Point is, I just get more and more excited for autumn...

Especially now that it is Fall Break (a four-day weekend!!).  The fact that it is after a crazy midterm week makes it even more appealing.  Tonight I was reminded of how busy I was over Fall Break last year, and I am grateful I am simply resting right now.  So what have I done so far?  Basically, food.

For some reason I feel my camera doesn't focus well a lot of the times anymore, so the pictures are not that great, sorry.

One reason that food can take up so much of my time and thoughts is because I bike (or walk or bus) to do my grocery shopping.  In case you didn't know, that is the hip way to do it.  What could be cooler than tying a cauliflower to the back of your seat and zipping through the neighborhood?

Autumn is for spicy cooking!!  Actually, I like spices and herbs all year round, and now I am especially addicted to buying them in bulk (bulk sections are the joy of my life).  Note the Curry, Garam Masala, and Edelsüsspaprika from Naschmarkt.  Also shown are some sage and ginger root powder.  You need to smell this picture!  The smell of ginger is especially strong.  Love it.

Pile the vegetable high. (Notice that the cauliflower is no longer attached to the bike seat).

I cooked the cauliflower and potatoes for a bit too long... so it doesn't look very pretty.  But I think my favorite type of dish is just a bowl of grain and vegetables all mixed together.  I like my meal in one big bowl.

I couldn't resist lighting this candle.  Lemongrass.  My sister placed the candle there when she helped me move in in August, but it has never been lit until now.  Unfortunately I am getting a stuffy nose... also appropriate for the season?

I visited the new building on campus – brand new for the semester.  You can still smell the fresh wood (why do I keep talking about smell when I obviously can't smell with my stuffy nose?).  Of course I do not have a class there.  (I am a humanities major and always have classes in the oldest buildings on campus!)  When you climb to the third floor, the view to the east is terrific, as you can see Mt. Rainier on a clear day.  Not today though.

Looking to the north.

Sometimes braiding my hair is as crafty as I can get in a day.  I really love the autumn-colored scarf though.

I love fall

Preserving autumn – leaves in brown bag!
Ja, die sind meine Schwester und ich, in Manhattan, Kansas, 1994.

This post has almost nothing to do with fall.  I simply remembered that there was one more photo I wanted to post.
My "jewelry box" for this semester is a cup I painted at a pottery when Kourtni visited a few years ago.  The cup got a small crack and since then I have refrained from using it for hot tea.  Here's my new idea.

Two things I am looking forward to in this season: spiced apple cider and delicious soups, stews, chowders and borschts using autumn vegetables such as winter squash soup.
These are also my two favorite and very inspiring blogs!

Minimalist

I cannot generate too many things because I move so much and often have to store a few boxes during those gap times when I am away or when the location of my new home is not yet known.  Like this semester – I am finishing school in Tacoma, I may stay here for another few months, I may move to some other cities in the area (Seattle, for example), or I may just go to somewhere far away.  There will also be a few weeks when I simply have to leave my things in boxes when I go spend Christmas in Taiwan.  But I still want to be a bit creative when decorating my room, so here's what I have done.

Here's the door to my room.  Big Dipper Ice Cream Truck from the endearing Missoula,  Montana.  A scrap of lace that I found when going through my boxes... I didn't know what to do with it yet so it then ended up on my door.  I hung some earrings on it.  A vintage chest from Dublin, Ireland, and a fall leaf.  Oh, and my class schedule... 

I wish I have a curtain, but I don't.  I just have an abundance of scarves and this table cloth.

By the way, it was cool and a bit rainy today.  Das gefällt mir... I just want to say, I would be delighted to give up summer weather for beautiful fall days!

Back in Tacoma, August 2011

I made Russian Cabbage Borscht at the lovely kitchen at my summer sublet. 

I don't have a picture of the final product but the result was delicious!

Just an ordinary view of Karlen Quad and the Music Building.  I was rather excited to have a campus again!

I went to Seattle when my sister was here in August.

Researching others, discovering myself

It's been a week since I set off my research project here in Taiwan.  I have encountered some minor difficulties in my research, just some tiny obstacles that I sort of expected before I landed.

One of the problems being I am still a little unsure about my role in this community.  I have yet to decide how I want to define myself when I face my informants – who could be... who would potentially see me as their family, friend, as one of them, who perhaps share their knowledge and sentiment toward the subject; or they may see me as an objective researcher, an outsider...  I know I have the ability to create an image for myself, but I don't know what I want it to be.  It is possible that I am not ready to carry out a project on Taiwan yet.  Take for example this ethnomusicology research in Singapore that I am reading.  Here is a mature American researcher and professor who has already had fieldwork in various other places under his belt.  It was not until when he was well into his career that he found himself back in Singapore, where he grew up, conducting fieldwork using his "family tongue" (that's precisely how he calls it; he did not use terms such as native language, mother tongue, and the like).  Way back at the start of his career he did not even imagine that his researches would bring him back to this place.  My relationship with Taiwan, this community, this place, and these people, is still so ambiguous to me, as funny as it may seem.  Frankly I usually find myself confused and uncomfortable about this relationship.  I know, I usually wouldn't even admit this to myself.  It is not home, no; I only called this place home when I lived here, and I moved away some years ago.  Although I may have spent most of my childhood here, to me, I owe much more of who I am today to somewhere else (Missoula is one of these places).  To my grandma or my aunt or my uncle, this summer is simply another summer spent at home, what sort of project I am doing is beyond their concern.  When I explain my project, I imagine sometimes people would think, well what a clever plan, right?  Just find a familiar topic and do it at home (and yet how little I know about the musics in Taiwan and Taiwanese identity!); it must be so easy!  Or, they might think, oh here's a perfect excuse to go home.  Although I know perfectly well that, when I was forming my research ideas, I only thought I'd do something on music of the diaspora and its relationship with identity issues.  I did NOT begin with something on Taiwan.  As a matter of fact I even tried to avoid anything regarding Taiwan, anything that would lead the thread back to me, myself, and rouse my own identity crisis.  Isn't it almost more challenging to conduct fieldwork in a community with which the researcher has close connections, than in a community where the researcher is without a doubt a stranger?  I can observe from a secure distance, yet I knew I was not ready to face myself in the mirror.

Oh don't ask me why then, why I nevertheless ended up with this topic.  If you know me at all, I never felt like I was in control with anything that happened to me, hahahaha.

How awkward is it to discuss my project with my parents, when even they can easily turn into my informants?!  Sometimes they sound like my advisors, being professors and researchers themselves.  The thing is anthropology research is completely different from, say, my father's scientific research!  Please, not all these structured questions, and I am not a journalist either.  Lots to learn, researching others, discovering myself.

And there is translating.  Make up my interview guide in English, translate it into Chinese before I pose questions, responses received in Chinese and Taiwanese; notes in English, or, to catch the some of the names and some particular phrasing, notes in Chinese... reading materials in English, websites in Chinese... lalalalala.  See?  I can't even write anymore!  Can't think anymore.  I am going to bed.

Nächstes Projekt: Sommer Forschung

I have no idea why I stopped writing after the previous post in April.  Please don't think that it's because I did a serious post and felt like I can never write casually about my travels and random amusements again, at least for a shot while.  Please don't think that, because that would be completely wrong.  May was the last month in Vienna, and the month was concluded with travels to Traunsee in Austria – probably one of my favorite places so far, then Germany.  I think I just wanted to focus all my attention on the present and where I was living, to spend time with people whom I can actually see face to face, and whom I had limited time with... and I was meeting some new friends that last couple of weeks too.  Now I start a new post without any definite intention, without knowing how often I plan to write or how I would like to document my life.  Well, I will admit it.  I am just here early at the gate waiting to board my flight in about ninety minutes... and I am just bored.

I jokingly say that I have been traveling every Monday in the past few weeks.  First, Wien to Gmunden; the following Monday Gmunden to Altmünster (supposed to be a five-minute train ride but I had some issues so it became longer), then (on a Thursday) Salzburg to Fürstenzell (that sort of turned into a disaster too); the next Monday Fürstenzell to Brakel/Schmechten (a little longer, about a five-hour train ride, you could actually put these places on Google Map if you are that curious); the following Monday to Düsseldorf Flughafen then London, and a marvelous excursion to Devon during my stay in the UK; the following Monday was London to our very endearing Tacoma, Washington – you see, the journey just grows longer and longer every Monday!  And now, guess where I am embarking for?  Hint, it's another continent.  Destination: Taipei, Taiwan.

The story goes I was very fortunate and received from University of Puget Sound a summer research grant in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.  I proposed an ethnomusicological research project.  Personally I believe it's more anthropology than anything else, so think anthropology, qualitative research, etc, and that will get you a more accurate picture.  Basically for the rest of this summer I will be investigating the relationship between music – specifically the juxtaposition of two Chinese Opera styles – and national identity in Taiwan, doing some fieldwork in Taiwan, and then some more library research in Tacoma, Washington.  This is sort of another adventure for me, so maybe my blog posts will be focused on my research project.

Woher kommen Sie?

A few months before I came here to Vienna, I sort of fell into a panic... when I read a discussion about how Austria is (possibly) the most racist country in Europe.  Is this true?  Of course it is debatable.  Austria is the furthest east of the German speaking countries on this continent; it is more conservative compared to its neighboring West European countries.  Apparently it is not too welcoming to outsiders, especially those who came across the boarders from its eastern neighbors.  I even read that the Viennese would opening show their disgust at the presence of whoever it is that they don't like, an obvious outsider, an Asian tourist, for example – and, may I note, as the IES center is located in the first district, I have spent considerable time in the most touristy area of Vienna and have seen plenty of Asian tourists.  That seemed like a devastating news to me when I read it.  Since I already confirmed my study abroad, whether this claim is true was for me to find out.  I decided it is best to not step into the country with any presumption.  If it is true, then I will just have my default reaction – ignore it.
So I stopped thinking about it.  I have lived in Vienna for almost three months now.  I have had many people – sometimes even random people on the streets, in Belvedere Garden, at Stephansplatz – stopping and asking me, "woher kommen Sie? Where are you from?"  Or simply, "japanisch?" Hahaha.  In these instances I always ended up having a friendly conversation and never felt hostility (or sometimes I was just irritated).  There's definitely more curiosity, and people do not try to hide the fact that they clearly notice the different appearance, not at all.  They won't take "ich komme aus Amerika" for an answer either!  But where are you originally from, where are you really from?  They would say.  In such a relatively homogeneous society, and a society in which people normally do not move too far away from where they were born, it must be very difficult to understand how an Asian person could come from America.  Eventually I became less sure and started changing my answers depending on my mood and depending on what I thought they wanted me to say.  It is true that the society influences how you think about yourself and your identity!  Sometimes I rather like it this way.  Compared to what I experienced at home in the States, this is much more direct.  I don't call it racism or anything like that, it's just being (strongly) aware of the differences in appearances.  I am used to being in the minority, too – I lived in Missoula, Montana for crying out loud, and my sister and I were probably the only Asians at my high school... oh wait, maybe there were two others!  Anyway, what I am tying to get to is, where I lived in the States, I could always feel it, and when people treated me differently, even though it could well be for other reasons, I had to wonder to myself: is it "racism"?  However, it's a terrible thing to point it out!  You could wonder about my ethnic background, but you must not ask me directly about it!  Sometimes the awkwardness becomes way too absurd.  Whereas here, it is one of the first questions people ask.
We talked about this in my German class too.  My German instructor cannot explain this phenomenon, because she simply is one of the Austrians who think this is the most natural question for people to ask!  People are curious, we don't mean it in an unfriendly way, she would reply.  When she saw me, she immediately assumed that I have a completely different culture background than others students, that I must speak an Asian language, Korean or Japanese was what she guessed, and she would frequently single me out in discussions, asking, for example, Joan, you come from a different background, what do you say?
A fellow student, who is Asian, who came from Chicago, seems to have a different take on this matter.  We, including some other friends, were all standing at the back of Musikverein große Saal during a concert intermission.  A tall, gray-bearded, stern looking was standing close to me.  He glanced back at me several times, and finally turned around, shouted and spitted passionately, "I know there are more countries than just Japan and China in the Far East!! I know!!!"  He subsequently repeated the statement a few times, uttered something else that we couldn't make out, turned around, and then, as if remembering something else, turned to face us again and excitedly said something else that we couldn't understand, although he was speaking English.  I didn't know what to think of it.  His demeanor made it sound as though he meant it to be hostile, yet I didn't catch anything truly offensive.  The man moved away and was crazily shaking and swinging around for the second half of the concert.  I shrugged.  But my fellow Asian student, who has been here since September, apparently took it to be somewhat offensive, as he said to me, "don't worry, you will get used to it!  The first two months I was here I felt so uncomfortable.  I could always find someone staring at me.  When I go back to Chicago I will be so glad – there will be ten sorts of rice to pick from, gosh – but then I know I will still miss it!"  Should I feel uncomfortable?  Where I lived in the States, there aren't that many sorts of rice to pick from...  Have I already started ignoring everything since day one – is that why I don't feel offensive at all?  Sometimes I'd rather people admit what they are thinking and be more direct, but sometimes I get irritated for being ask so frequently the same question, for people always singling me out.  I still don't know what to make of this!

Hallstatt – a spontaneous weekend getaway

I have always wanted to go to Hallstatt, just to see it.  For people who have never heard of it, it seems to be a nice and quiet place by the lake; for people who have heard of it, it probably is a touristy name!  I am rather embarrassed to say I wanted to go there, just a bit, because I really think it's a touristy place.  Honestly, if I just wanted to find some outdoor trails by a lake, I would perhaps choose some other locations by the Salzkammergut lakes.  However, part of the reason I decided to take this trip this weekend is to avoid all the tourists in the summer, so of course I will have to visit Hallstatt first!  I plan this trip rather hastily.  I bought the train tickets three minutes before the ÖBB office closed at five on Friday afternoon, and took the morning train on Saturday.  The idea started to form when S, her Austrian language buddy M, and Sam, whom we met, who is from the UK and was only in Vienna for an academic conference, were sitting in Cafe Hawelka late at night one day this week.  M went home last weekend (she is from the countryside) and she started talking about the perfect view she had from her bedroom window.  The weather just started to get warm this few weeks, the grass was bright green, and in the background was the towering mountains, still with snow on the top.  Then Sam said he is going to Innsbruck this weekend, where one can supposedly see the beautiful Austrian Alps from Universität Innsbruck.  I really want to see the mountains.  M suggested that I should go before summer comes and all the snow melts away.  The conversation ended without me having any serious ideas about leaving Vienna this weekend.  This week was concert week, meaning the Music Performance Workshop class held a chamber music concert.  I have to admit that the class is rather unorganized and many things happen at the last minute, which greatly added to the stress.  Towards the end of the week I, like many other students, felt quite burnt out.  I really wanted a break to get away to somewhere quiet and close to nature; I even wanted to just be alone, and be able to think clearly to myself.  The desire grew bigger.  There were always moments like this when I was at Puget Sound, when I just really wanted to leave all that I am working on and take off, but I was always just a wish.  Then I realized that here, I can actually make this come true.

So Saturday morning, I hopped on a train.  The train ride itself was absolutely gorgeous, the weather was perfect, too.  I arrived at Hallstatt station early in the afternoon and took a ferry across the Hallstätter See to get to the little historic salt mining town.  I walked around the town for a bit, and of course, took the picture that appears so frequently on the cover of travel magazines and books.  But the thing is, I was actually there!

Then I decided to move on to the less touristy place.  I found a trail that I think is supposed to be the Malerweg, the path which poets and artists in the precious century have taken and where they found inspiration.  I could always hear the rushing sound of Waldbach (Forest Creek) as I walked.  The trails should lead up to a waterfall, which I eventually found.

I wandered around some more and ultimately decided to spend the night there.  So I went to a youth hostel and got a bed.  It seemed really quiet there and I was given a dorm room all to myself.  After securing a room, I took a different Wanderweg behind the hostel, this time up the hill to get a good view of the lake.

For the evening I sat by the lake to watch the nightfall and read until I could no longer see what's printed on the pages.  In the morning I got to see the morning sun shining on the Hallstätter See, which was part of the reason why I decided to stay for the night.  Overall, I guess not much happened, not very exciting, not too eventful, but I thought it was, to me, very... mentally fulfilling, which was exactly what I needed.  I was very glad I went, and I was fully aware of how foolish it could be, going there by myself and all.  But this is what I will be doing during my tour after my study abroad program ends in May anyway, so I might as well get some practice, hahaha.  Of course, next time I will choose some smaller, obscure places that are just as charming but less touristy!

Reise Nach Passau, Fürstenzell und Prag

Last week was midterms week here.  I turned in one paper and had three other exams.  We soon discovered that midterms week here are sort of like finals week at home, in that no class is held during the week.  Fortunately I only had my exams toward the beginning of the week so I had the rest of the week free, which, I should say, somehow never happens to me at Puget Sound and I always stay for the whole finals week.  I should also explain, that this is not how the universities in Vienna work.  In fact at Universität Wien, they do not have midterms but only finals.  I don't take classes at Uni Wien, however, which is rather unfortunate.  Instead my classes are held at the IES center by my study abroad program.  This means all my classmates are American study abroad students.  Anyway, what I was going to say was, I had a few days off last week so I took advantage of the free time and traveled.

I took a train to Passau to visit a friend.  The weather was really wonderful during the week and we took lots of walks around the small city and her hometown, which is a small neighboring town named Fürstenzell.  I was really glad I got to take a break from the big city life and retrieve to a quieter place.  I think that is what I would like to do when I have more opportunities to travel later – I want to be able to visit smaller places.  After a beautiful train ride, I arrived at Passau Hauptbahnhof (train station) on Wednesday evening.  Julia picked me up and drove us to her home.  We drove through some country scenery and saw the gorgeous sunset.  It suddenly reminded me how long it has been since I have lived in a big city and missed the sunset.  For the next few days I was to see the same large red sun every evening.  Passau is a city only about 300 km from Vienna, about three hours drive.  It is on the Austrian-German boarder and a meeting point of three rivers, Donau, Inn, and Ilz, so you can imagine how beautiful it must be!  And then it was just really great to see Julia again after we parted last May.  I was really glad I got to spend some time with her. :)

I have decided that the theme of my travels last week must have been river cities!  Because I then went to Prague for the weekend with Suzanne and Kevin – okay, so I guess the theme was beautiful rivers and awesome people/friends/travel buddies, because they are some of my favorite people!  It is needless for me to say how important it is to have good company. :)  Prague was a marvelously beautiful city.  It lies by the river Vltava, or Moldau, the German name that I knew.  The walks along the river and across the bridges were absolutely beautiful.  Suzanne did a tour of a few major Central/West European cities with her family last summer, and Prague was the city that she wanted to visit again.  I have always wanted to visit too, as I am fascinated by all the East European cultures and post-communist arts, about which, I have to admit, I knew very little, and was even considering study abroad in Czech Republic at first!  What I didn't know was the city also contains a lot of medieval beauty, especially when you start going underground!  Suzanne loves the city; she would repeat that again and again just walking down the cobble stone streets.  I think it is the perfect representation my experience with the city.  I mean, it's just the atmosphere that is so attractive, and you don't need to see any particular thing, but just breath the air of the city is enough.  We just walked around a lot and tried to take in the city as much as we could.

I decided that everything in Prague was put together with good taste, it seemed.  Like restaurants.  Of course all these major cities would have plenty of descent, expensive restaurants all over.  But too often I just see ones that are purely fancy.  Just by looking through the windows of these restaurants in Prague, I was intrigued by the unique design and characters of each one of these places.  I loved the heavy wooden tables, or individual old-fashioned lamps and lounge sofas.  It's good taste. :)  And the streets are all dimly lit at night, together with the narrow stone-paved streets, they create a pleasant nostalgic feeling that I really enjoyed.

So... I have a bassoon lesson tomorrow, and another midterm exam.  Maybe I should study, or go to bed, but instead, I am going to quickly say what I did in the past couple days.  The weekend before last, I went to Belvedere Palace on Friday and Saturday.  Friday I went to the lower Belvedere and saw a special exhibition on Futurism and Cubism in Vienna, as well as a Schiele Portrait exhibit.  Because I purchased the ticket for a two-day visit to the entire Belvedere, I of course had to pay my visit to the upper Belvedere, which I did on Saturday.  I saw a lot of Klimt and some Fin de Slècle Vienna painting, which I really enjoyed.  I went a little late and did not have enough time to explore the entire museum.  I also usually take a long time to go through paintings at an exhibit, and I was taking notes and doing some sketches at the same time.  At any rate, it was already almost closing time when I finished the first floor, so I only had a chance to very quickly walk through the Baroque wing downstairs.  I did walk though the large garden though, and it was very pleasant.  And then I just walked home.  I was surprised how close Belvedere is to my apartment – I had known that it is in my district, but this is the first time I actually visited.  I will definitely want to go back, and I think my Austrian Art and Architecture class is going there at some point too.

Saturday morning I went to a solo concert at IES first.  This is an optional solo concert for the music workshop students.  I did not choose to play – psh, I only perform when I have to! – but my roommate Suzanne did (trumpet), so did some other talented music students.  We had a few violin solos, a double bass (I love Melissa and her double bass so much!), trumpet, euphonium, viola, some vocalists, and so forth.  Afterward we had some champagne at the post-concert reception, then a few of my roommates and I walked to the Naschmarkt from our apartment – it probably took us about forty minutes, I don' really know.  I have always loved Saturday markets, they are probably one of my favorite things in the world.  We had some falafels and hummus there (four pieces for 1 Euro!).  The weather was amazing.  Sunday Suzanne and I went to Augustinerkircher and attended a high mass with the renown full Augustiner orchestra and choir.  It was beautiful.  It was only my second mass in Vienna, and actually second mass ever, and they were both entirely in German, so I am still trying to get a grasp on the whole ceremony.  But I really liked the music and the atmosphere.  They played some later mass pieces by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns, and so on, and I decided I really liked these sacred music by nineteenth-century composers.  That's another thing about starting from the modern art at Belvedere too, which I forgot to mention.  I felt like after seeing Futurist, Vienna Secession, and other twentieth century works, going down to the ground floor to Baroque just seems a little too restrained or contained... the earlier art does not seem as exciting to me anymore.  This is saying a lot because I am usually the one who loves early music, early art, Baroque, eighteenth-century art and music, and so on...

Tuesday I was stressed about the papers, music, and exams for midterm.  I had too much to do and I really did not know how to handle them.  So instead of picking one thing to begin work, I cooked crêpes and onion and spinach for lunch.  This idea was inspired by a restaurant we went to earlier.

Thursday my Austrian language buddy, Elisabeth, and I decided to go on a semi-long walk in the nineteenth district despite the rain.  It was a beautiful place, with lots of Heurigern, or traditional wine taverns, cute houses, and vineyards.

It was St. Patrick's Day on Thursday.  Many IES students went to some big party, but we prefer not to hang out with IES American study abroad students all the time.  So Suzanne and I went to a small Irish pub close to the Uni Wien campus.  It was very crowded, smoky, lots of green beer, and lots of fun.  I was hoping for maybe some good music, but didn't seem to have much luck.  About that, I am planning my trip to go to Ireland in April and I am very very looking forward to it, so I didn't mind not having enough Irish music that much, because I hope to experience lots of that in Ireland!  However, we did have some delightful conversations with the locals, mostly one Austrian person.  After talking to him that night, I learned a lot more about what a young, regular Viennese native think of Vienna, as well as many other issues.  It made me think a lot.  And I think I would like to frequent more of the little pubs like these for the different perspectives.
On Wednesday I am going to Passau!  I am super excited.  And I am going to Prague with Suzanne and Kevin for the weekend.  I just can't wait to be done with lesson and exam tomorrow!

To be honest, I rather wish we get to have home stays in Vienna.  That way, I get a chance to really experience the Austrian life style and know what time they have dinner, what sorts of food appear regularly on the dinner table, speak more German, and potentially form stronger bonds.  While host family was an option, I chose apartments because from what I understood, the relationships with host families here are more like that between landlords and tenants – the students are not just automatically regarded as part of the family and invited to participate in all the family activities.  As it turn out, my study abroad program has very limited number of host families this semester, and even students who expressed interest in living with host families didn’t necessarily get that assignment.  As for the small handful of people I know that are in home stays, they are often just one “landlord,” in a few cases, a person in his/her thirties or something.  To make up for this lack of Austrian host families, we have a system called Language Buddies.  My study abroad program can pair us up with an Austrian student, most likely between the age pf 17 and 27, and we can decide on our own how often we want to meet, what to do, and what language to speak.  Because this semester they have many extra language buddies, I got two!  I have met with both of them and both of them are really sweet girls.  Elisabeth is 25 years old, and is a second-year history major at Universität Wien; Verena is 22 and is working on a six-year education program to become an English and history teacher at Uni Wien (I like history too!).  I have yet to figure out a very good way to practice English and German at the same time.  Currently, my conversations with Elisabeth is always entirely in German, and we used English at my first meeting with Verena last week.  My favorite activity for these meetings is walking.  When it was cold, we walked around in city center,  down the narrow, quiet, old streets of Vienna; we walked by churches, coffeehouses, and we just talked.  When the weather was nice, we went to the garden of Schönbrunn palace, and we talked – it was fabulous.  When I can find a larger chunk of free time, Elisabeth is going to show be some trails in the 18th and 19th districts, and I am very looking forward to that.  One thing I found out was that both of my language buddies have done au pair for a year before college.  Elisabeth nannied for a family outside Paris and Verena was in Stockholm.  She loves Stockholm and highly recommended me visiting there, so now I really want to go to Scandinavia!  By the way, she did not know any Swedish before she went, and communicated with the family in English, but was able to pick it up in three months (granted that Swedish is also a Germanic language)!  I think it is exciting that au pair is a pretty common thing here, because I have always thought it is a fantastic idea to work in exchange for room and board in a foreign country – what a nice way to learn languages and cultures!

Oh, I am supposed to contribute a roasted vegetable salad to our dinner this evening… I have some garlic and rosemary.  So I must start making the food now.  My roommate’s chicken has already been in the oven for a while (I am not sure if I am going to try some or keep pretending to be a half-vegetarian tonight)!  Tschüs!

Museums and Friends

There are so many things that I could write about, so where should I start?  Well, I am naturally inclined to give some excuses for not writing in a long time... first of all, my computer hard drive crashed, fortunately it was mostly fixed after two weeks.  And then classes officially started, and all of a sudden I find myself spending a lot more time doing schoolwork (or mostly worrying about schoolwork), practicing, rehearsing, and so on.  Between school time I also managed to find time for other small weekend travels and trip planning.  Many students on the program have used regular two-day weekends traveling to nearby cities like Budapest, Prague, or Salzburg.  So far I haven't done any of such travel (honestly it's making me feel kind of lame), but this weekend I am going skiing in the Alps with the IES group.  My friend and I also picked out a few weekends, mostly in April, for traveling.  In addition to the cities I just mentioned, we really want to go to Graz.  But we decided it would be a better idea to go to some of these places and enjoy the beautiful scenery when the weather gets warmer.  I have also been busy working on my summer research grant application.  It is kind of hard for me to believe how much effort I have spent on summer internship and research applications.  In the past few days I have been thinking that none of these applications are looking optimal at all, what if all these effort and time just go wasted and I will still end up having nothing to do in the summer?  Then I really started thinking, how silly of me to try to apply for so many different things!  I was really quite disheartened by such thoughts!  My last excuse would be this: overall I was just not in a very good mood – I think I might be going through the phase when things start to get hard after the initial excitement passed – I was constantly having too much on my hands, sleep deprived, and I think I will blame that mostly on the research proposal.  That said, I did figure out how to utilize the Universität Wien library, including its online research database, so that was very gratifying.  When I cannot write merrily about travel and life stories, I feel that I should refrain from posting, because who wants to read about me being depressing, stressed, or angrily complaining about every little detail that does not suit me?  Anyway, enough of the excuses.

I decided to write about two things, one is my language buddy, and the other museum tours.

Elisabeth and I went to the garden at Schönbrunn.  Here on the hill one can see the palace and a view of the city.  Elisabeth took this picture for me.  I should have gotten a picture with her, but I didn't.

I am such a greedy person.  After meeting with my first language buddy, Elisabeth, when IES said that they found so so many Austrian language buddy volunteers, and that we could have two or three language buddies, I went ahead and got a second language buddy.  So far I have been in contact with both, but I have not met my second language buddy yet.  Elisabeth is great.  I was particularly happy after our first meeting.  That was before post-intensive break, a few hours before my laptop crashed, and before my trip to Paris.  First of all, I adore walking.  I feel like that is the best way to spend time with a good friend when one actually wants to have some conversations.  I am a slow walker, but I do not mind walking for hours.  Elisabeth is probably the same way.  The first afternoon we just walked around the city, instead of having lunch, or going to an exhibit (I love exhibits, but they are not places for conversations).  Another wonderful thing about my language buddy is that we converse entirely in German; I would only ask, in German, how to say certain things, and so forth.

This week I only had limited time during my day (I do not like having classes in the evening...), so we only took a walk in the Schönbrunn garden.  We planned to go to a trail in the city outskirt; we will have to do that when we have more time!

Naschmarkt produce

Gotta love the sweets.  Look who's wearing the hat I made this winter?

I am taking a class called Austrian Art and Architecture.  Almost every we go on a tour at one of the museums.  It is perhaps my favorite class.  Last week we went to Wien Musuem Karlsplatz – a history museum of Vienna; today we went to Kunsthistorisches Museum (and of course we will be going there a few more times!).

Stephansdom

Okay I was going to write about the museums tours, but my internet does not seem to be working so I will continue another time!

Quick Update about Nothings

I really want to sit down and just write about everything that has happened in the last two weeks or so, but I simply cannot find time!  First of all, there is so much to catch up because I just got my laptop back after it being broken for two weeks.  Apparently there was something wrong with my hard drive, so I had to replace it.  Luckily I still have most of my data saved!  Besides having to pay an arm and a leg to get it fixed, I had a good two weeks without the distraction of my computer.  I successfully established a consistent walking to school in the morning and practicing routine, which I hope to continue, which means I probably should not be staying up late blogging right now.  My Institut is about a thirty-five-minute walk away from my apartment, so it is nice.  I had a week off after the three-week Intensive German.  Three friends and I sort of decided on a whim that we should go to Paris for four days, although we originally wanted to go to Venice but later found out that we could not afford it.  So to Paris we went!  I should like to write about that as soon as I find some time.

Weekends are busy because everyone wants to go out and do something.  With eighteen-credit classes, practicing, trying to make other travel plans, in addition to sending summer internship and research grant applications at the same time, I find very little time for sitting down in front of my computer.  However, I do not want to write about how I don't have time to write!  I should go to bed soon.  Tomorrow I will have my second lesson tomorrow.  My bassoon instructor is an Alexander Technique teacher, so I have a feeling we will be working on breathing and posture a lot.  My two roommates had their violin lessons today and they felt really good about how the instructor was able to demonstrate to them what to work on and how to practice, and gave them challenging pieces.  I hope I will feel the same way about my instructions too.

Down the narrow streets of Wien

I have been very busy in the past three weeks, with little time in front of the computer.  I have actually been spending a great amount of time working on my German.

Let me explain how my semester works: I have three weeks of German Intensive, in which we take three hours of German class Monday through Friday, which means lots of homework and tests almost everyday.  What I find was hard for me was that, I have three roommates, and they all have had no German whatsoever, so they have about 20 minute-worth of homework each day, and I am obligated to help them since I supposedly know more, whereas I have no one to help me.  I am in Intermediate II, which is equivalent to like a 202 at many universities, or the fourth college semester.  The difficulty lies in that, unlike the introductory class, we have students of various backgrounds and abilities.  Some have been taking German at their home universities in the previous three semesters, but some took them a year ago.  And l, who are probably the least knowledgeable in the class, only started learning the language about seven months ago and had a shaky foundation because I pretty much skipped a level.  I have been, and perhaps still am, pretty stressed about how I am doing in class, and was frustrated that so many other students have more time to enjoy various other activities while I am constantly feeling like I have to work on my schoolwork... sounds pretty familiar if you know anything about my life.

Also, because we are music students, even though the Intensive German period is supposed to be German only, we of course need to start our private music instructions, practicing, and so forth.  And sure enough, I had my first bassoon lesson two days ago.

Okay, so the three-week German Intensive is now over.  Now I have a break from 5 to 13 Feb.  IES organized a nine-day Germany trip, for which they are taking a bus tour to Germany, visiting Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin.  Many IES students are going on that trip, others make their own plans.  I am going to Paris for four days, so it turns out.  I am rather glad that I won't be away for the entire nine-day break, because it stresses me out when I have to go back to class right after a trip.  That is also why I am taking the time to write now.  So after we get back, on the 14 of Feb. we begin real classes, in addition to German.  I know I want to take a course called Austrian Art & Architecture, for which we go on regular field trips to actually visit places in Vienna; Art and Nation: The Rise of the National Idiom in Central European Music, Lit., and the Visual Arts I think it is supposed to be a history course talking about Central European Nationalism, a topic I am always interested in.  There might be some shuffling around for the other classes I will take, so I am not certain yet.

I have been pretty worried about German, but since we had the final exam today, and the weather was beautiful, I was in a very good mood.  I looked at trip planning for Paris for a little bit, took my laundry (I had to take my laundry to the IES Center because the washer at home broke), and decided to go home on foot.  It is a nice walk through the Stadtpark, and it also goes by the Rochusmarkt.  On my way, I walked by an accordion player on the bridge in the park, which I was very happy to see.  I dropped by a bakery, and bought a half-loaf of bread, which the lady wrapped with a piece of paper, that was another mushroom (if you don't get why bread wrapped with papers are worth mushrooms, well... my roommates didn't get it either, but isn't it quite obvious?).  I then stood in line at the Post for so long... so many people wanting to mail things!  I love the streets in Wien.  I quite suspect I might still be a city girl at heart, from growing up in Taipei I mean.  I love the public transportation, and so far I am better at them than my roommates are.  Taking the U-Bahn and all is so natural to me, and standing on the right side of the escalator?  Yup yup, that too.  Might I also mention that the little green and red persons – the pedestrian traffic lights look the same as the ones in Taipei?  The older kind that they had when I lived there.  Recycling I am used to.  It is more like Taipei here than the cities I lived in in the States.  Also, buzzing people in from apartments?  Yeah, I grew up with that, and the intercom!  And military time, metric system, A4 sized papers, and a lot of the brands that are common here and in Taipei, but not where I lived in the States... these little things make me feel so much more at home, perhaps more than when I am in Missoula or Tacoma.  At first I thought it is the U.S. vs the World thing, as in, the rest of the world is a lot more alike and it is just America that is sticking out.  But now I also wonder if it is the urban life style that speaks to me.  To me, since I moved around, home means a few places that are dear to me, including Taipei, Missoula, and maybe a handful of other places.  Currently, I do not have a bed anywhere else in this world, so here in Vienna is my home and I firmly believe it (and I can say I adore my bed here in Vienna too).  I am glad it is so easy for me to recognize that, because Tacoma never quite feel like home to me somehow, at least not in the first one or two years.  I am saying this because I wanted to say that it gets tricky when I speak of the feeling of home, or homey, or homesick, as it is never clear what it is that I am missing.  Anyway, if I need/miss some Asian goods, I have far easier access to them here than I do in Tacoma, Seattle, or Missoula.

Initially when I was looking at study abroad programs, I was interested in more rural locations, places where I might walk through some fields to go to school.  I was really not that into marble halls and gold leaves, but I am glad I am here.  I can still admire the gorgeous architecture – pretty things are still pretty!!  And the arts scene is just more than I can ask for!  And I always feel the age of the city – there are plenty of old doors that don't latch, narrow staircases, GAS STOVE (yes indeed, we need a match to light our stove; as for the oven, we light the center and then blow it!), antique and old book shops...  I am content.