The goal is to live in a small Austrian village with my Austrian wife and our 4 yr old while learning everything about this beautiful corner of the world. We will live on the second floor of my in-law's house in a two bedroom apartment while skipping around in flowery fields like the one on "The Sound of Music". Well, maybe not the skipping part:)



The village is called Windischgarsten. Located in the lower half of Upper Austria, it is an amazingly beautiful area of the Alps known for skiing, hiking and biking. I don't have any local friends, I haven't learned the language, and I have no idea where I'll work. This could get really interesting. No problem right?







Thursday, December 2, 2010

A Day With Gabe

Ah, seasons. Oh how I've forgotten you. For those of you back in Socal, a season is when the weather changes. God gave us seasons way back in the beginning of time so we don't become complacent with warm weather, palm trees and flip flops. I think God wanted the people of the Alps to be less complacent than the rest of the world.

So I've been home sick from work for a few days - It's a time for "dragging" your feet. You know, like nose blowing, internet surfing, watching tv, and opening the fridge three times an hour hoping something else will appear. Although I'm under the weather, I still have some fatherly and husbandly (that's not a real word) stuff to do.

"Stuff" - it's always better than "dragging".


We only have one car, so being that I wasn't working, I was on taxi driver duty. First off was getting Yvonne to work on time.
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Then I went home, got Noah dressed and fed, and dropped him off at preschool, which they call kindergarten over here. Kinder translates to children, garten translates to garden. They should've called it "kindergerms" because that's where kids meet to exchange germs and take them home to their fathers.
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Next up was a drive over to the doctor's office to drop off my chest x-rays.
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This is a photo from the doctor's parking lot. You can see one of our favorite grocery stores in the distance.
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Afterward, I drove back through the village to get home...
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...and check out the creek running through town.
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But instead of going home, I thought I'd swing by the local lake real quick. In winter it freezes over to become, what the locals tell me, an ice skating lake. No ice yet.
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So back in the car to get my sick self back home.
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As I was driving I looked down at the outside temp readout which some refer to as a thermostat. It was cold and I should be wearing my gloves!
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This is me wishing I had my gloves.
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Back to the house I go. It's good to have a garage in this weather. You can't tell in the photos but its snowing.
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The garage is detached from the house. After parking I must walk up the street a little bit to the front door. No big deal, but I have to be careful not to slip on the ice.
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Gotta suck down my meds right?
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This is what I looked at until it was time to play taxi driver again.
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Time flew by too quickly. I peaked outside to see it was snowing harder than before...
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...and peaked out the front door at the ice road.
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The roads were in much better condition now than before. The trucks must've been by spraying salt. Yes, I forgot my gloves again.
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First stop was kindergarten to pick up my boy. He's a smart kid. He wears gloves.
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Next stop is the hotel to pick up Yvonne from her reception job. She wears cute little traditional dresses to work that shows a lot of her boobs. I like Austrian traditions. Sorry, no boob shots here.
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We had to drive by the local golf course to get to the hotel. No golfers out there today. Don't know why.
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She was running a little late so Noah and I decided to grub on some sweets. The hotel owner feeds us whenever we visit. I love that place.
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There's a little playroom at the hotel for the kids. The hotel owner has a daughter the same age as Noah, so the toys are age appropriate for him. The girl's name is Lena. She's a blonde. Noah digs on the blonde ladies.
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Yvonne finally clocked out and we went home where I could take my medicine and lay down again. Overall it was a good day - a cold and non-complacent day.

Gabe
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3 comments:

  1. Sounds perfect actually!! Hope you get to feeling better soon! Great pictures!!!

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  2. It's nice to see your daily activities, (cold and all). Very nice pictures, and OF COURSE, I'm not surprised Noah loves blonds, being kind of one myself! Feel better soon.

    Be well,
    HowLong.

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  3. We miss you and Yvonne. Noah looks so big now. Molly just turned 5! You're doing a great job with your blog! I'm impressed. Happy New Year to you and the rest of the Hortons! Much love, Bruce, Kim & Molly.

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