Look! I didn't lie about ze singing und ze hills!
When a house gets torn down here it's a
town event. People gather around and watch as this huge monster of a machine
with ginormous mechanical jaws and jackhammer nibbles off fragment for fragment
of walls and floors. Long, gnarly hairs of rebar twist and bend in every
direction in their refusal to be clipped; a modern day Medusa refusing to get her hair cut.
After a summer of working construction, I was curious about
how German's build their houses. They, and Austrians as well, build them
normally out of huge bricks and concrete laced with rebar. The exception to
that rule is the Fachwerkhaus
(http://www.baulinks.de/webplugin/2007/i/1527-fachwerkhaus.jpg) made partially
out of wood. If I'm correctly informed, and I may not be, the frame of most
U.S. American homes is primarily wood. Even if not, I doubt most of our residential structures could be compared in strength to one of concrete and steel.What
does that say about us and Europeans? The joke for Germans and Austrians is that they don't have tornadoes or hurricanes, or much at all really to threaten their houses. It bugged me. Why would we build such
feeble structures, especially in the face of tornadoes and hurricanes? I think it was Eva that said it was a
pilgrim mentality of needing to create shelter quickly in harsh conditions. I
suggested that it was the remnant of the Manifest Destiny mentality. Ever
westward we go! Or is it the material American Dream? We can always remodel and
add on to suit our tastes and match our wealth. I can tell you I don't see much
remodeling going on here. Nobody wants to tear down a concrete wall reinforced
with steel rebar if they don't have to. Although the environmentalist in me
is drawn to the more sustainable and permanent structure with less waste, the
"romantic" in me can't help but love our wooden houses. I love the
smell and look of wood. I love that the corners and angles of our houses are as
imperfect and obtuse as we are. More so, I often dream of building my own home
someday, which is much less possible in a world of concrete.
I've got permanence on the brain today. It was a gray day here in Bad
Ischl. Clouds never left their mountain tip homes, and I didn't really
want to leave mine, either. Days like these make it easier to look at
our feet as we shuffle and drag them. But Bad Ischl was not at rest!
Today they had the Kaiser half-marathon, as well as the Tag des Denkmals (day of memorials). I woke up and walked busier streets. People were jogging everywhere, getting warmed up for the race. I could hear the announcer blocks away. The entire town center was blocked off to traffic. I went to the starting point and joined the throng. It was people-watching prime time. There were families with their children and people from all over Austria who'd come to run or watch the race. Announcers did their best to rile the crowd. Half of their talk was about the race, and half was about how great Bad Ischl is. "Not only..." declared one, "is Bad Ischl known for being one of the best organized runs in Austria, but it is definitely one of the friendliest!" As the race started, everyone cheered on every runner. I'm now living in a proud, close-knit community. It's infectious.
I took two tours today: the tour of memorials, and the tour of the cemetery. While I learned that many famous people came here in the first tour (Lehar, Brahms, Franz Josef, etc.) for reasons of inspiration and wellness (spa town, healing salt water), the second tour I found much more fascinating. It's wonderful how stories can be brought out of names and numbers. A man took us around the cemetery, apparently considered by many to be one of the prettiest in Austria, and explained the lives and deaths of the lowly to the aristocratic. We saw how one family lost their three children within six years. We saw the grave for unborn children, visited and decorated by many. At the end he showed us where a general of WWII was buried. This general was ordered by Hitler to go to Spain and help the Fascists there. He made the order to bomb Guernica, which soon after became inspiration to one of the most well known paintings of the western world, Picasso's "Guernica," found in the Prada in Madrid. The copy is hung in the U.N. in New York City as a reminder of the horrors of war. How strange and sadly we are sometimes connected to each other.
Oh but I won't leave off on such a sad note! I just spent about five
amazing days in the beautiful ski resort town of Saalbach Hinterglemm
learning what to expect this year, as well as what is expected of me.
Happenstance and good luck greeted me there as well. On
the way there I left my bag on a bus, had to talk to drivers and get
them to drive it back to me, and missed a train and a bus because of one
late train. Arriving two hours late, I got a room to myself for the
week. Throughout the week I volunteered and was asked to do quite a bit.
I was asked to play guitar and lead everyone in a sing-along on the
mountain after a hike, I got picked out of the crowd multiple times that
night to do different traditional folk dances and yodel,
and two girls and I taught a group about folk/country music. At the end of the lesson they had to write their own folk song, which we sang their song for everyone at the talent show that night. I left with friends and the belief that I can be a good teacher.
So my brain's been on permanence lately. Today I woke up and turned knobs to gas lines and pushed buttons to get hot water before getting too nervous about blowing up my house and gave up. Tomorrow I'll wake up, shower cold or not at all, and start my job teaching kids. It's a completely new, unknown adventure. I have no idea what I'll do, but that's not what I'm worried about. Such mystery beckons the questions I've been asking myself for a while. How do I make myself into a strong, stable man? How do I leave a lasting impact on the people and places around me? How can I influence these kids in a meaningful way? I want meaningful, lasting relationships. I'm not just here to visit. I want everything I build to be worthy and lasting.
I'm not worried or scared. My hands only tremble because they yearn to grasp.
“I will no longer mutilate and destroy myself in order to find a secret behind the ruins.” Hermann Hesse
German word(s)/phrase of the week: Grüß Gott
Everybody says it round these parts. Pronunciation: http://www.dict.cc/?s=gr%C3%BC%C3%9F+gott
Click on the little speaker on the right edge of the right-hand column
Fact of the week: Meaning of Grüß Gott. Read it! It's really interesting!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BC%C3%9F_Gott
Preview for next week: The tyranny of Dan as teacher begins!!! ALSO: my house!
Keep it real, y'all.
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