondue (and booze)  I got to speak a little German with them but mostly English.  The drunker Phillip got the less English he spoke and the less like German his German sounded (Austrian German is very different from Hoch Deutsch, the words are the same but they certainly don't sound the same, it's like speaking German through a mouth full of oatmeal.)  It was a pretty fun. So far the food has not been an issue, but I think I'll start pretending like I haven't heard of the German/Austrian foods so they can have the excitement of introducing me to new foods.  I feel like I'm robbing them every time I say I've had something before.

imagine this little boy speaking very fast German without swallowing his oatmeal first.  That is Austrian german.

Saturday I went on my first planned adventure.  Thomas drove me to the train station (der Bahnhof) so that would know where it was (it's about 15 minutes walking from the house.) Then he drove me into Wels to see where I would get off the train then we drove and found my church.  Then he dropped me off with a train schedule and a map of Wels at the Wels train station.  I then walked to my church (learning by doing) and walked to a grocery store called Billa, I bought some tooth paste and such.  Then I just kind wandered around Wels, it's a beautiful old city originally established by the Romans.  There is still a wall and the ruins of a tower from the 14th century (for a brief history see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wels )  There's also a 16th century church and a small castle as well as a great walking district with shops, it's really a great town.  Pop. 65,000.  I then made my way back to the train station.  On my way back a creepy/or nice guy started talking to me (in English) I must have looked very touristy standing on a street corner with my map and my Wörterbuch. He was probably 40 something and he asked me for my number (which I don't have yet) and offered to buy me a coffee.  I politely declined and got on my way.  I got home feeling rather proud of my successes on the train and navigating a city that isn't structured on "the Grid"  As I was walking around I kept thinking "I can't believe I live here, but also an incredible sense of belonging (despite my lack of German skill)  There are very few experiences in my life where I have felt this right about what I was doing.  It's an incredible feeling.


Sunday I woke up and it was foggy and misty (and I was running a bit late) so Thomas drove me to the train and I took the train into Wels for church (die Kirche).  My ward (das Gemeinde) is very small, I estimated about 60 people.  I got there about 20 minutes early because of the train schedule and the first person I ran into was the Relief Society President (I think) Schwester Brigitte Schmidl and then Bischof Peter Lehmann.  After a very brief tour of the very small church house, I helped set up the chairs in the RS room. As each sister came in the introduced themselves to me and I introduced myself in (very 8th grade style) German.  "Ich bin die Bethany Brinton, ich bin Amerikanerin, ich komme aus Salt Lake City (at this point their eyes would light up with understanding) ich bin Au Pair Mädchen bei die Familie Reisinger in Marchtrenk.  Ich komme nach Österreich lezten Donnerstag (this should say "Ich kam nach") Ich bleibe für ein Jahr.


One really wonderful thing about the church is that the hymns are basically the same every where.  When Sister Lehmann came in and started playing prelude music I was overcome with not so much the Spirit of God but the spirit of community that occurs in the Church, so I guess that's also the Spirit of God.  I really didn't understand much of what was said, and it was all a little overwhelming but when I would actually hear a single word (the words all run together here, people speak so quickly and also with the Oatmeal) I would look it up and write it down in my little notebook.  I have my english scriptures, and an english Sunday School study guide, but my RS manual is in german.  Luckily the names of the books look pretty much the same so I could read the scriptures that are in the lesson.  We had lesson 23 on the Sacrament/Last Supper.  Afterwards a girl my age (Hannah Fuchs) came and spoke to me in about 2:1 english:german she invited me out to institute and made sure that I knew where I was going.  There is also a YSA group here.  And they call it YSA not junge unverheiratet Erwachsene.  It's kind of impossible to fall through the cracks here.  If you show up to church once the ward is like a spider on a fly, or alligator, once they've got you they don't let go.  And of course I use those similes in a very endearing way.  It was nice it felt like a very sincere (if not strangulating) hug. Sunday School was about John the Baptist just like for the rest of you I'm sure.  Austrians use a lot of gestures, the teacher kept abruptly putting his hands up in a wide "field goal good" kind of gesture to help punctuate his statements, they didn't help me understand any better. 


In sacrament meeting I didn't really understand anything, but again the music was very comforting, the musical number was Lead Kindly Light a kind of Violin (die Geige) flute (die Flöte) piano (das Klavier) and vocal number it was really beautiful, Hannah Fuchs participated in this.  I don't know how accurate the german translation is but in english, the second line of the first verse is "The night is dark, and I am far from home. Lead thou me on." and I lost it a little bit at this, my eyes welled up and I sniffled a little bit.  I recovered quickly.  After church Sister Schmidl invited me over for Mittagessen (lunch which is the largest meal of the day here) with her and her husband, another couple and there son, and a single mother Maria Auer and her son Valentio.  The Schmidls live out in the country side between Wels and Marchtrenk in an old Bauerhaus (farm house) built circa 1930.  Their son Oliver and his wife Rafaela (primary president) and their 4 children live in a separate section of the house.  I spoke as much german with all of them as I could and they spoke some english, but this was my first real experience speaking conversational german here.  They spoke slowly and would help me with words and grammar, they are pretty great people.  Some how it came up during lunch that I play the piano, Maria Auer said she would have to tell Rafaela... and they don't currently have a primary pianist so there may be a calling in my near future... oops. I should have kept my mouth shut.  I was at the Schmidts' for most of the afternoon and then Maria Auer gave me a ride back into Marchtrenk so I wouldn't have to take the train.


And that is the not so brief story of my first four days of this newest adventure.


Love you all, 
Blants

Ready or not, here I come...

I really started this blog because I had some life changes in the works.  Well today, one of them became more or less official.  For the past few weeks I have been looking into becoming a nanny in Europe.  It may seem a little random and sudden, and quite honestly it is. 

I was talking via the facebook to my friend Meredith Morse.  She is currently living in Geneva Switzerland with a cute little family.  I started talking to her about what was going on here in the States.  I had just seen Inception, she told me that she hadn't been able to find it in English yet.  Clearly I recommended she not see it until she could see it in English because any distraction (subtitles, or the actors lips moving differently than the French audio) would be detrimental to her viewing experience.  I told her I'd send her a copy when it came out on DVD.  She threw out "or you could bring it when you come visit me" as one of those kind-of-a-joke-but-more-like-a-guilt-trip jokes.  I told her I clearly would not have the money for that considering my dismal job situation.  She recommended I do what she's doing.  I looked at the website and made a profile as kind of a long game super back up plan. 

The next day I received 2 e-mails alerting me of people that were interested in me.  One of these families was Maria and Thomas Reisinger of Marchtrenk, Austria.  We exchanged a few e-mails, discussed setting up a Skype interview.  Then I didn't hear from them for awhile, I talked with other families, some pretty seriously.  Eventually I said "alright, if I don't hear back from Maria by September 24th I'll go with the family in Dusseldorf"  Well I checked my e-mail that day, and low and behold, an e-mail from Maria.  At this point I had basically made my mind up about going with another family.  Suddenly I had a decision to make.  But it's funny how things just fall into place.  Right after I talked to Maria on Skype (last Sunday) I e-mailed Nina and told her about my situation and that if she were serious, we needed to formalize it.  She e-mailed me back the next day saying that they'd found someone that was already living in their town and they were going to go with her, blah blah blah.  I was a little bummed, but also glad that I didn't have to choose between two good things.

I talked to Maria and her Husband today, they are really funny people.  We both felt good about each other and they officially invited me to come work with them.  And so after all of the families that I've been in communication with over the last month, I ended up with the first family.  It feels right.  The timing is good, it's after Christmas and after my sister has her baby.  It's just right.  For the first time since I graduated in May I feel like I'm doing what the universe wants me to do.  Even when I was looking for teaching jobs and filling out a million applications and going to interviews, none of it felt comfortable.  I know life isn't supposed to be comfortable and that change is good etc.  However, your life decisions shouldn't make you feel uneasy.  I feel totally easy.  As in the opposite of uneasy not as in... well easy. You know what I mean.