Weiner literally means Wien-er

Friday, September 7, 2007

Another dreary, cold rainy day. Today we had “dinner” with our host Mom at 12:00 so we just decided to have a slow morning in the house. We woke up, lollygagged around, went shopping at a nearby grocery store…

Good story there. We went to the Hofer down the street quite a ways. We took the bus/streetcar to get there and spent some time getting our groceries. At Hofer, as well as most grocery stores in Europe, you either have to bring your own bag or buy one at the register. We didn’t have bags so we bought them. Nice big paper bags. Unfortunately, one of the things that I didn’t realize is that paper bags and rain don’t really do well together. When we got on the streetcar my bag started to go kaput. One of the handles ripped off. So, during the 15-minute walk home I had to carry my bag with both arms and as soon as I walked in the front door the bag exploded and stuff went everywhere. It was totally in tatters. Pretty funny, actually.

“Dinner” consisted of some sort of meatloaf thing cooked in a sauce with bacon. It was really quite good. Very rich and hearty, like most food here in Austria. We also had a soup, a potato dish and a salad. I was given serving after serving until I thought I would explode. That was actually kind of nice, as serving sizes are not usually all that large here in Europe and meat is expensive. As bad as it is, it was nice to stuff myself silly on meat.

After dinner we lazed a bit and then finally wandered into town. We went to the institute to use the internet and there joined up with a group going to the 7:00 showing of the Magic Flute by Mozart. We were doing the standing place thing again and had to stand in line for 3 hours. This time I was a bit more prepared and didn’t mind the waiting nearly as much. Plus we had a few more people in our group and it was more fun than waiting for Carmen.

The Opera itself was REALLY good. I absolutely loved it. It was funny, happier more touching and much faster paced than the other operas I’ve seen. Best one by a long shot. It didn’t feel long like the others did at all. Enjoyed every minute. There really seemed to be a lot of interesting things to think about hidden behind the fairly simple story. I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. It actually reminded me of the movie “stardust”; different plot but same lighthearted yet serious storyline. I’d love to see it again.

After the opera we walked around Vienna: the rain has stopped! I’m so happy! It’s so nice to not get wet every time I go outside! Hoorah!


Since Friday:
Saturday was quite fun. We went to the Naschmarkt, a sweet little flea market. I bought a little sidebag there for the days when I don't need my million pound backpack. After the market a few of the girls suggested a sweet restaurant out in the woods south of Vienna. We rode the train, the bus and hiked for a while before arriving at the wooded hill that we would climb to the top of to go to the restuarant. It was called the Weiner Hütte. Great place. Good food, cheaper than I've seen in all of europe. We all ate a great meal for about 6-7 euros each. Most places you're looking at 10-12. After the meal we hiked back down, stopping to take some fun pictures.
After the hike we went to the host's of three girls in our group and hung out there for the evening. It was really fun. We watched comedy shorts, talked, generally just chillin'. It was good to spend a little quality time with some friends. Anyhow, a good time indeed.
Sunday was Stake Conference was Sunday. Fortunately they had English translation which allowed me to actually get something out of it. That was nice. I will say, however, that the Stake President's address was by far the oddest stake conference talk I have EVER heard. Very strange. (Long story, if you're interested ask me...) AFter church my roomie, David, and I went to some cool looking church we saw from the train station. We still don't know what it's called but it was very nice. There was a basketball court next to the church in a park. I nearly wet myself. That's the first court I've seen in almost a month! Now I just need a basketball...
We had our religion class at the director's place later that night and then went home and crashed.