Legitimate

As the previous post noted, we spent a great weekend in Prague and then a few days hosting my buddy Scott here in Vienna. While in Prague, I shot my previous few weeks of proper diet and jogging to hell in only a few short days. Half-liter beers for less than a couple of bucks seem to trump exercise any day of the week. The conversion rate to burn the calories of a ten-inch wurst and 1.5 liters of beer also appears to be 28 miles of walking.

But I digress. After only one short month, I had my first class last night. It seems as though it will be interesting but I did have to chuckle. Despite the class being taught in English and 400 exchange students at the school, the teacher was rather surprised the class was comprised almost totally of foreign students. With two hours of class after 30 days in country under my belt, I’m not one to rest on my laurels. I will attempt another class on Saturday. This schedule could get grueling. But I can now say I’m a student without completely laughing. Legitimacy: Phase 1.

Legitimacy: Phase 2. Our other big adventure today was the end of our black market cable. The cable company sent an employee to turn off our cable after we had previously “made a deal” with someone else. In all honesty (interesting choice of words on my part), we did not believe that the other guy would ever return to turn the cable back on. So, we agreed to have our cable kept on by paying a small fee and agreeing to the monthly charge. The shroud of guilt has been lifted off and I can hold my head up high again.

And the ability to hold my head up high is considerably easier with today’s haircut. A haircut in a foreign country is always a bit of adventure. The vocabulary is easy enough but descriptions can still lose something in translation. It is hard enough changing barbers in the U.S. The dread I experience in Austria when a barber is holding an electric clipper menacingly above my head and commandingly rather than questioningly stating: KURZ!! (short), is enough to make me consider the Allan Ginsberg look. Alas, it turned out okay and the woman cutting my hair was wonderful. However, she did not brush the hair when she was done and Heather could not stop chuckling with my initial wind tunnel look.

The other big adventure was preparing for the arrival of my brother and three teenage girls. Small apartment and six people. We needed to figure out bedding so Heather and I shopped strategically. Three exercise mats for the girls’ beds, two huge pillows to complement what we already have, and two very large wine glasses for me to adjust to hosting teenage girls. This may be just the wine talking but we really can’t wait for them to visit.