sunny sunday afternoon

it was finally a nice sunny (though still not too warm) afternoon with nothing but time to explore.

▼ Domkirche zum heiligen Ägydius

 i have walked by this church so many times. it looks beautiful at every time of day and is lit up at night. there are three main buildings, i am not really sure how you get into all of them or even if you can, but i made it into one part. gorgeous marble floors (a wide variety of color square tiles), beautiful wood pews with inlay designs, and like many old churches, tons of gilded adornment, giant vaulted ceilings, and beautiful afternoon light streaming through the windows. really cool to be inside, totally alone, and so quiet (the click of my camera sounded loud to my ears).

Inside the one of the parts of the Domkirche zum heiligen Ägydius

This area of the river in particular is filled with many cries for help. Many of the trees and surrounding areas have "help" signs (can see one pic in a previous post) and the bridge has numerous articles taped to it regarding the building of a dam that would also result in the removal of "8000 trees" from the river bank area. Candles are also lit at night and people gather in an effort to stop this from happening.

Graffiti on one side of the bridge

Graffiti on the other side of the bridge (depiction of the center of Graz with Schlossberg left background)

"Fortress Europa" graffiti near Schlossbergplatz

The Russian steps built during WWI leading up to Uhrturm

 there are three paths to take from this point. on the left is the beginning of the Russian stairs (currently their is a gate blocking the way due to "winter weather" and potentially icy conditions but that didn't stop all those who wanted to (me included) from just hopping the gate and climbing the many steps up the side), in the center is the entrance to the Schlossberg elevator that goes straight up (for a small price), and to the right is a tunnel that goes through mountain to the other side where there is another walking path and their is also access to a concert hall that is also inside the mountain.

Rooftop view from Russian steps

A look back on the City Center

these were absolutely tiny, but i thought they looked so pretty, like miniature roses all growing on the rocks.

seeking the warm rays

soaking in the sun

Schlossberg side passageway

Schlossberg tram

pause a moment and watch

 i sat on this one bench here for a while and watched the flow of people that crossed this bridge. one of my favorite observations was the variety of shoe colors. its kinda hard to tell in this pic but the guy is wearing bright blue shoes and the girl is wearing read shoes but there were shoes of every color, green, white, black, purple, gold, spotted, etc. that walked across. :)

Schlossberg side cafe

Schlossberg

one of my favorite places to sit in the afternoon is up by the columns (slightly to the right and in the middle of the photo) where you can look out over the river down below and across the city. it is a great place to catch some warm sun rays and watch the sun setting over the distant hills.

one of many little rooms in the castle walls

pretty old wood door on the Schlossberg

tangled tree

Guarding the front of the Schlossberg "fearless and loyal"

Can you tell what time it is? Sun dial on the side of the building

this building is on Karmeliterplatz, a large pedestrian square that in the winter houses a small public skating rink that was usually filled with lots of kids trying not to bump into each other. at the moment, the rink is being thawed for the coming of spring!

Graz's never ending graffiti messages to the world!

i hope you had a fabulous sunday!

inquiring minds want to know

die Libelle * the Dragonfly

die Libelle/the Dragonfly

for those who have been curious...

i picked this name for a blog back in college when i was asked to write a blog for my german class...(the content of which is now deleted...) but the blog remained. I have always liked the dragonfly for many reasons, but simply: it is really pretty, mystical, and just plain cool. And when I looked up the german word for the dragonfly I was pleasantly surprised because I thought "die Libelle" was a really pretty name. As far as cross-culturally, the dragonfly has a wide variety of names insinuating everything from beauty to the devil. It is also similarly depicted in special association with native americans, witches, samurais, and medicinal shamans.

For those who are curious about some of the many meanings of the dragonfly, it is said to symbolize: courage, strength, agility, happiness, wind and water, color and illusion, the subconscious and dreams, purity, balance, peace, harmony, swiftness, elegance, grace, wisdom, and magic, and is also obviously linked with summer and autumn.

an afternoon to and fro

today was a good day. I started off in Graz and then in an effort to sort out health insurance I hopped on out to Stallhofen. It was a brief but gorgeous visit out to the Raßberg. A beautiful sunny day with crystal clear air. After soaking in some sun rays, I went to the Hüber Farm not far away and got some of their award winning kürbiskern öl before heading back to the city.

Old building on the Raßberg...hope to fix it up one day

old beauty

Hüber farm, really old building ~1000AD

Pretty graffiti under the bridge, direction facing Hauptplatz

One of many love locks attached to the bridge

2:30pm walk

corner cafe, surrounded by side streets near hauptplatz

tiny through way from hauptplatz, graffiti showing the way

lazy afternoon in a back ally

drying in the shade

despite having walked part of this route a multitude of times i noticed things that I had never noticed before, maybe it was the lighting ;) or maybe it was just the fact that I had my camera with me. either way, an encouragement to explore some more.

cooking beyond noodles

it is harder than i had hoped. i mastered the generic noodle in college (yay for me!) and it is the go-to food. deliciously yummy, filling, and goes with a variety of yummy toppings (pesto, tomato, etc...though I still think my favorite toppings are mom's). for nutritional value at least i have the salad down pat, and not just the type of salad that is just lettuce (by the way explaining the difference between salad and lettuce to someone in german is an interesting experience since it is just called "salat" and in most cases a salad is primarily just lettuce. not the beautiful mixture of veggies i love to include: peppers, carrots, tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers :) yum. That, and fresh steamed green beans when I find them, they are hard to beat.

but the point is. now that i have a kitchen and not just a small dorm room kitchenette (and the kitchen in our apartment actually exists now! though there is a constant list of things that could be improved...)  I have tried to actually learn to cook a few new things. beyond noodles (and beyond noodle based dishes like delicious homemade vt cheddar mac and cheese!).

i am working on being more adventurous and just experimenting, so if anyone has any suggestions of great things to try to cook, please send them my way! 

so the first thing i successfully managed to cook and that actually was yummy was zucchini soup. i wish i had taken a picture! I was so happy that it tasted better than I thought it would and it was nice and creamy just like it was supposed to be! i should make a big batch tomorrow while my zucchinis are still good and then I can heat it up for lunches (now that we actually have a microwave!).

my second soup attempt was just the other day, I attempted to make cream of mushroom soup because I had a whole carton of mushrooms. It tasted good, but not particularly creamy like a cream soup should be. nevertheless, it was pretty good with a piece of toast. and today I tried it as a sauce on noodles, yum! I was pleasantly surprised. and while it does detract from my cooking beyond noodles effort, it was still quite yummy and made use of both the noodles and the soup that i had stored in the fridge. filling and yummy.

http://www.steirische-spezialitaeten.at/rezepte/suppen/steirische-kuerbiscremesuppe.html

another soup that I want to try is a pumpkin soup. they make a typical austrian pumpkin cream soup here (steirische kürbiscremesuppe mit kernöl) with pumpkin seed oil. yummy - see pic above. I had it first at this little austrian restaurant in salzburg, where they served it in one of the small food storage jars that we have all our dried foods in at home. so i will have to try it once i find all the ingredients I need :)

other random things on the topic of cooking. toaster ovens are great! i really miss having mine. and its hard to beat the awesome $5 one that I got from Wake Robin's tag sale. microwaves also very handy, along with a peeler, and a great set of knives! im a fan of good knives. and mom, i think i finally found a knife similar to our favorite one! (maybe not identical, but similar: Zwilling J.A. Henckels knives).

language and communication part 1

my introduction to the Graz Berlitz office happened today. It is amazing to see how much you learn about your own language when you are trying to teach it to someone else. Today, I had the pleasure and slightly nerve-wracking experience of teaching my first individual student (guinea pig student of sorts, not real student but rather new secretary) "level 3 chapter 9 berlitz business english." There was quite a lot to squeeze into 40 mins, both in vocabulary and grammar... Nevertheless, not too shaky of a start.

Having traveled a bunch in the recent months, to countries where all sorts of languages are spoken, it has been both fun and interesting to see how people communicate and how messages are conveyed both when there is a language difference and when there isn't. Either way, interpretation.... or misinterpretation occurs.
so, how does one communicate so others will understand?

clearly, this message wasn't brought across correctly!

a paper recycling bin - not an ash tray/ cigarette disposal

and language now? 
* Hybrid language, where terms are adapted from one language into another, especially with technological new developments, such as CDs, DVDs. Or as an example, today I heard "start-up" used in german to describe a new start-up company, despite there also being a german equivalent.
* Internet/IM speak: ttyl, brb, rofl, g2g, gr8, l8r, etc...
* Misspelled language (something I do frequently on gchat or skype as do my friends, though it hardly ever seems to hinder our ability to communicate properly) eg. somethign, smoething, smoethign, takling, talkling, talkign...etc.
* And as a great example, the following popular study from Cambridge University:

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

the above also being true for other languages.

language is certainly fun to play with. I can write all of this in messed up english and for the most part my message will get across :) yay! (and as far as the language of english goes...british english, irish english, scottish english, american english, australian english, new zealand english, indian englsih...etc and all the dialects in between) fun times!

ok. part one, but if you have any fun language examples please feel free to share :)
The other day I was with some people who were literally translating some austrian sayings into english to produce some rather comical sentences. unfortunately, they are not coming to me at the moment. but if I remember them, I will try to share.

my growing austrian photo album

One of many types of Graffiti in Graz

I will try to add pictures to this album as I get them. As long as you have the link you can see the new pictures I add. This will hopefully cover all my Austria travels (both pictures posted on the blog and additional ones).

2010-2011 Austria Album

enjoy!
(Other trips will be separate albums.)

austrian eating and drinking

Delicious though it all may be, I have never been much of a coffee drinker or a beer drinker but it's near impossible to escape either here. I am slowly beginning to learn what kinds of coffee I like. I like the milky and sweet kind, but even with that there are way too many options! Cappuccinos, mochas (I really like the white mocha with chocolate sprinkled on top that they make at Tribeka), and lattes, macchiatos, and latte macdhiatos (though I still don't think I know the difference between those three...something about mixing or not mixing the milk). Ahh...to all the coffee drinkers out there! haha. and to anyone who thinks I will become a true coffee drinker, I still say not happening. I can appreciate a good coffee once in a while but I think I am far from the day where I wake up wanting coffee.

one of my first cappuccinos in Austria. so pretty

Want to know where to eat or drink? this lovely sign tells you exactly which places and how far away from that spot offer beer, wine, coffee and your traditional Gasthaus menu. rather funny, there where a whole bunch of these signs on this ridge, to insure you wouldn't miss the exact eatery you were shooting for! (If you are lost directionally, oh well...this is strictly for the lost hungry or thirsty person :)

don't know where to eat or drink?

And in case you don't already have a vision in your mind of the stereotypical Austrian food: meat, meat, and more meat. with a side of bread, pickles, and horseradish:

YUM (meat lovers only)

beauty on the border

way back in November I had the pleasure of walking from Austria to Slovenia! this is the path I took:

don't litter - cute sign with bug made out of bottles and cigarettes
 

Austrian valley leading to the Austrian/Slovenian Ridge

So many bridges!! they were numbered but I forget how many...there was even a suspension bridge!

Moss covered remnants of a building near a Slovenian church.

The view of Slovenia

The view of Austria
 

The air was so clear and crisp, the views in all directions were gorgeous. There was a nice little Gasthaus at the top of the ridge where we ate some food. Then we walked along the ridge, which wound back and forth between Austria and Slovenia all the way to a church that was empty due to renovations.

The first border crossing:

Austrian Border Warning

Slovenian Border Warning

just a small sprinkle of salt

From February 14 - 17th I was in Salzburg, Austria for my Berlitz training course where I met some really great people! It was mainly 4 of us and our instructor (Steve, who was actually from Boston and went to UVM and knew Caspian Lake!). The trainees with me were three very nice ladies (Bernice, from England who spent most of her time in Asia and was most recently living in Singapore, Anja, from Frankfurt, Germany who has spent most of her recent life living in Lyon, France but is now living in Linz, Austria for a while, and Heidy, from Südtirol, Italy who has been living many years in Salzburg, Austria, and some of the time. We also had a 4th lady, Christina, from Brazil, who is now living in Salzburg because she is a violinist). The best part of the training was getting to know these women! The training itself was interesting, long days though, which left me with very little daylight hours to explore Salzburg (We got one chunk of 45 mins of daylight where Anja and I climbed up to a church on one side of the river that looks out across the river to the old city and the Schlossberg in the background.

Fleeting moments of daylight, Salzburg city center on the other side of the river with Schlossberg above

Salzburg is known for its many salt mines but those are outside the city, though they do have shops dedicated just to salt. Kinda cool. There were some great restaurants that we ate at, and we had one particularly great dinner the last night with the group and some family members at a small typical Austrian restaurant. Unfortunately however, it was extremely quiet after dark and not much going on. It was also rather cold. This just left me with more time to do the homework we were assigned each day...though I must say, ResLife training was more than preparation enough for all the non-job specific info :)

out of desert, green paradise

Desert from our Desert Safari

The United Arab Emirates was a very interesting place. to quickly sum it up:
Total melting pot of cultures (actual Emirate natives make up a very very small portion of the population), the perfect temperature in January (though i'm sure hellish from ~April-August), a very interesting mixture of modern consumerism and conservative tradition, way too many shopping malls the size of cities (but that is to be expected from a place that has a gigantic shopping festival!), a mixture of the most lavish (7 star hotels and tallest building in the world all of which you have to pay an arm and a leg for just to enter) and the ghostly buildings (that were hit by the economic downturn and left empty and unfinished), very hospitable and friendly people, little children running around at midnight and beyond (it was bizarre to see families hanging out in the park so late at night with their kids running around freely - that's the only time its cool enough to do so for half of the year, so it is common), highly maintained green spaces juxtaposed to the natural desert (for example, the circle areas inside of a round about or highway clover were frequently filled with green park like areas with lush green grass and palm trees or flowers while the other side of the roads were just dusty sand and desert, some of the best fruit juices ever (I loved their menus, due to the fact that in Sharjah there was no alcohol they had an exceptionally large list of fruit juice possibilities, yum)...observations continue but for simplicities sake, here is the link to my album:

2011 Dubai Album

fleeting moments

beauty in all things big and small.

January 1, 2011

New years eve in the Hauptplatz was filled with firecrackers going off left and right, making it feel a little bit like a war zone. Great friends, tons of people, an awful DJ, and the new year brought in with none other than the song "Barbara Streisand." Such promise for 2011...

January 4, 2011

Partial Solar Eclipse - One event, seen differently across the globe.
Unfortunately my camera didn't have a super strong polarized filter...nevertheless: beautiful.
and most certainly a gorgeous morning in the city...
here are some pictures from around the world by people who did have polarized filters:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12100295

February 6, 2011

The promise of life, vibrant colors, and the beauty of the setting sun. I spent the afternoon reading a book on a ledge on the Schlossberg overlooking the river below and the city beyond, with the sun setting in the distance.