woof. wwoof?

Well, my little gumdrops, my time here in Austria is drawing to a close (for a summer, at least.) Aside from all the SCARY AND ADULT planning I have to do in the next two months---get credit card, sell or recycle furniture, move out, apply for a new visa, etc -- I also get to plan one of the MOST AMAZING TRIPS EVER. CAN YOU HANDLE MY EXCITEMENT?!

This is my bestest chum Alissa

See the love?

She's known for her turtle-feeding skills, Vulcan-like brain and love of smoothies. She will be my companion for the months of June, July and a lil' but of August. WE'RE TRAVELING THE WORLD, GUYS!!

What's the plan so far? We're going to be visiting the countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and NEW ZEALAND.
WHAT. YEAH. I'M GOING TO MIDDLE EARTH AHHHHHHHHHH!

Most of our time will be spent explorin', eatin', people meetin' and picture takin' but another part of our trip will be to WWOOF. What's that, you ask? WWOOF stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. We'll be given food and lodging in return for helping out with whatever tasks need doing on our hosts property. I'm hoping to stay on farms that have more animals, like goats and horses. Because goats are delightful and horses kind of scare me so I want to be less scared! While in NZ, we'll use different hosts to see different parts of the country. SO AWESOME RIGHT?!

To help get you as excited as I am, here is where we're headed.

SLOVENIA AND CROATIA YEAH!

Allow me to introduce Slovenia

SLOVENIA!!!

Need I say more?

WELCOME TO CROATIA

Croatia is heaven

Dubrovnik, Croatia AKA King's Landing from Game of Thrones!

Now, onto New Zealand...

Middle Earth!

I'll never leave

GEOTHERMIC ACTIVITY

 THE SHIRE

SO ARE YOU EXCITED NOW OR WHAT?!?

doodz.

do I dare disturb the universe?

LET us go then, you and I,

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,

The muttering retreats

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels

And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:

Streets that follow like a tedious argument

Of insidious intent

To lead you to an overwhelming question….

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

Let us go and make our visit.     -- T.S. Eliot

You may find yourself wondering where the hell I've been as of late. You may have been kept up at night with unshakeable worry and concern that your life was so very lacking in weekly updates from a certain Katherine. Or, more likely, you've only just realized I was gone. Whatever the case may be, if you are suddenly overjoyed at my return, merely bemused by my absence or currently eating a sandwich, allow me to say without remorse:

The past few months have had some unexpected turbulence by way of lost keys, nearly overwhelming anxiety thanks to lost keys, constant calls to the landlords, house arrest, depression thanks to the lack of sunlight and compounded by keylessness, the winter that never ended and so on. As you may know, I absolutely love complaining. I'm quite adept at it and if anyone is around to listen, I will tell them all my woes. But, normally my woes are a bit miniscule in comparison to the rest of the world. Even with the past 2 months of unfortunate sadness, my situation is nothing to gripe about, really. Hence, why I slithered away from my dear friend Blog and retreated to my room to wait out the storm. Now, judging by the blue sky above, the new set of keys on my desk and the acceptance email chillin' in my inbox, I think it's safe to say I've made it through the wilds of winter.

UNASHAMED GAME OF THRONES REFERENCE

Had I heeded the above words of House Stark, I may have been able to prepare myself for the onslaught of unhappiness that was to come but, ah well. IT'S FINE I GOT THIS. I'm springing back to life  now that the clocks of Austria have sprung forward. It's April now which means I have roughly 2 months left in my contract here in Graz. And with Austria being oh so very Catholic, I have 2 five day weekends next month. Can I get an amen?! (I've also come down with a cold this week and have spent the last 2 days huddled in bed drifting in and out of soup-induced dreams of tacos. Seriously, I dream of tacos nightly.) Soon I'll be hunting for someone to lease my apartment while I travel the world with my bestest pal Alissa. Soon I'll be stuffing things into boxes and bags, storing what I can and tossing the rest. Storing, you say? But Kat, whatever do you mean?!

Well my little gumdrops, I have been offered a second year here in Graz and I have accepted (well, via email, still need to send that pesky letter...) I've been placed at the same two schools here and will begin again on the 1st of October. When I received my confirmation email, I felt an immense wave of relief. Teaching may not be what I want to do for the rest of my life,  but the security of knowing I have something for the next year fills me with satisfaction, comfort and hope for an even better year. In retrospect, I haven't used my time here in Graz to the fullest potential (as I lie in bed in my pj's at 5 pm writing a blog entry...)

I've spent many afternoons holed up inside when the whole wide world awaits outside. I haven't done much for my German (though whenever I go out, the people always shout "Damn, you're American? Your German be smokin'."  or something to that effect.) Next year I want to DO EVERYTHING. I don't want to be a homebody 3/4 of the time (just like, 1-2/4 of the time..) How might I accomplish making round two EVEN BETTER?! Here's a list on what I plan to do next year:

• Yoga: I miss it. My body misses it. Also, it'll help combat those pesky winter blues. SUCK ON THAT, PESKY WINTER BLUES!
• More travel: I've spent most of this year in the confines of Austria, and next year I plan to take all my 3 day weekends, weeks off and vacations and make good use of 'em. Italy, Spain, FINLAND. We shall see where the wind blows me.
• German or Spanish class: One of my teachers kindly gave me a €100 gift certificate for the language courses offered at the university, so I plan on taking one of those. I'm not sure which level I belong in for German, or if it would even be beneficial but...I've felt less and less intellectually stimulated here so I'm thinking just some sort of academic pursuit will keep me content.
• More art! I haven't drawn anything in a few weeks, and probably won't be creating something every day before I finish school but next year I plan on taking my illustration seriously. I want to work on it every day like a second job, I want to find and refine my style. Maybe even take figure drawing classes somewhere in town (Or use my friends as unwilling subjects heheheh...) I don't know if I can ever make a career of it but I can make it a damn good hobby and I can always, always improve.
• Cook more: So says every college graduate but as I've decided to cut back my meat and dairy intake (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, GOODBYE COW.) I want to master the art of tasty vegetarian food, getting more creative in the kitchen than just pastas and stir frys and stews. I like cooking, a lot, and I have no excuse not to do it more and become a pro. A PROFESSIONAL I SAY.
• And lastly, just make the most of my last European adventure for a while. After next spring I plan on moving back to the US for a stint. I'll spend some time with the fam bam in California before making my way back to the Pacific Northwest into the comforting, weird arms of Portland, OR. Portland is calling me and I cannot wait to see her again.
  
  
  
  
  Europe is fun, amazing and full of possibility but...not for me, not right now. I don't want to teach in the private sector, I don't want to get a MA in German or Teaching, I haven't met an Austrian lumberjack and don't plan on marrying one any time soon so, that leaves me with few and little options. And I'm okay with that. I thought I was destined to stay here forever but as it turns out, I'm not. Not yet. Maybe in 5 years I'll feel the itch to find work abroad again but until then, I miss the US. Lord knows I never thought I'd say that. (I also may or may not have left the boy I love back in the States.)
 

So there you have it. My life in a small little nutshell. For those of you who got lost along the way, here are the main point:

1. I was sad but now I'm not!11!
2. I'm coming back in the fall for a 2nd year!!11@
3. IT WILL BE EVEN BETTER!1!1#$%!
4. I no longer cook with meat or eat lots o' cheese!11!!
5. I miss Mexican food, Portland and my (gasp) boyfriend, Paul!!11!
6. I have nothing else to add but 6 is my favorite number and it reminds me of the color turquoise!!1111%

THAT IS ALL. Here are 3 pictures of the last two monthz