The last three days we have been settling into the new house and getting to know our surroundings.

On Saturday we slept in for several hours. After three weeks of travel and hotels (and not too mention sleeping on a train winding through the Alps at night), we were exhausted. By about 11:00 we were up and ready to go out again. This time we ventured past the two grocery stores known as LDL and Spar, the latter being bigger and better. (Side note: grocery check out clerks in Graz are just as grumpy as the ones in the States, occasionally there’s been a nice clerk.) We were on the hunt for an Apotheka (pharmacy) and a place called Preis Pirate (the Dollar General of Austria). We found both, but the Apotheka was closed until Monday and the Preis Pirate was way better than a Dollar Store! We purchased a few household items like and extension cord, coat hangers, a neat closet light hanger to give extra light in the big closet, and a laundry basket for the dirty clothes.

I had asked Johannes if there was a drying rack in the house, but the only one we found was the one attached to the wall above the tub. He went out of his way to go and purchase me a new fold out standing drying rack for the clothes. He and Gundi also gave me new clothespins to use on the clothesline in the yard. We came back from our shopping trip and found the items propped against the front door. I’ve tried various places in the house and settled on using Faywen’s room to dry the clothes on the rack, because she has south facing, sunny, large windows and the breeze is nice too.

Later Johannes brought over a bottle of pear juice made by his neighbor. It was delicious. Speaking of food in Austria, everyone eats organic and fresh. There are boxed and canned items, but very limited selections. Our kind of people! The fridge isn’t too big so we can only buy food to make meals for 2-3 days at a time. There is no freezer, but Johannes has a small one in his cellar we can borrow if we needed to freeze something. It’s been fun learning about the different brands and types of foods available in Graz. Of course, I’ve had to whip out my old magnifying glass to help translate things for Robert.

Speaking of language, it seems most folks do speak various levels of English in Graz. However if I speak German to them first they talk in German to me. It’s been hit and miss as to fluency of the natives in English. Sometimes the person speaks better English than my German. Other times it’s been a blessing I can speak decent German because the person can only say a few words in English.

 Many people have been surprised I can speak German at all, and that I do so proficiently enough to be understood! I’ve had clerks ask why on earth I’d want to learn German because it’s a difficult language. One native speaker laughed and said that many Austrians don’t even speak their own language properly. Well, I guess in many ways the same can be said for dialects of English! I know my weak point is listening comprehension, especially when someone speaks quickly. I’ve been trying to really tune into folks talking so I can work on this aspect of language comprehension. I got to put this into practice the other day.

On Sunday afternoon Robert and the boys headed out to explore the city by tram and all it’s various connections etc. Faywen and I stayed behind to do laundry and cleaning. I’m glad we did because Johannes asked if Faywen and I wanted to come out into the garden and play with the girls. At first Rita, who is 7, was a little leery, but her younger sister Flora was very chatty with me. She is 5, and will be 6 the 1^st of March. Fanni, who is 4, really seemed to buddy up with Faywen and Cilli is a typical meandering 2 yr. old! We spent 2 hours playing outside, jumping rope (springschnur), climbing on the Spinnenets (spider web made of rope), and meeting neighbors and his sister, Anna, who had come to visit.

I finally got to speak to Gundi, who had been out at a luncheon with friends. She is from a village south of Köln, Germany. She was happy to hear that I had been to Köln and knew where the city was located. She noted that I spoke German with a similar dialect to her own. I took that as a compliment! She then laughed and said that when she first moved to Austria she couldn’t understand a world the locals said! But our conversation was cut short when Camillo decided he needed to be fed! He’s 2 months old!

All the girls could understand my German and I most of there’s. I would translate for Faywen. Sometimes, I would ask about a particular object’s name in German and then tell them the English name. This helped Faywen learn too! It was a lovely afternoon in the garden.

Since then the girls have really taken to Faywen and I. They come up to the windows in the kitchen and wave and giggle. They also have been giving Faywen trinkets. She’s received a little school photo or Rita, a drawing of “Blumen” (flowers), several glass and polished rocks, a mysterious round piece of plastic the size of a half dollar, a hacky sack, a mini notebook, and our favorite item thus far…a piece of broken clear glass also about the size of a half dollar. I taught Faywen to say “Danke schön für die Geshchenke” (thank you for the gifts) every time they give her gifts. I told the girls this evening that Faywen is keeping all their gifts in a treasure box under the bed. Rita and Flora seemed pleased by this! Faywen plans to reciprocate soon with drawings etc.

On a different note…I am happy to say that we all have new SIMS cards with Austrian numbers. Wow is wifi cheap here! You can get 18gigs at 4g speed for 30 Euro a month and that covers all EU countries! The Internet at the apartment has been kinda in and out, but Robert spoke with Johannes and lo and behold he brought in another option for Internet today! It’s been working perfectly. We also got our 6 month transportation cards, which allows us to ride the buses and trams endlessly for the whole time we are here!

Finally, I’m glad to say that today our boxes from Michigan arrived! It was a little precarious while we were in Paris. Robert received an email from customs officers in Vienna who didn’t quite understand that the items were used and not new. Once that was cleared up everything went smoothly. We did have to pay a small customs fee, but that’s okay with us because all of our clothes and accessories arrived unharmed! Liam was even able to give his homemade cutting board to Johannes and Gundi today. It was even more meaningful for Liam because Johannes is a professional woodworker and commented on the quality of wood and workmanship of the cutting board! Liam beamed from ear to ear!

Tomorrow, we are off to the school to meet the principal, Mrs. Görög. Since arriving in Graz I’ve received emails from all the kids’ teachers and even one student in Liam’s class who has offered to help Liam out the first few days of school. I passed the email from Christoph onto Liam. So far everyone has been very kind and helpful, which has made our transition to life in Graz a very positive, pleasant, experience.