UNO - United Nations Organization

Yesterday I took part in a guided tour to the UNO. I've been living in Vienna all life long and now I thought it was about time to pay a visit to this building. We were only a few participants, about 8 people and a disabled girl, who always wanted to be led by the hand (my hand included). But it was a nice group and an interesting tour. It's just been a bit astonishing that there were not too many employees. Closed offices, an empty conference room and a confusing labyrinth of stairs and endless corridors. Maybe because of the Easter holidays. Anyway, though the interior appeared to me very clean and modern, I still felt a bit uncomfortable. Two interesting things that our female guide told us. One, the official languages spoken in the UNO are exactly those, that I'd like to learn or have already learned: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese. The other thing is: The rent for this huge building is only 7 cts/month. That's kind of symbolic and had been negociated during the Kreisky era (one of our former chancellors). In conclusion I can only say that it's been a nice experience, but I don't think I'd like to work there. (okay, I may never get into this situation, but it's just the impression that I have)
http://www.unvienna.org/unov/en/index.html

Cupping

Just came back from a "cupping session". Just in case, you're wondering what it is, here's the explanation: It refers to an ancient Chinese practice in which a cup is applied to the skin and the pressure in the cup is reduced (by using suctioning out air), so that the skin and superficial muscle layer is drawn into and held in the cup. It didn't hurt too much, though I really could feel something going on underneath my skin. I just wanted to thighten up my thighs a little and it seems as if it works. After the treatment my thighs looked a lot better than before. So, I guess I'll repeat this procedure someday soon. Well, I decided not to add a cupping-picture as it doesn't look too appetizingly. (Maybe next time, so you've got some time to prepare yourself mentally)
Instead of me suffering, you see a photo of my yesterday's "rainy Vienna tour". This is the statue of Empress Maria Theresia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria

Buying storage boxes at IKEA

After a short visit in the office at Kleine Zeitung, I met with my friend René and we bought some storage boxes. Make a guess where? I'll give you a hint. Look precisely at the picture!
Just in case, I didn't mention it before, we're about to sort out all paperwork that has accumulated over the time. We really have the intention to organize and store everything in a better way. As we've been renovating the whole apartement over the last four months, we're yearning for an end. Next step will be, to move our audio-equipment from the basement to the first floor. I don't even wanna think about it! Tons of cables that we'll have to unplug and reconnect. So, I'm sure, we'll have lots of fun within the coming weeks.

Taking pictures in rainy Vienna

Rain, wind, clouds, low temperatures! - Yet, I decided to go for a little walk and as it is boring to do nothing while strolling around, I took my camera along. On the picture on the right you can see me on Heldenplatz. Maybe I'll add some of these photographs to my website, but not right now, as I still have to work on my translations. Anyway, it's a bit strange to walk through your hometown, taking pictures. I really felt like a tourist, though there were not too many because of the bad weather. An advertising man tried to offer me a city-tour and another recruiter wanted to sell me some concert-tickets. I've cordially rejected both offers. After about two hours of wandering around, I finally went home. The pictures I've taken were not too bad, but one thing, I'll have to do before my next photo-trip is to learn a lot more about the camera-settings. The other important message to myself is: Only go out, when the weater is fine and the skies are blue!

Studying Russian on Donaukanal

This time I took advantage of the lovely weather to sit down on a bank on Donaukanal. Of course, I didn't only relax by doing nothing. I tried to read the russian magazin "По свету". Thank God, it's got some translations within, as I'm just a beginner. Yet, I've already managed to translate a few stories. Learning like this is far more interesting than memorizing all those boring grammar rules. To give you an example of my progress, I'd like to write the following phrase in russian. One moment, gotta change the keyboard settings.
Я считаю, что в наши дни очень важно знать несколько языков.
What does it mean? Translation: "I believe, that in our days it is very important to know some languages." But please don't ask me, how long it took me to type this simple sentence. My excuse is, that until know I haven't got a bi-lingual keyboard, so I only can guess where the russian letters are. However, it's always fun to take up new challenges.

Hard work in the garden

That's me, family and friends (from left to right: Alexandra, Horsti, me, Norbert and Hanna). As I've already told you, my brother and his wife Alexandra are going to build their new house. But before the construction works are going to start, we had to move the thujas from one side of the garden to the other. It's really been a lot of work. Unfortunately I couldn't do as much as I wanted, as I suffer from an inflammation of my elbow. Think, I'll have to see the doctor to X-ray my damn arm. That's why I've only done simple things, like holding the thujas or pushing the wheelbarrow from one end of the garden to the other. Thank God, it's been a lovely day with pleasant temperatures and everybody enjoyed working underneath the sun. By the way, the picture you see, was photographed by my mom. She's really got talent. However, after all this hard work, we celebrated Easter. We've had a lavish dinner, accompanied by a tasty wine, called "Grüner Veltliner" from the vineyard Wöber. It's really the best wine I ever drank. I guess, within the coming weeks and months I will add some more pictures of the procedures, concerning the construction works.

A hard day's work

Yesterday I've really had a hard day in the office. I transcribed two long interviews and did a lot of paper work. I'm not going to write about details, just wanted to let you know how my workplace looks like. Sorry, I'm in a hurry, gotta go right know ...