A Nice Way to Wrap Things Up

(actual link here, page 12)

Last week a journalist from the paper here in Graz, Kleine Zeitung, e-mailed me about doing a short story on me and my blog (her colleague had told her about it) in their Sunday excerpt section.  I met her for coffee the next day in the midst of all the packing and furniture selling and had a good time reliving and reviewing my experience here in Graz through our conversation.

The sign I'm holding says "My Story"...a weekly feature they do on a Graz resident.  I never did say I was a cowgirl because I most certainly am not being city girl from Houston, but people can't help themselves when they hear 'Texas'. :)

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English translation:

Traveled to the Past 

A full-blooded American moves to Graz and becomes a Styrian. Proof: her blog.

TEXT: SABRINA LUTTENBERGER, PHOTO: Gernot Eder

On her wrist Carolyn Valentín wears a wooden bracelet adorned with many little Edelweiss. Three and a half years in Graz, and even a well-kept cowgirl from the very conservative Texas now lives white-green. Initially: unimaginable. "Honestly, I did not even know what language you spoke here. I just googled it" said Valentín, grinning. Typical American, that's clear, but that was then.

In February 2009, Valentin's husband took a job at TU Graz University, and together they moved to an unknown land to them, to a city of which they knew nothing. The American created a blog for her family and her friends, and later got many questions from strangers who were interested in living in the city. The first entries were about Valentín handling the culture shock. "It felt like we were traveling back in time. Graz kind of looks like 1950." Today the 32-year-old still sees her second home as old-fashioned, but now appreciates this charm. You can live a life here, she says, that one can also very much enjoy. We learned to appreciate little things again. And suddenly their old ways of living sometimes seem strange to them: "Everybody drives big cars (in Texas) so you are rarely walking and almost always sitting."  In her time in Graz, Valentin has enjoyed the walking,  the fresh bread and the Austrian coffee house culture. About herself she says: "I'm basically still the same person - only more open and less judgmental." An American 2.0.

Next week, the current web designer, her husband and the baby in her belly move back home. Next Residence: Pittsburgh. What they'll miss: the Schlossberg and the medical care. Really looking forward to: more choice in supermarkets and their family. There is only one thing the blogger regrets: to have never really learned German. Without fixed employment, it was almost impossible". "It was one of the best times of my life" They would like to visit again - she says it's a "must". Her husband already has plans to retire in the Styrian wine country.

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Thanks to Sabrina for the feature!  It was a treat and a great keepsake.  

We'll miss you, Graz!

We fly out tomorrow!

The Expat Inquiries: Little ole me

I've run out of interviews, so I'm here answering my own questions:

Where do you live?
- Graz, Austria

little us in front of the Graz Opera House.

How long have you lived there?  And is this your first home away from the States?
- A little over 2 years.  Yes, first time living out of America.

Where are you originally from?
- Houston, Texas

What brought you to Austria?
- Husband's postdoctorate research

What do you do for a living?
- I do blog designs for some extra money, but I don't make a living from it. :)

I never found a job due to insufficient German skills, so I created my own little stay-at-home work.

Do you speak German fluently?  If so, how long did it take you to learn?  Do you find it to be an easy language?
- Um, no.  I took two 3-month / 4 hours a day / 5 days a week intensive courses in the first year we lived here, but when you don't get good, daily real life practice, it's almost impossible to become fluent.  I find I can read magazine articles fairly well and understand e-mails from some Austrian friends, but when it comes to speaking, I am sehr peinlich (embarrassed) and nicht so schnell (not very quick).  I'm not proud that I've lived here for over 2 years and am still not fluent, but the fact that Germans come to Austria, esp. southern Austria, and say they have a hard time understanding the German here makes me feel much better.  We learn one thing in school and hear a pretty mutated version of it out on the streets, which makes it really hard.  There's my excuse. :)

Oh, and to answer the second question, I did not and do not find it easy (Spanish is WAY easier), but if I compare it to Chinese or Hungarian, it doesn't seem quite so bad.

What are the people like?
- The people are more reserved.  At first I thought it was snobby or a bit rude, but what I've come to learn is that that is just what they are used to. They find it fake that we automatically ask "How are you?" and don't always expect an answer.  I do miss the mega-friendliness in Texas, though.  Not the pushy salespeople or waiters...in that regard, I like the Euro leave-you-alone style.

How long did it take until you felt mostly adjusted?
- I would say a year...and you keep adjusting more and more, of course, the longer you are here.  I felt mostly adjusted when I had a set of friends, when I knew enough German to order food and grocery shop, when my house had at least 5 pieces of furniture and when I was calling Graz 'home'.

What were some of the hardest things/aspects to adjust to?
- Language, not working (no routine..at first), the WINTER

What are some things/aspects you don't miss back home?
- Overconsumption (lots of people have said this..it's a biggie), 'Keeping up with the Joneses' crapola, traffic

What are your top three faves about your current city or country?
- Most everything is in walking distance/public transportation (I LOVE this...it makes more of an impact on your life and health (physical and mental) than you think), the old-fashioned charm (buildings, cafés, our apt.) and the simpler way of living.

In what areas do you think moving abroad has helped you to grow?
- I didn't really realize the subconscious pressures and expectations that I felt back home (not really from friends and family, but society in general), until I moved away and felt sort of a freedom. Living here is kinda like a rather long sabbatical.  It gives you some serious perspective to step out (way out across the Atlantic) and see a different way of life than you're used to.

Fave places you've traveled in Europe?
- Don't really have a fave...I've really liked everywhere I've gotten to go.   Europe is wondey like that.

In Defense of Austria

I received some comments (that I totally expected to receive) from Europeans defending their way on my post last week. I was a little feisty about ole Österreich's grocery system and was a bit of an Ugly American. All you Americans would probably experience it the same way and have the same shocks and reactions I did, BUT, it IS actually BETTER.

I've come across this book several times now on the internet and would like to read it, but kinda got the main point down, which he states in the opening:

"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."

That's what people do here in Austria. What our grocery stores are mainly missing over here is not the produce or essentials...it's the crap, packaged and processed foods. American grocery stores fill aisles and aisles with it. Yes, they have some of it here too, but not nearly as much and people don't seem to care too much about it.

An aisle in Ameri (source)

"America's a society obsessed with eating healthily while its eaters are growing unhealthier."

In Austria, there aren't sections of PowerBars, weird drinks with soy, cholesterol reducers AND omega 3, 6, 45 and 68. In fact, this author claims that if an item has any health claims slapped across it, stay away from it. It has to compensate for the fact that it's not real food. (I don't think a lot of these foods are necessarily harmful (some possibly), but that they are expensive and you don't need them if you are eating enough real food.)



Stick with "real food"...the kind that your grandmother would have eaten as a child...more fruits and vegetables and whole grains, less meat (especially beef) and you're doin' good. And make it colorful...it's prettier and vitamin-ier.

Now, I ain't saying I eat like a perfect little bimbo...I don't, but we eat A LOT better over here and we don't even think about it. It's just how it is. We can't afford to go out very much, so we almost always eat at home and cook. We know what we're eating and with the help of our wondey cookbook, most sauces and things are homemade and not processed.

When I went to a restaurant in Houston, which was frequent, I almost always left feeling so full it was a bit uncomfortable. You have so much food on your plate and you're talking and eating and it's all so good (that queso, those salty chips and delish enchiladas) and you don't realize you need to stop before you feel full because it takes your body about 15-20 minutes to let you know you're done, dude.


(sometimes, a little velveeta processed love needs to be shipped on over and devoured. this is all in moderation. if you consider 2 logs consumed in 4 days moderate.)

We barely eat any beef because it's just not very good or readily available here. Austria is one of the only countries in the EU that doesn't allow genetically modified crops (or at least gen. mod. corn). Our chickens are raised on real farms in the area and a lot of the produce comes from less than an hour away.

A comment I almost always hear from visitors: "There are barely any fat people here". And it's true. It's a huge difference coming from a city that annually ranks in the Top Ten Fattest in the U.S.: Houston, Texas. Houston: you do have some of the best restaurants in the world..and I do miss you sometimes..xoxo.

When Art goes to work, he walks. Elsie and I usually go meet him halfway at lunchtime, which isn't a huge distance, but every little bit like this during the day adds up. I walk to the bus stop, walk to the grocery store, walk to the eye doctor... When I lived in Houston, I lived caddie-corner to my office building and I still DROVE MY CAR! What a fatty. The main reason being that Houston drivers aren't used to looking out for walkers and I would have to cross a busy intersection where the street curves and cars can't see you until they are very close. That and wearing heels and I needed my car real close...I had a reserved parking spot that just had to be used.

I do have Eis about an average of EVERY DAY...but even that is one small scoop of gelato that has way less fat (you can tell..it's not as rich as ice cream) and you have to walk yo' buns to get it, so you're basically burning half of that scoop-de-scoop off anyways.

Oh, and we eat more 'real food' here too, because I go to the grocery store almost every day (because that's about all I can carry or that the Austrian glares will allow for) and that keeps us buying fresh food and eating more of it. I feel like when you go to the grocery store once a week, which I did in the States, you buy a lot of food...eat some that day...forget about the rest during the week when it rots and have to resort to more processed foods that don't spoil. Maybe this isn't how it is with other people who are possibly more disciplined...who buy the fruit and eat it and don't forget about it...who plan their meals and don't opt to just go out to lunch cause it's easier and totally more fun.


Freshly cut Speck (bacon) is real food...right?..and YUM in my tum.


(Source)
So, there you go. A little Austrian livin' pride. Happy with our new way of life here. Think more people in America should be able to experience the same. It seems to be changing some. It takes awhile to 'detox', but it feels oh so much better.

note: And I know there are a lot of healthy Americans...it's just harder with the lifestyle and temptations. Let's just say I'm not Willpower Wilma. More like "Cave-in Coco".

It's the Most Wondiest Time of the Year

I'm dishin' out the photos without any narrative for now. Maybe you prefer it that way? You better not. It's late here and I'm tired, but I wanted to get these up because CHRISTMAS IS SO PRETTY IN GRAZ! Come along for the ride...

I don't want it to end.

Frohe Weihnachten!

{Photos by me...I got frostbite on my button pushing finger for you! It was lightly snowing the whole time.}

Some Seriously Wondey Care Packages : I Highly Recommend Moving Abroad

So my 30th birthday is soon...tomorrow...today probably by the time you read this. Oldie. Not really...I'm not one to fret about this..life just seems to get better and better the older I get so bring it on dreißig! That would be thirty. And that would not be dree-big, but rather dry-sick. I thought it was a B at first too. It's a scharfes 's'...you can look up 'scharfes' on your own. I'm old now and got some carpal tunny.

So, onto the reason I'm writing... about a week ago I received a huge package from all six of my siblings..the 3 bros and the 3 sistas. Out of the blue..my birthday wasn't even a flicker in my Deutsch-combobulated brain.

It came in this:

I was already lovin' my life.

I had told my oldest sister, Amy, in one of our many convos regarding all things important such as home decor, fashion and blogs how much I loved the J. Crew Campo bag. The leather now is sorta soft, like suede, and it's made to get lovelier with age, wear and tear...hopefully I can emulate that. If not, Le Mer wouldn't be so costly to ship next year huh? It's fairly big and got all sorts of pockets for Euro living. You never know when you gotta stash away some apples, a water bottle or German binders for class. Enough detailing it...I love it! (And, I kinda want to keep the note in it forever)

Elsie even got her own stash:

People here are appalled that I would put a "Pulli" (sweater) on her and one lady on the tram told me, "She doesn't like that"..I said, "Oh yeah she does"..."No, I don't think so"..."Well, she bought it so I think she does"...Yes, I said that. Don't tell me what my dog likes, K? She looks quite comfy to me. (The parka is another story)

Art pulled out item after item. My sister, Erin, had put a lot of time into this and wrote little notes on each item and packaged it all so wonderly.

I loved every bit of it and rationed my magazine reading as to not waste it all too soon, but rather span it out over a week. Yes, this is serious. Gotta hoard my treasures.

Still on the high of my sibling loot, early this morning our buzzer rings and we are like "who the heck...we ain't got no visitors ever". Art comes busting in, "we got two packages!". We opened them in a hurry.

My former co-workers back in Houston had put together a huge bomb of Tex-Mex goodness and shipped it on over. Most of the stuff they knew we didn't have over here from the old bloggeroo. Once again, overwhelmed with shock, gratitute and warm fuzzies.

Someone else was loving it too:

I mean, I could open up a small Mexican restaurant

They even put a mug of my co-worker Warren that I made and ordered on Kodak Gallery three years

ago to give in the office white elephant gift exchange. (He was always a good sport about being the

butt of harmless office jokes.) I love it that it made its way full circle back to me in Austria.

And yes, queso was made and devoured shortly afterwards

And mac 'n' cheese for dinner. Feelin' a bit stuffed full of processed goodness.

Thank you, thank you again. This made my next decade.