Krampus has finally hit mainstream America! Well, if you consider the Colbert Report mainstream, that is. In any case it’s good to know America is being properly educated on Austrian folklore.
Check out the video below.
Skip ahead to 2:35 (about halfway through) to see the part about Krampus.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Blitzkrieg on Grinchitude – Hallmark & Krampus | ||||
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On Saturday we went to an apple farm on the outskirts of Vienna called Apfel-Hof Grundschober. This apple farm has been in the Grundschober family for 500 years! Since I’m actually allergic to apples, I had just planned on a fun day with friends taking pictures on the farm. It turned out to be so much better than that! We got to pick potatoes fresh from the ground and eat them for lunch. We got to pick walnuts from the surrounding trees. We got to pick apples AND pears. Yum! Just before lunch, Herr Grundschober made fresh pressed apple cider for everyone. Best of all, at the end we got to pick our own pumpkins! All of this for only 7 Euro each. Last year we paid 8 Euro for just one pumpkin, so I’d say this is a much better deal.
You can see lots more pictures here: Apfel-Hof
One of my new jobs this year was being in charge of Vienna Orientation. Vienna Orientation is the first week that new staff spend in Austria. We get to help them move into their apartments, find their way around town, learn how to grocery shop – basically get oriented to Vienna. In the past I’ve been a buddy for new folks, which is a lot of fun, but this year I got to be responsible for planning our outings, getting all the paperwork together, scheduling speakers, etc. It was a bit less one-on-one time, but I got to know each of the new staff instead of just one or two, and that was great!
Our first outing was a trip up to Kahlenberg. Kahlenberg is a mountain (hill if you’re from Colorado) overlooking Vienna. It’s a great place to visit on a clear day because you get a view of the entire city. I loved going here my first year and seeing just how big Vienna is.
After visiting the lookout in Kahlenberg, we rode the bus down to Grinzing for dinner. We walked around a bit because it’s just a really cute town. 🙂 Then we had dinner at a Heuriger called Figl’s. Yummy!
Other staff got to take them on trips to the Naschmarkt and a tour of downtown Vienna. Luckily we had nice weather for most of the week!
Of course, it wouldn’t be summer without BBQs. We had several BBQs at various places to give everyone a chance to get to know one another better. It was a great week!
Upon returning to Austria, Tricia and I discovered that the Billa had indeed squeezed the Charmin… off of their shelves! Tragic! Saddened by this discovery, we reluctantly set out on a quest to find a new brand of Klopapier.
We quickly ruled out the cheapest option, Clever. Now, Clever brand is great when you need a giant tub of ice cream or some cheap frozen pizza, but I’ve unfortunately been on the wrong end of some Clever toilet paper before. Not a good experience.
We made a decision to give Cosy a try for a few reasons:
1. It was on sale
2. It has a cuddly pink lion/tiger/cat thing as its mascot
3. Its logo is: “So weich, dass man es blind erkennt.” I’m not exactly sure what that means, but if I had to guess. “So soft, one would have to be blind not to know.” Yeah, that doesn’t really make sense. Oh well. I guess my German still needs some work.
In any case the verdict around here is a definitive thumbs down for Cosy. It looks soft and cuddly, but isn’t so much soft and cuddly where it counts.
Wish us luck as our Klopapierquest continues…
Well, we’ve been back in Austria for nine days. I think we might actually be over the jet-lag. Whew! While we were in the States we had such a great time with family and friends. We got to meet with a few groups and share more about our ministry here in Vienna. One of the things we were able to share was the video below. It’s kind of a quick overview of what we do here. We hope you enjoy it!