Posts by vienna

i’m dreaming my life away

Posted by vienna on Aug 31, 2010 in This and That | 1 comment

I’m not really dreaming my life away. The title is just from a song that played inside my head as I thought of writing this post.

This post is inspired by my friend, Sterndal. Lately, she’s been writing about some of her dreams and this prompted me to think about my own dreams.

Many people think that when they reach a certain level, they’ll be contented but I don’t think that that’s the case. I believe that man is never contented, i.e.; when he reaches the point he wants nothing more. I believe that the moment you stop dreaming or stop wanting is the time you stop living.

Many people think I have a wonderful life here in Europe and I honestly think that too. I have a loving husband, a job, a house, a car, and some small things that other people don’t have. I should be contented, right?

Of course, I am.

BUT that doesn’t mean, I don’t want anything anymore.  I am happy with all the things I have and all the things my husband and I can afford to have or do and I am really thankful for each of these things.

I won’t say that everything I have, I have worked hard for because that is simply not true. Actually, I can only name two things I worked hard for and those are my first guitar and my bachelor’s degree (which is, by the way, not accepted here in Austria—depressing!). The others just happened or are given to me.

Of course, like many, I have dreamt of seeing different countries but never really thought that that’ll happen. I’ve seen China but not without help from my mom and dad. I found the teaching job in China by myself but if it wasn’t for my parent’s money, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go there. So it’s like they sent me there. I’m now in Europe and I have my own car but being in Europe just happened and the car was just given to me by my husband.  I can speak German and I have a teaching job here but I wouldn’t have achieved those without support from my husband.  All the fancy stuff like clothes, jewelries, shoes, bags, gadgets, etc are mostly bought by me but I won’t say I’ve worked hard for all of them because I won’t be able to afford them  if I would have to worry about things like bills, food, and other necessities. My husband takes care of all our necessities. My Husband is super and having him is also something I DIDN’T work hard for. LOL. He just happened to me.

So before this post becomes a post about the things I have, I will go back to my dreams. I am a very lucky girl and I believe that I have more than what I dreamt about as a young girl but sometimes achieving a dream only makes you dream more. I had dreamed of having a job and I got it but now, I am dreaming of having a better job. I had dreamed of owning a computer and I already had a series of computers but I still want a better one each time.  Stuff like that happen to me a lot.

But if you ask me right now about my ultimate dream, I’d say I have two of them.

First is, I dream of becoming an asset to my husband. He’s done a lot for me. I also want to help him in any way I can, especially, financially. I want to get a better paying job so I can help him with the bills, with the things we need, with our holidays, etc.

Second is, I dream of being able to give something special to my parents. I know, they will not ask me but I want to do something for them. Like a European tour or something equal to that.

Of course there are other small stuff I want but I won’t include them here because these small stuff just lead to my bigger dreams.

656 words! LOL! Dreaming is good.

why do i read your blog?

Posted by vienna on Aug 3, 2010 in Internet and Blogging, This and That | 3 comments

I read your blog not because of your impressive writing abilities. Whether you believe it or not, I am a silent follower of this blog and that is not to say that the blogger can’t write well because based on her background, I think she’s doing great with her writing. If you don’t focus on the strict grammar rules of the English language, you might also enjoy reading her entries.

I read your blog not because you’re famous. I follow Heather Armstrong. She’s famous and she writes really well but that is not the reason why I read her blog. Believe it or not, most of the bloggers I follow are small time bloggers who cater to very few audiences.

I follow your blog not because I learn from it. I actually hate super pretentious blogs that tell you what to do. Google leads me to those kinds of blogs whenever I need info but the chance that I will return to those blogs is always almost zero.

I read your blog because you share something about your life and your thoughts with honesty. I read your blog because I get the feeling that we have something in common. I read your blog because we have the same opinions on some things. I read your blog because I like your humor. I read your blog because I can sympathize with your sorrows. I read your blog because it’s entertaining.

I, myself, don’t have a writing prowess to boast about but I have an idea why a few readers read what I write because it is also the very reason why I read somebody else’s blog.

I read your blog because I know that behind that blog is a “real” person.

confessions of a plant killer

Posted by vienna on Jul 26, 2010 in Home and Family, This and That | 2 comments

I tend to our garden. I see to it that the grass is always watered so it stay green. I also see to it that the lavenders we planted in our small front yard are watered. I mow the grass too. I don’t mind doing all of these at all because it is such a tiny garden and it doesn’t take a lot of time and energy to mow it and to water it. I like doing it and I am happy to see the healthy grass and plant in our front and back yard.

But why do I always kill the plants in our house?

It’s not like I don’t care for them. I do. But they still always die on me.

I get plants as gifts from my pupils and their moms and I appreciate all these plants. I placed all of them somewhere I think they will fit and thrive better.  I talk to them, water them, weed them, etc. but they always die. Remember that orchid we bought for our guest toilet? Yeah. That died too.

And the orchid shown on the picture is an orchid given to us on our wedding day.  It stayed at my in-laws house during the time we’ve been in China and it had been healthy there. When we moved to our own place here in Graz, we took it from them to bring to our new place.  We call it our wedding orchid and I am the steward of it.

Maybe it was a mistake to take it from my in-laws’ house because it’s never healthy as it was when it was there. I think I might be killing it too. I am not sure but when we took it, it has a lot of blooms. Now there’s just one and only bloom and the other branches are dead.  I said to myself, it is sad that I unintentionally killed all the other plants in our house but killing this one too would be a catastrophe. I can’t kill our wedding orchid! That’s just simply not right. It should thrive better under my care.

I had to do something to prevent myself from killing it.

So I googled some articles on how to take care of orchids and other plants and I learned that I should not water them that often.  Ha! It’s like that the best way to take care of orchids is not to take care of them at all. But I followed the tips I got from the net. I took out all the dead roots of our wedding orchid and repotted it. I still water it but not that often and not that much anymore. So far, it looks good because it is growing some new leaves.

I really hope that it can recover from my overwatering. I hope that it will live and bloom many flowers again.

photo-shooting

Posted by vienna on Jul 22, 2010 in Home and Family | 3 comments

These photos were taken two years ago and my brother-in-law, Benjamin would probably kill me for posting his photos here without his permission. I don’t know how often does he visit my blogs but I don’t think it is that often so I am kind of hoping that by the time he directs his browser to this blog, this post is already buried by other posts (Hah!, Like I blog so often).

I am not a professional photographer and I am not trying to be one but I like taking photos and I really like taking photos of people. I like to pursue this hobby but my problem right now is; there are not a lot of no willing people  I can photograph. My husband is very handsome but he’s a lousy model.  He feels uncomfortable if I ask him to make some poses for the camera. And there’s my brother-in-law who needs a lot of cajoling before he agrees to do such thing. The last time I got my brother-in-law to do a mini-photo-shooting with me was two years ago and if I ask him that now, he’d probably give me the look that says…hey, I’m a cool guy and that is so gay.

You see, he’s now a teenager and is very self-conscious. He’s no longer the cute little boy who likes to get into my nerve by pulling my hair or by pinching me. He’s now a self-proclaimed DJ and we have to be cool to be near him. I kind of miss those times when he was just a lovely boy who likes to show us crazy stuff he can do.

Time really flies away so fast.

P.S. These photos are unedited. Except for resizing and copyrighting it, I haven’t done any special editing to these photos.



day job versus sideline

Posted by vienna on May 24, 2010 in Work and Career | 4 comments

I remember telling myself that when we settle here (in Austria), I will just stay home and write because I know that my chances of getting a (teaching) job here is very thin. That was when I was earning around 700-1000$ each month from writing. But the financial crisis happened just when it’s time for us to move from China to Austria. The paid blogging industry was also hugely affected by the crisis. 200 words blog posts which were priced at 15$ in 2007 & 2008 declined to 1$ in 2009. There were still a lot of offers but a dollar for a post is just so disheartening.

So I had searched for a day job and I got one I like. In my first month, I got just 3 classes. Then I got 5 classes on my second month. I had plenty of time and was hoping that I could still do some writing on the side but since there was almost no income from writing, I concentrated on my day job. It paid off because right now I have 15 classes…just when the blogging industry is picking up again.

Here is where the problem lies. I want to write and I want to teach but time doesn’t seem to be on my side. They say you cannot serve two masters at once but I don’t think that that’s applicable here. Not one of the two brings me contentment.

Teaching is great. I really like what I do but the business model of the learning center where I work is not something I’d say ideal. I am a freelancer. I am just paid for the hours I worked. Hours and hours spent for preparation are not counted. I pay for most of the materials I use and I don’t get benefits such as 13th & 14th month pay. No Christmas bonus. No paid holidays. I don’t get paid when I am sick. And the most disheartening thing is; my status in the learning center will always be just a freelancer. It’s nothing personal; it’s just their business model. All of their teachers are just freelancers.

Writing is equally great. I really like it too. Sure, I am only paid for the work I do and I also don’t get bonuses and I have to pay for my own insurance BUT I get to stay home, I don’t need to pay for gas, I don’t waste time driving to my place of work, I don’t need to pay for parking tickets, I am my own boss. It’s all cool BUT the income from writing is not fixed.  This is what bothers me the most. I can pay for my own insurance but I want a sound mind knowing that I’d get a certain amount at the end of each month.

Now I am trying to do both but I always feel that I don’t have enough time for them.