(From Rob) These Are a Few of my Favorite Things
If Julie Andrews gets to cavort through Austria listing her favorite things, then so do I . But I will not dress as a nun. Not yet. Maybe later. So please forget "Brown paper packages tied up with string...." and join me.
Favorite Blue Things: Maddie and Will in their Kinder-Uni T-Shirts riding the bus and saying ridiculous, loud things in English as disconcerted Viennese look on. I love the fact that there were many more ill behaved children than mine in the group of 25 kids I took through Vienna on a tour yesterday. That makes me feel like I could actually live here.
Favorite Tired Things: Here, in a 1915 painting by Egon Schiele, you see Mary Ann, Sebi and Joss after they have awakened her at 3:12 am. I can't wait to get back and to take over my old shift again. Really!
Favorite Old Musty Things: Old Baroque Libraries with lots of leather-bound books and ladders to reach them all.
Favorite Naughty Things: Subversive, Liberal University students who switch the signs and the symbols on the restroom doors (Herren, in case your Deutsch is kaput, means "Men"). They mean this very seriously as a protest against gender stereotyping. Another favorite: "Space Invaders against Homophobia." Try explaining that to Will. I think that BYU could use a few more subversive students who don't go to their bishop if they drink a Red Bull.
My Favorite Green Thing: Long, shady walking paths lined with big, old chestnut trees. And a bench for me to sit on while I read "Lolita" when I should be dilligently working at the Library. And Old Grannies who engage in long monologues with their yappy dogs, trying to instill in them a European sense of societal Super-ego so that they do not make a Gackerl on the path.
My Favorite Relaxing Thing: The Austrian penchant for spending warm summer evenings in Cafes and beer gardens, sitting at tables and chairs resting on gravel. They sit here for hours. Maddie and Will last and hour and then they start to flip the paper coasters from under their Apfelsaft G'sprizt and yap like little dogs.
I would feel ungrateful today if I did not stand and tell you once again how appreciativeI am for Europe and all of its myriad little social rules. Don't eat here, stand to the right and walk to the left, use one card to get into the library and another to pick up your books, sit in your assigned seats, etc. ad nauseum. Actually, this means that parks, U-bahn seats and tables are all meticulously clean, and there are no noisy neighbors or ugly dead grass. The sign above says "Take a scoopie for my poopie." You will be fined 36 Euros if you leave Fritzi's Gackerl by a green bench on a chestnut-lined path in a park. So even though these rules seem intrusive by American standards (and my European frends assure me that the Good Ol' US of A has similarly myriad and incomprehensible rules) I agree with most of them.
Favorite Blue Things: Maddie and Will in their Kinder-Uni T-Shirts riding the bus and saying ridiculous, loud things in English as disconcerted Viennese look on. I love the fact that there were many more ill behaved children than mine in the group of 25 kids I took through Vienna on a tour yesterday. That makes me feel like I could actually live here.
Favorite Tired Things: Here, in a 1915 painting by Egon Schiele, you see Mary Ann, Sebi and Joss after they have awakened her at 3:12 am. I can't wait to get back and to take over my old shift again. Really!
Favorite Old Musty Things: Old Baroque Libraries with lots of leather-bound books and ladders to reach them all.Favorite Naughty Things: Subversive, Liberal University students who switch the signs and the symbols on the restroom doors (Herren, in case your Deutsch is kaput, means "Men"). They mean this very seriously as a protest against gender stereotyping. Another favorite: "Space Invaders against Homophobia." Try explaining that to Will. I think that BYU could use a few more subversive students who don't go to their bishop if they drink a Red Bull.
My Favorite Green Thing: Long, shady walking paths lined with big, old chestnut trees. And a bench for me to sit on while I read "Lolita" when I should be dilligently working at the Library. And Old Grannies who engage in long monologues with their yappy dogs, trying to instill in them a European sense of societal Super-ego so that they do not make a Gackerl on the path.
My Favorite Relaxing Thing: The Austrian penchant for spending warm summer evenings in Cafes and beer gardens, sitting at tables and chairs resting on gravel. They sit here for hours. Maddie and Will last and hour and then they start to flip the paper coasters from under their Apfelsaft G'sprizt and yap like little dogs.
I would feel ungrateful today if I did not stand and tell you once again how appreciativeI am for Europe and all of its myriad little social rules. Don't eat here, stand to the right and walk to the left, use one card to get into the library and another to pick up your books, sit in your assigned seats, etc. ad nauseum. Actually, this means that parks, U-bahn seats and tables are all meticulously clean, and there are no noisy neighbors or ugly dead grass. The sign above says "Take a scoopie for my poopie." You will be fined 36 Euros if you leave Fritzi's Gackerl by a green bench on a chestnut-lined path in a park. So even though these rules seem intrusive by American standards (and my European frends assure me that the Good Ol' US of A has similarly myriad and incomprehensible rules) I agree with most of them. When the Dog gackerls, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad....I simply indulge in my favorite things and then I don't feeeeeeeel sooooooo baaaaaaaaad!!!!
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