drive in movie!

our first drive in movie!!!.......very fun but along with it came some disasters...radio didnt work at first...and rude people......just read the story...

Unglaublich!!! I now know why all the women here always show themselves off here as being "tough"...well they have to be to stand up to these horrible austrian men with no manners. I must have gotten a "rare treasure" since Christian is not anything like the rest of the men here! So we went on a date tonight to the Drive-in movie theater!!!...I was so excited cuz I always wanted to go to one. So we got there super early and got a great parking spot...only one problem! our radio wouldn't work for the speaker! we tried and tried and asked other people around to see if they knew how to do it. Finally christian just had to go back to the entrance to ask the maintenance people for help. I told him I didnt want to lose our great spot so I looked like a big idiot but I stood in the spot so nobody would take it...well next minute I know who comes by but mr bigshot in an ugly car who was backing up in MY place!...i said to myself oh okay he is just using the space to turn around to get to the spot next to it...NO!...he was telling me to go away and I kept shaking my head no...I thought I was dreaming or something!...He yelled to me go away in German...Wie bitte??????? Was has tu gesacht? ohhh well let me tell you something!-if there is one thing I have had to learn in Austria it is to stand up for myself!-which I never had to do in my whole life! he was with a girl and I just couldnt believe he treated someone like that...he took some time to get out of the car but i just waited for him and stared at him...then he got out and I just let it all out to him...hmm I have to say when I am mad my german is pretty good...I told him I couldnt believe he was talking to a woman like that and why did he take my place when there was a perfectly good spot right next to me...and I told him some other nice words too which he deserved...and I have to say I am challenged daily to be nice to people here!...its a european thing maybe too that they just dont have the manners that americans do!...okay I also told him that I am so sick of the austrians here with no manners. well im glad he wasnt a "macho" guy, he was actually a wimp because he walked away from me with his girlfriend to the foodstand......i was bubbling with anger at this point.......then christian comes back 1 minute too late...and I run to him and told him what happened...so we quickly pulled into a new spot which actually was a better spot anyway...and waited for them to come back....they came back, we got out of our car and confronted them and they ran to their car.......it was almost funny you know how people have the guts to say anything they want to you while they are in a car protected by windows-yet when the come to you face to face they are scared!...I am the opposite of a confrontational person, but I am telling you everyday in the city I would just be walked all over if I didnt know how to stand up for myself. Christian is not a "fighter" either...he stands up for me without causing fist fights...he just went over to him and said actually something I respect him for...he didnt cuss him out or anything, he just said to him about how we came from homes that taught us better than that and to have good manners and we have higher standards than to treat other people like and especially a lady. Since his license plates said he was from outside of Vienna, Christian also mentioned that viennese people are raised better than farmers...that is a big insult because that is a constant battle in Austria...The people who live in Vienna make fun of the farmers...and the farmers call the people who live in Vienna snobs...

anyways, ughhh i was so mad i just had to write it before I go to bed tonight...people are just UNGLAUBLICH! UNBELIEVABLE! something about writing out my anger helps me feel better! so don't think I am crazy for what I did...he will get what he deserves one day...

well we saw Shrek3....very cute! but the 2nd one was still my favorite!...a drive in theater is really fun! it was packed full of cars!...the weather was perfect and wow I think that is my new favorite movie theater now!...you dont have to listen to other people eating loud or talking...you just hear whatever is in your own car! I have a picture but I took them on my cell phone and I have to figure out how to load them from the phone to the computer...

okay ahh its late! almost 1am! I have to go to bed!

End of the year trip!

our end of the year trip...we went to an old western town in the middle of the countryside of Austria...not in Vienna...the kids got to watch western shows, play games and the canoe ride was the best!...here is a self taken photo by me in the boat with me and my girls Charlotte and Marlene!!!

time to eat a western saloon!

the other kids on their canoe's!

the boys paddling well!

it looks like a hollywood movie set!!!

New apartment pictures!

view from the roof...we are on the south side of the city so we have a pretty green view!!!...in the distance are wine fields and gardens:)

the pool!!!!! its like on top of a cruise ship! haha!

the roof terrace!

where I will be everyday after school for therapy:)

our kitchen...but as you can see it is not finished...thats what we get Austria...you pay for an apartment for its space-NOT for anything in it!...but its actually okay because then you get to pick out everything you want and colors and you can totally customize it-not just take what you get.

our balcony!

view to the left from our balcony.......the other buildings and some apartments have gardens on the bottom....and a nice green park!

pleasantville......brand new park and community green garden!

storm damage from a week ago!

storm damage from a week ago!

SCHOOL IS OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

School ended yesterday....Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Its about time!!! we had our teacher outting last night! Really fun and best part is that my boss paid for all of us!...wow what a treat! We are a close team and a family-like school...totally different than any other school I have ever been to. I am so thankful that God provided this job for me to work at this school with an old friend and with such awesome people and a class full of such sweet kids!

SUMMER VACATION IS HERE!!! so I packed up my classroom and its all in order so I don't have to look at it again until the very end of August!...

now I have to pack up the rest of our apartment before we leave for Tunesia in 2 weeks...then when we get back from Tunesia we move officially into our new apartment the next day!!!...and then 2 days later I leave for the states!...okay so I will need some time when I first get to the states to relax...ahhh...

at this point I don't care about anything else CUZ SUMMMERRRRRRRRRRRRR IS HEREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sopron, Hungary....our spa day!!!

we just finished getting all pampered...now we took a picture......luv these girls! Martina, Cheree, Charissa and Valentina...

Girls night out!!!...to the opera for the Romeo and Juliet Ballet!!!

the Vienna opera house!

ladies!!!

on the tram on our way to the opera!...gotta love the strassenbahn! woohoo!

Cheree and Valentina..............

waiting for the strassenbahn to come!!!...

busy weekend!

this past weekend was so exhausting...I was a walking zombie in school on monday morning!....

Friday night was our big talent show at school! so i can breathe again because my big event for the end of the school year is over!!! that was so stressful! but funny!...it was priceless to see 30 kindergarteners in leopard print skirts for a flintstones dance!!!......i will have to post pictures when I get them from the parents...hilarious!...my kids did an egyptian show! it was greatt!!!...then all the teachers went out afterwards like we do after every event...very fun and good bonding time!...we were out late, but good thing it was a friday night!!!

Saturday morning christian and I had to go shopping for some last stuff for our new apartment...but too early in the morning......then we went to the big music festival event called the Donauinselfest (the danube island festival)....its a full weekend event with 20 stages of different music, food...dancing...relaxation.....great time!...we saw one of my favorite austrian bands (she says!)........and the famous Reinhard Fendrich was the ultimate night concert for 2 hoursss!!! and he sang " I am from Austria!!!"...luv that song and especially since Christian and his mom danced to that song at our wedding it was so meaningful...and this is all FREE!!!...in the U.S. this would cost atleast 50 bucks to get in im sure!...well the music went so late...we didnt even realize it but by the time we got to the subway it was 2am and just caught the last subway!...next morning, church...I was half asleep but it was good I had to listen!...It was about what a wife must be in a marriage!...I will buy the cd so I can listen to it with more alert ears!......then Sunday night the girls and I went to the opera to see Romeo and Juliet Ballet!...it was beautiful!!!...fun fun!...we got dressed up and went out on the town!...I was absolutely dead at this point when I came home............
and somehow this week I am surviving my last week of school...
3 days left.......

scary weather!

Crazy weather! They called for thunderstorms with high winds...we got to about the closest thing I have ever seen to a tornado! In Vienna? now that is wacko!...I was about to leave school when I decided not to because of the black sky, whirling clouds, and winds blowing branches off of trees!...well if I would have left earlier I would have beat the storm...but instead I put myself into the danger!...tree branches were flying everywhere...the wind was blowing left, right, sideways, up down and everywhere!...an umbrella was pointless because it just kept flying up!...my trams were all out of electricity because of trees falling into the road!...I had to walk to the subway, then transfer, then transfer again then I got near to where I live...and that tram line was down too!...a bank roof had flown off and all the debris was in the road...a car was also smashed with a pole in it...I felt like I was in a hurricane! it took me 2 hours to get home!...one man died from falling off of a crane that blew over, another lady died from being hit by a tree...and another one died too...this was a nightmare! all we lost from our apartment was my table cloths that flew somewhere only God knows!...haha...so I guess I have nothing to complain about!

road trip to Hungary!

what do you get when you combine an american with driving a car in europe???...well just a few run red lights, almost hitting a tram (those crazy strassenbahn drivers!), a few illegal u turns and missing a stop sign or two!...we should have just had a sign on our car saying "VORSICHT!!!AUFPASSEN!" danger!!!...well on Saturday 5 of us girls took a road trip!!!...we drove into hungary to a little town called Sopron!...and we went to a spa!!! a day of pampering! what more could I ask for! They spoke german so that made life easier!!!...cuz I couldnt understand a single word of hungarish!!!I got the best pedicure I have ever gotten...and a manicure too!...both were cheaper than the price of 1 manicure in Vienna!...the other girls got their hair done too! color and cut for 35 euros!...I am going back to get my hair done one day!...then we went shopping...everywhere we went the people just starred at us! umm was the driving that bad or was it cuz there were so many girls in 1 car???...the border controllers didnt even look at our passports...we just smiled at him and since our license plate said from Vienna, he let us go without even checking our passports! crazy!...what a day!!!
oh and shopping! wow!...they have an awesome "walmart-like" store called TESCO...we could have died when we saw some american foods! you have no idea how we appreciate things from home until you live away from it all!...we found betty crocker cookie dough mix! I thought I had died and went to heaven! yummo!!! too bad im on a diet now though!...I will save it for later though! You know that I like the cookie dough mixes better than from scratch!...we also found cheerios, mountain dew (random-I dont like it anyway, but its still from home!), oatmeal mixes, hersheys brownie mix and tropicana drinks! haha...so im not sure how those products go to Hungary before they came to Austria! Thats not fair!...I have to go to super special market to get american stuff and its double price! I am sure those people in the store had a good laugh about us and will never forget us girls going crazy over the american food stuff!!!...

so today was another great sermon at church about "what a man must be in the marriage"!!! very good!!!...great points!...I want to post some of them...but another time...

afterwards, christian and I went to the "beach" in Vienna! okay we are landlocked, but I have to say that this city provides more entertainment and fun cultural events than any other city in the world!...they turned our favorite winter ice skating place into a beach!!! no joke!...sand, beach chairs, music, beach bars, food and drinks!...beach volleyball, boardwalk! people were in their bathing suits!!!...it was so hot today!...we sat in the sun and didnt realize how strong the sun could be in Vienna!!!.....ahhh...we sure got some color! whewww!!! Christian has a nice sunglass tan!...normally I dont get burnt so much except for the first summer sun...well today was my first summer sun and I am a little sore and half burnt half tan...

so it was a relaxing weekend and I really needed it!...its sunday night and its time to begin a new week...the time can go as fast as it wants...Im counting the days until school is out and till we are in our new apartment!...our bed is going to sold and picked up on wednesday, our sofa goes in 2 weeks, and our big rug is going tomorrow...so our bedroom will be full of boxes...and our sofa will be our bed for a few weeks...good thing its a pull out bed or christian and i would have some feet fights over space!!! hahaha!

I am beat from the sun!!! I will post some pictures another day of the trip to hungary!

big catch up...

that was not easy...i was barely smiling....!!!

look snow!!!! in June!!!

taking a breather and looking at what we have done so far!

the hills are aliveeeee....with the sound of muuuussiicccccccccccccc!!! I love Austria!

christian is taking a short cut from the path...I dont know which way was easier!

happy and smiling before the rock climb!!!.....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

love the view and ich liebe meine mann auch!

the train going back down the mountain...the salamander...can u see how it got its name?

a little pitstop along the way:) how cute! die kleine hütte!

going up up up!!!

something tells me I am falling way behind on my blog considering the last one was JUNE 3RD!!! yikes!...that is my crazy life!...I can't even remember all the things that have happened in the past weeks!

first of all, I have to say that this past weekend was so fun! Christian and I took a train ride up to the Schneeburg (the snow mountain) in Austria! It was so beautiful! We had no idea how much hiking and rock climbing was involved though! I thought I would die half way up the mountain!...but I kept pushing myself because once you go so far, you have to finish to the end! Its a good lesson in life too!...so many times I want to give up!...and lately there have been a lot of "mountains" to go over!...but when you reach the top, What a view!...I mean u feel like you accomplished so much!...you look back at all the rocks and ridges and dangerous spots that you went through, and you forget about it because the reward at the top is so beyond your expectation!...I felt on top of the world! I mean we saw and felt SNOW in summer time!???!!!! We had a snowball fight in summer! Is that crazy or what? I will post some pictures of the long hike, but well worth it!...i think though even in the pictures it doesnt look as high as it was when you were really climbing it!...the pictures are above!!!

This is so random but I HATE FLIES! they are the dirtiest bug alive! I mean they crawl on everything and then they crawl on you and they are so hard to kill!...it started at 5am this morning when I felt a little tickle on my arm that woke me up!...then I heard the buzzz...I said to myself NO WAY! HOW DID A FLY WAKE ME UP???...it woke up christian too...then it wouldnt leave me alone! I was mad! It was so early in the morning, and lovely europe with no air conditioning i was so freaking HOT and so I had to sleep with a blanket over my body so the fly would leave me alone!...then the lovely alarm went off at 6:15am!...now I am home from work and that stupid fly still hasnt figured out the way out the window! grrr!!!

This week we are making overnight campouts with each grade in the backyard of our school! Last night was the 1st graders and they were so cute! I saw them this morning when I was coming into school! They were in their pajamas, brushing their teeth and eating breakfast. the yard was full of tents and you could see the burnt coal from the campfire. When I think about it, I realize what a special school I work at! Such a fun idea...cook sausages, eat marshmallows, sing songs, just like the good ol american campouts...my boss loves our american ideas so she uses them all!...in the last two and a half weeks we have so many events planned too. My class is having a pool party at one of my students houses during the day...hmm sounds good to me!...I mean would that ever happen in the U.S.??? no! The whole school goes to an end of the year party at another house including the teachers, picnics, and also a field trip outside of Vienna! That is my life right now......when the talent show is over, I will be even more happier and relaxed! ok enough about school...

Our church is doing a great series this month about Marriage! Yahoo! Perfect topic!...the pastor is so great because he addresses his messages not just to couples, but to singles too...and in my cell group too we are talking about marriage and relationships. Its been really great! Every week we have a guest lady speaker come from the church to talk to us...

ok this is way too long...........

I'm looking forward to school ending, our new apartment and to go to the beach in Tunesia, Africa in July!!!....

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my brother Nick and his wife Diana!...you were definitely made for eachother!...LOVE YOU BOTH!!!

newlyweds!

CONGRATULATIONS BUDDY AND LIZ!!! JUST MARRIED:) June 2nd, 2007!