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.