As it turns out I'm not one for blogging everyday, there are all kinds of things that happen everyday that I think, "O, I should blog about that!" and then I forget about it, or in the end, it's just not that interesting. That being said, here's what I did this weekend:
On Thursday I only had one lesson to teach in Berndorf, so after I was done I wandered around town a bit before I took the train back into Baden. Berndorf is a very cute little town, with a surprising number of shops, and a rich history. I read a bit about the history online before coming here, and then the Spanish teacher who gave me and the Spanish TA a tour of town told us more about the town. The town was founded by Arthur Krupp (that last name should be familiar to any cooks out there), when he built his factory in the valley. He built the church in town, a school, and housing for the workers. The worker's houses were some of the nicest for the time, with running water and electricity. The school and church still stand and are in use, and sometime I want to go in the school. Each classroom has a different theme in the painting and decor, such as Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Turk and many more. In the factory they made knives and silverware, which the Berndorf brand is still famous for today. While the Berndorf factory is still here in the valley (and it fills the whole valley, it's HUGE, at least a mile long, and maybe a quarter mile wide) they no longer make silverware and knives here, they now make larger industrial metal parts. The company has factories in Eastern Europe (where things are cheeper) that make the Berndorf silverware. Many of the towns in the area are industrial towns with factories because in these small valleys there isn't enough room for much agriculture, but that doesn't mean that they're dirty or smelly like so many industrial parts of the U.S. If I didn't go by the factory everyday on my way to school I'd never know it was there! I just found out today that on my bus ride to Berndorf you can see the highest mountain in Niederösterreich. I don't know how I didn't see it until today, I must be really zoned out in that stretch normally, but I got pretty excited when I saw it. Now I have to hike up to that look out tower on the hill in Berndorf.
Once I got back to Baden I met up with my friend Liz (another TA in Baden), and we took the train to Eisenstadt in Burgenland (the eastern most state in Austria). We met up with some other TAs there, as well as Anne Storey (the president of Teachers of English in Austria) and Jürgen Hörmann (Program Officer for the TA's from the U.S.). Anne had set up a reception with the Landespräsident (the Governor)of Burgenland for all the TA's in Burgenland, Liz and I went as party crashers since we're not teaching in Burgenland. We met with him and his assistant in the parliament room. It was really interesting to hear about Burgenland, which is a very agricultural state full of small towns. It's belonged to many different countries, and spoken many languages through the years. The Landespräsident said that many people from his grandmothers generation couldn't speak one language completely because the language in their schools when they were growing up changed so often between Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian and German. We saw a short film about Burgenland (and we all got a DVD copy of it!), and then we went to the Landespräsident's office and had some drinks and snacks with him and his assistant. He really set aside a lot of time for us, and the more informal reception in his office was a chance for us to really talk to him. I can't imagine Scott Walker doing something like that at all! Not that I'd really want to spend 3 hours in the same room as him…
After leaving the reception we went out for a drink with Anne and Jürgen. It was fun to spend a little time with them, and I think they liked getting to know us in a smaller group. Normally they only address larger groups of TA's, and there's not much time to talk about individual experiences or places. Jürgen has been in a lot of places around Austria, so he was able to give us some advice on places to check out. After they left we went to one of (or possibly the only) good hang-out bars in Eisenstadt. They had really cheep glasses of wine there (1.70 Euro) from local vineyards, so I tried Blaufränkish, which is just starting to arrive in the U.S. (there was an article about it in the New York Times shortly before I left). It's a red wine, which I normally don't drink, but it has a good rich flavor, and it's not too dry. I also had a really good Grüner Veltliner, which is a pretty standard Austrian white wine, you can find it pretty easily in the U.S.
I spent the night in Eisenstadt, it was fun to be with other TA's, comparing our teaching and school experiences thus far, and seeing where other TA's are living. I took a rather complicated train back on Friday, which involved getting on and off various very small trains (1 or 2 cars) in tiny towns. I was pretty tired, and very happy to finally arrive in Baden! I spent the rest of the weekend in Baden, it was a bit chilly, but sunny, so very nice fall weather! On Saturday I did a bit of shopping, there was some sort of Italian street market that I walked through, but didn't buy anything as I'm not getting paid this month. I wandered up in the Kurpark to see how the fall colors are turning out, but so far there aren't many, a little yellow, red and brown here and there, but things are still pretty green. Sunday I planned a bunch of my lessons for the week, which span a very wide range of topics! I'm teaching about the Civil Rights movement, SuperSize Me, Invictus, Halloween, Friends and Family, Things & Commands in the classroom, Sports, Careers, and there's still a few classes that I'm not sure what I'll be teaching! To say the least I won't be getting bored this week!
On Thursday there's a gathering of TA's in Vienna, where we'll be meeting up with Austrian's who are studying to be English teachers. A few other TA's and I will be staying with Anne, and I think most of us are staying for the weekend! It'll be fun to meet some more Austrians, and see the other TA's again. I really need to start taking more pictures, so far I haven't been keeping up with my usual standards. I also need to get some stamps for the postcards I've written, and people's addresses! (If you want a postcard send me your address.)
In other news, I just counted, I work with 13 teachers in 43 different classes! It's no wonder I know NO ONE'S name, if you figure there are about 15 (which is a conservative estimate) kids per class I have 645 students!
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