Venice or Venizia

 I took a photo of the map we each received.  We stayed in the hostel on the little island across from Venice.  So we took the Vaporretto- city water bus, each day to get over and back.

my finger is pointing at Saint Mark's cathedral.
or Basilica of San Marco if you are non-American
Zitelle-is the name of the stop.

Finger on Peggy Guggenheim's museum

looks like a metro map
but is the map to tell you which Vaporetto
takes you where you want to go & the names of the stops

 In case you are like me and have no idea where Venice is in relation to the rest of the world.  I got out the big Atlas and looked it up.  Thankfully the index told me exactly which square to look in as even in my huge atlas it is a tiny spot.  Venezia, as the rest of the world calls it, is a little bit of land off of the east side of the “furry” bit of northern Italy.

Pink post-it note helps you find it:-)

Venice is located to the left of the pink-post-it

This is an attempt to show you where Vienna is in relation to Venezia/Venice.
See the "R" far right upper corner.  Vienna is east of that R.
unfortunately my atlas doesn't have Vienna and Venice on the same page.

Christmas tree

I think decorating the tree is fun as a group event.  I really didn’t want to wait till family started arriving to have a christmas tree. So I invited the Sister Missionaries over for dinner and decorating.  They were really excited.  It was a perfect fit, the 3 of us are homesick and away from home.  I think the finished project is wonderful!  And I really enjoyed the process since I didn’t do the lights this year!!!  One artistic talented sister did it!!  Thank you Sister Chapel!  I feel the light of Christ filling our Vienna Apartment.  

I am happily anticipating the arrival of my family!  Husband arrives on the 13th, then China daughter on the 17th, then youngest on 20th.  And finally Son and family on the 22nd.  Yes, 4 trips to the airport to get them here. If we could blink our English 3 over then we would be all together this Christmas.

Austrian blown glass icicle center right.
& yoyo heart I made in Moscow.
I imagined crocheting a long string of popcorn
each one takes about 30 minutes
so for the past 4 years it has just been random popcorn placed on the tree.

hand painted clip-on Austrian porcelain 

Russian wooden ornament
next to crocheted popcorn

Russian ornaments

This Russian angel is serious

Sober Father Frost

newest Nativity set- Purchased Utah D.I.
love it! thanks Carrie!

A reason to shop!

Recently I was reading a blog in which wearing pink was mentioned.

It reminded me that it was a pink shirt that helped my husband recognize me a second time, which led to our first date and marriage and eternity.

In September 1980 I went to a church sponsored dance wearing a pink velour-velvet T-shirt and blue jeans.  I hadn’t planned on going as I was very sore from auditions for a modern dance company.  So I went and only stayed for an hour.  During most of that hour I was a lonely wallflower.  But a tall guy I didn’t know asked me to dance.  And he was a good dancer, personable and nice.

The following March I again went alone to “Friday night at the Tute dance” wearing again the pink T and blue jeans.  And again was asked to dance by a personable and friendly tall guy who seemed to think he knew me.  He remembered my name wrong, remembered hometown incorrectly, and thought that he had been in an institute class with me.  Very confusing, but he was a good dancer so when he asked me for a 2nd and 3rd dance I said yes.

Two days later I sang on a program in which the tall guy was the MC.  And I discovered in good lighting Tall Guy was Gorgeous! I also saw his name in print.

The following morning there was a huge photo campaign poster of tall guy right outside my dorm, which got me completely hooked on the idea of getting to know him a whole lot more!

Now 30 years later I went to my closet to see if I owned anything that color of pink.

Yes, 4 items, 2 given to me by my husband. A long robe/swim suit cover up he brought me back from Africa.  The other a sunday dress blouse of polyester that is too warm for me most Sundays that he gave me for christmas many years ago. And 2 pink slips. So I went shopping and found this pink T-shirt.  It is not snug fitting or cuddly soft like that long ago pink T.  But it reminds me how very fortunate I am that my guy likes pink!!!  And that he asked me to dance!

I can choose to eat this or I can get healthier and my clothes will fit me better. I choose to eat.

This title was inspired by a Dr. Laura conversation.

Her female caller wanted to conceive and have a family.  Problem- she and her husband still had no baby.  And she needed to lose 100lbs. and get her type II diabetes under control.

Dr. Laura asked the caller to take her favorite candy bar, the kind that she keeps in her car, her kitchen, her bedroom, in her purse, in her closet.......etc.  and break some bite size pieces off.

Then she had her say very loudly. “I can eat this piece of chocolate or I can choose to get healthy and have a baby.  I choose the chocolate.”  The caller reluctantly ate and said the phrase about 5 times.  Dr. Laura challenged her to say the phrase out loud every single time she is tempted to eat something that isn’t healthy for her.

This call turned my mind back to the plateau I seem to be stuck on.   I lost 26 pounds and reached 146lbs. in April 2011.  Since then I’ve pretty much stayed at around that point,  but mostly 150.  I gain some or lose some but settle back at the 150 mark.  I know that the only way I will get back down to my Weight Watchers goal weight of 136 is if I exercise vigorously 3 times a week.  Do something really active a couple of times a day-to get my heart rate up.  And say NO! to extra portions.  Say NO! to big portions of dessert.  (I will have some kind of dessert every day or will fall off the wagon and be back to 175 in no time)

I’ve tried saying “I can choose to eat this or I can get healthier and my clothes will fit me better.  I choose to eat.”  or “I can choose to eat this or I can get healthier and my clothes will fit me better.  I choose to go for a brisk walk until the craving goes away.”

I am having some success.  I have curbed my night-time, "I’m lonely and missing my husband bingeing".  I have stopped myself several times from giving into an un-necessary snack.  I hope in time it will get easier.  I hope in time I will love exercise once again!!

Till then I’ll keep reminding myself it is a matter of choice.

A Saturday work out

Saturday I decided to cash in the 10% off coupon from the store down the hill from our house.  I trundled my black shopping cart with re-usable bags to the store taking Sasha along for the fresh air.  I went to strap Sasha to the dog post when I realized that I had taken off her dog collar the night before.  I created a choke slide loop out of her leash and hooked her to the post without her dog collar.

I filled the store’s shopping cart with tins of food, some pricey items that I normally don’t buy and my weekly items thinking the 10% off would justify treating myself a bit.  Part-way through my shopping Sasha started to bark and howl.  I walked to her, the slip loop had widened and was around her shoulders she could have easily stepped out of her leash and come found me! I patted her, reassured her that I would soon be finished and left her there. Still she moaned and whined something she never ever does unless I am in the store with other family members.

I hurried to check out, frantically bagging as fast as I could, (no bagging services offered) to get finished and get my suddenly surprisingly loud dog away.  I handed the coupon to the cashier, no good, only my husband with his card can use the coupon.  Argg!!!  If I didn’t shop in this store a couple of times a week I would have just walked away and refused to pay. told them ........ lots of things....but I just laughed at myself as I paid the full amount, and hurried out of the store.  It was then I saw my neighbor!  She was in the store.  That was what Sasha had been trying to tell me.  Jan was in the store and she wanted us together!

Then I started what felt like really long walk, -pulling my cart back up the hill when it had the heaviest load of its life.  Disappointedly I had to stop 4 times and put the bags in my arms down and take 5 deep breathes before recommencing the walk. I really didn’t want to injure myself.

Arrived at the apartment building and discovered the elevator wasn’t working!!! ARGGG!  I carried all the bags up 4 flights of stairs.

I am grateful for an elevator that normally works. I am also grateful the store is “normally” a 1 minute walk from my house. And Very thankful that the next day my arms felt perfectly ok!

Cart filled to overflowing
bags on floor the ones I had to carry while I trundled cart home.

Time consuming projects

This summer I decided I wanted to finally improve my piano playing.  I found a teacher, a newly baptized member of our church.  We set up a time for the lessons.  And I launched myself into a challenging goal of practicing the piano at least an hour a day.

My first lesson I played very little, instead reviewing and learning theory.  I went away after 3 hours with my head ready to explode.  Each lesson after that there was theory and playing of scales and drills in which I would go home with throbbing and aching hands and forearms.

My hard earned progress has been painfully achingly slow.  I have a few primary songs that I can play almost as fast as the children sing it.

At least 12 hours spent on this project weekly.  When people ask me what I’ve been doing, and I wonder where my time has gone, why some of my projects stay in the still-to-be-done pile, I remember that I’m working on a project that is not visible to anyone that enters our home.

The sad fact is I can’t practice the piano and mop the kitchen floor at the same time.....so lately the kitchen floor has been skipped.

my two piano teachers
 husband and professional musician-teacher

Dean’s fundraiser- Ghostly walk in Vienna

There is a committee at my husband’s work that needs to raise some serious money.  Everyone has been brainstorming on possible fundraisers.

An idea hit my husband.  He remembered all the fun “Guided Ghost walks” we took friends and family on in York England.  Why not do one in Vienna?  Surely there are plenty of ghost stories in such an ancient city.  He proposed the idea and went to work.

The work was rather intensive.  Read German stories of hauntings and spirits, translate them into English, work them into a do-able walkable route,  (His first planned route took him one hour of walking to visit all the buildings he had chosen. Not a route a crowd would want to do on a cold night) publicize event, then finally tell the stories to a crowd of people in a hearable entertaining way.

The project was a huge success!  50 people came, at 10 a head his fundraiser contributed 500euros to the committee.

The Guided Ghost Walk has been applauded by everyone attending.  And they are begging for more.  These photos were taken by a friend who attended the walk.  Sadly I was in England at the time and missed it.

Holding them spellbound

There have been requests for a kid free one with really scary stories.

A visit with family

My October vanished in preparing for my trip to Harrogate England, enjoying my 2 weeks there and then recovering and unpacking from said trip.  Which resulted in not a single Blog for the month.  Last November I set the goal to post 20 blogs, I did 13.  14 is the most in any month I’ve been able to manage.  With all that I am trying to accomplish in this November I don’t know if 13 is a manageable number only time will tell.

Here are a few photos from my trip back home to Harrogate.

Dinning out with baby and Daughter

Love her smiles and her laugh
and everything else about her

oops! caught her with her mouth full

Walked past a school 2 of my daughters attended

and visited the last house we lived in 

June photos

In June my daughter and I spent a week in Harrogate.  Just before we headed to the airport and back to
 Vienna her brother-i.L. snapped these terrific photos.  In October I remembered to ask him to show them to me.  Here are the best of the bunch. 
Baby smiled the biggest when her aunt was making funny faces at her.

Holland

The red brick is the biker's road

One of the blessings of having friends living all over the world is sometimes you get to visit them.  On my way to England I arranged a stopover in Holland, to visit my “used-to-live-in-Moscow-friend”.  She let me use one of her bicycles. We rode around the pleasant town she lives in and went to lunch.  I had the orange and goat’s cheese salad.  It was delicious as soon as I adjusted the saltless cheese by adding seasalt liberally to it. :-)  We visited a wind-mill that has been preserved and turned into a museum.  I was really impressed with all the work that originally took place in the windmills and the engineering that made it possible.  It was wonderful spending time with someone who I’ve shared good times and not-so-good times with.  Friends truly a golden treasure of my life. 

Few of the thousands of windmills
have survived.

Celestial Seasonings Tea at the weekly town market

Sculpture!

A Restaurant only open for Lunch

Yum!

Sorry I cut your head off

Dreams

Recurring Dreams I have dreamed since high school involve the “Jones” family.  I am doing some activity with all or part of the family and I become embarrassed, get criticized, and or frustrated.  They are seldom pleasant.  They take place in different environments usually their home, though it seldom has the same floor plan.  The “recurring” part is the emotion and the people.  The Jones are people I admire.  Their home was beautiful, organized and had a sweet spirit.  The family interacted with love and kindness and I enjoyed my time there as a visitor. 

I really do not care for the lingering emotions I feel after one of these dreams.  When I was engaged and happily looking forward to my wedding the dreams increased in frequency.

I wanted to be dreaming happy dreams starring my beloved.  I thought perhaps I should be having dreams about his family.  Not a family from my past.  Up to that point the only dream interpretation I had studied was Freudian based.  I viewed him as an evil man, and I disagreed with his theory about what dreams mean.  But that study contributed to my uneasiness concerning the dreams.  It bothered me enough that I finally prayed about it. The answer I was given was the dreams would teach me, that I need not be concerned about them, and most importantly I would come to understand in time what they meant.

Gradually I noticed a pattern.  I dreamed the embarrassing, frustrated dreams when my waking life was stressful.  If I spent time pondering what was making me feel inadequate, set goals, and took steps to reduce my stress then the dreams went away.

For example when I was in training to be a White Rosette and going through the audition process I had a lot of unsettling dreams.  As I identified why I felt inadequate, what my fears were, and what I could do about it.  I gained confidence and the dreams went away till the next time my sub-conscience needed to get a message to me.

This week almost every morning I have awoken with another “Jones family” dream.  Guess it is time to do some thinking about how to set more reasonable goals, how to better cope with the stress I am feeling.  And discover what lessons my sub-conscience wants to teach me this time.   

Make some new friends-be a Sponsor

One of the great community programs connected with overseas employment is the "Community Sponsorship Program".


This summer our family have the opportunity to be the First Friends of two families.  Both families are delightful and we have enjoyed serving and getting to know them.  Below is an edited version of the Sponsor Guideline letter we received to help us fulfill our responsibility.  CLO = Community Liaison Office
********************************


 Volunteer Sponsors play an important role in the arrival process by smoothing the way for newcomers and setting the stage for a happy stay in the country. Moving to a new post is a stressful time, even under the best of circumstances. Sponsorship activities will greatly help the employee – and family members – during those first confusing days of arriving overseas! 

Please use this checklist as you prepare for the newcomer’s arrival. This checklist is not meant to be all-inclusive; it is designed to cover general responsibilities. Anything else you can do to make newcomers feel at home depends on your ingenuity and initiative and will surely be appreciated.

Before arrival

• Establish Communication 
• Immediately
• CLO will provide a home and/or work email address for the new arrival. Please establish contact with them to let them know you will be their sponsor and that they can ask you questions. 
• CLO will also provide the office sponsor information. It is important to be in contact with the office sponsor to know when they expect the new employee to arrive at the office. 
• Pick up the welcome packet from CLO
• 1-7 days before arrival
• Social sponsor should print out the most current phone list and drop it off at their residence with the welcome packet
• Airport Transportation
• 7-10 days before arrival 
• Schedule/book a large enough vehicle to take you to the airport to meet the newcomer. And get them and their suitcases to their new residence.
• Confirm Delivery of Hospitality/Welcome Kit
• 3-4 days before arrival
• Confirm delivery of the disposable Hospitality/Welcome Kit when you receive the keys and inspect the quarters.   
• Pick-up keys and print out current Tri-Mission Phone List

• Inspect the quarters
• 2-3 days before arrival
• Check that it is clean (especially appliances), that electricity works, refrigerator is on and ice trays are full.  Check to see that the hot water works, that there are bulbs in the lamps, closets or wardrobes, and that there is toilet paper in the bathrooms. If an item is in poor or unclean condition and needs to be replaced, contact or email housing office.
• Try to find out about garbage/trash pickup days and recycling location.
• Check for internet and telephone connection. 
• Unpack the Hospitality/Welcome Kit 
• Make the beds; take out the following: flatware, dishes, glasses, kitchen utensils, pots and pans, linens, etc and run in dishwasher. (Bring a dishwashing cube to use.)
• Euros and Groceries
• Have some Euros available for the new employee.  This is important if they arrive on a weekend.  You might want to show them how to get money from an ATM machine.
• Groceries and meals
• Try to get some groceries for the first day or until you can take the person/family to a store. You should keep the receipt so that the newcomer can reimburse you. See the list of items below that you might want to purchase or you can purchase items that are requested by the employee. Please check to see if your new arrival has diet restrictions such as, vegetarian, lactose intolerant, etc.
• Someone arriving on a weekend or a holiday period (when stores are closed) might also appreciate a casserole, salad and salad dressing.
• If the newcomer is bringing a pet, please check to see if they need dog/cat food.

Food and Drink		Other
Bread	1 Liter of Soft Drink/ Water	Plastic wrap
Butter	Crackers	Toilet paper
Eggs	Cheese	Paper towels
Coffee	Fresh Fruit,	Kleenex
Sugar	Apples or Bananas	Napkins
Milk	Tea bags	Dishwashing Cubes
Pretzels	Cereal	Aluminum foil
Fruit Juice	Chicken	Hand soap
Ground Beef	Salt and pepper	Wine
Pasta/Sauce

Day of Arrival 

• Meet family at the airport with arranged driver and vehicle from Motor pool or, if you want, using your own vehicle. 
• Escort them to their home and show them around
• Please be sure to hand them the welcome packet
• Take them to the grocery store if necessary
• Please provide for the newcomer’s first evening meal. You could invite them to your home or leave a dinner in the house/apartment (pre-cooked grilled chicken, salad and bread).  
• If the employee must go to the office, please escort them if they do not feel comfortable going on their own. This will require coordination with the office sponsor, because once they arrive at their office, the office sponsor will take over. 
• Please coordinate a check-in appointment for the new arrival to meet with the office staff that does in-processing.

First Weeks

• Introduction to neighborhood and neighbors. 
• Please show the new arrival how to use public transportation and where to buy transportation tickets. You might want to help them buy a tram ticket for the first day or weekend and point out where they can find a TABAK or the closest U-Bahn station to buy more tickets. 
• Offer transportation or assistance in traveling around the city and/or for functions until they are comfortable.
• Show them how to read the city map; location of their house; buses, trams, and U-Bahn locations. 
• If you do not take the new arrival to the grocery store on the first day, offer to take them. Explain that they must take their own bags or purchase bags at the store; show how the carts work; the bottle return system; the weighing of vegetables and fruits; explain that paper products are bought from BIPA.
• Make a special effort to ensure that the newcomer’s family does not feel neglected as they settle in.