My face fell

I couldn't help it. Greg and Jordy's meals came out, they looked so yum. Nicely browned schnitzel and thick chunky goulash. Then mine turned up and... what is it? Did I really order that?

The problem with trying to order something that is typically Viennese is that.... you'll end up with something typically Viennese.

"You're so boring Jordan! Try something outside of your comfort zone!"
Words that I had uttered not more than 10 minutes ago. And yet faced with my strange meal, I could certainly understand, the joys that staying inside your comfort zone brings.

And yet again I wished that I could learn when to keep my big mouth shut.

Sigh.

The City Of Music

You would think that of all places, Vienna would be one of the easiest places to buy a violin. I would have thought there would be a violin store on every corner. Of course this is a bit like thinking that all New Zealanders wear grass skirts and have a family tree that clearly shows that we are descendants of Hobbits.

So after much travelling around, some of it unintended because you weren't paying attention and jumped on the wrong tram/bus/U-bahn, we finally came across a very nice, violin store which, typically for us, is owned by an American.

We tried many violins and Jordan surprised herself by not being as rusty as she thought she was and she played quite nicely. We started with the cheaper end of violins and worked our way up, but not too far up. The more expensive the violin, the nicer the sound, and the more excited Jordan got, because she sounded better and better.

Then it was off to talk to Mr Visa, aka Greg Ewing. After our purchase, we felt so broke, we decided we might as well spend a bit more money and had a nice dinner which we topped off with a 5-scoop ice-cream cone aptly named, the tourist cone.

Since then, a huge 3 days, Jordy has been trying to get us to revisit the ice-cream parlour. I think she thinks that ice-cream will help her play better. Actually..... come to think of it, the first violin we tried, months ago, Jordy did sound very...very rusty. And since then we have had a fair amount of ice-cream and now Jordy's playing a lot better....hmmmmm.

Nah! She just likes ice-cream.

We've been here 4 months and....

we still haven't been outside of Austria. What's going on?

As you know we had a leetle bit of trouble getting our residency which kept us bound to Vienna. Now we are just waiting for our medical insurance cards.

Of course we could just risk it but Murphy's law is that, when you don't have it, you'll need. Added to that is the lack of grace that Jordy and I were born with. As Greg so often likes to demonstrate for us that it IS actually possible to miss a few steps and not injure yourself.

Actually Greg almost went sailing in Holland. He has his insurance, of course. His colleagues go to some kind of sailing competition at least once a year. Although it's not like the sailing we are used to in NZ.

The boats have special masts that have to be laid flat when ever you come to a bridge. At least it would be interesting.

Whilst Greg was off sailing, Jordy and I were going to go shopping in Italy. Alas, we decided to be prudent. We thought that it might be better to eat and stay in Vienna, rather than starve and travel.

Not to mentiion that to console ourselves, we had to have some chocolate. Ice-cream seems to help too.

A surprise for Jordan

So I was at home just kickin' when I found myself in Jordy's room and I was struck by how impersonal her room was. Okay some of that was because we've been living very frugally and so haven't really bought anything that normally gives a room that certain something. And apart from the close on the floor, there wasn't really anythng that proclaimed "I am Jordy's Room".

Then I was struck by inspiration. Jordy had a lot of photos and a fair amount of blank wall space.
So I set to work and painted a whole lot of hearts, which turned out to be a bit of a pain in the neck to cut out. So then I painted whole sheets of paper and cut hearts out of those.

I only did a few hearts and photos because I thought Jordy might like to do the rest herself. Then I waited eagerly for Jordy to come home. Only.....she didn't even notice,(fat lip). She's such a boy sometimes.

When she DID finally notice she was very pleased and gave me a big hug and a kiss.

Movies in Vienna

Vienna has a great diversity of movies.

There are German, French, Italian, English, American. I think I spotted some Hugarian, Russian and Spanish movies as well. Most of these are in German but you can usually get them with English sub-titles or vice versa.

There are a plethora of cinemas as well Ranging from the big megaplexx and Village type cinemas, to the smaller independent cinemas.Vienna even has strictly strictly French or only English etc... cinemas. Which is very cool.

Many of the inhabitants of Vienna prefer to see the movies in the original version because they feel that too musch is lost in translation. Also, sometimes the original version comes out sooner than those that are voiced over.

So if you want to see a movie in English in Vienna, you'll be in luck. The other alternative is to go to the less developed countries like Hungary as it is cheaper for them to do sub-titles in their home language.

Our nice empty flat.

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a hoarder/pack rat. As such, it is very difficult to keep your home tidy. Especially if you have a natural tendency towards messy anyway. However, in Vienna we have the good fortune to rent a spacious flat, and due to certain circumstances, although we have been here for almost 4 months, wehave bought virtually nothing.

As a result, I have come to really love the spaciousness of our empty flat. And I would be quite content to keep our furniture to a bare minimum. Vienna has a lot of great space saving ideas for flats. So I would like a bed that folds up into the wall, a microwave, a fridge and a sofa bed for visitors.

Jordan however, thinks that I am completely nuts and wonders what am I smoking. How rude! Jordan feels that our place is not very homey. My theory is that she has been corrupted by having a mother who was 1/ a shop-a-holic
2/ and a pack-rat
and 3/ by living with a grandmother who also had the same tendencies.
Therefore, I surmise that the emptiness freaks her out.

Let me know what you think.

Pirates of the Carribean 2

Not as good as the first one butstill enjoyable.

We think it would have been better if it had a proper ending.
I give it a 7.
The Dr gives it an 8.
The monkey rates it a 9.