Today is a national holiday here in Austria, so everything is closed! On all my calendars it just said Nationalfeiertag, which doesn't really tell you what sort of national holiday it is or why. This week in one of my classes the students all prepared a little cultural topic to discuss with me. Their usual teacher assigned this, and it was a really great discussion, and I think we all learned a lot. One of the girls told me what the holiday today is. In the fall of 1955 Austria became a free unoccupied country, with a democracy and the current borders. October 26th 1955 was the day that the last of the foreign troops left the country, and the first celebration was the next year. So it's a bit like July 4th is for the US, but they don't really do much besides not work. Most of the museums in Vienna are free today, and parliament is open for people to pop in. I got my title from todays post from my student's speech, she meant to say allies, but it came out aliens, and I rather liked it. (Anyone want to make a Sci-Fi flick about aliens going back in time and controlling Austria? I'm sure it would be awful)
We also talked about the school systems here and back home, many of them wish that their gymnasium was more like our high school (less specialized, more choices, and you can study whatever you want when you go to college). We also talked about drinking and driving ages, they all like that they can drink beer and wine (they're 16/17), they don't have to wait until they're 21; they can get their drivers license at 17 here, so it's not that different from the US, in most of Europe the driving age is 18. They asked me if boys are required to serve (either 9 months of community service or 6 months in the army here) after high school, which of course they don't at home. The girls in the class seemed to be against the mandatory service, even though they don't have to take part; the boys on the other hand seemed to have NO opinion about it. They weren't even sure which of the two they would pick after graduating! Anyway, it was a very fun and informative discussion, and I was surprised with the topics and questions they came up with and were really very interested in.
Yesterday I was in my very first 1st form class (5th grade), so they've only had 2 months of English. I had to really pay attention to what I said, speak slowly, act things out, and explain more complicated concepts/vocabulary with simple words. It ended up being a lot of fun, they were very curious and excited and they did really well! I was also in the class of 17 17 year old boys yesterday, it's clear that they're trying to be better students, as they'll be taking the matura (exams to graduate high school) next year, but they're still teenage boys so it's always a challenge. My other class was a fun 3rd form (7th grade), we read a story with bits missing that they had to use their imagination to fill in. They were pretty funny and eager to participate, at the end the teacher said she wished her student teachers were as competent as me, so overall it was a good teaching day!
When I was done with school I met up with my friend Johannes. We met when he studied at UWEC, and we've kept in touch (it helps that he's visited the states a few more times since then). He's living down near Graz at the moment, but he was in the area yesterday so we got to hang out. He brought me some Weintrauben (grapes) from his parents house, I've had a few different kinds of Weintrauben here, and I'm always amazed at how delicious they all are with very distinct flavors. We ran some errands since he had a car (makes me feel like high school all over again), and then we went to a neighboring town to check out a Heurige. One of my teachers told me if I wanted to go to a Heurige I should go to Gumpoldskirchen, because you can't throw a stone without hitting one. Heurige are similar to Buschenschank, but they're usually located in town and serve hot food, it's all still local food and family made wines though. A Buschenschank is usually on the farm where all the food and wine is made, and the food is cold. This was my first time at a Heurige (actually it was also Johannes' first time too), so I was expecting something a bit more like the Buschenschank. It was still a good time, good wine for really cheep prices & decent food. There was an old man playing traditional drinking songs on accordion, which really added to the small town traditional atmosphere. We even heard a few songs that I knew from working at Waldsee!
*I forgot my camera, so I'm sorry to say there aren't pictures, but I'll be going back!
So far today I've observed the holiday by cleaning my apartment...and doing nothing. It's a cold, grey, rainy day (as they've all been this week), and my cold is really in full swing making me feel miserable, so I'm making soup, drinking tea & planning tomorrow's lessons.
German Lesson of the day: How do you say "decongestant" in German? abschwellendes Mittel
No comments:
Post a Comment