One more time

Its now come down to 24 hours until I leave Kartauseville, and 46 hours until I'm home.

And the countdown beings

Since the Krampus came I have been studying almost non-stop until this morning when my finals were all over. Thank the Lord!

To get back to Mission Krampus, the a whole bunch of us went outside about a 1/2 hour before the Krampus came and stood outside getting all scared and excited about them. Around 5 we starting hearing the bells that are attached to them, and sure enough not too much later the Krampus theme song played over the loud speaker and in they came. I have to say they're not nearly as scary the second time, or when you see them come in on their little cart. Three of us ventured down into the courtyard to see what the masked people were really like, and we found out that they're acutally a lot of fun. They have wips made out of something like horse hair that doesn't hurt if they hit you, and they just walk around hitting people. They stare at you too, but that's ok because if you're up close you can see the person behind the mask. They also let you get you're picture taken with them. They do some interacting with each other too, and that's fun to watch.
FRD told me that they start practicing for Krampus days in October, because they're costumes are so heavy, and they have to be able to not only walk around in them, but they chase people, and they also have those bell on their backs, and they jump around a lot to make noise.
Also, if you go down into the courtyard you can get up in their cart and look around. After a while of walking around one of them pulls out a torch and lights it up. This torch is supposed to symbolize the light of Christ and the Krampus all kneel before it to show that he is their leader and they work for him. After that they all take their masks off, and they walk around among the people for a while. While they're walking around you can put the mask on. I didn't do it, but my friend did and she said that it smelled really bad. They get pretty sweaty in there, so I can understand that.

After the Krampus left I think I watched a movie, and went to bed at night. On Sunday I went to mass in the morning, slept some of the afternoon, and studied from 6PM until 9:30 AM for Christian Marriage, and German. Then I slept from 4PM - midnight, and I've been awake ever since. That was only 13 hours ago though, so I'm doing alright. I'm trying to stay awake as long as I can so I don't end up spending another night awake, but I'm thinking that I'm losing that battle. I don't have anything to stay awake for. I could pack all my things but then I'd be really bored tomorrow.
I'll find something to do though. These are my last 3 days in Gaming and I'm going to live them up!

The Krampus are coming!

The Krampus are coming in about an hour! This time, I'm going to stick to mission Krampus, and not run away and get chased. Instead I'm going to get pictures. Check back later for the final episode of Mission Krampus.

Dec. 6th

Happy St. Nicholas Day!!

What happens when I take a break from studying

Das Seetang ist immer gruner
im See von Jemandem anders,
du traum Ungefarr gehend auf Dort,
aber das ist ein grosser Fehler,
nur siehe die Walt herum du,
recht hier auf dem Ozean Boden
solche wunderbaren Dinge herum du,
was mehr bist du sehen fur?
unter der See
unter der See
Liebling ist besser, hinunter wo wesser
Nimm es von mir
auf auf dem Strand sie arbeiten alle Tag
aus in der Sonne sie schuften weg
warhend wir widmen alle Zeit zu Schweben
unter der See!

The first of you to guess the song, tell me the movie, and tell me the person who sings it gets extra Milka in their stocking this year.

Österreichians

Today I got to come into contact with some very interesting Österreichian traditions. As you know the Advenfest is in full blast out in the courtyard. This means all sorts of fun things for us students, like having class in the Mensa, and having class downstairs, and having class halfway across town. For the most part the festival is like the festivals that we've all seen at churches. There's cookies, and candy, and crafty things for people to look at and buy. There's also beer and kebabs. I believe that the lack of these at American festivals is their downfall. No one ever wants to go to an American festival. If they had beer and kebabs I would want to go, and I'm sure that other people would want to go as well.

Other than all that they have a completely different tradition that little American children would have nightmares about. A little bit after sundown this nice little cart filled with people dressed in big hairy costumes with big hairy heads showed up with some sort of torches. From what I have gathered these people are the demons that St. Nicholas tamed to beat the sin out of children so they could get their presents. These particular beasts are said to come down from the local mountain. May I just take this moment to say creeeeeeeepy. For the most part the tame demon thing were big and hairy with horns and glowing red eyes, but there were a few variations. I saw one with an antelope head, and there was also a bear who appeared to be their leader. He comes into the story a little later.

I was up on 3rd floor with some friends when another friend came up and gave us the news that these hairy things had shown up. We'd been told that out of all the hairy things were we going to encounter this week that these would be the "good" ones. If these are the good ones then I am so freaked out about what's coming on Tues. Anyway, by the time we got outside they had already arrived and were walking around. I don't know if you remember the courtyard at all, but I'll try to explain this as best as I can. There are 2 main ways that we use to get down into the courtyard. One of them is through the big door by the Franziscus house, and the other one is to the right of that at the top of the staircase where there is a hallwayish area outside the Audi-max. We were standing outside there looking around to see the "nice" hairy creatures when we noticed one in the hallway with us. It was a shorter one, I'm guessing a woman, with a wood broom. This one was grunting away and sweeping at people; then she noticed us. It just so happened that as soon as we saw her we shrieked and ran in the opposite direction. I'm thinking that was a good tip off that we were the American students. She came right towards our little group of 5 people and started sweeping at our feet, which immedietly caused more skrieking and running around. After we got rid of her we thought that everything was safe, and it was for a couple minutes. Then we noticed one of the huge red eyed creatures coming up the stairway towards us. We almost discretely got away, but upon moving down the hallway discovered that another huge red eyed "nice" creature was coming towards us in the opposite direction. A shriek and we ran the other way, but by this time the one coming up the stairs was at the top of the stairs, and not waiting around to find out the outcome of the story one of the girls and I ran into one of the rooms along the hallway. Upon seeing us run away the red eyed beast who has just come up the stairs started running after us, but since they don't come inside, he only stood in the doorway and growled at us. One of the girls stayed where she was and tried to blend into the crowd which had now gathered in the hallway to laugh at us, and apparently that worked for her. The other two huddled together, and were passed by the beast that growled at us, but the other one saw them, and stared at them for a little bit before patting them on the head and moving on. I have to say, even though we were scared beyond reason we were laughing the entire time. The Österreichians may have some weird customs, but as long as the beast doesn't catch you, its acutally a lot of fun. After our little incident that amused the locals the bear got up into the cart and lit one of their torches. I forgot to mention before that they brought music with them. Some sort of soundtrack was playing while they were walking around that sounded like some weird chantings, probably supposed to be from hell. Anyway when the bear got up into the cart they all gathered together in front of him and kneeled down. Then they took off their masks and it was all over. After that they just wandered around in the courtyard with their big furry jumpsuits on.

I wonder if some of the locals come just to see these beasts scare the Americans. The Österreichians are not scared of these beasts at all. They walk around with them, and generally ignore them. In that way, its not hard at all to tell who the Americans are. Plus they get a good laugh watching us run away. If I was them I would come to see that.

I've heard they're supposed to come tomorrow and again on Monday. The next time they come I'm bringing my camera, and I'm going to try to put off shrieking and running away long enough to get a picture. I do have to say though that from now on when I see them its not going to be quite as good. I'm still going to be freaked out and having fun, but there's something in the element of supprise from the first time. I was not expecting something so incredibly creepy at all. If these are the "nice" demons, then I wonder what the demons that show up on Tues are going to be like. I've heard a lot of different stories, and its just a couple of days now before I find out if they're all true.

Don't forget, Wed. is St. Nicholas day, and if you leave your shoe outside your door he'll leave you something nice, after you've been purged by one of the demons of course.

The home stretch

Well, it really has come down to the last 2 weeks I have left in Österriech. I seriously can't believe it. There are so many things that have happened since I got here. So many places I've been, so many people I've met. So much weird food I've eaten. It so weird to think that in 2 short weeks all of that is going to be gone, and placed in with those group of memories I have that I hope never to forget. I did have a time this semester when I wanted nothing more than to get out of here and to go home. Somehow that all changed. Suddenly I love this place, and if I didn't miss everyone from home so incredibly much, I don't think I would ever want to go.

I love being able to walk out into the courtyard and see it snowing up on top of the mountains, or walking down the street and just seeing the mountains. I'm going to miss making fires in the backyard of the townhouses. I'm also going to miss the town, and the stream, and the schoolbus train. There's so much that I've come to love about Kartauseville and its surroundings, and in 2 weeks I have to let it all go. I never was a good at change.

I have a cold right now, which in some ways is a good thing since I won't have it in 2 weeks when I get home. I have an exam a week from tomorrow, and I'm not gonna lie that's a little scary.

Today was the beginning of Adventfest here in Kartauseville. I slept most of the day and blew my nose for the rest of it, so I didn't go out today. I'm thinking maybe tomorrow or Sunday. If not then I have 10 days to go out into the courtyard and see what they put in the barns we've been watching them build. I have seen the masses of people, and they're cars. Despite the signs they like to wander into the "student's only" places. My roomate and I have decided to lock our door for the weekend. I thought I had lost my key, and I was looking around for it for a couple of days, until I found out that it was in the door. I felt pretty stupid about that.

I watched a movie filmed in London today. I recognized some places I had been, and that was very exciting. My life isn't nearly as exciting as it used to be when I was traveling around all the time, but I'm alright with that. Next week is the last week of classes. After that its exams and packing, and saying goodbye. For now I'd rather not talk about the saying goodbye. That can wait until after I'm home, and have enough exciting things around me to forget just what I've left behind.

Not that I'm not happy to go home. I'm so incredibly excited to be home. I miss everyone so much. Not to mention that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the music, and the singing, and my crazy family. I'm looking foward to cold cuts on Christmas, Lesson and Carols, Trans-siberian Orchestra in Worcester, and of course New Years. All the wonderful things that happen over Christmas.

I just wish it would snow already in Kartauseville. It snowed once on Nov 1st, and we haven't had any since. We'd better get some soon, or I might have to climb up the mountain to see some snow again before I leave. Oh Kartauseville, I never thought that I would be sad to leave.