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| ...Lands & their Cultures |
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| We felt as if we had been dropped into a fairy tale. We live in one of the most beautiful areas of one of the most beautiful nations in Europe, in the Lakes area known as Salzkammergut, about 30 km from Salzburg. Nearby is the village of Haid, population about 50 people. We moved here from Seoul, the 4th largest city in the world. Can you imagine the feeling of moving from a megalopolis of 14 million to a village of 50? How extreme! How absolutely Yin and Yang! How marvelously opposite! The night we arrived we felt at peace...churchbells heralded our arrival, quiet and solitude stretched over the grassy hills, dotted with a few homes and forests but mainly the rolling farmlands of yellow blooming hops, deep green blades of barley, and white-topped wheat fields. �Major� roads through the countryside were barely wide enough for two cars, but this wasn�t a problem since traffic didn�t seem to exist. Sitting outside our temporary residence, a Gasthaus, two Clydesdale horses pulling a cart galloped furiously through the village, the driver eyeing me but otherwise indifferent to his speed through the center of the village, the equivalent of 3 short blocks. On one block was the church and a small, well-stocked market and our Gasthaus, on another block a gas station, an empty building and a hairdresser shop. Something resembling the local town hall, another Gasthaus, and a small school occupied another block. |
| Austria |
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| Travels with Me and My Shadow |
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| Scenery; the Bischofsm�tze |
| Churches and culture; Heiligenblut |
| Farming; A meadow of rapeseed |
| Farming; Alm cows on the Grossgl�ckner |
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| I am intensely aware of small contrasts to Asia at all times of the day, and not just worrying about being caught near a restaurant door and becoming someone's appetizer. (It is wonderful to relax in a land where the people do not eat dog, though here I feel sorry for the poor cows.) Women carry baskets at their sides instead of on their heads; deer crossing the road are the primary road hazard instead of a crazy taxi driver, or Lynda is detained by chickens crossing the road instead of gridlock traffic; restaurants always have tables and chairs and she can leave her shoes on; bread is made with chewy, thick crusts and doesn�t wiggle, in fact, we can even buy bread at anytime; clean bathrooms with abundant toilet paper are the standard, and Lynda no longer frets about carrying enough paper with her; people don�t call her "sir" anymore. Asians have the curious habit of calling females �sir,� an appellation that has always annoyed us even though we consider the language source. Men flirt with Lynda now and she has the new problem of accepting invitations and worrying about the casualness of them. We have a phone number with only 4 digits, and live in a village with a phone directory thinner than a restaurant menu. Lynda even likes being a Frau, or Madame; I know they are simply the terms for Mrs. or Miss (there is no such thing as the American term "Ms." in Austria), yet we both think it sounds so dramatic in another language. She'd like to be called a M�dchen, a term used for a very young girl, but has too many years on her for that term. (I think she's been 40 for about 10 years now.) Lynda says when someone calls her �Frau� it seems like they are flirting and she likes to pretend they are crazy about her, even though they are only being polite. Silly American girl. |
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| Scenery; Nassfeld region |
| I was ecstatic in our fairy-tale land, after the claustrophobia of a large city. I fairly leaped through the grasses and meadows. One day I picked up a slab of matted grass and fertilizer and ate it because I forgot what it was and that I shouldn�t eat it. That's what city living will do to a dog. I raced after birds and the occasional rabbit. I learned, however, that swans are not always graceful and gliding, but that they hiss and bite, and ohhh that hurts my nose. I worry about the rabbits I encounter as I remember the time my Schnauzer friend, Schmidty, was beaten up by a rabbit. Poor blind Schmidty, his nose accurately and determinedly on the trail (however slower than a dog with vision), finally caught up with an annoyed rabbit who turned around and promptly bloodied his nose! |
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