A week post-move
I went to church this morning at Christ Church, Vienna- it's a small Anglican church seemingly attached to the British embassy in Vienna. It was old-style English little country church, which meant small and very full. It was really about as foreign as anything else I've happened to do or see in Vienna, even though it was in English. No Old Testament, no Psalm, no Epistles, just straight Gospel, communion and some singing in the old English style of moaning.
It seems like a very close-set bunch- lots of people who've been in Austrian forever and this is a little enclave of English in their world. Which is kind of understandable, but also a little depressing. They don't have services in German, which means that they are adamantly not proselytizing to outside community (or even being a little welcoming), and it seemed to show. However, the people were decent enough. I had the first truly terrible coffee I've had in Vienna, and a small child spent service stretched out over my feet while his father apologized, picked him up, and then put him back down to stop the wailing.
In other news, I am seriously getting weird about money. The only thing that I've really been buying thus far is food and some minor stuff I need for my ability to cook. Because of my inherited cooking gear, I have bunch of stuff I would never have bought myself, and too little of the stuff that I really need. For instance, I have a colander, which is just stupid. There's no way that I'm ever going to make enough pasta that I can't just carefully tip the pot to keep the pasta from getting away. I similarly have two large metal pots, one of which has a damaged bottom. Because they both have plastic handles, they cannot double for use in the oven, so I had to go and buy myself a separate baking pan. The bowls I have are pretty, but ridiculous- they are hardly more than deep plates, and do *not* suffice for the hearty stews/stews that I like to make.
I am also seriously considering buying a press coffee pot. If I have learned anything about myself in Vienna, it is that I truly value good coffee. Good coffee is awesome, and I will spend money on it in coffee houses unless I can make it myself. Similarly with tea- I left all my good tea at home for packing reasons and the Twinnings crap that I am dealing with now is just foul. I need a teapot before I can actually get back to making tea, but everything I find here feels too expensive, and I don't want to have to deal with buying something nice when I know I may very well end up leaving it here.
This all goes back, of course, to being worried about money.
In other news, I'm reading Ernst Toller's Hinkemann for my Literatur in die weimare Republik class, and I'm enjoying it. I have to stop and look up LOTS of things. However, it's fairly simple, and I can get it done. I think my ability to recognize normal conversational patterns in German has improved a great deal. Of course, there is a long way to go yet, but life will go on.
It seems like a very close-set bunch- lots of people who've been in Austrian forever and this is a little enclave of English in their world. Which is kind of understandable, but also a little depressing. They don't have services in German, which means that they are adamantly not proselytizing to outside community (or even being a little welcoming), and it seemed to show. However, the people were decent enough. I had the first truly terrible coffee I've had in Vienna, and a small child spent service stretched out over my feet while his father apologized, picked him up, and then put him back down to stop the wailing.
In other news, I am seriously getting weird about money. The only thing that I've really been buying thus far is food and some minor stuff I need for my ability to cook. Because of my inherited cooking gear, I have bunch of stuff I would never have bought myself, and too little of the stuff that I really need. For instance, I have a colander, which is just stupid. There's no way that I'm ever going to make enough pasta that I can't just carefully tip the pot to keep the pasta from getting away. I similarly have two large metal pots, one of which has a damaged bottom. Because they both have plastic handles, they cannot double for use in the oven, so I had to go and buy myself a separate baking pan. The bowls I have are pretty, but ridiculous- they are hardly more than deep plates, and do *not* suffice for the hearty stews/stews that I like to make.
I am also seriously considering buying a press coffee pot. If I have learned anything about myself in Vienna, it is that I truly value good coffee. Good coffee is awesome, and I will spend money on it in coffee houses unless I can make it myself. Similarly with tea- I left all my good tea at home for packing reasons and the Twinnings crap that I am dealing with now is just foul. I need a teapot before I can actually get back to making tea, but everything I find here feels too expensive, and I don't want to have to deal with buying something nice when I know I may very well end up leaving it here.
This all goes back, of course, to being worried about money.
In other news, I'm reading Ernst Toller's Hinkemann for my Literatur in die weimare Republik class, and I'm enjoying it. I have to stop and look up LOTS of things. However, it's fairly simple, and I can get it done. I think my ability to recognize normal conversational patterns in German has improved a great deal. Of course, there is a long way to go yet, but life will go on.