I got a Job!

Another day has passed in our hidden valley. Yvonne's opa (grandfather) turned 81 today. We drove up the street to his house for some cafe und torte (coffee and cake). He's retired now but loves to raise chickens, grow a garden and fish the local ponds. We spent a few hours sitting around a table in his driveway laughing and eating.



Something else happened today too.....I got a job! I now work for a company named "Dana". They specialize in upper-end interior door manufacturing for the European market. It's not a career, it's a job; a place to make some money while learning the language. More specifically, it's a factory job. Lots of hard work. Please wish me luck. My body is more equiped for office work! Yvonne translated my interview. It's unbelievable how quickly she can switch from one language to another. I only hope I can be half as good as her someday. Thanks Yvonne!

Around the Table in Austria

Life is normal again at the Horton flat. This is the way I like it! Family drove over and/or walked upstairs for some homemade pasta tonight. Yum...good job Yvonne. Very good. We sat around our table for probably four hours to accomplish this 10 minute task. Is sitting at a table for four hours a good thing?

Oh yeah.

There are no short get-togethers around here. You want to meet someone for coffee? How 'bout lunch or dinner? The Austrian coulture is rich in many ways, but most notably around the dining room table.

But what do you talk about for that long? The short answer is: It doesn't matter.

Just remember that it's ok to have fun without fitting in. My "german" skills are still in an infantile state. No long intelligent conversations coming from me; just listening, goofing off and drinking a few beers. What the heck, life could be worse right?

Hospital Day 3

Geesh, he's still there. First off, thank you to everyone for your emails.

For those of you with children, try to imagine the feelings you'd get, some of you already know, sitting in a hospital room with your child; a child who is too sick to leave.

Now imagine the same thing happening in a foreign country. The doctors and nurses don't speak your language, you don't know if the care is good, and the hospital can't communicate with your insurance provider. As a matter of fact, you don't even know if your child is covered. Will he be ok? When will he go home? Will you go broke in the process? These are just a few of the things which run through my mind... endlessly.

I sit in that room next to my child and pray all will be ok. The doctors come in, check his condition, then vanish back into the hospital. I study their facial expressions to determine if all is ok and splice together a german sentence asking if all is fine. They always respond in what might as well be Klingon. Yvonne and I take turns watching him while the other goes home to shower, eat and sleep. Seeing Yvonne return to us is momentous. The doctors are able to articulate their thoughts with her, and she can translate to me.

Noah will be fine.

They found an infection by taking a blood sample. They just can't determine the location and reason for it. He is on a fever reduction medicine as well as antibiotics. He'll be home as soon as his fever is under control. The hospital staff and doctor are really nice and the food is first class. Noah spends his time in the children's playroom, sleeping, watching Mama Mia on his DVD player, and spying on the helicopter which lands outside his window.

We expect he'll be home today. Again, thanks for your emails. All else is going fine out here. The hot weather has passed for now. We even got some rain! What a blessing.

Noah is Hospitalized

What a night.

Last night was a long one. Poor Noah was running a high fever (103.6) and throwing up. This morning Yvonne took him to his local doctor after hitting 104. The doc said he needed hospitalization. As you can guess, he is there now hooked up to an I.V.

They don't know what's wrong with him. I guess we'll find out in the morning when the test results come back.

I expect he'll be home sometime tomorrow. He needs your prayers as he's not able to throw unsuspecting slugs in the creek there.

Humid Weather Hits the Alps

As most of us know on this side of the pond, we're in a heat wave. It's the nasty humid kind which makes you sit at your computer in your underwear. Don't worry, I wear boxers! No air conditioning either. Nope. None. Apparently it doesn't get hot here that often so the locals don't bother with it. That doesn't mean today sucked. I had a great time. I did some cycling up to Pyhrnpass this morning and loved it. I loved it because it made my belly just a little bit smaller. I didn't realize how "big boned" I was until I came here. These people are skinny! Later on I took Noah up to a lookout tower over Windischgarsten, then got a haircut! I don't see how they can cut hair in this muggy weather. To compliment the wet air, the hot latte I was suckling made sweat poor down my hair. Blah blah blah, I know I complain too much. Just buy an A/C unit people!

Gabe in the park

Preschool, parks and a kitchen!

Pictures of Noah are limitless! Here's Noah hamming it up at his favorite playground. You won't find warning signs or rubber under the equipment here. You play, you get hurt, your fault. Imagine that!


Yvonne organizing our new kitchen.


Noah's new preschool. He officially starts in Sept, but he went for a 1/2 day yesterday. They love him there. It's a catholic school and funded by the federal government. No church & state separation here.


Inside the preschool. I was amazed at how well behaved all the kids were. The teachers can get the job done here without parental and red tape interference.


Our very own garage! Half of the garage isn't shown because this silly blog site rudely crops my photos. Grrr. The garages are pretty close to the roads. The snow gets fairly knarly in the winter. You don't have to shovel driveway snow if you don't have a driveway right?

We have arrived!

Wow. Months of planning and we're finally here....Where is here? Windischgarsten, Austria! Population: 1500. It's a small village up in the Alps; kind of a tourist spot for cyclists, skiers and the outdoorsy type. I've been in a cubicle for a few years so this place comes to me as a treat. The great outdoors.

Here's a photo from the master bedroom balcony. There's a creek down below that'll sing you to sleep when you have jet lag!

The plane ride was typical for an oversees flight. Tons of people packed into a 747. The flight attendants were blissful and sweet for the first half, then they got tired like the rest of us. You could see it in their eyes. They just wanted to land too. I don't blame them. They have a tough job. Noah was a quiet little guy the entire trip. He absolutely loved watching the plane take off and land. Life is extra magical at three years old.

9.5 hours from LAX to Frankfurt, Germany. 3 hr layover, 1 hour flight from Frankfurt to Linz, Austria. It was a long day. By the time we left the house in California and arrived in Windischgarsten it was around a 24 hr trip. We were tired.

We bought a car within a couple hours of landing. We got it from Yvonne's cousin. It's a Silver 2001 Toyota Avensis 4 dr diesel hatchback. $5000 was a middle-ground fair price. I figure we can sell it for around $4k when we move back to the States. Or maybe we'll just keep it here for when we visit? We'll see. I like the hatchback. My bike slides into the rear with ease. No need for a bike carrier! I've never seen a 4 dr hatchback before. They're into those here. Suits me just fine. It's a diesel too. It's like driving a tractor. They say you get used to it after a month or so.

Guess what? We don't have to build out a kitchen in our apt! Suprise, suprise to us! My father-in-law built it for us before we arrived. Really cool. He also added a bedroom for Noah, a dining area, and did some other remodeling. Now we can afford another car?

A tremendous first day it was. Thanks to everybody for your emails and questions. I love hearing from you!