Update from Linz

2009-11-30
It is the last day of November 2009, this year is slowly coming to an end. I have soon spent three months in Austria and I am feeling slightly homesick. The last weeks before the Christmas break usually means a lot of stress, exams, deadlines etc. Hopefully it will blow over soon.

Ever since I arrived here, I have had the opportunity to confront new cultures that I have interacted with. I have been forced to deal with my own prejudice and stereotyping, and I have been forced to lead others into dealing with theirs. I have been exposed to xenophobia in its purest form, to justify my right to exist and to live in "their" country - and I have had to prove to people that I am not a terrorist, nor in possession of highly enriched Uranium (or kryptonite as one moron believed). However, I have had positive experiences as well. I have had the chance to attend a prom in southern Austria, and I have seen locals fanatically enjoying the polka music while dancing to it. It was an interesting experience, far from anything I have ever seen before. To me it looked like as if dressed up people were wrestling to the tunes of circus music, but it was of course more than that ;).

After having seen Assyrian weddings (and danced their traditional dances), I feel that there are many similarities between these experiences. I remember that I felt the same (as an outsider, far away from home) when I attended my first (and until now only) Assyrian wedding.

In other words, I had a nice time while learning something new.

Anyway, despite my enhanced cultural sensitivity and anticipation, I still miss things from home (as well as despising things in my presence here). I am pretty disgusted by the absence of AC. I hate that the water temperature shifts when I am taking shower. I hate the cleaning lady. Today she (and her self righteous colleagues) managed to collectively cause more mess than usual. To make a long story short, they like moving stuff around (I fucking hate that!!!), and they have a strange predilection for putting dirty furniture/objects on my bed. This is called sadism. May they burn in hell!

I spent a couple of hours at the local IKEA store a few days ago. I took the chance to have some Swedish food while being there. It's nothing fancy, rather simple - but still brilliant.

I promised to post a "review" of my room soon, and I will, I promise. I just need to get a few tasks out of the way and then I can dedicate myself more into posting updates of my life in Austria.

Thank you for reading!