Rebecca and Thomas Zillinger

Merry Christmas! Frohe Weihnachten!

2011-12-26T11:57:00.016+01:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! Frohe Weihnachten!

We had a great Christmas this year.

Our fabulous tree has been reminding us that Christmas was approaching since we put it up at the beginning of December (thanks to a coupon and some friends who helped us schlepp it home in their car! thanks guys!)

During December we had friends over for a Christmas cookie baking session! What did we make, you ask? Well, for starters tons of peanut butter cookies thanks to Caitlin, bunches of sugar cookies (fabulously decorated thanks to Julia and Cait) and also a good amount of rum balls (thanks, Anne!) - whew! Here are some pictures of all that sugary fun we created!
(Notice all the great aprons we have on hand - Lisa, rest assured, these suckers get plenty of use around here!!)

Then in good ol' Zillinger style, the evening evolved into a cozy film night complete with friends, our freshly baked goodies, some hot sandwiches to offset the sugar intake and a great Christmas movie!

The great thing about us both coming from different cultures is that we have twice as many Christmas traditions to share!! I'm really grateful to have a hubby who enjoys my American version of Christmas almost as much as he enjoys his own Austrian customs. Not only do we put up the tree WAAY earlier than Austrians (we opt for ASAP versus waiting til Christmas Eve), but we also choose to celebrate a la Austria on the 24th and then a la America on the 25th! Works out great for both of us.

So on the 24th we went to our church for the afternoon service. I had the honor of pounding out some Christmas carols on the piano and Thomas had 'beamer Dienst' which means 'projector duty.' I still find it funny that they call 'projectors' 'beamers' here, as if we could use a BMW to show slides!! :) Then we had punch and talked to friends and exchanged gifts before everyone scurried off to celebrate in their homes with family. The past few years we've had the privilege of being invited to celebrate with friends - be it with our dear friends the Strunks, or last year with Mex and Iris. But this year we decided to celebrate at home with just the two of us. Together we whipped up a real feast - cornish hens, (or at least the Styrian version), mashed potatoes, cranberry and apple stuffing, gravy... Then we did the Austrian 'Bescherung' which includes lighting up the tree (yes, there is real fire involved and usually a bucket of water on the side, just in case!) and then opening presents. It might be hard to tell from our pics, but there are before, during and after we lit the sparklers on the tree!

Christmas 2011 the 24th (Click to View Album!)

Curious to see what the Christmas midnight mass is like, we wandered down to a big catholic church nearby (Herz Jesu Kirche) and were astounded at the turnout! It was OVERLY packed and though we didn't get a seat, it didn't take long til we decided it was easier that way since we didn't have to worry about when to stand or sit. ;) After the service there was a brass horn group playing Christmas music in front of the church as we exited and made our way to see the Nativity Scene.

Then we had our dessert - baked apples filled with nuts and berries (and before you start thinking we're health nuts...) with a nice side of ice cream! We settled down and watched the movie 'The Nativity Story.' If you haven't seen this movie, WATCH IT!!! We were both really moved by it, and I was particularly impressed to see how Joseph truly shines as an amazing man of character. And it's so incredible to see how God divinely worked out so many details surrounding Jesus' birth. It's a movie that's really worth while and well done.

The morning of the 25th we had Monkey Bread and scrambled eggs for breakfast - yum! Then we got down to business and finished opening up presents!! Thanks to everyone for thinking of us and for your generous gifts! We were thrilled to use my new iPhone to talk to the Perrecas with Face to Face. How fun!! And we were glad to talk to all our nieces and nephews - what cute little kidos!!

Christmas 2011 Morning of the 25th (Click to View Album)

Next big event is New Year's and then my trip to ICELAND!! :)

Henderson - where do you/they come from

2011-05-06T12:23:00.007+02:00

Since I am in the hospital right now (nothing too serious so far, but still painful) I find myself with a lot of time. I now use much more time to talk with our God, what a blessing :) I am also so thankful for Rebecca spending so much time in between her teaching duties with me!

However I just googled a bit and found a quite thorough little article about that the name 'Henderson.' As some of you might not know, that's my wife's maiden name. When we visited the States a while ago, we had the opportunity to go to a pretty cool Scottish festival. Rebecca knew that 'Henderson' does have scottish roots. So, she was excited and even got to walk with 'her' clan during the parade. Man, she liked that.

Anyhow, can you guess what Henderson stands for? Think it over a little bit and carry on reading :)

This is an ancient Scottish name, the patronymic (meaning "son of") form of Hendry, a mainly Scottish variant of the personal name "Henry". Some bearers of the name Henderson are descended from Henrysons, the "d" being a common intrusive element in many languages between "n" and "r". Henry is from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements "haim" or "heim", home, and "ric", power. It was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 as "Henri". In Scotland the Hendersons of Fordell in Fifeshire are the chief Lowland family of the name, and are believed to be descended from an old Dumfriesshire family of Henrysons. A branch of the Clan Gunn bears the name Henderson, and there is another Clan Henderson of Glencoe. An interesting namebearer, recorded in the "Dictionary of National Biography", was John Henderson (1747 - 1785), who was a notable actor of his day, considered second only to David Garrick. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Henrisone, which was dated 1374, in Scottish Papers, in the Public Records Office, during the reign of King Robert 11 of Scotland, 1371 - 1390. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
(quoted from http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/henderson)

Pretty cool stuff! There is a lot of history hidden behind that name, isn't there?

There is also a lot of interesting stuff on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Henderson.

Last Whole Day

2011-04-10T14:50:00.005+02:00

On our last whole day we managed to sqeeze in some great stops. Although we had originally planned a few other things, it turned out that some of those places were closed on Sunday. So, we followed a plan B and things turned out alright.

First off, we rode the Metro to the Vatican where we took lots of pictures of fountains and nuns. Then we walked quite a long ways around the grounds, only to end up at a great little cafe where we indulged in some coffee and snacks. Tirimasu, anyone?

Later we purchsed provisions for a Pincio Park picnic! We had a great view of Piazza del Popolo and the city skyline. Did you know there are even parrots in this park AND the world's largest water clock? Well, now you do!

And we finished the off with a visit to our favorite gelato place and an obligitory photo session at the Trevi Fountain.

Day Two - licking our wounds

2011-04-03T09:58:00.018+02:00

We slept in until 11, i think - man we were tired. Our feet still hurt, our legs still not wanting to move. We got up, finally, and had breakfast.

We got to the Colosseum again, this time we didn't stop at the lovely café on our way. There we split up. Tom used the second part of his ticket to get into to the Colosseum, Rebecca and Lisa went shopping.

There was a huuuuge line, not as long as it can be in summer, but still long enough. Cute little italian/english signs told people where to queue up - Groups to the left, tickets to buy to the right and - cool - if you already got a ticket, follow the path in the middle! I walked and ... walked, passing lots of people waiting in line on my right, feeling a bit uneasy if that's really the right path, arriving at the audioguide booth - paid 5.50€ - and went right in - no waiting at all. I felt so lucky. So listen everyone: Next time you go to rome, FIRST go to forum romanum, hardly waiting at all for a combined ticket, THEN go to the colosseum, maybe the next day to skip all those long lines :)

The Colosseum is really a sad story. Basically it used to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. Everything decorated with marble and also colorful with a huge awning on the top, so nobody got sunburned. But over time, when 'the games' stopped it fell apart and all the marble and the massive amounts of the structure were used for other buildings in the town, really sad.

Parts of 'The games' themselves where really brutal, however there used to also be really good shows, where eg. a huge painted manmade whale appeared out of the wooden floor (the ground is two stories deep) and 50 bears stepped out of its mouth, which totally awestrucked the audience. Besides that the seating was pretty much the same as in every theater today. The closer to the arena you sit the more important the people were. In the ring close to the arena, they even had toilettes built in and stairs were more comfortable to climb.

(few remains of the marble decoration to the left, sewage system in the middle and front rows to the right)

Stairs to the upper parts where *really* steep. Think of the steepest stairs you ever climbed. Those were even steeper!

(stairs, covered with dirt)

There are so many people who ask you to buy glasses, bracelets, guided tours and also these guys, roman guards. Ever wanted to sit next to one. I didn't ask how much it costs to take a picture with them:

They look pretty cool, don't they? I took this picture from the top of the Colosseum :) (gotcha)
From the same platform I took this panorama picture - Doesn't it look just great!

(From left to right: Colosseum, arch of Konstantin, some ancient fontain, forum romanum, arch of titus, temple of venus)

If you are interested in the games and the history

Also to see how big the whole place is, I tried to capture just the dimensions of the outer ring where the entrance is

Outside again, on my way to meet up with Rebecca and Lisa, I past the arch of Constantin with the remains of the fountain in front of it

There is even a part of the old pavement there, which is really fun to walk on, jumping from stone to stone - and not just children like that :)

First day

2011-04-02T10:42:00.011+02:00

Our night in the train was reasonably good :) a little uncomfortable, since 5 people tried to squeeze into a 2m by 2m "bed". Nevertheless we slept...

Arriving in Rome we first walked to our B&B - blue rose. Basically a cute little appartment rented out for tourists. We got free breakfast, a three beds room and our own bathroom, what more can you wish for? Oh well the traffic could be quieter, but that makes Rome just more genuine :)

As we made our way into the city, we stopped by a cute family run cafe were we enjoyed cappuccini (or cappucci) and cornetti - amazingly yummy vanille cream filled pasteries. We were off to a great start!

After passing by the Colosseum we split up - Thomas took a tour of the Foro Romano while Lisa and I explored a later part of Roman history. Did you know that Italy as we know it today wasn't united until 1870? We learned that along with other facts in the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II -the big white building also nicknamed the 'typewriter' or 'wedding cake.'

We also enjoyed ice cream, pizza and coffee. And of course we enjoyed visiting a few churches, people watching and crossing the streets Italian style - the main thing is to be confident, make eye contact with any oncoming drivers and to stick with a large group of pedestrians. There IS power in numbers while crossing any street!

Check out our web album for more pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/thomas.zillinger/RomeI?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfZstjhsMu7eQ

Rome we are coming

2011-03-31T22:20:00.004+02:00

Well, here we go, we are in the train, still in austria for another hour or so. Rebecca, me and Lisa S. We are very excited :) Looking forward to our first italian gelato this year! This is the ticket to our joy to come:

I guess the further away the destination, the bigger the tickets get :)

Winter 2010/11

2011-03-17T13:32:00.012+01:00

This winter is thankfully almost over - I am not a fan of the cold, but fortunately this year we had lots of interesting ways to spend our time, thereby distracting me from snow and temperatures.

Thomas and I both enjoyed being part of an Alpha course at our church. Tom helped out a lot more (music team, technical team, group leader...you get the picture) than I. In my defense, I did have an English course to teach which overlapped with the Alpha course. It was great to be part of organzing it and getting to see some growth and changes in our team and the participants. Here's one picture during the weekend retreat as part of the course.

Also we did many wintery and Christmasy things. Here's a pic of me getting ready to make Christmas cookies with - no, that's NOT Tom! It's Hans, the son of some friends of ours and since he lives so close, I get to hang out with him occasionally. He's a big fan of dressing up in the right outfit whatever the occasion. (notice the chef's hat). On a side note, I'm making an official request for 'real' American candy canes next year. The ones here are nothing close.
Finally we buckled down and got ourselves an opera subscription (granted we sit in the nose-bleed section, but that's not the point!). This means that we regularly attend operas, muscials and dances. It's nice to enjoy the wonderful cultural opportunities that Graz offers at an affordable price and with friends, too! Tom took this pic of me and Caitlin at the opera.
What winter would be complete without a visit to Vienna? We get to visit friends and family as well as the Christmas markets. Vienna is truely magical at Christmas time. Any volunteers to visit us next Christmas?

Weddings

2010-08-07T17:59:00.004+02:00

This summer we had the privilege of celebrating two joyous weddings of some dear friends of ours. First off Caitlin and Michi got married in Austria's scenic lake district. Then just one week later Alicia and Gerfried also tied the knot in the mountain town of Schladming. So, here are a few pictures from the two amazingly beautiful weddings this July. We are so happy for both couples! Congrats!

Freilichtmuseum

2010-08-07T16:20:00.003+02:00

Here are some pictures from our day with the Carrara family. They had us over for lunch and then we headed to the 'Freilichtmuseum' (Open Air Museum) in Stübing. There we got to see lots of original homes, farm houses, huts and cabins from all around Austria with some dating back even a couple of centuries! It was quite lovely and you can have a look at a few pics here:

Summertime Fun

2010-08-07T15:57:00.003+02:00

Recently we've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to see a bit more of Austria. Thanks to friends and family (and their cars!) we've experienced a weekend stay at a castle and also seen what types of houses and homesteads 18-19th century Austrians lived in. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what we saw!

First off is our trip to the Castle of Fintergrün (literally 'dark' or 'gloomy' green). Richi and Sabine met us part way and then took us through the winding roads of Styria just over the boarder into the province of Salzburg. After checking in, we checked out the castle with all its fasinating nooks and crannies. Then we took a walk in the forest where we learned about the long and somewhat rich history of silver mining in the immediate area. Here are some pictures:

The last snow

2010-04-13T21:17:00.033+02:00

A couple of weeks a go, already, we where invited by Anne to have a weekend right in the middle of the upperaustrian mountains - at a tini tiny town called Hinterstoder.
We drove there by car and got caught in a snowblizzard - yes - you read right - snow in April! It made us all a tiny bit insecure, there was so much snow coming down that we almost couldn't see the street anymore. Not a lot stayed on the ground, but it was enough to cover all the green white, as you will see in the pictures.

It was such a great time! We started on a Easter Friday, it was dark when we arrived and when we woke up it looked like this

So pretty. We stayed inside for a while. Duty of the first person waking up was to make fire in the huge Kaminofen (tiled woodstove) . It takes an hour until it warms up.

The weekend went really fast, but we enjoyed a lot of time with god together, reading books, talking and singing together. And we also took walks - Anne, Sandra, Rebecca and Thomas, there:

Yep, amazing view. The snow was gone by the next day. Only spots here and there and of course on top of the mountains :)

We went for a walk twice. The second time we went to this really nice lake.

Hmmm, once there we could really enjoy the power of the spring sun.

Next day was EASTER - Happy birthday Jesus! We sang a couple of birthday songs and had a great sunday morning breakfast in the garden - And

an EASTER EGG HUNT - so much fun!

Well, it was such a great weekend (did I say that already) and it was over really fast! I am looking forward to our next time :) For those who want to see more pictures, go for it:

Urlaub in Hinterstoder

Arriving in the states

2009-12-17T07:00:00.004+01:00

And here we go, our first blog after we arrived in the States. For now, we will just quickly post this little slideshow from how we arrived in Vienna at mum Zillinger's home, then a little bit from our arrival in New York and meeting up with Rebecca Honts. Finally our flight and arrival in Kansas City, having real food with Dad and meeting up with Emily + kids.

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-29T18:38:00.004+01:00

Despite the fact that Austria doesn't officially recognize American Thanksgiving Day, and all of us had to work and pretend that November's 4th Thursday was just like any other day, a network of highly skilled North Americans (and even a few Austrians) were hard at work planning and preparing for a celebration. This celebration has been condensed into the following short-film. (this is a premier and the first of its kind produced by Zilli & Zilli movie productions...a VERY novice undertaking).

From My Videos

Rome

2009-10-05T12:54:00.002+02:00

Right after the English camp Rebecca and I took a trip to Rome for the weekend. Two of my friends from college were traveling through Europe and we got to meet up for the end of their trip. We stayed at this great B&B just within walking distance of the Colosseum and had a fabulous time seeing sights, eating food, eating ice cream, drinking coffee, drinking wine & of course running into the Trevi Fountain just about 10 times every day. Here are some pitures of our great weekend:

September School

2009-10-05T12:40:00.002+02:00

This September Rebecca Honts and I co-taught an English camp. It was in this small little town outside of Graz. We both had a great experience -- finally after all this time -- getting to teach together. Here are some pictures of that week:

time travel

2009-09-13T12:19:00.003+02:00

Any time travel fans out there? Well, we've got a great travel tip for you...the town of Friesach, Austria.

This tiny town has some of the most intact and impressive sections of city walls left over from the 1200s. Not only that, but they've also started a project to build a fortress just like they did in the 1200s - meaning, they're only using tools and techniques from that time. We got to witness this and have some pictures documenting what we saw. (there's a similar but larger scale project underway in France, too: http://www.guedelon.fr/).

Freisach is super cute and we stayed in a nice "Gasthof" just off the main square. They people we talked with were quite friendly and surprisingly jolly/funny. Here are some pictures of our time travels!

Vienna

2009-08-12T09:00:00.002+02:00

So, another great person I got to visit last week was my wonderful college roommate Iva! She's getting her PhD in Canada and b/c they decided to change visa policies for all Czech people TWO days before she left on her summer trip to Europe, she had to pop by the Canadian Embassy. Long story short, we met up at the embassy in Vienna and spent the day together - with her and her really great parents!

During and shortly after my undergrad I got to visit Iva and her family in Brno (totally great city in Czech Rep) and so I feel connected to them. Her parents are super funny, generous and just plain nice people! While we were waiting on her visa paperwork to process (which it successfully did - yea!) we went for some coffee, walked around some of the old city, had ice cream and basically tried to keep from getting too wet. As you'll see it was raining AND a bit chilly (yes, these pictures were really taken in August...even though it looks much more like typical Viennese fall weather). After picking up her visa we went to the Prater (the only place in all of Austria that I'm aware of which has anything close to roller coasters and the like.) We went on this really fun ride. The only one to get wet was Iva: her entire right leg was soaked. But I think she still thought it was worth it!

It was fun to take this day trip to Vienna and get re-connected with my friend Iva! I hope that the next time we see each other will be sooner than in 2 years time!

Visit from Northern Germany!

2009-08-11T19:56:00.002+02:00

Last week we had the honor of seeing some very special people for the first time in 10 years! Heidi & Ralph Kretzschmar were my host parents in northern Germany during my exchange year 1999-2000. They are really wonderful people and we've managed to keep in touch all these years (yes, it's true!)

This year's vacation led them to the far corners of Styria, Austria. On their way from Schladming to Vienna, they stopped by Graz for a few hours! It was great to see them again! They were excited to see where I live and how I live. We showed them a bit of Graz and they in turn treated us to some fabulous ice cream!

Hope you enjoy the pics!

:)

Trip to Schladming!

2009-08-11T19:13:00.002+02:00

Hi there! We've got a few updates. To get the ball rolling, we're posting a slide-show of our recent trip to Schladming! Our wonderful Canadian friend Alicia and her great Austrian fiance invited us to Schladming for a lovely hike!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and maybe you'll want to come and visit for a hike, too!

The Zillis :)

Trip to US - Part 1

2009-07-25T15:41:00.009+02:00

Hi guys,

And here we come - a little diashow from our trip to New York and Idaho

And the fotos at picasa, in case you want to download some :)

First Day - Central Park

2009-07-02T22:43:00.019+02:00

The first day we spent a beautiful time in central park.

Here on top of the belvedere.

This is the view from the belvedere, above the belvedere lake, looking north towards the great lawn.

After that we have been to Redeemers to the 5pm service, which was about the stroy of david, saul and goliath. The paster this evening brought up a really interesting connection between the three of them, making it the topic of the evening - fear.

Then we needed a refreshment - we went to shake shack.

Lots of really good calories, packed in a lovely cheeseburger.

A yummy banana shake :)

New York, New York....

2009-06-27T15:46:00.004+02:00

Hello Everyone!

So last night after about 20 hours of traveling from our flat in Graz, to Vienna, to London...we finally arrived safely in New York!! We were SOO glad to be picked up from the airport, brought to a home where we had our very own beds waiting for us! Not to mention the wonderful hosts we are staying with...thank you, Perreca family!

The plan for today (Saturday) is to have a great NYC breakfast (bagels & cream cheese with coffee!) and just relax by spending time with everyone here. We've already had loads of fun with Addie & Alden....AND their fabulous mother Lisa. :)

Ok, well it's time to head off to the park for some more fun!

More to come later.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2009-06-19T23:03:00.006+02:00

Maybe you've been wondering what we Zillingers have been up to. Well, you're in the right place to find out.

Now is what I like to think of as the Most Wonderful Time of the Year here in Graz...namely 'Ice Cream Season.' As you walk down any of the major streets downtown, you will see any number of people eating ice cream...children, parents, students, business men...basically anyone with a mouth and €1 at their disposal. There are all types of flavors, anything from your basic stuff to more exotic ones. Our favs tend to be banana, yoghurt, and of course the chocolate at the Gelateria either in the Hans-Sachsgasse or at Luis' Gelateria near Südtirolerplatz.

May 8th we celebrated Tom's Birthday. He was off work that day, but had a physical therapy appointment which allowed me a chance to decorate our apparment with festive balloons and streamers (which were duely left up for well over the next week). We celebrated with a nice breakfast and of course presents. He was very excited about his gifts (as you can tell in the pictures) and thanks for all you who sent b-day greetings, cards and wishes. This was a full day b/c later we had to be at a weekend retreat with our Teenager Group from church. But shortly before that we got the news that my maternal Grandmother had suffered a severe stroke and was lying in the hospital in a so-called comfort room. So needless to say, this day was nothing short of an emotional rollercoster.

This Most Wonderful Time of Year also includes several Catholic Holidays, meaning long weekends, meaning opportunites to travel a bit.

The end of May took us on a short trip outside Austria to Italy. Some friends were going camping and invited us to join them. We were able to get an amazing amount of stuff for 5 people in one car. Our camping spot was fabulous...lots of trees, hedges seperating each site, clean bathrooms, private showers, and - possible the best feature - bug zappers lining the rows of sites! And all this was located 5 minutes from the beach. We got lots of sun, had amazing food (like only Italians can do), and plenty of sleep (thank to our newly purchased air mattresses curtosey of Hofer/Aldi). This was a first Italain beach vacation (and my first time in the Adriatic). All in all we had a wonderful time and are so grateful that our friends invited us to come along!

The beginning of June found us on the complete opposite side of Austria...in Innsbruck!! I hadn't been there since my study abroad year, so I was glad to be back. We were there with our teenagers who participated in a national conference called the Pfingstjugendtreffen, or Pfiju for short. Roughly translated that's the Pentacost Weekend Youth Retreat. That was a weekend full of fun, games, music, sports, sermons, workshops and all sorts of great stuff. I personally enjoyed the fake milking contest in which contestants from each Austrian Province had to compete against each other in milking a plastic-like utter full of water. It was highly entertaining. Some other highlights includd Thomas being on the winning volleyball team, and me visiting a local nursing home where we sang for and talked with some really old and really great Austrians. One man I spoke with was about 93 years old and kept reminding us that the lady sitting a few chairs over from him is not only his neighbor there in the home, but was also a neighbor of his for over 40 years in Innsbruck!

Our most recent weekend excursion was to the neighboring province of Carinthia...or in German Kärnten. They have tons of lakes and lots of camping grounds. Since we are sans car, we had to choose something reachable with the public. We took a bus from Graz to Klagenfurt (Carinthian capital) and then 2 more short bus rides brought us to our campsite, right across from the Wörthersee. Although a bit pricy, we still enjoyed the sun, lake and just the whole idea of camping. That was definitely my first time camping somehwere without a car, but it worked out just fine. We really enjoyed taking this trip with our dear friend Rebecca Honts as we got to spend so much time together.

Other news...I have recently acquired a used bike from a good friend of ours. And by recent, I mean this past week. I have already used it around town and taken 2 bike rides beyond the city limits with friends. It's been so wonderful to bike outside of Graz a bit and start exploring the plethora of available bike paths. I look forward to many more biking excersions to come!

So, to finish up this entry, we are looking forward to our upcoming trip to America. We leave in exactly one week and won't be back until 3 weeks after that. We're looking forward to seeing friends and family and being at my little brother's wedding in July.

Birthday Visit to Lower Austria

2009-04-21T23:38:00.003+02:00

The third weekend in April we took a trip to visit family in Lower Austria. Richi, Thomas' brother, was having his birthday. Even though the forecast called for rain the ENTIRE weekend, we didn't end up seeing even a drop! We arrived Friday evening and stayed til Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful time with Richi and Sabine. Richi and Thomas' mom joined us on Saturday, and it was good to see her again, too. We had lots of great food, conversations and got to relax a lots outside in the yard. Saturday we went on an outing to a local castle (or the ruins thereof) and also to a wine tavern. It was so refreshing to travel a bit and see another part of Austria I don't know so well yet. We hope you enjoy the pictures from our trip!

April Besuch

Easter is here and so is Spring

2009-04-13T21:59:00.002+02:00

This year for Easter we marched up Mt. Schlossberg with our teenager group for our very own sunrise service! It was super cold (note the blankets) but our brave guitarists (Josh and Anne) prevailed (despite one guitar string fatality). There we read the Easter story in Matthew and after singing our hearts out we headed back to our church where an amazing breakfast spread was waiting for us.

At the end of our fancy slideshow, you will see two pictures of food. What Zillinger Photoalbum would be complete without that? But a little info for those who don't yet know...the bread is called "Osterpinze" and is made only at Easter time here in Austria. It's AMAZINGLY good and a necessity for the culinary aspect of celebrating Easter. It's customary to butter a slice of Osterpinze and eat it with ham and horseradish.

January 2009

2009-02-07T16:22:00.004+01:00

Hello! It's high time for a Zillinger update! I've put together a few pics of things we've been up to recently. So far 2009 has been a cold and snowy year for us here in Graz. But we've enjoyed spending some quality time with friends, celebrating birthdays and even learning a few new skills. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Let us know, so we'll be more encouraged to update more than once a year! ;)

Jan 2009

End of 2008

2008-12-28T20:08:00.011+01:00

As 2008 draws to a close, we'd like share a bit of what we've been up to recently. The past two months have been busy and packed with lots of great things for us! Some of our more interesting highlights follow...

Thanksgiving:

We hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner for 10 people! We had a nice mixture of Austrians (mostly first-time Thanksgiving-ers) and North Americans (who would have otherwise been Thanksgiving orphans, and we just couldn't let that happen!). In hindsight we should have noticed earlier (say for example, more than 1hr prior to arrival time) that we only had 5 chairs to offer out guests. Oops. This problem was quickly remedied by transporting extra chairs from the Hans-Riehlgasse apartment to ours - via tram. Yes, via tram. We made it despite incredulous stares and comments like (and I quote) "Look! Chairs!! Oh, MORE chairs!!" (We should have sold tickets!)

All of our lovely guests brought a dish while Rebecca Honts and I did the turkey, for the first time, I might add. This included (warning / plot spoiler to all our vegetarian friends) calling a butcher in advance to order said bird (I've never felt so intentionally carnivorous in my life) and picking up the bird which weighed exactly 3 tons (again, trasport via tram) . *Phew* Our turkey turned out well. Thank you, Food Network. Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, bread, pumpkin parfait, chocolate cake and wine. All in all the dinner was a smashing success.

Snow:
The First Snow in Graz was the last weekend of November. As you can see the roofs were sprinkled white. Although it didn't last much more than 24 hrs, we totally enjoyed it!

View from our apartment: St. Leonhard Church

Advent!

During the month of December we enjoyed our advent calenders. One word: Chocolate. :)

APC in Vienna:

The first weekend in December Thomas and I led a group of 15 teenagers from our church to a national prayer conference in Vienna (APC). APC stands for Autrian Prayer Conference. Guess I don't have to translate that one for you. :) We stayed in a place called the "Schulschiff" (school ship). It's just what it sounds like - a ship converted into a school. It's in the Danube and yes, that's where we stayed. We had a fabulous time and even got to lead some of the teenagers around parts of downtown Vienna (espeically Leopoldstadt - a primarily Jewish area pre WWII) where we learned some of the area's history including certain individuals or businesses and we even cleaned the plaques placed there to recall and honor the Jewish people and heritage. It was a very moving and significant time. We and our teens were changed by this entire weekend.

Bri:

Next came a visit from our dear friend Bri! She was on her way back to the States from Thailand where she had worked for over a year teaching German and English, working with Step Ahead. Though her time was sprinkled by a few needed doctors visits, we had a good time catching up and even hosted a Thai dinner for 6. Bri cooked 2 delicious curry dishes for us all. Yum!

Christmas #1:

Shortly after seeing Bri off at the train station, we had a trip to take ourselves. We visited Tom's family. His brother, Richie, and Sabine live outside of Melk, (you may have heard of the pretty famous Abby there) where we celebrated Christmas along with Tom and Richie's mother. We tried to lend some helping hands in putting together a new furniture piece they'd bought. But since a couple of parts were defective, we weren't able to finish the job. But that didn't keep up from enjoying all the wonderful meals and cookies and treats!! We also enjoyed their Christmas tree and exchanging gifts!

Christmas #2:

Tom celebrated Christmas with his company inside the moutain Schlossberg.

Christmases #3 &4 OR The Best for Last:
Our first Christmas! We celebrated in Graz first on the evening of the 24th in true Austrian style and then on the morning of the 25th in true American style! For those new to the ways of Austrian Christmases: This meant waiting until evening for things to get going: such as gathering around the tree, lighting some type of (to me scary) flamables directly ON the tree, singing AND then opening presents. All this happened after attending our church's Christmas service. This was nice, quite, comfy and cosy. Then on the morning of the 25th we did it the American way...a great big breakfast complete with an egg-sausage casserole and monkey bread (thanks to Rebecca Honts who was also celebrating with us!) Then - while still in our PJ's - we dove into opening the rest of our presents!

Next big shindig is New Year's!!! Let the countdown begin!! :)

Alphorn Concert:

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At the end of October I had the opportunity to go to a concert featuring one of the world's oldest instruments: the alp horn (or alpenhorn), as seen below, is what you might easily recognize from Ricola ads. We listened to French horn music (ranging from classical to the Beatles) and also a reconstruction to an instrument which Pythagoras supposedly invented. All this provided a fabulous time for our ears AND at the end, our eyes got a treat as well. We viewed a selection of wildlife photographs taken by 3 professional Austrian photographers.

Fall

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October-November! Time for a quick update from the Zillingers! We've been enjoying Fall here. The weather's been great and we've been up to some great things!

In October there was a big lunch after the church service! Thomas and I brought an apple cake (that's what's behind the aluminum foil) and we really enjoyed connecting with some good friends of ours at church.

We enjoyed cake and coffee after the meal! These Austrians sure know how to make good food! Yum!

This is Anne, (former roomate, bridesmaid and good friend) me and Damaris (wonderful woman and pre-marital counselor!).

These a couple of pictures outside of our apartment, where we generally wait for the tram to take us into town.

Back in Austria

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After a 3 week trip around the States, visiting family and friends, we've made it safely back to our home sweet home in Graz, Austria.

Jet lag almost got the better of us. Saturday evening we rolled into Graz. Sunday we were able to sleep in until 11ish and somehow managed it through the day without napping. Then Monday came...the moment of truth. We both had to get up for work that morning. My alarm was set for 6:15. Thomas' for 7. We woke up...sorry to say, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, at the ungodly hour of 3 am. In denial, we managed to pretend we were asleep/resting until 5 am. Then we simply caved in. Breakfast it was and an earlier than normal start for the work day.

Besides that, it's been great to be back in Graz. We've enjoyed meeting up with our friends and getting into the swing of things. Thomas is back to work and I have started up a few additional classes this semester. I now teach 2 adult evening courses, both conversational English, in addition to my company courses. It has been really great thus far and I truly enjoy my job!

This semester Thomas and I have also started working with the teenagers at our church. We've already participated in a weekend retreat and also the regular weekly Saturday meetings so far. I am confident that we will have more to report as the year continues!

It is FALL here. And that means PUMPKIN time!!!! Just a little FYI: 'Kürbis' is German for pumpkin. If you go to one of the local farmer's markets you can have your choice of any number of pumpkins and their fixin's. You can get shredded pumpkin, chopped pumpkin...and in any color from orange to green it seems. The list goes on and on, but you get the point. Last week I stopped by one such farmer's market and picked up a small portion of chopped orange pumpkin. I was going to make some Kürbiscremesuppe!!!! (Pumpkin + ...yes, you did just learn that word and now you just recognized it, too! You're a natural!' + cream + soup = pumpkin cream soup!) Together with Thomas and Rebecca Honts we enjoyed a lovely Kürbiscremsuppe, complete with all the toppings: a bit more cream (for good measure), pumpkin seed oil AND pumpkin seeds (did you catch the theme??). It was delicious!!!!

The big day!

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March 15th was the big day! We had lots of friends AND family come into Graz for the wedding. It was so great to see so many familiar faces! We only wish we had somehow mangaged to spend more time with everyone.

The ceremony started at 2pm and afterwards everyone moved outside for the "Sekt Empfang" - receiving line with champagne where all the guests were able to greet and congratulate the bride and groom. It was a bit chilly outside; despite the forbodeing gray clouds, we didn't get a single raindrop! Then the real evening got under way.

We started off with a much deserved meal - for guests, bridal party and the happy couple alike - with all sorts of really great Austrian food. We had a selection of soups (my favourite being the pumpkin cream soup!), entreés (Schnitzel, Mostbraten - roast in an apple wine sauce - and a few more good tasting dishes) and lots of salads on the side.

The evening program was next on the list. There was fun for everyone. We enjoyed a funny slide show about the happy couple, watched a personal video from a good friend in Canada wishing us all the best, enjoyed a live performance of a song for the couple. There was even a competitive part of the evening as members of Rebecca's family and Thomas' family competed to answer the most questions correctly about the happy couple and their respective cultures. It was great fun and the prize was a coupon for a romantic evening for Rebecca and Thomas! After a heartfelt speech from the father of the bride, the dance floor was opened. There was all kinds of dancing to follow - everything from the couple's first waltz, to cha-cha-chas, the twist and even a traditional Austrian "Schuhplattler" dance and an American "do-si-do!"

The wedding cakes made a grand entry with sparklers and everyone seemed to be thoroughly impressed! Not only were the cakes good to look at from the outside, but they tasted fabulous on the inside! There were several flavors to choose from - a Styrian inspired cake with apple and pumpkin seed oil (it was amazing!), a tangy orange and a black forest cherry!

Finally, as it came time for the new Mr. and Mrs. Zillinger to leave, the guests formed a long line and on both sides they held candles to light the way to the get-away car!

All in all it was a fabulous day and one we will never forget!

Video Transmission of the wedding

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Rebecca and Thomas!