Winter Update



Loads of Snow





Milly with Medal



 Servus, or gday everyone, Maciek here again with an update of how we’re travelling so far.  This blog will mainly be about me, the snow and me on the snow. So if you’re still with me welcome aboard.We are about two thirds of the way through winter and it has been quite a harsh one as far as snow fall goes, we’ve had a lot, which sounds great and it is but there a lot of snow removal to be done when that happens. It take about 15 minutes to dig the car out every morning after a snow fall, usually about a foot of snow covers the car and surrounds then the same in the afternoon. Digging the car out once a day is fine, twice is a pain. I’ve also had to do my fair share of snow clearing at work which can get annoying but mostly its better then standing around doing nothing. Work is either full on busy or dead quiet but it’s all good because I’ve been able to get plenty of time to snowboard.

These days, as I’m now 10 years older than I was when I last did a season, I find that a couple of hours in the morn before work is sufficient enough to get a fix and not feel too tired. I also usually get a chance to go out one day a week for a half day before I have to pick up Melanie and the kids. It has all been a bit of a fine balancing act, trying to get time on the hill and not upsetting the family, but so far it has worked ok, I think.



My Epic Ride-TOP



MIDDLE



The slopes around us are pretty good. There are three resorts within 15 minutes drive from here. I’ve spent most of my time at the local one, St Johann, as my work is at the bottom of that one. So what normally happens is that I drop mel and the kids at school, leave the car there, walk to the gondola, snowboard for a couple of hours and ride down to work, which is on the other side of the mountain. Sound good ha. The slopes here are uncrowned and with all the fresh snow we’ve had I have been able to get the best powder rides of my life. In one ride I was lucky enough to get the second track down which went for about 2 km, untracked fresh snow in front of me. This must be the best feeling in the world, it almost feels like flying and I love it, well I’m sure skydivers and base jumpers would have something to say about that, but that’s a bit extreme for me. I took some pictures of the tracks, I got to do this run twice that day. Everything came together, two days of snow, followed by a sunny day and a day off for me, doesn’t happen too often. The only down side was that there was a 15 minute hike out of the valley to the gondola.



BOTTOM



Amelia has also learnt to ski in the meantime, we are so proud of her. It took quiet a lot of tears and persistence but after 2 weeks of ski school she skied in a race, slalom between flags, and came forth in her group. I have also learned to ski and have been about to go up with her and ski down which has been a long awaited dream come true, to be able to ski with my kids. We are still waiting on Melanie to be able to join us as she has been very busy with work and been too tired to ski with us. Hopefully soon. Noah will have to wait till next winter as he is too small but if you’ve seen the video of him skiing on Facebook you’ll know he won’t have too many problems.

By the way, I’m writing this blog today sitting here at home, while Mel and the kids are at school, and not boarding because it -15 outside and too freaking cold. I’m also airing out the house cos there’s a foul and mysterious odor coming from somewhere and I’m freezing.









Edelweiss and Lederhosen

No Mr Snowman!  Don't jump!

Pretty napkin arrangments!

 The first time I heard this word was in the Sound of Music and I never knew what it meant.  But now I know it’s the name of a white flower native to these parts, so there you go!  It’s also the (former) name of the hotel where Maciek is a waiter. It was changed just before this winter season.  I told you I’d include some pics of him in Lederhosen so here you are, although if you were expecting the short ones with long socks and braces you’ll be sorely disappointed – perhaps if he was to keep the job through summer we might be entertained by that look but it’s not to be.

There have been some busy times but mostly it’s been quiet which means most of the time he’s standing around twiddling his thumbs, and practicing his knee slapping and yodeling (not!)  He’s been struggling with the language.  For example, there’ll be 5 customers at the bar having banter with the other barman, and Maciek just standing there like a pratt.  Wouldn’t be too bad if there was work to do, but there wasn’t.  And groups of people standing together laughing and talking while Maciek is tidying a table and when he looks up at them they are all looking at him smiling, so he’s not sure if they were having a joke at his expense or what, but I’ve experienced that myself and it doesn’t feel very nice.

There’s a little hut outside, a small bar, where he’s been stationed a couple of times, and a group of mostly German tourists are gathered drinking the evening away after their ski.  He’s doing his best to look like he’s enjoying the Deutsch Discotheque even though he knows none of the songs nevermind the words, and all the while making up prices for the drinks as no-one has given him a price list and when he’s asked no-one knows anyway!  Apparently it’s 3 euro for a beer, and 3.80 for pint of coke! 

It’s holiday season, so lots of tourists from all over – mostly Deutschland, then Nederlands, Slovakia, Italien, some car rego’s with a European Union ‘B’ on them (what’s that – Bulgaria?  Is that still a country?  Or has it been changed to something like Bulgavian Democratic Republik of Bogsdanodan, or maybe it’s just ‘Britain’ by itself because it’s not as Great as it once thought it was?), one or two Frenchies, and lots from all over Austria, and of course UK.  It kind of gives us free reign to speak English as we can just pass as tourists and we have an excuse!  There have been a couple of bus loads of English school kids staying at the hotel on ski trips which at least gives Maciek people to chat to!  One 14 year old lad approached the bar and asked for a packet of cigarettes.  Maciek looked at him and said “how old are you?”   “14,” replied the boy.  “I don’t think we sell cigarettes,” replied Maciek.  “You do” said the lad “coz I bought some yesterday!”  Maciek looked at his boss and asked “Do we sell cigarettes?”  “Erm, yeah, I suppose” replied the boss shrugging his shoulders.  “But do we sell cigarettes to him?”  asked Maciek.  “hmmm” replied the boss nodding his head.  “ok, how much are they?” asked Maciek.  “They’re a fiver, that’s what they were yesterday” said the boy, at the same time as the boss shrugged his shoulders again and began walking away.  And so Maciek sold a 14 year old boy a packet of cigarettes, thinking, if this was Australia I’d be arrested for this!  On another night a group of 16 year olds were sitting around the bar drinking beers.  It’s legal here, to drink beer at 16.  Not spirits, although if they want one no-one’s going to batter an eyelid!

Maciek shouldn’t feel that bad really.  The head chef is Iranian, the assistant chef Greek (not a word of English or German), the chamber maids are Hungarian, the receptionist is from Stuttgart and most of the others are German or Austrian too.  Quite a multicultural workplace!  And on the upside, at least he’s not as knackered as he was when he was tiling, and he gets fed, so I don’t have to cook!

...and a Happy New Year!

Sparkly Noah

After Peach and Monika left us the B & B was very busy preparing for its next guests – Aunty Sue and Uncle Frank with little Curly!  They arrived later than expected due to snow and traffic (busiest week of the year for tourists – I like them, they make me feel less of a foreigner!) but were able to relax and unwind when they got here after a long day of driving.  They brought some lovely pressies for Noah and Milly (clothes) and for me (junk food!) and we enjoyed a couple of schnapps after dinner and after a good night’s rest at the Inn they were on their way again, along the snowy roads back to Italy.

Noah has been very ill with tonsillitis and then Amelia woke up with conjunctivitis (lovely!) the day before New Years eve, but thankfully all was well in time for the party at a friend’s place in Going.  A kid friendly bash on New Years Eve is always a welcome event and gave us a rare chance to get out and socialize, and Paul and Analissa have a beautiful traditional style Austrian house right next to a Lift!  They can ski down right into their back yard!  We had a great evening, champagne and yummy food and fireworks out the back (it’s not so much a back yard as it is the bottom of a hill that stretches up as far as you can see and keeps going up the mountain).  Yes, fireworks.  All sorts.  You can just buy them from your local shops, as many as you want, and set them off wherever you like!  From our fellow Aussies we hear Shock! Gasp! Horror! As this is illegal in Oz.  Probably because it would cause too many bushfires.  Not to say that it’s not equally as dangerous here as all the buildings are made of WOOD!!  Unfortunately couldn’t get any good pics, it was too dark.  It was nice too to catch up with friends who moved back to the UK a couple of months ago and Amelia had a fab evening running around and playing with her friend Lilly who she can actually talk to!

Way passed bedtime for Noah Milly and Lilly

Normally on nights out Maciek and I share the driving – he drives there and I drive back (hang on a minute???).  But there was no way I was going to be negotiating those roads with the heavy snowfall we were having.  So Maciek lucked out, and I enjoyed my fair share of Champagne and Quality Streets (I’d forgotten about them!) hoping it would numb my nerves for the drive home but I was still white knuckled clutching my seat as we slid about not unlike four wheel driving on the beach at Lancelin.

Curlys winter best

We arrived home about 11pm, put the kids to bed, and enjoyed a 180 degree panoramic fireworks display from the balcony at midnight.  With the sound bouncing off the mountains it could have been mistaken for an air raid!  It was a great way to end the night.  Best wishes to everyone for a fantastic 2012!!

Meerrry Christmas!



Against all odds due to this time of year being the busiest for the tourism industry Maciek managed to get both Christmas Day and Boxing Day off work!  We were very grateful for this.  Our friends Peach, Monika and their little boy arrived Christmas Eve in the afternoon, and after collecting Maciek from work in the evening we enjoyed a meal together and a few drinks.  The evening of the 24th is when Austrians celebrate Christmas (we were used to this as this is also tradition in Poland, and our friends also celebrate this way too), and Christkind comes to decorate the tree (oops – we did ours a month too early!) and leave presents for the children.  We know he’s been as he tinkles a bell as he leaves to let you know you can bring the children in from their “evening stroll” or in our case “little play in the playroom with the door closed”!  Amelia and Noah are especially lucky as they get Christkind AND Santa!  Apparently there is a bit of debate going on here at the moment as things are becoming more commercialized and Santa is making more of an appearance, about who brings the best gifts – Christkind or Santa? – and not many an Austrian is too happy about it!  Not really sure who Christkind is actually (apart from translating to Christ Child), my questions have been met with looks of confusion and shrugging of shoulders and ums and ahhs.  A star or an angel maybe?  But nevertheless I think this is where our Kris Kringle/Kriss Kindle/Kiss Kringle/Secret Santa comes from!!

Christmas morning, after a delicious omelette courtesy of the Lady of the Manor (me) we took to the beginner slopes for some sledding and mucking about with the kids, and then Maciek and Peach took off for a long awaited (11 years) snowboarding session together. 

The Grander Schupf

I need a weeee!!!..Sam

In the evening we took the advice of a friend and had dinner at a beautiful place on the mountain called the Grander Shupf, a traditional Austrian chalet style restaurant, even more magical with Christmas decorations and lights.  Situated 1km up the mountain, it made for a scary drive up especially since the snow had turned icy and the road was steep and winding.  Luckily we didn’t cross with another car coming down, as if we’d have stopped we would have been stuck, and would have had to reverse all the way back to the bottom.  Driving up a road like that is one thing, reversing down one is another!  We were shown to a quiet table tucked away opposite a lovely open fire, and being Christmas I had the duck (no turkey to be seen) with dumplings and blue cabbage.  Maciek and Gordon had it too and we couldn’t believe our eyes when our plates came out filled with what looked like a whole duck, sitting beside 3 little dumplings and a blob of cabbage!  Tasty though, got my fill of protein that’s for sure!  Another fun thing about the place was the fact that you can slide to the loo!  Yes, there’s a slide down to the loo’s, and small kids playroom!  My friend Sam was very close to laddering her stockings as she had about 5 goes (her excuse is that she had to show her daughter that it wasn’t scary!)  Then it was back to our place for desert and Bailey’s coffees, and musical statues played by the grown men with Amelia controlling the music which came from her new ballerina jewelry box that played Swan Lake when it was opened!  Very amusing.  And they weren’t even drunk!

P.S  Pics are not so great due to Maciek breaking our camera a week before Christmas (he won’t admit to it) and us having to buy a cheapy one to replace it and not having time to work it out yet!

In town

Peach, Monika & Yannik

Let it Schnee, let it Schnee, let it Schnee!!

Schneeflockes here, schneeflockes there, schneeflockes everywhere!  There’s even a guinea pig in Amelia’s classroom called Schneeflocke!   He’s white, in case you hadn’t guessed!  It started snowing 2 weeks ago and apart from a couple of days here and there it hasn’t stopped.  It first started snowing Tuesday lunch time and didn’t stop until Wednesday night (a massive dump, as Maciek says).  Needless to say, being the first major snowfall of the season I was a bit (an understatement) nervous about driving.  But I put on my brave hat and tried not to think about it, only to have my confidence shattered when I couldn’t even make it up the driveway!  Wheels were turning but we were going nowhere except sliding towards the stone wall!  So we didn’t make it to school that day.  I’ve had some practice since, so even though I’d rather not, I’ve been driving a fair bit, and confidence is slowly growing.

It’s been about 2 degrees during the day and minus in the mornings.  Wednesday was -13 on the way to school, the coldest yet!

Our house, left, top balcony

Amelia had ski school this week in the afternoons.  She’s not much of a fan, but I think it was more to do with the instructor than the skiing.  The hardest thing was keeping Noah entertained for almost 2 hours in the snow at freezing temperatures.  But it ended today with a little race (which I didn’t think she’d do, so very pleased!) and then a presentation at a café in town with medals for all the kids!  She’s very proud of herself!

Maciek started his winter job last week as a Lederhosen wearing non-German speaking waiter /bar tender in a hotel! (photos to come) He starts about 11am and finishes at 7pm so I have to collect him (more practice for my driving – at night time too on unlit streets!) as the conditions are too bad now for riding his bike, and he’ll ruin his Lederhosen.  He’s enjoying the late starts (as am I with the extra help getting the kids ready for school) as he gets to snowboard before work.  He’s enjoying it but finding it very challenging as not only is it something he’s never done before but he has to learn it in an environment where he can’t understand anything and the German and Austrian customers are a bit baffled with this man who’s wearing Lederhosen speaking with an Australian accent saying ‘Ich sprechen kein Deutsch!’  The Austrians also have a habit of keeping you in the dark and then wonder why you are standing around with a confused look on your face!  He says he gets through by laughing to himself, shaking his head, and asking the question ‘what the f am I doing?’ which keeps him going through the day!

In town

Looking forward to Christmas.  We have friends coming to stay with us which will be nice.  Not sure if the tree is going to make it though.  It’s looking a bit ‘over it’!  We’re constantly sweeping up the needles from the floor.  And we’re a bit over being laughed at too, for putting our tree up at the beginning of December.  It’s tradition here to put it up and decorate it on the 24^th.  At least that way it won’t die before Christmas day! 

It looks magical here at the moment.  Just like a postcard.  And the sun will be coming out on Christmas Day!

“Frohe Weihnachts und ein gutes neue jahr” to all!

XXXX

 

Nikolaus (and some scary photos)

Saturday we went to the ‘a bit like Bunnings’ shop and bought a real Christmas Tree and some trimmings.  I never thought I’d have a purple decorated Christmas Tree, but as much as I wanted to decorate our apartment with all the traditional natural Christmas decorations that are so common here, shopping around for them takes too much time (and doesn’t work so well with kinder in tow) and they are a bit more expensive, so I let Amelia choose the decorations, and purple it was!!  We played some Christmassy tunes and spent the afternoon putting it all together and I have to say I think it’s actually the prettiest little Xmas tree we’ve had!!   It’s modest, and a bit fat around the middle and skinny on top, but that’s what you get with ‘natural’!  Maciek was determined to go chop one down himself but I wouldn’t allow it on account of angry farmers shooting at him!

At the beginning of December each village hosts the arrival of ‘Nikolaus’, the Austrian Santa.  There are stalls in the village centre selling food and the delicious Gluhwein, and at the one we went to here in Kirchdorf, there was a wooden tripod holding a cauldron of fire, sitting atop a mound of snow, where the witches were hanging about (hey, it’s a different culture, right?).  Nikolaus comes dressed more like a red and white bishop than the Santa we know, flanked by six little girls dressed as angels.  There’s traditional music played by live musicians in the Musikpavilion, and Nikolaus walks through the crowd greeting all the kinder before handing out little bags of treats.  The treats include peanuts and walnuts (in the shells), a mandarin, a piece of ginger cake, a small chocolate bar.  It’s very sweet, something very simple and oldy-worldy about it.  It starts at about 5pm so it’s dark, and very cold.  The tradition here is that all the good children are visited by Nikolaus, but if you have been naughty, then the ‘devils’ come after you.  They are called Krampus, and they are teenage boys dressed up in the most terrifying costumes!  Honestly, the week leading up to these little festivals, there were a few ‘devils’ knocking around town just popping up in random places.  We encountered some on our way back to the car from gymnastics class, with a group of teenage girls, just hanging around, and as soon as I saw them my legs went to jelly!  People have been telling us about this for months.  It’s fantastic to see, they said, but really scary.  They whip your legs with a bunch of sticks tied together like a big witches broom and it really hurts, they told us.  Don’t stay with the kids, let the kids see Nikolaus, then leg it, they told us.  So we were there with our friends, Amelia says she’s not scared, it’s just boys dressed up, it’s not real.  So we hung around a bit, not really sure what to do, or how long after Nikolaus left they’d come out.  I saw a large group of people standing on the lit ramp leading to the library, lots of families with children, so I went there thinking it’s a safe place, they won’t come near here with all these kids.  Plus around the bonfire was a barrier, so we assumed they would stay in there, as they do in other villages we were told.  How wrong was I.  Suddenly the music went from calm lovely Christmas to raging heavy metal and all this smoke appeared and all these middle sized devils came stomping out.  Within the barriers at first, phew I thought, safe up here.  But then they started to stomp through the crowd, and to my horror up the ramp where all the children were!  Amelia watched, not bothered, just boys, she said, in costumes.  It only lasted about 5 minutes and I thought, that wasn’t too bad, okay then, let’s go.  But then the music became louder, more smoke, and the sound of a chainsaw!  And the ‘big’ really terrifying ones appeared.  They wear chains and big bells on the costumes so they even sound really terrifying, and the costumes stink like real wild animals.  We stayed put, like statues, don’t make eye contact, and they won’t notice we’re here.  Amelia’s face buried into my belly!  They were really aggressive too, going at teenagers mostly, one of them had a boy of about 14 cornered against the wall, whipping him over and over again.  The look on the boys face was pure terror.  As soon as the excitement started to die down, we legged it!  A little too late.  We feel like the worst parents in the world!  My friend told me that she was at the shopping centre that day and a group of them turned up, during the day.  Everyone was screaming and kids were crying.  We heard the next day that a 13 year old girl was beaten so badly she ended up with broken bones.  I asked why it’s allowed to continue like that, and my friend said, because it’s tradition.  I guess in some societies nothing can shake it.  I just have to remember what I learnt on Contiki all those years ago, it’s not wrong, it’s just different, but in this case, i think it's at least a little bit wrong!   At least we have something to threaten the kids with if they misbehave!  Not really, wouldn’t dream of it, the model parents that we are!

A great day in Salzburg

Driving to Salzburg

 We took a trip to Salzburg on Saturday as we needed more stuff from IKEA and the nearest one to us is just out of Salzburg city centre, just under an hours drive.  It’s around -5 degrees in the mornings now with lots of frost which usually disappears by 9am.  But in some parts of the valleys where the sun doesn’t shine it remains there for the day and looks like it’s been snowing.  We captured this picture on our drive to Salzburg.  It was still like this on the drive home early evening. 

IKEA was once again a nightmare with kinder in tow but once it was over we knew we could relax and go with the flow for the rest of the day.  We took advice from Karen (she hasn’t been mentioned in a while, poor old Karen!) to get us to the old town and enjoyed a lovely wintery day wandering the streets.  The Christkindl Markt was on.  Stalls and stalls of beautifully handcrafted Christmas decorations, sweets and treats, and Gluwein which we have only recently discovered by us and will be continued to be enjoyed through the winter!  It’s a sort of mulled wine, warmed up, and I for one love it!  Good for relaxing the nerves too on a stressful afternoon!  Noah had a great sleep for over 2 hours which gave us just enough time to take it all in.  The smells wafting from the stalls are delicious, including frankincense (which I have just discovered is a favourite at this time of year), orange, cinnamon, and all the usuals like hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts, mixed with the lights and decorations, really bring the atmosphere of Christmas to life.   

(What’s not coming to life though are all the poor dead animals draped around middle aged ladies with chignons in their hair and botox filled foreheads, prettying around with their pursed rouge lips and fur trimmed handbags and boots!  Loads of them, very posh…..i wish I’d have had the courage to sneak some photos as they minced passed us!)

The city itself looks gorgeous, bit hard to tell though with so many people and all the Christmas kerfuffle!  We will have to go again at a quieter time of year when we don’t need to stop in at IKEA on the way, and actually try to see a few of the tourist attractions. As evening fell the Christmas lights made it look magical, and it was nice to hear so many languages and accents from around the globe, made us feel like we were on holidays again.  A lovely happy interesting day.

 

Yum....Gluwein!