My birthday!!!

Today we've celebrated my birthday - the 42nd!! - Well, time goes by so quickly. Unfortunately my parents had both catched a cold and so we did not go to the "Heurigen", a kind of wine-tavern, where wine-growers serve the most recent year's wine. Normally they offer a limited selection of food and in "the good old days" you were allowed to bring your own food. Anyway, we didn't go there and started our little family-party at home. I enjoyed the birthday cake and was quiet happy to receive some very useful gifts, like money and somewhat like a care-package with a big bottle of shower-gel, a t-shirt, some candies and several other cool things. But the best about a celebration is always the good atmosphere and that everybody is happy. Furthermore, I practiced some piano pieces and tried to get familiar with my new cell phone. I kinda like it, though there are still some open questions.

My new cell phone!

Yeah, got it! - Finally it's there! - My new cell phone, a Samsung Galaxy Spica. Okay, I confess, I originally wanted an I-Phone, but simply couldn't afford it. So, I thought the next best thing would be this little baby here. I'm not quiet sure, whether it works the way I am expecting it, but we'll see. At least it can't be worse than the one I've had over the last five years or so. Well, right now I'm a bit in a hurry as I've a meeting with my language-partner from the Ucraine, but I'll tell you more about my experiences with this new cell phone when I've grown used to it.

The healing of my elbow

I guess, I've already mentioned it before, but I'm suffering from an aching elbow, since January! After having consulted all kinds of doctors (a general practitioner, an internist, a neurologist), I tried it with a physiotherapist. By the way, none of the doctors had made a correct diagnosis. They were all more or less clueless and only prescribed me some dubious medication which I fortunately did not buy or take. In contrast, the physiotherapist, my "healer" Ingrid, immediately found out the reasons for my pain. It's a kind of muscle injury. No inflamation, as the general practitioner assumed, and it's also got nothing to do with nerves, as the neurologist guessed. Ingrid even had the right therapy for me. She used a strange device that's got something to do with electricity. Don't ask for further explanations, but after all it really got better and to me it seemed like some kind of spontaneous healing, though the pain's not gone completely, but it's a lot better than before. So, maybe I should sacrifice my "healer" Ingrid a lamb or at least do some ritual dancing. However, I'm really glad that I've found someone who literally cares and cures!

My "healer's" website:
http://www.lymphpraxis.at/

Trying to learn Russian in the VHS

Just came back from my russian course in the VHS, which is the abbreviation of Volkshochschule and is somewhat like a school for adults. Today we were only four people out of ten. It's really a pity that most students have lost their interest quiet fast and have given up studying after only a few months, though this fact is not so bad for the remaining people. We're progressing very rapidly, but the problem could be that there won't be enough people for the next semester. I've borrowed a Russian slang dictionary from the library and it's really funny. Here's an excerpt: "Ты с ума сошёл?" (Have you gone mad?) or "Ты мне действуешь на нервы" (You're getting on my nerves). Well, these are just the unoffending phrases. Folks, believe me, you don't want to hear the other ones!

The Vienna Town Hall (Rathaus)

As today nothing really exciting happened (I practiced playing piano, worked on the translation of my website, went to the library, a.s.o.), I thought, I'll make you happy with another picture of Vienna. This is a rare view from the park that surrounds the Rathaus. Most photos only show the front view, which isn't bad either, but I prefer the unusual and rahter unexpected. By the way, I'm the photographer of all the pictures you see in my blog (just in case you'd like to have one in a higher resolution or for publishing purposes. Only wanted to mention it). So, on Sunday I'll probably add a picture of our parliament, as we've got the presidential elections on the 25th of April. Actually, this is the day of my birthday! I'll go to the polls anyway, though the choice isn't really overwhelming. We've only got three candidates. Two of them are pretty unknown and won't have the slightest chance of being elected. Maybe I'll vote for the present president Mr. Heinz Fischer, but I'll let you know on Sunday!

Dying my hair - superblonde

Actually I wanted to add a photo of the Vienna City Marathon that took place today, but unfortunately I've somehow overslept this important event. Ok, it was not my intention to take part in it, but anyway, some pictures would have been nice. So, I'll postpone it to next year. Instead of running around with my camera, I visited my mom. She had the "pleasure" to dye my hair. She doesn't mind and I can save a lot of money. I've been dying my hair since I was 25 or so and I've really grown used to this color. My natural haircolor is boring brown which I didn't like at all. So, I started dying my hair and I must say that it only had positive effects. It's not greasy anymore and it's stronger than ever before. That's why I'll probably continue dying my hair until I'm old an grey (or still superblonde).

Me in front of the Votivkirche

I just met some friends of mine on Rathausplatz (you know, the Styrian festival in Vienna). It's been nice strolling around with them and having a good chat. On this picture you see me relaxing in the park in front of the Votivkirche. The weather's been really fantastic and not a single airplane ruined the idyllic silence. You may have heard about this ash cloud from the islandic volcano that stopped all flight-traffic, which is quiet a disaster for the aviation industry, but frankly, I don't really mind at all, as I suffer from a severe kind of aerophobia, due to a bad experience. (Maybe I'll tell you more about it in one of my upcoming posts.) Well, so my fear of flying makes me stay most of the time in Vienna. Maybe bad for me, but good for you, as you'll see some of Vienna's hotspots through my eyes.