I had a nice time trying out some of my recently Kindergarten-honed Deutsch with an Austrian friend last night, and he taught me really good thing to know. You know how people often say, “I need my morning Latte”? Also, do you know how to say it in German? It would be something like “Morgen [...]

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I was bathing Maple—or at least standing there, monitoring the situation,m while she did “swimming” and “odavasun” (something she invented). Maple: Daddy, will you please hand me a wash cloth? Daddy: Sure, sweet girl. Are you going to wash your hair? Maple: No, I’m protesting. Daddy: What? Maple: I need it for protesting. Daddy: Really? [...]

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Everything is going great here in Wien. Personally, I’ve turned the corner. They say that expats typically go through a cycle. There’s a “newness” phase where everything is great and wonderful, then reality sets in that, “damn, it’s hard” to raise kids thousands of miles from any support system one may have had and that, [...]

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.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Adele Cassyl, originally uploaded by scottpartee. Adele Cassyl Born: September 9, 2007 at 10.02 CET Weight: 3,830 grams (8 lbs, 7 oz) Hospital: Privatklinik Döbling, Vienna, Austria We are pleased to [...]

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.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Neustiftgasse, originally uploaded by scottpartee. Neustiftgasse, 1070 Wien

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.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Atop Stephansdom (Saint Stephen’s Cathedral), originally uploaded by scottpartee. Today was Maple’s first day of Kindergarten. I simply can’t go into what we went through to find a spot for her, [...]

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I received warning and, finally, confirmation that the wonderful coffee of Mocca Club will soon be gone. I have no idea of the reasons, as it seemed fairly popular, but I can confess to my lack of support. Despite the fact that the Mocca Club served the best coffee in Vienna, I just couldn’t make [...]

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Jerry Lebt! Originally uploaded by scottpartee. I saw Jerry Garcia on the U1. He seems to have kicked smack and lost some tonnage. His German was really good, too!

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I hereby proclaim the end of an era. There was a time when I was under the illusion that tipping well (up to 10%) in Austria would help me to gain satisfactory service and ease my path through the dining experience. Despite some good coaching by my buddy Horst, I continued to throw down Euro [...]

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My first ode to rent control and dense urban fabric is a list of what I can find within a couple blocks of my house: Chinese restaurant, lamp store, playground, Consulate of Benin, animal crematory, Italian restaurant, Indian restaurant (4), sports betting, tattoo parlor, kebab (2), schnitzel restaurant (2), Beisl (pub) (lots), Real estate office, [...]

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I remembered today an urban legend—or at least I thought it might be one—that my friend Val told me while we drank tiny, frigid beers at Murph’s in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She said that she had heard that if one could eat chocolate and drink beer at the same time, it meant one was an [...]

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“Entschuldigung!” I said sweetly as my shoulder sent the dude’s face toward the bus accordian. It was the second time since I left the house five minutes ago that I’d bumped into something that I didn’t expect to bump into. One was inanimate, the other a reasonably tolerant Austrian trying to get to work. Either [...]

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I came home from work at a decent time today. As I entered the flat, I smelled the Good Smell of yummy food cooking. I hung up my dry cleaning, hung my coat on the hook, swooped into the kitchen with bags of commissary goods, and greeted my family. My daughter announced “I am ruining [...]

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Hi everybody. Can I get another WTF? Here I am in Vienna, and the weather service is predicting hurricane force winds. So I’m thinking, “whatever”. Then I go to the online news and, sure enough, there’s a freaking hurricane hitting Germany as we speak. So our buddy Kyrill is roaring down to Mitteleuropa. Personally, I’m [...]

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My Section Head just told me an awesome “back in the day” story about his arrival in Vienna. He moved to Vienna as an idealistic young man in 1968. His first living arrangments were pretty typical for youngsters moving to Vienna—especially before the turn of the century. He lived with a Hausfrau. My tens of [...]

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