A New Week to Bring a New Attitude

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Menu on the bottle.  Dreams.

Us at the Biofest!

The best italian shop in the WORLD 

The archway that leads to my street

Walk back to my apartment on the Augustinergasse

Kasspressknödel

Out my windooow!

Getting 1,90 Cappuccinos.  Obvi.

KRAPFEN! 

Our picnic and hangover cure = eachother

***Photos stolen with(out) consent of Keri.  She's the one with the charged camera though :)

Well hello world,

Nice to see you again.

Another few days has gone by here in Salzburg, and I'm starting to find it be more homey than I did a week ago.  Fall here is turning out to be quite beautiful, the trees have started to change and I always enjoy the walk back to my apartment from the Altstadt immensely (goes right past the Augustinerbräu and a church with changing maples...mmmm!), except for at night when for some reason Salzburg's charm seems to go right out the window and crazies decide to leave their watering holes for some good, old-fashioned shenannigans that terrify me most of the time.  Ahhhh, so it goes.

In any case, I am looking very much forward to a new week.  Turns out that I haven't worked since...last Tuesday, so I am actually looking forward to spending a little time in the classroom and figuring out what works and doesn't.  There were many a speed bump in the way last week, revolving around coordinating my schedule with three schools, fearing that I may have lost my account book from the bank and not being able to get my visa (because the guy that works there apparently has something up his bumbum, and doesn't want me to have it.  Or maybe he was just having 2 bad days, in a row).  Entweder oder (either or), I'm ready to just get my visa so I can get paid on time in November.  I guess all I can do is hope that the Universe will work with me tomorrow and I will be able to have a smooth sailing day!

In any case, this weekend has been preeeetty fun, regardless of the bureaucratic hassles at the back of my mind.  On Friday night we decided to go out with the whole group of Salzburgers who were in town, and had quite the night.  The one thing that really does bother me is that people are still allowed to smoke in bars, so by the end of the night my hair and clothes reek of cigarettes!  Not a pleasant thing to wake up to.  On Saturday, after sleeping in for a long while, I met up with Keri to go have miracle sandwiches (i.e. the cure to any night of heavy drinking, which for most people is not heavy, but since it's me and I have no tolerance 2 beers is 1 too many..) next to the Salzach.  After soaking up some afternoon fall sun and eating an entire package of salami, we went and got a coffee at my new favorite place.  It's owned by an Italian man who I've told has to help me learn Italian (sorry, Adrienne, you're down on the job!), and that I would be back every day for a 1,90 cappuccino (cheap for Salzburg, and also DELICIOUS).  Keri and I then wandered back to my apartment for some tv indulgence (read: Gossip Girl.  I know better than to like it, unfortunately, it doesn't stop me), and then to hit the town for a little dinner.  After making it back alive, I slept like the dead for almost 10 hours.  Apparently I was tired.

Today we decided to hit up the Biofest (an organic festival), and we got to taste some of the local delicacies Kasspressknödel (say that 10 times fast) which is essentially a ball of bread crumbs, bread, egg, and cheese, thrown in the deep-fryer for good measure and served with sauerkraut, beer, krapfen mit marmalade (or DOUGHNUTS with delicious jam and powdered sugar), toast with Raclette cheese (NOMNOMNOMNOM), ice cream, honey, more knödels, etc. etc. etc. Rachel, you would've loved everything about this trip. It was EXTREEEME!

So now after stopping off for my coffee and making it home to my quiet room, I'm just sitting, thinking about the week.  Being incredibly grateful to be in the city I am in, with the people that I'm with.  I'm thinking that this week will be better than the last, that things will start functioning in a routine for a bit, but routines were never my thing anyway.  It's always good to know about yourself and the inter-workings, and to know whether or not you function best in a state of calm, chaos or just right on the edge of the two (which is usually where I sit).  Nevertheless, something stabilizes out eventually, whether it is you or your surroundings, we can never know :)

RIGHT, that's enough for now, hope that you are all happy, healthy, and feeling grounded.  I wish all of you a wonderful day/night/hour/minute, and let me know how you are doing toooo!

Sending all my love from Salzburg!
Maija