MUNICH VISIT

Sunday 11/27

I embarked on a journey to our neighbors to the north, Germany (a.k.a. “the land of chocolate,” according to The Simpsons). To me Germany is the land of my friends, the twins, “Nicky and Sandy” (*the German word for twins is ZWILLINGE = tsvillingah). Nicky stayed with my family for a few weeks in 1994 when I was a senior in high school under an exchange program my German teacher had set up with an all-girls school in Munich called the Bertolt Brecht Gymnasium (*a GYMNASIUM is not a place to work out – it is actually a kind of high school – has nothing to do with sports necessarily). So, the girls from this school came for a few weeks in the spring and then the kids from our school went for a few weeks in June. I didn’t get to go with our school, but I did go for a few weeks on my own after my first year of college. My family always thought I t was kind of funny that Nicky was paired up with us since my brothers are also identical twins. Well, so Nicky came one year and then Sandy came the next year! They have great memories of learning how to drive in our family’s minivan on the icy Hoffman Estates streets (they can’t learn how to drive until age 18 in Germany) and of country line dancing with my parents (yes, they got dressed up in cowboy boots and hats and everything).

They had a great time meeting other friends at HEHS like Angeline Colles, Melissa Ramos, and Rhiannon Kovacs and Heather (sorry, I can’t remember her last name). So then Nicky had come back to visit in 1997 and we had a great time playing pool and singing Karaoke at Melissa’s house and at the pool place in Hanover Park.

So, I graduated from Roosevelt in 1998 and moved to Texas and pretty much stayed here except for the occasional visit to Chicago with the occassional visit to the HEHS Deutschklub Weihnachtsfest (= Christmas party), where I was often to find Angeline and her family. In 2002 Nicky came to Houston to visit with her friend and since Houston is in the same state as Dallas, I drove down there to see her (yeah, well, it’s about a 4.5 hour drive, but at least you get to see that statue of Sam Houston when you get there!). So, we had a great time going to the Texas Road House and shopping at the super-fancy mall outside of Houston, and I stayed the night with her friend’s family, and we had a great time catching up.

Nicky and Sandy have always been great about sending emails! I always love reading their updates and seeing pictures, and I enjoy writing back and sharing my own pictures. Even though we didn’t talk on the phone a lot, the internet gave us a chance to stay in touch better. In March, 2004 David and I went to Prague with Sovik’s UNT Czech trip and we thought to try to get together with our German friends, but it was not to be since Nicky was moving at that time getting her nest all ready for her new bundle of joy, Leonie! But, I kept promising them that I was trying to get a scholarship to come studing in Vienna and that I would someday see them again. Finally I made good on that!

So, I was trying to figure out how to get from Vienna to Munich – it’s really not that far – probably 300-350 miles if I had to estimate – 4 hours by car. I tried the trains and they were actually a little more than I expected, so my friends Carly and Kim (the “Bobsy twins”) recommended Mitfahrzentrale (= mitt far tsentrAL) which is an online service you can use to find drivers or passengers to share a ride. I know what you’re thinking – it’s scary like hitchhiking, but it’s really very common here since gas (BENZIN) prices are so high, crime is so low, and people still trust each other. It is most common amongst students. So, I found this driver who would actually take me both there and back (amazing) at the end of November. He had feedback (like ebay!) and I got his driver’s license number, phone number, address, shoe size, etc… just for securtity and I told my roommate and David my plans. I felt confident about it so I went to the Hutteldorf stop on the U4 line Sunday morning at 8:30 and I met this nice guy named “Andreas.” I didn’t know what to expect in terms of car condition, but from our conversations on the phone he seemed like a normal guy. Well, his car was very nice – new, in great condition and a great ride. He was actually about 35 and super nice! He put my suitcase in the car and let me sit where I want, and even let me use his cell phone to call Sandy when we got close to Munich. Most importantly he got me to Munich safely. Then I had said last week that I would pay him for using his cell phone to call, but he wouldn’t take anything extra. We didn’t talk very much – just a little bit – he drove and I slept a little. I have to admit that I really enjoyed being in a car (being DRIVEN in a car!) and watching all the snow on the trees as we drove on the Autobahn. So, he dropped me off in Munich and Sandy came and picked me up.

Well, it’s a good thing that Sandy’s car is green with flowers on it, so that way I will never be able to miss in a parking lot! Hmmm… maybe I should do that to my car…

Well, it was so great to see Sandy, who just got married almost two monthes ago to Judith, her partner of seven years. In Germany, she explained to me, you can get married for certain civil/legal purposes, like in the case of injury the partner has legal rights to say what course of action to take, and in case of death, the partner has the same rights as other married couples. It is not called a marriage, but some sort of civil union/partnership. She told me they have it in Spain and maybe France (?), too. Judith and I became fast friends sharing a love of technology (she has Jornada 720!!! – she’s one of us, Greg!). She was showing me all kinds of cool techno-toys she has, like a super small external 80 gig hard drive that accepts all kinds of media cards so you can save your pictures on it if you’re on an extended trip. And yes, well I could go on and on since, as you know, I love technology, but na ja….

So, Sunday I had lunch with Nicky, Sandy, Leo (Nicky’s baby) and Thomas (Nicky’s boyfriend) at a German restaurant in Munich, and then I went back to Sandy’s house in St. Heinrich, where we caught up, looked at pictures and then ate dinner. Later we went to Sandy and Judith’s dance class in Munich. They were so great! Of course they are in the advanced class and they were working on the cha-cha that day. All the couples in this class were same-sex couples and they were all super! The teacher was very lively and not only taught the moves well, but also made it fun for everyone.

Judith showed me the photo albums she made from the wedding – they were so creative! She used Photoshop to do some really cool, tasteful effects and also some scrapbooking things, too. It was so impressed – she showed me how she did them on the computer so I am already inspired. It is so easy to see how happy Sandy and Judith are. They really have a home filled with a great deal of love – probably the most I’ve seen of any couple. That is also inspiring.

Monday we got up and Sandy made breakfast. We went to her office and I go to see where she works. She works for a telephone company as a kind of a quality control manager – she had to do a little work today so Nicky and Leo met us at her office and we went on our own. We left and ate lunch at CADU – “Café an der Universitaet.” I had Curry chicken and we caught up more. Then we went to the Alte Pinakothek – one of the art museums (the “old” Pinakothek). It was actually closed that day so we walked across the street to the Neue Pinakothek (the “new” Pinakothek) and saw the collection there. It was mostly works from the 18^th-early 20^th century, the later part of which is my favorite time period, so it worked out very well. I was excited to see the Honore Daumier Don Quixote original painting that I had written about in a paper I wrote about the Strauss tone poem by the same name. They had a really nice collection of Degas and Van Gogh, too so I was really pleased. We saw Degas’ the Sunflowers and van Gogh’s self portrait. I got a print of the Daumier painting in the giftshop and we were on our way. We met Sandy and I went home with her. Judith made us “extreme” nachos (and used the tabasco sauce I brought them!) for dinner. Nicky had to work a little in the evening from home – she works at an AIDS help center answering questions peoeple email to their center. Oh, then Judith spent several hours with me helping me plan my tour through Germany in March (she is a travel agent)! Oh my gosh – she helped me figure out the itinerary, map out the course, and check the train options and schedules – and Tuesday she’s going to find places for me to stay and check on prices for the train! She was so patient and helpful – I was so overwhelmed by how helpful and giving she is. What a great day.

Email from Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Hello Friends,

Please forgive the mass email, but I wanted to let you know that there are updates to my blog (online journal/pics) and invite you to "catch up with me" virtually. Things have been going well here in Austria and I have enjoyed writing about my adventures (and misadventures) in the land of waltzes! Now that December is almost here, it started snowing, there are makeshift Christmas markets all over the place (the biggest one in front of the Rathaus) with lots of homemade arts and crafts, and the Gluehwein is flowing a-plenty!

Have you ever had Vanilla Kipferl (vanilla crescents)? Here just before Advent they start making tons and tons of cookies. My old friend, Luis (cellist from Roosevelt) and his wife, Gerlinde invited me over for dinner the other night for kind of a pre-Thanksgiving meal Austrian style (roast chicken instead of turkey, roasted chestnuts instead of mashed potatoes, sweet kraut in apple seasoning, usw...) and my favorite cookie she served for dessert was the Vanilla Kipferl, which take some concentration to make since they are fairly small, delicate, and proned to breaking (Luis doesn't mind when they break, though, since he gets to eat the "rejects"). I was able to coerce the recipe - maybe you'd like to try making them:

Vanille Kipferl

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup almonds, peeled and ground
2 egg yolks
1/3 cup powdered sugar
vanilla

Mix flour and butter together until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add sugar, almonds and egg yolks and knead quickly to a short pastry. Cool for 1/2 hour.

Form to a roll of the thickness of a thumb. Cut into 1 centimeter pieces. Roll each piece in your hand to a length of about 1.5 inches and give it the shape of a French croissant (but much smaller of course, and this shape is called "Kipferl").

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 20 minutes. They may not get any color, so don't wait until they're brown!

Mix the powdered sugar with vanilla and roll the Kipferl in the sugar mixture while they are still hot. But be careful, those Kipferl tend to break very easily.

Music Collection of the Austrian National Library

After long delay, I finally gained access to the main archive at the Austrian National Library (music collection) on Monday 11/14! The whole music collection was being moved to this old palace here at Herrengasse 9. It was supposed to be finished by the time I arrived here in Austria, but that didn't happen. In the meantime I took the opportunity to visit other archives in Vienna that pertain to my research. You'd be surprised how many there are - amazing! - and they are all spread out all over the place. I still haven't been to them all. I heard that the old music collection was a very small, and not well-maintained room, not representative at all of the voluminous collection of historical manuscripts, music and reference books. So, it is actually really nice to be amongst the first to enjoy the new facilities. Yesterday there was a photographer here taking pictures of people "in action" in the archive and he took some pictures of me studying the manuscripts intently. Hey, I'm almost famous! So, the palace that houses the collection (along with the Globe Museum and the Esperanto Museum) is 500 years old, though it certainly has been renovated throughout the years. There is an interesting timeline of the palace history, which I will post later when I upload my pictures. It is good to be working in the collection. There are about 2-3 thousand pages in the boxes of the specific collection I am working with. Right now I'm on page 75. I guess I have my work cut out for me. Check back next week for more on the library and on the Staatsoper Museum, and our makeshift American-Austrian Thanksgiving Feast (subtitled: "Yes, you CAN find cranberry sauce in Vienna").

Wednesday (11/16) I got to meet up with my old friend, Luis Zorita, who is a cellist and was a student at Roosevelt University at the same time I was. We were good friends back then - we had a group of people like Izzy Getzov, Katy Wentink (Phish fan), Lea Wilkinson, Chai, Ferras Hattar, and other folks. One of my earliest memories of Luis is when we played the opera, "Die Fledermaus" together at RU. He used to do everything he could to try to make me laugh during performances. He was certainly one the most talented musicians there and now he lives in Vienna. He got married to Gerlinda and has a cute son, Rafael (pictured here). He plays in various ensembles in Vienna and throughout Europe. He mainly plays principle cello or solo cello (just got done with performances of Don Quixote!) Actually, I would say that he is quite sucessful in his career as a performer. He says he is more "successful" at being happy and content with what he does and with his family. Isn't that nice?

Well, it finally happened - it snowed here in Vienna. It was Saturday 11/18 and I was at the Flohmarkt (where else would I be on a Saturday?!) and it began to snow wildly. So here is a picture not only of the snow but also of the infamous Flohmarkt. The snow was cold... and wet... and white (as it tends to be). The people were very excited. I tried to persevere through the trecherous snow to get to those wonderful bargains, but alas I was too cold, so I bought some vegetables at the Naschmarkt and went home. Then I watched Malcolm in the Middle in German ("Malcolm Mittendrin").

This is a really interesting website:

http://www.patmedia.net/marklevinson/cool/cool_illusion.html

Here is the grave of Heinrich Schenker. It is found in the Jewish section of the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna.

Anniversary
November 5, 1955 was the day that the Vienna Opera reopened after the reconstruction of the opera house after the war. Saturday night they had a special concert to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the reopenning.

Airport this morning

Late last night (early this morning)
I heard the screen door slam (well, we don't have a screen door)
And a big yellow taxi (a big yellow plane)
Took away my old man (well, he's not that old yet)
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

-Joni Mitchell

OK, I am certainly about 15 posts behind, but I had to comment on the lovely time David and I had here in Vienna the last 10 days. Of course they went by too quickly, and it was hard (in many ways) to get up at 4am this morning to take him to the airport.

Funny thing happened when I was dragging my sad self out of the airport, buying my ticket for the schnellbahn to get my weary self back to bed. Three Thai ladies came down the stairs with their suitcases (it's 5:30am) and they asked me in pretty good English how to buy a ticket from the machine. So I helped them choose the right ticket and I even made change for them. They were very nice. I could tell that they weren't native English speakers (and they probably didn't speak any German since they didn't even try to talk to me in German), and so I spoke clearly. At the end of the transaction they said to me with vigor, "My, you're English is so good!" to which I replied, "I hope so, I'm from America!" They BURST out laughing - it was so funny. Only in Vienna...

As the fiancé of the Fulbrighter visiting, I have been asked to do a guest post on Jen’s blog. Here are my thoughts on my stay:

What an amazing country. The sights, sounds, and smells are quite intoxicating. I had no idea what I was in store for me, and little did I know that a documentary on TV that I had watched before I came here would only show a small % of what really exists here. Pictures on TV do not do this country justice. My first impression after landing and riding on the Ubahn (subway) back to Jen’s apartment was that most of the buildings have the same architecture/build. Every window on every floor looks the same. Each has the same awning or fixtures. Although no 2 buildings look alike, they all “resemble” each other in their architecture.

After walking around the 40 or so rooms open to the public at Schoenbrun castle, I realized that this many of these places were built “on steroids”. It seems that each place is bigger than the next (with Schoenbrun being the “Big Daddy” of them all). I can’t imagine living in a 1400 room palace. It gives me something to aspire to. :-)

Same goes for walking around Melk Abbey last Sunday. I couldn’t get over how this one monastery/church/school just dominated the city. The sheer size of the building just blew me away. In addition, I loved how the little town was basically built around the Abbey. I was a little upset that we weren’t able to take a boat cruise down the Danube, but it gives me something to look forward to should I ever make my way back to Melk.

Last night, Jen and I saw Billy Budd (in English) at the Opera House here. What a deal…9 Euro for some of the best seats in the house. Sure, we took a chance that tickets might not be available, but it was worth a shot, and boy did we come through. Seeing as how these seats would usually cost anywhere from 120-150 Euros, I would say it was the deal of the century. Jen will be the first to tell you that I’m not one for going to see Operas, but last night definitely changed my views. Those singers had amazing voices, and the person that placed Jemmy Legs just blew me away. After watching the performers get standing ovations and “Hurrahs” after the last curtain, I kind of felt I was in the wrong profession. Jen has always wanted me to try and become a professional singer since she loves my low voice. However, I don’t think I’m that good.

The Fulbrighters in Jen’s program are very nice. I really enjoy spending time with them since they all come from different backgrounds. What impresses me most is their command of the German language. It seems that each person is better than the next when it comes to speaking. The group gets along very well, and it seems like many of these people will be friends long after the program is over. I am really impressed by Nancy and how she is on her 5^th Fulbright mission!!! (Jen, I don’t know if I’d be able to take you going on 5 missions…maybe one day I can move with you like Guy did). Guy and Nancy live in a huge apartment. In fact, it is bigger than the 2 apartments that I have lived in in Dallas. Guy is a ton of fun, and I can see why many of the Fulbrighters enjoy spending time with him.

Halloween was fun in Vienna. Its hard to believe that the holiday was just recently accepted within the past 10 years. On Saturday, we went to a place called “Heaven” which was basically a mountaintop. Here, they had a huge pumpkin festival celebrating all things pumpkin. Although I wasn’t feeling the best that day (definitely my lowest point of the trip), it was quite a scene watching all the kids getting their faces painted, spending time carving pumpkins, and enjoying the food. I liked the pumpkin juice. I had never tasted anything quite like it, and I don’t know if I ever will again. The only problem with “Heaven” was that it was FRICKIN FREEZING up there. There had to be a good 20-25 degree temperature difference from the top of the hill to the bottom where we picked up the Strassenbahn (busses).

The transportation system here is unlike any of those I have seen in Greece, Czech Republic, Turkey, or the US. They take efficiency to a whole new level here. What I would give for NYC or Chicago to have this good of a system. I am very impressed how you ALWAYS know the time between the next train, subway, bus, etc. Plus, those things travel very quickly. It seems like you can go from one end all the way to the other end within 10-20 minutes.

<-(This is a picture of David at the Shoah memorial at Judenplatz)

Although I could continue writing, I just feel that you have to come and check this place out for yourself. My words and Jen’s blogs still don’t do any justice to the beauty of this country. Sure, I wish it was 20 degrees warmer and always sunny. However, it makes me appreciate what I live in back home.

It’s sad to think that my journey is quickly coming to an end. I have had so much fun here. It’s been great to spend a lot of time with my fiancé (who I miss and love dearly), but I know that she is here for her own mission. She really wishes I would stay, but I don’t want to interfere with her grand goals. After working so hard to get to this point, I am so proud of her and her accomplishments. Its going to be tough to go back home after experiencing everything that I have over here, but I do know that one day I will make my way back to this lovely country.

Jen, thank you for everything. I really appreciate it and I love you so much. Congrats!!

Next trip for Jen and David in February: Paris, Milan, and ???

Sincerely,
David Auerbach

A few weeks ago Guy and Nancy Hargrove had a bunch of Fulbrighters over to their lovely apartment on Josephstaedter Strasse. It is this wonderful Altbau (old build) very close to the Josephstaedter Theater. It's huge and has all this great old furniture - probably family heirlooms - they are so lucky! Guy is a singer and is a retired professor from Mississippi State U and Nancy is here as the distinguished chair of the English department on her FIFTH Fulbright! She is an amazing teacher and they have flocked to her classes here. She and Guy met 40 years ago in Paris where they were both on Fulbright grants! They were two of the first Fulbright students ever. Guy and Nancy have become kind of the "band parents" of the Fulbright "kids."

Guy cooked spaghetti and afterwards we watched a movie that Danny brought. But the problem was that they had no DVD player, so I brought my portable one. So, I have become the techie on the trip (scary, I know...) and I set out to hook up the DVD player to their big, European TV. Not as simple as you would think. There was not a place for the RCA cables to go, so we tried hooking it up through the sound system. Finally, Danny and I figured it out together. We watched the movie, "School of Rock" with Jack Black, which was very funny, and then we left. Here are pictures from the dinner that night. Of course we messed up Guy and Nancy's sound system and Danny had to go back and fix it the next day (which was no easy task - thanks Danny!). I have also become the computer techie (OK, by me!) and here is a picture of me helping Guy attach pictures to emails.