Tag Archives: summer

Christmas in June

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Yesterday, Liam and I were building a train track, and, as usually happens, we ended up just one piece short of what we really wanted to build.  After a bit of trying to make it work with the pieces we had available, and then, failing that, trying to convince Liam that perhaps a redesign was required, I remembered that we had some extra train track pieces stored in the closet.  They’re in the closet because they’re for the Christmas train, not the “regular” train.

Every January and February, I slowly start to squirrel away the Christmas decorations and toys.  I do it stealthily, and gradually, to attempt to avoid an all-out uprising in favor of keeping our Christmas decorations up until summer.  Understandably, the boys love their Christmas stuff, and they generally object to having it put away.  With a few exceptions (both Liam and Benjamin have several Christmas-themed stuffed animals that stay out all year because they are so dearly loved) the decorations and toys get put away eventually.  (I stand firm in the face of adversity because I really belive they’re more special to all of us if they only come out for a little while each year.)  The manger scene, the Christmas train, the Santa books — all of it eventually gets boxed up and put in the closet.

But yesterday, to solve our engineering problem with the train, I decided to retrieve a single piece of curved track from the closet to complete our creation.  Ta-da!  Success!

Kind of.  Because, of course, Liam quickly figured out that where there was one piece of the Christmas train, there would be more.  And he began to ask, very sweetly and “Please please please!” if I would get the Christmas train out for him.  And, as kindly as I could, I explained that the Christmas train was put away for the season.  But he persisted in asking for it.

And, after a few minutes, I went ahead and got it out.  Not because I was frustrated or overwhelmed with his asking (which was actually uncharacteristically respectful) but because, why say no?  Sure, it’s not Christmas.  Yes, it’s June.  The Christmas train has been put away for about 5 months now, so it seems plenty special to get it out and enjoy it again.

And so, we had Christmas train construction and play time last night.  We got out the rest of the track, the Christmas train, the gingerbread cookie decorations (note — not real cookies), the Christmas wreaths for the train set and, of course, the little plastic Christmas trees that go with the set.  Because, why not?  Christmas is great and it’s really nice to just say yes once in a while for no real reason.  Liam is so happy.

(The only unintended consequence is that Liam now has us counting down how many days until Santa comes . . . oops!)  Merry Christmas to all (in June)!

Benjamin and Santa

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Did you know that it’s 4 months until Christmas?  I do, because I have a 3 year old who asks me daily (often more than once) if it’s Christmastime yet, where Santa is and when he’s coming.

I’ve recently started introducing to Benjamin the idea of a Christmas list:  the idea that when he wants something, rather than demanding it today, we write it down and ask Santa for it at Christmas.  The idea seems to be taking root.

033He decided, the other day, that he would like a red kite.  I told him we should write it down on our list for Santa.  He told me that he actually wants two things from Santa:  a red kite, and a yellow kite for Liam to chew on.

My 3 year old just asked for 2 things for Christmas, and one of them is for his brother.  I acknowledge that the request for the yellow kite for Liam was probably self-serving (if he has a kite to chew on then he won’t chew on mine), and that his Christmas list will grow in the next few months, but, still, it’s a cute and sweet thought for him to have.

I have great kids.

Nope, still summer

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A week or so ago, I wrote that things felt chilly here, and that I thought maybe fall was upon us.  Nope.  Still summer.

It has been HOT here this week.  It’s been in the 90s all week, and before everyone from home hits me with, “Bah!  90s?!?  It’s August!  We do that in our sleep!”, I will remind you that no, in fact, you don’t.  When you go to sleep, it’s cool and pleasant — nice temperatures and not too humid, thanks to lovely air conditioning.  Most Americans venture out into the 90+ degree heat for only a few minutes at a time — until they get to their car, until they get into work, or a shop, until they get home.  (Hey, I’m with you — that’s how I like it, too.)  Inside, it’s 72-ish all the time.  If you really want to cool off, hit a movie or the mall — it’s often even colder in there.  (Last summer, when I was pregnant with Liam and suffering in the heat, I used to go to the mall and just walk around in the lovely, cool air conditioning.  Ah!)

This is 80, 85, 90 degrees 24 hours a day.  There is no respite.  Our houses don’t have air conditioning (or, if they do, like mine, it’s in a single room), the shops don’t have air conditioning, the movies and malls are barely air conditioned (if at all), only the most modern of trains have air conditioning.  (At least, if you’re riding the U-bahn, some of the stations are underground, so that’s pretty pleasant.)  Last night, in my air conditioned living room, it got down to 80.  That was the coolest room in the house.  Liam, in particular, feels about the heat the way that I do, and even Benjamin, who usually asks to be bundled up on the warmest nights, woke up at 3 in the morning and asked that I remove all of the blankets from his bed.  No one in the house got much sleep last night, and we aren’t due to see relief from this until Saturday.

I am hot, I am sweaty, I am not a fan of this weather.  I can live with it, but watching my kids suffer through it is really hard.  Benjamin gets so sweaty when he runs around and plays.  I’ve put all of our mid-day park trips and excursions on hold until the weather breaks.  Liam gets unhappy when the indoor temperature goes above about 75, so I actually can’t sleep at night for worrying about him in his 80+ degree room.  He wakes up screaming and sweaty and there’s little to do to comfort him, since holding him just makes him hotter.

Our living room air conditioner is set to 78 degrees.  It has not shut off in over 72 hours.  If things don’t improve tonight, we’re all going to have a sleepover around the air conditioner tomorrow night.  80 degrees might seem like a really pleasant sleeping temperature after the past few nights.

Ok, I get, it Austrian summer:  you’re not over.  Point taken.

Autumn in August

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I love the fall — it is, without question, my favorite season, and always has been.  But, I wasn’t really prepared to greet it in August.  Waking up this morning, there was a definite change in the weather.  We’ve had cool, even chilly, days throughout the summer, but this feels less transient — this feels like fall.  Our other cool days have been gray and rainy.  Today was bright and sunny, but crisp and cool.  At the warmest part of the day, it was a little warm in the sunshine and perfect in the shade, but by this evening, it was chilly even in the sun.  Feels like October to me.

Maybe we’ll have a really long fall that fades gently into a snowy winter (because that would be GREAT).  Or maybe it will feel like January here by the time we get to mid-October.  The light is changing, the weather is changing, the wind is changing — I think summer in Vienna is winding down.

The light is changing

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I was outside this evening, around 6:00, and everything looked just a little bit off . . . like when it’s about to storm, but it wasn’t.  The sunlight was different — it was subtler.  Instead of bathing everything in bright light, it was just subdued enough to highlight and illuminate instead.

Fall is coming.  It’s still July.  I think we may have a long, dark winter ahead of us.  I see a time, in my very near future, where I am kicking myself and eating every word I said about the long, hot days we’ve had so far.

On the plus side, the kids are sleeping later, and we’re getting them to bed earlier.  And I love the fall, so if what we get is a long, drawn out period of beautiful light, warm days and cool nights, that would be absolutely fantastic.  Today was absolutely beautiful — it was about 70 degrees as a high, and very windy — I actually ordered a hot tea at Starbucks and drank it inside, because it was too cold and windy outside for me to really enjoy myself (although I did try for about 20 minutes).

It’s JULY.  Oh, dear.

Cool

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We have air conditioning.  Dan went out and bought a one-room air conditioner with a big tube that vents to the outside.  It’s awesome.  Before it arrived, it got up to 91 degrees inside my house today.  It’s now down to an amazingly comfortable 84 — it’s 88 outside, at 11 pm, as a comparison.  (And to think, I used to feel so hot when I would visit my in-laws in Florida and they would set the thermostat to 78!)

There was record breaking heat in Vienna today.  The boys and I made plans to meet a friend and her son (Benjamin’s age) to go swimming and try and beat the heat.  Just getting all of our stuff together and getting out the door took just about all of the energy I had allocated for today.  Then we took the wrong bus, had to walk a long way in the sun and the heat, and then, of course, when we got there, Benjamin wanted absolutely nothing to do with the water.  Sigh.  So, we stayed about 20 minutes and went back to my friend’s house (with air conditioning!) so the boys could hang out and play.  By the time we got home, I had a coating of salt on my face from sweating.  (Ick.)

We had a very nice (if very hot) day.  The heat doesn’t last here the same way it does at home, though — less than 10 days ago, we had a high temperature in the 50s, and by tomorrow night, it will get down to almost 60, so I think we’ll be able to give our new a/c unit the night off.

Hot and tired

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I know, I complain a lot:  it’s hard work being here, I can’t communicate with anyone, it took forever for us to get our stuff, I hardly ever get a break and it’s really hot.  All of that is true, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t having a good time here.  Generally, things are going well, and we are having an amazing experience.  Most days, I’m really confident that we made the right decision, and I spend most of my time truly enjoying Vienna and my kids.  Right now, though, I’m exhausted, and that’s making it hard to think about anything other than that.

I think part of it is that I’m still recovering from having house guests last week.  I think part of it is the 4-5 hours of sleep per night that comes with having kids and staying up too late.  And, I’m sure part of it is stress.  Whatever it is, I’m really tired.  I’m trying to take it easy on myself right now, but that’s not a strong suit for me.  I’ve found myself alternating between listlessness and irritability over the past 36 hours or so — which I think is mainly from the fatigue, but made worse by the heat.

I’m used to it being 72-ish inside pretty much everywhere.  At home, you only have to endure the heat for the duration of time it takes to go from your front door to another front door, or if you do something outside for a while.  Admittedly, cars can get pretty hot inside, but the a/c knocks that down pretty quick.  I’m not accustomed to the temperature being 85+ inside, all day, everywhere.  It’s hot in here by 10 am and it doesn’t cool down until after 9 in the evening.  There’s just no escaping it here.  Most places don’t have air conditioning, and the places that do typically set it on about 85 and leave the windows open (which, admittedly, is cooler than anyplace else, but still, not like the US).  Being in my apartment, in the heat, all day, really wears me down — I’m not sure if it’s exacerbating the exhaustion I’m feeling or helping to cause it, but either way, me no likey.

Also:  Dear Dan:  please get an air conditioner.  Seriously.  That is all.

First prayer

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It was cold here today — not cool, cold.  Our high was 14 Celcius, it varied between rainy and drizzly all day, and the wind went from a strong breeze to “Oh dear, what was that?!?”  If you had been plopped down in Vienna today, you would absolutely have believed it was April if that’s what you’d been told.  (I was thrilled, actually — I think it’s beautiful weather, and a real treat to have in July, especially after the heat we’ve had lately . . . but I think it may have been a bit too much for our fair-weather-dwelling houseguests.)

Today was, however, our first planned day of sightseeing with our visitors.  They arrived Friday, we did our “chores” yesterday, and today our plan was to see two of the most essential sights of Vienna:  St. Stephen’s and the Hofburg.  Well, it rained and it was cold.  We went anyway.

We went to St. Stephen’s.  We had planned to perhaps do a tour or climb one of the towers, but Dan’s parents weren’t really interesed in the tour and the weather didn’t make the climb in the tower sound too inviting, so we were just going to explore the cathedral on our own.  Of course, when we got there, the cathedreal wasn’t available to visit, but we still were able to wander around in the entry area and get to experience the beautiful church a bit.

It is amazing inside.  It’s huge, and beautiful, full of statues and stained glass.  It smells like incense and it’s just the right amount of dark and mysterious.  There are basins of holy water in the entrance and there are prayer candles in the nooks and alcoves — Benjamin was fascinated (as he was the first time we went, on Easter).  He really wanted to see the candles, so I took him to look.  He asked about them and I did my best to explain.  He asked if a prayer was like making a wish, and I told him that it was — that it was making a wish for good things to happen for people that you love, and that you tell it to God so that he can help you make it happen.  He wanted to make a wish, so we purchased a candle and lit it.  He wished for, “All the people that I love to be happy”.  (I am amazed by him — by his kindness and his understanding.)

And then he asked me if he could blow the candle out, and I had to explain the difference between a prayer candle and a birthday candle.  He seemed ok with it.

On the way home we walked past the Hofburg, through the Volksgarten, past the Parliament and the Rathaus and back to home, where we stayed for the rest of our rainy and cold afternoon.  To me, it was a lovely Sunday, but I’m not sure we did a very good job as hosts and tour guides.  That’s ok — we have 7 more days.

The longest day

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5:03 a.m.

5:03 a.m.

I woke up this morning, as I often do, to the sounds of one of my little ones awake, ready to start the day, and in need of liberation from his crib.  Dan usually gets up with the boys in the morning, but he was groggy to the point of complete incomprehensibility, so I went for it.  The sun was up, and I was ready to start my day — but why, oh why, was I so tired?  Well, partly, because it was quarter of five in the morning.  Quarter ’til five, and daylight.  Crazy.

Benjamin was awake, but it didn’t take much to convince him to go back to sleep (it was, after all, two hours before he usually gets up, as well).  I had a tough time getting back to sleep, though, and before I knew it, it was quarter of seven (that’s more like it) and time to actually start the day.

Other than being hot and exhausted, we had a good day, and celebrated by inaugurating our new inflatable “paddling pool” for our terrace.  (I know that’ll come in handy tomorrow when it’s supposed to be above 90 here — and that’s the temperature down on the street, not in our relatively closed up attic apartment.)

It is summer now.  Although I understand why this is the first day of summer, from an astronomical perspective, it never ceases to astound me that the longest day of the year should come so early in what we experience as summer.  July and August still stretch stickily out ahead of us, but the days begin to shorten now.  It will begin to be easier to sleep a little later in the morning, and to get the kids in bed at a reasonable hour in the evening (it’s after 10:00 here and not yet quite dark).

I know I’ll regret these words in November and January, but right now, I’m looking forward to just a little less daylight tomorrow.  Sleep is lovely and precious.

The heat

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I can’t stand the heat.  It’s driving me nuts.  I’ve never been one of those people who longs for the heat of summer — I’ve always been someone who would rather be too cold than too hot (my philosophy is that you can always put more layers on, but there are only so many you can take off).  I hate being sweaty when I’m sitting still — not my style.  It’s not super hot here . . . 85 or so during the heat of the afternoon, but it varies between 5 to 10 degrees hotter than that in our apartment.  I’m used to setting my air conditioning at home at a max of 72, so this is rough for me.  Benjamin seems unfazed by it, but Liam is sweating all day, and we’ve started going out in the afternoons just to get out of here at the hottest part of the day.

We have huge, beautiful windows which, when opened, allow a great cross breeze and really cool everything off.  But, these windows are about 5 feet tall and open like French doors — each has a radiator positioned directly underneath it, so even though the sill is 3 feet off the floor, it is not out of the reach of a 2 year old.  And we live on the 6th (also top) floor.  So, we can’t open the windows when Benjamin is awake.  They actually have a funny design that allows us to open a single pane of the window about 4 inches, which allows the air to move a little, but we’re pretty stifled up here.

The whole attitude towards heat is different here — no one has air conditioning, and the Viennese alter their dress very little, even when it’s very hot outside (3 piece suits, dresses with tights, jackets and even scarves are common to see).  I don’t know how they do it.

I think that it’s similar to how we deal with snow in the DC area.  We don’t get a ton of snow (winter of 2010 notwithstanding) so when we do, we close everything down, do our best to get it out of our way (kind of) and move on.  We’re really just gritting our teeth, closing our eyes and pushing through:  we’re surviving, we’re not thriving.  Besides, it’ll be gone in a few days.  We don’t invest a lot in dealing with snow, because it’s just not a space we need to live in for very long.

I think the heat is the same here.  It’s about the same here as it is at home, temperature wise (although a lot less humid) but it won’t be as hot for as much of the summer as we experience at home.  So, rather than adjust their surroundings to be something they can thrive in, they just grit their teeth and push through.

I can appreciate the Viennese (and, I think Europeans in general) being steadfast in the face of the heat — I can see that if it isn’t bad for too long, they don’t have the requisite motivation to alter their homes or their wardrobes significantly for it.  (Although I do wish they at least put ice in the drinks.)  I also hear it’s something you get used to (I hope so).

Dan brought home a fan today.  I think it may be the best gift he’s ever brought me.