Last year, Christmas was frankly kind of a bummer. We had been living in the States for the previous seven years, celebrating big Christmases with extended family. Switching gears to a just-the-four-of-us holiday proved to be harder than we anticipated it would be. So, this year, we thought outside the box, making only minimal Christmas […]
Vienna is nothing if not photogenic at Christmas time. Click any photo for a slide show with captions. Enjoy!
Austria is a Christmassy sort of place. It gets plenty cold by the beginning of December, and snow arrives right on schedule. In the countryside, impossibly quaint small towns look like they belong under a Christmas tree with a toy train running around them. In Vienna, we have at least a dozen Christmas markets going, […]
So, yesterday I clicked “Submit” to send in my final exam. It felt GOOD. Because, you know, my brain is kind of tired by now. Hello, Christmas vacation! I just finished the first of four online courses in a “professional sequence in editing” offered by the University of California at Berkeley. I have earned my […]
Did you know that snow globes were invented in Vienna? In 1900, Edwin Perzy, a surgical instruments manufacturer, was trying to use a glass globe to project light. He filled the globe with water, and then tried adding glass powder to increase the refraction. Instead, he got a snowy effect. From this experiment, he […]
Second hand shopping is quite respectable here, and the thrift stores are very nice. Which is good, because retail prices are insane. I buy almost nothing except food here at retail prices, and even some of that I order online! But I enjoy browsing the thrift stores and flea markets for treasures. Austrian household goods […]
I attended Georgetown University in the 1980s. It was a Catholic university: had I actually been Catholic, or known more about the church, I might have thought twice about that decision. In addition to the restrictions on health care imposed by Catholic affiliation, the university had just admitted women about a decade earlier. At the […]
So, we are making up a bucket list of Stuff We Want To Do For The Six Months That The Weather Is Disgusting in Vienna. It includes a bunch of museums because they have art, which my husband likes, and they are indoors and warm, which I like. (Actually, I like art too, but I […]
Yesterday, “Election Morning” in Vienna, I got up at 5 AM to see the returns. Just in time to see Tim Kaine win in Virginia! So, that is the first thing I am still happy about. Kaine is not only a good guy, but way smarter than his notoriously dim-witted opponent. George “Macaca” Allen, is […]
I am not a person who would ever claim to be above politics. In fact, I love politics. I think this stuff matters. I truly do believe that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain. So, you don’t like the political system. So, “all politicians are the same.” Well, it’s YOUR system. […]
I mentioned in my last post that things have been kind of a bummer Foreign Service-wise around here lately and that I wasn’t ready to blog about it yet. Well, I think I am ready now. We found out a few weeks ago that my husband will most likely retire at the conclusion of our […]
Fall is a tough time for me. Mostly because I know winter is coming. Now don’t go telling me to go skiing or whatever. I don’t ski. I do have my own ways of coping with winter. But coping is not the same as liking. I don’t have to like winter, no one can make me […]
So, a few months ago, after an unfortunate EFM employment episode, I decided my time at this post would be better spent polishing up my professional skills. To that end, I volunteered to edit a book, and at the same time, signed up for a professional editing course. This is a series of five online […]
A good friend whose husband is on a UT has just posted about her reaction to FLO’s advice regarding communication. The reality is that a UT can be a really crappy time. (And that’s not to say we are having a bad time right now, just that given the circumstances, a UT could be a […]
We accomplished exactly two things this weekend. Drinking wine and introducing a little chaos into our lives. On Saturday we met some friends for the Wien Wein Wandertag. This is an annual event sponsored by the city to promote the local wines. Trails are marked so that people can hike through the vineyards which surround […]
Last week, the husband called my blog a “vanity project.” I wasn’t offended. It was a definite step up from calling it “your latest attempt to get me fired.” He is an FSO, after all, and discretion is therefore his middle name (except when he talks to his wife, apparently…) But, I got to thinking: […]
The last day that we were in Ljubljana, the weather was especially European. About 50 degrees and raining. Not so great for walking around. So, we decided to break out the car and visit another castle. Bled is a resort town about 45 minutes northwest of Ljubljana, situated on a glacial lake and surrounded by […]
This week the Teenager was away on a school trip—I love this about international schools!—and so we took advantage of the opportunity for a quick getaway. We didn’t want to spend too much time in the car, so we picked Ljubljana as a destination we could get to in half a day’s drive from Vienna. It […]
Last weekend, we went to an Austrian food festival at the Hofburg palace in Vienna. The motto of the festival was “Essen ist Heimat” which Google translates rather awkwardly as “is eating home.” In fact, it’s an expression meaning “eating is homeland” or “eating is homey” or something along those lines. Austrians, like Germans, are […]
I have been traveling this week, and while very aware of the deaths of four members of the Foreign Service community, unable to blog about it. I don’t feel qualified to say much, anyway. I didn’t personally know the individuals who were killed, and we’ve never been posted to the Middle East. By now, others […]
So, a couple of weeks ago, two language-designated jobs came up for 2014 that my husband could bid on well ahead of time. We said yes to one without a second thought, but before turning down the other, we thought we’d better check and see what else is likely to open up during the regular […]
Another day, another walk along the Donaukanal. I don’t know why I love this stuff so much, but I do. Posted without comment, except that I do think the last one, created as a memorial to a pet, is rather sweet. Oh, and is that green guy with the blue hair the Shoney’s Big Boy…?
Since we got back from our three weeks of stuffing our faces R&R to the States, I have been trying once again to lose that last few pesky pounds! So, every day I have been either going to the gym or going on a good walk. Yesterday, I hopped on the U-Bahn and went to Maria […]
My Facebook timeline goes back to 2008, so I guess that’s when I first got on Facebook. Kind of weird that the one thing you can’t see on your timeline is the the day you signed up, but anyway…. Something I have learned: Facebook can be a terrific window into American society. Like most people […]
It’s been slow around here the last couple of days, and so I finally updated my blogroll. Now I have zillions of links. See? → It was fun checking out all these Foreign Service blogs! What great photos and stories. Even gets me a little fired up about bidding again. Let me tell you, that is […]
