Welcome to Vienna!

Hello All!

It's official...I'm living in Vienna!  After arriving on a very HOT Monday morning I've spent the last week with new and returning staff members focusing completely and totally on learning how to live in Vienna.  Learning how to ride the Uban and get to Ikea...conquering the feat of grocery shopping...sitting in silent confusion as we are helped with the legal paperwork...and MUCH more!!

My roomate Sarah and I are currently staying in a temporary apartment while we are waiting for the renovations to be completed at our place.  As such we are living in an internet free world for the next month or two which is weird but kind of refreshing.  The secret is going to places that have free wireless :-).

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here's a few of the things that I've learned this week...

I've learned how to take the Uban (underground train) to get nearly anywhere in the city!
It's really clean and easy to understand.  The whole thing's like the honor system though...
You buy your ticket for a day, week, month, or year and 9 times out of ten no one ever checks it!
If they do it's a fine though

We took a walking tour of the downtown area of Vienna to familiarize ourselves with where
we're living!  I learned that it's nearly impossible to catch Sarah NOT making a weird face.
Here she is showing us her Roman soldier face.  It's very intimidating.

Downtown Vienna is very beautiful and you can walk basically anywhere.
Farmer's markets, Christmas markets, and Easter markets often fill the streets with activity

Dogs are REALLY popular in Austria!  You can take them into the mall, and onto the Ubahn
You almost never hear them bark but you best get used to seeing them ALL over!  Even in restaurants!
True story they like them more than kids...

You can make yourself feel right at home by adding personal touches even in a temporary rooming situation!

For a fun shopping experience and lots of cheap produce you can go to naschmarkt and pick up things!
This picture isn't taken by me...it was SOOOO crowded (on Saturday) that there was no way to take out my camera...
I DID however order 2 lemons completely in german :-).  

if you are polite and nicely explain that you don't know German many Austrians are still
happy  to talk to you!  And sometimes they even ask to take a picture with your
toothbrush!

And finally your toilet will always be in it's own separate room.

I could go on for hours sharing all about what I'm learning but for now this is a start!  Next week is new staff orientation and then I'll be hard at work transforming my classroom!  Prayers for my future kids and their families and for my transition are greatly appreciated.  Can't wait to stay regularly in touch as soon as I have a permanent internet connection :-)

Love!

Amy