Keeping warm

Posted on November 16, 2011 by admin

It’s Vienna, it’s nearly winter. It’s cold — that isn’t exactly shocking. The temperature does different things here than I’m used to, though — for example, the high temperature for the day here is usually very late in the day (often just after sunset) and then the temperature plummets, often dropping several degrees an hour. It’s not unusual to go out, in the late afternoon or early evening to nearly 50 degrees, only to come back, just a few hours later, absolutely frozen. It’s also very common for the temperature to very widely in different parts of the city — I can leave the house very comfortable and step out into frigid conditions when I get off the train to pick Benjamin up at school. And none of this is made easier by the fact that the weather forecast often lists a temperature as much as 15 degrees off from what we really experience.

We’re getting used to it, though. If we go out, pretty much anywhere, I carry with me a bag of extra cold weather accessories: hats and mittens, scarves and gloves, plus a warm blanket for the stroller. The boys have warm winter coats, and Liam also has a few buntings to choose from (or rather, for me to choose from — I don’t trust his judgement yet, he still likes to eat chalk). I also recently did some shopping for myself — I bought some new gloves and a cape/cloak/poncho (I have no idea what it really is, and makes me sound like I’m trying to be a superhero/a wizard/a Mexican depending on what I call it). Even when it feels REALLY cold outside (below freezing, with a breeze), when I put on my new, woolly things, the cold doesn’t get to me too much.

We’re starting to get used to the cold here. I know it’s only going to get colder — winter is just around the corner. I hope we can stay well equipped as the temperatures drop — it’s nice to stay warm and cozy.

Turning on the lights

Posted on November 15, 2011 by admin

Took this at 12:13 pm

I think it’s the dark of winter that gets to people, more so than the cold. At a latitude as far north as Vienna, the days are short and the sunlight we get is very indirect — walking to pick up B from school today, at noon, the sun was at an angle that makes me think of late afternoon. The evening comes early. Even now, with over a month of shortening days to come, my boys typically wake from their naps in the dark of the evening, groggy and a little disoriented. Benjamin gets up for school in the dark, and he wakes from his nap in the dark, so he seems to be having trouble separating nap time from bed time — he often wakes from his nap asking me if it’s time to go to school. (His body isn’t fooled, though, as evidenced by the fact that he sleeps for 10 hours at night and 2 during the day.)I love the symbolism and ritual of using light, in the winter, to push back the darkness, to bring brightness into the night. We do it at Halloween with jack-o-lanterns, and we do it at Christmas with candles in the windows and lights on our trees. Vienna is already using its lights to push back on the darkness. The horse drawn carriages still roll down the streets, illuminated by lanterns. The cafe windows all glow with warm coziness. And the lights of the Christmas decorations have begun to be turned on. The huge Christmas trees at the markets are lit with white lights, and on one street near our house, huge, cylindrical chandeliers of lights have been hung.

I like winter. I’m not bothered by the dark or the cold. But part of the reason I’m not bothered, part of the reason I like this season so much, is that we find so much to enjoy in defying the dark and the cold. I love the warmth and the light, the coziness and the brightness, of this season. Vienna is full of light right now, and the depth of the darkness around us makes it all the more wonderful.

Christmas carols

Posted on November 14, 2011 by admin

I love to sing. In high school and in college, I sang a lot, but there’s less of a market for it as an adult. I still would sing along with songs in the car, and at a very occassional karaoke opportunity, but that was it. I miss it, especially around the holidays — Christmas music is my favorite.

I have found two new fans, though: my boys love for me to sing to them. As little babies, of course, there’s plenty of opportunity to sing them pretty much whatever comes to mind, but even as they’re getting bigger, I’m grateful that they’re remaining enthusiastic. A few weeks ago, I started singing Christmas songs to the boys while they were in the bath, and they LOVED it. Liam smiles, transfixed, or giggles. Benjamin starts to learn the words (and even the melodies) almost immediately — he now has a favorites list (and if I vary the words at all, he notices — I can never remember whether Santa Claus knows who’s “naughty or nice” or “naughty and nice” and he calls me on it every time I switch it, and when I finally looked up the last line of the first verse of “Good King Wenceslas” he corrected me because it was supposed to be “la la la la la la la la la la la la la la”).

I love catching Benjamin singing little pieces of the songs I’ve been singing to him — this evening, he kept singing the 8th day of Christmas, over and over. I am really enjoying singing for them. It’s nice to have an outlet for that part of me, and it really adds to the feeling of Christmas.

Things you never thought you’d say

Posted on November 13, 2011 by admin

When you become a parent, you know you’re going to end up saying things like, “Finish eating dinner or you aren’t getting dessert”, or “If you guys can’t settle down, we’re going straight home”, or “If you throw that one more time, I’m not going to pick it up again”.

But there are a whole host of other things you hear coming out of your mouth that, upon further reflection (if not at the moment) are pretty funny. This is a selection that I’ve caught myself saying over the past 6 months or so:

Stop bludgeoning your brother with that bread. You’re getting chocolate on the radiator! That snake is not a weapon. Power cords are not good toys for babies. If you run over the dog one more time with your bike, I’m not going to let you ride it in the house anymore. Please don’t put your foot in your brother’s ice cream. Do not run over your brother with that piano! No pull-ups on the oven door! Stop hitting your brother with that cow. Don’t use the hammer on the dog. No throwing computers at anyone’s head! Don’t sit on your brother’s head. No, space shuttles don’t crash in to dogs. Stop trying to get your brother to eat his Halloween costume. Don’t crash that plane into his head.

Seriously, I’ve said all of those things. Recently. Parenthood is a wild ride.

My first Christmas Market

Posted on November 12, 2011 by admin

Today was the opening day of a few of the Christmas Markets in Vienna (everything will be open by next weekend) including one of the closest to our house — the one at the town hall (Rathaus). We decided to stop by the one at the Rathaus on our way home from dinner out with friends.

I’ve been really excited to see what a Vienna Christmas Market is like — I had visions of a scene out of a Christmas card, of an open air market filled with shops selling mulled wine, cider, roasted chestnuts, hand-knitted mittens and hats, charming ornaments and maybe even fresh Christmas wreaths. I was hoping it would be a place for the boys to get to run around a bit and take in the sights of pre-Christmas merriment, and for us to do some of our holiday shopping.

No — it was insane. It’s like a county fair, a bar on Saturday night and the Atlantic City boardwalk all wrapped up in a big Christmas bow and wearing a flashing, light up Santa hat (seriously, they actually sell those — at several different shops). It was so crowded that it was hard to walk, let alone maneuver a stroller through the throngs. The shops were plentiful (over 130) but heavy on the “punsch” and “gluhwein” and pre-packaged sweets. Benjamin wanted to have a cookie, and we actually couldn’t find one (which was disappointing). There were lots of shops with little, cheap, stocking-stuffer type toys, and quite a few that sold either hats or Christmas ornaments (although all the hats and all the ornaments seemed pretty much the same, regardless of the shop). The crush of people was heavily populated with the young and intoxicated, and there was a lot of smoking (which isn’t surprising for Vienna, but it was so bad that we actually came home reeking of smoke, as though we’d been inside and surrounded by smoke).

On the other hand, the enormous Christmas tree is beautiful, and the lights displays they had off of the main part of the market were elaborate and pretty, as well. There’s a train that runs around the entire Rathaus park — Benjamin really wants to ride on that soon (and I know we will).

I’d been warned that the Rathaus Christmas Market was the most touristy of all — that the shops there would be selling mass produced, and overpriced, items. There was a certain festivity to it, and it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t at all what I expected it to be. Maybe it was just the first night? Maybe it was because many of the other markets aren’t yet open? As we get into December, the entire Rathaus is turned into a giant advent calendar (they decorate and reveal a different window every day) so we’ll definitely be back over there between now and the holidays. I’m curious to see what it will be like in the coming weeks, as well as how it’s different during the day, and during the week. We’re going to check out the other Christmas markets, as well. I’m hoping I find my perfect Christmas card scene somewhere.

Learning to talk, and learning German

Posted on November 11, 2011 by admin

Liam is learning to talk. Other than getting “mama” out a few times a couple of months ago, he hasn’t really said anything consistently. In the past month, he’s learned “No!”, but that’s his answer to absolutely every question you ask him, so although he was “talking” it didn’t really count as communicating.

But, he’s moving on from there. First, we started noticing that the “no” that means no and the “no” that means yes have a definitely different inflection. Then, in the past few days, he started following Bailey around the house yelling, “Vuh! Vuh! Vuh!” (which is the sound a dog makes, if you didn’t know). Now, he’s added, “Dah!” (dog) to his canine monologue. It is so cute. And, in addition to occasionally chasing Bailey around shouting, “Dah! Vuh! Vuh! Vuh! Dah!”, which we now understand, he also looks enthusiastically in all of Bailey’s hiding places if you ask him “What sound does a dog make?” (because I guess he wants the answer from the source). He’s been a great communicator for a while (more of a pointer and gesturer than B was) but it’s really fun to see him adding actual words (more or less) to his repertoire.

Benjamin’s doing the same thing. Just this week, he’s started to use words and phrases we don’t understand. We’re not sure how to separate the actual words from the nonsense words (he’s recently started inventing words, too, which I think comes from a combination of hanging out with Liam and being bombarded daily by a lot of words that are effectively nonsense to him). The other night at the doctor’s office, though, he said to Liam “Schau ma, Liam!” (or something like that) when showing him a new toy. The doctor immediately recognized it and told us he was telling Liam to “look here”. Since that night, it’s the only way I’ve heard him address Liam if he wants to show him something. His pronunciation, too, of words in German is impressive (his ü is way better than mine).

I’m impressed, with both of my boys. Learning a language is a lot of work, and they’re both doing great.

Lanternen Abend

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin

Benjamin’s school hosted a “lantern evening” tonight. Other than assuming that lanterns would somehow be involved, we really didn’t know what to expect. I suspected there was going to be a performance of some kind, because Benjamin had been talking about “practicing his song” at school this week. Excited about B’s first school “concert”, we went to the school this evening and assembled in the garden to see what would happen next.

The teachers had made paper lanterns for each child (complete with real, actual candles!) and each of the kids had helped to make his or her own costume. They all lined up and then got arranged in a circle, and began to sing. There were three songs, none of which I understood, but each of the kids had a part to play in the performance, which mainly involed the kids taking turns walking around in a circle and the teachers doing most of the singing.

It was great. Benjamin was a cat (the cutest cat EVER, for the record) and was part of the first group to perform in the first song. He did great during “his” song, but when the props came out for the second song, he burst into tears and cried for me, so I ran around the circle to hold him for the last two songs. (Turns out, in the dark, he hadn’t been able to see me and was “worried about me”.) Liam wanted nothing to do with the singing and spent the entire performance toddling around the playground with Dan in tow (on the plus side, as long as he was wandering, he was relatively quiet).

I’m so proud of my little guy. I know it’s a “mom thing” to be proud of our kids, whatever the situation, and there’s definitely that aspect to what I’m feeling, but I’m also truly impressed by him. I know plenty of adults who would balk at participating in a performance where the entire show (and much of the direction) was in a foreign language. Until relatively recently, he wasn’t too thrilled about school at all, so to see him out there, participating in his class activity, and enjoying it (at least the first part) was really amazing.

After the show, the kids all got to run around the garden in the dark and play, which was a lot of fun for them — Benjamin particularly seemed to enjoy getting to show us all around his school play yard.

(This evening also brought back very fond memories, for me, of a tradition called Lantern Bearing which we celebrated at Sweet Briar.)

Apparently, these “lantern evenings” happen in schools all around Vienna, across Austria and throughout Europe. It’s part of the celebration of the Feast of St. Martin (who I had never heard of, apart from the island) which is seen as the first part of the Christmas season, the beginning of a 40 day period of fasting or an excuse to drink wine and eat goose, depending on your view.

Benjamin did great, and we all had a great time. This was another very Austrian experience, in that we don’t (to my knowledge, anyway) particularly celebrate St. Martin’s Day at home, and at the same time, really universal — my pride in watching B, his excitement, and even his tears, are the stuff of preschool performances, wherever they happen.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Posted on November 9, 2011 by admin

As much as I love Starbucks, I’ve been feeling left out — they didn’t have any of the typical US autumn offerings here, and I was thinking that Vienna is probably too cool for Starbucks’ traditional red holiday cups and tasty wintry drinks. I’d kind of resigned myself to paying the price of giving up my usual coffee holiday merriment in exchange for spending a wonderful, festive holiday in one of the most Christmassy parts of the world. (It’s a rough life — oh, the sacrifices I must make!)

But today, I went in to Starbucks, and they had the red cups and Christmas drinks! I know it’s a little thing, but thinking about Christmas has been making me really miss home lately, and this was just a little, familiar thing that made me smile.

There’s a lot to smile about in Vienna right now, though, and it’s absolutely impossible not to feel wrapped up in the Christmas spirit — already.

The first of the Christmas markets open this weekend, and preparations are well underway. Trees are going up, lights are being strung, wooden stalls are being filled with wares, boughs of pine are decking the aisles, giant chandeliers are being hoisted (literally) into the sky. Nothing is quite ready yet — the stalls and booths are roped off, and the lights aren’t on yet (mostly), but even so, I feel the excitement and the anticipation of the Christmas season already.

Walking down the Graben (a huge pedestrian shopping area downtown) this evening, and looking at all of the (as yet unlit) decorations, I actually got a little teary. It’s already so beautiful, and I’m impressed and amazed by the city-wide feeling of festiveness and imminent merriment.

When I came home and walked through the front door, I heard the Christmas music that Dan had put on while I was out. Some of it is music I grew up listening to at the holidays, some of it has been added to Christmas more recently (mostly by my sister) but all of it means HOME and HOLIDAY to me. It made me very, very joyful.

I’m very excited about Christmas, but I also miss my family. I’m not sad, but I so badly wish that I could share all the magic and wonder of this experience with them. They mean so much to me, and they ARE Christmas to me. I am here, eagerly anticipating the Christmas season in Vienna, but my heart is split between here and home.

School is great

Posted on November 8, 2011 by admin

For the first 6 weeks or so, when I would arrive at school to pick B up, he’d look at me (rather forlornly) and say, “I want to go home”. For the past few weeks, I’ve suspected that this has been more of a habit than an expression of actual sadness — if I sneak up to the window in the classroom, I can get a peek of him playing happily with the other kids, and the teachers have been reporting that he’s been joining in the group activities and playing enthusiastically with the other kids. Lately, on the way home, when I ask him how his day was, he invariably says “It was great!” He’s been adding to his list of friends almost daily — he recently told me that he has the same number of friends as he does fingers.

Today, when I got to school and peeked in, he was playing with a little girl, building a Lego train. When the other kids alerted him to my presence (they always do, which is why I have to be sneaky if I want to see what he’s up to) he turned around and said, “Mommy! Come see!” It was the first time he’d ever beckoned me into the classroom, rather than running to meet me at the door. I went to check out his Lego train, and got to meet his new friend, Felicity, and then I told him it was time to go. At which point he asked if he could add just one more car to the train . . . and then just one more . . . and then just one more . . . at which point, the effort of fighting to keep Liam in my arms (he wanted to play, too) caused me to pull the plug on his fun.

On the way home, he told me all about his great day and how he wants to go back tomorrow. Later, over lunch, he told me he was a little sad. I asked why, and he told me, “I didn’t have a much time at school. I wanted to stay a bit longer.”

I’m so glad he feels this way. This is what I’d been hoping would happen — that he wouldn’t just tolerate school, but would actually look forward to it. That he wouldn’t count the minutes until I came to pick him up, but he would want to stay a little longer. I want him to have fun, make friends, a learn a little. I feel like we’re starting to get there.

Mommy takes a break

Posted on November 7, 2011 by admin

This weekend was a long weekend for us — Dan had today off of work. So, naturally, by about 10:00 this morning, we still had a ton of things on our “to do” list, and I was already exhausted. When we have long weekends, I have a bad habit of trying to cram too much stuff in — that extra day seems to stretch on eternally in my mind’s eye when I’m planning, but I find it usually just leaves me more exhausted than I am in a regular weekend, and frustrated, too, because I had this fanciful idea of what would be accomplished that didn’t come to pass.

First thing this morning, we had a doctor’s appointment for a heart screening for Liam . . . which was a bit of a fiasco because the hospital had lost our appointment, which no one actually told us, so we had to wait in the emergency room for 45 minutes while they figured things out, only to be sent to the cardiology department to be lectured on the fact that we needed an appointment (which is when we figured out what must have happened). This is one of those things that is infinitely more challenging about living in a country where you don’t speak the language: these missed connections happen much more often, and when they do, they’re less likely to be resolved easily. Chances our, the incorrect appointment might well have been our misunderstanding in the first place, but we find that rather than explain the problem to us (that they have no record of our appointment) everyone passes the problem of explaining along to the next person, leaving us irritated (why are we waiting in the ER for 45 minutes when we had an appointment?) and confused (why is everyone being so weird?). We did finally get to see the cardiologist, and Liam’s heart is just fine (good to know) but after starting and our day, bright and early, with a heaping dose of confusion and frustration, I just did not have it in me to go forward with our plans for the day.

So, I gave up. We were supposed to take the kids to the zoo to meet a friend, but I just could not get excited about it. I was feeling really tired, and already daunted by the big week we have ahead of us. All I wanted to do was sit, read and have a cup of tea. So, that’s what I did. Benjamin was already excited about going to the zoo, so Dan took the boys. It seemed like a crazy idea when we first thought of it, and I felt preemptively guilty (could I *really* bring myself to skip a fun day at the zoo with my kids?) but it was GREAT. I got to relax and take a little time for myself, and the boys had a great time at the zoo with Dan. They don’t seem scarred by it, and, surprisingly, neither am I.

We still didn’t get a lot of stuff on our list done this weekend, and I’m still pretty worn out. But tomorrow, when I’m exhausted and trying to get my week back on track, I’ll feel a little better knowing I at least took a stab at being rested for the week. And the flamingos will be there next time.

A Mommy Abroad

Our big adventure, as a family of three.

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