Reisen, Träume und die Zukunft

Dear Readers,

I apologize for the lack of posting, but do not think that my laziness is a reflection of me not thinking of you! Such an accusation would be false! Lack of deadlines and overall pressure over the past two years have really shown me that I accomplish most when under pressure. I need deadlines. I have a lot of time over here. Does that mean I’m doing all the things I want to/should be doing? No. No, it does not.

Two weeks ago I went on a weeklong trip to England. The schools in Innsbruck had a break, so I used the opportunity to hop up north and visit several friends there. During the seven days I visited Manchester, Oxford, London and Cambridge and got to visit 11 friends (who I know from all different ways). It was such a neat experience getting to have their "local" insight to everything. My Uncle Norm is doing a guest fellowship at Jesus College in Oxford and he was a stellar guide! He showed me all through the city, colleges, etc., and I was his guest to a lecture by this guy (remarkable speaker) and at one of the college's formal dinners, which was crazy/awesome, and then a friend of mine happens to be studying in the same college where Norm is working, so he took me out to see the "less academic" side of Oxford with his friends. Also crazy/awesome.

The whole trip was great – really fast-paced, though, as I was trying to get a lot done in a short time. On the last day, I was exhausted. After a late night in London, I was to catch a train to Cambridge to meet my friend, Katie, who is doing her PhD there, and then I would go from Cambridge to Stansted airport, to fly back to Munich. I was staying at my friend, Ed’s, house in east London, got up early so as to catch my train to Cambridge, had written down what time it left and the day before had made up an acronym to remember which station I was leaving from. It was "K-S-something." So I went to Kensington, only to find out once there that the correct station was King's Cross. About this time, my phone battery died. I got to Cambridge a few hours late, had to call Katie from a pay phone, we met up, she gave me a quick tour of the town, we had a great pub lunch, I raced off to the train station in a cab, bought my ticket to Stansted, ran outside to catch the bus- and it had just left. I had to then take a cab to the airport, which was expensive but certainly better than missing my flight, which I almost did! Not because I got there late, but because I was just taking my sweet time in the gift shop for no good reason. This was not my day for travel! I got into Munich, called a friend's parents to ask if I could stay with them, they said yes and I came back to Innsbruck the next day.

What a great trip, but I was so tired by the end. It was nice to be back just to relax, and by the end I needed another “break” before I went back to “work.” These breaks from school are great, though. One great thing about the teaching schedule here is that Austria honors all Catholic holidays by closing schools. In May there are like three three-day weekends. I don't know what the holidays are; don't really care! I enjoy them!

Now the grad school process is keeping me on my toes. I was submitting applications from November until January and I will hear back from them all in March. I'm already checking my mail each day hoping something there will surprise me.

I went to an all-night Oscar party last weekend. I did this last year too. By paying a cover, you get tickets to watch three nominated films during the night, midnight and breakfast buffets, and a lot of coffee. I watched The Wrestler and The Reader. I had seen Slumdog Millionaire, Revolutionary Road and Milk on the Internet already. I wouldn't recommend watching them in low-quality streams online. Part of the experience/enjoyment is lost. Also, I guess it's illegal. Anyhow, the Oscar party was fun - such a cool idea - but of course I was tired when it was over. I got home at 6:15 and slept until almost 1:00.

There’s a big fuss in Austria right now about a black American who was beat up in Vienna’s subway by undercover policemen who said he looked “just like a drug dealer” they were looking for. I’m using the AP article in my upper-level lessons comparing it to the Rodney King/LA riots of '92. I ended the lesson with them writing a letter to the Vienna police chief telling him their thoughts. I first did it with one of my favorite older classes. The discussion and the letters were great, thoughtful and inspiring. Then I remind myself that these are educated, upper-class kids (this is in my "suit" school) and that it's easy to build a bubble around oneself in such situations. I saw an article in the Tirol paper the next day saying that right-extremism rose by 15% in Tirol last year alone.

I’m entering in to a stretch where several friends are coming to visit. They are all great friends who I keep in good contact with, but I guess I haven’t spent a lot of time with them in years. This got me wondering if I've changed at all since the Linfield days. I think I maybe developed a new, weird laugh. Like a low, machine-gun-like laugh that I now do when I think of something funny, and often don't even say it out loud. Or maybe that has been there all along. Also I make more food and drinks for myself and get up earlier. Those are the big changes, I think.

So I'm going to Finland for a week in April to visit friends there; flying from Munich. Last night I dreamt that it was the day I was flying there and in the morning I remembered, "Oh shit! I booked a trip to Argentina with Oliver (college roommate)... and I fly from Munich to Buenos Aires just a few hours after I get back to Munich from Helsinki!" So I was fervidly trying to pack the things for TWO trips and then it donned on me that the Argentina trip was to last two weeks, and I hadn't asked for the time off! AND I didn't have a guide book so I went to the store and all they had was one of those Eyewitness guides (they look pretty fancy, for a travel guide, and have more pictures, less info) and I wasn't happy, but I took it anyway. It was stressful! But then I was like, "Oh well! At least I'm going to Argentina and everything will work out... after all, Oliver can speak Spanish!" Maybe this dream is a sign that I'm nervous about going in to the next stages of my life unprepared... Or maybe just a sign that I should learn Spanish?

On that note, time to bring on more dreams. Good night!