winter in graz

But I will list my plans. I like plans.  At least with plans, there are always alternatives if they don’t work out. Resolutions, on the other hand, sound so drastic. Like, I “need” to change things or else I will be the same person I was in the previous year and my life will stay the way it is. Resolutions are more like promises to yourself you have to keep. They just have to be fulfilled.

Who wants such pressure? Obviously, not me.

So here are my plans for this year.

1. Put the house together in accordance to what we need and what we can afford. My husband and I just bought a house and like many other young couples who are from humble families, most of our savings went to the purchase of the house. It was also necessary for us to take a housing loan to cover that which can’t be covered by our savings. The house is “Belagsfertig”. That means, it is completely finished outside but it still needs work inside.  The heating, electrical circuits, floor, kitchen, toilet, bathroom, and the painting still need to be done and those are what we are working on right now. We decided to do some things ourselves to save some money and because we already have a very handsome credit, we agreed not to take more credit.  Hopefully, we will still be able to save money for some nice stuff for the house.

Alternative: if in case, we are not able to save money, we can always use our old stuff and be content with it until we are able to afford fancier things.

1. Make teaching props during the summer break. The most difficult part of my job is preparing teaching materials. It is taking so much of my energy and my time so to make my life easier for the next school year; I plan to prepare my teaching props this summer.

Alternative: If by chance, I can’t find time to do this during the summer break, I’ll just have to be content with the teaching props available at the learning center or I’ll just have to accept that my second year of teaching won’t be that much easier from my first year.

Those are the two main things. The less import things are as follows.

1. I plan to visit home.
2. I plan to take more pictures. I am living in a very nice city so why not compile my impressions of it?
3. I plan to save for an iMac. I do have a lappy and it is still very good but an iMac is just so… beautiful. I don’t plan to buy it this year. I just would like to save for it.
4. I plan to learn how to bake. I am already excited because I am getting my very own kitchen soon! With all the things I need for baking and cooking.
5. I plan to start a garden. The house we bought has a tiny garden! Excited, excited, excited!

Those are my plans and some of them I share with my husband.

I know. You’re probably a bit disappointed. I imagine you saying like… that’s it?!? Really? What about having a baby?

I’ve been asked about that question several times.

Baby…. hmmmm.

That will have to wait a bit.

I don’t know when exactly but I still have enough hormone pills for six months.  Haha.

Seriously though, we think we are ready but we still have wait until the house is ready and then we can start trying. *wink

Here are the things I did last year that I think contributed much to the person I am this new year.

• Successfully completed my German competency course. It wasn’t easy especially because the interest to learn this particular language was not there. There was only the need to learn it. My attitude towards it was: I am learning it because I have to and not because I think it’s fun. I could have stopped sometime in the middle of the course if I wouldn’t have cared wasting the money spent on the course (it was expensive). But there came a time when I started to appreciate it and later on, I am really glad that I did it.
• Left China for good. I could say that in my three years of stay in China, a lot of bad things happened to me but I could not deny that the best thing happened to me there as well. So it’s like, one best thing evens out all the bad experiences I had in China. China has been good to me…to us. It wasn’t always easy (especially for my Austrian husband) but living there was very beneficial for us. In China,  we experience comforts we could never afford here in Europe. I don’t know if I will ever go back there but China and the people we met there who became good friends of ours will always have a space in our hearts.
• Started a life in Austria. I had my doubts. I doubted if I ever could make it here. If I ever could get a job. If I ever could find friends. If I ever could call it a home.  This stage of my life is still a work in progress. There are still a lot about this country and its people that I have to learn. I might not like or like what I’ll learn but so far, Austria has been good to me and I think that I am in the positive way to clearing all my doubts.
• Cut down on my blogging. This was mainly because I was busy with other things. I had to prioritize stuff and that means my blogging has to be given up to some extent but because old habits die hard, I am still here and blogging. In fact, I started another blog.
• Learned how to drive and acquired a driving license. I am from a country that sees being able to drive a car as a luxury not necessity. Earlier in my life, I gave learning how to drive some thoughts but I never considered it as something I must do. That’s until I married an Austrian.  Understandably, it was not easy for me. The theory lessons were done in Austrian dialect so I have to record each lesson and listen to it over and over again so I could understand or, at least, have an idea what the lesson was about. Another thing that made it difficult was: I think I have no talent at all with driving. It is already more than four months since I acquired my license and yet, I still can’t drive well.
• Found a job in Austria. I needed three long months before I landed a job. Within these depressing months, my self-esteem hit its all time low. I am just so glad that I have a loving husband. Right now, I am very much contented with my teaching job. I am not teaching in a regular school but all the same, I am still teaching and that’s great. It’s really a huge blessing that I still can practice my profession in this country without going through the complicated nostrification (educational degree comparison and evaluation).
• Experienced a car accident. It didn’t do me any damage—no scratch. Nothing. It just left me a little bit of a shock. It was not a major accident but it left a major impact on how I look at life.  I often hear clichés like life is too short, enjoy the things you have while you still can, and etcetera but I never really cared. I mean, I know they that these lines are true but I didn’t feel that they should also apply to me but that changed. After my accident, I value my life and all the persons and the things I have more.

The rest of the day went by just like all my other Mondays. My morning was spent on grocery shopping and I went to my classes in the afternoon. The only thing that wasn’t usual was our learning center’s early Christmas dinner in the evening.

Right after my last class, I and two of my colleagues, headed off to the place. We drove in a convoy.  Tanya was driving in front because she’s the one who knows where the restaurant is. I was driving behind her and Kristin was driving behind me. It was a snowy evening and we were driving on a 30-zone winding street fully covered with snow. There was almost no traffic so I could understand that clearing this street off snow doesn’t happen in a frequent interval.

We were driving slowly and I remember Tanya being 20 meters ahead of me. Then it happened on a slightly inclined curve. The curve, although slightly descending, wasn’t that sharp at all so I am absolutely sure that I didn’t do any harsh maneuver with the steering wheel. For the life of me, I can’t understand why it happened. I just felt that my car glided, spin, hit a post, and rebounded back on the road.

When I felt the car slipped, I got nervous and in my nervousness, I left the gas pedal and the steering wheel completely letting the car control itself. It happened too fast. I didn’t even have the time to scream. The next thing I know was I was facing Kristin who is getting out of her car. How did that happened? She’s supposed to be driving behind me.

And then it dawned on me. I just had an accident. I could be dead now.

So, am I dead now?

I made a quick self-check. Does any part of my body hurt? What about bleeding? No? Really? Okay, good.

Then I went out of the car to check it. Around that time, Kristin’s worry stricken face was already right beside me. She tried to do her own physical injury check on me while shooting rapid questions which I could only summarize as, “Are you ok?”

From the look of it, she was even more shaken than me. Later on, she explained that being the one driving behind me, she saw how the whole thing happened and it looked far worse that it is.

The car, as expected, received some damages. The plate number in front is crushed and separated from the car. The bumper obtained some scratches and maybe some dents. I picked up the plate number and put it on my dashboard. There was no way I could attach it to the car so I placed it where it could be easily seen.

After checking the surroundings for damages (there was none, the post looked perfect ha!), we drove to the restaurant which is just 100 meters away from where the accident happened. I wanted to call my husband immediately after arriving at the place but Tanya advised me to calm down a little bit before calling him and that’s what I did. Later on, I realized that it is better not to tell him until I am home.

Soon enough, dinner conversations filled the air making the whole mood lighter.

By the time we were ready to go home; I was relieved to see the street wet and not snow covered. If it would have been otherwise, I wouldn’t have the nerves to drive home.  I was still terrified.

Upon reaching our building’s parking place, I took out my phone to call my husband and I’ve seen that he tried to call me several times. I also read his messages asking me if I am okay and why I won’t answer his calls. I finally called him and told him about the whole thing. Then I asked him to come down from our flat so he could take a look at the car.

I know he will not be angry and I was right.

When he saw me, he gave me a tight hug.

He said that all along, he had the feeling that something bad had happened. Then he told me that he’s thankful I am safe. He didn’t bother taking a look at the car but he promised to do it in the morning.

We talked more about it before going to bed and we agreed that I am not to drive until I practice driving on their company’s test track. That’s what we will do this weekend. I will practice driving on simulated snow and ice covered streets to get a better feeling of the car on a slippery road and to learn how to react.

The shock was completely gone after I had talked to him. The release gave me an utter sense of my being. I am alive and I am cuddled perfectly warm in my husband’s loving arms. The feeling of closeness made me truly thankful that I am alive. I thought that it would be so unfair to die when I am this happy.

Before saying our goodnights, he told me something that made my hair stand on end. He told me about the nightmare I told him that very morning. I can’t remember it completely anymore but according to him, this is what said.

“They said that the accident was so bad they needed to cut my legs off to take me out of the car.”

***

p.s. this is unedited

I could understand why he did that because after reading the book, I can tell that it is not an easy read for 15-year old non native English speakers. I, myself, had the difficulty reading it to the very end. I don’t know why. I suppose I’m not for these kinds of reads. I was, of course, able to follow the story but I just know that this literary piece has more to it than the story itself and I am not the kind to probe into the meanings of the things in between the lines. In short, I don’t over analyze. When I read a book, I am all for the story and the experience I get while reading it.

“The Great Gatsby” is a modern classic. I’ve read it. I think the story is very interesting but I’ll leave it to the intellectuals to discuss it.

I was so disappointed after watching the movie but I later realized that my disappointment is groundless. What did I expect? I didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t read the books. I didn’t even watch the first movie, Twilight. So what I did was, I bought all four books and read them all in the span of six days. After reading the first book I thought about how other people could compare it to Harry Potter!?! I mean, it lacked the richness that HP has. Too few characters, too few conflicts, too few everything…

But I continued reading until I’m done with all the books  not only because I want to get the value for what I spent on them but also because I found some things likeable. The plot is not as fascinating as HP (which is of course not comparable to The Lord of the Rings) but a lot of lines were so well written. I noticed that as the story progresses, the author gets better with how she writes. She added some interesting characters and some interesting twists too. Some of these addition were too much and some were too late that they didn’t make sense anymore.

Overall, I am not so impressed with the plot but I’d give the author, Stephenie Meyer, the thumbs up for being able to write like that—vivid descriptions of the scenes and emotions. I don’t know if I’ll read the Twilight saga again (like I did with HP)…I am not holding my breath for it but I’ll keep them in my collection.

I started reading Harry Potter after I watched the first Harry Potter film sometime in 2001. Yep, I’ve seen the movie first before I read the book but that is good I think because, otherwise, I would have been really disappointed. Books are better than their movie counterpart. I think a lot would agree with me on that.

I became a fan right after reading the first book but I only started buying my own copies in 2005. I got Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in China and I got Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince from a tiny book sale I came across with while walking around in Munich. All the rest I got from our frequent visits here in Austria (note: I was living in China from late 2005 to early 2009). I have to say that I am really late when it comes to owning the copies but I enjoyed them just the same.

To date, I’ve read each book three times already and I could read them all over again. I know that the Harry Potter series ended with the Deathly Hallows but if J.K. Rowling changes her mind and writes a sequel to the last Harry Potter book, I would be delighted and would definitely get a copy.

Why do I like Harry Potter?

I like the Harry Potter series because I believe that it teaches some of our basic values in a subtle, creative and entertaining way. It is easy to understand plus the characters are not stuck in a particular age. I mean, they get old and mature unlike Nancy Drew who’s always 18 years old in all of her books. I used to like Nancy Drew but I sort of grew out of it. In the case of Harry Potter, I don’t think that that will happen to me.

We can postpone them sometimes but the point will come that certain decisions have to be made and for us, the time has come to decide whether to stay in our rented flat or get a place of our own. There’s nothing wrong with our rented flat except that it is expensive. It is situated in one of those century old buildings in the center of the city. There are a lot of benefits of living in the city and it was, in the first few months of our stay here, very practical. I didn’t have a car then so it was great that I can go just about anywhere I needed to go on foot. This made my adjustment (living in a new country) period easier. I was able to develop routines and was familiarized to the city faster than if we would have stayed somewhere far from the city.

After living seven months in this flat, we realized that it is no longer working for us. I mean, we are renting a flat and in addition to that, we are also renting parking spaces. Yep, that small parcel of land where you can park a car costs us 108Euro and since we have two cars, we are paying double. We could still afford it but staying here is no longer an advantage to our finances.

We’ve thought about it thoroughly and we agreed that the most practical thing for us to do now is to look for a house we could buy. So we started looking for houses and as of writing, we haven’t found a house we like yet. Okay, that’s not true. We’ve seen just about a dozen of houses that we I really like but they’re quite too pricey for our taste.

I know that looking for a house and actually buying the house will take a while but I hope that we can find that perfect house soon. I am already super excited about it!

vienna in circus roncalli

The title,  “all you need is laugh”, says it all. Those two and a half splendid hours spent in Roncalli Circus were time well spent. Not once, while I was in the circus’ colorful tent, did I stop to think and worry about anything because I was so busy laughing at the jokes and being amazed by the artists.

marcus in circus roncalli

Every act was well thought of and obviously showered with a great deal of effort. I admire these people and their love for their art because, clearly, they worked hard to perfect their skills.

balloon artist in circus roncalli

After the show, I thought of the artists who just performed one helluva entertainment. I imagine them spending most part of their lives traveling to different cities and living in their train trailers. I wonder if they have much contact to other people outside their circus circle. I wonder how their lives are. I wonder how they are behind the make-up and the fabulous costumes.

acrobatics in circus roncalli

I wonder if they are happy.

some people from the audience got included in the show

They must be.

some funny act in circus roncalli

Because obviously they love what they do and they’re very successful in it.

Damn, if I knew she’d be coming I would’ve clean the place like crazy. My mother-in-law is not that kind of mother-in-law. I never heard any criticism from her and not once did she try to mingle in my way of running our place but still…it would have been better if I would have made the place spotless clean for her visit.

So anyway, after I let her in I notice that she didn’t look sad at all. In fact, she was all smiles when she told me that she didn’t have to work that day too so she thought of visiting me. She handed me some sweets and the cake she specially made for me. Then I heard the door creaking… I must have forgotten to close it so I rushed to the entrance only to find my father-in-law standing there. By that time we were all laughing. So they both successfully surprised me.  Hah! Wait till my husband hears about this…

But I didn’t have to wait long because hubby entered the door a minute later. Hubby told me that the parents came for a small visit and will be going back to their place (2 hours drive away from our place) that same day but we should all have lunch together. We decided to go to one of those Buschenschank for lunch. On our way there, hubby pulled over to a parking place and told me to get out of the car. I was already very suspicious but didn’t have any idea what they’re playing at. Then hubby pointed to a parked car and told me that car is mine.

A grey and apple green Smart—just what I have in mind for a perfect car for me. I was literally shrieking. So… they all connived in planning all this. Hubby bought the car and my in-laws delivered it.  They were really successful in keeping it a secret from me until the very last moment.

A lot of hugging and “thank yous” followed after that then we headed off for lunch—Hubby and me in my Smart and the in-laws in hubby’s car. The lunch was long and was filled with happy conversations and laughter.

Once again, I realized how blessed I am to have a loving husband and kind in-laws.

Last Friday, we dined in a Chinese restaurant with our good friend, Eugene. He is also a colleague of my husband. We meet at least once a week to dine or have a drink somewhere. Last Friday, we decided to eat in a Chinese restaurant to break the monotony of our “pizza nights”. Right after the meal, we were given fortune cookies. It was my first time! Imagine after living three years in China and after having eaten several times in countless REAL Chinese restaurants, I just receive my first fortune cookie in Austria! I think the “fortune cookie thing” is a Western thing disguised as an Asian thing.

So anyway, let me amuse myself and let’s go back to our fortune cookies. After I’ve eaten mine, I was reminded of Eggnog (not the alcoholic drink but the Philippine cookie). The fortune cookie I got tasted exactly like that (I like that cookie very much).  Then there was a small piece of paper where the fortune is and the one I got says “Someone is speaking well of you.” Hmmm… my brain suggested that this “someone” could be my boss who is definitely selling me good to parents of prospective pupils. My husband got “Your success will be improved each year.” He just got a promotion last July (also one last year) so it could mean that the fortune is late or it could also mean that he’ll be promoted again next year (whew!). Then Eugene got “A firm friendship will prove the foundation on your success in life.” He is good friends with my husband and if my husband gets promoted each year, it could also be good for him (hahaha).  I was not only able to see what will happen but I was also able to fit their fortunes together (*wink).

Back home some people believe that when a person gets a fortune and tells it to another person, the fortune will not happen. It’s like a counter-fortune if you let another soul know about it and that’s exactly what I just did.