Europe Through Nessa's Eyes

More fun times with friends

2009-08-15T09:48:00.004+02:00

Through July I have had a lot of fun times with my friends. Here are more photos of hangouts, kick backs, parties and random moments that we decided to chronicle through the lens of a camera. But the fun doesn't stop here . . . TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Budapest in a Day

2009-08-15T09:41:00.002+02:00

So my Tita Ruth decided to take me to the lovely city of Budapest in Hugary. Apparently the day she took was the HOTTEST day in Europe. I wish I was able to jump in a pool. The city is beautiful, despite the heat. Here are photos from my adventure in Budapest. Enjoy:

Crazy June Bug Events

2009-07-03T14:13:00.002+02:00

It is summertime here in Vienna and the list of things to do is endless. I got to go on small trip with my Uncle Roland and Tita Ruth to Lower Austria to visit a cool exhibit on the ties between the Czech Republic and Austria. They had the exhibit separated in three different towns in Austria, close to the Czech Republic border: Horn, Raabs and Telc. The landscape was beautiful and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, we were only able to make it to two of the places. We also bumped into Tita Ruth's friend Angie and her husband while we were there making it an even cool trip because Angie's husband showed us one of the many bridges that connect Austria to Czech Republic. Being at two places at once . . . nice!

LOWER AUSTRIA TRIP

On a random day, Noura and I decided to check out a capoeira demonstration/workshop where capoeiristas from Brasil and around Austria came to show off their moves. It was so exciting and made me want to go into the circle and play with them. Except I was in jeans, which is not comfortable when pulling off those capoeira moves. The skills were so awesome and the people were really good. Noura and I then decided to go to check out Roter Engel, where her birthday party was going to be held. In front of the bar, Brasilian Samba dancers and drummers were entertaining the crowd. So awesome!

BRASILIAN DAY

In late June, the Italians came back into town for Reunion Weekend. It was also my Vienna best friend Noura's birthday AND Donauinselfest. As we said, the boys were back in town, fun adventures are bound to happen. Sadly, our two other Goodfellas Justin and Massimo couldn't make it but two out of four is better than nothing, huh? Vittorio and Valerio came, along with our Italian angels Elena and Alessandra. Also, my other Vienna best friend Jas's Newcastle girls Kerry and Kat came to visit Vienna for the first time. I'll let the photos show you rather than me telling you:

REUNION WEEKEND JUNE 2009

NOURA'S 24TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

Vienna: A Worldy Place to meet Friends

2009-07-03T12:32:00.000+02:00

I have met so many friends here in Vienna while I was in the Vienna International Center. It amazes me that although we got to hang out for a short time we all somehow became close. From Brasil to Germany to Italy and even Greece, I consider myself lucky meet many multi-ethinic/ multi-national people in a place like Vienna.

FUN TIMES WITH FRIENDS IN VIENNA PART 1

FUN TIMES WITH FRIENDS IN VIENNA PART 2

More Flashbacks

2009-06-01T10:01:00.010+02:00

Ah the month of May . . . I thought April would be filled with a lot events but MAY. Whew! That month DEFINITELY had loads of fun times. :) From the Monarchs Lacrosse Team after party to lots of farewell parties, wedding receptions, freerunning events and even theme parties! But don't take my word for it. See for yourself! Enjoy!

MAY
U4 with the Monarchs Lacrosse Team

Austrian Lacrosse Open Finals: Monarchs 2009 Champions

Roxanne and Jovi Wedding Reception

Naschmarkt and 60s70s Theme Party

Birthdays and Farewells Night

Valerio's Classy Farewell Night

Justin's Chill Farewell Night

Karaoke Night with the Interns

Red Bull Arts of Motion: Freerunning Semi-Finals

Vittorio's 80s Theme Farewell Night

Ode to Picnics

2009-05-31T18:17:00.004+02:00

Lately, the weather in Vienna has been what they call unusually warm. Blame it on Global Warming if you may, but regardless, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! Since late April, my friends and I have done plenty of Sunday/long weekend afternoon picnics in the different parks around the city. So now I present to you, loyal reader, my Ode to Picnics. Enjoy!

Flashbacks continued

2009-05-31T17:29:00.003+02:00

Here are the next two months of my adventures. My sister came to see me from late February to early March and we had so many fun times together, which included dressing up like princesses for the IAEA Ball, visiting family in Switzerland, going to the Opera and ice skating in front of the Rathaus. I went snowboarding with my cousins, my Uncle Roland and our friends. I celebrated my birthday twice and I ended my internship at the IAEA. But, the fun doesn't stop there folks! More to come soon . . .

MARCH

APRIL

Flashbacks

2009-05-20T09:31:00.007+02:00

After a VERY long hiatus, I am back. I apologize to all of those loyal followers of my blog for my missing in action stunt. Being that it IS May now and my last post was last year in December I have a lot of catching up to do. So I have devised a way to make up for lost time via slideshows because as they say, pictures say a thousand words. Let me start with the months of January and February:

JANUARY
New Year's Eve 2009

Philipp's Birthday Party

Obama's Inauguration

FEBRUARY
Carly's Birthday Celebration

Rock Wall Climbing at Kletterhalle

Nassfeld Ski/Snowboarding Trip

Christmas with the Rossi Family

2008-12-26T17:01:00.003+01:00

First, let me start off by saying Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones, my dear readers. Also, Happy New Year 2009! May it be a great year for you! :)

As this is my first time far from home during the holidays, I guess you can say I am lucky I have relatives here. I think of this as a new experience to this adventure I am in and a new road I've found on my travels through life. But enough philosophy for now, here's what happened during Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, it is a big occasion for them. For most of the day, I was in my room because I was feeling really, really exhausted as I did work during the day and so Tita, Robbie and Raffy set up dinner. Uncle Roland was M.I.A. in his office. Probably working on another project for the Canadian Embassy.

Christmas Eve was a bit of a fancy affair as I did have to dress up as did the rest of the family. Tita got out the nice dishes and fancy glasses. Robbie gave me a mimosa, which is champagne and orange juice. Dinner was a nice steak, potatoes, veggies and red wine. Dessert was the German version of a crepe. For me, minus the chocolate.

The boys lit up the candles on the tree and then Uncle Roland read the passage in the Bible about the birth of Jesus. In German of course, but at least I got the gist of what he was saying.

Photo time! Many photos were taking of us eating, opening gifts and doing random things. *Click* Photo of us in front of the tree. *Click* Photo of us opening presents *Click* Raffy looking silly. Let's say there was a never ending amount of flash the whole night.

Among the many gifts I received, I have to admit the boys' gift to me was just awesome. They got me a Burton snowboard with Flow bindings. My very first snowboard! I was really surprised when Robbie went out and then came in the house with my snowboard in hand. Now I REALLY have to go snowboarding.

After resting for a bit, we all went to Midnight mass at St. Martin. The seats were heated (which surprised me) but the rest of the church was so cold I could see my breath. So my butt was warm while the rest of me was cold. I didn't take off my jacket, gloves or scarf while I was in church. Of course, everything was in German and I was too tired to try to translate in my head.

After mass, we followed the other parishioners to the church cellar where there was punsch and dessert. Punsch is basically fruit punch with alcohol and it's warmed up. The punsch I had was REALLY strong so I made sure I ate as many cookies as possible to get rid of the taste. Uncle Roland was talking to as many people as possible and it looked like we weren't going to go home soon so Tita Ruth, the boys and I took the other car and drove home, where for the rest of the evening we relaxed and then went to bed.

December Highlights

2008-12-26T15:26:00.004+01:00

I know my last post was last month and so I apologize for the delay. A lot has happened since then and emphasize on A LOT. Including holidays, there has been plenty of happenings so I will highlight them (with photos, of course).

Walking Around Vienna
On one of the IAEA holidays, I decided to walk around the city before meeting up with my friends for coffee. Luckily for me it was a GORGEOUS day and many people were out. Here are the photos I took on my walk to see my friends:

International Bazaar and Ferdl's 60th Birthday Party
Every year, the United Nations Women's Guild holds an International Bazaar to help raise money for children's charities all around the world. Not only did the Bazaar sell cool stuff (in time for Christmas shopping) but also FOOD from around the world. Once I got there, I made a beeline for the Mexico booth because I needed my Mexican food. Yay for tamales! There was also Costa Rico, Argentina, Greece, Iran, Spain and many others that sold their food. I was definitely stuffed. There was also shows such as dances and singing. My favorite was the children of the world fashion show, where adorable kids wore clothes of their culture. So cute! My division also had a booth at the Bazaar, which was taking photos with Santa. My supervisor Giovanni and my colleague Kres played Santa. I stopped by and took a photo with Santa. My friends and I mostly walked around and ate goodies. I did buy one thing and that was a scarf from Palestine. But I did have fun . . .

Later that night, the relatives and I went to the 60th Birthday party of one of Uncle Roland's mountaineering buddies, who's head surgeon at the biggest hospital in Vienna. His name is Ferdl and he's a nice guy. When Raffy and I first came in, Raffy introduced me as his cousin and he teased Raffy saying that Raffy was lying and I was really his girlfriend. Funny guy, huh? First there was drinks and appetizers, music by Raffy and Robbie's Uncle Willy and his quartet of musicians. Then Ferdl's family rented a tram that took all of the guests to the restaurant, where there was a slideshow of the family doing fun stuff together. Then Ferdl's closest friends did their own presentations about him. After that, food. And plenty of it. ;) Following the main course, dessert! Yum! The children then did their own presentation which was music and singing. After that traditional Austrian dancing, which to me, is basically a lot of spinning. Really quickly. Overall, it was fun!

How Austrians celebrate Christmas
Being that Austria is a Catholic country (as many European countries are), Christmas is especially important to the people. And when it comes to celebrating and decorations, it just takes your breath away. I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

MTPI Christmas party at the Canadian Embassy
As I was told, every year Marc and his wife Marie have Christmas dinner at the Canadian Embassy. Marie just so happens to be the Canadian Ambassador and their place is very nice. Huge too! We had drinks first in the parlour and then dinner was buffet style in the dinning room. I sat at the same table as Marie who told us stories about when she was a child in Canada. Al was entertaining as usual as I tried not to get red wine up my nose. Wouldn't be a pretty sight. And dessert was so awesome! I had to skip the chocolate mousse but I did enjoy the apfelstrudel, fruit salad and caramel tarts. Oh so good!

My friend and fellow intern Tobias was our piano man that night and we had a lovely sing-a-long of Christmas songs in German, English and French. It was very chill and relaxing. Afterwards, most of the team wanted to go to a bar but I decided to head home. It was fun overall.

Most Awesome Highlights Part 2

2008-11-30T18:05:00.002+01:00

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

2008-11-30T15:57:00.003+01:00

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

2008-11-04T19:29:00.004+01:00

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

2008-11-02T19:46:00.008+01:00

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!

The Rossi House

2008-10-27T19:13:00.005+01:00

For those of you who are curious as to what my relatives' home looks like, here is a lovely slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Took a pic with the DG!

2008-10-18T18:51:00.002+02:00

So here is a photo of a majority of the interns and the Director General Mohammed Elbaradei. Can you spot me?

Update Part 4 of 4: Contemporary Art ESSL Museum, Sturmfest and Lacrosse Team Birthday Bash

2008-10-18T17:29:00.004+02:00

Now I am catching you up to last week. There were several events going on and I got a chance to attend them all. Starting with a cool art exhibit at Klosterneuburg's Contemporary Art ESSL Museum. Robbie, Raffy and I wanted to see this exhibit called "Overlapping Voices: Israeli and Palestian Artists." It showcased sculptures, photographs, videos and films. Robbie and I met at Heligenstadt and took the bus to ESSL. There we met up with Raffy and also saw their friend Jacob was there by chance. At the same time, the major newspaper of Vienna Die Presse was hosting an event and having private tours for the people there. They were serving drinks and stuff but we decided to first check out the exhibits.

I saw a lot of interesting bits in the exhibit. I thought the wooden crate drawing made of all ball point colored pens was very cool. Raffy and I agreed that the black and white individual photos of the people in a Kabbahla style Woodstock-ish festival were pretty powerful. I also like the media exhibit of videos of people singing a chant in different languages was pretty cool. There was also a film of people living in this small community in Israel that revere military as a great thing and even take care of army tanks that are decommissioned.

Afterwards, we all got a ride from Jacob back to the house and just chilled for the night.

Photos of the exhibits I saw. These are on the website:

On that Saturday, which was October 11, I went to two events. One was a sturmfestival with my friends Valentino and Heidi with their friends. It was held in this little town called Stammersdorf. If I haven't mentioned it before, sturm is very sweet wine. They take this during the first part of fermentation where there is less alcohol and more sweetness. It was very cheap at the festival, where at most one glass of sturm was 1 Euro 80 cents. We took the tram to the 21st district and walked for about 45 minutes to Stammersdorf. Walking through the festival I passed by so many wine places, food places and heard lots of music. The place was pretty packed when we got there, even though at the time there were many people who were heading home. Heidi's friends Sabine, Kai, Julia and Anita found an ideal spot upstairs, overlooking the street below. Above us was the perfect decoration, grape vines. We got some food to eat and Valentino got white wine, which was ok as we all have had better. Heidi, Valentino and I stayed for a bit and left as Valentino had to get up early to study the next day. We all walked and took the tram together. I even got to get myself some cotton candy for the trip back to Helingenstadt.

Once I arrived at Helingenstadt, I called the boys to see where they were and Robbie told me to meet them at Nachmarkt as they were heading to the lacrosse team birthday bash. Since I knew guys on the team, I said I would meet up with the guys. I met up with Robbie and we went to find Luki and apparently they had girls in the car. Kristina and Vanessa were friends of Robbie and Daniel and were visiting for the weekend. So the boys decided to show them a good time. Luki was designated driver (aww) and so he dropped us off first and went back for Daniel and Raffy (who also had girls with them too.) It took us awhile to find the place which was called Kolar until we called Andy and Andy told us how to get there.

Apparently, the debauchery had started early as people were getting drunk off their butts super fast. Both the girls and guys national teams were celebrating the birthdays. Two on the guys' side and two on the girls' side. I knew Theresa, Andy's girlfriend, was on the girls' team so I looked for her to say hi. Two of my favorite guys, Phillip and Andy were there of course, so I had a fun time talking and hanging out with them. Raffy, Daniel and the two other girls (another Kristina and I forgot the other girl's name). The Kristinas and Vanessa knew a lot about me courtesy of the boys so we were spared the small talk. But, boy can these girls drink! According to Robbie, Kristina and Vanessa came from Oktoberfest which pretty much says that they can take a lot. Since Luki was designated driver, he couldn't really drink much.

Robbie somehow got me to try this alcoholic drink called a Jägermeister, which is basically herbs and liquor. The size he gave me was a 2 ounce sized bottle for shots. It is not that big. Thankfully. Tradition dictates that you have to put the cap on your nose and drink this small bottle hands free while the cap is on your nose. Robbie and I are part Filipino, so we don't have the tall nose to help us out there. I couldn't stop laughing because we looked so funny, but I managed to drink it. It tastes like medicine.

Here is what it looks like, but the one I had is smaller

We stayed until about 3:30AM and managed to fit in Luki's truck. It was Daniel, Kristina, Raffy, Luki, Robbie, Vanessa, Raffy and me in the truck. After we dropped the girls off, we had more room in the back. The boys were so funny, cracking jokes and talking about funny things that happened that night. For example, Raffy thought a table was a stable chair and when he sat on it he fell over. Oh those boys. We had fun though. Raffy, Robbie and I didn't get home until close to 5AM.

So now you are well caught up in my adventures so far. Until next time . . . which will be much sooner than last. :)

Update Part 3 of 4: Lange Nacht der Museen

2008-10-18T16:30:00.002+02:00

Every year, ALL of the museums in Vienna are open for one night only called "Lange Nacht der Museen" or in English "Long Night of Museums." You pay one admission and that ticket gets you in ALL the museums in Vienna for the night. It is from 6PM to 1AM in the morning. It is an annual event that the people of Vienna and even foreigners like myself enjoy. It is a local event so there were major things going on like music, lots of vendors selling their stuff and food. They had a bus system set up that you can take to each of the museums. Many of the museums were close together so the people in charge sectioned the museums and assigned them different bus lines. You could also take the Ubahn and trams to get to the museums if you knew how to get to them. Hofburg Palace was the main hub for the buses. The thing is you can't always see the ALL of the museums since there are always lines and there are too many. So my friends and I made a game plan as to where we wanted to go.

I met up with Sanpo, Erin and Carolyn at this really cool cafe called Welt Cafe to chill and set up our game plans. The cafe reminded me of Cafe Roma in Davis (Rest In Peace Cafe Roma) and Infusion Cafe in Sacramento. Couches and chill music. Good coffee and tea. Great service. Unfortunately, I didn't know that I had to get my ticket ahead of time to get a book for planning so I had to get mine once we came to the first museum. I decided to go along with whatever museum they wanted to go to.

First stop, the Natural Museum in the Museumquartier. We were early enough for me to not have to wait in a long line to get my book and ticket. My friends were up front and as I waited for them, there was this obnoxious British guy standing behind us. He kept heckling the guards to let us in even though it wasn't time yet. He even said aloud that my friend Carolyn had an annoying voice so my friend Erin and I looked at Carolyn and kept her talking. He called me New Yorker just because I was from the U.S. Typical.

We finally got through and we started from the top and worked our way to the bottom. We passed through animal exhibits, reptiles, mammals, creatures of the deep, geology, etc. It sort of reminded me of the Natural Museum of History in New York City. Except there wasn't a Rex or an Easter Island DumDum. But I did find Dexter. We had fun looking at all the exhibits and taking funny pictures with the exhibits.

Next, we got a text from Sanpo that the Butterfly House didn't have a long line and so we headed over there to see the butterflies. Apparently we had to really look for the butterflies and birds. It was sooo hot in the house but I loved the butterflies I did find, the flowers and statues. It was pretty huge for a butterfly conservatory. The one in San Francisco was not as big and so I'm glad I'm got to see this one. Maybe it should be "Vannessa House" because my name does mean butterfly in Greek. Just saying . . .

From there, we hopped on a bus to the Technological Museum of Vienna and met up with Sanpo and his girlfriend Fan. I think we spent the most time at there because the Museum was HUGE! When we came in, they were serving food. The Austrian famous dessert Manner. They are wafers and they are famous around the world. It was hazelnut flavored and right next to it was a chocolate fountain. My friend Sanpo got a picture of us by the chocolate fountain.

I definitely have to say we had too much fun with the exhibits at this museum. It basically shows all the technological advancements and stuff that is being used around the world and in Austria. They also showed innovative ways to conserver energy and other ways of transportation. For example, in Vienna, they have city bikes that people can borrow by depositing a Euro or two and when they park it at another bike station, they get their Euro back. We all took so many funny pictures, including one of Sanpo acting like he was pregnant or ones of us in a huge green bubble. By the time we left, we were so hungry.

We went to Stephansplatz for our dinner break. Erin, Carolyn and I had the local favorite, which is Kaisekrainer, or sausage with cheese in it. They are sold by local vendors and are pretty cheap. Sanpo and Fan decided to get McDonalds. It was pretty cool looking at St. Stephan Cathedral at night. Plus, the food helped me warm up because the night got colder.

Our next stop was the Marzipan Museum. I love marzipan and I could even smell it as we were going through the store. Apparently, this place is world famous because celebrities such as Woody Allen and Ronald Regan have visited it. I know I'm used to seeing marzipan in the cute little shapes and cakes but here, they put it into a whole new level. I saw a huge horse made of marzipan and busts of famous people like Bill Clinton made of marzipan. Large Easter eggs and delicate statues. I was really impressed on what these chefs would make with marzipan.

Erin, Carolyn and I decided to go to the show museum and possibly meet up with Sanpo and Fan at the Chocolate Museum. Yes, for all of you chocoholics out there, there is a Chocolate Museum, where you pay 3 Euros to taste EVERYTHING in the store.

In the shoe museum, we got free stuff when we went there, including free drinks. Even though it was small, the shoes were so cool. Different periods and styles. We saw the old school ski shoes and funky designed shoes. I saw a pair of high heels that had the map of Vienna and had minature replicas of Stephansplatz and others. I definitely like the ones that were from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Those shoes were so cute!

We found out later on that the Chocolate Museum closed before 12:30AM and so Erin and I decided to leave because the UBahn stops working at 12:30AM, so we had to go catch ours while Carolyn went to meet with Fan and Sanpo for drinks. After five museums, I was exhausted and crashed once I got home. But it was still a fun night!

Update Part 2 of 4: ABBA Night

2008-10-18T15:44:00.004+02:00

Being ever so popular, my Tita volunteered to help with the Filipino VIC "ABBA Night," which was in the middle of the General Conference, October 1. It was a fundraiser for the victims of the floods over in the Philippines. She was singing in the choir and even doing the end dance number. They were taking the concept for their fundraiser from the Broadway show/movie 'Mama Mia.' Tita and I even went to watch the movie in the theatre before the show so she can get an idea of how the movie goes.

I somehow was roped into being an usherette and greet people as they come in. I even had to dress up in a 70s inspired outfit. The boys and Uncle Roland came and they already secured a table in the back with a bunch of Tita's friends. The food was buffet style and it wasn't bad. Alcohol was served of course. ABBA music wafted through the air as people streamed in and saw old friends. Apparently the night was sold out and lots of people still wanted to get in.

When the show started, Raffy and I were the photographers and we had to take pictures and video of Tita's performance. The end was awesome with her dance routine. She remembered her steps, which is a good thing and made the boys laugh, unfortunately.

Like in all Filipino functions, there had to be dancing. Of course I was sucked into dancing with Uncle Roland, as I tried to help him with "YMCA" and the cha cha. Raffy was pulled into dancing (with beer in hand) with one of his godmothers. I also met the boys' friend Serg who looks so much like my friend Daniel Thorne. I almost said "Hi Daniel" to him. He came in 70s gear too which was pretty cool to see that at least someone else would be willing to go with the theme of the party. Unlike the boys . . . :P

More or less it was a pretty fun time, but by the end of the night I was really exhausted from the GC that day and left early with the boys.

Update Part 1 of 4: General Conference

2008-10-18T14:47:00.002+02:00

Ok for all of you who have been following my adventures so far, I apologize for the long delay. October is almost over and the last post was about my capoeira class. So to catch you up I will break the major events that has occurred into four parts.

Starting with part one, the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference 2008 (IAEA GC 2008). This was actually from September 29 to October 4. Basically, delegates from the Member States of the IAEA come to this conference to talk about important stuff dealing with new science technologies and important issues, such as should North Korea be allowed to have nuclear weapons. As part of the Public Information, I more or less had to live in the Vienna International Center (VIC). They even moved my computer to a sectioned off place in the VIC. I was working pretty much side by side with journalists from all over the world and rubbing elbows with delegates from all over the world. I had multiple jobs during the GC. I would get statements, replenish the Bulletin racks, get information from the document people, etc. It was cool going through the security in the G building of UNO city by just flashing my badge. Of course, the staff I worked with made it so much fun! We all would get snacks for each other, had mini-staff parties toward the end of the day and joke about so many random things. I remember when the web editor Rodolfo was having a charity raffle for his charity 50-50, which helps students in the Philippines with school supplies, our photographer Dean sent out an email saying that all the tickets have been sold and there were consolation prizes. One was a date with the web designer Kresimir and another date with me. I was laughing so hard when I read that that tears were streaming down my face.

I'll break down the major events that I got to participate in:

1) Mass for the start of the IAEA GC 2008: So Tita is a part of the Vienna International Center choir and they were asked to perform in the mass that is held every year before the GC starts. The church was so beautiful and they did a good job in singing the major parts in Mass. Yes, I had to dress up in a dress. Afterwards, there was a dinner sponsored by the Vatican in Rome and the food was pretty good. Everything was in hor d'oeuvre style so we just stood around and pick off the food we wanted. There were free drinks and I got myself a mimosa (champagne and orange juice). Oh, funny thing. Tita and I literally chased after the dessert trays because they would go by so fast! But, they were oh so good! So sweet and yummy! :)

2) Reception with the Director General: We all got a fancy invitation and everything to the reception. The staff even had a game plan so we could get a good place. Since my friend Al and I were pretty small, we can get through the crowds easier, which we did and secured a table for the entire staff. Food and drinks came by and also the cameras came out. Candid shots are so fun. Dean and Kresimir also had their cameras and took so many random photos of everyone eating. Another intern, Silin totally cracked Al and me up because he got so star struck with meeting the Director General Mohammad Elbaradei. Silin even got a picture of himself shaking the DG's hand, courtesy of Dean. Apparently the staff knew a lot of the servers, so we got to have extra food for ourselves.

3) Tour of the Hydroisotope Lab in the VIC: Giovanni suggested that I go on a tour with the delegates to this lab to see something that the IAEA does. I agreed and went with my friend Al and his supervisor Kirstie. If you don't like science like I do, then this tour is not for the easily bored. I found the equipment to be interesting and the types of tests that they do to help make healthy water more readily available for developing countries. The head director took us around and explained in detail what each of the experiments do. The fun part was when we went down, literally, into the bunker. A ton of the equipment were made in the 1960s so it felt like I was in the movie 'Blast from the Past' where everything was so . . . retro.

4) Tour of Seibersdorf Lab: Another tour that Giovanni suggested I go on. We left really early in the morning because it takes almost an hour to get to and from Seibersdorf. It is waaaaay out there in the boonies. Hm I wonder why? :P
So again, I was with delegates from all over the world. I hid my badge to blend in as one of the delegates. Slick huh? The tour guide wasn't bad to look at. His name was Axel. Yes, really. Like Axel Rose except it was some long Austrian last name. :P Anway, we even got those comfy tour buses where I felt like I could sleep. I actually did take a nap because it was so comfy. We passed by a lot of cute small towns and places where you felt like that was really old Austria. Finally getting there, we got breakfast with breakfast pastries and drinks. The ladies called me Madam and asked what I would like. I guess hiding my badge worked. The director (who was a woman and she rocks) gave a presentation, which i tried so hard not to fall asleep in, about what basically goes on in Seibersdorf. Then we split into groups and got into the one with Axel. Hee hee. So we got to see a lot of cool places around the lab, which is humongous! They are doing cool experiments with plants so that they can grow in most areas where water cannot always reach and feed the people there. They were doing experiments with insects that destroy crops like fruit flies. A current experiment is to sterilize male fruit flies and so when they mate with female they can't reproduce and thus lessening the population. Boy, did it stink in that area. I think the stench stuck to my clothes for awhile. I was asked by a delegate where I was from and I said the U.S. She was from Angola. I think I should have said Canada. Hmm . . . after all of that walking, which took about 2 hours or so, we got back on the comfy bus to the VIC. Thank goodness for my iPod because I would've gone insane sitting in the bus for so long. :)

My First Capoiera Class

2008-10-04T09:56:00.002+02:00

Let me first start off by saying I LOVE CAPOIERA! The beat of the music and the moves are so awesome. Of course I just had one class but that one and a half hour session really made me want to continue. For those of you who do not know what capoiera is, it is a Brazilian type of martial arts. It looks like you are dancing but you are really preparing to fight. Back in the day, slaves in places like Brazil and Haiti were not allowed to train to fight, so they developed their own fighting style that looks like they are dancing and getting into the beat of the music, but they are really training. Here is a video to give you a better idea of capoiera:

Before I came to class, I had to go all the back home to Klosterneuburg because I forgot my stuff at the house. After getting ready and packed some food and stuff, Raffy drove me back to Heligendtadt. He said I was going to be early and I told him I didn't want to get lost. I hopped on the Schnellbahn (S-Bahn) which is more like a light rail to those of you in Sacramento or MUNI for those from the Bay Area. Then I took the tram (like a trolley) to Kreuzgasse 74, where my class is. And true to Raffy's word, I was AN HOUR EARLY. I hate when he's right. Grr. Luckily for me there was a SPAR (a name brand grocery store) where I was able to walk through the aisles until it was time.

The actual instructor was not present so there was a substitute. She was pretty good herself. First rule of capoiera, you have to be barefoot. So by the end of the class, our feet were dirty. But, I digress. We started with basic steps and of course, EVERYTHING WAS IN GERMAN. I was able to pick up by watching the instructor. What was nice was that she repeated every step at least five times so that not only did I get the movements but I was able to memorize the moves.

At one point, she pointed out to me that I was on the wrong foot but I wasn't sure what she was telling me. Luckily for me, my friend Heidi was close by and she pointed out my mistake.

We got into more complicated moves like a kick-cartwheel and back kick twists. Those are not the proper names for it but that's how I describe them. More or less, it was a lot of dance movements and kicks. I REALLY like the music. At the end of class, we got into a circle and chanted in Portuguese (or I think it was) and some people would spar. They were more advanced of course but it was so cool to watch.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hang out with my friends (being it was Friday night) because I had to work at the General Conference again. Early. So I hopped on a tram I saw. Silly me, I got on the wrong one so I had to get off on the next stop and walk myself back to the school. From there, smooth sailing. Except the fact it was raining A LOT. Once I got home, I crashed. I can't wait for next week. Until next time . . . ciao!

Adventures in IKEA

2008-10-02T23:59:00.002+02:00

So today was a holiday at the U.N. Being that it IS the U.N., everyone observed Eid, or the end of Ramadan, and so we at the U.N. got a day off. It also means the General Conference was on break for a day.

Thankfully, I got to sleep in, which is always good for me. Today was also Thursday, which means laundry day. Once I got up, I helped my Tita Ruth with some household chores and even assigning my cousins some chores of their own. Well, more like forcing them through necessity. In this case, making them change their own bedsheets by taking their old ones and leaving the new ones on their bed. So if they want to sleep, they're going to have to fix their own bed.

Later that day, my Tita took me IKEA and if you have never been to an IKEA before, believe me when I say that it is an addicting home store. Sometimes when I go to an IKEA I'm like a kid in a candy store because of the ideas I can get for fixing the home or whatnot. In today's case, I definitely was feeling giddy walking through the doors.

Intending to just get a few things, I felt inspired and looked around for a few things that I can use to fix my room a bit. My Tita said I could do it and also changed it into her "Chill Room" when I leave the house. I got into a creative storm brewing in my mind as I perused through the candles and photo frames. Fun times.

We also had dinner there, which was always interesting. Ever had an organic pork chop? Yeah, that's what we had for dinner. Apparently organic means that the pig was fed all-natural stuff. Whatever that means. It was decent though I could've have gone for another slice of carrot cake. Yum!

Funny thing happened while we were paying for our goodies. Apparently one of the items we wanted didn't have a price tag so I had to run back and get one with a price tag. Once I came back, another item also didn't have a tag. Our cashier was really nice and was trying to help us out. She asked the guy next her and he explained it was a set, etc. Then out of the blue, a lady in line lost her temper and basically threw a major tantrum. I was shocked at first but then I had to try so hard not to laugh aloud. Tita got a little scared. The cashier lady said just ignore the woman. All I know is if that impatient woman came at me there was going to be a WWE smackdown in IKEA.

Now with all the new rearranging and removing a lot of the excess stuff in my room, it's now looking like someone lives in the room and not so much like a storage space. Until next time . . . Guten Nacht! :)

Mein name ist Vannessa. Und dir?

2008-09-27T13:36:00.003+02:00

In German, that means "My Name is Vannessa. And you?" I've signed up for German class so that I can get a hold of the language and decipher what my cousins are saying. So far it has been basic phrases and grammar. Here's the thing. With me, I can comprehend most languages when it comes to grammar, writing and reading. I still have some trouble speaking and conversing in languages. But like they say, sometimes you just need to jump in. I'm still dipping my toe in . . .

This past week, it has been all preparations for the General Conference next week. Apparently, it is a big event where science forums, discussions, panels, etc. occur and delegates and ambassadors from the Member States (a.k.a. the countries apart of the IAEA) come to Vienna and discuss stuff and whatnot. I have a vague idea what my job is, which seems like background information getter. So far that I know of, I will be going to the Isotope Labs and Seibersdorf Nuclear Plant with some ambassadors and maybe their entourage. We'll see how that goes next week. The whole week I will be staying at the Austria Center. Oh fun times!

Just recently, some of my friends from the U.N. and I signed up for a capoeira class together. Student rate is 28 Euros for an entire semester, which is October to January. I've always been interested in the martial art form but never got a chance to do it. I would have to thank my friend San-Po for telling me about the Sports University in Vienna. You can sign up for a whole bunch of sports classes to see what you are interested in. Let's see how this goes.

Last night, which was Friday night, I went with the family to Uncle Roland's brother's book launch. Willy spent a lot of time in Paupa, New Guinea and the book recounts what he did there like help build a school for the children. He's been asked by professors at universities all over Austria to speak about his experiences. Of course, his presentation was ALL IN GERMAN so all I could do was stare and try hard not to fall asleep, like a man behind me. I did get to meet the Rossi side of the family so that was cool. I met Robbie and Raffy's cousins Reiner and Roman, who are also part Filipino and Austrian. To me, they look like they are Chinese because they are so fair skinned as compared to my cousins olive complexion. Ah, genealogy's mysterious ways. So until next time . . . tschus!

Arts Week

2008-09-23T14:43:00.002+02:00

Ok so last week I noticed that I've been in an "artsy" mood. I went to two art exhibits in what is called the "Art Quartier" in Vienna and of course, Albertina museum. Two totally different sides of art but all good just the same. :)

Going back to last Thursday, Raffy's friend Lisa had an exhibition of some of her work. She's a photographer/sculptor and it was a one night only kind of event for her. She's really nice and her artwork was pretty good. Along with her pieces, there was a money art exhibit, where artists used different countries' currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the European Union Euro. Raffy and I made a joke where in an emergency we can always break the glass and take the money. I wonder if that money was still good. The art gallery had of course food, alcoholic drinks like wine and a band. The ambience was really chill as groups stood around and discussed the different pieces while enjoying hor d'oeuvres and wine. I liked how the space was simply an old warehouse and used as little space as possible. Unfortunately, Raffy and I couldn't stay for the band because he had Kung Fu class. Oh well!

On Sunday, Tita Ruth and I went to the Albertina to see the Van Gogh exhibit. Apparently, a lot of people had the same idea and the museum was packed. It was mostly his sketches and paintings through the different stages of his life. In other words, it started from when he was younger and had an earthtone phase and continued on until the last days of his life. Some were his famous paintings like sunflowers and portraits but the majority were his unknown works, which captured more of his development of as an artist. From there, we went to ongoing exhibits such as photographs of the Artic and their private collections of Picasso, Monet and Matisse paintings. I think my Tita and I had the most fun with the Monet paintings because up close, the paintings look like blotches and spots but from afar it is a work of art. 3D Illusions at their best. :)

Rewinding back to Friday night, Robbie and I joined a bunch of my friends from the U.N. for what they call a Nachmarkt dinner. Basically, we all go to Nachmarkt and buy food from different stalls and share with the rest of the group. This time around we had falafel, hummus, bread, olives and dolma along with California Red Wine. At the same time, we were having a good-bye party for our friend Janna who just ended her internship and was going to be attending graduate school soon for her master's in Environmental Psychology (or something like that) at the London School of Economics. We all then decided to go to the Museumquartier for a fashion show but couldn't find it for some reason so the rest of the group decided to buy beer and hang out for awhile. Fun times! :) Until next time . . .

"IN AUSTRIA!!!"

2008-09-20T13:12:00.004+02:00

Major updating time folks. I've been in Vienna for about a month now and yet it feels like I've been here for a long time. I'm not sure if that is a good thing but maybe it is. Oh well!

Ok, major rewind to last week. On September 10, my good friend Siobhan came to see me. She was visiting family in Europe and came to see me via Dublin, Ireland, where she has family. She stayed with me at my family's place and boy, did we have A LOT of FUN. Our catchphrase for her entire visit was "IN AUSTRIA." For example, we ate ice cream and hung out in Schwedenplatz. One of us would say, "So here we are enjoying ice cream and enjoying the nice warm weather. . ." and we would turn to each other and say at the same time, "IN AUSTRIA!!" Corny, I know, but it's not everyday you get to hang out with one of your closest friends in a foreign country. :)

Day 1: She came directly from the airport to the U.N. to meet up with me. My Tita Ruth was going to be there too, so Siobhan was able to drop off her luggage in the car. With the help of my awesome officemate Ritu, we were able to get Siobhan past security and get her the private visitor pass. This gives Siobhan ultimate access to the U.N. In other words, where ever I'm able to go, she can come to. She was able to have lunch with me at the cafeteria. She met up with my Tita and they came with me to my office, where we left her luggage and got them. After work, I met up with Siobhan and walked around the city, visiting places like Museumquartier and the University of Wien. We met up at Stephansplatz, but Siobhan got lost for awhile. Poor girl! Luckily, she found her way and we looked at shops and hung out for awhile.

Day 2: I went to work and Robbie took Siobhan around to the different tourist spots for awhile such as Schobrunn. I met up with Siobhan after work and we went to see the treasures of King Tutanchaman a.k.a. King Tut. The exhibit was in both German and English so lucky us we got to do that. Afterwards, I realized that we were in Hofburg Imperial Palace and took fun pics there and more around Museumquartier. Afterwards, Siobhan and I went to the TexMex place, Pancho, that Raffy and I discovered and enjoyed Mexican food IN AUSTRIA. :) Our sweet tooth led us to Schwedenplatz, where we had ice cream. Yum!

Day 3: After work, Siobhan and I wanted to check out the Natural museum but because I had to help with last minute touches to the IAEA Bulletin,we didn't have much time to look around. So starts the hunt for a flower shop for Tita Ruth in Mariahilfer Strasse. Along the way, we stopped at a few stores and places. We eventually found ourselves at Westbahnhoff station, where we found a flower shop (Yay!) and then decided to have kebabs to eat. Wanting to show the Strandbar Hermann to Siobhan, we had a nice walk by the Danube and saw interesting stuff, like a swimming pool on the river. :) We found the bar and enjoyed sangrias, music while chilling on the beach chairs on the strandbar. Cheers!

FUN TIMES WITH SIOBHAN

Day 4: Although the very next day was so beautiful and perfect, chaos ensued as we all prepared for Maxi and Janna's wedding that day. Maxi is Robbie's best friend and so, he was frazzled and stressed as we were preparing for the wedding. The ceremony and both receptions were in Klosterneuburg. The mass was in a very cute church, though very small. Siobhan, Tita Ruth and Uncle Roland were lucky to sit down. Thankfully, the wedding ceremony was not that long. Of course I didn't understand much because it was all in German. Afterwards, we all went for the first reception at the Stift Klosterneuburg. It is an old monastery that is also a nice museum. We took so many pics and have nice wine and champagne with rose petals in it. From there, we went to what the boys call a "hut" which is basically a very nice cottage practically in the middle of the woods. Tita and I caught a ride with some other guests who decided to park closer while Uncle Roland, always the mountaineer, and Siobhan decided to trek the whole way to the hut. Siobhan, Tita Ruth, Uncle Roland and I brought extra clothes so we can change when it got cold. The food was awesome. Janna's dad made his famous paella, which has chicken and seafood. There were several activities going on like painting a picture for the couple, Irish folk music, etc. The boys and their friends created a newspaper about the couple in which they sold to the crowd for 10 Euros and the money went to the couple. There was a nice flower dance where the family and the closest friends presented either Janna or Maxi a rose and danced with them. Raffy and Andy totally made us laugh with their dance styles. At one point the couple lit this mini hot air balloon and let it go but it got stuck in the tree. Thankfully nothing was burnt but it got stuck and then died out. The wedding cake was so nice and the dessert was so good. Nils, one of Raffy and Robbie's childhood friends, created the desserts. By the end of the night, Siobhan, Tita Ruth, Uncle Roland and I made the long trek back to the car, using torches (a.k.a. flashlights) through the woods. The moon was shining bright and it was really peaceful. Overall, it was a really fun night!

AT MAXI AND JANNA'S WEDDING

Day 5: The day was dreary and wet. I guess the weather was sad that Siobhan was leaving for Germany that day. Uncle Roland decided to take Siobhan and me around Klosterneuburg and outside. We saw some ruins and nice views of Vienna, despite the weather. It rained off and on as we toured the place. We had a great tour guide too. My Uncle Roland really knows his history and he loved it when we asked questions about certain things. Uncle Roland and Tita Ruth decided to go to an exhibit about Vikings after we had lunch and so Robbie and I took Siobhan to Westbahnhoff. Seaslugs having fun IN AUSTRIA!!!

What a weekend!

2008-09-08T19:15:00.005+02:00

With summer winding down, everyone around me were trying to enjoy the last-minute warm weather that we have been so blessed with these past few days. So when the ultimate European music festivals (which happens to be FREE ADMISSION) Donauinselfest, of course I had to head out. For those who don't know, Donauinselfest is usually in the beginning of the summer in June and is a several weeks of music, with countless stages. Each week there is a theme for the music and you can choose which stage you want to hang out at. The thing is Donauinsel is a very, very long island so it is best to where very comfy shoes because you will be walking A LOT.

Robbie and Raffy look SO EXCITED to be at Donauinselfest

Watching an act at the FM4 stage. It was mostly mainstream European acts.

This year, Donauinselfest was only three days because this summer Austria and Switzerland hosted the Euro Cup. So, my cousins and I were totally stoked to go. On Friday night, Robbie and I met up with Raffy and his best friend Andy and their friend Phillip, along with the rest of the Austrian National Lacrosse team at the FM4 stage. Yes, Andy and Phillip play on the country's lacrosse team and so they go out of the country often and play other countries in major tournaments. Andy and Phillip are really fun and chill guys. You would totally want them with you when you go out because they are so entertaining, as you can see in the pictures below.

Raffy and Andy totally enjoying the music

Andy and Phillip. Two guys you would want to party with.

The Austrian Lacrosse Team (well, most of them :P)

The theme for the stage we were at was hip hop, so the acts were European hip hop acts. Most of them were in German, which means that I wouldn't understand them. It's all good. The music was pretty good. Everyone around me were dancing and having an awesome time. The headliner was this group (Forgot the name. It was in German!) that was basically a beatbox group and man, those guys are REALLY good. If I closed my eyes, I would think I was listening to an actual band. They were THAT good.

After the festival, a whole bunch of us went to a party in a club called Sophie's in the city. It was a party for one of Robbie's friends who just graduated from medical school. The place was pretty cool, with it being in the private area in the back. The DJ kinda sucked so not many people were dancing. I met a whole bunch of Robbie's friends and mostly chilled out.

The next day, which was Saturday, I went with my friends from the U.N. to the World Press Photo exhibit. I really liked it because it was all award-winning photos and many of them were very powerful. One that stuck to my mind was of a mountain gorilla that was killed by poachers and was being carried by 10 rangers in Congo. It was sad because the gorilla and it's family was killed because they were caught in between the civil wars among villages and tribes in Congo. The fighting has spread to the mountain gorillas' habitats where the trees and vegetation that make up their homes were being torn down.

After chilling with my friends around the city, I went with my friends Carolyn and Janna to the Donauiselfest. This time the music was more rock, or more like the stages that I was in were more rock. There was this cover band called Lenengarde Cowboys, who basically were a cover band with circus costumes. Apparently they are very popular, but I found them hilarious. Even though I was tired from the other night, I still had fun. It turns out more than 3 million people attended the festival this year.

Sunday afternoon, my family had a potluck/kickback at the home. My friends Carolyn and Janna came, along with my Tita Ruth's friends from the VIC choir. We had a lot of BBQ, dessert and drinks. The weather was really nice and so a lot of the kids there swam in the pool. There was also a ping pong table set up, along with foosball (a.k.a. table soccer), badminton and frisbee. There is a really good drink called sturm that my friend Carolyn brought to the party. What sturm is the grapes during the first stage of wine fermentation. It is really sweet and has a really small amount of alcohol. So no drunken debauchery during the party. ;-P

I played foosball with Raffy, who apparently knew more trick shots than anything. He even tried to teach me the rules. I didn't even know there were specific rules for foosball. He said that there was even a World Cup Table Soccer. You learn something new every day. :-P

Hanging out on the patio

Chilling in the backyard

Talking and relaxing

Playing table tennis and yes, the baby was playing too.

Baby Shannon playing table tennis. Isn't she so cute?

So, that was my busy weekend. Whew! And I managed to survive Monday. Sort of. :-P Until next time and hopefully real soon . . .

Picture time!

2008-09-02T18:42:00.010+02:00

For your viewing pleasure, here are photos of my adventures in Vienna so far . . .

Memorial Fountain at UNO City aka the United Nations. All around the fountain are the flags of the countries and nations that are a part of the UN. On each flagpole, there is the description of the country. In more than one languge . . . cool, huh?

Here are my uncle Roland and auntie Ruth. Aren't they cute? Here they just took me to a winery/restaurant where it was nice and chill outside. We ate on the patio they have there.

Burggarten . . . nice old building. Raffy took me here and I got some great shots of the place. Of course this led . . .

To Raffy jumping in my shots. He's having a lot of fun, obviously. :)

Yup, it's me and Mozart

Robbie doing his Zoolander impression

Raffy on the phone . . .

My two favorite Italian boys Valentino and Cristiano

Nice building!

Museum Quartier at night

From Left to Right: Raffy, Pouya and Phillip. We're at this lounge called Donue. Played a lot of electronica type music.

From Left to Right: Andy, Therese, and Raffy

Phillip and Robbie laughing about I don't know what . . .

Robbie chilling at the beach bar

Aw poor Raffy . . . he's cold!

Mmmmm . . . Dessert anyone?

Shopping galore . . .

2008-08-27T14:08:00.002+02:00

So for the past two days after work I have gone shopping in two different places: Stephansplatz and Donau Zentrum mall. My mission was to get some new shoes but apparently I got distracted by cute clothes. ;)

Stephansplatz is where the St. Stephan's Cathedral is at, along with so many shops, boutiques and cafes. It is a very tourist-y type of place where the streets are crowded with street performers and music fills the air. For those of you who are familiar (and are in love with) H&M, there is one shop at pratically every corner. And apparently not all the stores are the same. Yay me! :)

Robbie took me to Stephansplatz last week and introduced to new shops such as Zara, which reminds me of an upscale Forever 21. My auntie Ruth was my field guide at Stephansplatz and showed me all of the nice Italian shoe places, which unfortunate for me, were way out of my price range. Oh well. My alternative was clothes shopping. I am so in love with the store Mango and it's adorable fashions from Spain. If you are interested, here is the website for Mango: http://www.mangoshop.com/preHome.faces Although I didn't buy any shoes that day, I did get some cute clothes from Mango.

The next day (Tuesday) I met my auntie at Donau Zentrum mall. Really big place, with not just the usual shops and restaurants, but also a huge cineplex and bowling alley. Here I went to this store called Corti and got my first pair of shoes. Stylish running shoes. Pictures to come later.

Walking around it reminds me of a mall in the U.S., except everyone speaks German. I did check out some stores such as C&A and Pomodor, where I got another cute shirt. ;) I eventually went to a sports store and got myself a new pair of running shoes. :)

Here's a funny tidbit, stores here close around 6PM or 7PM. Now coming from the U.S. where malls close around 9PM or later during the holidays, that is just strange to me. It was so dead in the mall as my auntie and I ate dinner at a restaurant. Yet another thing to get used to while here in Vienna. Oh well. I will post more pictures soon. Until next time . . . ciao!

My week in a nutshell . . . .

2008-08-24T16:17:00.003+02:00

So today is another Sunday and that means I survived my first week. This Sunday also happens to be my Tita Ruth's birthday. It's her debut today. ;) A nice lunch, chilling at the house and cake. Yay for cake! :)

My week in a nutshell was pretty interesting. My supervisor Giovanni is really chill. He sounds like John Cleese with an Italian accent. If you don't know who John Cleese is, I recommend you watch "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" or check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3LJYO3r1xw&feature=related

Anyway, I digress. I have been meeting a lot of other interns from all over the world. Most are students from other countries. They all seem nice Sadly, a lot of them are leaving because many of them were only at the U.N for the summer.

So far in the office I have been doing mostly admin work and helping with some minor computer problems. Yay me! According to Giovanni, the real work begins starting this Monday and I told him at his birthday party, "Bring it on, G." Of course, I hope NOT to eat those words.

So I've gotten pretty adjusted except for the jet lag part. Keeping busy has distracted me from it for awhile but come Friday night it hit my like a sledge hammer. Sucks for me. Blah!

I've been meeting a lot of Robbie and Raffy's friends while learning about the city. Yes, shopping is awesome of course and I love the architecture. Don't worry . . . pictures will come soon.

In the meantime, it is now 8:24PM and got to get ready for the next day. Until next time . . . ciao!

High heels and cobblestones don't mix

2008-08-18T18:02:00.002+02:00

So today was my first day of my internship and if there is one thing I learned from my day it is this: high heels and cobblestone pathways don't mix. Yes, I decided to dress up a bit but I did not anticipate the cobblestone pathways to the main entrance. By the end of the day, I was limping because my feet hurt sooo badly. Thankfully, I didn't have to walk home or something.

But, I digress. My first day went pretty well. I really didn't do much except set up the password to my office phone. I did practice some of my German on my iPod while waiting to go to lunch, but that was kind of weird for me too.

After getting past security, I had a small orientation from the Personnel Director Steve Amundson who was a pretty laid back kind of guy. He took us (there was another intern starting today too) around the main portion of the IAEA which takes up half of the buildings in the United Nations International Center. He calls the center "a city within a city" because there are all the necessary such as banking, post offices, pharmacy and medical clinic. I pretty much have access to everything except the duty-free shops because I'm not staff. I know that sucks but there are ways around it . . .

My supervisor, Giovanni Verlini reminds me of Howie Mandel except without the earring and OCD. He was nice enough to treat me to some tea during break and lunch. He pretty much explained to me that everything in the division is relaxed and that there is no rush. For me, that is something that I have to get used to because I've been drilled to ALWAYS be on my toes, courtesy of grad school.

I did go to my first editorial meeting, where food coma hit me as hard as a punch in the stomach. Luckily, everyone else around the room was just as tired as I was, mostly from jet lag. Apparently, many of the staff went on holiday and just came back the day before.

So tomorrow, I'm making a mental note to wear no heels but something sensible like ballet flats. Hopefully I will have much more to do tomorrow instead of sitting at my desk and looking pretty. Stay tuned . . .

Saturday Night to Sunday Morning . . .

2008-08-17T14:12:00.009+02:00

Here is the view from my relatives' backyard. I believe past that mountain is the Czech Republic. And yes, to the right is a pool. This was taken today, which is currently Sunday.

Here is the natural pool. Raffy and I jumped in instead of swim.

It's Sunday and the weather is FINALLY nice. It was warm outside and Raffy and I hung outside. In other words, I hit the punching bag while he does his tae kwon do and tricks. So far it has been pretty relaxing, which is helpful for my nerves since tomorrow is when I start my internship. If I get to wake up every morning to this kind of weather, count me in! :)

So I went to my first "grill party" with my uncles last night, where I met Robbie's friends. Mostly guys of course, but a few girls. Ironically, the guys were the most talkative to me. Well, the ones who could speak English. And if you are wondering what a "grill party" is, it is basically a BBQ or for all of you journalists who are devoted to AP Style, barbeque.

It was pretty much a kickback, where there was good food, good drinks and good company. I talked to a few of the guys who could speak English like Robbie's friend Clemmens. He spent some time in Sacramento as a mechanic and so his English was pretty good. It was also very cold at night so thankfully I had my down jacket because it was freezing. Hmm . . . another flashback to Syracuse.

And now I know how animals in the zoo feel. The whole time I noticed that everyone kept staring at me. I guess because I am a "new" person. It was uncomfortable at first but I just ignored after awhile and had fun. I have a feeling that I will see a lot of these guys within the next few times I'm with the guys. Until next time . . .

Yay so I'm in Vienna . . .

2008-08-16T16:49:00.002+02:00

Arriving yesterday, the drive to the house in Klosterneuberg reminded me of going around New York City, especially seeing graffiti along the freeway. If I didn't focus on the German street signs, I would think I was still in the U.S. The freeways (or autobahn) are pretty much the same as it is back in the States.

All day yesterday, my uncles Robbie and Raffy were trying to keep me awake. Watching movies in Raffy's dark room and lying on his bed is definitely a challenge to the jet lag that hit me like a truck.

According to my great uncle Roland, you shouldn't sleep right away or take a nap, especially if you come in during the daytime. It would make it hard for you to adjust to the time difference. Coming from California, where it is 9 hours behind Vienna, makes it worse. Since arriving in Vienna at 10:00AM, I was moving in slow motion the whole day.

No problem for those two guys. Either Raffy scares me by randomly slamming his hand on the bed or Robbie would hit me with a pillow. I feel so much love from those two.

And the weather really reminds me of Syracuse in the Fall. Looking out the window in my room, it is cold, wet and cloudy. Nope, no sun at all. When I arrived the day before, it was hot, muggy and cloudy. Maybe Syracuse DID prepare me for weather in Vienna. One point for Syracuse.

Taking in some Austrian culuture, I'll be going to a birthday party of one of Robbie's friends. I think his name is Clemmens or something like that. This will be interesting. Robbie mentioned to me earlier that his friends speak English. I guess that is one reassuring thing, except shouldn't I be learning German? It doesn't help when everyone turns to me for English terms. I'll what happens in this shindig. Maybe I should take pictures. Hmm . . . Stay tuned . . .