Culture Talks

Last night I experienced one of my more terrifying nights in Austria- the Krampuslauf (Krampus run).  Krampus comes to bad Austrians every December 5th, and is basically the devil.  Half man, half beast he comes and terrorizes the children the day before St. Nikolaus comes for the good children. 

Mostly it is teenaged boys who dress up as Krampus (scary masks, hairy costumes) on the day, and attach cowbells around their waists so that you can at least hear them coming.  They also hold a sort of whip, which they use on those younger than them.  Anyway, living in Graz, I really wasn’t subject to the fear of Krampuses walking around, like I would be if I had been in Bad St. Leonhard.  Although Andreas and I did encounter one across the street from our apartment, I ran inside and slammed (and chainlocked) the door behind me so he couldn’t get me.

So fortunately, on Krampusnacht, I was spared.  But this weekend Andreas and I are in Leonhard, and last night decided to check out the Krampuslauf, which is basically a parade of all the Krampuses from the area, held along the (one) downtown street.  In my mind, we would all stand along the sidelines, watching (and waving?) as the Krampuses showed off their scary costumes.  I certainly did not expect dry ice, torches, loud orchestral music, and Krampuses lurching towards the crows on the sidelines, sometimes even jumping over the fences as if to “get” us.  Now, I don’t like to curse here, but I was scared shitless.  Shit-less.  It felt like I was in what I imagine hell to be like.  So we ran some of the way home, and just prayed that none of them followed us.

In other less scary news, Andreas and I are (very) eagerly anticipating our trip back to Canada for Christmas.  We will be in Ottawa from the 18th to the 28th, just doing family Christmasy things- some of my favourite things to do!  This week Andreas is going to start painting our apartment, I’m going to do some mad shopping, then on the weekend we are having our Casino Romance Night- celebrating our 2 year-anniversary, while also using a 25 Euro gift-certificate for the Graz Casino we’ve had for 8 months!

PS: Scary pictures below
PPS: I uploaded a video Andreas took at the Krampuslauf.  Check it out on Youtube!

Hi everyone,

I thought it was getting to be quite a while since my last post, and that maybe it was time for a new one.  Lots has been going on, mostly at the bottom of my left arm.  Well, I decided to go for the surgery, mainly because my hatred of the cast was growing increasingly day by day.  So after many tears and worries and doubts, I went for it, trusting.  I had to stay in the hospital for 2 nights- really, really not fun.  The first full day I was there mostly consisted of tests- getting my first non-immunization needle, giving blood, answering questions.  The surgery was on my second day there, and was meant to be first thing in the morning, but right before I was going to go under, the anesthesiologist discovered that I had a heart murmur and wanted an ultrasound of my heart before he would operate.

So that meant many more hours of waiting and worrying (accompanied by not eating or drinking anything) before I went down.  But as soon as the ultrasound showed there was nothing to worry about, I got in my scrubs and was wheeled down to the operating room.  Things become blurry around then (probably because of the Valium…), but I remember the doctors entertaining me before I passed out (really I think they were just wasting time before they could stick the iv in me and get the show on the road).

Even more hours later, I woke up in my room with Andreas waiting for me.  My left arm was completely numb for the next 12 hours, but otherwise I was awake, but groggy.  The doctor came by later on and told me that the surgery went great, and that my crying didn’t last long.  :-S  I don’t remember it at all, but I’m not that surprised, to be honest.  I guess I didn’t embarrass myself too badly seeing as how he later asked me if I would be interested in tutoring his 5 year-old twins!  (I also had a nurse chasing after me while I was in my wheelchair asking if I would give her private lessons- we’ll see though, she was a bit freaky).

That night after my surgery was pretty uncomfortable, as I couldn’t move around too much, with the iv and numb arm.  Sometimes I would try to turn over and all of a sudden my arm would come rolling up my chest toward my face, all yellow and crusty with iodine, unstoppable.  It was pretty terrifying, so I was glad to get the feeling and movement back.

The only thing that made my time in the hospital bearable was that Andreas spent most of his waking hours there, despite his busy school schedule.  It really made things less stressful just having him there to hang out with, but also to ask questions in German that I couldn’t (or didn’t want to). 

And now my hand is doing much better… there is no cast, even though I was told I’d need one for two weeks after the surgery.  Whatever!  All I have is a small band-aid, and I had the stitch removed on Thursday, so tomorrow will be the first day I can have a normal (bagless) shower.  If you’re interested in what my actual surgery was, you can read about it here.  I have virtually no pain, and though I can do a fair bit with my hand, I was warned by my physiotherapist to be extremely careful with it for at least 8 weeks- not lifting anything heavier than a kilo and not putting any pressure on it.

Otherwise things have been busy with school (German) getting way harder (prepositions will be the death of me), but work has still been slow.  However, this month our band has had 2 shows, which have earned me quite a bit.  Although it’s not quite ‘extra’ money, I can relax a little more having it. 

Andreas has been working hard studying, as usual.  But we still have the evenings free to go downtown and drink delicious gluhwein.  It’s a yearly tradition here of warm, spiced wine… all of the downtown is lit up and covered in stands selling gluhwein and delicious pastries and Christmas knickknacks.  I love it!

That’s all for now.