22 - 28 December 2008

In this week of the school holidays all the children have done ski courses. Caspar was moved from the top ski school group, after the first day, into the 'new school/freestyle' group. His fellow group members tower over him and greet him "Yo Caspar' in their manly voices. Caspar informed us that 'we were doing jumps man and everything and at lunchtime we had chicken nuggets and got drunk!'

15 - 21 December 2008

The Dutch love Maria Alm, they come here in their droves. They also love pancakes, so they are keeping Justine busy in her 5th variety of job, as occasional waitress at the recently opened, and first ever, pancake restaurant in Austria. The Maria Almers love the Dutch, as they love all tourists - since their livelihood depends on them. Although - a recent official circular, informing Maria Almers of a proposed new development of apartments, did not extend the usual warm welcome when it stated that these apartments will NOT be sold to any English or Dutch. I should think the Austrians care as little as the French about the EU, there's little 'unity' in singling out two nationalities so. The best parts of Austrian culture are beautifully preserved here, so we all want a bit of it, but fiercely protected, so we are also kept at arms length.

8 - 14 December 2008

Jana is Elizabeth's best friend. She speaks German at Kindergarten, Pinzgau to her friends and Bosnian at home. Her language is sometimes a little confused, just like Elizabeth's. She can, however, sing "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin flew away, Uncle Billy lost his etc" in beautiful English, thanks to our daughter's expert tuition.

1 - 7 December 2008

Simon has now been entrusted with translating, writing and building the Ski School website, and responding to all email enquiries. Perhaps that trust is a little misplaced given that this morning the entire website was a black hole - completely crashed and trashed, all data lost. Fortunately all was eventually put to rights, but I suspect that he is subconsciously trying to sabotage the work that is preventing him enjoying powdery snow, bright sunshine and deserted pistes.

24 - 30 November 2008

For generations the farmers have been recording the weather, and noting useful observations in the 'Bauern Kalendar' in charming rhymes (here, badly translated), such as; 'If October is clear, Winter is near', 'Snow in the 10th month, mild till the 4th', 'Sun on St Martin's, in for a cold one', 'Blustery on St Matthias' day, Winter till Easter' and so on and so on and so on! In the same vein as St Swithuns or Groundhog but SO much more complicated, taking into account when the lark sings, how thick the ice is, when the leaves fall and what the cows are up to. It is absolutely reliable, since there are enough of these 'rules' to ensure that whatever the weather, it will have been correctly predicted! I don't mean to be cynical - it's just that the Bauern Kalendar predicts not much snow this year and we really want it to be wrong.

17 - 23 November 2008

We just couldn't wait any longer - so when the pisteurs tested the snow cannons this week and left large spots of snow on an otherwise green mountain, we tramped up to a 10x10m patch with our sledge. The children delighted in the 3 seconds worth of sledging thrill that the patch afforded, and Justine despaired at the hours of washing the huge pile of cow pat, in which the sledge came to an abrupt halt, afforded. Had we waited one more day we would have had a whole mountain's worth of white fluffy stuff.

10 - 16 November 2008

Over the past year and a bit in Austria, Justine and Simon have been employed in various guises - ski instructor, cleaner, teacher (physics, English, German, swimming), taxi driver, jewellery maker, translator, lawn mower. Most have been lots of fun for little money. The perks of the latest job, painting an entire hotel in Saalbach, have included 150 packets of crisps and 2 industrial sized boxes of Frosties, past their sell by date, and a huge great Mercedes. Result! (PS we don't get to keep the Mercedes but we can eat all the crisps.)

3 - 9 November 2008

Simon is often appalled at the Pinzgau misuse of his beloved German language. Irregular verbs are disrespected, genders are all over the place, and as for the genitive..! To facilitate family integration into the community, he bites his tongue and refrains from correcting the local dignitaries as they deliver their key note speeches. Although there is so much work to be done in sorting out their German, he is in demand as an English teacher. Most want to learn enough to explain to their guests what time breakfast is and where the ski slopes are, but 5 unsuspecting and assiduous students who signed up for Simon's intensive refresher course, now know, after their first lesson, the correct context in which to use whence, whither and wherefore.

27 October - 2 November 2008

Whilst Justine was practising her snowplough on the Kitzsteinhorn in a bid to become a qualified ski instructor, Simon took sole responsibility for the children's well-being for 10 days. We are pleased to report that they are still living, having survived... near drowning (Elizabeth), branding (Elizabeth), being temporarily misplaced (Mary), and being accidentally strapped into his accordion for an hour and a half (Caspar). Justine passed and Simon enjoyed his week. All is well.

20 - 26 October 2008

The Austrians are a nation of boy scouts. They can tie knots, climb trees and are always prepared. While we are still picnicing and playing in the sun, they are putting on the Winter tyres and chopping wood and Spring cleaning in preparation for the long cold Winter months - taking a leaf out of the book of the flora. Just as the leaves are turning, new growth is budding everywhere. The trees and flowers make a good start on all the Spring work before the snow comes. The snow softly blankets them and keeps the young buds safe and warm, and when the thaw comes, they are already half-way there. So we can be full of the joys of Spring twice a year!

13 - 19 October 2008

Our good friend Martin, from Munich visited this weekend. Following a walk he decided to run to a nearby lake and have a swim. It didn't concern him, or us, that he had no towel or swimming costume and that the water temperature was about 12 degrees, such behaviour is not uncommon this side of the water. It was, however, a little more unusual when he did the same, some years ago, in the English Channel off the Devon coast, in March, and then ran along the coastal path in his underpants!

6 - 12 October 2008

The children, and visiting friend Emily, ran up a mountain on Sunday. The grown-ups trailed behind but eventually made it to the Birnbachloch where the river springs from a very deep hole in the rock. So deep that the true depth is still unknown. Legend has it that a huge lake lies undiscovered within the mountain and when one tries to find it a deep muffled voice warns,'if you discover me, I will swallow you'! Simon tried various techniques, Caspar took the story very seriously and got a bit panicky, but thankfully, it wasn't discovered, and noone was swallowed.

29 September - 5 October 2008

In a land where everyone is as fit as Jimmy Mcfit who won the prize for being fit in Fitsville, the Austrians indulge in some pretty unhealthy habits. 47% of Austrians smoke, and on Saturday in our local Tabak, shoppers could sample a range of tobacco brands for free. Maybe it's part of an initiative to get that figure to over 50%! For the children there's sweets. Post a letter, get sweets, visit the bank, get sweets, get a book out the library, get sweets. It's no wonder our children love it here.

22 - 28 September 2008

Justine's Dad, Grahame, always tried to teach her that 'success comes not by making no mistakes, but by never making the same mistake twice'. Well, this weekend Simon should have heeded his advice twice. Firstly, when he once again took part in the Hundstein bike race, 17 km up 1300m, and failed to bring home the much coveted booby prize (which last year fed our family for a week), in fact clocking in at a very respectable 1 hour and 37 minutes. Secondly, when he once again tried to match the local talent for mixing beer and schnapps at yet another village do with long tables, benches and free, unlimited food and drink, in celebration of Harvest Festival. Justine eventually found him having tea with the new vicar - he's sure this time that he didn't kiss anyone, but he does remember joining the fire-brigade.

15 - 21 September 2008

The band plays second fiddle to a load of cows at the Bauernherbstfest procession. Signifying the end of summer, and, oh yes, another excuse for a lot of beer and thigh slapping, the livestock who have frolicked at altitude for the last few months are led down the mountain through the village and into a cosy barn, where they will stay until the snow has been and gone. Usually, on this occasion, bedecked with flowers, the cows were adorned simply with bells, out of respect for two of their number killed by lightning. The sheep missed their entrance because the farmers couldn't find them that morning in all the cloud at 2700m. Let's hope it lifts before it gets too chilly up there.

8 - 14 September 2008

Having Carl and Rebecca in the house is like having the Monty Python argument/contradiction sketch playing on a loop. Simon joined in the fray to debate at length whether this, hovering around our balcony flowers in the warm sun (see photo), is a humming bird or a moth. Finally a perfect compromise was arrived at - it is a humming-bird moth usually found in lowlands and Mediterranean countries. Two days later the temperature dropped to 4 degrees and snow is covering the mountains. I expect the humming-bird moth has gone home.

1 - 7 September 2008

Stollen - its perfect blend of fattening and unhealthy ingredients is of sufficient stodginess to give you that feeling of being lovingly embraced, without the guilt that often accompanies scoffing huge amounts of cake. Just to make it even more desirable, Stollen is only available in the shops from September till March but, September, thank God, has finally arrived and we are making the most of it already. Justine has written a short poem, auf Deutsch, in praise of this most delicious cake:
Wir wollen ... stollen.

25 - 31 August 2008

The Catholics certainly seem to put some effort into their religion. Justine joined Jan, 2000 others and the Maria Alm band (carrying their instruments, tubas and bass drums included) on Saturday for a 20 kilometre, 9 hour, 1300m up, 1500m down, pilgrimage to St Bartholomä Church on the Königssee, across the Steinernes Meer. Climbing the treacherous mountain path to the Riemannhaus (2177m) in the black of night to get to a communion service at 8.00am certainly gets everyone praying - that they will just make it alive. Towards the end of the whole ordeal subsequent prayers are for helicopter rescue, or deliverance through death. Next time she thinks she'll just opt for a couple of hours of self-flaggelation.

18 - 24 August 2008

Inspired by the Olympics (and the fact that the local council had organised some sporting activities to prevent Summer holiday boredom and consequent decline into malevolent behaviour), everyone has been swimming, climbing, nordic walking, skateboarding, breakdancing, golfing, footballing, tennising, tae kwon do - ing and karateing. At 10 euros per week for a full timetable of activities it worked out a bit cheaper than the 41 billion dollars spent on the Olympics.

11 - 17 August 2008

Maria Alm's church, with the tallest spire in Salzburgerland, dominates the skyline and almost every aspect of village life. The bells chime every quarter hour all through the day until 11.00pm and then generously let us lie in until 6.00am when we are woken daily by a vigorous peal. The church is obviously concerned about the spiritual well-being of local catering staff who are busy serving breakfast on a Sunday morning and dinner at evening mass. But there's no excuse and no escape when all the chefs, bartenders, waiters and waitresses are rounded up, still in uniform, and marched off to church at 10.45pm to celebrate the feast day of St Lawrence, their patron saint. He was martyred, in 258, by being slowly burned on a grid iron; apparently he told his torturers "Turn me over for I am cooked on this side".

4 - 10 August 2008

It's good to be back in Maria Alm with the feeling that this is definitely where we want to make our home for the foreseeable future. It's also good to know that nothing really changes in a year and that most of the things we love about England will stand the test of time, (apart from maybe friends and family!), and we will hold them dear until our eventual return some day.

28 July - 3 August 2008

A near perfect day (well, for Simon that is). We searched out a ringing practice on Saturday morning, and were invited to ring at a wedding that afternoon. With a few hours to spare we happened to chance upon open day at Brede Pumping Station - not only one, but two 14 ton fly wheels on a beam engine!!! Cornish pasty for lunch and then we earnt £24 ringing for a wedding (that's a whole days work for a ski instructor). Finished off with fish and chips on the sea front and to bed in a tent in the pouring rain! Bliss!

21 - 27 July 2008

A weekend of camping in Croyde with 43 friends and no rain, no mud and no gale force winds. An entirely new and pleasurable experience. Our camping stamina was, however, sufficiently tested the following weekend with Granberry, Sue and the 7 young cousins, in driving consistent rain. And it was still fun! Or maybe it's just a part of our English genetic makeup.

14 - 20 July 2008

So he's learnt the local Pinzgau dialect, he's got his Lederhosen and he starts his accordian lessons in September. And then we introduce him to the art of bellringing, peculiar to the British Isles. 5000 bell towers to learn at in England and not a single one in Austria.

7 - 13 July 2008

We are back in beautiful England! As well as the joy of seeing lots of friends and family, we've already enjoyed the much missed, and uniquely English experiences of fish and chips, a full cooked breakfast, Sunday roast, and bell-ringing. A take away curry and a camping trip are required, and all will be well.

30 June - 6 July 2008

Last week of term for Caspar, and even though he seems to spend most school days going for a walk and having an ice cream, he has, this week, spent most days going for a walk and having an ice cream. Mary and Elizabeth and the Kindergarten children, however, at their end of term concert, performed 13 songs, incorporating 8 languages (including Swahili), off by heart.

23 - 29 June 2008

Justine briefly panicked when Simon went to England to mark GCSE papers - it's been a while since she's had to entertain the children alone. Fortunately a few tonnes of sand was delivered right outside our house - the biggest sand pit ever! Then a team of strapping young lads with naked torsos built a beach soccer pitch. And then various teams of strapping young lads with naked torsos gaily played football just under the balcony for the whole weekend. So, it hasn't been too stressful so far.

16 - 22 June 2008

Simon didn't take the invitation too seriously, to hike up to one of the peaks above Leichneralm at tea time, light a bonfire at 10.00pm and hike down again in the middle of the night. Hundreds of other people, however, mobilised and the mountains were ablaze with beacons on every peak and every ridge in celebration of Midsummer...apart from one of the peaks above Leichneralm where there was an ominous dark spot.

9 - 15 June 2008

We got the impression that football was important here, particularly when a huge screen went up outside our house along with the obligatory long tables, benches and plenty of beer that accompanies any event, sacred or secular. However, when satellite transmission was lost for 15 minutes during the Holland/France match, no one rushed home to their tellies - football is just another reason to get out the long tables, benches and plenty of beer, and celebrate in true Austrian style. Simon, in true English style, staggered home at 2.00am announcing that he'd just been sick in a field somewhere and that he thinks he might have kissed someone!

2 June - 8 June 2008

Youths took to the streets this week as tension increased in the build up to Euro 2008. Armed with sticker books and 'doubles', there was swapping outside the bookshop in Saalfelden on Saturday, as football fans tried desperately to fill the gaps in their albums.

26 May - 1 June 2008

Over the past six weeks we have enjoyed watching our neighbour's huge extension grow; we have marvelled at how quickly it has gone up, we have gasped at the apparent lack of health and safety regulations, but now it has reached it's full height, we are just sad to have lost the beautiful mountain view that we used to gaze upon as we lay in bed in the mornings.

19 - 25 May 2008

1000 Harley Davidson's (and their riders) arrived in Maria Alm on Saturday. I think they all came to look at the beautiful balcony flowers...and it tied in well with the 11th International Harley Festival at nearby Saalbach. Apparently Saalbach had 14,000 of them. 1000 was enough for us though, and the black and chrome did contrast very nicely with the flowers.

12 - 18 May 2008

Maria Alm's church is 500 this year. The celebrations began in earnest on Sunday in the usual manner, with whips, horses, music and marching. Then the Gemeinde (local council) performed the miracle of the feeding of the 500 (not quite 5000) and provided, free of charge, unlimited food and drink, from late morning through to late night, to the village community and any one else who cared to join in. The supply of beer, schnitzels and cake was apparently endless.

5 - 11 May 2008

Simon is attracted to the job of lifeguard in an Austrian pool, but fears his British training may be useless here since there seem to be no rules against running, diving, bombing, ducking people, throwing friends in, jumping into the pool from the viewing balcony, eating and drinking around the pool, taking photos, ball games, snorkels and flippers, going two at a time or standing up down the chute, swimming with all your clothes on or swimming with all your clothes off.

28 April - 4 May 2008

The annual Ritzenseelauf is a fun run around a local lake, for all ages. Not so much fun for the children trampled under foot by their over-enthusiastic peers, and possibly not so much fun for Caspar, who having come last in his category, is now embarking on a strict training regime in preparation for next year, with his Competitive Dad. Please note - no children were physically or emotionally harmed in the partaking of this event.

21 - 27 April 2008

Sock puppets is the latest craze. Caspar found a few unwashed odd socks at home but was sufficiently inspired to arrange a collection at school. Within a few days, much to our joy, he had collected 93 old socks, a pair of nylons and one pair of pants.

14 - 20 April 2008

A half hour boat jaunt at Zell am See - not quite long enough for Caspar to get the hang of not over-steering. So we zig-zagged across the lake and just about made it to the middle before we realised we needed to turn around if we were going to make it back in time. When we were all feeling really sick, Elizabeth took over and steered us safely home in a straight line.

7 - 13 April 2008

The Ski Season is now officially over. At the weekend Justine tried once again to match the social pace of 20 year olds at the Ski School's final fling and was worse the wear for it by the end. Summer's sports are roller-blading and uni-cycling (as well as the more conventional biking and swimming) so yet more bruises for the whole family - just in different places now.

31 March - 6 April 2008

One rainy day last month we persuaded Caspar to watch 'The Empire Strikes Back' because we wanted to watch it. His nights have been haunted ever since by the thought of Darth Vader and his raspy voice. Simon has tried to treat Caspar's fear with his own brand of humour therapy - heavy breathing at the breakfast table, frequent renditions of the Star Wars theme tune, conversations beginning 'oh Caspar, Darth just phoned, he wondered if you wanted to pop round to play'. This week Elizabeth turned four and amongst the many lovely presents she received was a soft pink teddy that snores when you press it's paw, a kind of heavy breathing kind of snoring. She promptly named it Darth Vader Teddy and it now represents a new object of terror for poor Caspar.

24 - 30 March 2008

This week Justine took part in the Hausfrau Race, which involves skiing, and other typical hausfrau activities such as knocking back schnapps and knocking in nails.

17 - 23 March 2008

Apart from fish and chips, we still enjoy a lot of home comforts here. This week's visitors Nina and Margie replenished our stocks of marmite and chutney which were recently enjoyed whilst listening to Choral Evensong from Winchester Cathedral and Radio 4's The Moral Maze (last week featuring Justine's uncle Marcus!). Apparently we are also currently experiencing similar weather conditions - it snows and snows and snows, tiddlypom.

10 - 16 March 2008

Apparently this was a quiet week in Maria Alm. For us, that meant that all the young and attractive ski instructors went home again, and those remaining had twice as many children in their ski groups. Justine may look as though she is smiling here but she is actually slightly demented having had 13 3 year olds to teach for the whole week.

3 - 9 March 2008

A lovely 3 day visit from Dominic and Rebecca this week with much merriment. If that is not quite enough detail for you then visit Dominic's blog. With a word count of 2476 he has written almost 1000 words more, for a three day visit, than Justine has in 29 weeks of life here.

25 February - 2 March 2007

Two weeks of summer temperatures followed by two days of rain storms have reduced the Ski Kindergarten Sammelplatz to a swamp and the pistes to a puddle. On Friday we reluctantly packed up the ski school on Natrun, our beloved little mountain, and moved onto the main ski area on Aberg. Justine and Simon will now have to get up a whole 10 minutes earlier each morning to get to work on time.

18 - 24 February 2007

The moment when family skiing became a pleasurable possibility finally came, and then passed fleetingly. Caspar the speed merchant cannot be doing with gentle pace with occasional stops to look at the view, or to let Elizabeth catch up, when there is so much skiing to be done and the snow is melting as fast as the Wicked Witch of the West, in temperatures of 19 degrees.

11 - 17 February 2008

Justine and Simon skied together, without children (their own or other people's), this week for the first time since December, thanks to visiting babysitter Anthony! An opportunity for Justine to go a bit faster than almost stationary and get her legs briefly out of the snow-plough position. However thanks to the delightful breakable crust that Simon found off-piste Justine found that snow-plough was once again the only option.

4 - 10 February 2008

Here is Mary, sitting in the prime position on the podium, totally not bothered by the whole experience of winning the Kindergarten ski race. On the other side of the camera Justine is whooping and whistling completely carried away by the whole experience!

28 January - 3 February 2008

Justine has a new (additional) job cleaning self-catering apartments a couple of times a week. She earns twice as much as she does as a ski teacher and brings home a half-eaten pot of jam and packet of pasta each time.

21 - 27 January 2008

We realised recently that our whole perception of stress has changed - Simon was practicing balloon modeling, because every Wednesday all the ski instructors host a party for the children in the ski school with face painting, games, etc. Simon's balloons kept bursting and he shouted out in frustration that it was 'very stressful'. And setting aside the usual parental stress - that really is, so far, about as bad as it gets.

14 - 20 January 2008

All the children took ski courses this week. Elizabeth cried every day and gave her ski instructor (and the others that she was passed onto) possibly the worst week of the season. Mary was confident that she'd win her end of course race but completely ignored the last few gates and chose an off-piste route instead. Caspar did win his race and now sleeps every night with a trophy in his bed.