Cold, Hard, Reality

Today, the sun came out. No, really. I had seen only overcast, cloudy skies for the entire nine days of my stay here. Today the sun actually came out and shined. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the clear skies allowed the earth’s heat to escape and tonight, at practice it was -6 degrees Celsius (17 degrees Fahrenheit). I discovered a blocking/tackling sled with which I was interested in using in some drills. When I went to move it, I discovered that it was frozen solidly to the ground. Guess I will wait till spring to work with that! I went to hurriedly retrieve a practice schedule that was dropped in a small pool of water near the practice field. It never got wet. The water was, of course, frozen solid. The practice schedule was not in danger of getting wet for a while, I’m guessing. The cold, hard reality of this place it that it is collllddddd.

I found a branch bank of Bank of Austria this morning. I went in and asked if I could exchange American dollars (which no one wants here) for Euros. As the answer was to the affirmative, I produced $150, the amount of Euros I received in return (including the fee of $5) was 104 Euros. Thanks for the strong dollar, America. (Sarcasm marks here) This will be remedied when I send Euros to America for exchange (which is about 1 Euro to $1.38 American). Should I thank the Republicans for holding up the recovery and shaking the confidence in the American Dollar? It was $1.28 last week.

After practice, we drove to that most famous of European dining experiences: McDonald’s! The menu is in American but the cashier is speaking German to me! I revert to caveman-ese and point and grunt. Mission accomplished. Double Quarter pounder with cheese, fries, Coke Light (which is Austrian for Diet Coke) and 6 Chicken McNuggets (hey, I have to keep SOME bodyfat on me to survive the cold). Thanks Ray Kroc.

We return home through the cold night and build a fire in the wood burning furnace on the first floor. Soon heat is spiraling upward into the upper two floors. The Austrians can heat a house. They can also insulate one and they KNOW windows. Double panes with a crank to close a cover down over them.

What they DON’T know is garbage disposals. I don’t know that anyone with which I have spoken even knows of one. There are recycling bins everywhere and numerous street cleaners scour the streets for litter.

Tomorrow we venture to open an Austrian bank account. I hope I keep a positive balance in this one. Heaven knows the American ones are more RED than white or blue (or black). The team was kind enough to provide us with a phone, but I miss my Galaxy S Android! I need citizenship to acquire a contract.

That’s right I’m and foreign national. In less than 81 days, I will be illegal! I don’t know the language, I don’t pay taxes, I barely know the different denominations of their money, and I do a job that no Austrian is willing to do! I don’t know their customs, I don’t recognize their foods, and I can’t understand Marge Simpson when she sprechen sie Deutsche! You better believe that if my child was school age, I would expect the teacher here to educate him in a professional manner. Better watch out, they may build a fence to keep my kind out of their land.

But they don’t mind me so much. It’s the Turks that are their southern immigration problem. Now, with the upheaval in the Middle East and Northern Africa, European nations are seeing an increase of refugees. The Turks tried to invade and control Austria twice in history. In the Battle of Vienna, the Turks were denied. Twice. Thus insuring that Europe would NOT become Islamic. This battle was BEFORE Columbus sailed to America. Therefore, your (and my) European ancestors came with non-Islamic religious beliefs. Important to American history, this city on the Danube? Yep, I think so. Oh, and the coffee the Turks left in their hasty retreat? That became a pretty important part of Viennese life.

I feel myself rambling. Guess I will close for now.