Skopje Weekend

From Skopje

I went to Skopje from Wednesday 12th to Monday morning 17th. I went with one of the college students. I thought going to another Country would be a great addition to my learning experience and I was right. Spending a long weekend in the heart of the Capital made me learn a lot more about other cultures. I'm glad I was exposed to another culture and I made more realizations about all of the cultures I recently have been exposed to. The more you talk with others and make comparisons the better my understanding of everything is. Over all I feel like I have gained a lot more now.

Moving on, for a capital of a country and a large population I was amazed how non big city it felt. There were trees and strips of land everywhere. A lot of the buildings had space next to them and not another building. Plus there were some nice parks with ponds, water fountains, many different trees and nice trails for walk on. I've talked to a few people and they have asked if its similar to Portland, but I have never been there so I dont know.

I did have some issues with a few intersections. The pedestrian crossing signs, walk dont walk, were located in two places, the first half of the street and the second half. I am use to one sign that I can walk across the entire street. There were a few occasions that I would see one sign and start walking, then as cars are turning towards me I realize that is for the second half and not the first half where I am trying to walk. I did learn and change my ways. Most of the time (depending on intersection) there were few cars moving so it took me longer to learn to look for two signs. Plus I feel like the signs were not within the same line of sight, that I would have to look around to find where each one was.

I got to walk around the city and see a few sites and take photos. In the evening I got exposed to a few different bars, restaurants, and cafe/ live music spots. I enjoyed it, I felt like I was exposed to many different places and atmospheres. On Saturday I got in a car with the family, which consisted of Spire, Mom, Aunt, and Uncle, we drove to Ohrid. I was nervous because we drove threw a lot of fog, but to my surprise the sun was shining and it was a great day for seeing sites. I took photos and when we started to wrap up the day the sun disappeared behind the clouds. Went out to eat before driving back, we had the most unfriendly waiter ever. It was clear he was having a bad day or in general hated people and life. The drive back had thicker fog or at least it felt like that because the sun had set and everything was darker. I loved what I got to see and I had a great time with everyone. Huzzah for friendly families willing to take me out and show me the sites.

Over all I had a great time. There was some concern about me getting back into Greece but I had no problems at all. Traveling itself was a pain, the train was about 2 hours late and then we hit some construction on the tracks that we would have otherwise have missed. Over all got to Thessaloniki about 4 hours late and then we had troubles with the bus. It was a very long day of traveling with lots of sitting and waiting. The food we ordered has never tasted so good.

Athens Oct 24-28

I went to Athens for a long weekend with one of the high school students. I had a great time, I really enjoyed his family, the weather and seeing the sites. I didn't get to see as many of the museums as I wanted to but it just gives me a great reason to go back. Plus his family made it clear that I am to return and stay longer.

I enjoyed going to the Acropolis and seeing the Parthenon. I wish I could have recalled more from my art history classes but I still enjoyed it. I was told to take a lot of photos and I did. I couldn't believe the view, it was surrounded by city everywhere, in all directions. Sunday was a family day. There was a baptism that I got to attend. It was not a full church service, it was at a small church and it was just the baptism. It was nice to meet more of the family. I really enjoyed seeing how everything was done and how they celebrated. Lots of colorful balloons and pink decorated items. Little gifts were handed out to all and a dessert snack thing. Afterwards there was a reception at the far end of town (lots of driving). It was in the back half of a restaurant with some live music. I enjoyed seeing my host mom and her parents dancing. I still need to learn some traditional dancing.

I even got to see 'The Mall', a very large mall in Athens and that is the name of it The Mall. On Monday we (Thano & I) went to see a movie there, Burn After Reading. I really enjoyed the movie, especially the part where one character mentioned he use to be a Greek Orthodox Priest, it made the line a lot funnier being in Greece.

I got to know the transportation system very well. Train there and back (Austria's train seats are more comfortable), the bus, metro line, and car. It felt like most of my time was in transit but I know it wasn't. Over all I loved it and am happy I got to go and spend time with a family, even for a weekend.

English Classes

This is a two part entry. 1)attending classes 2)teaching classes

1) Last week I attended four different English classes with three different teachers. It was interesting to see how the classes *interacted with me *what material was covered *how much english was spoken to them by the teacher *different teaching styles *organization and planning for each class.
Classes and the school system here are very different than in America. Classes can easily run late the entire day, students (all)come an average of 2-5min late, 1 class can be cancelled for an event (USA would shorten all classes evenly to make time), field trips get on a bus and go (USA attendance would be taken, groups formed all with an adult chaperone), still don’t have books for classes so using photo copies for handouts

2) When I first arrived I was asked by the English department to make a power point about myself to teach the classes in case a teacher could not be available to teach. I would be a substitute if/when needed. Last Thursday I was suppose to teach three different classes about myself. It ended up only being two classes because the third was cancelled for student government elections. I tried my best to cover information about Colorado, Boulder, my family, IFYE program, different states (use of maps) that were important to me and my life, some photos of me, the four schools I attended and the school grades in America, and some other info. Over all I think it went well. I am not sure how much they actually learned but I could tell they were interested and looking at the map of the states was helpful. At the end I would ask if there were any big cities or states they had heard of and I would point them out. Before each class started I took the class photo with GodzillaDino (will be posted).

Ramble

Hay I was going to upload some more photos onto picasa but I am having some troubles. Things are going well here for me. Getting to see and do more, learning the town better. Saw the first few rooms of the Byzantine museum before I kinda got kicked out (should be going back tomorrow to see the rest, hopefully). Tried Goody's fast food Greek food, pretty good. I wish I had time to look at the menu instead of seeing a few pictures and just picking one hopping it was good. It was a very tasty sandwich I enjoyed it just wasn’t sure what I was getting.

I took a few more photos of the AFS campus and a few more downtown so you can see some of the sites that I am seeing. I've been working on crocheting scarves and need to buy some more yarn. You can see two finished projects on Damian and Nancy, some of my librarian friends that I have been hanging out with. They took some of us to the Beer Academy, nice restaurant with lots of beer. It ended up being more of a German night making me think of Austria. I had an unfiltered dark German beer, and the food we had was a plate of sausages.
I usually go to the store to buy bananas; I can usually get 5-6 for about 1ε, pretty good especially compared to Zurich.
This coming weekend I will be heading to Athens with one of the AFS students for the long weekend. National holiday on Tuesday. I'm excited to be staying with a family and being able to see Athens.
Oh wait just was informed that there will be a general strike tomorrow so going to the museum will be postponed but going out for coffee and buying yarn in the evening is a go because they are private enterprises.

I have reduced the amount of mosquito bites by purchasing a thing to plug into the wall. The last few days there has been an influx of fly’s in the hall and in my room. They are everywhere and you can tell the plug in stuff is having an affect on them but not enough to kill or discourage them from coming in. Floors get really dirty here so lots of sweeping is necessary. Story time: I was having troubles with my shower and floor drain draining. This past friday they came and cleared it out, very happy for that. They on the other hand left all of the clogging parts all over my bathroom (found 4 piles of gross stuff), the floor had an extra layer of dirt/grime, the shower curtain is oh so dirty, the faucet and water controls were covered in stuff. Over all happy to have water flowing, unhappy about the mess I had to clean that I didn't realize how bad it was until I was getting naked to get into the shower. It's much better now, I cleaned.

Links about the School

I have not been ontop of getting information to you about AFS. I have decided for those of you who like to over achive I will give you some links and you can read what intersts you. I WILL be making a real post about the school with some facts later (hopefully this week or next)
the famous wikipedia
AFS American Farm school
Perrotis College same campus
infomative info on the fresh products, good reading about the eggs

Greece

I have almost been in Greece for 20 days, and I have another 2 months left. I will make another post about the school later (AFS). For the most part I have a lot of freedom here. I have a larger room (because it's for two people and I have it to myself), with a private bathroom. I get a lot of mosquito bites at night and just bought something to plug into the wall to help with the situation. There are a few American interns who are here for the school year. A lot of people get me confused and think I am one as well. But I'm here with the 4-H program, some are informed and know what I am talking about and others don't have a clue (kind of like in America).

When I first arrived there was a lot of cold and rainy weather. I was told September was the best time to be in Greece. Lucky for me it didn't stick and the past few days have been amazing. The sun has been shining and the sunsets are beautiful. A few days ago the winds blew out some moisture and now I can see Mt Olympus. I have taken a few photos and will be taking more. Keep checking on my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/kelliebetty. I have most of the photos up but are not labeled yet, I'm working on it.
I've gotten use to taking the bus to and from town, and the taxi at night after the buses stop running. The bus is only .50 cents, and I can use one ticket for 4 bus rides within a 70 minute time frame. The taxi is pretty cheep too. I've never taken one in America so I don't know how they compare. I usually buy bus tickets in groups of 10 (deca). I was upset today to find out my most recently purchased ones were in the pocket of my pants after I washed them, opps there went 5ε.

I help work library hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday evenings. I've also been getting to know the library staff and I am becoming good friends with two of them. I'm getting to know the city Thessaloniki a little bit better, still need to review the history of it (there's a lot). I found a store to buy yarn so I am crocheting again (I love it so much). I've also found my new favorite bar in the world, I wish I could take it home with me. The only things to improve the bar would be to stop the smoking and make my drinks be free. Then again I never enjoy paying for my drinks;)
I spend most of my time on campus but have been slowly getting to see and do more off campus. I have not been to a Greek home yet, but this week some students have been talking to me and inviting me to their homes. The last weekend in October is a long weekend and I should be going to Athens with a student who's from there. I'm pretty excited about these opportunities. There is an alum who is always wanting to host people, I am waiting for more details on this.

I'm interested in hiking Mt Olympus. I've been told I need to do it with in the next two or three weeks otherwise it gets to cold and has snow. Other than that I have little information on it, like how far it is or how long it takes to hike it.
Plus another very important thing to know is that you can not flush the TP. There is a trash bin beside the toilet for everything to go into. No one told me for a few days, I hope it didn't screw anything up. First I thought it was just here at the school, but apparently its for all of Greece.

Austria Landjugend

Here are some photos of me while at the orientation in Austria. Feel free to flip threw them, I know all of the people in them;)
I was also in the newsletter but at this point I have not seen it, but I've been told there is a picture of me and a few quotes from me. I wish I knew what it said. Hopefully I'll get a copy one way or another.

Non-IFYE fun (free time)

I spent two weeks traveling between my IFYE requirements in Austria and Greece. Some of the things I did on my free time was return for a visit with my third host family. After that I went to Switzerland. I spent most of my time in Zurich and the town close to it. I went to Zurich to meet up with my friend Lacy. Lacy is staying with her sister's family that lives in Zurich. Lacy is currently helping out with the family that just recently moved there. I got to stay in Zurich for five nights. It was so nice to stay with an American family. I was so happy to spend time with a close friend and do some great sight seeing. One night Lacy and I went on a Ghost Tour in Zurich, it was the most entertaining thing ever. We loved the tour guide, very funny, plus it was nice seeing different parts of the city. After that I took an overnight train from Zurich to Vienna, where I spent 3 days before I flew to Greece on Friday 19 September. I have tons of stories from my three days in Vienna, some you will need to hear from me in person or request by e-mail. I did make a new friend, Maria, who is German and lives in London. I went to an opera, two museums (with one artist being from Boulder CO!), saw The Dark Night (in English), and saw a lot of statues. For as many naps that I took I still feel like I did a lot in Vienna. I have a cold and was trying let my body rest and heal before coming to Greece, it didn't work, I don't think all of the rain has been helping. I am bringing rain to everyone, arrr. The flight from Vienna to Greece on Austrian airlines, I think, was one of my most enjoyable flying experiences. The seats were the biggest I've ever had. and they had I hot food! I like the Canadians that I sat next to, they spoke English, it was great.

List Recap of Austria

Here is a list of extra things I got to do when I was in Austria, a summery of sorts.
I visited two ice caves (one being the worlds largest). Went to Czech Republic for half a day. Attended Donauinsel Fest 2008 (large open air music event, lots of stages), I went hang gliding, attended and worked at the World Plowing Contest. I played around at Ares Elctonica Center in Linz. I visited other family members and saw more areas of Austria. I attended many of festivals in the towns I stayed in. I participated in a 50th birthday (huge b-day party it went all night). I saw and visited some castles, meet several Landjugend members (they all kick ass), attended a garden party hosted by a Landjugend club, went go-cart racing (very different),
I saw different forms of traditional dance, wore traditional clothing, went to dance practice with Landjugend club. I got to know train system, go to know many different towns and cities. I went on a pocket knife tour and made my own, drove a few times (both standard & automatic), meet and spent time with a Canadian family (who doesn’t love relatives that live in another country).
I ate lots of ice cream and sweets, got to have a cat sit on my shoulder. I slept in 11 different places/beds, feed a wild bird, saw the movie Mama-Mia in German in the Theater. I went on a few hikes, saw many glaciers, attended a funeral, attended a priest last service (lots of people attended).
I help make wedding invitations, went bowling (had troubles with the foul line), went to Empire (largest dance club in Austria), and so many other memories and events. I love Austria, and the people. I have many great memories from my time there.

subject: Last 3 weeks
I have been very busy the last three weeks, and I have loved it. The family I have been living with has been very supportive of me seeing and doing things. I have been to Linz numerous times. Every time I see something great and wonderful. It was nice to see some art at two different museums. I enjoyed lunch next to the Danube River, visited many churches, been in the largest cathedral in Austria, learned and saw a lot at Ars Electonica Center, saw the 2 buildings & bridge that remain from Hitler, had a wasp land in my beer, found a theater where I can see movies in English, saw a mall with a fantastic food court, tried Baily´s flavored ice cream, bought a new shirt. I think I could possibly live in this town, Go Linz!
I have also gotten to know Steyr. Steyr is smaller and closer to Ternberg. Here I have been shown around by the girls (Lisa & Tanja) and went on a walking audio guided tour with Andrea (mom). I learned some history of the buildings and the town (I would have known more but the CD or the discman were stopping and skipping around so I missed a few things). I know the bus station, a few book stores, a really bad Chinese restaurant, library and a few other shops around town. I also got to see the apt/flat that Hanns (farther) is working on. I also know where the McDonalds is, I didn´t eat there but the girls did.
I have been given the walking tour of Ternberg. Let me tell you everything comes in two’s: 2 banks, 2 hair stylists, 2 backers. There were other things that came in two but I can’t think of them at the moment. I have met many friendly people here. I love eating the fresh black berries and Oma (grandma) knows I like himbeeren (raspberries) so she picks them and brings them over for me to eat. I got to go paragliding. It was extremely calm and relaxing, not something I was expecting. I had a huge smile on my face, and took a few photos.
I have had two extended trips. The first was to the World Plowing Contest in Grafenegg. I meet up with Margrit and the others that I know from their Landjugand club. The other was with the girls to Tirol/Obergurgel. This is where Andrea is from before she met and married Hanns. We stayed at her brother’s place. It is a winter town so there are many resort/apts for people to stay at during their holidays. Clearly in the summer it’s slower so it is easy for us to come and stay for two nights. I went to a Neolithic village (another audio tour in English), took a gondola up to where a glacier used to be, walked to the peak & looked into Italy. Later went to another gondola ride to where you could see 21 different glaciers, it was too windy to walk around so I had some hot chocolate instead.
Tomorrow, I will be driving in Austria again, and am going to see the world’s largest pocket knife. I should be getting a tour of where the knives are getting made, and I will be getting to make my own.

Walchhofer Family

I stayed with the Walchhofer family for three weeks. Martin and Kathi are the parents. Martin spoke no English, he was very nice and cared for me. Kathi knows a little English and is trying to learn more. They have 4 kids, Thomas is the oldest. I only got to see him a few times and mostly just said hi to him. He lives in a nearby town with his girlfriend. Martin, another son, lives in Vienna, with his girlfriend, Maria. They came out one of the weekends I was there and that's when I got to meet them. I spent most of my time with Maria and got to know her quite well. Katharina is currently in the Hamptons in America so I didn't get to meet her, but I did get to borrow her traditional clothes and wear a pair of her shoes. Eva, the youngest, is 17 and spoke the most English and is the one I got to know the best. The family has milk cows, and farmland. I didn't get that much information on this, so I can't say anymore on this subject.
Flachau, is a tourist town. Most, if not all of the homes, have place for people to stay. The Walchhofer family has six spaces available for tourist/visitors to stay. I was in room 1, just a bedroom and bathroom. Most of the other rooms were apartments with a small kitchen and 2 bedrooms. People typically come in the winter for skiing. There were many people who came and stayed while I was there. Saturday morning was cleaning day. You had to clean the rooms before the next guests arrived. I mostly helped with the kitchen area and cleaning windows. I helped mow the yard, which is pretty good size. I should have probably done it a few more times but with the rain and getting a little sick I didn't get to go outside as much as I wanted. I got to eat a lot of traditional food and helped with the shopping. I also got to see some traditional dancing. I even got to wear some traditional clothes, they did not fit perfectly, but what can you do. Please take a look at the photos lots of great sites and experiences with this family.

Differences between Austria and USA

Much of the local food is fried here, just about everything you can think of. They eat a lot of Rye bread. I'm eating more white bread here, then what I eat back in the US. There have been a few comments made about how Americans only eat white bread. No one carries a water bottle around, I get many looks and questions about mine.
Ice cream comes in many different flavors, I'm use to different treats or toppings, and no one explains to me what the different flavors are. All juice gets water added either tap or mineral, does differ from family to family. Lots of Muslie, granola, some with a lot of sugar some with less. This is considered good healthy breakfast.
There are doors to every room and they are kept closed most of the time. Most places have no carpeting. Sometimes there are some rugs, but mostly there is tile and wood for the flooring.
I have seen a few doors and windows with screens, but not a lot. Beer has a lower alcohol content, then what we have in America. Cars almost everyone has a standard or stick shift. There is lots of singing. People just hanging out and sing.There are many English songs on the radio. British English and American English are very different. They learn British English here. Many people here chew Orbitz gum, I enjoy chewing gum :) and it can come in aspirin-like bottles. There is no yellow mustard, only brown or spicy mustard. I love all of the mustard here and it's everywhere, this is the way life should be.
Grocery stores: you need to bring your own basket to put your groceries in, or if you need a bag you have to buy one. You have to bag your own groceries. I think this needs a little improving, the cashier moves everything very quickly to a small area and then you have to pay and then pack your stuff, all before the next person gets their grocers. A bigger area I think would help. Oh, and the cashier sits in a chair and instead of a drawer popping out it has a cover that pops up. I like that better.

Ice Cave & Water

I couldn't take pic's inside the cave. Here is a picture of the entrance to the cave.
On Sunday, July 20th, it was a day full of "water". We got up early and drove to Werfen, Austria. We took a serious of incline walking, lift, stairs and a long distance up through many clouds (creating a very interesting movie-esk type feeling). We, as a family, went to the worlds largest ice cave Eisriesenwelt. It was amazing! Most of the time I kept saying, "this is so cool!" There were about 6-10 of us who wanted the tour in English, so we had a small sub-group at the front, we got a short explanation and then the guide would say the same information and more in German for the rest of the tour group. I'm very happy it was in English, I was able to learn so much from the tour guide. There were 1400 stairs inside that we took through the first km of the cave. I was amazed at how much white light can do to ice, there were so many amazing colors. Wind and water can create so many beautiful items, I love nature!
After the great tour of the ice cave we went and got some food, which was good because I was very hungry. I'm not sure where we were, but afterwards we paid a man in a hut and took more stairs and saw a river that had carved out so many great spaces. I do not remember the river's name but when I find out, I'll try to update this. The water in the rivers in upper Austria are very different looking, much lighter in color with blues and greens, very cool to look at. Plus with the rain here there were many beautiful tiny waterfalls all over the place, it also made everything muddy for walking in.
Clouds, Ice, River, Rain, all water in different forms and all have a great impact and makes for beautiful sites

1st Hike in the Alps

I am in Flachau Austria, a big tourest ski area. I got here Sunday evening and its been raning most of the time. I was asked last night if I would enjoy going for an hour or 2 walk with Kati(mom) and some of her friends. I said yes, 1 i wanted to spend time outside and 2 i would never pass up an oportunity even if they speak very little english.
Today got up and it wasnt ranning but still cloudy, cool and wet out. But we gatherd, 4 of us total, and drove up to a ski lift. It was very nice, a little chilly and low clouds so hard to see the view. But what i did see was beautiful, many pics were taken. But I noticed we keep going further in and the time was passing by. Finaly I was told we are walking to a "house in the alps" I call it a cabin. The one friend Anita owned it. This beautiful cabin recently update, all the woodwork was done by her husband and son, it looked great. The house was tiny but wonderful and the view was amazing. There were many clouds so I did not get the full affect but I could tell there were many mountains hidden off in the distance.
I enjoyed that i was the good Boulderite with my water bottle filled with water, they had a flask with homemade blueberry schnaps, and for lunch I had a new kind of lemon beer. I loved it, took my pic with the bottle. Its been fun and nice to see the differencese, they have huge hiking boots that put my runing shoes to shame, oh well they dont weight my luggage down.

Friday Kellie Photo

I have been told by many people when ever you travel to another country you always gain wait. I have been thinking about this a lot. I for the most part don't gain much weight. But how will I tell, and how much will I gain, and is it all bad? Just some of the thoughts I've been having. I have decided to take at least 1 pic of myself every Friday to see if I am changing much in my looks. The problem is I so far don't have anyway to look at them here, so this will be more of a retrospect when I return home.
Something that is different for me, in Colorado I had very little salt in my diet, here everything has a lot of salt. I've been eating many salty items while here. This means retaining water, but I am also sweating a lot more here, especially my face, and when I sleep at night. Another thing is I am eating tons of dessert, everyday. Some of the desserts, I think are a little healthier, and others have tons of calories. Most of their cakes are very similar from house to house, so consistency there. I am eating traditional Austrian food. I would call their cakes different from what I would call a cake in America.

JL Party

The Rural Youth invited me to a garden party last night (Friday). It took some traveling but I got to the event with some help from the people who invited me. For the most part, this organization in similar to 4-H and this particular club throws a big garden party every year. Margrit is the president and she is the one who invited me. I´m so happy I came. It was great seeing things get organized and put together. Later seeing how everyone interacted with each other. I was informed this was a typical party and its what most of them do. The party consisted of 3 bars and a food table. I was very impressed with how all of the youth worked together to get this event put on, and how they worked different shifts and still had a lot of fun. Drinking age here is 16, that is the first difference about being here. It is weird having younger kids hanging around drinking and smoking. My favorite part was having 12 year olds serve the alcohol.
Lisa was the girl I got to know the best and she was great. I was very impressed with her bartending skills. She would translate the orders and I would help her make the drinks. YES I have driven and served drinks in Austria, this is so cool. Two of the bars had liquor and they have these cool holders for dispensing the liquor. It attaches the bottle upside-down to the counter and fills a 2ml amount of liquor and you push the button and it dumps the same amount into the cup every time. I thought it was cool and impressive but apparently they are everywhere. I took a picture. With the event being for all ages and out on a farm its safer to drink and sleep over. I went to bed early, sometime in the am. The sun was coming up and I help set up and didn't want to help pick up trash so I went to bed and got 5 hours of sleep. I think I got the most sleep. I feel like I´ve written a lot but haven´t communicated too much about the party. It was great fun and I´m happy I went.

New Family Ubles

I am lucky and happy to have a new family to live with. The first family did not want me back, I had to get someone to drive me to their house get all of my stuff and leave as soon as possible but had one last rant of everything I had done wrong. This meant I needed a place to stay for the night. I stayed with Margrit who was wonderful. I had a great time, help decorate for a celebration that was for the next day, went to the music festival in St.Pöelton and meet a lot of great girls. I´m so happy for that opportunity. The Ubels (which I might be spelling wrong) clearly were not planning for me but they were very nice to let me stay. They have hosted many different IFYE´s, two of them from Colorado who I know :) The family is very busy with many different projects. 1) They recently purchased a second house to fix up and use as flats to rent out. This house had been abandoned for 3 years and was in worse shape then they expected. The man who lived there left everything, bed sheets on the bed, half drunken bottles of wine laying around. There was barley, hay and other crops still in the barn. Apparently 2 cows had been left to die, the list goes on. BUT it has the best view in the world, it's on top of the hill and you can see farms, the Alps, Germany, and other countries that I'm not sure which ones they are.2) Side note, lots of Austrians swim in the summer, either it"s going to a pool, lake or having something in your back yard. The Ubels are joining in and are building a pond to swim in. This just started yesterday (Monday). They tore up a beautiful garden, I wish I had gotten a picture of it before hand, and most of the yard. Part of the problem is deciding where to put the pond. Its been interesting to see the ground being dug up, you get to see where homes and building use to be. All the foundations are a few inches underground now. I´m very interested in seeing how it all turns out, but I will be gone and hope to see pictures of the finished pool. 3) They have a cute new dog named Doulche (probably spelled wrong). It is a very small dog, long body and short legs. The family just loves it to death. It's fun to see how it acts and how everyone reacts to her.

The 4th in Austria

I celebrated the 4th of July in Austria and it was great. My first host family did not want me back at all. That meant driving to get my stuff and leave as quickly as possible. It also meant I needed a place to stay for the night. I went with Margrit and stayed with her family. This was wonderful, I got to spend time in St.Pöelton and they were starting their music festival. There was great people watching, and I got to hear some bands play. In the Evening I got to help Margrit and her friends set up for a celebration for someone becoming a priest--big party. After that we went back into St.Pöelton for drinks, music, hanging out, and seeing friends that you typically only get to see about once a year at this festival. So far there has been a lot of English music being played over here, but last night was the first time that they were all rewritten to be sung in German. It made it hard for me to sing along. We walked around and visited 2 stages for music. I learned a new dance to go with a song. Fireworks were set off, so my 4th of July was complete. I tried some new food called Langos. It was some big fried thing with garlic, it was a bit much for me, I think about a 1/3 would have been better and shared with others. I am very thankful that I got to meet new people and see new things that I think I would have normally would have missed staying with a host family.

Host Family

My first host family to put it simply: did not like me. I am at a conference in Austria and will return for one more night stay and then move onto a new family. So I will stay with 5 different families instead of 4. That will give me more memories and more experiences, and more places to see.

Austria Differences

Windows and doors have no screens, and they have 3 positions 1 locked 2 door open along the hinge, and 3 open only at the top and lean inside, very cool Compost and recycle, they really divide things up differently here. I have found out it is different from area to area. Compost everything except bones. They recycle all paper, including napkins. Plastic, all kinds no limit.
Dishwashers are smaller here, but have 3 trays, big for pots pans and dishes, small one for cups and glasses, and a tiny one on top for silverware. Very nice. Refrigerator is kept at a warmer temperature. Toilet and sink are in different rooms, toilet paper is rectangle and not square shaped. Still getting use to the different temperature readings: Celsius and not Fahrenheit. Keyboard, biggest problem is y is down by x and z is between t and u.

They wear separate shoes for everything, inside, outside, working in mud/dirt, hiking/biking, going to town or to work. I´m use to wearing shoes for attire and leaving them on where ever I go. My first bed isvery small, no bed sheets and 1 comforter folded in half, I might be using it wrong, but I have just 1 more night and then a new house so I´ll see how it is there.

Detroit

Made it safely to Detroit MI. Had a few kids on the flight out, hope that doesn't happen on the long flight to Amsterdam. I have already meet some cool kids coming from other countries and those going out. A few people still need to fly in for the weekend conference. This evening, during our free time, some of us jumped in the pool. It was very cold, and getting out felt so nice. It was in the 80's here today. We continued to hang out by the pool, this lead to getting a few mosquito bites, we decided to go back indoors. Time to eat more cookies and laugh!

Almost Gone

I'm in my final steps of getting packed up and ready to go. I'm trying to get everything organized, its taking a little more time then I expected. I am still getting time in to see friends and do fun things like go to the Rockies game in Denver. I have put a few pictures online of home and Boulder. Check them out at my Picasa site.


Reminder my cell phone will not work from June 20th to about December 8th.

VISA

I have spent a lot of my time preparing for my IFYE Travels to Austria and Greece. Most of this time has been spent on getting a VISA and figuring out what kind I need and how to get it. After many stressful days (a few weeks) I have found out that I do not need one at all. It is a great feeling to be relieved of this stress. Now I am one step closer to this great educational experience.