Through the snowstorm

Well, by my definition a ‘snowstorm’. We’ve had more snow overnight here, and we’re sitting on now around 20cm of snow which for the locals, is nothing. But the mountains are snow-capped and everything outside is heavily doused in white, making the journey to the train station through the Alps even prettier. Snow kinda falls all around, it’s unlike rain in the sense that it doesn’t obey the laws of gravity and driving through the heavy cloud of thick white matter, was as good as a snowstorm I’ll ever see. (Considering I’m not in Boston, and that’s where the REAL snowstorm at.)

Things I’ve learnt from staying in Eisenerz;

If you don’t need to unbutton your jeans after eating an Austrian meal – you obviously haven’t eaten enough.

After so much snow and cold weather I stepped out of the house this morning to learn that it was only 0 degrees today, and then I exclaimed; “ah, not cold then’.

I have picked up the Austrian dialect on my usual ‘hoch Deutsch’ or, proper German that we were taught in school. It’s hard to describe, but it’s a dialect that is similar, but also sounds quite different. All my life I had adopted a Bavarian accent, since my exchange when I was younger. Wonder how the Bavarian friends will react when I waltz in, all Austrian-sounding.

Don’t underestimate the kindness of extended family overseas. I mett of them when I was younger…much much younger, and we know that memory tends to be rather unreliable, but over cups of tea and cake, shared memories start to return, of when I was a young tacker, hugging the knees of my grandparents, shyly greeting these big strange people who spoke in a different tone. It seemed however, that their memories served better than mine, and now, with the power of the language behind me, and being my not-so-shy-8-year-old-self anymore, I realised that we had so much more in common than mere blood relations.

My Opa and his sister, Tante Erika

My time in Eisenerz has been marvellous. I couldn’t have wished for a better little getaway to a small town situated in the Alps. I’d like to thank my Oma and Opa, who helped set up all the arrangements for me, but in particular my great Tante Erika, who showed me the upmost kindness and hospitality, and had so much patience with me and my language, when I couldn’t express myself clearly or she had to translate other’s speech slower for me. For all the meals she cooked, all the time we spent walking, all my washing that she did, all the games we played, all the time in which I was content in her company.

My Oma and opa

Und auch gerne die Tante Friedl, der Adi, die Eva, der Udo, der Markus, die kleine Moritz, die Connie, der Tante Minnel und der Onkel Rudy. Viele viele leibe und Grusse von mir, und vielen dank, fuer alles das ihr gemacht habt.

My three great Aunts...in summertime

My Opa