ashleylauren1289

Merry Christmas!
so christmas here is celebrated on the 24th and not the 25th. plus there is no santa claus but the christkindl….or the christ child. also you decorate the christmas tree on the 24th and no sooner! also there are no stockings.
so on the 24th we ate dinner…all of my hostfamily. we ate some kind of meat and rice and potatoes and my hostbrother….the one that has hardly ever talked to me…asked me all about christmas in america and the drinking age and all that fun stuff..then we sat around the table and lit the candles on the advent wreath and prayed. then my hostmom read a story about an advent wreath with 5 candles and in the end the 5th candle turned out to be the christ child. after that my host mom ‘’secretly” snuck into the living room where the christmas tree was and lit the candles on the tree….yes actual candles on the tree. and then she ‘’snuck out” and rang a bell to announce that the christ child had come. then we stood around the christmas tree and prayed again then took pictures and then we opened our presents. and to give out presents its not like one person just hands them all out. you pick up your present for another person and go give it to them. and shake their hand and give the 2 kisses on the cheeks. so my oma got me socks (which i asked for), kiwis, and m&ms. my hostfamily got me a daybook and hand towels. after that we drank sekt and cheered to christmas. then i went to bed because it was almost midnight.
the next day….my real christmas! i had lunch at my rotary presidents house. my hostmom dropped me off. and the only two people i knew were uli ( my rotary president) and her youngest son maxi who is 22. so maxi introduced me to everyone and then brought out the sekt….i dont know if we have sekt in america but its kind of like champagne. and then we sat around and talked for a bit. there were about 25 people there. all her family. so i felt a little out of it because i didnt know anyone. and then around 2 we ate lunch. first course- fish. second course- turkey, an austrian version of stuffing, and red cabbage. third course- dessert, which was two courses in itself. first dessert course- taramasue (cant spell) second dessert course- a light whipped dessert with mango sauce. and with all this more sekt and wine. after lunch we sat around and talked. everyone got more friendly with me so it just wasnt maxi and i talking. one of maxis cousins overheard us speaking english and asked me in very quick dialect german where i came from and maxis sister answered him in german that i was an exchange student and when speaking to me speak slower german. so he asked me in english. and i told him in german to speak german with me. so he asked me again in german. and im like ohio. and he goes ‘is ohio a state?’ im like giving him this dumb look like ummm hello of course! but i politely respond ‘yes ohio is a state. in the north’ (because people always tell me that i have a southern accent and ask if ohio is in the south) with maxis family i talked about myself, where im from, what im doing in austria, if i have done anything special…you know all the usual stuff. then someone asked me about american football. and i was like yes i love american football i miss it so much. and the cousin who asked me if ohio was a state says ‘the british think american football is the girls version of rugby’ and im like ‘ummmm okay…..’
after almost everyone was gone maxis aunt and uncle and little 2 year old cousin show up. little thomas was the cutest! although we didnt speak or play together when it was time for me to go little thomas wouldnt let me leave. he took my hand and dragged me away from the door and then when maxi told him i had to leave with him, little thomas through a fit. he insisted on walking me to the car while holding my hand and then giving me ‘bussi’ (the two kisses on the cheek). he was the cutest! and then maxi drove me the 5km home.
all in all i think i like the austrian christmas a lot but its still not the same as waking up early and opening presents on the 25th.

so we went to salzburg this past weekend with all the exchange students. and we took the train and then a bus to the hostel. and when we were on the bus these 3 guys get on wearing rotary jackets and everyones like ‘omg newbies!!’ and run to meet them. i stayed where i was and applied lipgloss and fixed my hair telling the boy beside me that i would make my impression later. which was true because i spent the whole weekend hanging out with those boys. those boys who are short term exchangers from south africa.
so anyway…we get off the bus at our stop and have to pull out a map to find the hostel. so im holding this map which is longer than i am tall and everyone driving by is laughing. and finally we make it to the hostel. and we have a german test. UTOH! but i think i did pretty well. it was 60 multiple choice questions and then a 200 word text in german about our first 4 months in austria. after that we had a little presentation about salzburg and then we had the evening to ourselves after dinner. i went out into the town to the christmas market with 4 south africans. micheal, jason, anke, and carolee. we walked around and then went to have hot chocolate. which i had to order because i was the only one that spoke any german of the group. and then we were going to go ice skating but by the time we got there they were closing so we had a snowball fight instead. me versus micheal and jason. not fair but yeah. we were back to the hostel by 11 and i was in bed by 2.
saturday. breakfast at 8 and we left the hostel at 9. we walked to the fortress. which was on top of a big hill. and the road we walked was almost straight up and was slippery with ice. but everyone made it. we walked around the fortress for a while and saw a beautiful view of the city. after that we walked back down and through a very old graveyard and then to a sculputure which a local rotarian had carved. it was of the manger and baby jesus with mary and joseph and animals. it was very beautiful. after that we had lunch and then the afternoon to ourselves. jason and i went out into town by ourselves and walked around for about 4 hours. we got lost and found our way and then got lost and found our way again. it was a very nice relaxing afternoon. even though it was about -8C. which is about 17F. so it was very very cold! and then that evening everyone went to a restuarant and we had dinner and then gave presentations about christmas in our own countries. all the americans sang ’santa claus is coming to town’ and then ‘happy birthday’ to jesus. we were at the restuarant for about 3 hours. then we had the evening to ourselves. i went back to the hostel and just hung out with people. i didnt make it to bed until 4:30 and had to wake up at 6:30. but thats okay.
sunday. church. in the big cathedral. catholic. mass lasted almost 2 hours. and i didnt really understand a thing because we were at the back of the church and couldnt hear anything. then we went back to the hostel and ate lunch and took the train home.
ohh and i forgot to add. in addition to the short term south africans (9 of them total) we also had the 9 exchange students from croatia there also. it was so funny because i was introducing myself to them and the one girl is like ‘umm we have already met. at the multi district conference in ohio.’ i was like ‘ohhh yeahh.’ even though i didnt recognize her until she said that.
welp thats it for now
Merry Christmas!