Electrifying Shower

We came home from our Salzburg trip to find a nice little note of warning from our flatmate that he had received a mild shock off the shower head whilst showering. Greg was alarmed to hear this and was not pleased when I mentioned that that had been happening to me since we moved in over a year ago but that it was so mild, by the time I had finished showering, I'd forgotten about it.

Since then, Greg has been performing little experiments every morning before his shower, to try and figure out where the buzz was coming from. I guess that's one way to really wake yourself up in the morning. It has been very entertaining listening to Greg ye-owing every morning. Unfortunately he figured out what had been happening and has fixed it, so no more entertainment for me :(

(side note to Greg-This is does not under any circumstances denote a tickling offense.)

Counting down the days

Jordy started a countdown, starting from 1 month until she left for NZ. We have been missing her way more than we expected and although Jordy is not that noisy or anything, the house feels very empty and quiet without her there.
So we have started our own countdown of days until Jordy comes home.

Frequency Festival in Salzburg

We were at a Work happy Hour when the topic of the Frequency Festival came up and we were invited to tag along. Greg was very keen when he found out that Tool were playing, (sadly they cancelled last minute). I was interested simply because I'd never been to anything like this. Basically it's like our "Big Day Out" but it goes for 3 days.
The campgrounds were open from Tuesday until Saturday. We didn't arrive until quite late and then we had what felt like a big long walk(Greg reckons it was only 3km) to get to where our friends were camped. What made it worse was that every time we stopped to ask for directions, they would laugh and then say, Oh, it's a long way." Plus, I knew there was a shorter way to go but we weren't allowed to go that way. The first campground was a crazy place, so I was pleased not to hang around there. Once we met up with our friends I was happy.

Greg the party animal stayed up all night with the boys and didn't come to bed until 5am. Then the sun had us all awake at 8am. It was so hot. Then we got to see the true beauty of our surroundings. It reminded us of home(NZ)-lots of trees, a few small mountains, mist, etc.

We wanted to make the most of this experience so we went to the very first band and the very last. Although a lot of the music wasn't to my taste, I was very impressed with most of the performers energy, and showmanship. Easily the most post popular band was Die Ärzte, who were on at 1am and had about 70-80,000 fans. Our opinion that they weren't so good, did not make us very popular.

I thought it was a good experience and the crowd were very well behaved. Plus it was really nice to see parents and kids attending and both enjoying the music. After all, some of those bands started when they were age, so it stands to reason. we hope to get Jordy to one of these before we leave Europe.

Jordan goes to NZ

Jordan has been counting down the days on our whiteboard until she leaves for NZ and as you can see she is totally ready for her trip down under. We decided to wait until the day Jordy leaves before gifting her with the new Harry Potter book. Otherwise, we thought she would stay up all night reading it and then have nothing to do on the plane.

Although a little nervous about flying alone, nothing could dim the excitement of returning to NZ. I had a wee bit of a cry which surprised all of us. initially Jordy thought I was funny for crying and then later on she was touched.




I was a little bit miffed that Jordan didn't return the favour. Greg can roll his eyes and throw his hands up in exasperation and say, "Oh come on. She's only going for a month." all he likes. But it doesn't change the facts;It's the first time Jordan has been away for so long. It's not like she's just gone down the road for a bit. And, she's my baby(imagine eye roll and moan from Jordan that I'm so embarrassing).

Even the sunflower misses Jordan.

Busking in Vienna

I have yet to be impressed by any buskers I have seen perform in Stephansplatz. Actually the quality of buskers in Europe seems to be not only pretty low but also somewhat lacking in imagination. Perhaps I have high expectations considering that this is meant to be the centre of culture, and Vienna in particular being the city of music.

Thus saying, I expected Jordy's busking to be reasonably profitable.Especially as she has been playing particularly well. Sadly this has not been the case. And it hasn't been due to a lack of admirers as you can see from the two young gentlemen pictured.

Not only did many people stop to listen, but many also took photos. Although we were not monetarily enriched, I take pleasure in knowing that Jordy has enriched others with her music and her smile.