Slovenia

Alright, Yesterday we woke up early and took a the train from Vienna to Ljubljana, Slovenia, the train ride was uneventful and I spent my time drifting in and out of a cruddy sleep. We arrived in Ljubljana on a dreary Sunday afternoon and it being Sunday means that NOTHING is open so I did the only logical thing once we arrived at our hostel (which happened to be an former military prison) and fell asleep for the rest of the day.
This morning was the big day, Irena the principle of our school (Danila Kumar) picked us up from our hostel at 9am. Rocking a wrinkled shirt, with a tie and not had a proper shower (shampoo and not dispenser soap) she took us to our digs for the next two months and then to the school. Our dorms look quite similar to any other dorm I've been in besides having a bathroom in our room. I'll be living with Chris and Megan is living with a random college student who may or may not speak English we have not met her yet. The surprise of the day came when we found out how much we will be paying per month. Originally we were told somewhere between 400 and 550 Euros per month (ridiculous if these were the accommodations), then Irena told us that she managed to get it discounted to 250 Euros (Sweet) and then they gave us a sheet this afternoon saying that it will be 208 Euros a month (BOMB) for our dorms as well as breakfast and dinner (AWESOME). Needless to say we are pretty pumped and I suggested a joyous celebration drink later tonight (start spending the money we are saving right!).
The school is going to be quite a bit different from Patrick Henry, it is actually a school within a school. The main school is a Slovenian speaking primary school that runs along the Slovenian governments education guidelines. So the majority of students running around the three buildings are Slovenian speaking students who I will never interact with. The smaller school is where I will be. It is an English speaking International school that has grades k - 8 and to my surprise I will be doing a little work in the elementary school while working mostly with the Humanities (History and Geography) teacher with the 6,7 and 8th graders. What really makes this awkward was when Irena informed me that she was unhappy with my CTs performance and would likely be letting him go at the end of the year. This is going to be one hell of an interesting 2 months. From the looks of it I'll be prepping for anywhere between 4 and 8 different age level and subjects, won't really know more until I spend the day with my CT tomorrow.


On to the more important areas of my time here in Europe (just kidding dad). I have a new business venture that I believe will hit the Twin Cities by storm upon my arrival back to Minnesota. Two nights about ago we took a trip out to a traditional Austrian restaurant where we indulged in some delicious schnitzel (still not 100% on what it is) and as I finished my first Gosser it hit me like an anvil hits a cartoon character. Not only do we need a solid schnitzel restaurant at a not Gustavs price, but we need one with equally good beer and a great name. So to all possible investors the group of us after a couple more beers at the 7 Stern Brau the second stop of our night came up with the name Fo Schnizzel my Schnitzel. Big things in store for this idea, big things and they maaaay include a shrine for snoop dogg, not 100% on that yet.

Via Stephs request I will try and keep you updated on the beers that I try throughout my trip

Beer 1- Starts with an O or something, yellow can. Skip it, totally terrible, I drank this one on the airplane and boy did it suck. I would compare it to a blander, staler Hamms. I don’t even know why I wrote about it, bums me out just thinking about it. STAY AWAY from the yellow can.

Gosser: I believe I’ve tried this beer before, it seems like the standard of Austria, they have signs everywhere for it and the odd can on the street is usually this one. Not bad for a cheap beer, reminds me of any Miller, Bud beer. Nothing to write home about.

Gosser Dunkel (Dark): disappointing for a dark beer, being my usual favorite of beers this one a big disappointment. It is as if they forgot to add flavor when they made this. Poor man’s Nordeast.

Radler: This appears to be turning into Megans drink of choice. I think the Radler is the basic lager (Gosser mostly) with the addition of lemonade. Not bad, but for a beer snob you might make the argument that it shouldn’t count as a beer. I don’t think I could ever drink more than one in a 24 hour period without fear of reprisal from the beer gods.

This is where the beer drinking got interesting. At the 7 Stern brau they brew their own beer and these are the ones I tried;

Hanf (Hemp) Bier: The giant Marijuana leaf on the label may have enticed me into trying the beer, but the flavor was what would entice me to order another one. A sweet and smooth wheat taste with solid carbonation and a smooth finish made this one enjoyable beer to drink.

Chilli Bier: Another one of those exotic beers that you normally wouldn’t order, but hey what the hell. When I ordered the beer the bartender made sure to tell me multiple times that the bier was spicy, very spicy. My reply was “I’ll take a half liter” and he walked away shaking his head. My first sip of the beer brought a tingle in the back of my throat. Focusing mostly on the spice I didn’t get much of the flavor, but on the second sip I really got a solid taste and damn, that’s a good beer. A subtle sweet flavor along with a tang that I can’t remember tasting in a bier before along with the spice ride made this an interesting experience. The opening tingle doesn’t give justice to what builds up over the course of .5 liters. It’s a funny thing the tingle expands throughout your mouth along with getting stronger with every sip and the normal cure for this (drinking more bier) just added to the situation. If I were to order (which I would) I would get a smaller glass or another beer to counteract, but I would like to see an eating challenge that involved some extremely spicy food (wings, schnitzel) accompanied by a liter of this bier or one similar.

Well that’s all for now, I hope to get back with some info this teacher I will be working with and the classes that I’ll be teaching, but after writing all that about bier I now have the urge to dip out for a bier before dinner. Fo Schnitzel

Hickel

This is where we are staying... or this is where I wish we were staying, I might be bit delusional.



Giving the Austrian Parliament a piece of my mind! or at least the room where they meet.



This Church Brought to you by Opel.

We made it!

Well round one has gone to the 3 travelers, we made it to Vienna quite easily. We left Minneapolis at or around 10:30 traveling to Dulles (DC) where we had a layover for a few hours. Those few hours provided just enough time for Chipotle (one last American meal), reactivating the pin for my debt card. Wasn't the smartest thing to wait until that moment to make sure I had access to cash, but it worked none the less. I continue my journey following the "I'll figure it out when I get there" mindset. The flight was alright, would have been better if the passenger next to me didn't have "a smell" as I like to think of it as well as feeling as though he had a right to the ENTIRE middle arm rest and the lady in front of me attempting to put stuff under her seat (if you don't fly very much that is where my feet are suppose to go). All complaining aside I got to watch The Social Network (better the second time) and a few other random movies/television shows. Landed in Vienna BOOM no problem, Train to the Hostel BOOM no problem, check in to the hostel BOOM no problem, but that is when we hit our first little road bump, but before that I guess I should tell you who the we is. We consists of Megan another soon to be Secondary Ed teacher (Math), Chris a soon to be Elementary Ed teacher (so teaching everything) and myself (captain awesome). Well our bump really wasn't that bad, it was more stupid rookie mistake then anything. We didn't have any idea what we wanted to do while in Vienna. Well needless to say being in a new random city was good enough for us and we spent our day randomly wondering the street jumping into different stops when thought it would be interesting. Its time for a nap now in order to hopefully gain enough support to make a trip to the Siebensternbräu. Pictures to come to make up for all of these words. Laterade

MDH

Lets get it started ehh...

Well its Monday and on Thursday I leave on an adventure of epic awesomeness. I will jettison off for an 8 week student teaching placement in Ljubljana, Slovenia followed by about 2 weeks of travel where ever the hell I want time. I expect these next 8 weeks Dumila Kumar School will be an experience that rivals my recent 7 weeks at Patrick Henry High School in Minneapolis. My time at PHHS was quite an experience, one that I feel like I learned more then my 4 and half years of college combined. With such a good experience at PHHS from my CT to the students I was beginning to regret splitting my student teaching between two placement, feeling as though I'll be missing out on the chance to grow one group of students throughout a semester. But Slovenia is calling and I can't pass up opportunities travel to some distant land for a while. So this whats up and I hope to fill you in on my teaching experiences, traveling experiences and anything else that happens in the next 10 weeks. SO be prepared for pictures, texts and maybe a video or two that might help to put you in my soon to be very worn shoes. Peace out foolios

-Hickel