signs of life...

i am alive...
i did an overnight camp this week i am tired and feel like i am dead but somehow i survived...
i am going home soon...i am ready...
i ve seen vienna ive seen prague..
my brain is mush right now becuase its lacking oxygen and food and rest..
love u all see u very soon...
i fly in on wed. evening....show up and u might get some awesome ritter sport...hahaha
daniela

signs of life...

the cat came back.....

hi friends,
I'm back. I know i said I didn't know when but we have free internet at the hostel that we're at right now so I thought I should update. I'm in Prague right now and everyone who told me to come here...THANK YOU...its an absolutely gorgeous city with such a mystical quality about it and so full of art its just breathtaking.

We were in Vienna over the weekend and had a faboulous time there. I really loved that city too and ti remoned me a lot of Paris. We must have walked the ring aroudn th city like a million times. My friend Lorna is doing an assitanceship there next year so we got to go check out her falt which is super close to the city center and she was really happy about the neighborhodd and everything. The first day we got there it was raining like its been the last few weeks (apparently August is flood season...booo for that) so we did what is famous in Viena when it rains..we went into a coffee shop and sat for hours...
It happened to be one of the oldest coffee shops in Vienna right outside the Hofburg grounds. Everything was red velvet and brown weathered leather and people sipped they're brew for hours. I wished for a second that I was in school and had soemthign to study becasue you could just feel the conductivity of great minds taht had sat there resounding through the walls and I wanted to take part. OF course my wish for shcool was only for a second and then I picked up a newspaper and started readign abtou waht's been going on in the UK. The newspapers were stapled to these like racks that makes them so easy to read cuz they don't fold over and u can just lean them on ur lap. I can't explain it but it absolutely brilliant. The rain died downa dn we met up with our other friend Emily who had been doing a German course in Vienna. We went to another cafe and had desert and just sat again for hours. Its like one coffee date aafter another....i love it!
Sunday I got up early and tried to find a church since we were inthe big city. It was really hard and i ended up at some office which was like the head office for all these evangelical churches but no church. I headed back to the hostel where there was this Korean church service which I was in for abit but gave up when I understood less than in German.hahah...
We spent the rest of the day sight seeing on Sunday and had some faboulous Wiener Schinitzel at lunch in this underground tavern like restaurant. At night, we went to the Rathaus (which is like the city hall)to see the film festival which is on this week. There are food stands from all aroudn the world set up and a gazillion chairs in front of this big screen. WE bought this Austrian desert that has the word kaiser inthe name...which is like huge pieces of pnacake with powdered suger adn this furit compote it was so good. THe film fesitval is nto really films but music so we watched the Berlin Philiharmonic playing in the State Theatre in Prague. Since its the MOzart year in Austria they played lots of Mozart.
Monday was our last day in the city, we spent the day sight seeing with this girl we met at the hostel named Melanie from Melbourne....coincidince i think not...
She was super nice and we got to see the Schonbrunn Schloss and Karls Kirche with her as well as some other major sights. IT began to rain a bit and so we headed to a Heurgin (sp) which is a traditional Austrian wine tavern where they serve wine pressed by the owner himself from this years harvest (hence the name). They serve it in big portions and very cheap. It was the best wine i ever tasted in my life...so fruity and crisp...and it went strainght to our heads cuz we were talking and laughing a lot louder when we walked out then when we came in....hahaha...
To counteract the effects we went to a Wurstl stand and had this amazing sausage with cheese inside in this nice bread that and some gelato did the trick. We spent the rest of the night watching the world go back inthe main square and when it got too cold and we were out of pictures we went home to pack.
We miraculously caught our train this morning....but that in itself is a story for antoher day.
WE had a chill day in Prague just walking around and crossign the Charles bridge into the old town. We had lunch inthis little bar where we had dumplings suasage and cabbage....we had to stop eating cuz we were so full which never happens when ur backpacking but at anyrate it was good. We saw King Wenceslas and alot of the old town. At night as we were walking over the bridge we saw Parague castle lit up it was so phenomenal...no picture could do it justcie. As we made out way to the city today we saw an art exhibit callled the earth from above...it was thise huge photo prints of the world and the print man has left on it. It was stunning to look at and also o read the infromation. Jenn and Ken it reminded me of u guys...Ken u would loved the photography and Jenn it had a lot to do with conservation and the environment. I sent u an international hug inthat moment...wish u guys were here!
There is a lot of art displays inthe city currently....and that just complements the beatuiful mix of gothic and baroque buildings which are counteropposed witht he vert art nouveau displays inthe squares. Its really a city very differnt from the ones I've been. On our way home we saw a plaque under some arches taht commerated all those people who were beaten by police onthe 17.11.89 as the Iron Curtain fell...IT so fascinating for me to see things like that and it still seems kinda difficult to think that this was one of the cities that used to be behind the curtain especially with all the McDonald's and other symbols of capitalism taht are rampant. Tomorrow we may visti the musuem of communism which details why communism failed...althoughI have my own understanding of why... I think it will be interesting to see...
OK one more thing...
we saw the hostle that we're staying at online in Vienna...we thoguht it was greatbecasue they had free internet and breakfast. THen we got here and its a top this hill inthis very regal looking building...Lorna and I were giving eachother high fives onour good find in Prague. We walked in and it didn't seem dodgy....until the guy told us our bed number but not our room number...when we asked him the room number he just pointed to two big doors leading into some room...inside were some lockers that formed one kinda wall and a lot of beds that looked like scofolding with matresses...a little like a jail but not really...
then he told us the showers are on the 3rd floor...they're communal.. i know europeans are a little free with the body but thats taking it too far...
its turns out this is a gym complex during the year...so we're sleeping in the gym a dnthe showers are like gym showers....Lorna and I took back our high fives...
I promise to take pictures....

and just on another note it has been really rainy but everytime we get to a city I pray that it won't rain and it clears up like miraculously....hopefully it will be nice for our time in Prague...

k friends...sorry about the long post...i love and misss u all..be home soon...
daniela in Prague

leaving on a jet plane...scratch that...train...don´t know when i´ll be back again...

hello friends...
well...the teaching week is almost coming to its very joyful close. joyful because this week has been crazy hard. Not with the kids perse but with their lack of English and my lack of German and the consequent lack of communication.
Here´s a scenario...
boy 1 farts on boy 2
boy 2 screams in horror
daniela screams at boy 1 to apoligize to boy 2
boy 1 looks at daniela in complete ignorant and spews daniela´s most loathed of all words...VAS?...(similar to our wahhhh in ENglish?)
as the smell begins to permeate the room...daniela repeats to the boy say i´m sorry or excuse me...
boy 1 repeats..."say i´m sorry or excuse me"...ahhh to teach parrots...lol
at any rate they have learned their lines for the little play tomorrow and i have been praying all week that they don´t forget and fall over in laughter like they do everytime we practice. I have learned a lot abotu boy this week..in conclusion...tehy are disgusting. I have to remind them to wash their hands after going to the bathroom, to not do digusting things with their food like blow it out of their nostirls..to not fart on others...to not beat the living daylights out of others...these boys will take with them a lot of English propriety if not very much English...little heathens...hahaha

Ißve had a great time here in Lienz. Last night inthe main square there was a traditional Austrian kapelle band. IT was like good ol´OM PA PA music. People were dancing and listening and just enjoying being out even thougth it was very cold. I sat on a bench and this man started talking to me. He was here doing white water cayaking but was a teacher from Italy. WE spent the next hours talking back and forth in English listening to the Austrian music and sipping beer and coffee...me coffee...
At the end we got some ice cream and he walked me back to my house. It was the most fascinating of conversations as I learned a lot about Italy, teaching, Cayaking and got quitie chastised for taking the picture holding up the tower of Pisa (Sorry again Nunyzio).It was fun to meet a total random and then just be instant friends for 1 day....and this was not to be the alst time.

I am lving in a boarding house of sorts for the week. During the school year its full of girls who work inthe city. RIght now its pretty empty save 1 girl who i never see and Ingrid. I met Ingrid onthe first day. She had a different schedule then me so we didn´t really sit and talk. Tonight our times overlapped and she came home just as I sent the last kid home. I had plans to go to San Candido, the Italian side of the border with Lieny and get my mom her much loved torrone. I asked her what she was doing in not so much English she told me she was bored to tears. We scammed a bit onthe train and got to San Candido. I must have asked her a million questions...cuz I´m so nosy and that´s the only way i know how to make friends...but she laughed a lot so I think it was ok. I know all about her and her grandmother too now...hahah. There is a lot of interesting things but I´ll tell you waht stands out for me...She is studying ot be a pastry chef and is wroking in a konditorei in LIenz right now. Seh comes from a little village abotu 30 mins from Lienz and on the way back from San Candido she called her sister and we waved to her from the train..because you can see her house in the villlage thats on the hill.She plays the flute ina traditional Austrian kapelle from her town. She skis on little skis with no poles and she wants to work in a hotel as a pastry chef. Such a sweet girl. We arrived in San Candido and raided the supermarkets for Torrone. SHe must of thought I was crazy but then she ended up buying some too. There was a market/festa/fair of some sort inthe town centre and after stokcing up on torrone we hung aroudn there. We stopped at a little tent to have some aperol with proseco...its this orange italian drink...(the one we saw in Venice Laurie and couldn´t try)it was nice...then we´re chatting and these men in black sutis and with red flowers intheir hats come and start playing these gigantic alpen horns...thats right i said alpen horns...i t was wild. I made a Heidi comment and Ingrid laughed for like 20 mins....hahaha. She was impressed that I knew Heidi. They stoppped playing we finished out drinks and walked on to find a 3 man band with an accordian playing Nonno Italian music...I wanted to dance but Ingrid said no...I told her LIdia would have danced...lol..the guys inthe band were so nice they kept tipping their hats at us and we would say grazie. (oh just a little digression...to find a supermarket without a map i had to use my horrible italian but we were successful so i think its much improved). THe band swtiched to Tirolean musci and even played the "national anthem" of the province of Tirol....Ingrid sang along and I was reminded of my incompetencies in German but my love for music. WE sat and had some buchteln...its a traditional Austrian fare...little bread rolls filled with apircot jam and served witha Vanilla sauce...so good...Ingrid said they´re not hard to make...she´s going to email me the recipe. We looked at the time and realized the last train was leaving in 10 minutes so we made a beeline for the station. The 3 man band tipped their hats as we ran bye and we yelled " Danke"...hahaha.WE got to the train staion and asked some guy if the train had left he said yes and we almost cried because that was our only way home. Then we looked at the schedule and realized he didn´t know waht he was talking about. We saw the train pull in and got on. We talked all the way home except for the little interruption when we waved out the window to Ingrid´s sister.

So two starngers in2 days is pretty good for me since I´m not that great at making new friends. Aren´t u proud friends?

Neways...the reason for the title is that next week is my vacation week...as in there is no camps. Lorna, one of the teachers who is from Oxford, and I are goign to Vienna for a couple of days and then Prague in the Czeck republic and on our way back we´re stopping at the Milka chocolate factory. NExt weekend, I hope to be in Switzerland again and after that its back to teaching. I don´t know when I´ll have internet again so this is arrivederchi for now. Please pray for safety as we hit the road with Lorna on our mini tour.

See u all back here in just over a week.

love u all...miss u more...tchuss

Daniela,,,,who doesn´t want to come home just yet....

ps. the lady who runs the broading house just came in and told me that today she got a bar fo clothes washing soap from a lady who said it was 70 years old. Apparently after the war her father bougtha whole train car full of soap because he had had to do without during the war and he didn´t want his family to have to do the same. This lady has been using the soap since then and still has a fair amount....thats some good soap.

a little bit of randomness

hello firends,
just a quick post...#iäm on my way out to see a castle...ooo so exciting but i have internet so i thought i´d update...
i´m in lienz now...lookit up it borders with italy...its absolutely gorgeous and quiant...and full of italians...and my italians sucks...almost as mmuch as my german...i don´t know how i´m doing it...
my toe is not borken..just badly sprained i went to the hospital in german...and learned 2 new words...krankenhaus and notfall...look them up too..
i have all boys this week...they are crazy and i´m about to join them...all they do is play fight...and in german to top it off...none of them understand a word i say...so i say alot of things...hahaha...like u little fartknockers just missed that whole sentence didn´t u...of course i say it with a smile and they nod thier heads and continue to playfight...
i posted this whole detailed post last night but the computer here is from the ice age and i dunoo what happened to it...
i went to salzburg this weekend it was incredible...beautiful and so cultured...add that to the list...of cities i love...
on sat. night i think i drank 2 litres of beer...but i´m not entirely sure
i got called an angel and asked to have a photograph of my feet taken...by complete strangers...and i reunited a little boy who was lost with his mom...oh and i was received by a marching band in Lienz onthe night i arrived...
and my talking with my hands has been taken to a whole new level as everyone who doesn´t speak english wants to be my new friend...

to the castle i go!

when i´m not saving the day and having new adventures...í´m usually missing u guys or looking up at mountains in amazement...
tchuss!!

daniela

bad teacher...ha!

hello friends.
sorry its been a while again...
i was in innsbruck this weekend its really beautiful and definitely now on my list of cities i love..the mountain looming over make the city feel so protected and mysterious at the same time...the first day i missed alot of waht was onthe ground cuz i kept looking up i love it..
there have been lots of adventures here and on the way here but i think the stories will have to wait...
the title of my post is such becuase i took my students to a university librbary and gave them an asssignment to look for English content on Canada and Austria...libraries here porvide free internet...so hence the mid day post...its not that bad...don´t chide me they are learning and give me some credit for ingenuity..ha!

God is so good and he provided a way for Daniela T and i both to stay at the housing ...we have a little flat/loft wiht a private washroom and a stunning view of the mountains...Romans 1:20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse..i definitely have no excuse and am really making a point to be super thankful...

my students this week are older and they´re so fun and great...
they are very compliant but know how to have a little fun too...we did have one little mishap playing beach soccer where one of the boys and i collided and my toe is kinda well...i dunno what it is but pray its not broken...

i can´t believe that its only a month and i´l be home....it really seems like not enough time...i´m gonna miss everything a ton...and a half...but i´ll be back...Austria hasn´t seen the last of me...hahah

just one funny story to end...we played pictionary yesterday and michael...the student who may have broken my toe and who keeps speaking german to me got the word "hose" as in fire hose...
he draws a pair of pants on the easel and all th ekids are yelling every word for pants that exists inthe English language...he keeps shaking his head and then i finally make him tell us the word and he says hose...as in hosen...as in liederhosen...the traditional pants with the suspenders...i started laughing so hard and the rest of the class followed...i then drew the right hose and explained hose...then he says to me me...oh HOSA...in german and i saiy michael we are playing in English not German ...get it together son...oh it was riot...i´ll not be forgetting michael...

hope u enjoyed that...
love u and miss u all...keep praying!

ps. i´m doing the postcard rounds and would love to send them to the right people so email or comment ur address so i can confirm what i have...

daniela the ingenious teacher with a potentially broken toe and housing a fugitive vactioning teacher...oh my resume is gonna be so great when iget back...

bad teacher...ha!