Some sugar before bed

I had a little extra time with Kristina tonight, since Elena was in bed with some sort of bug.  Two highlights from my interactions with this little ball of energy:

Sitting together, eating dinner.  Kristina burps.
Me: "Kristina, what should you say now?"
Kristina: "Ummm..."
Me: "Excuse me."
Kristina: "Eks-svoo...eks-svoo...ummm..."
Me, laughing: "I guess you could stick with entschuldigung."
Kristina smiles: "Entschuldigung.  Sometimes must I big rulpsen."  [Translation: rulpsen=burp]
3 minutes later
Me: "Well, would you like a Zukerl [candy] or a Christmas cookie* for dessert tonight?"
Kristina, looking me straight in the eyes, very concentrated:  "Eks-YOOZ me!"

I'm so proud of her.

As I gave her a goodnight hug in her bed:
"Hilary, I love you more than one thousand diamonds."

Now if that doesn't make your heart melt, I don't know what will.

Grace and peace,
Hilary

*Yes, we still have Christmas cookies.

Vierundzwanzig

My goodness, I don't even know where to start here!  I turned 24 this weekend--there was so much hoopla that I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to keep this entry short enough to spare your eyes from melting at the computer screen glow.

Now it just so happens that the girls' grandfather and I share a birthday.  Since it was his 70th, there was a lovely little banquet in his honor.  It was held at a Heuriger just north of my town here.  There were old friends of Gerhard's and family present, some of whom I knew, and others I didn't.  I wasn't to be too nervous, though, as good ol' Onkel Erich was so kind as to introduce me to the unfamiliar ones...as his new girlfriend.

Our evening officially began with a spoof of a Catholic litany, with the caller saying things like, "If we eat too much and have too much wine..." and the guests responding/singing together with "please forgive us."  After some delicious wine, soup, and the main course, my girls recited a poem for Opa, as did a couple other guests...including Onkel Erich.

He opened with, "I know a person who..." and said lots of nice things, repeating that phrase throughout the poem.  He ended with "I know a person who...was born on the 15th of January, 1989, and her name is Hilary," as he pulled out a box of chocolates for me as everyone began to laugh.  I was so pleased and surprised (and I guess I'm nearing that certain time) that I didn't mind him calling me younger than I am.

Sunday morning brought another little surprise.  I got up, showered, and dressed, and when we all sat down to breakfast together, Elisabeth came out with a birthday cake for our breakfast!  The girls grabbed some gifts from the other table, and they sang for me before I blew out the candle.  It was so sweet of them and I wasn't expecting it.

Shortly after breakfast, I left for church.  Several of our young adults get together before church on Sundays and have a bible study over lunch.  Andrea was waiting for me with beautiful flowers, Jess came with a card and pizza, Seungwoo led everyone in another round of happy birthday on the guitar, Steph and Darryl had a little American birthday gift from their trip home over the holidays, and I got lots of birthday hugs all around.

After church, everyone disappeared before I could say goodbye!  So I left with Helen, my English friend, as we'd planned to have dinner at a little Italian place near our Austro-Brazilian friend Vic's house.  Well, we got lost--but it was lightly snowing, so we were plenty entertained!  Anyway, her friend had given her wrong directions, so we called Vic to see if he could help us.  When he didn't answer, Helen insisted we just go to his house since it was so close and see if we could look it up online.

I felt so awkward just showing up, and even more so when I saw his face at the door.  He uncomfortably explained that his dad was frustrated and he was helping him move stuff around, asked us to wait outside 5 minutes, and disappeared inside.  I tried my hardest to convince Helen to just leave and go find a new place and let Vic know not to worry, but he came out pretty quickly to bring us inside.  Helen kicked off her shoes and ran into the living room, asking me to come as well.

But I felt so strange there!  I was uncomfortable, didn't feel welcome, and just wanted to get to dinner quickly.  Besides, why should I take off my boots, scarf, hat, gloves and coat just to put them right back on?  It took her and Vic at least 2 or 3 minutes to convince me that I had to help her, and as I walked into the living room, the lights flipped on and all of my friends popped up with a "SURPRISE!"  (Don't worry--I still got my Italian...they had cooked a delicious dinner for everyone as well!)

I had been completely clueless.  I thought I'm a pretty observant and intuitive person, but they got me.  I couldn't believe it!  There were black and white streamers everywhere, panda balloons in every corner, lampshades turned into pandas, and even a panda cake, complete with green candy bamboo and chocolate covered pocky sticks for some extra bamboo shoots.

I felt so incredibly loved on my birthday.  I think my 24th year will be a milestone--there will be lots of change this year, and starting it off feeling like this is a fantastic way to do it.  Thank you to my wonderful friends, near and far, who make my life so exciting!

Grace and peace,

Hilary

P.S.  Enjoy a few more pictures, just because I loved my party so much:

I believe it's possible that I was shim-shamming with Kirstin and texting my Austrian family at the same time.  It's a new 24-year-old skill.

Delicious pasta dinner with great company.  I love how international my community is here.  Our party was made up of American, English, Kenyan, Romanian, Brazilian, Austrian, Filipino and South Korean friends.

Now I'm old enough that pictures of my candles make it look like my cake's on fire!

Eine Schlittenfahrt, fairytale scenery, and my first Austrian snow

As I write this, I'm sitting on the couch of the grandparents' flat in Sankt Gilgen am Wolfgangsee.  St. Gilgen is a fantastically storybook-worthy little village, snuggled on Wolfgang Lake at the base of a few mountains near Salzburg.  Through the window, I can see snow floating down at a slight angle.  I can see snow-covered rooftops, white-frosted evergreens, the sharp peaks of the mountains, and the lake, with a few lights shining from the other side.

This place is a winter wonderland!  I really feel like I'm being illustrated into a children's book, or on the set of an old Christmas movie.  We walked into the village to see a local tradition to welcome the new year, and I was in awe at the beautiful old buildings with so many details to the architecture, and holiday decorations in every window.  The small crowd of onlookers in thick coats, scarves, pom-pom hats, and gloves only reminded me more of the storybook village comparison in my head.

I'm completely smitten with this place.  If I were going to live in Austria for the rest of my life (don't worry Mom, that's not the plan!), I would definitely choose this area around Salzburg.  I've only seen it in the wintertime, but I've seen The Sound of Music enough times to know that it's just as beautiful in a different way in the spring.  The mountains and the evergreens remind me more of home than any other place I've seen on this continent.  Funny, isn't it, how I live in Europe, yet I think the most beautiful place here is the one that looks most like home?

I also had my first sledding experience!  I know, almost 24 years old and I'd never ridden on a sled.  Call my mother and tell her I was deprived.  Or just laugh at how slow we went but how excited we were anyway:

And then laugh at the snow-woman version of me.

I'll leave you with a couple excerpts from my journal from this week:

Thursday, 6. January

"…The great aunt and great uncle (who also have a flat just a few minutes' walk away) came over this afternoon and stayed for the evening.  

Onkel Erich is the Austrian version of Uncle Lloyd, alias Tickle Monster.  He's a broad-shouldered old man.  He's got a friendly smile, bright blue eyes, a protruding chin, and a silvery-white comb-over.  After dinner, I settled onto the couch with the girls and him as he read a story from Grimm Märchen [Grimm Fairytales]--it was Rumpelstilzchen, but his own, special, personalized version, evoking abundant giggles from us all.  I've officially decided: Old Austrian men will always have a very special place in my heart.  Especially if they're wearing Lederhosen."

Friday, 7. January

"…I'm looking after the girls, and we just pulled ourselves away from the window.  It's snowing again, and we just watched the snow plow clear the street to our apartment.  My first viewing of a snow plow in action!

I seriously feel like a child.  I've mentioned before how much more magical Christmas is with little ones around…well, now I'm the little one, entranced by the falling snowflakes, whether tiny specks or dime-sized clumps.  When the wind blows and they twirl and dance around the trees, it's nearly impossible to tear my wide eyes from the window.  Unless it's tea time.  Then I'm willing to concentrate long enough to add some milk and sugar before returning to my seat by the window and my winter entertainment."

Grace and peace,

Hilary

Here's another little glimpse of the mischievous Onkel Erich:

Explosions and colors

I found a sporadic bit of WiFi here in Salzburg!  I wanted to share this taste of my New Year's Eve with you before you get a full entry on my week here.  Keep in mind, this video does ABSOLUTELY NO justice to what I experienced.  Take your awe and multiply it by 100000000, and that's what I felt when I was taking this in.

From the 17th (and top) floor of a Studentenwohnheim in Vienna: