I just found out that the first district of Vienna (where we’ll be living) is, by population, the smallest in all of Vienna: the population is just over 17,000. It’s the geographic and symbolic center of the city, and for historical purposes, the first district IS Vienna — the other districts, which had been ”the outskirts” weren’t added to the city until 1850 (or later, in some cases). Tomorrow, we will add 4 (plus Bailey) to the relatively small population of the first district of Vienna: we move into our apartment.
17,000 and 4
May 6th, 2011That had better not be an oncoming train
May 5th, 2011There is light at the end of the tunnel. We’re getting there. No, we’re not getting our stuff, but we probably are moving in to our new place. Dan sent out a pleading email today (it contained the phrase, “my wife is going crazy”) to his new coworkers asking for help in getting the things we absolutely must have to move out of here and into “our” apartment: a crib for Liam, a mattress for Benjamin and some plates and utensils (he also asked for some things we don’t need but which would be nice, like a changing table, a baby bath, blankets, sheets and an air mattress for Dan & I). Thankfully, these people have all been there — the nice thing about the UN is that everyone is from somewhere else — so people inundated Dan today with offers to help.
That’s it, I’m taking a vacation
May 4th, 2011Without going into a ton of detail, today was another tough day. (The summary involves an argument with my husband, vomit from both kids, and baby poop, enough to need to call housekeeping, on less than 4 hours of sleep. Not pretty. Although I honestly handled it better than I would have expected this time last week.) When we were planning this adventure, one of the things I reiterated to Dan repeatedly was, “The only way I can imagine myself doing this is if I think of it as a 1-2 year European vacation.” The thought of “moving” to Europe was too much for me, but the thought of visiting for extended period sounded pretty good.
I’m going back to that way of thinking. I think it’s the only way I’m going to make it through this. So, the laundry may not get done in a timely fashion, I may not use my free minutes during the day to get things done which need to be done and I make absolutely no promises on how neatly my house will be kept. I will accept that I’m not going to “learn” to speak German (although I promise to try my best). I’m going to go out, walk around, play with my kids, visit the sights, drink coffee, eat ice cream and maybe even send some post cards. If the opportunity presents itself, I’m going to sleep in, too.
I’m on vacation.
I want an iPhone. I don’t care.
May 3rd, 2011We have phones!!!! In fact, we have iPhones. Dan actually got them for us yesterday afternoon and we started getting them set up last night after the kids were in bed. I just have to say: it is so cool. I feel like a kid with a new toy on Christmas morning. I have so much to learn about it, and have to figure out how to get it all set up. I really am a neophyte with it — it’s my first smart phone. This is my first experience with a phone that does anything cooler than take pictures. I get to pick out apps! I’m going to have navigation! My phone knows where I am (that part’s a little creepy).
The harder half
May 2nd, 2011When Dan was first approached about potentially moving here and going to work for the UN, he was told (repeatedly) that the only way to make it work was to make his wife happy. They told him I’d have the harder job, and the only way we’d be able to stay here through the duration of his contract would be for the whole family to work as hard as possible to make my job as easy as possible.
We’ve not even been here a month, but I see what they were saying: I think I have the harder job.
Indoor Picnic
May 1st, 2011Benjamin has been asking us to do a picnic lately. We’ve wanted to, but somehow the timing, opportunity and weather just will not cooperate. (Which is complicated by the fact that we have good picnic “stuff” — coolers, a great blanket, etc. — but all of it is, of course, still in transit.)
Today was rainy and cool, so we decided to do a picnic . . . indoors, in our new apartment. After nap time, we packed the boys up, picked up lunch on the way (along with a couple of Eiskaffees, which are my new most favorite thing) and headed over to our new apartment. It’s nearly empty, so there’s a lot of room for Benjamin to run and have fun, and plenty of picnic space. We laid down a pad of 5 blankets and a towel so that Liam would have a somewhat comfy place to join us on the floor. Benjamin played soccer and cars while Liam proceeded to roll over (from his back to his front) for the very first time. (He then repeated this feat several more times.) We all had lunch, and wandered around, planning where all the furniture would go, while Benjamin drove his cars and trucks all over his new room.
We had a wonderful time. It was so lovely to spend the afternoon in our new place . . . and to finally give B his first Viennese picnic.
Five Senses
April 30th, 2011This morning, I was looking through my luggage for a necklace that I swear I brought with me, and I opened a duffel bag that my mom lent to me for our trip here — it smelled just like her house. It was great. I miss home. It’s not a bad feeling, but a wistful one. I’m still enjoying my time here (even though there have been some challenges) but I wish I could be experiencing what I’m experiencing while surrounded by my family and friends from home.
The sights, sounds and even smells that remind me of home are lovely and sometimes surprising. The sound of someone speaking American English on the street is pleasantly startling. Seeing something (a sign, a menu, even graffiti) written in English in a place I don’t expect it makes me smile. The taste of a McDonald’s cheeseburger, a Starbucks chai or “American Ginger Ale” are all unadulterated flashes of home. The scent of my mom’s duffel bag or a piece of as yet unworn clothing from home that still smells of Dreft or Tide or Downy are familiar and comforting.
Giving my boys a hug or a snuggle feels like, home, too, but in a different way — they’re with me on my journey here, so they are less a reminder of home, and more a reminder that, for now, this IS home.
Playing in Vienna
April 29th, 2011Much (if not most) of the playground equipment in Vienna would never exist these days in the US. It would either be outlawed by lawsuit-fearing local regulators or dismantled in the dark of night by overprotective soccer moms. A lot of it is reminiscent of the playgrounds I played on as a kid: the equipment is made of metal and wood, it’s too high, there aren’t guardrails, the ground is sometimes just ground or wood chips (not cushy recycled rubber), there are uncovered sandboxes, the swings still hang from chains and the slides probably get very hot in the summer time. But, they go beyond that, too. They have tables and planks set on springs, which are designed to be unstable and to be fun to balance on (but also challenging for a little kid). There was an actual zip line in a park we went to last week — no signs or fences or anything to prevent a kid walking under it from getting clobbered by the kid on the zip line. Several of the parks we’ve been to even have some kind of running water feature.
We have a place!
April 28th, 2011We signed the lease on our new apartment this morning. Woo hoo! We are so excited and relieved to have taken care of finding a place. And even better: we love it. It’s big, it has great light and it’s in a wonderful location. The boys will each have their own room, and we will again have a tub for bath time (we only have a shower in our current place, and B has been great about it, but he can’t wait to get in the new bathtub, and Liam has largely gone unwashed since we’ve arrived in the second temporary apartment). We were very fortunate (partly due to Dan’s persistence) to have gotten our relocation money just in time to sign our lease and pay our (huge) deposit on the apartment.
Falling apart a little
April 27th, 2011We’ve been here 3 weeks today. We’re in our second temporary apartment. We can’t get our things. We’re having trouble getting the money we were counting on for getting started. Our current living situation is less than ideal: there’s almost nowhere safe and comfortable to put Liam down, no good place to feed either child (Benjamin has been eating dinner standing up at the coffee table in the living room . . . which is also his bedroom), very little place for Benjamin to play and since it’s very small, it’s nearly impossible to keep from waking a sleeping child if the other one is up. I miss my family, I’m having trouble communicating, and I’m starting to feel the isolation of being here. So really, it’s not that surprising that it all is starting to get to be too much for me.