Castle, partying, and Fencing

Hello everyone,

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog…..let’s just say things have been a bit crazy and a lot has been going on. A whole lot going on actually…..I’ll try to be brief but I can’t promise I won’t get carried away J

MOVING IN:

                Ok so let’s rewind a couple of weeks. On June 6^th the Sickl’s and I moved into their house in Graz after a couple of days of repairing, cleaning and organizing. I moved into Heinrich’s old office on the south side of the house. It’s a small room but cozy, with its own window and an entrance from the front lobby/stairwell. It’s quite nice J

KÄRNTEN

                The weekend after moving in was an extended weekend due to a holiday on Monday…Apparently here you get every Christian holiday off and June is full of them. Because of this we (the Sickls and I) headed to the western neighboring state of Kärnten (Graz is in Steiermark which is SE part of Austria) which is where Ironman Austria takes place and where Heinrich’s mother lives.

                Now a bit on that, Heinrich’s mother Elizabeth bought a Castle in Kärnten called “Schloss Albeck” (schloss is German for castle) about 25 years ago and fixed it up into a restaurant and cultural center http://www.schloss-albeck.at/. The castle is more than 500 years old, which, for those who are counting, is more than twice the age of the US. It’s situated on a hill overlooking a small village and is absolutely amazing. It’s basically a big rectangle two story building with a Barn and a servant house close by. The first floor was turned into the restaurant; the old kitchen with smoke blacked ceiling and walls was turned into a bar while one of the sides has the dining rooms and the other the kitchen. The second floor has a small concert hall that hosts a concert every Sunday and a large gift shop. The basement has another special dining room and where they store the wine as well as the restrooms. The barn was turned into a theater and the servant house is an art house that showcases different art collections throughout the year.

                We spent 5 days there, and were joined by Heinrich’s younger brother Ludwig (who brought along his girlfriend Gaby) and his younger sister Dagmar (who brought her boyfriend Alex). So the old house was pretty full. Heinrich and I brought the road bikes, but unfortunately during the drive there (about 2hours) the derailleur hanger from the Kuota broke L….. Anyway I spend the days relaxing, reading “Sakrileg” (or Da Vinci Code) in German. Chilling at the castle’s bar practicing my German (did I mention unlimited free drinks J). Breakfast Lunch and Dinner included fresh baked bread, and fruit as well as traditional Austrian food….everything was delicious and everyone was so awesome. I also helped out as much as I could at the restaurant and played with Ferdi and Liene (Ferdinand and Karoline) aka babysat. The weather was partially sunny, some rain/thunder storms and nice and cool which was nice compared to the summer heat that I’m used to.

KÄRNTEN EXPERIENCES

                THE LOCAL: So as I said I spend a lot of time chilling at the Schloss Albeck bar, practicing my German with Dagmar. The first day I met a gentleman that had the heaviest dialect that I had heard. I literally understood about 10 words in the hour long conversation we had….Even Dagma had a hard time understanding him. Plus he was really strange…. Did I mention that the dialect in Steiermark is different than the dialect in Kärnten

                CONCERT: So the Sunday I was there was a concert. The group was called Quattro Pro Entertainment and was made up of 4 guys that sang acapella from Steiermark….there is a certain patriotism to your state here in Austria. They where AWESOME, extremely talented and entertaining; they sang some traditional songs in German and some in English. I actually recorded some of their songs on my iPod.

                THE GIRL: Ok so ever since I got to Austria I’ve been checking out the talent here and although I’ve seen many ladies none have really caught my eye…..that changed at the castle. Don’t know if it’s a good idea to share this on my blog but what the hell….here’s the story.

                Monday I was chilling at the bar and two motorcyclist came in for a coffee. It was a dad/daughter duo enjoying an afternoon ride together. The girl was gorgeous, dark brown hair, big brown eyes…and in motorcycle gear. We got to talking a bit and I found out Madeline is studying international law in England and was back after the semester ended. This made the conversation a bit easier because if the German escaped me I was able to ask her to translate from English. Unfortunately having no phone I was not able to ask her for her number and it didn’t occur to me to ask her for her email address L Oh well a missed opportunity.

                KLAGENFORT: Klagenfurt is the capital of Kärnten, and I got the opportunity to spend a day there. Dagmar had to go into town for an acting class and invited me to come with. It was about 30 minutes away. We got a drink before she headed to class and I send a couple hours exploring the town solo. It was awesome; downtown is pretty cool with a lot of history. I also happened to find an awesome bike shop where I bought some tubeless sealant for Aria’s tires. I also got to go into a store which sold traditional Austrian clothes to check out some “Leader Hosen” of leather pants…price for a good pair = €350 but where they cool J

                LOSING MY JOB L: The last day in Kärnten I got the bad news that the shop that I worked in had finally found a way to hire a mechanic that they’ve wanted to hire for years; someone with more experience than me. The problem was that there was not enough hours of the both of us and my boss had taken the difficult decision to keep him on. This sucked majorly but I understand why he made that decision…

                So now it was time to look for another job, which was semi fine since it just pressured me to start the search for a better job earlier than planned. The bike shop thing had always been a temporary thing. Andrea and Heinrich helped me translated my resume to German and the search is on. First find something (whatever) fast and then start looking for something better where I can use my languages of studies. I got some options already J

ARIA

                The drive back to Graz was uneventful but once I got back I was finally build up Aria, but getting the tires tubeless was more complicated than I thought. It included two different bike shops. I also had to replace the cassette but she’s finally working great and ready to tackle the trails here.

GO KARTS AND PARTY

                 Saturday after Kärnten, I got invited by Ludwig and his girlfriend Gaby to go GoKarting with them and the choir that Gaby belonged to as well as the BBQ they had afterward. It was my first chance to chill with some people closer to my age as well as a chance to meet new people.

                The GoKart place was outside affordable and awesome. The race included 10min of qualifying driving and then we got lined up according to our fastest lap time for a 20 minute race. Out of 14 I was 10^th but I had a blast. Usually they go paintballing instead of GOKARTING but there was a Paintball tournament going on which we decided to go watch afterward.

                The paintball place is literally the large back yard of someone’s house (I’m not kidding) and we found it only because of small signs that guided us thru a small neighborhood. It was quite interesting to say the least.

                The party was quite fun, an interesting group of people. The food was delicious the drinks flowing and super fun. It was odd though since they would randomly start singing songs being that they are part of a choir. I found out that it was the year or season finale get together where they presented awards, showed pictures etc. I met some awesome people and even found myself playing “100 Club” with a group (100 Club is taking a shot of beer every minute). It was pretty funny but we only made it till 45 or 50 J (record is 150!!)

ANDREA’S PARTY

                Yesterday was Andrea’s birthday and she organized a pretty awesome party. The location was at the house of the “Burschenschaft” that Heinrich and Ludwig where part of when they were in the university.

                What is a Burschenschaft? Well it’s a special type of “Studentenverbingdungen” or fraternity only smaller with a different history and tradition. They only exist in Germany and Austria, they were founded in the 19^th century as student associations that encouraged liberal and nationalistic ideas. They encourage critical thinking and help you network. Here’s the cool part though, to become a member and to maintain your active status you need to learn how to fence as well as actually fence against other “Burschenschaften” and I don’t mean the typical fencing you see around the world I’m talking sharp heavy medal swords. The tradition was started in the time of Napoleon where only soldiers, students and law enforcement were allowed to carry a weapon as well as from “dueling”. The fights occur around 3-4 times a year and you have to practice a lot since it is dangerous and quite difficult. The traditional protective gear they wear protects you everywhere except for the top of your head and part of your face. Each fight lasts quite a long time and you have to get thru a couple of them.
Here’s another cool fact: the protective gear was BLACK with GOLD buttons and RED stitching. BLACK, RED, GOLD (yellow), remind you of any particular country’s flag? Germany

Anyway, this is the reason that Heinrich, as well as Ludwig, have gnarly scars on their faces….but back to the party.

                The preparations lasted about two days and everything was organized super well. Lots of beverages, decorations, catered food, music as well as a photo slide show. I got to meet more nice people and dance and have an awesome time. The fun started at 7pm and was not over till 4am. J

So that’s the story in a nut shell. My German is getting pretty damn good and I’m having a blast out here. I do miss everyone back home though L….I’ll try to update this more often but, again, no promises

Halo von Österreich

So made it to Austria….here’s an account of my first days here.

Sunday morning I woke up at 4am, my flight left at 7:15 and I had to be there by 5:15. My first flight was to Miami. Unfortunately my bike box was over the 50lbs limit (actually by 33lbs) so instead of being charged $35 dollars I got charged $150 L but the good thing was I was given an emergency exit seat which meant more leg room.

Two guys from Tempe sat next to me and I found out John and Stephan were headed to Berlin to spend a month traveling Europe and as luck would have it were going to be on the same connecting flight to Dusseldorf from Miami.

The flight lasted about 5 hours and I slept most of the way. Besides briefly getting lost at Miami airport we (John, Stephan and I) made it to our gate with just enough time to buy an overpriced personal Pizza Hut pizza before boarding. Slowly I started to hear more German and it started settling in that I was in fact headed for Europe. The flight lasted quite a long time but we got a dinner and a breakfast on the plane. I slept for a good while and got to finish Angles and Demons (my third time reading it). We arrived at Dusseldorf and I exchanged contact info with John and Stephan and we decided to meet up when they travel to Vienna.

One more quick flight (1hr 45min) and I arrived in Vienna. Luckily for me all my luggage and bike arrived too.  Heinrich picked me up from the airport and we were on our way to Gratkorn, which is where his parents in law (Erik and Rosemary) live and where him and his family and I were going to live for the next week before their house in Graz is ready to move in.

The highway there gave way to some extremely beautiful views of the country side and to my surprise was exactly how all the pictures portrayed it. Everything is so green and the houses are typical. Farms scattered around with big fields of wheat and other crops; between fields are dense green forests and mountains. Quaint clusters of houses and with churches complete with their signature pointed tall spire.

Eric and Rosemary’s house is a tiny, comfy house with a beautiful back yard. So tiny that Heinrich, Andrea (his wife) his kids Ferdinand (3years) and Karoline (15months) and I have to sleep in a small room upstairs. But as I said it’s a comfy house and we are making it work so far.

Everyone was (and still is) so warm and welcoming, and the afternoon after I arrived I got to see everyone for the first time since they left Phoenix in January and February. Everyone just as warm as I remember them being.

Exhausted and tired bed time came at 9pm central European Time (9hours ahead of Phoenix time) managed to get a solid 12hours of sleep in my attempt to fight off the jet lag. After dropping the kids off at their babysitters house Heinrich and I headed to downtown Graz and grabbed a quick coffee with Andrea at her work. Downtown Graz is the largest and best preserved downtown in all of Europe. It was not damaged during WWII and is quite beautiful. I was glad to see so many cyclists everywhere. Next destination was Heinrich’s house where we had to do some work as well as pick up his old Kuota Kahn road bike he was going to let me borrow. I got my trusty Adamo saddle on it as well as my pedals and we headed to Rad Fuchs, the bike shop where I’m going to work at, to do some work on the bikes. Then back to Gratkorn for a solid ride thru the Austrian hills.

The ride was nothing less than spectacular. We rode on a beautiful country side road that could have been ripped right out of a fairy tale book. Complete with small hill side farms, tree canopies and the occasional tractor on the road. We rode up some great little hills, bombed down some awesome winding roads. All in all it was a tough ride trying to keep up with Heinrich is quite a challenge. Did I mention he’s a professional Ironman Triathlete? Needless to say it’s quite easy to fall in love with this place.  

After the ride I got a chance to Skype with my Mami in Phoenix. I wish my family was here to live these experiences with me but I guess the bird’s got to leave the nest at some point.

In the evening was a swim workout with Heinrich’s training group (he’s a professional triathlon coach too) in Graz, which felt good although it’s odd to swim in an indoor pool. Afterward everyone went out for a beer and dinner. Which brings me to something that I find interesting here, everyone always hears about the awesomely good beers that the Europeans drink right? But what people don’t know is that Austrian and Germans love to mix their beer. For example a “Radler” is lemonade with beer and there are many more such mixes. As a beer coinsure I was skeptical of such a mix but it is surprisingly good and refreshing. Anyway we had a couple of those after swim. The frustrating part of the night was that I only understood about 30% of the conversations since everyone went off the deep end with their dialects. I know it was only my second day here but man did I feel like an outsider sitting in there not understanding much of what was being said; an odd feeling I’ve never really had before. I’m going to have to be patient knowing that it will take a while before I understand their dialect…..

The cool thing is that I got to see the bike shop I’ll be working at and it’s pretty cool. Super high end triathlon and road bike shop, with Look, Ceepo, Argon 18, Cervelo and a couple of other European only brands that I’ve never heard about. The shop is behind the owner’s house, which is also an odd thing here in Austria since there isn’t a separation of residential areas and retail areas. Hannes Fuchs is the owner and he runs his shop very well, evident by its well organized show room and spotless repair area.  Can’t wait to start working there this coming Monday, I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot J

Today (June 1) I woke up to my 25^th birthday, the first birthday I pass without being with my family L . But I’m sure I’ll talk to them via Skype at some point and I’ve been told by everyone here that we’ll celebrate tonight J.

Tomorrow Heinrich and I head south to a “Trainings Lager” or trainings camp that he organized for his athletes. We’ll be staying next to the coast and riding and running in some of the most beautiful areas I’ve seen. It’ll be a small group of people but I’m really looking forward to it. We’ll be back on Sunday and then moving in to their house in Graz the next day.

I’ll get pictures up soon, camera ran out of batteries but I’m getting new ones today. Don’t know how often I’ll put up updates but stay tuned. I miss everyone back home very much. The door is always open though if you want to visit.

Bis Bald J

P.S I'm probably going to start writing some blog updates in German....I might or might not include translations so sorry ahead of time to those who don't understad German ;-)