Once Upon A Dream

Nothing makes you feel like you're getting old more than being asked to DJ a YM/YW dance and then having to be the censor when the kids request something.  I actually had to look up popular music from the last 2 years.  I kept saying things like "I have no idea what the kids listen to these days."  The YM/YW were supposed to submit their playlists to the Bishop for approval.  Neither group was able to complete this task in a timely manner and so I was recommended by Hannah to her mother the YW president as someone who has a lot of music.  Hannah then asked me if my computer could be made available to host all of the music.  I of course obliged and offered to put together a playlist myself.  But then I realized that I'm out of the loop as far as top 40's are concerned, I don't know what is considered appropriate.  Since foul language is defined by the culture, I didn't know which culture was defining the foul language.  So I got together with Hannah a couple of nights before the dance (I torrented the Billboard top 100 from 2010 and 2009 and listened/read through each song.  More than half of it was either deemed inappropriate by my somewhat low standards of propriety or it was just garbage that I refused to promote) and weeded out another 10%.  I filled out the time with some of my favorite anthems.  

Hannah and me spinnin some sweet mixes...

I felt pretty confident in my music selection being appropriate and hip to the groove of today's youth.  At the dance I had the assistance of Benjamin, one of the young men in the ward.  He had his computer and after reading a few more lyric sheets I approved a few of his tunes.  He has a pretty good taste in American music for an Austrian kid.  It took some reassurance to the kiddies that I'm really not too much older than they are and I have impeccable taste in music, popular and otherwise.  At one point the bishop asked me if I could play something a little more danceable... he also checked on my list and me at the beginning of the dance.  The whole time I was a little paranoid that something on my list would not be exactly church appropriate, despite my meticulous and painful check and double checks.  Things there wrapped up pretty nicely.  I had a set play list but adjusted it according to request and crowd reaction to any given song.  I actually ended up having quite a lot of fun.  Not that I really care if the kids think I'm cool, but it sure would help me feel a bit more my age.  I remember being their age and thinking the YSA were the coolest ever.  Well I'm a YSA and an auslanderin (foreigner), I should be a dead ringer.  Sister Fuchs took me home so that I could get a good night sleep before my pending adventure.

Saturday morning I woke up and printed my maps and called a couple of hostels to check on availability.  I packed my bag and prettied myself and set out for the train station.  I made it in plenty of time on a beautiful, sunshiny albeit windy morning. My train was a little late and so I had to hurry to my connection.  When the RailJet arrived it was already packed!  And there were a ton of people waiting on the platform.  This was my first experience with the fact that buying a ticket does not guarantee you a seat on a train.  You don’t have a reserved place, or even a reserved train, when you purchase a ticket, you are purchasing the service of being transported from one place to another.  A faster train doesn’t cost more. A shorter route doesn’t cost less.  

You win some, you lose some.  Unpleasant life experience? Check.

And so, I ended up sitting in the space between cars.  On a RailJet the cars have one long compartment and at either end is an entrance from the platform or a WC.  The cars are connected by those rubber accordion thingys.  I sat on the floor leaning against someone’s baby stroller for the entire journey as there were no stops between Linz and Vienna.  I could have waited for the next train from Linz, I certainly had time, but I would have been waiting at least an hour at the Linz train station, which is not exactly the coolest place to hang out when I could be wandering around Vienna.  And so I endured; cramped legs and sleepy feet, people needing to get past me or step over me, all for the sake of Ben.  When I did finally get to Vienna I walked to the hostel at which I stayed last time and checked in, I set up my bed locked up my belongings and went out on an adventure/search for torte and AA batteries.  This led me around around the Rathouse and Bergtheater.  I found cake (ich hatte Torte gefunden) at Cafe Landtmann which is adjacent to the Bergtheater. 

Bergtheater

Rathaus

The Cafe is almost 140 years old and was a favorite haunt of Sigmund Freud's and of Gustav Mahler's.  And the torte was amazing of course I forget what it was called but it was something like Wienerkirsch Torte or Mozart Kirsche Torte at any rate it had cherries (Kirschen) and was delicious.  The the hot chocolate is served with a glass of water on the side because it is so rich and you'd never be able to finish it without water.  I continued my journey by wandering through the museum district and the Volksgarten and out away from the touristy Dr. Karl-Renner Ring.  As I was walking through the Museumsquartier on an upper walkway I looked down into one of the loading areas and lo and behold 

A TOUR BUS!  BEN'S TOUR BUS!  At least at that point I only thought it was (it turned out I was correct) and I made a mental note to return later that evening.  I went in search of batteries, I couldn't find a drug store and I wasn't willing to pay what they'd be asking at a souvenir shop so I got back on the subway went back to Gumpfendorfer Straße where I could find a drug store only to find what I had forgotten, that drug stores and grocery stores and many and most other stores close at 6 pm.  The only things that are open are restaurants, cafes and tobacco shops.  So I got my batteries at a tobacco shop in the subway station and high tailed it back to the MQ.  As much as I enjoy going to concerts at bars and clubs it really is nice to attend at a venue that has a coat check and restrooms that you're not weary to enter.  I was about the 3rd person into the venue shortly afterward I heard a couple of girls speaking english, and not the way Austrians speak english but the way the English speak english.  Alice and Lizzy are from London and Bristol respectively but are currently studying at the British School in Rome.  Ben wasn't playing any shows in Italy and so they made the trip up to Vienna.  They're super cool girls.  For some reason they didn't have a camera with them, I don't remember what the reason was but I offered to e-mail them my pictures and thus a fast friendship was born.  Concerts are always more fun when you're with someone that is equally excited about the show.

The opening act was a Australian chick named Kate Miller-Heidke.  And to put it briefly, she's brilliant.  She's like a mix of Regina Spektor, Lily Allen and Kristin Chenoweth (specifically "The Girl in 14G") she was accompanied by her husband/guitarist.  She's a little folk, a little pop and a little opera.  Her studio recordings are more similar to Lily Allen as far as instrumentation is concerned.  But seriously, look her up because she rocks. 

Me Alice and Lizzy in between sets, that's Ben's piano behind us

From the moment Ben came on the stage I knew it was going to be an extraordinary evening.  Standing on the front row, dead in the middle of the stage I could see his face (as he plays standing most of the time) When I saw him the first and second times I was quite far back, at House Of Blues I was stage right so I could see his hands, with the Utah Symphony I was seated and so this was really my first time from this vantage point.  Best place in the house as far as the whole concert experience is concerned.  They opened with Levi Johnston's Blues which got every one in a sing along mood.  Ben isn't much for talking on stage but when he talked about writing "Lonely Avenue" with Nick Hornby his face lit up like he was talking about meeting one of his favorite celebrities.  

It's kind of traditional for Ben Folds to play a cover song on each tour.  Ben talked about how the way this cover song was chosen was something of a crap shoot.  The guys got on iTunes, and picked the single that was #1 at that very point in time.  I groaned.  I don't exactly have the greatest faith in the American music consumer.  Next he mentioned that is was a Ke$ha cover I groaned an audible expletive.  Ben pointed at me and said "she's my friend" and told us that the #1 song of that moment was "Sleazy" and it was replaced as #1 17 minutes later by another Ke$ha song.  Ben went on to ask who of us are students of music. A good number of people raised their hands.  Ben explained that he had reharmonized and remelodized "Sleazy" but because the lyrics are classic he left them alone.  Then it started.  And Ben began to dance as only a middle aged, white boy from North Carolina can.  That performance is a testament to his brilliance as a musician and entertainer.  

This was Ben's first performance ever in Austria.  As such, many of the fans didn't know the little audience participation bits and so I was the pinch hitter.  When Ben was doing his solo stuff it was me that called for his classic improv number (he doesn't always play it when it's requested, but when he does it's in a new style, with new lyrics and new chords.  Only one line of lyrics is maintained) This time, he started singing about the time he spent as a foreign exchange student in Vienna and then started using German words that he remembered.  He finished it off with a story about riding the U4 (subway line 4) and a little old lady on the platform with a very powerful dog with a muzzle on.  The dog got loose, jumped in to the pit and "the American and that's me (Ben) decided to be Superman" he jumped into the pit chased the dog and heard the little old lady, who had up to this point said nothing, yell ER KOMMT! (It's coming!) he heard the whistle, no one tried to help him with the dog or to get out of the pit.  But as it turns out they were both fine and Ben saved the day.  But he "got dirt on [his] shirt that [he] had to wear all day".  It was a great tune, my favorite version that I've heard to date.

When the band joined Ben back on stage they continued to rock the house and the Suburbs.

Ben Rockin the Suburbs.  He left his keytar at home I guess, so he improvised.

Ben has a new bass player these days (since about October I think he said) his name is Ryan.  And he totally killed the bass solo at the end of Rockin' the Suburbs ("killed" in the rock and roll sense of the word)

He's an incredibly talented youngish man even if his stage presence left something to be desired.  But then I guess that's pretty normal for a bass player. Oh also he's very attractive.

They ended the set with Not The Same, the song about the guy that climbed up a tree on acid at a party and the next morning came down a born again Christian.  After a quick harmony lesson we were off.  As the band  took their leave, Ben came along the front of the stage (don't worry he didn't fall off) and shook our hands and not the way you shake hands at the end of your soccer games when you're 8 years old, but real true two handed shakes.  After about one beer's time of the crowd calling for an encore, they came back on stage; but instead of crossing the front of the stage to the piano, Ben crossed to the auxiliary percussion area.  Aux. perc. guy (Tambourine Man) sat down at the kit.  Ryan strapped into his bass and Sam stood at the keyboards.  And a jam session commenced. 

Ben was a percussion performance major at the University of Miami

They then kicked off "Philosophy" which was the first Ben Folds Five song I ever heard way back in 1998.  It is still one of my favorite songs.  Especially the part where the background vocals say "My Phil" and Ben sings "keeps me walkin' when I'm fallin' down" and the band sings "aaaaaah-sooooooh-pheeeee".  I get a kick out of it every time.  It's very clever.  The harmonies are super tight and the piano intro is delightful, and there's nothing quite like a well placed (well tuned) falsetto, of which Ben is the Master.  

The finished the night officially with "Underground" another personal favorite (but let's be completely honest, there aren't many songs [ok any songs] by Ben that I skip on the ole iPod) but this song is one from my early days of fandom.  It's an anthem of sorts.  For those of you familiar with the live NBP recording of this song, I managed that bit of audience participation as well.  This song reminds me of Crazy Uncle Joe.  This song and "Closing Time" by Semisonic, get us to halt a conversation, crank the volume and sing along as loud as we can, and then pick up the conversation where we left off.

When the guys left the stage for real, the roadie came out and started cleaning up.  Part of this process includes removing set lists from the different areas of the stage, five in total.  Well I just happened to get one.  A random 40something Austrian guy came and asked if he could take a picture of it.  He told me that I was the most deserving of it and that I knew when to do everything.  He basically said that I was the best fan, which isn't entirely untrue.  I took his picture holding the list.  Then he asked if he could take a picture of the Best Fan (me) holding the list.

Alice, Lizzy and I continued out to get our coats and to hit the merch table.  I bought a tour poster, it's pretty sweet lookin'.  We walked outside with the specific intent of loitering around the tour bus until Ben came out.  On our way we ran into Ryan.  We got to chatting a bit.  I found out he's from Cali and he's been bassing for Ben for about 5 months.  He found out that I'm from Utah, a musician and an Au Pair.  He asked me if I was Mormon, I said I was, somewhat sheepishly.  He high fived me and said it was nothing to be ashamed of.  I told him that I'm not the typical Utah Mormon, I curse occasionally, I watch whatever movies I want to, I have gay friends.  He added "and you probably drink Dr. Pepper too" with mock disappointment in his voice.  I nodded.  Lizzy asked him if Ben was still around, he said he didn't think so and that Ben usually went straight to the hotel.  We thanked him, he signed my set list, I took a picture and he took his leave. 

Me and Ryan outside of Museumsquartier in Vienna

Well we weren't going to take his word for it.  And so we walked back into the the loading area where we found the tour bus.  And the loitering began.  A couple of other Americans joined the loitery.  Eric and Jessica are living in Vienna studying.  Their Masters degree is some sort of cultural/social type.  I don't remember exactly what it was called but they spend 6 months in each of   four different cities/countries, which seems like a pretty great way to spend two years.  

me, the set list, the tour bus

Then we saw some stirring near the loading dock, the roadies came out and started loading up the truck.  Sam (the drummer) came out and the 5 of us went to talk to him.  Erica asked him if Ben was still inside.  Same said he thought he probably was.  With our hopes lifted a little, we continued to talk to Sam trying not to show our anxiety building at the prospect of meeting Mr. Folds.  He allowed me a picture and signed my set list.  He's very goofy.  Perfect for a drummer.

Me and Sam by the tour bus.

And then, the moment I'd been waiting for from the time I was eleven years old.  Ladies and Gentlemen...

MISTER

-----

BEN

-----

FOLDS!

[insert 1000 words here]

He came out,  walked past us with a back pack on, climbed into the tour bus and.... came back out, walking directly toward us.  My heart jumped up into my throat.  I suddenly realized that I hadn't thought through any conversation points.  I panicked.  I want to be witty and memorable, but intelligent and grown up (yes I realize that anyone who calls them self a grown up is probably not a grown up).  Well we all kind of introduced ourselves.  Traded a few anecdotes.  Ben did an impression of Neil Young.  I told him about the American Table Dance Bar in Marchtrenk. 

He laughed.  

Well chuckled really.

Ben Folds chuckled at something I said

He chuckled then muttered bemusedly back to himself "American Table Dance Bar" in his very subtle southern accent.

He told us more stories about studying in Vienna and how great it was to be back.  I got my picture, and his autograph.  All the while squealing like a 13 year old girl at a Backstreet Boys concert, on the inside of course.  Outwardly I was pretty selfless, cold and composed.  I wasn't over anxious, I didn't try to monopolize the conversation.  I was just another member of his typically intellectual fan base.  

After about 20 minutes he got on the bus and Lizzy, Alice and I headed for the UBahn station we rode the U2 from MQ to Volkstheater, where we transferred to the U3.  On the platform I saw a familiar face.  It was Dagobert.  I unmistakably recognized him.  I was not sure that he'd seen me or, if he had, if he would recognize me.  After a couple of double takes each, I started with "heeeey" and he said "I know you..." and I said "Yeah, from the Linz Tanzabend. You taught me to discofox, I was terrible." And he said "Yes! Betty right?" He was one of the first people I'd used the new nick name with as an introduction.  I said "yeah, sorry again about my dancing" to which he replied "well, we'll just have to practice again sometime."   He asked me where I was staying, I assured him it wasn't someplace dodgy and we parted ways. Now Vienna's a pretty big city, and it was 1:30 in the morning, there are six subway lines and dozens of stations with at least two platforms each.  I was certainly not expecting to run into someone that I knew.  But I'm not complaining.  He's a pretty cool guy and I got to explain to Alice and Lizzy how I knew him.  

Lizzy and Alice got off the train one stop before me, I walked back to my hostel, set my alarm and tried to sleep.  But there was too much in my head.  I had met a childhood hero.  I met the one celebrity (I use the term loosely) that I would have chosen to meet out of all of the celebrities in the world. It took a couple of hours before I finally drifted off into a peaceful, contented sleep.

The Disco Fox

These events occurred during the week of February 14 - 20  2011, Sorry for the delay.

Not a whole heck of a lot going on this week.  Things are going more smoothly with the girls which is nice.  They don't fight me on everything any more, just a few things.  We've had some nice outings.  On Friday I picked the girls up from kindergarten.  We have one of those little bike trailers for the kiddies.  I brought them a snack and then we went to the library and picked out a couple of movies and some books, then we went to the bakery to have a pretzel.  We then took the long way home, because while the girls are riding in the wagon they are happy, they are not fighting and they are occupied and these are all good things, it's even worth being out in the cold a little longer.  Also it's great exercise to bike with an extra 50 or 60 pounds and 2 more wheels worth of friction.

This weekend there was a Young Single Adults conference.  Friday night was a dance with a "Hollywood" theme.  The decorations were movie posters (including one of the 12 foot nylon types the theaters have of TRON Legacy) and sillouhettes that my group made.  Also gold stars with our names on them down the hall ways.  There were groups from all over Austria and parts of Germany there.  My star said "Betty" on it because my institute teacher can't pronounce my name (the "th" sound doesn't exist in german and it's very difficult for german speakers to imitate) and I certainly don't discourage it, in fact I really like the name Betty and so I decided to start introducing myself as such.  The strange, or rather different thing about dances here is that the people actually dance.  And I don't mean the Mormon sway and they don't just pair dance to slow songs.  The step they do is called the Disco Fox...  I Disco Foxed to Red Hot Chili Peppers...

Yes, Hannah really is that short

...Part of me wishes I was joking about the name.  It's a 3 step in 4 time so Left Right Left Pause Left Right Left Pause.  And there are spins and turns and dips and it's very intimidating looking.  I decided I would avoid pair dancing if I possibly could and have someone that I know teach me later for any future dances.  But my talking buddies (Hannah and Rahel) are very lovely and charming ladies that know everyone in this group and therefore were asked to dance frequently.  But when one of them would leave, someone else would show up, sometimes it would be someone from my institute class in Linz or sometimes it would e someone that is much braver than I am when it comes to introducing themselves to strangers in a foreign language.  One such brave soul was Arnulf.  He was the first person to whom I introduced myself as Betty (I really hope the name sticks)  I had a head cold last weekend that settled into my chest this weekend.  So I of course sounded like a 50 year smoker, those of you that have heard me speak when I've lost my voice can attest to this.  Trying to speak and be heard above the music proved to be very difficult and I can only hope that I didn't cause any permanent damage to my chords.  I did end up dancing with a couple of guys, one (dressed as Han Solo *swoon*) was named Dagobert.  He is a very attractive young man.  Not only was he dressed like Han Solo (which is attractive to me) but he actually resembles young Harrison Ford (who is attractive to everyone)  H asked me to dance, I told him I was terrible he said he doubted it but would teach me.  He taught me the basic steps, was patient when I got off step or stepped on my own feet, or didn't follow well (I'm a bad follower) he also carried on a conversation.  He's from Berlin and is studying architecture at Universität Wien, he served his mission in Bulgaria and his English is very good.  A little later I danced with Michael from my institute group, he was also very patient with me.  But now, I am a disco fox ;)

Overall it was a pretty good party with great food.  Dances aren't generally my thing but I survived.

My institute group was in charge of cleanup so we didn't leave until nearly 2:00 a.m.   I got to bed around 3 and had to be back at the church in Linz by 9:00 to help with the opening meeting conducting the hymns, which meant I had to be up at 7:30.  So I got about four and a half hours of sleep.  It's been a very long time since I went a night with only 4 1/2 hours of sleep.  I think it was the night I before I flew here.  So a couple of months.  I've been getting 6-8 hours since I've been here which is nice.

As I go up to conduct the opening hymn, I tried to raise the music stand and the shelf lifted right off a few people laughed I panicked for half a second, put the shelf on the piano (don't worry it had a cover on it so I wasn't scratching the piano) chuckled a bit and composed myself by the time the introduction was finished.  Then the workshoppers introduced themselves and gave brief overviews of their workshops.  Hannah, Rahel and I stuck together.  The first workshop we attended was about problem solving.  It was taught but one of the professors at the university in Linz.  He taught us a method of abstracting our problems.  He had a stack multi colored squares of paper.  He told us to focus on one of our problems and then come pick up some squares that we felt represented our problem.  We could have as many as we felt we needed any colors that we felt comfortable with.  Then he had us arrange the slips on the floor in a representation of our problem, rearranging them as we searched for a solution.  It was really interesting and it's as helpful as you make it.  But it was definitely different from any other church type lecture I'd ever attended.  It wasn't an object lesson, there wasn't any gospel tie in at the end it was just exactly what it appeared to be.  The next workshop was about being single...

... not about getting married or how great marriage is or how everything we do should be somehow guiding us toward our eternal companion.  But it was about enjoying being single.  Seriously refreshing, like Sprite refreshing.

A married couple talked to us about ways to enjoy our time being single, mainly focusing on traveling and meeting tons of people.  They weren't encouraging us to avoid marriage or to block it from our minds, but they were definitely telling us to not have it be our main focus, while it is a necessary step it doesn't have to be the next step.  The church here rocks.  That's all there is to it. After a lovely lunch spaghetti, bread sticks, salad and Krapfen (Berliners [jelly doughnuts]) we broke into small groups to do skits.  w had about 2 hours to plan and rehearse. In my group were Michael and Antwi and then a bunch of people I didn't know.  Each group was given a costume and a list of fairy tales, movie quotes, and songs from soundtracks.  We had to combine one thing from each category into our skit.  We ended up with Rotkapchen (Little Red Riding-hood) a young american girl alone by mistake in the mysterious land of Linz.  Playing the Ugly American shouting slowly in English, I found Antwi, Schwartzkapchen, who rescued me and we set off in search of a party.  The big bad wolf was a rapper that Antwi and I met in the woods and brought with us to Oma's disco.  Then our narrator got in an argument with the bouncer (Michael) it was all pretty funny.  After the whole shindig wrapped up a few of us went to the Schmidl's (they have a son, Perry, who is about 25 studying in Vienna, he came into Linz for the festivities of the weekend) to watch a movie.  Antwi fell asleep on my shoulder.  The movie was called Wo ist Fred?  I didn't particularly care for it, I understood what was going on, and most of the dialogue, however, having worked closely with the mentally handicapped for the last two years of my life, I find it difficult to laugh at a character who pretends to be mentally and physically disabled for personal gain.  At any rate, after the movie all of us but Perry jammed into Michael's car.  It's only a tiny bit bigger than a smartcar if a smartcar had 4 doors. So there were 5 of us, our bags and some sound equipment in this tiny little car.  Christian, Antwi and Rahel fell asleep in the back seat and Michael and I had a conversation about music and movies, Utah Mormons and the Honor Code.  He and I seem to be on the same page as far as those things are concerned. 

So all in all a pretty cool weekend.  I don't hate institute, or YSA or other single Mormon's.  I love this place.

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