Most Awesome Highlights Part 2

Swiss Weekend
My Tita Ruth and I decided to go visit mi familia in Switzerland for the weekend in mid-November. At the same time, I wanted to see Leilani's new baby girl Ava, who I heard had the nicest blue eyes I will ever see. And they were right. ;)

We arrived on a Friday afternoon first using plane and then train. Unlike Austria, the train system in Switerzland is ALWAYS on time. And they ALWAYS arrive on time too. We get to Liestal around 6PM-ish and my Tita Evelyn meets us on the platform. One thing I noticed right away is that the Swiss German is SO different from the Austrian German. So I had a hard time following the accents. Most of the time I have to ask them to repeat several times.

Immediately, Tita Evelyn said we should go to Basel to see Leilani and Ava. Quick hello to Uncle Ernst, along with giving him our luggages and we boarded the train to Basel. I remember going to Basel and the only difference this time is that people dress more like Americans than anything. If they didn't speak, I would have thought I was back home in the States. We go around Basel for a bit and then go to Leilani's apartment. Baby Ava is SO adorable and she was fast asleep when we arrive. She eventually woke up and I got the most adorable photos of her with my Tita Evelyn. After our short visit, we went to a Chinese food place to eat and catch up with Tita Evelyn.

The next day was beautiful but really cold as we were at a higher elevation than in Austria. We took a lot of photos of the garden, Tita Evelyn's cool paintings she painted and her miniature vase collection. The place has gotten more stuff since I last visited and so it was cool perusing through the trinkets and objects.

From there, we headed back to Basel to sightsee and go shopping. We met up with Leilani and Ava for lunch and then toured around Basel more. I was determined to get myself a football scarf and found one of FC Basel. Uncle Ernst is a HUGE FC Basel fan and was excited that I got a scarf of his team. He also surprised us when he made us his delicious paella. Oh so good! White wine and paella. Dessert was sorbet with plum schnapps. Yum!

The following day we drove around Liestal because the weather was not so great. They took us to Roman ruins and a huge amphitheater, where I had fun with all the artifacts. Once we got home, Uncle Ernst and I watched the FC Basel versus FC Zurich game. Both teams are so good the game ended in a tie of 1-1. Because Uncle Ernst has limited English skills, I had to really force myself to use my lacking German. He somehow understood me and I got the gist of most of his explanations.

After having Tita Evelyn's delicious pancit, we had fun dancing to Uncle Ernst's jukebox while getting ready for our train. We kept on dancing until it was time to go and they dropped us off at the train station. Overall, I had a lot of fun in Switzerland. :)

Africa Day at the U.N.
With a group of my friends, we heard that the U.N. was celebrating Africa Day with lectures and talks. At the end of the day, there was a reception with free food and drinks. So of course, we had to go to that after work. We had a lot of fun and great times hanging out with each other. We even danced a bit and I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and I think I'll let the photos do the talking . . .

Most Awesome Highlights Part 1

Ok so I know that I haven't been writing on this in a long while and yes, there have been several interesting and funny events that have occurred since the last post. To get you all caught up, I'm going to highlight everything (with the help of slideshows) so I can get all of you up to date. Starting now . . .

Extrem Sport Messe Wien
Earlier this month, Raffy and I went to this Extreme Sport Exhibition place in the city. Raffy, being a part of a Parkour/Freerunning group, got his friend Patrick to come check it out. When I got there I was sorely disappointed. Maybe because I'm from California where "extreme" literally means extreme. Skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, in-line skating, BMX riding, surfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, skiing, water skiing, etc. are the types of sports where people can get pretty wild and do crazy stunts.

Yet, when I got there, all I saw really were skateboarders, mountain and rock climbing demonstrations and this tight rope walking demonstration. That was about it. I met Patrick and his girlfriend Anja, who I spent most of the time with, at the event. It was really small and the half-pipe wasn't that great either. They didn't even have any professional skateboarders doing awesome demonstrations or showing the posers this is real skateboarding. There were a lot of guys who looked like rejects from the movie "Lords of Dogtown." Nothing too exciting.

So Anja, the genius that she is, told Patrick to talk to the manager of the event to get him to have parkour for next year. The guy wanted a demonstration that same day and so the guys had to scramble to get the other two guys of the team to come. Peter, who I met in tricking class, couldn't make it but Nico said he could come but later. That meant most of the day we were waiting for Nico as the boys had to keep warmed up.

When Nico arrived the boys had to find stuff to jump off of while Anja and I got set up with our cameras. The boys did a few moves and did a few demos but not many people were looking so Nico went to the microphone and announced that they, Ape Connection, will be doing a few basic moves of parkour and freerunning. People watched and I got another Austrian culture lesson: Austrian people like to watch and don't do much if someone does a cool trick. So Anja and I had to get the crowd excited for the guys by cheering and whooping after the trick was done. Luckily, they responded. :)

In the end, the manager said that he would like the guys to come next year and then a journalist from an entertainment magazine was interested in doing an article about the guys. Not bad for impromptu performance.

Asian Dub Foundation Concert
The DJ/hip-hop group Asian Dub Foundation is one of Robbie and Raffy's favourite bands. So when the group came to Vienna, I knew that the boys were going and they brought me along too. Free ticket, why not?

A whole bunch of people came to the show. Some of the old crew that I knew such as Andi, Theresa, Karin, Maxi and Janna. Then there were new guys like Will and Kristoff. Honestly, I have not heard much of this band's music and from what I've heard they are supposed to be really good in concert. So I've heard.

We got there around 8:30PM and the guys came on close to 9PM. The crowd wasn't that big, which was sad to me. Maybe because it was a weekday when the show was playing. Overall, the music was alright. Not something I would listen to on my iPod. There were some dance worthy songs. And I love how they have the Bhangra drum influence. Apparently, the band are Indian guys from London. I definitely heard a lot of Indian influence in the music.

All the guys went to the front to join the mosh pit while I hung out in the back. I was not in the mood to get into a fight with some random drunk guy and then all the guys I was with might get into it too. That wouldn't be a pretty sight. Although, when the guys came out of the mosh pit they were soaking wet with sweat. As if they were doused with water. Eww! Luckily they had extra clothes in the car.

Surprisingly, the concert was short. Although the band did like two encores we still got out of the concert early. By the time we got out, it was only 10 minutes or so after midnight. The boys wanted something to eat so we went to their favorite wurstelstand (hot dog stand) and they got something to eat. After that, we headed home.

Non-Stop Weekend

This past weekend was definitely busy for me. From capoeira to pubs to birthday parties, I was out non-stop. Let's start with Friday night . . .

Friday:
As usual, Friday night is capoeira night and we started learning more advanced techniques, which were headstands and handstands. Ay ya ya, my head hurt after that. I also "played," or in other words, went in the circle and kind of sparred against the more advanced students. This was my second time "playing" and I was able to hold my own against them for a bit. Yay me!

After class, I went to meet up with my cousins at The Flying Pig pub. Yes, it is called The Flying Pig. Getting there was an adventure. I originally got directions on how to get there through public transport via Internet but I somehow got lost. When I get lost, the person to call is Raffy. He told me where to go next and whatnot. But I found myself literally at a crossroads. Raffy was trying to describe where to go next after I got off the U-Bahn but I couldn't really understand him. I was at the corner for about 15 minutes until we both finally figured out where I should go next. The street was called Liechtensteinstrasse and the number of the place was 31. Apparently, Raffy didn't tell me that the street was so long. Thankfully, Raffy drove by to find me and we drove to the pub.

At the pub, Robbie was already there along with the usual group of guys: Daniel, Luki, Bernard and Maxi. It was a birthday party for their friend Kristoff, who reminds me a bit of Justin Long from the movie "Dodgeball." I remember meeting him at Maxi and Janna's wedding. Cool guy by the way. The boys played table soccer (foosball) and it was funny watching them get beat by Daniel and another friend of Robbie.

We all somehow managed to find ourselves at the buffet table which had falafel, hummus and other goodies. Thank goodness there was food because I was so hungry from capoeira class. The party was really chill and I was glad. Originally I was going to go to a club with my friends from the U.N. but Robbie somehow managed to convince to go kick it with his crew instead. We didn't leave the pub until close to 3AM in the morning and this was just the beginning of a long weekend.

Saturday:
The next day, we had brunch at Maxi and Janna's place for Maxi's birthday. Daniel, Bernard and Luki were there along with another guy I met at the wedding, Nikki, and three of Janna's friends. Maxi and Janna have two dogs, Neo and Seppie. Seppie apparently liked me a lot or was trying to get food from me because he would rest his chin on my leg and just give me puppy dog eyes the entire time. It was another chill day where I listening to them all speak in rapid German as I looked at photos of Maxi and Janna's trips around the world. We left there around 3PM and I had time to chill before the night's party.

It was a joint birthday party of my co-worker Elizabeth and her youngest daughter Mary. Apparently, they live in a manor way out in the boonies. It was in Stammersdorf, where I went previously with Valentino and Heidi for the Sturmfest.

The manor is really beautiful hunting lodge, very rustic style and made of wood and stone. According to Elizabeth, they rent out the party area and they used to cater before Elizabeth got the job at the U.N. There were appetizers and cocktails, along with different desserts. Yes, we had to dress up for the occasion but I managed to wear pants.

A lot of my colleagues came, including my supervisor Giovanni and his wife Jennifer. The highlight would have to be the karaoke and dancing. Yes, I did dance a lot because Hyoo-jun, my co-worker Ayhan's girlfriend, kept pulling me on the dance floor. I did sing one song, which was "I love Rock n Roll" by Joan Jett. I had help from my other two co-workers Angela and Sasha.

After the party, I got a ride from my co-worker Tobias back to the city where I was going to meet Robbie at Helieginstadt. Apparently, my night didn't end there. Tobias and I got lost a couple times, especially in the area of Spittelau. He calls Spittelau his nemesis. We somehow found ourselves on the road to Klosterneuburg and so in the end, he took me all the way home. At least I knew how to get home and by the time I stepped through the doors, it was past 1AM.

Sunday:
Being that Austria is a heavily Catholic country, November 1 and 2 is All Saints and All Souls Day. So my Tita wakes me up to say that I'm coming with them to the cemeteries (yes, more than one) and then we were going to have lunch.

The first cemetery we visited the graves of Robbie and Raffy's grandmother. It was interesting that everyone would add candles and flowers. It is a tradition to clean the graves and add flowers and candles to the graves. Tita and Robbie added new rocks to the grave so it looks more clean and nice. Funny thing, people sell wreaths and candles during this time of the year. They actually profit from this. Different, huh?

The second cemetery we visited was to see Uncle Roland's side of the family. See, Uncle Roland's biological dad died when he was young and so his mom remarried and the second husband adopted Uncle Roland. Thus, Uncle Roland's last name is Rossi. It was interesting to see that.

For lunch we went to this restaurant which is basically a big converted barn. It was more or less in the middle of nowhere. Well, almost. There were other farms there but it just seems like it. The family took me there the last time I visited Europe, which was in 2000. The food is pretty good and I had a nice tuck in. It was nice to chill with the family and all. Afterwards, we went home and had a nice relaxing afternoon. Until next time . . . and hopefully soon! :)

Weekend in Retz and the Czech Republic

Ok so time for an update. A lot of exciting things have happened since the last blog. One of which is where I did get out of Vienna to another Austrian city AND another country. Let me start from the beginning.

So my Tita took me to go with her and the Filipino VIC club for an overnight trip to the city of Retz. There was a holiday at the U.N., so no work on Monday. At first I thought it was for wine tasting (I've gotten a mini-crash course from the cousins) and so I thought why not.

Uncle Roland took Tita and I to the U.N. on Sunday, where the meeting place was. There were a bunch of people who looked familiar to me and I believe it was because I saw them during ABBA night rehersals. There I met an adorable 5 year old boy named Mico. He's so cute and he took to me almost immediately. One problem though: He only speaks German and Tagalog. He is slowly learning English and Japanese, so he has minimum comprehension of English. Eep! That was definitely a challenge for me to communicate with him.

The ride to Retz was cool. The weather was just awesome. Blue skies and not so cold either. Lots of green hills and small, quaint towns along the way. Thank goodness I had my iPod with me because sadly, the music selection on the car radio wasn't "road trip worthy." So, I created my own soundtrack with my trusty iPod. Yay me!

Arriving there, we had to find parking and when we did, we had to trek with our luggages to the hotel. Funny thing, there was actually parking in front of the hotel so the drivers eventually got the cars and parked closer.

The hotel we stayed at was cool. It was apartment style hotel rooms so some rooms had stoves and separate rooms within the rooms. The housing sitch for Tita and I was complicated at first because we thought we were going to have guy roommates but eventually it worked out and we had gal roommates instead.

The town is very rustic with old buildings and plenty of statues. I felt like I was in an old movie from the 30s. You can see from the slide show I loved the way the town looks and took as many photos as possible. Even Mico would pose for me around the town. So cute!

I eventually found out we were going to a Kurbisfest or Pumpkinfestival. Apparently it is a big thing in the region, although Retz is known for it's great wine and huge underground cellar. Tita and I had fun buying food and tasting stuff. We took a lot of photos of the different scarecrow-ish statues around the festival. We ate at this food place where they had German folk music playing. I actually wanted to try the Kurbis-burger but they ran out at the time. So instead I had schnitzel and white wine.

After awhile, Tita and I along with a handful of the ladies decided to look around and see what was around. My sweet tooth started bugging me as I passed by a cart that was selling chocolate and yogurt dipped fruit. I went for the Turkish honey and the yogurt dipped fruit. So good! Tita and the other ladies thought the Turkish honey was too sweet, so I finished it all.

We were supposed to watch the fireworks but it got really cold as it got dark. Apparently, we were at a higher elevation so it means much colder. So we headed back to the hotel and ate there.

Back at the hotel, Mico wanted me to play with him different games like Cops and Robbers, Superman and Hide and Seek. Even though I still lack German AND Tagalog speaking skills, I still managed to communicate with Mico. We hung out in the room and he pretended to be Superman getting ready for work.

Here's a video of him getting ready for work.



The next day it was cloudy, cold and foggy. Not a great day but it totally reminded me of Daly City. We all had breakfast downstairs as what Tita calls a typical Austrian breakfast. This is basically ham, cheese, bread, butter and jam. It wasn't actually bad but maybe it was because I was hungry.

After breakfast, we all got back into the cars and I heard we were going to an outlet shopping place. Yes, these actually exist in Europe. I thought great! Hoping that it would remind me of the Vacaville shopping centre in Vacaville.

Ok, so the name of the outlet place is called Excalibur. As in Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table kind of deal. Everything was designed like a theme park really. Now here's the funny part . . . we were in the Czech Republic! Yeah, I didn't even know that we crossed the border because there were no border patrols anymore. Who knew?

So I had fun shopping at the outlet, especially with the Adidas, Mango Outlet and Nike stores. We had lunch at a Chinese themed restaurant called Phenix but it served other foods like Italian and burgers.

Mico did the cutest thing by pretending to be our waiter and asking if we were hungry in German. I had someone translate for me. He came back 10 minutes later saying that he just got off work and now he was tired. All in German. Cute kid.

After lunch, we headed off to this Vietnamese store. Yes, a Vietnamese store in the Czech Republic, where the others bought all kinds of food and stuff. Mico and I explored outside and there were all these different lawn ornaments, which include an alien with a beanie on his head that had the marijauna plant on it while he was smoking weed. Sorry, I was laughing so hard I couldn't take the photo of it.

Mico decided he wanted to model for me and I took a ton of cute photos of him posing by the interesting objects around the store.

From there, Tita and I were dropped off back to the U.N. where Raffy picked us up. Whew! What a weekend!