Ausflug etc.
It’s been a really long time, I know. I find it strange to be writing to cyberspace, and to never know whose reading it. But, I digress.
Things are going along more or less as usual here. It’s sunny and hot most days, and I’ve been working every day, which makes me happy (and earns me money). This morning I taught a man who we call a ‘true beginner’, meaning that he never learned English in school, and at 65 is learning it for the first time. I have to say that I really enjoy teaching him- he’s starting to relax and make jokes, and is learning really quickly. I find that a lot more rewarding than teaching business English, for example.
I’ve also had some private students (who responded to my ad in the grocery store), which have been interesting. I’m correcting one girl’s Master’s thesis which is on ‘Future Business Leaders in Global Organizations’. Mostly it’s pretty well-written, except for the occasional funny mistake (eg: business leaders should be "well endowed" with good qualities; a harvard law professor "reckons" that there is a lack in quantity of global leaders…). Sometimes you have to laugh.
Andreas has been working hard, and has written 3 big exams in the last 2 weeks (all successfully!), and is now able to take a bit of a break from studying.
On the weekend he and I took a really nice little trip (called here an ‘ausflug’- out flight?) to a town called Tragöß. We were headed towards Marienklamm, a klamm being either a gorge or a ravine (what’s the diff?). It took us a while to find it, but once we did, it was really beautiful. At some points you’re actually walking underneath a lip from the rock, so the sounds in there are really different.
I will post some pictures which really do not do it justice, mostly because the cell phone camera was the only one available at the time.
From there we drove about 10 minutes to the Grünersee (Green lake), which we’d never seen before. And my was it green. It looked like something out of Greece or Croatia- really bright greenish-blue, fed by a mountain stream, and surrounded by mountains. Actually it looked not unlike (pictures I’ve seen of) Lake Louise. After that we drove to a Gasthaus, which is basically a traditional Austrian restaurant. I must say, between the klamm-visiting, the hiking around a lake, and eating in a Gasthaus, it was a very traditional Austrian Sunday!
And for summer, I"m really looking forward to having Catherine and Peter come to stay between the 4th and 17th of July! We have many things planned (including a weekend at the seaside in Croatia!). And then at the end of August I (and hopefully Andreas) will be coming back to Canada for a visit. Lots of look forward to.
And here are some pictures! Bis zum nächsten Mal!
I cut myself some bangs!
