Fitness, Freezing, and Football!

My day got off to an unusual start on Friday, as this was when I decided to take myself off for a run. Now don't get me wrong, I do like doing sports, but I've always done them as part of a team, and never as a solo venture really. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find anything here that still has space to sign up to, so on Friday I bit the bullet and went for a run. It only lasted about half an hour, and I just went around the lake outside my house, which I'm sure doesn't sound too monumental. As this is the only time in my life I can remember voluntarily going for a run, however, it will certainly stick with me as an experience here.

The rest of Friday was much less alarming. Another American TA was visiting Salzburg, so we went out to an Italian with him that evening. All I'll say about him is that he's definitely quite a character, and that I'm more than happy sticking to the American TAs we've got here for the foreseeable future! After the meal, we tried to go to the Augustinerbraeu for a drink, but unfortunately there was no more space. As Christmas comes closer, the tourists are really flocking in. As we're such a large group, this is a problem that we've encountered a couple of times, and we've definitely learnt our lesson now about reserving in advance (although for the weekends, the better places are already booked up right into the New Year). We opted for a different bar as well, which luckily had some space. As the restaurant didn't serve pudding, I was very excited to share an Apfelstrudel with Erika. I'd been told that the strudels here with good, and it definitely didn't disappoint. If anyone reading this ever gets to try a strudel here, I would definitely recommend that you ask for it with Vanillasosse. It's like custard, but oh so much better. After a while the bar started to get very smoky, so we called it a night and headed home.

On Saturday morning, the 1st December, I woke up to find that the Christkind (or christ-child - the traditional Christmas gift-bringer in Austria) had been and left me an Advent Calendar. I went downstairs to thank my host mum, but she just shook her said saying, "No no, it was the Christkind.". I then asked her to say thank you to the Christkind for me, and she said that she would. Afterwards, I headed into town, to meet the student from the evening school who was interested in a German-English exchange. We did an hour of English first, and then an hour of German. I'd not spent a prolonged amount of time with the guy before, so I didn't really know what to expect. It was alright, but he seemed pretty socially awkward, for lack of a better word to explain it. He was very open, perhaps too open, and something just wasn't quite right. From a language point of view - great, but otherwise I'm not so sure... 

Afterwards, I went to a carol service with the other TAs. It was held at the Nonnberg Abbey, which is famous for being 'Maria's Abbey' in the Sound of Music. The concert was short but sweet, lasting only about 45 minutes. There songs were in a mixture of languages and sung by the students at one of the TAs schools. They did a very good job and it was a nice way to spend the hour. We then headed to the Schloss Hellbrunn, a nearby castle, to visit the Christmas markets there. It was all very pretty, but as the weather was rapidly dropping, and so we only managed to stay for about an hour (and a cheeky Gluhwein of course!), before we all headed back as we were absolutely freezing. As we couldn't get in for dinner anywhere after (should have reserved - again!), the group dispersed and I went for cocktails with 3 others to finish off the evening/find somewhere warm to defrost! 

On Sunday, I'd learnt my lesson and made sure to wrap up warm before venturing outside! A group of us had tickets to the FC Red Bull Salzburg vs FK Austria Wien football match. We were sitting second row from the front, and so had prime seats for all the action. Unfortunately, despite a couple of near misses, the game ended 0-0, and so there wasn't that much action to be seen. This was actually the first football match that I've been to, and it was so interesting to take it all in. I particularly liked that the fans had an actual conductor, so they knew what to be chanting and when. There were a few firecrackers thrown onto the pitch, but they were quickly removed and apart from that the crowds were pretty well-behaved. Nevertheless, there was a great atmosphere and it was a nice (if a little chilly) way to spend a Sunday.

A definite highlight of the match was when the ball came into the crowd, and I CAUGHT IT! I had to throw it straight back so no keepsakes unfortunately, but I did take a picture of the ball once I'd thrown it back to the little guy waiting for it!

That evening I stayed in with the host family, and we ordered a Chinese. Again, there was just something about the way that Austrians do a Chinese that wasn't quite right. I stayed up chatting with the parents afterwards. I knew that the mum is a surgeon, but what I didn't know, was that she's a brain surgeon (!). She told me a few stories from her hospital, which was absolutely fascinating. One operation, for example, lasted from 9am until 4:30 am the next day (ie. went right through the night). I think I'll stick to my 13 hours a week being a Teaching Assistant for the moment thanks!