March 7, 2012

• So, what do you DO all day?

  Although I write these entries that make it sound like we are having one grand, European adventure after another, it’s pretty ordinary most of the time. You may have wondered to yourself, “What do they do all day?” Or perhaps you never once thought that. Either way, this entry shall strive to answer that question!

  First, I shall talk about James’ day. He teaches one day a week, Tuesdays from 12:00 to 1:30. He has a second class he is to teach, but that is more like an “office hour” class with private meetings. He is not on a set schedule, but he usually leaves the apartment somewhere around 9ish. He walks downtown (10 mins), catches the tram to the university (20 mins or so), and then he catches a bus to the castle (25 mins or so). He teaches at the university, but his office and colleagues are at the castle (RISC). When he is not teaching, he is doing math research and writing papers.  He comes home either at 5:30 or 6:30, depending on which bus he takes.

  The kids and I have our official wake-up time at 10:00. We stagger around, eat breakfast, maybe shower or get dressed. At 10:30, I have Bible time with the kids. For now, we are reading through Matthew and memorizing 1 John 1:15-17.  After that, the kids do independent school work. Libby and Michael are still enrolled at the high school, so their work is online. Rachel does the same thing she did at home.

  Around 1:00, the kids start foraging for some sort of lunch. At this point, school doesn’t take that long as some of the teachers have not sent assignments. (It is Spring Break at the high school.)  There is a lot of messing about online and watching YouTube and all. With the six hour time difference, their friends are all still in bed or headed to school.

  At 2:00 or 3:00, I try to call a moratorium on the computer for a while. This is nap time, jogging time, drawing time, playing cards time, reading time, whatever.  I hang up laundry on the clothes dryer, sweep the floor, and not much more. (We get a cleaning lady every two weeks here.) This is also the time when we might head out to the store. Today, I went earlier (we were out of milk–no tea!). I stopped at a bakery and got this. It had raspberry jam inside. Linz is all about raspberry jam stuff.

  

   

  I wanted the rhubarb cake I saw earlier, but I did not see it in any bakery window. Sorrow.  It was good, and I was hungry, which made it even better!

  Austrians do like fresh flowers, so for 79 Euro, I got these cuties.

  

  When James gets home, I start making supper. It’s a low-stress affair to cook, as I’m not much of a gourmet, and I don’t have much space. I usually sip a Diet Coke from this glass while cooking.

  

  I pretend it’s a glass of wine, and I’m being all European and everything.

  During supper, we learn some new and useful German words (last night, off and on!). While I clean up, James and the kids do their math. They could do it during the day, but they like to do math with MathDad there to answer questions. This is the time I might Skype with my mom or write blog entries. I like to use the elliptical machine for 35 minutes or so, and the girls work out at night, too.  Often, we watch a movie at around 10 or later. Bedtime is at 1:00 am. We set it so late so that the kids would have a chance to chat online with their friends after school. (1:00 am is only 7:00 pm for those at home.) Plus, we are all night owls, except for poor James.

  We decided that Thursdays would be Field Trip Day, so tomorrow, we are going to pick somewhere to visit in Linz and go there in the afternoon. Where shall we go? Find out tomorrow!

   

   

   

  • 8:37 am
  • 5 Comments