Full immersion in Austria

Well, it's been nearly two weeks since I left the US. I am officially a resident of Hallstatt now. In Austria, a person must register with the local government whenever s/he establishes a new residence or moves to a new city. It seemed a little strange to me to have to register like that, and it is something that Americans that don't have to deal with, really, until it comes time to vote in an election. It was a simple thing to do and it is also the first step in securing a visa. Then it gets more difficult. But I don't want to dwell on that, not this time anyway.

I am picking up more German now that I've been fully immersed in the culture. I guess that's sort of a given. I am studying my books a lot and listening to the accompanying CDs. But when we are out at the bars, a lot of thé time it's incredibly hard to understand anything because of the dialect here. The younger people are much easier to understand, but the older generation speaks in this Hallstatt dialect, with different words and accents.

Sometimes It's difficult to not be working and I feel like I'm going a little stir crazy at times. And if I think too much about Bennie and Bun, I feel sad and worried about them. I have emailed for updates on them, but somebody likes to be a jerk, and doesn't tell me much of anything. I guess that's the only way he's capable of getting to me, and so he's using it.

Today the weather is mutable. There were a few bright areas of late afternoon sun on the mountains just a little bit ago, casting long shadows on the conifers, and these spotlights were surrounded by heavy grey skies. The tops of the mountains are still shrouded in clouds. We spent the better part of the afternoon on the lake, when it was smooth and clear and the sun was warm on our backs. Then the clouds rolled in and when I was walking back from the Marktplatz it began to thunder and big drops of rain fell. I was coming back from the Baum, because I always walk Stefan to work.

And, I really need to find an art supply store. Perhaps there is one in Bad Ischl. I really have been feeling creative but don't have a good outlet for it, because I was silly and didn't pack some of my most basic design tools. So I need to find replacements. I have my gouache paints, paint brushes, bristol board, and palette papers, though. So this is good.

When I arrived in Munich, one of my pieces of luggage was lost by British Airways, but it has since safely arrived. They located it and shipped it here within one day, so although it was a little stressful, it turned out fine. Everything was there and in one piece.

So then, the first night here I met Verena, Stefan's sister, and her two children. I really like them a lot. Verena is very friendly and her daughter Jana has managed to wriggle her way into my heart already. She is maybe five or six. The first night Jana was afraid of me and didn't come too close, but would watch me from afar. Then, the next day, she came up to the apartment with her grandpa, and stayed after he left. So I got out my stuffed animals -- two squirrels (one brown, one gray), a raccoon, and a chipmunk, and we played with them. She would talk in German to me, and I'd try to speak in German to her when I knew the right words, but I mostly answered in English. But we had moments of understanding. She didn't mind at all that it was like this. Later that afternoon, when it was time for the whole family (Robert, Monica, Verena, Jana, Nina, Stefan, and me) to walk to a restaurant for dinner, she was walking a little bit ahead of me and Stefan. Jana would look back at us now and again, but then after a little bit she stopped, turned around, and snuck towards me in a shy way. Then she accelerated and grabbed my hand with hers. I'd give her hand a little squeeze and she'd do it back. I hope that Stefan and I go to Vienna to see them pretty soon. Verena wants us to visit as soon as Stefan is finished working at the Grüner Baum. So maybe in a few weeks.