Visiting the London area in the past (eg. When I was living in Australia) was always a bit of a lowlight. Not bad, of course, just not as exciting as the rest of the trip.
It was a place that was easy, where I knew the language and had friends to stay with. It was a rest stop, a place to recuperate. Or it was simply the most practical or cheapest place to fly in and out of.
Spring is a glorious time in Austria – after enduring a long, cold, dark winter, the change is slow at first and then seems to happen all at once – birds tweet happily in the trees, buds burst open, everything turns green, the sun shines and the gloom disappears.
If you’ve read last week’s Honeymoon Sweet blog post, you would know that Thomas and I have been to Piran once before, not long after we first met.
You imagine that when you finally meet your future husband there might be some kind of sign, or at least a night so perfect, never before eclipsed by previous dates etc. etc. I’m sorry to say that it definitely wasn’t the case with us!
To celebrate my 100th blog post (yay) I thought I’d attempt to answer a question I still get asked a lot: What are the real differences between Austria and Australia? And it’s a difficult one to answer, because it’s a kind of same/same but different thing – all the little factors weigh up to create a big difference.
There are the obvious ones – the language, the food, the location, the culture, the weather… I’m not going to focus on those… I’m going to let you in on some of the more subtle differences between Austria and Australia.
I’ve been living in Austria now for 2.5 years. Wow! That’s even surprising for me. And I know what you’re thinking… 2.5 years… she’s definitely fluent by now. Well, I have to admit something… I’m definitely not!
Of course it depends on your translation of fluent. Can I read the local newspaper and work out the story? Yes. Can I listen to the traffic/weather/news report and know if there’s an accident ahead? Yes. Can I have a perfectly normal one-on-one conversation with someone about almost anything? Yes.
In Austria there’s a saying: April, April, der macht was er will… which basically translates to: April will do whatever the hell he wants! That means in April you can expect weather ranging anything from a sunny 25°C to below zero with snow.
And last week, April, the nasty bastard, did exactly that, surprising everyone with snow.
German really is a hilarious language, especially when you come from an English-speaking background. I am constantly hiding my smiles and sniggers as I listen to the chatter around me. Here’s ten of my favourites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Continue reading
Thomas and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary last week… curry and wine on the balcony… just us… spending time together. But it got me thinking about my past relationships and how it is even possible that I ended up with someone who lived so far away when I long ago swore off long distance relationships! Continue reading
Before we went to Australia on our most recent holiday, I made a lot of lists. I like making lists. Lists of friends I wanted to see, things I wanted to do, food I wanted to eat, places I wanted to visit, food I wanted to buy and bring back… the list(s) goes on.
You see, what I was doing, was trying to organise the perfect trip home.
an aussie in austria 