Well the past two weekends have been a lot of fun and pretty packed!
Last weekend my roommate from last year, Liz, came to town. She was a teaching assistant at the BISOP (a school for social workers) here in Baden, and she came over for their Matura Ball- sort of like prom, but more formal/involved. I hung out with her and her students a few times during the year, so I went to the ball with her. The school balls here start with a choreographed performance by the students who are graduating. Then there are two separate dance areas, the ball room and the disco (or club), as well as a few different bars for beer, wine, cocktails and also some food (typically snacks and cakes). The students also sell raffle tickets for a variety of prizes. At midnight the graduating class dances another routine- opening performance is typically a ballroom routine, and the midnight routine tends to be more modern.
So at the BISOP ball Liz and I were pretty much only in the ballroom to see the choreographed performances and to chat with some of her colleagues from last year. The rest of the night we were up in the disco dancing with her students, or in the teachers lounge with the English teachers. I was still wearing my immobilizer on my leg, so I couldn't dance too much, but I still had a good time. I saw a few of my students from Berndorf and the HAK and talked to them a bit.
This week was pretty normal, except that I'm no longer wearing my immobilizer, so I can get around a bit easier. My knee is feeling a lot better, but still not 100%. Thursday was Leopoldi (St. Leopold is the patron saint of Niederösterreich and Wien), so we had off of school. On Wednesday night we met up with Laura, Almudena and Steffi to go out for dinner, speak German and get to know each other/catch up. Steffi is a friend of mine that lives here in Baden, we met last year, and this year is her first year as a teacher. Laura and Almudena are language assistants (Italian and Spanish respectively) who each work at one of my schools and one of Erin's (my roommate). On Thursday Erin and I went to SCS, the mall between Baden and Wien, to celebrate her first pay-day.
Saturday was a packed day! There was a tour of Theater an der Wien (the oldest opera house of Vienna) organized for TAs from the states, so Erin and I went in a bit early so we could get some falafel in the Naschmarkt and meet up with some friends before the tour. It was nice to see some of the other second-year TAs again, and my friends who are new this year. The tour was pretty entertaining, I'd been to Theater an der Wien for La Traviata last year, but we got to go on stage, back stage, under the stage, over the stage, in the Kaiser's box... it was great. Our tour guide was pretty funny too, and they gave us a special offer for tickets to the opera tonight, so Erin and I are heading back into the city in a bit to see Iphigenie en Aulide. After the tour we went back to the Naschmarkt to go scarf shopping- of course! What else do I do in Wein?!? We had to wait around for an hour or so since there was a second TA tour, and then we were all going to go and get some Punsch together at one of the christmas markets. While we were waiting there was an impromptu Waldsee in Austria reunion, and I'll be seeing a lot more Waldsee-ers this weekend for Thanksgiving in Germany. When everyone was reassembled we went to the market in the Museums Quartier to get a hot drink- I had apricot ginger Punsch, it was really delicious and much needed with the cold weather.
Erin and I had to rush out after getting our Punsch since we were going to the HAK ball last night. We got back here and had just enough time for dinner and getting dressed before walking down to the HAK. It was a really fun night full of dancing (both watching and participating) and talking to students from Berndorf and the HAK. There was a group of students who graduated from Berndorf last year who were really surprised to see me, and hear me speak German, and the HAK students who spoke German with us thought it was cool/funny that we could and wanted to speak German with them. The theme of the night was the Garden of Eden- between Heaven and Hell, so Erin and I made a lot of jokes about that.
Next weekend there's another ball for the school in Gainfarn, where I taught last year and where Erin is teaching this year. I'll be in Germany for Thanksgiving, so unfortunately I'll miss seeing all my students from last year getting drunk. I don't think there'll be another ball for awhile, so hopefully my knee will be up to more dancing by the next ball!
No comments:
Post a Comment