Although the sky is clear and the sun is shining bright, the temperature is not anymore unbearably hot and it will be cooler in the next few days. My favorite time of the year is approaching fast and I am already very eager to see warm-colored landscapes.

Steiermark is a very nice part of Austria and it is known here as the “Green Heart of Austria” because of its many forests, farms, orchards, and vineyard. It’s lovely here in the summer and I am sure that autumn here will be quite as lovely. I’ll have my camera ready and I’ll take photos of the country side.

Austria is incredibly beautiful and sometimes I wish that I could contain some of its beauty in a bottle and bring it home to the Philippines to show it to my love ones (then bring it back of course). I love its rolling hills and well kept meadows. I love its looming mountains along with its countless lakes and streams. I love its century old cities and the old architectures therein. I am glad that I am able to see and appreciate such place.

And if I’d have to say something I don’t like about Austria… it would just be then the fact that Austria is not blessed with an ocean and all that comes with it like fresh salt-water fishes and lovely beaches. But that’s ok because my country has those. For me it’s like Philippines and Austria complement each other and I am glad to have found home in both countries.

I don’t know if it was just because most Chinese people think I am one of them that they sort of expect me to speak in Chinese when talking to them. I am not talking about my previous students, I am talking about the countless taxi drivers, waiters and waitresses, bank clerks, etc who have continued to speak in Chinese to me even after I explicitly mentioned/demonstrated that I can’t speak Chinese and I can’t understand them.

All the times that I was put in such situation, I felt under the pressure of being expected to be able to talk in their language simply because I was living there.

It is really too bad that I didn’t learn how to speak Chinese in my three years of living in China because I could have learn a lot from people who stopped by to have a chit chat with me. I always felt that these are the people who are genuinely friendly. In China if somebody approaches me and start to talk to me in English, I usually get suspicious because I know from experience that these people more likely want to sell me something.

In Austria it is pretty much the same except that people here don’t come to you and speak to you in English just to sell you something. I am glad they don’t do that. But I say it is the same because I still have this feeling—the irritating feeling that I am expected to speak in German just for the simple reason that I am here.

I can say that I can understand German fairly well (and when I say “German”, I mean “high German”) but I still have the trouble of speaking in German. After taking two German language courses, my confidence in speaking the language goes as far as greeting people. So if I enter a store or any kind of establishment, that’s what I do because that’s what they do (hell, Austrian people greet so much!). I greet them in their language just to be polite but my greetings always come with a prayer—a prayer that I only receive a greeting back…NOTHING MORE. But Austria seems to be a place of very polite and friendly people so after exchanging civil greetings, you can expect a small chit chat—it’s completely normal here to exchange a few kind words to strangers. If you greet them, you can expect a greeting back, an offer to help you, then probably question about your well being or a slight remark about the weather. If you don’t greet them, it doesn’t matter… they will still greet you. I actually think it is lovely that they are like that but the problem is that I can’t understand them because although I can understand German, they don’t speak German. They speak an Austrian dialect that sounds so funny to me.

So what happens is, I get stunned or I appear to get stunned. I just sort of stop there and try to process as fast as I can what was said. In most cases, I get nervous and so I just reply to them in English. It’s really difficult for me. You see, I need time to process what was said then I also need time to think of what to reply in German. Imagine the stress! Then there’s the pressure of wanting to reply quickly because you don’t want the other person to wait hours for what you’ll have to say.

If I am lucky, I am able to reply in German and in time but if my nervousness gets ahead of me, I am sure to awkwardly reply in English. If I am luckier, the person will simply smile and start to talk to me in English. If is not my day, I can only expect an awkward silence.

One of the most annoying things in life is when you need to decide something immediately but you don’t have what you need to make the decision yet. We arrived here on the 30th of March and as expected, we started laying out stuff based on how our life’s here going to be but the thing is we don’t know a lot of things. We are not sure if my husband’s company will offer him a good position here in Austria or send him to work somewhere again. Under normal circumstances, he can insist to stay in Austria but in times where there’s an ongoing crisis, who have the guts to go against his/her employers’ will?

Then there’s the question of whether it is good to spend money now or we should wait. Interest rates in banks are getting low so your money is just kind of sleeping there. Maybe it is good to invest it on real state but what if the economy doesn’t pick up soon or what if it gets worse? In such case it is definitely better to have the money at hand.

Those are the big things but it is a chain reaction. You see, because we don’t know if we are going to stay in Austria for a long time, we can’t decide whether to get a 24-lock-in internet or phone contract. It would such a waste if we are to move somewhere else in a few months or so. Prepaid internet is not an option because it is extremely expensive and “no internet” is NOT an option at all.

Risk is not my favorite thing so you can imagine how these things are driving me crazy.

Rolling waters to my feet
Oh please stop! Don’t be a tease.
Romance the sand, woo the land
But don’t seduce me, d’you understand?

I know you are so clear so blue
A real treasure to anyone’s view.
But though you are all these and more,
The sun is not, he gives me sore.

He only not darkens my skin,
He also burns it and make it sting.
So alluring Waves, now you know
Why I can only watch you come and go.

Vienna Lopez
18.03.09
Banana Island

The moving boxes along with some packing materials that my husband ordered arrived yesterday and so I started packing today.

I don’t know if I clearly mentioned in any of my blogs that we will definitely leave China sometime in April but I remember briefly mentioning about moving here, here, and here. My husband is not so happy with his job here anymore so it’s time for us to move on. We plan to just go and settle in Austria but there are some talks of Mexico so at this point, we are still not 100% sure of our destination.

I hate moving. Not just because I have to pack everything and that I have to prepare all the needed papers for the shipping but also because I sort of have a life here. I like this city even though there are just some things I haven‘t quite gotten used to. I like living here.

I know from the start that this is not where we will stay for the rest of our lives but “this move” is just too soon. And I would simply go crazy if we move to Mexico because that means there will be a time that we have to move out of that country and at this point, it’s just painful to think that this won’t be the last time we have to pack our things and go.

I get attach to things, places, and people so it is always difficult for me to leave.

If I remember right, it was in one of those Daily Vacation Bible Schools (DVBS) I attended when I was five or six that I had a classmate who is from the US. He is a son of one of the missionaries who came to our town to preach God’s word. One day, our teacher ask us to draw (anything) and this particular boy drew a landscape.

I remember he can draw well at a very young age but there was something about his drawing that made the other pupils including me think that he is stupid. He was the only non-Filipino pupil in the class so when he drew a landscape with orange and yellow colored trees, all the Filipino kids laughed at his work. Why would he draw a yellow tree when everybody knows it’s supposed to be green?

Autumn was not a reality for me (and for most of the Filipino kids in that age) until I’ve seen it in the movies and learn about it in our Science subject. Winter is another story. I think every kid in my country has an idea of what winter is because of the “snow” in Christmas stories. We were all “would be nice to have snow here” because the idea of playing in the snow appeals so much.

Had I known that there’s autumn, I would have wished to have autumn instead of winter because of the colors and what it does to the landscape. I would have wished to play in the heaps of dried fallen leaves instead of snow. Autumn is beautiful!

I am not a big sports fan but surprisingly I did enjoy following the recent European Masters Football Tournament. It was not the game that lured me into watching almost all of the matches but it was the people who are passionate about football and their team.

I was amazed by how the people showed their support to their national teams –they painted their faces, hang their national flags (anywhere), wore patriotic shirts and funny national costumes, invented cheering songs and rhymes, paraded on the street, etc. I also remember seeing several mobile homes in the autobahn obviously being driven by sport enthusiasts from all around Europe driving to Austria (and Switzerland) to witness their teams play… not to mention the reported number of private jets landing in Vienna Airport causing major air traffic and several flight delays. And I don’t know how true this is but a friend of mine was in a train with some Italian football fans and they told her that they have quit their job (because their boss didn’t give them a longer leave of absence) just so they can follow the tournament. How crazy and extravagant!?! So really, Europeans are all out when it comes to giving support to their team.

I chose to root for Austria and my husband who is not a sports enthusiast himself was also influenced to root for his national team but when Austria was eliminated, he lost interest right away.

So anyway, after watching Austria’s first game (where they lost), I was (still) convinced that they’ve got a chance (to go up all the way to the semi final at least) and they’re not as bad as the Austrians themselves claim. The Austrian national team has the reputation of being one of the worst national teams in Europe and they only qualified to play in tournament because they were the host nation but they’re really not that bad. Their defense is excellent! If only they were also trained to score a goal (haha) and not just to stop the other team from making a goal… they would’ve made it. (I could go on and on about my opinions on the games but I am sure that you wouldn’t like to hear football analysis from someone who knows too little about football so… :-l

It was cool to be in Austria during the EM but it would have been cooler if the Austrian team won or if Austria won their match against Germany at least.

I am back from Beijing and a few days of not being able to blog left me tremendous amount of work. Updating nine blogs is not exactly a walk in the park so I probably will skip some of them. I got sick for a few days too so that made it more difficult. It must have been the terrible smog in Beijing that gave me a terrible nasal and throat irritation.

For those of you who are planning to visit China, here are some of the things you need to bring other than your camera and things that are normally in your luggage.

A little pocket dictionary: I don’t know how much this is going to help you but just expect the worst. Think that not a lot of Chinese can speak English. If you are going to big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, you probably won’t need it unless you’ll drive with the taxi.

Medicine: In China, there are all sorts of medicines for all sort of sickness but you can never know if you are buying the right one because 99% of the medicines in pharmacies have Chinese names and the dosage instructions are in Chinese too.

Ointment with Eucalyptus or Mint smell: You’ll probably want to dab this on a small part above your upper lip every now and then. Why? Let’s just say… this smells a lot better.

Once, you have these you should be ok. Now, when you arrive there are some things you have to be careful about. China is a shopping haven because every thing comes in a cheaper price especially if you have nothing against fakery. You’ll find just about anything from Old Navy to Chanel. But be careful because they also fake money here. Check the money they give you (change from taxi drivers and vendors) if these are real bank notes just to make sure that it’s real even if the person handling it out to you seems to be the most trustworthy person on earth.