An Expat's Hilarious Observations About Life Abroad
Apparently Spring has changed its mind about when it wants to come to Vienna, Austria. It’s going to be a cold weekend with a little snow. *Sigh* But I don’t care. Last week I bought a potted tulip to celebrate Spring and help me get over the winter blues, which I blogged about here Beating the Winter Blues in Vienna
I am still immensely pleased with my potted tulip.
Potted Tulips in Vienna
Ah finally the light at the end of the winter tunnel. Vienna has been enjoying some nice spring-like weather the last few days and it is refreshing my soul’s batteries.
The last two, maybe three months have been pretty rough though. Not much sunshine and very cold weather. If it’s below freezing, I’m pretty cranky.
So how do I keep my chin up and beat the winter blues?
First I think about other places in the world. For example, the northeast in America right now. Yet another huge snowstorm. Those people are just half way through their winter, and we’re already making it out from ours. I just think, “Wow, I can’t complain about the winters in Vienna if this is as bad as they get. Clearly it’s a lot uglier in other places.”
Second, during the dark winter, I light candles like crazy in my apartment to add some warm light to my environment.
Third, I get the hell out of Vienna. I ignore the whole Christmas break thing because I hate to travel when everyone else is. Too hectic at the airport and too expensive. Also, my co-workers are grateful that I am not competing for the time off. I offer to hold the fort instead. But come February, a low season for travel, I take advantage of all the vacation time offered from work, and flee to someplace warm. That’s what I was doing in Puerto Rico for 10 days. I came back glowing and happy because of the sun, warmth, and water. Then two weeks later, spring-like weather in Vienna.
So how do you beat the winter blues?
The Vienna Ball season is a big part of Viennese culture. It starts in November and goes strong until February. I’ve heard a lot about it, and finally my husband and I got tickets to the second biggest ball event in Vienna, the Coffeehouse Owners’ Ball (take a look at an earlier post of mine titled Coffee to understand why this makes sense).
Paul and I don’t know much about the balls in Vienna. I looked around on the Internet and was really surprised how little there was about the topic. I’m happy that I am writing about it then!
Friday, February 13 is the day of the Coffeehouse Owners’ Ball. This is what I understand so far:
That’s all I know for now. On Friday I’ll take lots of pictures and post them on my blog with details as to how it went down.
Coffehouse Owners Ball in Vienna, Austria
Mid-November is when the much anticipated Christkindlmarkt open throughout Austria. The locals are wild for this event, and I have to admit, it stirs up happiness in me too.
It’s basically an outdoor fair that goes on for six weeks to celebrate that Christmas is coming. There are stands that sell toys, Christmas decorations, and sweets. What the adults really go for though, is the very strong alcoholic Glühwein. Here’s how Glühwein is prepared.
Take some cheap red wine and warm it up in a pot. Throw oranges, cinnamon sticks and other mystery spices in. Grab a metal grate and put it over the pot. Place a large sugar cone on the metal grate and douse it in rum. Set the sugar cone on fire and let the sugar drip into the pot. Serve hot. Get drunk.
Yesterday was the opening of the Christkindlmarkt in Vienna. Vienna has about 15 different ones located throughout the city, but it is the opinion of many that the one at the Rathaus (city hall) is the best. Don’t go to a Christkindlmarkt during the day, you’ll be the only one there. Go after the sun sets. I know it seems insane to stand around outside in the middle of winter, but get some Glüwein, and it won’t seem so cold. Enjoy the merry atmosphere.
Vienna Rathaus Christkindlmarkt
I not only have to get used to the culture that makes up Austrian society, but I also have to get used to the four seasons (and unfortunately, I don’t mean the hotel). Being born and raised in LA kind of messes you up weather wise. I mean it gets a bit cooler, then it gets a bit warmer. That’s about it. The four seasons don’t really exist in LA, unless you refer to fire, riot, flood, and earthquake. Let’s not go there though.
Europe experienced a cold snap in September right around the official day of autumn. I took the cold weather in stride. After all, it made sense to me that the weather in autumn would be colder than the weather in summer.
I was at work one day waiting for the coffee machine to work its magic. A co-worker of mine walked in and we started to chat. She made a comment around the lines of, “I can’t believe it’s so cold. It’s like winter, isn’t it?”
I stood there and stared blankly at her for a moment. She then said again, “Isn’t it?”
Stumbling for a moment I replied, “Well, I don’t really know. I’m new to this whole four seasons thing.”
I think she was really surprised by my comment. She just shook her head at me and left.
How am I supposed to know any better?
autumn-in-vienna
Cold weather and lots of rain starts to arrive around mid-September in Vienna. Being a native to Los Angeles, cold and rain are strange concepts to me.
Now I’ll openly admit, I just might overcompensate for the cold weather and rain. I bought waterproof boots because every single pair of shoes that I had from Los Angeles let water in.
I also went on a coat and sweater buying binge. I have five different coats and more sweaters now than I have had in my entire life.
When mid-September rolls around in Vienna, I start pulling my supplies out and piling them on.
Saturday was a good example of my overcompensation for cold, rainy weather. I went grocery shopping. I pulled on my jeans, a thick wool sweater, my waterproof boots and a raincoat. I grabbed my umbrella and my fashionably oversized purse and headed out. At the beginning of my walk to the grocery store, things were great. I felt the chill of the air and was grateful for my warm clothing. I walked a brisk pace and started to warm up. All of a sudden I was just a tad too warm. Well no matter. It doesn’t hurt to be too warm. Or so I thought.
Once I arrived at the store, I noticed that I needed to get organized. I had many things to deal with. I had an umbrella in one hand and my fashionably over-sized purse in the other. I was a bit stuck. To get a shopping cart, I had to find a coin to stick in a little slot that released the shopping cart from a chain. I stood there for a second and tried to figure out exactly how I was going to do this. I had a dripping umbrella in one hand, and a zipped purse in the other. I needed one hand to hold the purse and the other to rummage in it. I flailed about for a moment and then thought, to heck with it. I dropped my wet umbrella on the floor. This freed up the hand I needed to get the coin to get my shopping cart. Success!
I started making the shopping rounds. My earlier state of a tad too warm started to rise as I was in the store. My wool sweater was getting scratchy. I started moving faster through the store in hopes that I would get my shopping done faster. All of a sudden I felt sweat drip. Eeewww! I quickly finished my shopping and rushed to the checkout line. The checkout girl gave me a strange look as she noticed my damp, flushed cheeks.
Once I had my groceries I rushed outside to gulp in the cold, fresh air. Except that it was raining outside and one hand was busy carrying my groceries while the other was busy holding my purse. I needed to get my umbrella. I dropped my groceries on the floor and rummaged around my purse to find my umbrella. I opened it, balanced my purse and grocery bags evenly, and started to set off for home. My earlier sweaty state was rapidly dropping to a chilled cold as the sweat cooled my body in the outside temperatures. My grocery bags were banging around my knees, and I started to feel my paper grocery bag shift. Stupidly, I had left that one to hang outside the perimeter of my umbrella. My paper grocery bag was getting wet! The damn thing was going to rip! I picked up my step even more in the hopes of getting to my apartment before the bag ripped. But noooo! It had to rip. I knelt down in the rain to gather the bag from the bottom and balance it on my hip.
So I had a huge purse, a plastic grocery bag and an umbrella in one hand, and I had a torn, wet paper grocery bag perched on my hip and a plastic grocery bag in the other. And it was raining. And I was cold.
When I made it home, I went right into the kitchen and dropped everything on the floor. My apples from the wet paper bag rolled out but I didn’t care.
All I know is that I need a new system.
How I felt on Saturday
Real is in (“”) because Christmas in Southern California does not fulfill the stereotypes that we associate with the holiday. Like many of you, I have always thought that Christmas belongs with snow swirling outside the windows, fires in the hearth, a cup of tea in hand, and a cuddle buddy on the couch with Christmas songs on the radio.
Being that I’m from California, I always missed out on the whole cold weather thing and all that goes with it. Now that I am in Vienna I have been living my “real” Christmas, and it is more than I expected.
First off, it snowed. Nice and beautifully, it DUMPED two feet of snow in less than 24 hours. I bravely got up for work and dressed myself warmly enough. I sang to myself “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas!!” and enjoyed the snow.
Just a few days after the snowfall I watched the pristine whiteness turn black with car smog. No surprise there, I’m from L.A. But then the unexpected happened. The snow melted and left little pebbles everywhere. The city workers throw pebbles on the ground to prevent slipping both for pedestrians and cars. And no one sweeps these pebbles away. Have you tried walking on a sea of pebbles in heels!?! The foot slides on these little demons. The ankle twists. And I thought cobblestone was a challenge! The pebbles don’t stop there. On no! They shred the heels of my beautiful shoes as I try to wade through their sidewalk jungle. They lodge themselves into the bottom of my shoes’ leather, so even when I have made my way through the pebbles, I still wobble around like an idiot scraping the bottom of my shoe on the sidewalk as if I have a dog poop problem in an attempt to dislodge the wayward hellions. Of course, there are the tricky few who manage to JUMP INTO my shoe, so that I have to take my shoe off in the U-Bahn and shake it around until the pebble comes tumbling out. Yeah, I’m real popular with my seatmates. This has been going on for weeks!
But despite the pebble thing, I have been staying strong. After all, chestnuts are roasting over an open fire. At every street corner. Sold by Turkish men with heavy German accents. In steel barrels. Using their fingers to pick out the chestnuts for you and serving them in rolled up paper that has seen better days. Clearly, I only bought the chestnuts the one time. And they weren’t even that good. Why do people make a big deal about them? Am I missing something?
And let’s talk about Jack Frost nipping at your nose, shall we? The first snow fall wasn’t so bad. The temperature flirted with freezing, but didn’t really get that cold, and the snow melted fast. Overall I was undisturbed by the occurrence. HA! Wanna know what FREEZING weather feels like? Oh, what about -2 degrees Celsius? Well, that’s where the temperature is now, and it is no fun. It doesn’t matter how thick my socks are, my toes get cold immediately. And just for your information, leather gloves are rather useless. My ears sting, my eyes water. My makeup freezes, bunches, and clumps on my face (yep, I am one attractive female). Please keep in mind that this all occurs before 8a.m., while I am standing outside waiting for my bus, which happens to always be 2-4 minutes late in arriving to pick my cold butt up. I never would have thought 2-4 minutes would mean so much.
So yeah, I have a few complaints about the holiday season. But let me tell you, not many cities do Christmas as well as Vienna. Beautifully lit Christmas trees everywhere. The old part of the city with the most amazing lighting. The Christmas feel here is so wonderful and different, it infuses me. Even Business Week magazine has recognized it as one of the best places to be for the holidays.
(Above photo of Vienna’s old part of town during December)
And let’s not forget the divine, delicious, out-of-this-world homemade Christmas cookies either.
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