Hiya my lasses and lads...
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| Leeds from the Parkinson Tower (university) |
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| my favourite building Town Hall |
Over a month has passed since I’ve posted something, so it is definitely time to update “Ta Luv”. The last couple of weeks have been exciting. Not only did I go back home, but I attended numerous Christmas dinners in Leeds…well and now I am back in good old Leeds. But let’s start from the beginning, to make it a bit less confusing.
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| Lawnswood MFL teachers |
In December both of my schools invited me to a Christmas dinner. Normally the school books a fancy restaurant and those who fancy go there. It is a matter of wearing fancy pants and skirts and of fast mass-stuffing your face so to say ;) Well, but I reckon it can also be quite nice. As my teachers did not want to go to this massive commercial Christmas dinner extravaganza, they decided to do a private dinner, which was soooo nice. I was invited to Vicky’s place (my mentor teacher). Being Austrian made me predestined to be in charge of the mulled wine – as supposedly we Austrians have this in our blood. Hahahaha in my case it was a matter of mixing as much booze as possible – I kept adding and adding rum…jugged in almost an entire bottle ;), in the end it turned out really yummy though. We had traditional turkey, sprouts, cranberry sauce and what have you…
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| Christmas Pudding... |
Of course also Christmas Pudding was not missing. It is a British delicacy you only have at Christmas: it consists of dried fruits preserved in alcohol and then after steaming it for ages you pour more booze over it and light it... So one might imagine that it has a quite particular taste. I even brought some pudding home to spread the British Christmas spirit among my Austrian fellow beings. Some of my friends had the honor to taste it…it was … well let’s say it like the polite British people would say “an interesting, different experience” ;) All in all, the Christmas dinners were lovely though. I am so lucky that both schools look that well after me!
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| the Archery's Christmas |
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| our lovely dinner |
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| my secret Santa gifts |
Apart from school dinners we also made our private Archery Place Christmas dinner and did Secret Santa…it really helped to get me into the right Christmas mood. Somehow the German Christmas market which had been on in Leeds since the beginning of November, with all the Bratwurst and big Steins of beer and party music (as you would find it back home at common summer festivals) did not really put me in a Christmassy mood…But to be honest all in all the Christmas market was quite authentic.
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| drinking mulled wine |
After all those Christmas feasts, maniac Christmas present shopping, etc. I headed back to Austria, and I was really lucky as numerous flights got cancelled. Kathrin and I were quite worried about that…and our journey already started in a really interesting way as after waiting about 15 minutes for our dear Megabus (cheap bus in England, brings you for 1 pound from London to Leeds which is amaaaaazing) driver showed up. As it was biting cold and he was late he could not be bothered to check our tickets, thus after driving 45 minutes in the direction of London two passengers astonishingly asked him: “Wait a second, is this bus not going to Newcastle…” mmmhhhh nope that’s the other way my dear fellow Megabus travellers. The dear driver did not just ditch them on the street, but he brought them back to Leeds. Unbelievable – quite bad for us other passengers, but really nice for the other two! In the end although there was some snow I made it back home and had lots of fun there.
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| pink roses from Loco!!! Thanks |
My brother was so sweet and picked me up from the airport with a bunch of pink roses...we had a great day going for good Austrian coffee and pastry and some nice mulled wine...
Over the following two weeks I met up with friends, had some fun nights out, lots of coffee and even more hour long chats. Was good to see everyone!
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| xmas with Judith |
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| Linz with Agnes |
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| Leberkässemmel with Eve, who came from Vienna just for one coffee...how sweet. xxx |
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| with Oli, Maria and Eve @mine | | | |
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| New Years at Albert's |
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| mmh English Christmas Pudding...suspiscious looks... |
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| New Years in Aschach (tiny town close to my parents') |
After two weeks of Austrian vacation, with “proper” Austrian language, were no Germans question the correctness of one’s speech ;) and good Austrian food à la Mama I headed back to lovely chubly Leeds. I was really motivated and work was great. Did numerous stuff with German/Austrian films, worked on Turkish German immigrants, etc. – so really interesting! I kind of gained the reputation of being really patriotic as I am always trying to work on Austrian issues. I know that our country is tiny and that everyone only knows Germany…BUT this has to change!!!! People have to start realizing that we Austrians also speak German, that we do not have Kangaroos and that we don’t have a sea ;). Had a real great time at school. It is really good to be back. Apart from regular teaching Vicky and I are also planning a “cooking exchange” with my former school back home. We are all really excited about it and we’ll see how it goes. But it is a great project and the students are really enthusiastic. Some of them also finally realized that we speak German in Austria which is a step in the right directions, who knows in the end they will end up ordering “Melange mit Schlag, einen Almdudler and Sachertorte” ;)
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| reunion in Sheffield with Sam |
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| having curry |
Apart from work, I’ve also done lots of other stuff. Kathrin and I went to Sheffield where I met up with Sam, whom I met while I was studying in Valencia. It was so great to see him after such a long time. At night we went to a really fancy restaurant. Even though we had a reservation they made us wait for 30 minutes – “restaurant policy”. What is really interesting is that they do not serve alcohol. It is a traditional curry house (curry is THE typical British food I would say, and it is absolutely delicious!!!), the owner is Muslim and thus does not serve alcohol as it goes against his religion. Normally costumers are then allowed to bring their own alcohol –which is also quite interesting, considering that they lose a considerable amount of money.
This week I want to do a bit more cultural stuff, visit an Abbey, go to a museum, etc. Time is flying by it is unbelievable….I should start looking into what to do next year…
Good I am looking forward to hearing from you guys and I hope you are all well.
Tara!!
Intersting Note:
It is quite interesting how many churches in England (or in particular in Leeds) have been converted into other buildings. There is a nightclub, a library and a university building. Álvaro and I walked around the uni and visited one of the churches. It was amazing how they reconstructed it...looks pretty amazing.
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| Leeds University |
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Well, another thought I had this week...it is amazing how time changes, would one normally tear a piece of paper from a job ad with the phone number on it. However, nowadays everything works with iphone and you have it and you just take a picture...
I went to the museum with Kathrin this week and I found an interesting quote with which I'll let you finally go:
"YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE TO BE CHOSEN"
