Fischberger News

Waiting to be unloaded...

2012-02-10T23:13:00.000+01:00

As most of you might know, Rita and I are going to be parents a second time pretty soon... the due date is in around a week, and we are really counting the seconds... how exciting a time, Paul never wants to go to bed, it seems as if he knew that the time when he was the only special person in our lives will be over soon.
Apart from that, the only other news there is ... is probably quite big news!
Rita and I got married a week ago! We had our weeding ceremony at the "Standesamt" in Linz, the magistrate, so we only did the official one - don´t be afraid, there will be a church wedding at one point, too, and hopefully you can all make it there.
Ok, gotta run and keep an eye on Paul and my WIFE! How cool´s that?
ERF
I´ll post some pics soon, but we are still waiting for them! E.

Christmas is neighing...

2011-12-15T20:49:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone - as you may or may not know, the merry season has already started, and therefore I wanted to show you some Pauli pics again... and because Heidrun and Doris told me they had a look at it recently! So, Paul is a happy bunny, after breaking his leg at the beginning of September ... clibing ladders and changing the light bulbs.

Reading up on some Taotao with his uncle Lukas... He likes that little panda bear, I can tell you.

Ohne Worte... no words necessary... I want to go to bed!

At the St. Martin´s kids´ celebration in Niederranna, together with his cousins Elias (half a year older) and Carolina (8) - and Mama Rita, of course.

Pretending to be St. Martin himself - Maaantel, Maaantel - well, it seems he got the story in the end... the same with Lausi (Santa Claus, well, not really, Nikolaus, actually!)

At Kerstin´s place with Christoph, Markus and Georg - good lads, and then there was Nikolaus again!

Georg and Christoph all excited about Lausi...

Some real guitar excellence for Lausi by Christoph!

The group picture with Nikolaus - how amazing is that!

Talk to you guys again soon, hope you enjoyed the short trip through the last couple of months!
ERF

Some impressions from England - yeah...!

2011-08-20T11:59:00.001+02:00

Hi you guys, as promised there are some pics from our trip to England, where we stayed at Benenden for nearly 3 weeks; I worked as an English and tennis coach, and when we took trips, Rita and Paul had the chance to come alone and enjoy them with me.

The pic above shows Paul´s 1st ever encounter with the ocean on a beautiful beach outside Rye called Winchelsea beach - he loved it.

On another day we went to Brighton, where we saw the Sealife Center, a half impressive aquarium, the Royal Pavilion and had Fish´n´Chips on the pier - great!

Then we lay down by the seaside, on the pebble beach with Paul´s friend, also called Paul, and enjoyed the realxing atmosphere by the sea...

Paul loved his furniture in the old and very atmospheric buildings around Benenden school for girls - and he practiced walking a lot - he did a couple of steps several times... coool!

one day we went to Leeds Castle and bought the best present ever - for only one pound - that´s all it takes to make a little boy happy, right?

Camden Market

The kids started buying presents for Paul - so cute, our future heartbreaker!

On a train journey home from London, Paul got this flag - it saved the last 15 minutes of the tiring journey for us!

Stefan and Paul - these boys were great!

Canterbury Cathedral and Sir Paul in his push chair.

Our first trip ever to Hastings - it is beautiful there...

At the playground in Benenden, outside Henry IV - good food there!

The last present Paul got from the kids - Tigger tiger! Good fun, thanx!

So we´re back from England!!!

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody,

it´s been a while again, and so many things have happened, so that it´s not easy to know where to begin.
Well, first of all, we have finally settled into the summer holidays and are enjoying the last few weeks thoroughly. Pauli is settling in in Linz again and just being sent to bed by Rita, so I can use the moment of peace to inform you about the last month or so.

Rita, Paul and I had the chance to spend the summer in Benenden this year, where I was working at the summer camp and Rita and Paul were on "holiday" - it turned out to be really exhausting for Rita and really, really fantastic for Pauli - all the kids there loved him and, thus, he loved it, too! Fair enough, I guess, it was his first... well, journey abroad, flight, encounter with the foreign language for real, the beauty of the Kent area we lived in and sooooo many chlidren and teachers, many native speakers, who were all really fond of him.

We returned only like 4 days ago or so, on Saturday, went straight to the "Dorffest" in Niederranna, then to a wedding on Sunday, and today, the Gablers from Lower Austria are coming for a visit. How exciting.
So, actually, I´ll best go and get ready for their arrival, i.e. our departure to Oberkappel, where we´ll be going swimming in the afternoon....
Cheerio folks, I´ll put some pics on as soon as I have the time!
ERF

Happy birthday, Paul!

2011-06-15T22:44:00.001+02:00

Would you believe that? Our Paul is turning 1 (ONE!) year in a few days. On Sunday, June 19, the big day will finally arrive and make Paul a little boy rather than a baby... progress has been made, oh god, just check out the pics - above, it was his first time to be ill - how tired he looks! ;-)

But there´ve been some really great days for him already, too - when we went to the zoo in Linz, for example - how exciting! He could not stop looking at the goats and loved the mercats...

And that one day, when I took him to the park nearby and he discovered what it´s like to scuttle around in the grass and found his first dandelions and so on - smelt his first flowers, saw and ant...

And that, too, when we did our second baby swimming course - the first one Rita did and he loved it but when he did the second one with me there were a lot of tears and fear involved, until finally, we got around to enjoying being in the water again...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAUL,

mum and dad are really proud of you.

Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year

2011-01-01T13:30:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone on this channel,

Rita, Paul and I wanted to wish you all a "good slide" into 2011 and another exciting, success- and eventful year. Below there are some expressions of Paul´s first Christmas, first at the Aubergers´, then at the Fischers´ home, and when he opened his last presents on my sister Kerstin´s birthday party on Dec. 29... all the best, take care, we´re hoping to see many of you again this year!

Paul is astounded when he sees his first ever Christmas tree...

Granny Fischerwirt (not Weatherwax!) watching her little Paul...

Godmother Kerstin, holding Paul with pride and elegance...

Wow, presents....
ERF

Just before Christmas - Paul goes half a year!

2010-12-19T18:27:00.001+01:00

Happy first half birthday Paul!
Mum and I would like to congratulate you to today´s first half year on this little planet - you´ve been doing very well, thank you.
Here are some fine moments from recent weeks.
The first one showing you and Rita on a tour towards the Poestlingberg near our flat. A great day out for you and your parents!

The second picture shows you wearing one of the great gifts you have received in your first half year - a body from St. Pauli, Hamburg, from Rita´s girl friends.

And then, finally, the day had come - Paul got his first meal - carrots! He loved it and is starting to really enjoy eating "normal" food - how exciting...

That´s it for today, to be continued during the holidays. Merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy the time with the people you love!

Rita, Paul & Ernst Fischberger

When little boys go to church...

2010-11-22T20:46:00.001+01:00

Hi, today I would like to show you some pics from Paul´s christening. It was a nice day for all of us with Rita and me putting a lot of effort into the service´s course and Paul being really sweet... Christoph, my brother, had created a song for the occasion and played it in church. Kerstin, Paul´s god mother, had a really nice talk at the end of the service, well, everything was really nice. Here are some pics taken on this memorable day.

Paul´s behaviour in church was immaculate, he slept throughout - just like his grandad! ;-)

A beautiful picture taken from the gallery, showing Niederranna´s little renovated chapel at its prime.

Paul and our priest, Jaques Kiadi, who is our neighbour in Oberkappel and tried very hard to make this christening a day to remember for our families.

The two Glaser "girls" and mummy Auberger having a chat at Grisi´s place, where we had our festive - and delicious - meal.

Sandra, her son Elias (Rita´s god son) and her partner Errol at the Wundsams. He is half a year older and you can see that in every move he makes... he´s a tall fellow! ;-)

Christoph playing his song again, Thomas watching him in awe... listen to it here.

ERF

News from the Auberger Fischers...

2010-10-14T14:47:00.001+02:00

Hi everyone,
after not having been in touch for a while and speaking to David last night (Salut, mon ami!) I have tried to find the time to put some new pics online of our life with little Paul. The pics below were taken in the last couple of weeks, just before and after Paul was baptised - yes, he´s officially Roman Catholic now, how weird!?
Anyways, we are doing great again - Paulie´s had a couple of rough weeks after some curious injection he got - against 6 different kids´ diseases he was antidoted at once... that was a little too much for him, I guess. He started being really stressed at nights, his belly hurt and he did not stop screaming like a maniac when waking up during the night. Last night, though, it was the first time he slept soundly again, so we´re hoping things are on the mend, finally.
Next week, tune in again for some pics of Paul´s baptism... xxx

In the morning, just before Paul was to go to church - he slept all the way through the service - so cute...

Playing with David and Emily´s present from Belgium - the dice - they truly are great, he loves them. That´s the first one, it´s got a little bell inside. And he loves the animals on it. His favourite is the frog, I think...

A serious mum checking a curious smell coming from the rear of our source of joy.
;-) ERF

A day at the zoo - with the Daxens

2010-09-13T20:28:00.002+02:00

In the last week before school started again, the Fischberger family decided to help Kerstin with her studying for her test last Friday, so we took her sons out to the Tiergarten Walding near Linz. Christoph and Markus got my camera and fired away and so, we have about 200 pics to show of that short but quite interesting afternoon out. One of the typical Christoph pics you can see above... ;-)

Markus taking pictures of his favourite animals - the camels. Christoph liked the elephant best, and Georg the goats, I guess.

Rita, Paul, Christoph and Markus having a rest on a bench just by the goats´ stalls. Below a group pic of the fabulous Dax boys, Joe, Jack, William... there´s no Averell, Paul is still too little! ;-)

Well, we did take more pics and some of the animals as well... I´ll show them to the boys soon...!
ERF

Happy birthday, Daddy!

2010-09-11T11:23:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, all the many people out there waiting excitedly for the return of Paul, his mom and dad and their pics!
Today I want to show you how Paul, auntie Karin, Rita and me partied wild in the park behind our flat in Linz for my 34th birthday. I am growing old, I know, but it did not feel too bad, to be honest.
After Rita, Paul and I had gone to Feldkirchen for a while to organise something for our not-yet-to-be-built house we returned and found Karin waiting for us with some delicious cakes - so we set up camp outside and had a few coffees, cakes and, in Paul´s case, a little nap out there. It was a lovely afternoon, thank you, Karin!
The pics do not need any explanation I guess. But isn´t that guy cute with the hat?

That´s it from Linz for today, in the next few days I will report about our exciting trip to the zoo in Walding with the nephews a couple of days ago, so stay tuned,
ERF

Visiting Irnfritz, Lower Austria

2010-08-20T12:11:00.001+02:00

As we had been invited to the Gablers´ house before, we did not find it too weird to go to a place called Irnfritz. So, we went there and spent a couple of wonderful days with our friends and their lovely daughters Mia and Ina - they are very keen on nursing Paul and love taking him out for walks, trying to change nappies, dressing him... you can see his reaction in the last pic.
Anyways, it was great to be there - thanks for your time, Mathias and Sabine!

For a walk, Ina checking constantly on Paulie... he was alright!

The Gablers and part of the (future) Fischer family

Well, interpret this picture any way you like - but there´s no way around it - Paul liked LA...
ERF

Visiting great granny Glaser

2010-08-09T15:06:00.001+02:00

Last week Rita and I made a trip to Bad Leonfelden where my granny Maria lives in an OAP home. It was grand to see her and exhilarating to find out how great she still is handling our little Paul despite her age of nearly 88 years!
What a day... she´s so cute, isn´t she?
ERF

Being busy, meeting friends

2010-08-01T19:40:00.001+02:00

Lots of first encounters for Rita´s baby (= Paul) in the last few days! At first, we had our friends from "LoonyFritz" in LowerAustria with us, then my cousin Judith came to see Paul for the first time - she found him alright, too, I guess. As you can see, Sabine and her girls, Mia and Ina, had a good time with our little man and, the girls loved watching Rita nursing our cutie. Well, they´ll end up doing that too, at one point...
Then Mathias showed that he was as skillful holding boys as girls - well done, my friend.
On Friday, cousin Judith took some time off work to come and see Paul; great of you to pass by, J., lovely to see you - and I hope you´ll pop in again soon.
Then we went to Niederranna and spent a day at grandad Hubert´s, and on Sunday we went to meet the whole Wöss family for lunch and then went to my parents´ place - for a walk.
There´s granny Herta doing her best to pacify Paul!
All in all, we had an eventful and pretty cool weekend - by the way, it was Rita and my 8th anniversary - oh, and Happy birthday, Reiter! ;-)

Everyday life in Leonfeldnerstrasse 83, Linz, Austria

2010-07-23T12:29:00.001+02:00

Hi guys, today I want to give you a little input about our daily life here in Linz - at first, we have to get Paul to bed - sometimes that can be a bit tricky, as he goes through a nightly routine of flatulence -and most of the time we have to give him a medicine called "Antiflat" ;-).

We always try to go for a walk early in the morning, when it is still relatively cool out - and then we go for another one in the evening, when the air is chilled already - sometimes, Paulie still goes berserque - it´s good fun to have him out in the park - he enjoys that.

When we get home (from our first walk, obviously), I hang up the washing and make sure everything´s dry and clean so Rita can do the ironing perfectly. Well, and while we are working away Paul enjoys himself in his bed... that´s it, really... it´s perfect, we´re loving it...!

You´ll get some info about how we play with Paul in the next blog entry - keep coming! ;-)
ERF

Happy birthday Mum

2010-07-19T12:15:00.005+02:00

At my mum´s birthday party, there were the "Badgers", Uncle Franz, Christoph, André (village priest), my great grand auntie Maridl and Rita and my family (Paul) - we had a bbq and then chilled in the sun or inside - some of us found it too hot on the terrace... just some impressions of the peaceful afternoon in Oberkappel... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MUM!

More visitors

2010-07-15T10:08:00.001+02:00

In the last few days there have been a lot of visitors, so Paul, Rita and I were quite busy and did not have a lot of time to put posts online. This morning, while Rita and Paul were taking their well deserved nap after another night with too little sleep, I decided to upload some stuff again. There were more visitors to our house, as stated above: Doris, Lilly and Dominik, who came to see Paul and brought some lovely cake along and wanted to get to know Paul a little better, and Karin and Linda. The reasons for their coming was Linda´s birthday a few days ago (Happy birthday!) and an interview Karin had in Salzburg the following day. It was lovely to have them here and Paul was well pleased - as you can see! ;-)

Dominik, Doris and Lilly

Doris with Paul, a sceptical Lilly observing them!

Karin, a future midwife? Well, Paul likes being with her anyways - good sign, Paulie, just as long as you do not start playing with your toes, Auntie Karin does not like that at all!!! ;-)

ERF

First visitors

2010-06-30T16:45:00.001+02:00

Alright? This time I would like to show to you the first visitors Paul had in the first week of being home in his flat. David from France, living in Brussels, came to see Paul, Rita and me last weekend - he was meant to be staying at ours but, thank god, Julia (on the first picture with her lovely daughter Hannah), our mutual friend, managed to squeeze him in her in-laws place nearby - it would have been crazy to have him around. Not because he´s a loony, no, he is fantastic. But we still need a lot of time to get to know Paul and understand him fully.
Thanks Julia, again, by the way!
Linda, Rita´s sis, seems to comprehend his needs entirely, however. Look at how relaxed Paul is when sleeping in her arms! ;-)
ERF

Before and after pictures

2010-06-29T21:37:00.001+02:00

Two pics I would like to show to you guys today.
The first one obviously shows little Paul a few days BEFORE he left his Mom´s save womb and decided to bless us with his appearance on Earth. The second one clearly shows that he´s not entirely happy about his choice all the time - especially when being cleaned, he is not a happy bunny at all most of the time.
However, Rita and I are getting better at that, and sooner or later he´ll accept that there was no way he could have stayed inside...
ERF

Little Paul is a curious fellow!

2010-06-27T19:06:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone,
today´s update is a short one - there´s not much to tell, really. Paul, Rita and I had a relaxing Sunday morning at home, David came round for lunch and then we took him to the train station, and in the afternoon we went to my sister Kerstin´s place, where Paul´s nephews tried to play with him unsuccessfully - he´s a little too young for that, to be honest.
Working for school now, as tomorrow the new week starts, with a few interesting highlights... grading, some more oral exams, and the big final conference to discuss the students final grades... yeah!
I´ll be in touch again soon,
ERF

Our first trip to the park!

2010-06-26T13:24:00.000+02:00

Hello fans! ;-) Well, I hope there are some out there...

Anyways, the day before yesterday, Paul, Rita and I went for our first official walk together. It was quite exciting since new but everything went well... Paul was fast asleep throughout and got some fresh air, Rita did some brave walking and felt a lot better afterwards....
Paul is getting better at nights, and changing nappies is becoming easier, too, as the remains of his umbilical cord have finally come off... that´s a relief.
That´s it from me, I´ll blog again soon, as we have our first official visitor in Linz this weekend. He´s a member of the French European Commission and works in Brussels - you might have guessed - it´s David.
TBC,
ERF

Hommage á Rita

2010-06-25T14:37:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!
I am willing to keep you updated this time - I hope I´ll be able to as I am a little stressed throughout the following couple of weeks. Anyways, this is a wonderful little picture I took yesterday when Rita and Paul had a moment together - she´s amazing, so is Paul - they already are a good team.
The picture below is the stork the boys and Marion put up for us at our flat on Monday night - well nice, that - and they brought some beers as well. Thanks boys, I will return the favour one day!
To be continued soon,
ERF

HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU!

2010-06-24T20:06:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, well - in case there is anyone left of my friends checking this page every now and then!
I do apologise a thousand times for not updating this account very often... believe it or not, I am a busy person; however, this is big news - well, actually, it´s quite little news, as this baby, his name is Paul, is not the tallest baby ever born (50cm, 3330gr). Still, he is mine! And Rita´s, of course, who had the pleasure to keep him inside her for quite some time until Pauli wanted out a week early.
Every single witness of this wonderful event is happy and well, and now we are trying to get used to one another... It is brilliant fun though, he is a cute fellow.
Come back here for more news some time soon.
ERF

I am back!

2010-04-17T11:11:00.002+02:00

Hello everybody... well, the people who still go online to check my blog every now and then... remember me?

I just wanted to say Hi - I am still alive and kicking (mostly on Sundays, see links for football) and have a lot of information for you guys - but no time today to get it across today.

But, as I will be back from my winter sports week the next Saturday, I will then start posting on my blog a lot more again - it´s a shame I never did in the last year!

So, talk to you soon, folks, hopefully you´re still there!

Ernsti Fischer

Easter is nighing...

2009-04-07T13:15:00.002+02:00

Dear all,
as I have been very busy with school and everything, I have not found the time to get in touch with you recently. Sorry about that, rest assured I have thought of yous quite a lot, in case you checked and noticed nothing was going on... there was a lot.
Rita and I went on a holiday in Amsterdam in December

where we did a lot of sight seeing around the beautiful old part of the town and its famous Grachten... and spent a few days in London in February, it was Rita´s first time ever, so again we tried to see as many things as spossible within the short amount of time we had... but it was great!

We did not go on the London Eye, but had a few romantic walks along the Thames; we lived very near Tower Bridge and the Tower, so walked across and past them, naturally,

We had a look around Big Ben as well, of course,

and also took the boat up to Greenwich, the Maritime Museum and the Zero Meridian at the Royal Observatory. It was a fantastic trip, and if you havppen to go to London some time soon, make sure to check out the many different walks offered there. We did the Jack the Ripper Walk, a 90 minute tour around the area of Jack´s famous and brutal killings and that was fabulous, good fun and interesting.

Then I also was at a ski trip with school in January, the national championship in skiing for schools at the beginning of March and spent a couple of days at a football camp with my team.
I also had a lot of tests at school and a couple at uni, where I do a programme for students to be who need an English preparation for university; and now I am writing this on my new little pc thingy, which I acquired just the other day because the old one is slowly giving up...
Later, I have to correct two exams which I held before the Easter holidays, I´ll do that today and tomorrow, and on Friday, I go skiing with a couple of mates from uni - Achi and Volker, for the ones who remember them!
So, as you can see, life is busy, but please do not hesitate to plan a trip to Europe / Austria again soon, as I would really like to see some of you again some time soon!
All the best,

Ernsti Fi.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

2008-12-25T11:42:00.002+01:00

Hi just a quick note from Oberkappel.

We wish you all a wonderful time with your friends and family and a very happy Christmas 2008. Enjoy the peace and quiet for as long as it lasts and make sure you value these periods of the year as much as they deserve. Reverence, harmony and happiness cannot be weighed up with anything else - so, hopefully, your momentary lives are full of them!

All the best and a happy new year, 2009 - we´re coming fast!
May the changes happening around the world make it a better place!

Rita and Ernsti Fi.

Breaking bones....

2008-08-30T15:19:00.004+02:00

Guess what happened to me on my BIRTHDAY? Well, on my way home from the volleyball course I was teaching at, lost in thought, I had a crash with my bike... when I got up from the road I was like - "Wow, I can move my shoulder, lucky me!"
But when I took a second feel, I realised I had not been so lucky after all - I noticed my right collarbone was facing the wrong way!
So I went to hospital to have an x-ray done - it looked a little like the pic above - was slightly flustered, got a corset at first, which should have moved the bone back where it belonged. But when I had a check up with a second X-ray on Thursday it had not moved as far as the docs had anticipated and, considering my profession and interests, I was advised to have it fixed with surgery... and then it will look a little like this:
So, on Monday next, I will undergo my first real surgery, well, I had my tonsils taken out when I was 8 or so, but I do not think that counts - it´s too far back, I guess!
Anyways, just wanted to give you guys and update on my situation, it´s not that bad, though, sounds worse than it really is - the pain is acceptable, I actually returned to the volleyball camp for Thursday and Friday - did not play, naturally, but was there to assist. And my lovely Rita is there to help me wash my hair and everything, so I´m alright, I reckon, and soon, we´ll be laughing about it.
Alright, gonna go now. If I get the x-rays, I´ll put one in here for you guys, maybe you´re interested? Wish me luck!
ERF

Back from Benenden, into the middle of MAYHEM

2008-08-20T08:37:00.004+02:00

Hi there,

Have just come back from 3 wonderful weeks in England, check out www.benenden.at to see more pics like this one, showing Lisa, me and Ellie on our way to Rye Royal,

or that one, showing the whole group of TU 6 at lovely Brighton seaside.

So, having returned from my summer in Benenden could mean that I now have some time to relax and enjoy the last part of the holidays - well, not for me, it doesn't! As soon as I returned on Friday, reality kicked in again - in good ways, though!
First, I was able to play in my team´s second game of the season and we won 2:0, a relativley good performance by me as well as the rest of the team!
Then, on Monday morning, Rita and I started moving flats. So, we got up at 7 and started kicking boxes around - thank god, Mum, Dad and my friend Alexander helped us, so we managed to get ready by something like 6 pm - wouldn't have happened without Christian and Arthur who came to the rescue at the end of the day and helped us with the last truck load.
On Tuesday, we still had to paint the old flat, so up we got at 7 and started working on it - took until 2 when we finally handed over our flat to its new owner - so, now, we still have to organise our new appartment so people can actually see it, open the doors, etc... a lot of work ahead of us still... but good stuff!
And, at the weekend, Rita and I are going to the Südsteiermark with a few mates - that'll be awesome, good relaxing down there! Talk to you again soon!
ERF

The holidays have started... not really though...

2008-07-18T12:33:00.005+02:00

Hi folks!

.... sorry for not having been very active on this account for the last half year, folks,.... or, actually, whoever is out there.
It seems I might have been a bit more active on another account though, but make no mistake, this is my god son, Georg Jakob, and not a baby of my own! But he`s groovy, and I'm getting into this thing quite a bit, so who knows.... ;-)
I've just finished the school year and needed to relax and fill up the engines for a while before the new stuff ahead is kicking in... Rita and I are moving to a different place here in Linz, so we're organising things like a new kitchen, a new rentee for our old flat, a moving van, and so on, and so forth... quite a few things, really.
And in a week and a half I will be leaving Austria again for a while to go to England and do my course at www.benenden.at again... Looking forward to that actually, that'll be good again... and I do not have to worry about putting up stuff in the new appartment or about cooking without a kitchen or about... about nothing really, so that´s magnifique!
The picture I'm showing you today is from my Matura... A-Level exams, as others might call it... it shows the group of people who I taught for the last 4 years... they were my first group of students of English and I daresay they all did a great job and I feel they actually learnt something... and I do not mean just for the finals, in general is what I meant...
Here they are with their teachers (can you spot me?):

I wish them all the best in their future and hope to see them again some time to be able to reminisce in the good old times! Cheerio,
Ernsti

Bush Government Count Down!

2008-04-12T13:46:00.003+02:00

Check this out!
I have just found a George Bush Countdown Clock for my Blog!
I´m gonna install it straight away, seems pretty cool!
Find it yourselves here!
ERF

Our trip to Brussels 30/11/07 - 2/12/07!

2007-12-05T19:45:00.000+01:00

Hi there, people, I just wanted to show you a few impressions of Rita and my trip to Brussels last weekend! It was marvellous to visit Emilie and David, my former room mate in Vienna again, and this time they had chosen a different place for a reunion! Last year over Easter, we went to Paris to spend some great days there with the two of them and the twins Brice et Sebastien (also former mates from Vienna!) - and this time it was Brussels!
When we left from Vienna, everything went really well and we arrived in Brussels perfectly on time, got our luggage and were picked up by David. We arrived at his flat and met Emilie, Vincent (David´s brother) and his girl friend, Charlotta.
Then we went out to get some food. David and Vincent knew a really nice place where we could have food at that late time of the night. After all, it was already past midnight when we got our meals - but it was worth it, because they were definitely delicious! Rita and I shared some Iranian lamb, which tasted very much of aniseed! Wow, interesting! Look at it, there we´ve got it on a couple of pics.

After this delicious meal, we decided to stay out and went to a little bar - the atmosphere there was just groovy, with a lot of Caribbean music from the 80s and 90s we all had a really good time, ended up going to bed at 5 in the morning!

So, when we got up at around 9.45 the following day, we were quite tired! But, as the day was outstandingly beautiful, we had to seize it! Here are some of the sights we discovered throughout our tour:

left to right: Manneken Pis - Rita in the Gallerie Roi Hubert - Baker´s Guild on Grand Place

After meeting Emilie and David for lunch, which was, as you might guess, amazing, we walked on trough beautiful Brussels and enjojyed David´s knowledge about the place. We were quite tired by the time we got back home - but we were invited to a party of David´s friend Alain. So, off we went to a suburbian apartment with Portuguese, English, French and Belgian people - well, there were also two Austrians but I mean, we knew them in advance! :-)
It´s a pity we did not take any pics there - however, we took some from the way home... it was good fun, thanks, Alain!
On the pic, you can see Jose, a Portuguese interpreter in Brusses - a very nice chap - but everyone there was just really interesting and good fun to talk to!
The follwing day started even later!
This time, we only got up at around half twelve and had breakfast together, then went off to see some more of Brussels. So, Rita, Emilie, David and I discovered the Royal Palace (below),

the Palais de Justice, the old England House, now a museum, saw some of the fantastic comic art designs on the walls of Brussels and so on and so forth. We had some super crepes and salads as well as some lovely last drinks at another atmospheric restaurant, waffles at the Christmas Market and eventually returned home at around 4.45pm. Then we were invited to Vincent´s place for some Gloeg (Charlotta´s Swedish) and had to catch our train to Brussels airport!
The trip would have been perfect, if not for the return journey! First we nearly chose the wrong lane for check in (twice, actually) and then we unexpectedly had to wait as well. Due to an airport "traffic" jam we started an hour late and, thus, arrived in Vienna an hour later than expected also! My brother Christoph was not very happy about the delay and, when we tried to pay the parking fee, we encountered another problem: the parking ticket did not work anymore - so I went to find someone who I could give some money to - successfully, of course, and when Rita and I finally hopped into bed at home in Linz it was around 2 in the morning! But.... time does not matter when it comes to experiences and weekends like that!
We would like to thank Emilie and David again for their kindness and for showing us around so patiently - I hope you had a good time too, friends! Ok, I´ll be on here again soon, check out the blog again some time before Christmas!
Oh, for more pics, see my flickr page...
ERF

Brussels - we´re coming!

2007-11-26T21:18:00.000+01:00

Hi guys, don´t actually know whether you get this in due time - but next weekend Rita and I are going to visit mon ami David in Brussels! I can´t wait to see it again, as I went to see Iny a few years ago and found the place just outstanding! So, this time it´s me and Rita checking out the night life with dear "old" friends Emilie and David - should be good!
I´ll put some more pics on this as soon as I have more! The 2 you can see are...

the Town Hall of Brussels and...

... Rita et David avant Monmartre á Paris!

It was a super trip there, hopefully, this one will be just as great! ;-) Check here again next week for further information!
ERF

Explaining Maria how it works!

2007-09-22T10:52:00.000+02:00

Hi there today I´m showing to Maria how a blog works... hopefully she´s gonna be alright! -9

ERF

Mathias Gabler´s second birthday do - wow, what a party!

2007-09-03T15:31:00.000+02:00

Well well well.... who would have expected that! After having invited Mathias to a couple of days full of wine and no worries, Sandra, Sonja, Joachim, Mathias and I met up in Gamlitz last Wednesday to reminisce in the good ole times and spend some quality time together - it was great fun!
We ended up sitting outside at a "Buschenschank" (a vinyard´s place where you canget food and drink directly from the wine makers) in the rain and tried various different tasty wines until we finally had had too much and then went back home - as far as I know anyways...
On Thursday, we got up relatively late and ended up going home quite a little earlier than I had planned, but we were too knackered to stay longer... The picture shows Mathias enjoying hisHavana cigar, which I had got for my birthday the other day from Josch.... Look at more pics on my flickr page!
ERF

Photographs of Benenden online now!

2007-08-31T14:51:00.001+02:00

Hi there, as promised, there are some of the pics I took online now! Check them out on my flickr page!
Also, more on www.benenden.at or on http://benendenisfun.googlepages.com/home, a site created by Matt, one of the students of TU6! The picture here shows the teachers of my TU: Lisa, Alex, Cass and Ernsti (well, I, actually!) We were cool! ;-)
ERF

There and back again - an Austrian´s tale!

2007-08-20T20:35:00.000+02:00

Hi, it was ingenious once more to be able to spend some time in Benenden... wow, I cannot believe I´m still saying that after 7 times of going there... you´d expect to get bored by it, wouldn´t you? Well, I am not and I was not. Just lovely it was!
So, back in Austria, I´m trying to make amends with my sleep deficit, going to bed before midnight is not such a bad thing after all!
Thanks one more time, GB, I don´t know what I would do without you and your beauty sometimes... Ok, that sounds really gay. but you gotta be there to understand I guess, the area around Benenden and the places we go to are just fantastic! Pics to be seen soon! For got my camera....
ERF

Being in Benenden!!!

2007-08-09T01:56:00.000+02:00

Hi there, I havent been writing as I have been really really busy in the last few days what with all the England thing going on and stuff! ;-)
No, seriously, check out the page: www.benenden.at - it´s just groovy and contains lots of pics that suit the occasion....
ERF

Hola from Barcelona!

2007-07-24T11:30:00.000+02:00

Wow, the first 3 days had quite an impact on us... we saw loads of things, had really good weather for sight seeing and managed to get locked in the house... all in all quite an amusing first few days.

Crossing the Alps already proved to be an amazing experience, the beauty of these mountains is virtually undescribable!

Then, when we had arrived we were not certain whether Esther would find us - she was there alright, and so we went to their flat and took off for a first walk through Barcelona...
Along the Avinguda Diagonal, one of the longest streets of Barcelona where we came across houses of the typical Barcelona Jugendstil. Quite nice - the most striking feature of the first few hours was "la poya" though, the dick... I wonder why they call it that, do you?:

So, anyways, we went into town, met up with Llorenc (Lorenzo), Esther´s boyfriend and had dinner in a beautiful Catalan restaurant, mmmh, very nice food there, especially the sea food was delicious for me! Not for Rita, though! Look at Esther and the beautiful "bombas":

The following day, Esther and Lorenzo took us to Montjuic and the Olympic village of 1992! Beautiful area, lots of huge monuments and superb view over the city! We had a really good time there, enjoyed the atmosphere while a guitarist was playing outside the museum up there.

Then we went back home and watched Fernanda Alonso win the Grand Prix of Germany on Nürburgring, which also was an interesting experience... fantastic atmosphere again, I can tell you!
On Monday, Esther and Lorenzo had to go to work, so we took by ourselves and went up the second hill which captivates Barcelona in its valley: Tibidabo, slighlty higher than Montjuic and with a huge chapel on top! Also, they have an ancient amusement park up there, which looked quite cool and bars with brilliant views over Barcelona! See for yourselves:

Afterwards we went to one of the highlights of my tour! The "Estadio Camp Nou", where Barcelona FC plays their home games in front of as many as 85000 people sometimes! I have to say, Rita enjoyed the toour probably even more than I did, as I have been to other stadiums before and she´d only been to the one of LASK Linz (not very impressive after all), but it was really cool. I want to show you the changing rooms and the grounds from above:

In the end we were really tired again and returned home, where Esther and Lorenzo looked after us like little birds - this has been great so far, honestly, Barcelona is well worth visiting! Check this blog for more in the next few days, also check out my flickr page for more pics!

3 hours to go...

2007-07-21T00:17:00.000+02:00

Hi there, we only have like 3 more hours until we leave for Barcelona, and I am still stupidly trying to get some info on this page... that´s a bit stupid indeed, considering I have not been writing for the last year, roughly, and now I want to make up for it, it seems.
Well, nevermind, that´s cool we can relax for the whole of next week, just today, we should actually go to a little village outside the city in order to experience some of the good ole "real" Spanish surroundings...
Cool, we cannot wait anylonger, will be cool... are already planning our trip for the next year... Washington! ;-)
ERF

Barcelona, we´re coming!!!

2007-07-19T11:26:00.000+02:00

Hi there, everyone out there in the void... isn´t the heat virtually unbearable? I think, my mind is totally numb most of the time from trying to cool down, I´d love to have a air conditioning system in the house... but, no, there isn´t one and so I have to bear with it for as long as it lasts... I know that many of you guys suffer from the same heat, so I should stop complaining! And I will, as Rita and I are going away soon! On Saturday morning, we´re off to Barcelona for a week! Can´t wait! Here´s one of the things waiting for us... The Arce de Triomphe of Barcelona! Nice, ey?! Hopefully, it´s not too hot! ;-) More pics to be delivered soon! ERF

Mathias Gabler´s surprise party in Neupölla!

2007-06-18T16:45:00.000+02:00

What a successful weekend!
First I corrected the last test of my class and had no fail grades, then Rita and I went to a wedding and to a surprise party for a friend of mine in Lower Austria´s northern area, the "Waldviertel" and then I had a really good football match on Sunday, too... our team did not win, but we put up a real fight for the last time, as we´re being relegated to the 2. Klasse Nordwest in Upper Austria. Check out the blog about football here.
So, there are a few more pics on my flickr page, check them out, too, they are good fun. Mathias was so incredibly happy when he saw Rita and me arriving a little late (3 hours after the real surprise) but were basically a new surprise again, which was super... so we had too much drink and too much fun to be described in a little diary entry, but... groovy night, singing on singstar, drinking excellent wines, talking to fantastic and friendly people. Sabine and Mathias´ relatives are amazing! :-)
So, there´s a pic here: It shows Mathias and me singing Father and Son... he did not quite know how to sing it, but I reckon we didn´t do too badly, considering we´d already had a few... so, it was a great weekend,... there are more to come, I hope as our present was to spend a weekend somewhere in the Burgenland tasting wines... looking forward to that one!
ERF

Martin "Xi" Kopf - my man in Denmark!

2007-06-14T08:30:00.000+02:00

Hi there, folks...
Today I just want to send you a link to one of my mate´s travel blogs... he´s a really funny man who has done journalism and English so the whole thing has been done up really properly and he always gets pics on his blog too... he started out his journey in Denmark and has now moved on to Sweden!
We studied together in Vienna, and he´s good fun, always up for a laugh! (as people from Vorarlberg normally are!) Xi, if you see this, haha!
Check it out - that´s his blog: http://mann-von-welt.blogspot.com/
ERF

Some new pics on the picture site!

2007-06-12T14:57:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, I haven´t been in touch for a while, due to several things that have been going round my head for too long, really...
Stressful times at school, no success at playing football, a hamstring injury on top of all that and not a lot of motivation to write even more things on the pc, when correcdting and preparing take up so much time in the first place...
Anyways, don´t want to bore you with details about teaching, it´s still an amazing pastime, am really happy to be allowed to have such a marvellous occupation, it´s so satisfying... that´s what the kids would lkike to get, haha!
Yeah, apart from that.... Rita and me are going to Barcelona end of July, Zweilaenderlauf is coming close, a lot of work ahead in that respect, too, and also, preparation for the summer courses is about to start - beforehand, though, I have to grade about 115 students to make sure that they receive the grade they deserve, so there´s still a lot of responsibility there too, am not willing to decide about students fates too lightly!
The picture you see was taken last year in Paris and shows Eros, standing on the tip of the Opera House, which has been placed where there used to be.... damn, I´ve forgotten!
Yeah, well, look at my pics and enjoy your time, I´ll be back soon - by the way, if your write a commentary, I get an info mail, so I´d be happy to receive one every now and then... ;.)
ErF

Eric - happy birthday!

2007-03-12T19:23:00.000+01:00

Hi mate, as you are one of the few people checking my blog every now and then, I´m hoping this receives you well and in the shape that I expect you to be in - which is, as always, a very good one! ;-) Happy birthday, I do not know how to get in touch with you - well, I could have phoned your parents! But I have no new mail address not anything like a phone number, and the old one is not in service anymore, is it?
Take care, hope everything´s going well, have even bought one of your great shavers!
Cheerio,
ERF

Birgit, my friend from school!

2007-03-08T17:26:00.000+01:00

this is a picture of Birgit, my friend from school!

ERF

Winton weekend - I´m coming!

2007-02-16T10:24:00.000+01:00

Something really exciting has come up - not that I have a lot of time and so on, but still... Karl, my mate, and me are going to Winchester next weekend! Yeah, there´s a grand reunion at King Alfred´s College every year, where people from former uni sports teams meet and compete against the momentary teams... good fun, and some great partying involved too!
Apart from that, there´s not a lot to tell... have been really busy in the last three to four weeks, what with writing papers and correcting them as well, and so on... it was good fun as well though! Next week we´ve got the semester break so there is some time to relax and some more time to go out and have some fun too! ;-)

Merry Christmas - for everyone!!!

2006-12-21T18:10:00.000+01:00

Hello out there in the void of ever so hectic last minute arrangements and present gathering! I hope you´re all coping with the pre- Christmas stress that has become a ritual for so many people that it´s very unlikely anybody out there still considers the traditional ideas of Christmas as a welcome time of peace and quiet! Anyways, to all of you, have a Merry Christmas with all your loved ones and enjoy the restful days afterwards, when business has died down and people slowly get back to normal activities! Also, enjoy your New Years Eve, wherever you decide to spend it or wherever you might be at the time - I hope your new year will be a successful and exciting one, just as the past few years should have been!
Today, I had something like a small first Christmas present already! I went to Hinterstoder to watch the World Cup Giant Slalom there with my and my colleagues classes! It was fantastic, a truly enlivening experience - frigging cold but really cool! The winner, Aksel Lund Svindal from Norway, you can see on the pic below - there´s a lot of training ahead of me if I ever wanna get near their skills - actually, it´s too late for that now!
Anyways, enjoy your days and have a rest, take care and talk to you soon, probably in the new year!
Cheerio, XXXXXmas,

ERF

Long time, no see!

2006-11-24T08:29:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone - well, there´s not many people out there, following my life I guess, but still, you know...
Sitting here in a little room behind the conference room and using the time to give you some info about life´s progress while a student of mine is concentrating on her exam - life´s unfair sometimes!
Has been good lately, though! Parties at home, an invitation of a friend on Wednesday to watch the Champions League, great feel in our flat.... life´s good!
Hope everyone out there is ok and too cold, as winter´s coming up - but also the Christkindlmarkt and so on - yeah! Well, mind you, you don´t get that anywhere besides in Austria or Germany - what a shame!
The pic shows AMrtin Jech, an old friend of mine and me having a drink at Alex´ farewell evening before she left for France - and returned with a little Jonas and a tall Jeff... groovy!
Ok, gonna go, talk to you again soon,
ERF

Pictures!!!

2006-10-13T07:52:00.000+02:00

wow, what a beautiful kitten!

ERF

Alwin and I

2006-10-13T07:45:00.000+02:00

This is my blog, I´m showing it to Alwin!

Back to the roots - not!!!

2006-10-11T22:35:00.000+02:00

e
Hey people,
I have just organised a new internet connection for my laptop and it´s just about the grooviest thing I have ever seen - in comparison to the one I had before it´s just too fast!!! Wow, I like it a lot and I´m hoping to be able to play on the net more again - so, today, I want to give you one picture, showing a sight in London: it shows the caviar counter at Harrod´s of London, a beautiful and luxurious shopping centre in the heart of London, amazing there!
Well, the rest of our stay was really groovy, too, obviously there are many things that I still have to learn and change for future visits, but oeverall I was quite pleased with the outcome of our trip - the kids who tried really got something out of it, too, that´s the most important thing, if you ask me!
So, I´ll leave you to it - check out my flickr page also to find some more new pics!
Our flat is basically finished, we just need to get the rest of the decoration sorted, so that everything is perfect - but it´s great the way it is!!! Talk to you guys soon!
ERF

Back to school, back to business!

2006-10-10T13:50:00.000+02:00

And busy-ness it is! Having to cope with a bunch of pre-pubertarian pupils or the ones that are just about trying to cope with this state of growing up does not always fulfill people with the greatest of pleasures! But I have to admit that, although I feel I´m far behind schedule, I still am enjoying this routine of standing in front of the class very much! It´s lovely, school is just the place where I can see myself for quite a while still!
Apart from that, there´s not a lot to tell - having returned from England the other week where I spent a week with my oldest group of pupils, I´m still recovering from the aftermath of too many sandwiches and unhealthy eating, meaning that my bowel activities needed somewhat more attention than I wanted to give them.
Well, that´s over so it´s time to horse around again!
Next, I´ll put some pics on again from London, we did a lot of sight seeing, good fun!
ERF

Explaining ernst how a blog works...

2006-09-21T12:06:00.000+02:00

Hi this is me explaing to Ernst how a blog works - funny that!
ERF

Finally done - it´s heaven!

2006-09-12T21:11:00.000+02:00

Hi there, Rita and Ernst productions proudly present their new flat!!! It has taken frigging long to get there, but we have in the end! Today, our kitchen arrived and we managed to get it sorted - well, apart from a leaking tap that needs to be looked at! Pity, but cannot be helped right now, is a real bad leak, too, so there´s no chance we could use it right now - but the dishwasher, a fridge, storage, ... wow, it´s amazing what you can do with a kitchen, I can tell you... I´ll put some pictures on Flickr.com in a minute!
ERF

2006-09-08T11:40:00.000+02:00

Hi there this is me showing Barney how to make a blog...

Our new flat is nearly finished!

2006-09-07T09:22:00.000+02:00

Hi there, people!
As you might have known, Rita and me have recently moved in together - we have rented a beautiful 70 m² apartment, totally new and unfurbished, and have been decorating it since - well, it´s about to be finished! On Tuesday, the 12th September, we´re getting the kitchen! That´s it then! Scary thought, actually having brought together so many new things, arranging them and so on - not looking forward to building my own house at one point! Well, pics will arrive soon, so stay in touch! Oh, and if you can, write a comment every now and then, ok?
ERF

Here we go again...

2006-08-25T02:27:00.000+02:00

I want to try again and send a picture to you guys... so there goes... this pic shows me and Karl getting there, well, we were trying anyways! Before that we´d been taking pictures with Amando´s MAC, which was great fun cos he has this distortion thing goin and it was just a laugh to see Karl look like a big monkey!
Ok, gotta go, its really late! if the pic isnt here, dont worry you ll find it on my flickr.com page---
ERF

Back from GB - and it was groovy again!

2006-08-22T22:13:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, I´m back - and it was great to be in Benenden again this year - 2006 was a lovely Benenden, with a heap of brilliant people and more than fun to spare all around! So, here I am, back from the Crusades, what a programme: London 3 times, Brighton, Canterbury, Leeds Castle (not Leeds!!!), Chessington fun park, loads of lessons in between and so on and so forth - stress, hectic periods, altogether just an amazing experience with friends from all over the world and amazing and motivated students - THE IT for any teacher I can tell you!
Back again, after having to fly from Heathrow with 3 kids with an expired ticket who managed to get on the plane just on time, I used the last two days to relax and start getting Rita and my flat sorted - all the stuff from IKEA needs to be put together, so there´s a lot of work - luckily enough I had Evelyn and my dad to help me with a few things, thanx a lot, fellas!
Ok, gotta go, pics from the apartment to be online soon! ERF

One more today - Zidane´s Summer "HIT"

2006-07-31T20:20:00.000+02:00

This is just too hilarious - check this out: the French have created this song, meant to become this year´s absolute all time summer HIT - Coupe de Boule... Too good to be missed, ERF

Long time no see - and there´s more to come...

2006-07-31T14:32:00.000+02:00

Hi there folks!
This time, well, it´s been a while again, I´m sending you a post to let you know that I´m leavong for England the day after tomorrow, that is Wednesday, 2nd August! Yeah!
Will be teaching at Benenden again, so lots of fun is to be expected! Check it out here
In the past 2 weeks, I have been havbing quite a bit of fun, except that sometimes I have had one drink too many and had to suffer from bad hang overs a couple of times... this should be over now, as the "holidays" are nearly over now!
I have one pic for you, taken at the tennis tournament in Neustift, that shows me with my mate Christian - we didn´t have to play against each other, but I lost in the quarter finals, well.... practice makes perfect... check it on my flickr.com page
In my next entry I will send you some pics of Rita and my new flat... yeah! Talk to you again soon, cheerio, ERF

My new blog - check it out!

2006-06-01T12:53:00.000+02:00

I have created a second blog now - a blog for students and others interested in English who would like to impprove their knowledge of grammar and other things about English. It´s called English for you and you can get there by clicking here.
Check it out, it might help some of you, obviously it is something for the younger ones - but there also will be links to more advanced sites, where you can find information about writing essays or how to create presentations...
Who knows, maybe t´ll help some! ERF

Many a day is spent in the sun!

2006-05-31T16:30:00.000+02:00

... but not the one when we went to the Upper Austrian Schools Tournament for Beachvolleyball... WE WON - well, the girls did! Check my flickr Page for the pics... But, as it seems now, they cannot go there, they are busy... Maturareise, yeah... volleyball tournament respectively!
Well, the pic you can see here was taken at Lake Garda! Yep, I was there at the end of April with my English class and my colleague Orti, sitting in the centre... great fun was had by all and we were sorry to have to get back to realitiy after a fantastic week in Southtyrol! Wanna go again! Wait, one more month of school and then I´m off to ... ENGLAND... to be continued! ERF

Happy birthday!

2006-05-31T16:23:00.000+02:00

Hi there, everyone...

This is just a wee note that goes out to all the people that have recently celebrated their birthdays: Marlis, Mathew, David... well, tomorrow! I have tried to get in touch with you, guys, or rather will be trying to, so Happy birthday!, all the best and all the rest, too... Hopefully your parties will be as blissful as the rest of your time throughout the next year!
On another note, I have lately been rather lazy, or so it seems, to get on my site and produce texts here on my account - this is due to several aspects of my life - ten million tests, seven hundred presentations, the organisation of a school trip to London next year, which is taking up a considerable amount of my time right now, and the general unsuccessful attempts to fix my laptop, so i can use it in school - would be grand but isn´t working... pity, really, could really do with it sometimes, life would be so much easier. But I´ll be back shortly! ERF

What´s happened so far...

2006-05-09T19:21:00.000+02:00

Hi there, this is just a wee note to keep you up on things; lots has happened since I blogged you last! As you might remember, we were in Paris and then returned - afterwards, there was school, school school... well, not really, actually, I was in Italy with my sixth years, that was amazing! We went canyoning, mountaineering and climbing around Lake Garda in South Tyrol, an amazing place, as pictures of it will prove for sure. See my pictures for that.
Then, when we had returned, there was the first chance to play a bit of beach volleyball, which I opted for the second I could - only played for a bit but already it´s getting to me again! But this week there´s no time for that: I had two exams with my first years in school, midterm test at university and I did a grammar check up with my 6th formers so they wouldn´t forget that the essence of learning a language actually is learning for the language - well, sometimes anyways!
Ok, gotta go and do some correcting, as you might understand... look at this though: That´s Rita and David in Paris; we´d waited for David in a Café and there we had a drink - it only cost 9,70 per beer, that was alright! ERF

2006-04-13T22:54:00.000+02:00

Hi there,

back from the crusades, sitting in my brothers flat in Vienna again, I thought I might as well just write another short blog to tell you how it was! Well, it was fantaastic, what can I say... soon, I´m going to show you some pictures, I´ll put them on my photo account, but for now you´ll have to bear with me and my short memories... Thanks David et Emilie for taking us up and treating us well (You´re a great tour guide, David!) and the twins for partying! Thanks Paris for just being there... as last part of our journey we went to se Pere Lachaise, the oldest and most beautiful graveyard in Paris, last resting home of many a famous wo/man, among them Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, LaFontaine, Rossini, and, of course, Jim Morrison. Here a pic of his grave - it don´t look like that anymore, though, there´s been problems, a pic of now will be on Flikr... that´s it for now, am gonna have a second beer with my bro, dere! to be continued, shortly. Au revoir, ERF

Vacation in la ville d´amour!!!

2006-04-10T20:39:00.000+02:00

Easter Holidays, yeah!!!
Thank god it´s Easter holidays now, time to relax and enjoy daylight outside school for more than the 15 minute ride to and fro school! ;-) And, guess what - Rita and I are going on a holiday! To Paris - city of love! Hopefully, we´re going to have the brilliant time that we´re looking forward to having... I´ll send you some pics as soon as we get back.
Right now we´re in Vienna at my brother Christoph´s place, a new flat, very nice, man! And tomorrow, very early in the morning, we´re of to France! Lots of my friends who live their are having babies just now, so this seems to be a dangerous trip - but it´s only for two days and to visit a friend, so it won´t be too exciting in that respect, I guess... to be continued!
Besides that, we had our first match yesterday, and won 6:1 - great result, though the game itself was not exactly what we/I had been hoping for... I scored the second, that was alright, nice header... the night was a laugh as well. Ok, gonna go and have some wine with Chris and Rita now, cheerio! ERF

Carnevale Lentiae

2006-03-01T09:08:00.000+01:00

The Fasching has been the funniest thing for quite some time this year - and thank god it´s all over! It´s been great but you got to move on and do new things at one point or another as well, so here we go - I want to show you some of the things that happened during the past fortnight!
There was the Narrenkastl, which I had mentioned earlier in my blod, check out the page again for updates.
Then there was the Fasching at school, which was very funny and luckily unspectacular apart from Trixi´s Rocky Horror Dance, and then we went into town with eighth graders to go bowling - see my flickr.com page for details of these shows!
Well, that´s about it really - I just wanna give you one pic for today on here - that´s me in my disguise as a Kasperl - that´s a children´s puppet in Austria at the Narrenkastl. Also, I´ll provide a link to a page where you can download mp3s of the Narrenkastl... that´s very funny, too! Well, that is, if you understand German, naturally! See yas, ERF

Here we go again - eventually!

2006-02-13T21:53:00.000+01:00

After not having been able to go online - well, to go onto my blog - for a while now, I´m gonna try to sum up the last few weeks in a few sentences: thinking about it, I only need one word: MENTAL! Totally stressed from having to grade millions of students, correcting loads of papers at uni and at school, checking out pupils as well as parents to make sure everyone is alright and happy with their results and their kids... I´d like to become a teacher one day, I´m telling you, they´re supposed to have a real low stress job! ;-)
Then there was the Gymnastics Competition for my class, which means, they all participated in a tournament like gymnastics day, where they had to show various skills on different apparatuses. They did really well and I was pleased with their results - one of the girls would have come 5th in the whole school! She´s only in year one now! Cool, hein?
And last Friday I went to the Hochficht skiing resort in Upper Austria where we had our county´s skiing competition for schools! It was freezing cold, the snow was just pouring down like mad and the conditions of the slope were awful - but, although the kids didn´t do very well we had an amazing time and it was a fun experience for most of us. There´s a pic of Lukas, Petra and me waiting for Luke´s start. Good laugh, he didn´t make it, though, didn´t finish the race. Check out my photo page and you´ll find photos of these events!
Well, anyways, it´s been really great, too, and rewarding, coz´ when it comes down to it, all the students I have to deal with are really fantastic in their own ways and I´m still loving it! So, that´s the good news!
What´s ahead, you´re probably saying?! Well, there´s the end of the first semester and then, straight after, the Narrenkastl starting next Friday, so there´s plenty of work for me to do anyways, yeah, baby, won´t complain about getting bored! It´s a groovy carneval festivity with loads of different interprets trying to be funny - some of them hilarious bacause they´re just frigging awesome, others for opposite reasons - overall a great show, performed live in Oberkappel at the two following weekends - be there or be square! Check it out under: www.narrenkastl.com

2006-02-01T17:01:00.000+01:00

Hallo Manfred, danke für den Kaffee!

My class in the snow

2006-01-18T09:38:00.000+01:00

Today I only have a couple of minutes, but I would like to show you two pics of my classes´ trip to Hinterstoder, Upper Austria, where we spent two days snowboarding and skiing. Good fun, the kids loved it and us teachers enjoyed ourselves quite a bit as well! The first pic shows the kids on our torch procession and the second one shows me with two of my mates, Trixi and Markus - thanks for helping, guys! ERF

Skiing with 6A at Hochficht!!

2006-01-11T12:43:00.000+01:00

This is a post in which I want to tell you about a great three days we spent at Hochficht, a small but lovely skiing resort quite close to where I live. We went there with a year six group, a groovy and very enthusiastic bunch of students and did some marvellous skiing/snowboarding as well many other things like a torch walk or a games night - good fun, really. The pics show us playing two games - the first one is the "Moose Game", which is actually an English drinking game. One person is the mousse and has to have antlers, the people sitting next to him/her have to lift the closer hand and make antlers as well.

The second pic shows my two colleagues, Herwig and Karin, after a pretty funny game they´d played with the Bavarian group staying at the same hostel - fun people, wow. Cheerio Peinty, is all I can say!

The third pic shows me telling one of our snowboarding beginners how to get into the right position... they were amazing and really talented, managed to get going after the first day - very impressive!
so there you go, this is what an average school day looks like for me - isn´t that nice?! :-)
ERF

Benenden is fun - as every year!

2006-01-11T12:23:00.000+01:00

Hi there, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful time over the holidays and made it through to the New Year as smoothly as I did. We had a little get together at my sister´s place, lovely, really, and everything was well relaxed and cosy - the best thing is that I didn´t even get drunk this time round, so there you go! ;-)
The picture I´m presenting today is a lovely one. It shows me and my colleagues/friends from last year´s Benenden Language Camp - I go there every summer to spend three weeks speaking English and teaching kids how to do so as well - great fun and well worth checking out, in case you have any relatives aged between 10 and 18 who would like to have some extra input over the holidays. My mates are Kerryn, Lisa and Jean Paul, called J-P. We made up a fantastic team and had just as brilliant a time as the students did - hopefully, anyways!
See yas, ERF

Rita´s stand at the Christkindlmoakt Volksgarten in Linz!!!

2005-12-13T16:33:00.000+01:00

Be there or be square is the only thingI can say about my cousin Judith and Rita´s stand at the Volksgarten Christmas Market in Linz, Upper Austria. They sell the most wonderfully smelling soaps, bath pearls and body butters/creams you could ever dream of, all of them natural and hand-made by a famous company in Vienna and then sent directly to Linz by train, so they have fresh products nearly every day, too. Innit great? Well, I believe it is, and if you don´t want to be square you´d better get there before Christmas. Actually, even on Christmas Eve there´s still time to get your sopas and little presents for valuable AND worthy friends, as they´re open until the early afternoon on the 24th as well... see you there then. See Rita conversing with a beautiful customer, well aware of the need for a good skin - make over (peeling, bath and body butter) - and she´s such a good advisor, too!

Don´t forget to check it out: www.allesseife.at

Damn, just realised I didn´t take the pic with me to work, will renew this page shortly, then with the pic! (It´s Volker, a good friend, really, she´s selling the products to... ;-))

This is my class in AHS solarCity

2005-12-13T16:18:00.000+01:00

Hi there, long time no see, time is flowing too fast, can´t keep up with life right now! Anyways, this is my class in my second school - a really nice bunch of ten/eleven year olds, as lively and lovely as they come, as you might say. They´re really funny, every time I am there, there´s a major upheaval about someone getting hit by a ball or water bottles splashing around the gym - cute, they are, and still relatively handy, these boys. The pic shows them doing an running exercise they enjoyed very much - obviously a competition then, right? ;-)
Cheerio, and check out Rita´s stand at the Christkindlmoakt, too. www.allesseife.at
ERF

A test for the best! 70ies party in Neustift!!!

2005-11-22T18:11:00.000+01:00

Strange feeling, I am actually just having a test at university and yet I am sitting here, checking my page! WLan is really an amazing thing, I have to admit! The students are taking the whole thing very seriously, that´s fantastic, and therefore it´s going great - for them and for me, too, I think, it seems a manageable test and the whole test is making good progress, so hopefully, it´ll turn out all right. The ball was good fun, by the way, and there´ll be pics on the web soon, I suppose. Also, last weekend, there was the 70ies party in Neustift, organised by my volleyball team back in Neustift! Eric´s costume was the most outstanding one, as ever, one might add, knowing Eric´s indistinguishable fantasy and spirit of the Seventies. But more about that as soon as there are more photos and stuff on the website of the Volley-Springginkerls! ERF

Dancing Stars live at the Peuerbach Ball on Saturday!

2005-11-09T19:25:00.000+01:00

This Saturday in the Palais Kaufmännischer Verein, there will be the highlight of Linz´ ball season, when tout le monde of fashion and the haute couture of VIPs of the GVP is having a gathering at the ball! Everyone is gonna be there, including lots of teachers and students from other classes than the ones organising the ball! Check out the ball homepage to find out about the details of the festivity! Should be good fun, maybe you wanna come, too? Go get your license to chill and show up!
And now for something completely different! We had a dancing lesson today in school, in order to get ourselves all hyped up and ready for the ball, so I can now positively dance with you - mostly the girls checking this page, hopefully - I can dance the slow waltz and Chachacha, which is one of my favourite dances anyways! Good laugh, real good fun!

Also, check out the picture of my class! They´re such a laughly bunch, there´s only one or two who start a ruckus every now and then - and you wouldn´t believe who it is mainly! There´s one boy. the devil in disguise I can tell you! So sweet and such a "criminal"! They´re really good kids, and I look alright amongst them, don´t I? ;-) ERF

Here we go again!

2005-11-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

After having dealt with many a dead person in the last couple of days, we´re back at school, a bee hive full of busy little ants doing this and that constantly - not many of them manage to listen to the teachers at the same time, though! ;-) Just joking, it´s not bad at all, looking forward to the next lesson already, when I can see my "own" little buggers again. They´re just so cute! You can find a picture of me and my class here soon, actually, but not right now, as they´re still not online, damn! Anyways, life´s treating me well, my remote controlled areoplane has been mended by Volker, my flat mate and yesterday´s little accident with my nephew Markus has not harmed him majorly! I let go of his tram and it fell over - he screamed like mad but just because of the shock! Thank god, was well worried for a second! Life´s full of dangerous moments, innit?
The person I´m showing you today is Alex, one of my best friends, who has just gone to France for a year as a French assistant, she´s a French and sports teacher! Great girl, always up for a laugh and very enjoyable company, too! Missing her quite a bit actually, she would have been teaching in Solar City with me... Gotta go!
See ya, wouldn´t wanna be ya!
ERF

Broken arm in school - still the winners of the last match of the season!!!

2005-10-24T15:32:00.000+02:00

Despite a tragic little accident in school Friday afternoon, where one of my boys in the solarCity grammar school broke the radius of his left arm, I still managed to go ahead as planned with my weekend - and we eventually won the last game of the season against Ulrichsberg 2:0 which means we ended the season in second, 6 points ahead of our opponents and 2 behind the leaders! Not bad, and thank god it´s all over, most of us really can do with a break right now, everyone was getting really really tired. But it was another great and intense match and I think we can be quite pleased with our result. Anyways, Armin´s injury is not that bad after all, he´s gonna have a cast for a few weeks and that´s the end of the story. Thank god, it was my first injury in school and I didn´t like it all that much! Talk to you again soon, gotta go - it´s Rita´s final orals tomorrow and she needs my mental assistance desperately! I´ll tell you how it went in a couple of days... ERF

Final game of the season brings final decision

2005-10-22T12:05:00.000+02:00

After having recovered from the tragic loss against Niederwaldkirchen last week we´re facing the team in 5th tomorrow. They are a young side, and hopefully we will be able to beat them with our cleverness and experience... check out the details here the day after tomorrow. It´s 2. Liga NW... apart from that, I was in school today with two of my colleagues and we went on the trampoline. What a laugh, I hadn´t done it for a while but it´s such a ´fantastic sport! I have a couple of videos, don´t think I can put them on here... I´ll try one day! ERF

Loss against Niederwaldkirchen: N/O is not top of the pops anymore!!!

2005-10-19T09:22:00.000+02:00

Sad result in our last home game, not only do we lose the match but we also lose the top position in the league! Good game, we could have scored a few but had to accept defeat in the end, too good was the opponents defense, too weak our effort to score goals. Nevermind, there´s more to come and eventually, we´ll be showing them who we really are!
Anyways, life goes on and so I´m back at school, giving tests and exercises, and at uni, where my students are becoming more and more insecure about their English! .... They´ll be having a self evaluation tomorrow, so we´ll see how it goes after that! But look at them, they seem to be having a good time in school, so that´s alright... tbc

Title race final show down on Sunday in Neustift!!!

2005-10-14T10:23:00.000+02:00

On Sunday, 16th October, we´re play ing our fiercest opponent in footie! the team from Niederwaldkirchen is only one point behind us, having lost one out of 9 games so far, whereas we have drawn the match against St. Stefan, the then leaders of the league.
Although we´ve been on a winning streak and scoring lots of goals there might be some problems we could face in Sunday´s match. Grise Wundsam has got a knee injury, so he´s not sure whether he can play, and some other players are also slightly hurt, including me and my bruised knee from the match against St. Veit a fortnight ago - stay in touch, I´ll tell you about it next week.
The picture is from the match against Arnreit, thanks to Bernhard for sending it to me (was that before or after I did them in with my goal? ;-)) ERF

My schools

2005-10-07T12:22:00.000+02:00

I wanna show you my schools today. As you know - or you mightn´t actually, I work in two schools in Linz, called Georg von Peuerbach Gymnasium and AHS Solar City - they´re both real good fun and teaching is the thing I´m really quite good at, as far as I´ve gathered so far. It´s my first "real" year at school, so there´s many things I have to learn and get used to, but, overall, I have to say it´s darn cool..... well, have a look at them, decide for yourselves and then tell me what you´re thinking... there´ll be more info about school life soon. But now it´s off to the last few lessons before the weekend, which I´m really dying for! See ya!

I´m getting into the routine - eventually

2005-10-04T21:42:00.000+02:00

After being restless for quite a qhile when school started I have recovered now and seem to be getting there - tomorrow is my last "extra" duty as the head of a class for the time being - the parents´ evening, as we call it in Austria. We meet the parents in school and tell them what we expect of their children and how they have been doing so far. Will be another interesting night at school!
Also, I had my first day at university today, it was great, real good fun, actually, did not feel nervous or anything and got along fine - it´s just that these students really have to learn loads - we need to finish a whole book by the end of the semester! Mmmmh! We´ll see how it goes!
I have to burn a CD with the pics from last weekend´s Kennenlerntage, where we went to Neustift with the kids for two days - great fun, but so exhausting - for the kids as well as the teachers! Pics will be coming soon...
ERF

David est la!

2005-09-21T15:36:00.000+02:00

Today is a good day, as my old mate, David Catot, is finally coming to visit me in Austria! It´s been quite a while since I say him last, so this will by quite exciting!
Check in the future for another pic update!
ERF

Gemeinsamer Scooterausflug bei der Hochzeit von Joachim

2005-08-07T01:01:00.000+02:00

Gemeinsamer Scooterausflug,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

Our Trip to the island Lipari surmounted in the scooter tour we did on our last day - we saw a really pretty island with lots of interesting places to go to and enjoyed our time very much - it´s obvious why Dani and Joachim wanted to get married there - find more pics here

2005-07-12T22:40:00.000+02:00

This is just a small test, I wanted you all to be able to look at Matt ´s blog as well, so as you know how to do this properly...

Cheers, Ernsti

Rita Maus

2005-07-12T22:28:00.000+02:00

Rita Maus,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

This is Rita, my girl-friend at last weekend´s beach volleyball competition in Neustift! Always smiling, although it didn´t go that well for them - they ended up third of three... Nevermind, she´s a great player! Definitely the best I know!

Oberkappler Meister

2005-07-12T22:22:00.000+02:00

Oberkappler Meister,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

And these are the winners: Petronella and me - totally dead but also very happy we got our cups! Petronella could keep it, she has won it for 4 consecutive times already - there´s not too many girl runners in Oberkappel, though!

for more pics: www.zweilaenderlauf.com

Die Vier Musketiere at the 2LL

2005-07-12T22:20:00.000+02:00

Die Vier Musketiere at the 2LL,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

This is a picture of the 4 fastest "Oberkappler" runners of the Zweilaenderlauf 2005! It is such a hard race, you wouldn´t believe it, really! T´was the first time I competed and... I won!

Da Gri!

2005-06-24T10:26:00.000+02:00

Da Gri!,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

And this is Christoph, my brother, my nephew´s godfather and a student of "Internationale Beziehungen" - which do, of course, include girls from other countries, hähä. No, it´s "Internationale Entwicklung", really, I know, Gri!

Mathias der Vater

2005-06-24T10:03:00.000+02:00

Mathias der Vater,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

Dearest of friends, father of a beautiful little girl, as far as I know, haven´t seen her yet, I´m afraid! Mathias and Sabine, the "Horn"ies, cheerio!

Da Koal!

2005-06-24T10:02:00.000+02:00

Da Koal!,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

Carlos and me got to know each other when I first returned from England and then went again the following summer - he came along, and it all started from there - what a decent friendship! Cheers, mate - and what a sexy outfit!

Josch im Gefecht

2005-06-24T10:01:00.000+02:00

Josch im Gefecht,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

Another friend of mine, intimate companion in recent years and soon-to-be-wed all time favourite Italian coast guard Joachim! All the best!
Photos from the wedding will be uploaded naturally!

Die Sieger sind immer die Gleichen

2005-06-24T09:59:00.000+02:00

Die Sieger sind immer die Gleichen,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

Today I would like to introduce to you some of my best friends - this group here are my best and most understanding football mates, which were relegated with me this season! Still, the best football players I could imagine myself playing with! Talent, athletism and grace combined with beauty - it´s just outstanding! :-)

Zweilaenderlauf

2005-06-01T20:51:00.000+02:00

Zweilaenderlauf Logo,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

I would like to introduce you to the "Zweiländerlauf", a running event in my home village of Oberkappel! In the next few weeks and postings, I will tell you more about this special competition leading from Austria to Germany and back again. Also, you can check it out under:
www.zweilaenderlauf.com

Start des Hauptlaufes

2005-06-01T20:46:00.000+02:00

Start des Hauptlaufes,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

The main event is the pro-competition over 5500 metres. Younger and older "Professionals" and hobby runners from Austria and Germany join to finish the course as fast as possible, never forgetting that, a few years ago, there was a boarder line between the 2 countries they pass through constantly throughout their endeavour. From a cultural and a social point of view, it is an absolutely unique event!

the youngens taking it like real men!!!

2005-05-31T22:41:00.000+02:00

IMG_1194,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

You can see how happy everyone was after losing against Kollerschlag... yeah, it was good fun, really! Luckily enough, as mentioned before, we have since then improved quite a bit and are ahead of Kollerschlag again - thank goodness! :-)

Check out the details on the official website of our league:

http://www.fussballoesterreich.at/fussball/page/
128547147339757610_128547862452334592_
128547862452334592,de.html

Seriously annoyed young man...

2005-05-31T22:37:00.000+02:00

IMG_1147,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

... seeking revenge! Man, I was so upset that day, you wouldn´t believe it! We had a really vital football match against our rivals Kollerschlag - if we beat them we´d be ahead of them in the attempt not to become relegated! And you know what, we had the worst ref ever! We got so mad, which is obviously our fault and really bad, but SHE was just so stupid! Pretty woman but no idea about footie at all... well, eventually we did not only lose 3:0 at home but we also lost our coach who got fired after the match. Since then, we´ve won five games in a row! Nice, ey?

Braveheart - or is it just Ernsti???

2005-05-25T21:04:00.000+02:00

Braveheart,
originally uploaded by Ernsti.

This is just one of the moments where you can see how brave I am - am I not good? ;-) No, seriously, I thought this might help you a little to understand how the day in Ried really was - although this wasn´t really in Ried but at the summer camp I told you about yesterday... E.

Sports seminar in Ried

2005-05-25T20:41:00.000+02:00

Today we had our last sports seminar of our teaching education which was rather cool as we went climbing. Well, you can´t really call it climbing as we didn´t really do it on the mountains, but we did some bouldering and then some top rope climbing in a hall, so it was nearly as good as the "real" thing!

Anyways, fun was had by all and in the end, after having had a superb ice cream with a really handsome waiter serving our drinks, I think the only thing left to say is: Thanks a lot Peter Klimo, you´re great!