Well that was a kulturelles Erlebnis!

I've been meaning to write this post since Wednesday... but somehow the time just kept getting away from me.  Anyway, here's what happened this week:

For those of you who don't know Tuesday was Faschingdienstag, otherwise known as Karnival, or Mardi Gras (in the US).  Now I'm not exactly sure why they bother to have school on Tuesday or Wednesday, because no body is really in any sort of school-mode, especially not the upper level classes, but it made for an interesting time.

On Monday night in Baden there was a big ball, which a lot of my students from Bad Vöslau went to, and then they went to school without much (if any) sleep.  I was teaching the 7th form class that's all boys, and I don't know if I've ever laughed that much during a lesson.  Most of them were still in their suits, and most of them were still drunk which actually lead to them participating a lot in the lesson.  Of course there were some students sleeping at their seats (or in one case sleeping in a cupboard at the back of the room).  While it wasn't my most successful lesson ever, it was rather entertaining for everyone.

I got back to Baden just in time to go to the Badner Fasching parade.  It was a pretty typical parade with a marching band, floats, funny costumes, loud music, but the thing that set it apart was that instead of throwing candy some floats were handing out shots or wine.  Liz and I watched the parade with some of her students, and then we went to Josefplatz where the Faschingparty was.  We ended up hanging out with her students the whole night, at one point we even went back to their dorm where Liz participated in a talent show (I missed it because I was outside talking with another group of students).  The night ended in Mödling, the town between Baden and Vienna, where there were huge crowds in the streets, lots of music, carnival rides and crazy costumes.  Since we had started so early in Baden it seemed like it should have been later when we got home, but it was only just midnight.

I have to say that going out on Fasching was probably the most irresponsible decision I've made in quite a long time.  It was rather spontaneous and not at all thought out- and bad since I had to teach on Wednesday.  I'm glad I did it because it was a cultural experience that I missed out on when I was in Graz , but Wednesday morning was rough!  Luckily by the time I had my first class I was feeling better, and since I was with the upper level classes again it was clear that they were having a rougher time than me.

I'll post pictures from the parade later, when I can use school internet and not my limited internet!

In other news from the week- Spring is coming!!! It's been in the 40s and 50s all week, and my teachers think I'm crazy for wearing short sleeved shirts inside- they're still wearing sweaters.  On the other hand it seems like everyone in Austria gets a cold when spring comes, me included.  I've felt worn out and stuffed up all weekend, but I still got out into the vineyards for a walk yesterday.

I've also gotten into doing some cooking on the weekends, last weekend I made lasagna, this weekend I made oven baked mac & cheese.  Next on the list is burritos (I just planned a lesson about immigration to the US & that made me hungry for a burrito... not the most politically correct connection, but whatever), or butter milk biscuits (Liz has never had them and doesn't understand how they're different from scones). Now I just have to find recipes/ingredients!

p.s. The pictures from Salzburg and Hallstatt are up on smugmug, but I haven't gotten around to captioning them, when I do I'll let you know.