To begin, I have a couple of pretty funny stories to share. Hopefully they aren't the kind of stories that you have to experience to find the humor in them, but I'll give it a shot even if they are.
Story 1: So, we were eating lunch together one day and Jenna and I were trying to learn some colors in German. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, what you have to understand is that there are certain sounds you must make in this language that WE DO NOT MAKE in English. I was having particular difficulty pronouncing "grün" (green). Svenja, bless her heart, was attempting to explain how to make the "gr" sound correctly. As an example, she asked, "Ok, when you're mad and you're texting and you write grrrrrrr, what sound does that make?". We both responded with something that sounded like "gerrrr". She was shocked! Her response was, "Wait, really??? It's not...", at which point she proceeded to almost growl like a dog. HAHA. Not only did everyone have a good time laughing at that, but the entire team had great fun listening to our pathetic attempts at speaking German (well mine is pathetic; Jenna is pretty good). The old ladies at the table next to us even had to hush us up as we got a bit too rowdy I guess. Whoops...
Story 2: After finishing a delicious lunch of Chinese food yesterday, I was told that I should try the chocolate balls for dessert. Never one to pass up an opportunity for good chocolate, I gladly obliged. They were pretty good, but to be honest, they weren't my favorite. I thought they tasted a little strange and the coconut on top didn't improve the taste, in my opinion. Well, a couple of bites in Svenja mentioned something about...RUM. NOOOOOOO! The look on my face must have been most peculiar because both Svenja and Cooper were staring at me wondering what on earth was wrong. This may be childish, but I then proceeded to spit out the bite in my mouth (don't worry Mom, it was in a napkin). Sure, I probably could have swallowed it as I had absolutely no idea what was in those chocolates when I tried them, but truth be told, I wasn't really loving them anyways. In hindsight I do realize that my brother Logan did try to warn me about this possible predicament. I can't remember exactly what he said, but I recall it being something about, hmm let's see, chocolate, desserts, and rum. Bingo! I'm such a good listener.
Well, these past couple of weeks have been great! Nothing too noteworthy has occurred, but here are a few of the things that have happened:
We had our first home match! We've played a total of 4 matches so far this season and have won all of them. The team is lookin pretty good so far :) Here's a pic of the awesome facility we get to play in. It's super nice!
A few of us went out one evening and had fun looking around for a bit. I think we would've stayed out longer, but it was a tad chilly out. Here are a couple pics of our wanderings:
Volkstheater
Next to the Hofburg Palace
The other day I went to the Naschmarkt with Jenna and Cooper! It's a HUUUGE outdoor market where they sell tons of fresh produce, food, and even clothing and such. Because we went on Saturday, there was also a separate section set up as a flea market of sorts. We thought we should check that out as well. Let me say, I have never seen so much used junk in one place. Imagine raiding your grandparents house and you'll have a pretty good idea of the kind of stuff people were trying to sell. There were records and CD's, old jewelry, dishes, china, lots of old shoes, worn clothing, newspapers from decades ago, and even some rusty cookie cutters. Honestly, it was like a real-life episode of "Hoarders". It was pretty cool to look around, but I don't think I would ever buy anything from there (unless I was going to film an old movie or something). Here are a couple pics of the flea market section:
So crowded
Dang, I knew I should have brought my US license plates to sell. I could've made a fortune!
The actual Naschmarkt was AMAZING though! There were stands that stretched for blocks of fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads, spices, and just about anything else you could think of. They even had a couple Asian stores! Let's just say I found a place to buy a rice cooker and some Calrose rice :) Winning.
I LOOOVE tulips
I can't decide if this is cute or creepy
HAHA baby pineapple
Logan will be happy to hear that I also tried my first Kebab at the Naschmarkt! Basically it's bread with meat (in this case either chicken or lamb), chili powder, lettuce, tomato, and a greek yogurt of some kind. It was DELICIOUS!!!
Wandering around the shopping district. Don't worry, I haven't bought anything...yet ;)
Other news of note: my apartment that was supposed to be ready for me long ago is no longer available to live in. Uhh, WHAT?? Yep, yesterday I found out that 5 tenants were supposed to be moving out of the apartments where the rest of the team is living. However, they all decided to renew their contracts. I don't really know how that's possible since those apartments were supposed to be reserved for the team. So, both Cooper and I are stuck in this hotel for an undetermined amount of time. Possibly for the remainder of our stay in Vienna. Oh boy, wouldn't it be a blast to live in a miniscule hotel room for 7 months? I just can't wait for more sleepless nights with super loud snorers next door, or obnoxious people checking in at all hours of the night, or having to walk super far to get to the train, or having no way to do laundry, or having to eat the same hotel food every day, or not being able to unpack my suitcases STILL. Yes, sarcasm. I should try to control myself a little more. It's actually really not that bad. I know I shouldn't complain. I just wish we could be closer to everyone else and I could have a place to call home. The team is working on it though. They just can't work fast enough.
