Ich mag Deutsch

Liebe Familie, Sonntag 12 Oktober 2008
My first Fast Sunday in Vienna! Leaving the apartment my roommates had looked up how to get to our ward on google again, as it had been several weeks since we'd been there, due to General Conference and being out of town. Although the directions were different from before, we just figured there were multiple ways to get to our ward. So, we left our apartment with an hour to get to church. We got to the station it told us to within a half hour, but it was certainly not the one from before, and we could not find the streets it directed us to in order to walk to the building. With the three of us walking around and trying to find maps or street signs, we noticed a guy drive by on a bike. Five minutes later he came back and asked us if we needed help. We told him we were trying to get to a church, and he asked which one. Turns out he was a member of our ward! So he directed us to get back on the U-Bahn for two more stops. We did that, but then it was really three more, so we wandered around that station for a while as well.

Finally making it to the correct U-Bahn station, we just missed our bus, so we had to wait another ten minutes. We ended up being a half hour late for church. It was terrible. Terribly embarrassing at any rate. I apologized to the teacher afterwards though, so I feel much better. Today I talked to so many Austrians, it was great. I spoke to several in Relief Society, or “Frauenhilfsvereinigung,” and then there was Sunday School where I read a scripture, and a pretty hefty one at that, and then in Sacrament Meeting I understood a fair amount. I spoke to several women I was sitting around, and then met this kid named Gregor who's leaving on his mission in a few weeks. Then I talked to the guy who saved us this morning. He was probably the most friendly person I have ever met. It was so much fun to talk to him and practice German. Unfortunately, he's married, but I never got to meet his wife...I'll definitely try to meet her next week. Apparently she's pregnant with their first child, but I didn't notice any pregnant women today, so I don't know if she was there. His brother served in the Akron Ohio Stake, but before we lived in Ohio, so there's no way we would know him. Sad day, I know.

After talking to him for forever we left, and lamented the fact that he doesn't have a younger, single brother. I came home, and spent the next three hours doing homework. I never used to do homework on Sundays, but it's really impossible not to, because we're traveling so much on this trip. It's terribly doubtful I'll be ready for my tests tomorrow....I just won't get any sleep again tonight.

I met up with my friend Willow and we took little Nick, Cindy's youngest son to the park where we made a leaf pile and played on the playground. We were stared at the entire time though, we were the only people older than 10 actually playing on the equipment, all of the parents sat on benches watching.

Our religion class tonight was really good, the Stake President spoke to us about his experiences in the church. There are only two stakes in all of Austria, and as the Vienna Stake President, he is the representative of the church for the entire country. It really took forever for missionary work to start here, as during the Austro-Hungarian Empire only Catholicism was legal. I want to come here on my mission so badly!

After the class I talked to his son for a really long time, trying to practice my German. He works for some Electronic Company though, so there were so many words I could not understand....it was not the most understood conversation I've ever had for sure.

I am currently taking a break from my homework, and will probably be at it until one or two. I often feel we have too much homework to have time to talk to natives, we're always hurrying home to study for Politics, or Opera, or our Grammar course, I'm not really speaking all that much...Ok. On to memorizing the reflexive verbs and some more irregular conjugations before I continue reading “Where is Central Europe?” and Faust. Oh, and for the record, it's impossible to get any more than an hour of homework done on each train ride.

Hoping you're not as bogged down as I,
Deine Anna