Lesson #10 Sun snow and sonstiges :)
Let’s start with the Schnee! Which, although hardly copious, has impinged at least a little bit on my life these past two weeks. Plus I feel entirely justified in going on about it so much as it’s a public obsession here ;) Anyway. My reaction to the first flakes was, naturally, to go for a run in it (well the local joggers aren‘t dissuaded, indeed I’ve had the embarrassing experience of passing a group of my students - luckily they were the ones jogging…). Running in the snow turned out not to be the soft pleasant experience I’d imagined. It’s intense though - harshness in my lungs, fierce flecks in my eyes and an icy cold wet face while the rest of me overheats. And a sharp melting feeling when I finally stop and go inside. Melting, incidentally, is what the snow insists on doing on a regular basis, so we have not as yet had a proper white-out for more than a day or so. The closest we’ve been was last Saturday, when we really did have a fall - enough to necessitate walking boots for any kind of outdoor excursion! I went to Bruck and walked round, bewildered as to why the world hadn’t stopped for snowball fights and snowmen. In fact most people looked fairly irritated by the white wonder, heads down and umbrellas up (I’d not even thought of that!). Although there were one or two families with small children out enjoying it. I have to say that by the time I got home I started to understand - snow is beautiful, but it needs to stop in order to be appreciated!!
It did make my first Maturaball that little bit more exciting though. The Maturaball is like our leaver’s ball for year 13, except that over here it happens much earlier, and is, it seems, a much grander affair. (Me and Alix and Kurt - the Bruck assistants - did attempt to attend one before, but having arrived in all our finery and deposited our coats in the cloakroom we were told there were no tickets, and were left to slink out as unobtrusively as possible and head to the Italian). This time Nicola came down from Murau which was lovely, because a) she’s great and b) she’s been to one before so knows the protocol! Poor old Otto (the car) was thus taken on an exciting snowy journey, along a motorway that had suddenly lost its lane markings, and left under a lamppost to accumulate snow while Nicola and I squeak our way to the door. Open-toed shoes were perhaps not the ideal choice, making our entrance giggly rather than glamorous, but we soon recover our sense of propriety and attempt to divest ourselves of red ski jackets as soon as possible.
Apparently the first thing to do is to find a good spot from which to watch the Polonais, the choreographed dance traditionally performed by the leaving students. This we duly do, only to be foiled at the last minute when all the adoring parents (at their specially reserved tables) stand up to film their darlings promenading in, so we only get glimpses. I can’t really see the dance, but the girls are beautiful, stunning in white dresses with pink rose bouquets, and the boys look surprisingly dashing in black suits and pink ties - and shades, as, in the middle of the Viennese Walz, #Nod Your Head!# breaks out over the speakers and the dance moves undergo radical change! I have to say, it’s undeniably cool.
Once the official dance is over it’s the turn of the parents to dance proudly with their leavers, and then the floor is open. It’s the rule rather than the exception here that people know how to dance - walz, polka, cha-cha and even rock and roll - everyone knows the steps, even if they can’t always execute them that well! Am unashamedly envious of Nic who’s been taking lessons and clearly knows what she’s doing when Markus (lovely guy from church whose son I am helping with English) takes her onto the floor. He’s a gentleman though and takes me for a twirl too! I’m not whirling wonderfully the way I’d hoped, but he’s very patient and it’s great fun :D
At midnight it’s time for something completely different… the leavers have prepared a performance piece to entertain us all! And what a performance - everyone gives their absolute all, it’s amazing! Celebrating 100 years of the school, they start with Kaiserin Sisi and violins, and then give us a whistle-stop tour of the decades, each section divided by a walking clock and a guy wearing Lederhosen and playing the accordion. The acts range from the sublime to the silly and back again, highlights including Jailhouse Rock, hippy happiness, a rather random cactus song with unfathomable actions and a very convincing Michael Jackson. I’m particularly curious to discover what they’ll use to represent the 90s, my decade (as I see it!). I can‘t think what it might be… until on come 5 perfectly choreographed guys in jeans and clean white shirts. A Boyband made in heaven! They’re soon joined by Britney and gang, and once again I am left gob smacked at the dancing. Either every Austrian is incredibly gifted on the floor, or else there are a lot of very quick costume changes going on!!
We end up staying til 2. The live band plays the whole time, and though most of the students disappear into the disco there are still plenty of people walzing and cha-cha-ing away. Apparently the non-leavers will be kicked out at 3, and then at 5 the leavers are served champagne breakfast… quite a do, all told! It leaves me still in two minds about balls - in many ways they’re lovely things and I could wish we had more of them; beautiful people, beautiful dancing, fun and girly giggles and boys trying so hard… On the other hand the tension of looking at ease, the pain in your feet, the constant expectation and constant disillusionment all at once… It reminds that at heart I’m not a ball person, but I hope that for the leavers it was a truly wonderful night.
Sticking with the dancing theme, the Thursday before the ball fellow-assistant Alix, her visiting boyfriend Toni and I went to ‘Nacht der Musicals’. There too the dancing was amazing and the singing great aswell, although I couldn’t help but notice that where a singer can’t quite pronounce the English words it really affects the song’s impact. And most of the show was sung in English. They did include a few Austrian musicals though and I’m determined to see them. Mozart’s homeland still has a lot to say musically, it seems! The show opened with my beloved Romeo und Julia, and I forgave them the fact that I stood for the whole evening in order to be able to see anything. One song and I was drawn in, slipping easily into a world where everything is clearer, sharper, and softer.
After a fantastic Abba finale the cry goes up: “Zunahme! Zunahme! Actually, it’s much better suited for enthusiastic football-crowd-style chanting than our ‘Encore’:
“Zu - nah - me!” “Zu - nah - me!”
And it beats having to prove your enthusiasm by enduring the pain of extended clapping! Anyway, the cast were sweetly candid about having something prepared, but I wasn’t prepared for the something. ‘Ein bisschen interactive Musical’… I never envisioned myself standing in a concert hall doing The Time Warp with 800 Austrians.
To be fair, neither did I ever imagine standing in front of a class to hear the teacher say, perfectly seriously, ‘So come on, what can you tell Fiona about the social life of dolphins?’ But such was my most recent experience of Abendschule: evening school run for adults at the technical school. More cheerful than the usual second-language topics at least!
What else have I been doing? I have been abandoned by Alix, who is swanning off to Russia (although her flat was more of an ugly-duckling mess when I went round t o say goodbye ;) ). Have been back at the Gymnasium, being helloed in the corridors by various random year 3s (year 8 for us) so I must have left some sort of impression on the ski trip. Have provided the church youth group with something approximating to English Afternoon Tea (at least, it involved jam, cucumber, and PG tips). I have also, for the musically inclined, discovered the existence of the mysterious Austrian ‘H’ chord, which apparently on the guitar corresponds to one of our Bs. :S
I have lost my phone. I have cleaned everything in the flat. I have spent a happy hour bashing away at ice with large sticks in an attempt to free fish from the perils of an ice-covered pond with Johannes and discovered how lovely it is to achieve a pointless aim. And lessons with my private pupils have taught me that Austrians have different playing cards and left me pondering over the difference between a filter, a strainer and a sieve…
:D
It did make my first Maturaball that little bit more exciting though. The Maturaball is like our leaver’s ball for year 13, except that over here it happens much earlier, and is, it seems, a much grander affair. (Me and Alix and Kurt - the Bruck assistants - did attempt to attend one before, but having arrived in all our finery and deposited our coats in the cloakroom we were told there were no tickets, and were left to slink out as unobtrusively as possible and head to the Italian). This time Nicola came down from Murau which was lovely, because a) she’s great and b) she’s been to one before so knows the protocol! Poor old Otto (the car) was thus taken on an exciting snowy journey, along a motorway that had suddenly lost its lane markings, and left under a lamppost to accumulate snow while Nicola and I squeak our way to the door. Open-toed shoes were perhaps not the ideal choice, making our entrance giggly rather than glamorous, but we soon recover our sense of propriety and attempt to divest ourselves of red ski jackets as soon as possible.
Apparently the first thing to do is to find a good spot from which to watch the Polonais, the choreographed dance traditionally performed by the leaving students. This we duly do, only to be foiled at the last minute when all the adoring parents (at their specially reserved tables) stand up to film their darlings promenading in, so we only get glimpses. I can’t really see the dance, but the girls are beautiful, stunning in white dresses with pink rose bouquets, and the boys look surprisingly dashing in black suits and pink ties - and shades, as, in the middle of the Viennese Walz, #Nod Your Head!# breaks out over the speakers and the dance moves undergo radical change! I have to say, it’s undeniably cool.
Once the official dance is over it’s the turn of the parents to dance proudly with their leavers, and then the floor is open. It’s the rule rather than the exception here that people know how to dance - walz, polka, cha-cha and even rock and roll - everyone knows the steps, even if they can’t always execute them that well! Am unashamedly envious of Nic who’s been taking lessons and clearly knows what she’s doing when Markus (lovely guy from church whose son I am helping with English) takes her onto the floor. He’s a gentleman though and takes me for a twirl too! I’m not whirling wonderfully the way I’d hoped, but he’s very patient and it’s great fun :D
At midnight it’s time for something completely different… the leavers have prepared a performance piece to entertain us all! And what a performance - everyone gives their absolute all, it’s amazing! Celebrating 100 years of the school, they start with Kaiserin Sisi and violins, and then give us a whistle-stop tour of the decades, each section divided by a walking clock and a guy wearing Lederhosen and playing the accordion. The acts range from the sublime to the silly and back again, highlights including Jailhouse Rock, hippy happiness, a rather random cactus song with unfathomable actions and a very convincing Michael Jackson. I’m particularly curious to discover what they’ll use to represent the 90s, my decade (as I see it!). I can‘t think what it might be… until on come 5 perfectly choreographed guys in jeans and clean white shirts. A Boyband made in heaven! They’re soon joined by Britney and gang, and once again I am left gob smacked at the dancing. Either every Austrian is incredibly gifted on the floor, or else there are a lot of very quick costume changes going on!!
We end up staying til 2. The live band plays the whole time, and though most of the students disappear into the disco there are still plenty of people walzing and cha-cha-ing away. Apparently the non-leavers will be kicked out at 3, and then at 5 the leavers are served champagne breakfast… quite a do, all told! It leaves me still in two minds about balls - in many ways they’re lovely things and I could wish we had more of them; beautiful people, beautiful dancing, fun and girly giggles and boys trying so hard… On the other hand the tension of looking at ease, the pain in your feet, the constant expectation and constant disillusionment all at once… It reminds that at heart I’m not a ball person, but I hope that for the leavers it was a truly wonderful night.
Sticking with the dancing theme, the Thursday before the ball fellow-assistant Alix, her visiting boyfriend Toni and I went to ‘Nacht der Musicals’. There too the dancing was amazing and the singing great aswell, although I couldn’t help but notice that where a singer can’t quite pronounce the English words it really affects the song’s impact. And most of the show was sung in English. They did include a few Austrian musicals though and I’m determined to see them. Mozart’s homeland still has a lot to say musically, it seems! The show opened with my beloved Romeo und Julia, and I forgave them the fact that I stood for the whole evening in order to be able to see anything. One song and I was drawn in, slipping easily into a world where everything is clearer, sharper, and softer.
After a fantastic Abba finale the cry goes up: “Zunahme! Zunahme! Actually, it’s much better suited for enthusiastic football-crowd-style chanting than our ‘Encore’:
“Zu - nah - me!” “Zu - nah - me!”
And it beats having to prove your enthusiasm by enduring the pain of extended clapping! Anyway, the cast were sweetly candid about having something prepared, but I wasn’t prepared for the something. ‘Ein bisschen interactive Musical’… I never envisioned myself standing in a concert hall doing The Time Warp with 800 Austrians.
To be fair, neither did I ever imagine standing in front of a class to hear the teacher say, perfectly seriously, ‘So come on, what can you tell Fiona about the social life of dolphins?’ But such was my most recent experience of Abendschule: evening school run for adults at the technical school. More cheerful than the usual second-language topics at least!
What else have I been doing? I have been abandoned by Alix, who is swanning off to Russia (although her flat was more of an ugly-duckling mess when I went round t o say goodbye ;) ). Have been back at the Gymnasium, being helloed in the corridors by various random year 3s (year 8 for us) so I must have left some sort of impression on the ski trip. Have provided the church youth group with something approximating to English Afternoon Tea (at least, it involved jam, cucumber, and PG tips). I have also, for the musically inclined, discovered the existence of the mysterious Austrian ‘H’ chord, which apparently on the guitar corresponds to one of our Bs. :S
I have lost my phone. I have cleaned everything in the flat. I have spent a happy hour bashing away at ice with large sticks in an attempt to free fish from the perils of an ice-covered pond with Johannes and discovered how lovely it is to achieve a pointless aim. And lessons with my private pupils have taught me that Austrians have different playing cards and left me pondering over the difference between a filter, a strainer and a sieve…
:D
posted by Little Fi | 1:17 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home