3 Days

Luke is my hero. Hence the naked statue: that's Hercules. Luke is a very strong little man. He has his opinions, he has his ways and he has his quirks, but I love them all so so much. With Luke, you never quite know what you're going to get. Sometimes you open something a little crunchy and scary, but 9 times out of 10 he's a sweet little candy that just gets even sweeter when it explodes with tasty goo. Usually when I'm down, I just want a Luke Hug, cause there's really nothing quite like it in the world. 

5 Days

Emma is the fifth of seven and maybe somewhere in her she feels middle child syndrome but I hope that she knows that the truth is, we hear her. We love her! She knows all of the best ways to make herself heard and seen. Probably some of the funniest things I have ever heard a person say have come from Emma, in the most random of times. 

One thing is for sure though, she knows what she wants. She sees the goal and she just gets it done. She definitely has her own style, and always has. When she was little she was always the girliest of all of us. These days she just dyed her hair red. She plays the trumpet in school (which she chose), and I don't know how she's doing these days, but I remember her practicing all the time before; determined to play sound that trumpet triumphantly. She also loves sea food. A lot. Which is only and "Emma" thing to the rest of us Pinsents who mostly do not. That's probably the only thing I ever remember her choosing for her birthday dinner. The rest of us would make something ourselves or starve before Emma went without scallops on her birthday. 

The greatest thing about her though, is that she always catches you off guard. She'll surprise you at every turn, and I promise you that you will never be able to expect it or see it coming. But it's a real treat when it happens.

 

Artistic Expressions

Eric and I have visited countless art galleries since we've been here in Europe. Some we've found more interesting than others. (One favourite was the Picasso museum. One least favourite was the Uffizi in Florence.) Mostly, they're not really our thing though. We sometimes enjoy the buildings they're in more than the art on the walls. 

Today I was actually inspired by one of the paintings. This one here: Funny right?

This painting is called The Controversy of the Coachmen and it's painted by Johann Michael Neder. It was a really random painting, quite small and seemingly insignificant. What I thought about was the inspiration that Johann would have had for this. I imagined that he actually saw this happen in the street and chuckled to himself and decided to go home and paint it. If I saw something happen like this in the street, I would probably chuckle to myself, take a picture of it, and come home and tell all of you about it. 

Back in his day people painted and sculpted and drew the things that inspired them or that they loved or that just entertained them that day. Today there are still people interested in and really good at those arts too, but I am not. I do enjoy taking pictures and I do enjoy writing. This blog is my form of artistic expression. It may never be printed and put in a museum, but it's my way of sharing my experiences and inspirations with those I know and love.

That's all. That was my thought walking though the gallery. I also saw The Kiss by Gustac Klimpt, but this one meant more to me today since I've already seen that one of every mug, tshirt and key chain in the shops of this city, hundreds of times.

7 Days = One Week

Victoria(15) is next in line in the Pinsent family. Basically any raw material she touches turns to something beautiful and creative. Ever since she was real small she has been able to draw amazing things. After getting bored of that, she has since moved on to mastering her voice and the piano (at the same time), sewing and the newest one is cake decorating. She is a master with fondant. I don't have a picture of that, but everything artsy and beautifully crafted reminds me a little bit of something Victoria has made or will some day get around to trying (and perfecting on the first try).

9 Days

Rachel has just been accepted to the University of PEI. Congratulations! Hopefully her library is as attractive as this pretty red one (Salzburg, Asutria). It would make studying more appealing and maybe even help tear her from her phone. Today's advent expresses the balance between a social life (now on top) and school work.

But even with cell phone in hand she'll probably get the grades she needs while becoming the star player of the rugby team.

11 Days

There are so so many things we miss about home. Right up there with normal toilets, the English language and foods we recognize, are our families! We miss them each very much and hope they know how much we love them and think of them. Eric has 5 siblings (plus a wonderful sister-in-law, who for the purpose of this activity will count as one unit with her husband and their kids), and I have 6. These next 11 days we're here we will be thinking of each of them and antsy to get back to home so we can see them, talk with them or just know that they are close by. 

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Katherine's oldest brother is 19. His name is Haig. He always has really cool shoes, he grew a mustache for Movember, and he is as dashing and smooth as this man is. 

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So, funny story...Remember how we were supposed to be in Paris today?

Last night we were supposed to take a train from Vienna-Munich, then one from Munich-Paris. The train left from platform 6 in Vienna at 6:14pm. So around 6:10pm we got on the train at platform 6 and by 10:40 we were a little worried because we weren't there yet and our connection was scheduled to leave at around 10:45. So we asked the guy "does this train go to Munich?" and he just said "no it doesn't" and that was that. Darn. It ended in a place called Innsbrook. Does anyone know where Innsbrook is? It's still in Austria! So I freaked out and got really upset and we tried really hard to figure out where to go from there, and how to get to Paris. It was about midnight when the McDonald's we were settled in closed up for the night and left us in the station until the next train that would get us closer to Paris would come at 4:45am.

We found out there was a train that went back to Vienna, leaving at 1:15. At first this seemed like the worst idea ever to me, but after sitting in the cold station for a while and not having many other options when Eric suggested we go back to Vienna, all I could say was "I just want to go home...and Vienna's the closest we have right now". So we did. We got back on the train at 1:15 and were scheduled to get back into Vienna at 7:14. Luckily we actually scored ourselves a sleeping cabin. There were tons of empty ones so we asked for one and this random guy on the train, super nice guy, convince the conductor to let us stay in his cabin free of charge. It was lovely. We even got breakfast in the morning. (It was an Austrian breakfast: tea, a roll and jam, but it was free food non the less.)

So 7:14 we are back in Vienna; around 8:00 we are back at home and in bed again; and about 11:00 we wake up to do it all again.

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As it turns out, I am so so happy to have been in Vienna today. We got to do all the things I wanted to do to make it feel like Christmas. With us being away from home until the 24th, with no decorations in our house and no way to make a big dinner, it was beginning to feel not at all like Christmas to me. Today fixed most of that. We woke up, got out of the house around 1, and bam bam bam we saw 5 Christmas markets here in Vienna. The Vienna Christmas Markets are so fun. They are beautiful and filled with great smells and festive fun. We went in search of something specific. Each market has a booth or two that sell what's called holiday punch; basically different flavours of juice warmed up and filled with alcohol. (That's not what we wanted though, our holiday troubles are not that depressing to me.) They come in these great mugs, which you pay a deposit for, but usually never bring back. I wanted a set of them really badly for Christmas this year. Eric and I don't have a tree or anything, so we don't have any decorations. We have no "our first Christmas" ornament. These mugs are going to replace that for us. Every year we will drink from these mugs and remember that we were in Vienna for our first Christmas, and it was wonderful. So we went from market to market scoping out the options. 

The Rathaus (old city hall), is near our house and that's the first market I went to a month ago. I feel like this is my market. I have a special place in my heart for it since it's close to home, a building we've always like and wanted to go inside of, and my first Christmas market experience. Their mugs are really tacky though. We went to 4 other markets to take a look at the competition. 

Schonbrunn Palace

Karlsplatz

Museums Quartier

University of Vienna

All their mugs were pretty, and had really nice designs, but they were just like out of a museum gift shop. They had nothing to do with Christmas, which was the whole point. They were just plain mugs with pictures of buildings or artwork on them. So we went back to the Rathaus and looked at those ones again. We liked them so much more this time, after seeing the others. They have so much character and are so festive. They're tacky, yes, but they are Christmas for us now. We went to one stand that had them and all they had was punch with alcohol, and the drinks are so expensive. The next booth had apple cider that looked okay, but again it was so expensive. We decided that if it was possible, we would try just to buy four mugs, instead of two mugs filled with overpriced juice. That lady said no we couldn't so we moved on to one more. She let us buy them, no problem! So now we have a matching set of four really tacky and really fun Vienna Christmas mugs. Now we can have friends over to share in our new holiday tradition, or just and extra mug or two for when one breaks. I am so happy. I've been wanting these and talking about them for a really long time, and I finally got them today. And bonus: we found clementines on sale at the super market! 

the Rathaus

Christmas can come now, and I'll be ready for it!

Thoughts from Sunday

K:

This morning was kind of a mess for me. I didn't sleep well, I woke up still upset about something from last night, and we woke up kind of late to get to church on time. Eric had to speak and I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it at all, so I sent him ahead. I stayed back and got ready at my own pace, and thought a lot while I did. 

Something you may or may not know about me is that I'm kind of an in the moment, instant gratification type, but sometimes it comes back to haunt me after things settles a little. I almost always have buyer's remorse with big purchases, and often feel the same way in real life situations too. This morning I thought a lot about that. I almost decided that I wasn't going to go to church today, and then I started to think about the consequences of that. I knew that if I missed Eric's talk specifically (even though I was still just a little bit upset with him), that I would regret it later. This thought haunted me and drove me out the door. 

The whole way to church, and while I was there I thought about the ideas of agency and responsibility for our choices. In lots of situations since I moved away from home, since I've been married and especially since I've been in Europe I've had some regrets about the way I've done things or handled situations. Lately though I have thought about this principle before I make the choices, and it has helped so much. I use the phrase "I chose this" a lot. I think to myself, "later will I be happy when I say this is what I chose?". Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it's no. Today it was no, so I altered my decision accordingly. I went to church, and I'm obviously glad I did. It's not that it was a magical experience that changed my life, but this afternoon I was content with the fact that I could say "I chose this", and not regret it. 

What I do is make the results of my choices my own responsibility before they even happen and then it helps me to make the choices that I won't regret later.

Hump Day.

I actually missed hump day. Thursday, November 3rd was hump day. Half way through our time we are allotted here in Vienna. We have 122 days to spend here (I know this because of the very extensive process of applying for a Visa). We have now been here 68 of those days, and I almost can't believe it. It is so strange that we are just over half done now. There is so much left to do, so much left to see and so much left to enjoy. I understand that it won't all be done, seen and enjoyed before we leave, but part of me wishes it could be. I want to see everything. I want to soak up every little corner of this city, and every spot possible of this wonderful land of Europe. 
On the other hand, home is calling out to me right now. I found out the other night that we have no way to Skype anyone back home. The time difference is a big hassle, but when I finally worked that out and was presented with an opportunity to talk with one of my very best friends, I found out that the internet connection we have access to is a "closed network" or something silly, which Skype apparently hates. If anyone has any ideas, cheap and easy, to get in contact with people in Canada, I would love to hear about them. I am missing being able to just call up friends and family and talk with someone familiar and friendly. 
Also, this time of year is a hard one to be away from home. I have Eric, and he is wonderful. But I miss even just the place I call home, as well as all the people. I wanted to go apple and pumpkin picking for Thanksgiving, and then carve the pumpkin and get dressed up for Halloween. I wish I could have seen my brothers and sisters, or my niece and nephew all dressed up in cute costumes. I wish we could have had family dinner for Eric's birthday. He didn't even get a cake because we don't have an oven. 
My birthday is coming up soon as well. The family home evening night after my birthday was usually about the time that we would set up the tree and pull out the decorations at home. I will miss that terribly. Also, most of the traditional foods and things that make Christmas feel like it's coming to me are going to be tricky to find here. I want candy cane ice cream! 
Eric is, of course, doing just fine. He's loving the fact that school is easier here than his semesters back home; or I guess less work. He's strong and seems to never miss home. He loves his home, and family is so important to him, but he has always been better at keeping a clearer perspective than me. He knows 4 months is 4 months, and that's the amount of time we always knew we would be here. I'm sure he might miss home sometimes, but there has never been a time yet that he wishes he was there and not here. I confess it has not always been that way for me. 
I love love love Vienna. Please no body think that I am complaining about being here. Please no body go feeling bad for me, or thinking that's what I'm expecting you to do. I am so grateful that I am here, and really enjoying it. But I am missing Thanksgiving, and Halloween. Family and Friends. Calgary and Halifax. That's all. These are just some feelings I am feeling right now as I realise that two months now past went by so fast, but that two months ahead seems like a really long time (especially when one of those months is going to be December).
So here's to a wonderful and eventful, enchanting and exciting (but hopefully speedy) 54 remaining days!

Sounds of the Season

Since Europe so viciously stole from me my two very favourite holidays (Thanksgiving and Halloween), I decided that today was the day to officially start my celebrations for Christmas.
Normally I start to get ready for Christmas right after my birthday, but I'm two weeks early this year. I just can't stand having nothing to get dressed up, or eat good food for. So today I pulled out my Christmas tshirt that I have been dying to get out!

and listened to a list of my favourite Christmas tunes. I didn't go overboard with Christmas cheer just yet, just a few of the really great ones mixed in with the rest of my playlist for this afternoon's laziness.
Angels We Have Heard On High - Josh Groban
Silent Night - Taylor Swift
All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
I'll Be Home For Christmas - Rascal Flatts
Peace on Earth/ The Litte Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
Santa Baby - Kylie Minogue
White Christmas - Michael Buble
My Only Wish (This Year) - Britney Spears
Okay who am I kidding. I love Christmas music, and can't narrow it down to a few favourites. I may have gotten a little out of control with the Christmas music, but I haven't started decorating or anything like that! I promise.

Languages

I have recently become really fascinated with language. It's really interesting to be in a place where I can't understand anything that goes on around me. I realize that I have always taken for granted my eavesdropping abilities, for one. A couple times lately Eric and I have been on the train overlooking some intense or riveting conversations, but we have no idea what they're actually saying. Yesterday we got in a elevator with a cute old couple and he laughed a little and muttered something in German, and I wanted so badly just to know what he said so that I could know if smiling and nodding was an appropriate response.

I'm sure a lot of you know what this is like, being in a place or just a situation where language becomes a barrier. It's so tricky sometimes. I don't expect all of Austria to turn themselves upside down and learn English, then change all the signs and library books and menus to English, but it would be really nice for me if they would.

It's fun though, trying to learn a new language. I've started to recognize some words or phrases and that's exciting when it happens. It's also really fun for me to notice patterns or to figure words out on my own. I filled out a form for something the other day and it was in a few different languages (German and English being a couple of them), and one of the slots said "city, stadt...and then a couple other words for city". I finally realized then that Stadt Park here in Vienna is City Park and that Stadt Halle must mean City Hall. It was really fun for me, and now I notice that word everywhere.

Another fun one: we were printing some things at Eric's school, where the computers are all in German, and the word for the Print button was Drucken. Then I was in a shop yesterday and saw that word on the door. It also means Push.

These are all really fun little things that get me learning and adapting to this German world I live in. But it just starts me thinking: how did I learn French? I went to school for French from grade 1-12. Half my classes every year were French, and I guess you could say I know French. But I've been thinking, what is it to know a language; to really know it? I mean there are some words that I just think "when did I learn what that word was in French"; or the young man who gave a talk in our ward today, "when did he learn that word in English".

On Monday night we had Spencer and Rachel over for dinner and Rachel shared with us a little message. First a short message on something specific that interests her, that none of us know anything about yet (philosophy), then one spiritual one as well. The philosophical one she shared with us, I can't really try to explain in this entry (so I Wikipedia'd it and you can learn more here if you're interested. I think it's super cool), but it was fascinating to me. Just a little bit about one person's perspective on different ways to learn and teach language, which I thought was cool.

I have decided that I think I want to learn some more German. There are a few things that maybe I would like to know how to say or to pronounce properly, but mostly I am interested in the recognition and repetition of words and phrases. I want to be able to recognize and apply important words, or maybe phrases. I am not claiming that I will know the launguage of German when I come home, so don't quiz me or anything. But I am going to take the chance I have here, to learn more about language itself, specifically applied to German. It's like a really fun and long word puzzle kind of. It should be interesting, and I'm actually kind of excited about it!

Catching Up

K:

We're finally "caught up" with the blog and things that have happened, but I really wish it hadn't worked out like this. I wish I'd actually gotten a chance to write every time I wanted to. The details just aren't the same when you're remembering them a week later. I really want to get better at it; at saying what happens when it happens. So much of the emotion and spirit of our day to day life here is lost when we have to just give a timeline update of what's happened two weeks ago or so. 

For example: this week we haven't been out to see much of Vienna, as far as sites and museums and stuff goes. In fact we made several plans to see the zoo, the giant wheel and the aquarium on different days this week, but it just didn't quite fit. Eric spends more time at school these days because his semester is finally getting going. Sometimes I miss him, sometimes it's nice to have the house to myself. But for better or worse, it definitely leaves me with more time on my hands. I have more time for real life, and we have less time for the fairytale version of this European adventure. 
This week's real life emotional struggle: school! For me actually, not for him (although he has had his fair share of struggles with the group work he's been doing for his classes). My struggle with school is different than his, because I'm not even in school. I LOVE being in school. I absolutely love to learn. I haven't been in school this year, I've been working and now I'm here! I didn't think I would get to go back until next fall either, but Eric and I have decided together that we'll just make it work for January; provided I can decide what I want to go back for. Hence, the struggle of the week for me. 
I was studying criminal justice and psychology before, and I think I would enjoy going back to that. I liked the classes I took the last semester, and the information is certainly interesting to me, but it does have it's downsides. Example: Eric finds it depressing. I can't really talk to him about school, or about work later, if he finds it all depressing. That's one con for criminal justice. 
There are other options I've been mulling over lately too though. Should I do a shorter course, maybe earn a certificate or a diploma that will have a more practical use in the future. Should I study a field that will be more helpful and applicable and easier to work in if I have kids someday. There are just so many choices that it's really wearing me out. I am so excited about school and going back, that I feel like I need to make this decision instantly, but I've found it's not an instant decision unfortunately. It's also not one Eric, or anyone else can make for me, like where we're gong to eat dinner tonight. I have to  make it, and I want to make it quickly. I want to be able to just know what I should do, like some people always have, but it hasn't been that easy of course.

So this is what I've really been doing lately. No pictures, no beautiful buildings, no zoo. It's just been me in this house and at the school working on lists and lists of options and of courses and of things in general that interest me. Today's task: lists of pros and cons. Eric told me this is something I just have to do, so that's what I'll be working on for the next hour or two or three or however long it takes to get it done, or for him to come home from school today.

In my eyes

Vienna is a great city. I am really enjoying living here, and there is just so much to see and do. Eric is at school ALL day today, so I went shopping on Stephansplatz for some things we need for our trip coming up this weekend :) 

I also took our camera along. The big one that doesn't get out much because it's too heavy to carry around all day long with everything else. 

I bought some sunglasses, a shirt and the book The Help, which I am very excited to read on our drive. I want to finish it soon so I can see the movie!

More to the point of this day. I took some pictures of this fun little place. This is kind of the Times Square of Vienna. The downtown core, basically.