Settling In

It has been about 11 days since I got here.  Each day gets a little easier and I learn a little more.  I keep picking up words and phrases each day and my family and friends have been so patient in helping me learn and pronounce them.  Pretty soon, I will most likely be starting a German class to help.  I feel a lot more settled and less lost than I did a week ago.

This past week has been good overall.  During the weekdays, I am at school until mid-afternoon then at home for the rest of the day.  At home, I mostly spend time with the boys or the whole family.  The boys and I play a lot of Uno.  They knew how to play it already so its pretty easy to play it with them.  They also enjoy when I play my ukulele (or when they get to try playing it).

The weather out here has been beautiful and moderate with only a couple rainy days.  We got the chance to both bike and walk through our town/village.

Our bike ride took us to a park in another small town/village where we stayed for a bit and played.  The photos below were taken by my host mother (:

  

Our walk took us up a hill with a vineyard and that overlooks our town/village, Königstetten
(Koo-nig-shte-ten).   

Gerhard and Ben walking

Vineyard on the hill we walked up

Nik and Tim

Nik holding my hand as we walk

(Photo courtesy of host mother)

Königstetten from the hill

On our way back to the house from the walk, we stopped for lunch and I ate "typical Austrian food."  I got a Schnitzel which is basically breaded and fried meat.  Mine was made with chicken and it is normally made with Kalbfleisch (or veal in English) in Austria.  I also took pictures of the "typical Austrian food" that my host parents got (:

Hühnerschnitzel (Chicken Schnitzel)

Grammelknödel mit Sauerkraut

Schweinsbraten mit Serviettenknödel

School is going pretty well.  Since I don't speak German yet, I don't understand what is going on in half my classes.  I've been trying to take notes in the classes that are taught in German and translate them to get at least somewhat of an understanding.  It gets a bit hard to take notes because some of the teachers' hand writing is hard to read, but this gives me the chance to be social and ask for help!  I've managed to make a few more friends, or at least people I can talk to. The school is really big and very nice.  I learned the hard way that we have to wear indoor shoes in the school (I got called out by a teacher).  Also, our school is right next to the Danube (Donau in German).  

Fun fact: the Danube is the longest river in Europe and flows from the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, to the Black Sea through the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine.

I've really been enjoying this experience thus far.  I am so happy for this opportunity to explore and embrace a culture that I'm not used to.  It does get hard sometimes.  

     

By the way, this is a Mozartkugel.  Its like a layer truffle with nougat and pistachio marzipan and is covered in dark chocolate. (It was delicious.  I had two.)