It’s no Sea World, (Austria is a landlocked country after all) but it was still a great experience. I saw a giant turtle gracefully glide through the water. I walked through a rainforest and heard all the noise and chatter from the animals. I saw the biggest snake I have ever seen.

It can’t be easy building and maintaining a giant aquarium in the middle of a city that is kind of like New York City. So in the end, it’s worth a visit.

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So what happened while I was back in L.A., my hometown? Well, within four hours of being there I got a speeding ticket. Within one day of being there I got in a traffic jam on the freeway. Within one week of being there I got in a car accident (idiot hit me while I was completely stopped!).

I did however gobble down as much Mexican food as I could. I visited with all my friends and hung out with my family I obsessively went to the beach to take walks and drink in the beauty that is the ocean. I shopped because the economy is still crummy and everything is so cheap.

As the two week trip was winding down, I looked at my husband and said, “I’m ready to go back to Vienna.”

But wait, it gets better. Once back in Vienna, I had no homesickness. This was a new revelation for me! I wrote about home sickness here Low Point for an Expat and this is really exciting. I just might have hit expat nirvana after being an expat for exactly 3 years. So maybe that’s how long it takes to really settle in to your new home.

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Come on people! This is disgusting. When I am in the U-bahn or out and about and someone walks by or stands next to me and stinks, I stagger back in shock and have to fight my gag reflex. 

Body odor is inexcusable in today’s society of, uh, ready access to clean water. Showers. Washing machines. Deodorant. Soap.

I don’t care why some people stink. I don’t want to hear accuses or explanations. Be considerate and have some self respect. Shower and wash your clothes, like the rest of us.

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http://www.figls.at/- fancy neo Austrian, very good service and food, some of the best ribs i had
http://www.fischerbraeu.at/ – typical Austrian beer house, good eats, good beer, very unpretentious, mixed crowds from students to seniors, we go there when we don’t want to cook, are hungry and don’t want to spend a lot
http://www.7stern.at/ – also very famous for its beer, order the skillets, gotten a bit touristy lately
http://www.plachutta.at/(there is also one around Schönbrunn) – very traditional Viennese cuisine, fancy, turn of century aura
http://www.weinhof-zimmermann.at/- Heurigen Klassiker, beautiful setting among the winery hills.
http://www.figlmueller.at/ – if you must eat in the 1st district, then only here.  very busy, reservation only.
http://www.bierig.at/intro_2.htm- one of the best price/grub/service ratios in Vienna, they have three locations, we go to the one in Spittelau, love their outdoor seating
http://www.caffelatte.at/neubau/aktuell.html- very good coffee, great weekend brunches, you can eat there for free on your b’day
http://www.himmel.at/oktogon/indexf.html – this is the one next to the tree circle, great cakes and lattes
http://www.feuerwehrwagner.at/- this one has the best roast chicken in Vienna, very nice Heurigen setting
http://tupalo.com/en/vienna/hanil-running-sushi- this is the running sushi at Naschmarkt that I told you about
http://www.lokalfuehrer.at/?site=detail&id=1505&show=tf – this is the running sushi in the 8th, has more variety on other than sushi dishes
http://www.blueorange.co.at/- if you ever want a decent muffin or bagel, great coffee to go with it too, they are in the 9th or close to the Naschmarkt, sells Ben&Jerry ice cream too
http://www.rocky-docky.at/ – very good steaks, haven’t tried the burgers but I’m sure they are good
http://www.santacruz.at/- it’s a far cry from the mexican food we know but it’s always fresh and good if you have a craving for it.  their ribs are famous but i don’t like them, too greasy and too much garlic. it’s in the Prater so if you are there it’s worth stopping by, they are always open in summer.

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But even taking these precautions, I would not expose myself to the public in Los Angeles like I do in Vienna. When I try to explain to Austrians how dangerous Los Angeles really is, they cannot comprehend it. I have to roll up my sleeves and explain very specific stories to get them to understand about 10% of what I am talking about.

It goes something like this. Weekend news in LA. 20 people shot this weekend in a part of the city that is only 30 minutes away from where you live. Kidnapping. Theft by gunpoint. Rape.

Please note that this is in the space of 48 hours. As a native LA person, you shrug your shoulders and think, well, that was a typical weekend.

Just two weekends ago here in Vienna, an Austrian woman was telling me and my LA friend N a story of how her brother got mugged. N and I gasped in horror and immediately asked if her brother was okay. The Austrian said no, the muggers took her brother’s mobile. N and I paused for a moment. N asked, “Did the muggers beat your brother up?”

The Austrian answered no. I asked if anything else was taken. The Austrian answered no. The muggers just took the mobile and left her brother with his wallet.

N and I looked at each other and started to roar with laughter! “Darling,” I explained, “if your brother didn’t end up in the hospital fighting for his life, that wasn’t a mugging.”

Another example. I was sitting at work and my two Austrian co-workers were talking about how a child was kidnapped in a mall in Salzburg. They were horrified. This sort of thing doesn’t happen in Austria.

One of my co-workers said her mother would leave her as a young child in the car as her mother went shopping really quickly. I almost choked. You never leave a child alone for a split second in LA.

I raised an eyebrow and explained to my Austrian co-workers. “When driving on the freeway in LA, you see electric boards flashing ‘Kidnapper driving white Toyota license plate number 13noq9532’ What do you want, it happens?”

Dear Austrians. Please realize that in comparison to LA, you live in a fairy tale world of safety and security that I can only envy.

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Okay, I know why I procrastinate.

Definition that I ripped off of Wikipedia: “Psychologists often cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision.”

 It’s because I am scared to move in the direction that I know I must move in. The things I have to do seem like a huge challenge that I am reluctant to take on, because I think it is going to be painful to execute. Being an expat shoves these challenges into my face so often that I often feel overwhelmed, frustrated at the unfairness, and just give up.

But you know what happens when I take action? It usually isn’t as hard as I thought, and I am relieved and proud that I got it done.

There are only positives to getting rid of procrastination. So there. That’s the plan. GET IT DONE! This is my new philosophy.

Wish me luck. Now I have to go do the things that I have been pushing off.

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http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=24431564&GT1=35006

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Eventually you come to ask yourself, how do I fit in here? What part of myself do I give up? What part do I keep? These are scary questions to ask when looking in the mirror as an expat.

In Los Angeles, where I was born and raised, being friendly to everyone, fast-moving, fast-talking, aggressive in the business world, fashionably dressed, and ignoring hierarchy is the way of L.A.

There you carelessly make a promise and break it without a blink. There you are worried about the competition taking your job. There you climb the corporate ladder as fast as you are capable of, be damned of age or experience. 

L.A. is not an easy town, but that’s exactly what makes it great. Everyone knows it requires an aggressive attitude that allows one to take risk. And if you take risk, at some point you will fall on your ass. Los Angelians don’t participate in schadenfreude. Instead, they grab you by the hand, haul you up, and tell you to try again.

So I brought these principles of life from LA to Vienna with me. They worked very well for me in LA, so why wouldn’t I? Umm, because they don’t work in Vienna?

Vienna is quiet, slower, loyal, modest, and more patient than LA will ever be. LA isn’t interested in any of these traits. Neither was I when I first came here.

Now that I have been in Vienna almost three years, I get that I have to change my ways to fit in. But I find that I ask myself, how badly do I want to fit in?

For example. I’m a very fashionable dresser and take pride in that. The Viennese see this as a silly vanity and I am looked down upon because of it. I ask myself if I should tone down my way of dressing. I would fit in better if I did.

Then I think, why the hell should I dress down to make those around me feel better? It’s the choice of those around me to look frumpy. They can change it with a quick visit to H&M and a good eye at the make-up counter. But they choose not to. Therefore, why should their personal choice affect me?

The Austrians are also very modest. They keep quiet about their success. I would find this admirable if it didn’t drive me absolutely crazy! I love to hear about a person’s success because I think, oh, I can learn from you!

So I still don’t know what I intend to keep about myself and what I intend to change for the sake of fitting in. Even in LA I marched to my own drum, so maybe I’m just incapable of blending in, taking the quieter, conservative route.

I am after all an expat, and let’s face it people, that is not the route of the cautious and conservative.

Tell me, have you struggled with this topic? What conclusion have you come to?

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Note that the show is in German.

http://www.musicalvienna.at/index.php/de/spielplan/production/17458

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