Staying in Linz has been interesting. Everything is spread out as if I was in the states again. I was expecting to find more things that reminded me of home, but I kept running into this language called German that kept putting a barrier between me and other people.
We went exploring in the rain for the one night we got there (after I wrote the last blog post). One of my friends saw me without my rain jacket and traded me his rain jacket for my cardigan. Lol! Needless to say, much laughter ensued as he got soaking wet and I stayed warm and dry. My friends are great.
Early on into the walk away from our hotel, we stumbled upon a Subway and walked past some sketchy bars just to head back to the hotel. All in all it was a good night, though. There has been so much laughter on the trip and so much singing. I am so thankful to be here with the MC Singers–it is unreal how much I enjoy these people! Don’t get me wrong, sure there have been times when we are all so frustrated, but those times could not outweigh the fun, and even emotional experiences we have already encountered in the short time.
Linz is just a midway between where we were in Salzburg and where we are going to Neukirchen. Neukirchen is the cutest town I’ve seen by far! It’s in the mountains and there are these landscapes that I just stared at completely open-mouthed. We ate lunch as a typical Austrian place and I tried Weiner Schnitzel. The best way I could describe my first experience of Weiner Schnitzel is to tell you that it looked and tasted like a giant McDonald’s chicken nugget (At least I knew it was real meat). It came with delicious potatoes, as well.
Something interesting did happen, though. Our waiter became very interested in where we came from, and all the regular questions you would hear traveling abroad. I was asking what sodas they had (I’m in fear of non-stilled water). “We have vodka.” Our waiter replied casually, as if everyone has vodka at ya know, 11:00 in the afternoon. I said, “Welllll, I feel like vodka is a bad idea–“
“No, no, Fanta! FAN-TUH!” He replied with laughter that soon made its way around my entire table of friends and my face became hot.
I don’t think I will ever live that one down, unfortunately. In fact, when the man came back to receive our payment he looked at me and couldn’t help from laughing at the misunderstanding all over again. One of my friends commented early on in this trip about not being the “loud Americans” everywhere we go. Today, I have successfully lived up to the loud, American stereotype, but I sincerely cannot help it! Austria is just too much fun. 🙂
We had a tour guide, Tomi, who told us all kinds of historical facts. We went Tomi’s house for coffee and cake and it was adorable! His house is everything I could have ever dreamed of. It was quaint and it had a library upstairs with an open space in the living room where we all sat and mingled.
After we had our snack, we went to dinner in town. The workers and their families asked us to sing, so we sang “The Gift to Be Simple” and they loved it. It really is cool to be with a group of people that can cause so much joy in places like a restaurant or a hotel lobby. We are so far from home, but I feel like we are so at home.
After eating way too much, we got to sing in this beautiful little chapel and the audience received us so well. We came back for TWO encores and took a picture which I’m sure has made its way around Facebook by now.
Tomorrow, we go to Johannisburg/Bonn. I am so excited!
Until then~
Kendyll Weeks 