La Vie Bohème

Sleepless in Slovakia

Mon, 28 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Bratislava is an odd little duck. Like many cities in the former communist East, it is an eclectic mix of old and new, rich and poor, high octain city and sleepy village. What makes Bratislava odder is how it simulatniously celebrates this mix while brushing it under the table.

Budapest & Beer

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Green Munich

Fri, 25 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Daylight Saving

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday we where supposed to go for a hike, but only the first 1km was during forrest, the rest became a village walk, which also was very nice and the rest a walk along the river for home leg. Silje has become so fit and good at walking while over there this winter, she had no problem doing the 6km walk, it was slow and with breaks but the skiing and all the walking around to shops with me has done her good.

The zillertal is suitably wide at the bottom of the valley to be giving us lots of sun, and the eastern side of the valley gets most at the end of the day as the sun sets.

We have just gone into summertime and changed the clocks an hour forward, so now it will be daylight till 20.00 instead of 19.00

Spring Time

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Spring weather is just like summer here this march in Zillertal. The direct sunlight is amazingly warm and when there is no wind, you just want to dress down to shorts and t-shirt, i must admit i got caught out dressing too lightly on a few others days where it suddenly was colder after a snow fall.

We have started skiing again after Silje had her injury, but we have to finish by midday as the snow is too wet, heavy and therefore too hard and dangerous to ski in. But its beautiful to be up there in the morning from 8-9 in the morning, enjoying the white snow, green landscape and the blue skies.

Coming back to town and relaxing while the kids play in the garden with the neighbours girls. Well I would be pleased to get some house chores done at home, but wile Silje being old enough to play outside by herself, Kasper is not, and its not fair to keep him home inside our apartment while he can see silje and the girls having fun outdoors. So I’m will make use of my time on the ipad instead, I think I already have spent enough hours watching the kids play or joining in games when they have no other playfriends or struggle to find a joint game.

Silje is currently riding bikes with 7 yo emma and 9 yo christina is helping kasper load the play wheelbarrow and he is proudly driving the load around. Oh I would love to have a garden with room for this kind of play while my kids grow up.

Paper Work

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If it’s one thing that Austrian’s like more than recycling, it’s paper work. Sure, everything works like clockwork but I suspect that’s because all the normal chaos and spontaneity of life that might make a train run 30 seconds late failed to make it through the AdhocOrSpontaneousActivityRequestForm that first had to be filled out in triplicate before hand.

We’d spent time in Austria and Germany before so we kind of knew the drill. Register your arrival with the police, find work, get health insurance, collect residence card. This time however, our pigeon hole defying lifestyle choice was causing problems.

In previous seasons at least one of us had worked locally. In Germany and Austria, this qualifies you for employer health care and demonstrates your financial means to apply for residency. Our original plan was for Tina to work as a ski instructor and for me to work on my PhD but with a preschooler and a toddler in tow, and a research salary from Australia, neither of us had the time nor the need to work locally. And without work and that all important e-card, our residency application was met with a big fat nein.

This was serious. As an Australian, I could stay visa free in the EU for up to 90 days in any 180. Tina had the right to live and work here thanks to her EU passport, but needed to demonstrate sufficient means within four months. Less than half way into the season and it looked like I had to leave within the fortnight. Our flights were non-changable and we’d signed a lease for 5 months. Sure we could over stay our visas for a few months but that would mean a five year black mark on our passports and end any future travel dreams in Europe.

Leaving wasn’t an option but neither was staying.

Queue three sleepless days and nights of nerve racking internet searching, google translating and international document sending. We had found a possible loophole.

While employment was the typical route to residence, how ever short, there are also options for artists, students, and most importantly, Selbstständiger or self-sufficient people. A certified copy of our mortgage redraw account (the single most important finance product for any travelling family), bank statements, credit cards, travel insurance, a couple hundred euro in fees, and two trips to immigration office later, Tina and the kids were officially Austrian residents. My application was submitted but would take up to 10 days to be processed, during which time I would have to leave the EU.

Oh well, I hear Croatia is pretty cheap and only a 17 hour bus ride away.

Three days prior to my visa expiring, the lady from the immigration office called. “Alles in ordnung!” Sure, Austrians might be efficient but I like to think that our bumbling efforts to speak in German won her over and had the wheels of government turn just that bit quicker.

Hindsight is 20/20. All this could have been avoided if I had have just applied for a 6 month tourist visa before we left Australia. But the problem with learning from experience is, of course, that you get the test before the lesson. So for the sake of anyone following in our footsteps, here’s some advice.

Submit your Meldepflicht (registration of address) with the police or Geminde (local council) within 72 hours of arrival. This is both a legal requirement for Austrians and foreigners alike and saves you from paying the local tourist tax.
If you have the right to work (you’re an EU citizen or spouse of one), get that sorted ASAP. You don’t need residency papers to get a job but need the job for residency.
Once you’ve got a job or offer, find your way to the Bezirk or regional council and apply for residency. For families, you’ll also need to have certified copies of marriage and birth certificates for everyone, as well as police record checks for any non-EU types.
If you can work remotely and you plan to stay less than six months, apply for a long-stay tourist visa. This costs about $100 and can only be applied from your home country so you need to decide this early. For future winter seasons, this is what I’ll be doing for now on.

Affaldssortering i Østrig

Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

At bo i en Tiroler kommune indebærer først og fremmest affalds sortering, samt at man så afleverer sit nøjeligt sorteret affald på affaldspladsen, det hedder Bauhof, og er svarende til det lokale vejvæsen. Åbningstiderne for affalds aflevering var i starten en overraskelse, nemlig kun 3 timer lørdag formiddag og 2 timer mandag eftermiddag, så de tider skal der jo tages hensyn til hvis man ikke ønsker at have plastik, glas, dåser og kompost affald ophobet hjemme i længere tid. Ved indmeldelsen i kommunen fik vi en detalieret folder om hvilke ting der der hører de forskellige kategorier.

Til kompost affaldet skal man bruge nedbrydelige poser, jeg havde købt nogle poser i supermarkedet, men ved et besøg på affaldspladsen så de mine poser og jeg blev henvist til deres kontor hvor jeg fik uddelt deres egne majsmels nedbrydelige poser med bynavnet på, jeg skulle bare lige underskrive for modtagense til min addresse, så det var vist pose kvoten for vinteren.

Så cirka en gang og ugen trasker jeg en tur til Bauhof med vores affald, heldigvis er der en restaffalds kategori som er ting (inkl. børne bleer og ander der ikke falder ind under ovenstående kategorier, det kan vi heldigvis aflevere i en almindelig skraldespand uden for huset.

Det generer mig ikke at skulle at selv tilvejebringe eget skrald, det fremmer ihvertfald at jeg ikke bringer mere emballage hjem end nødvendigt, specielt ikke vand på flaske. Men det underer mig at butikker og østrigere stadig sælger og køber udmiddelbart samme mængde som i fx. Danmark og Australien. Den eneste konklution er at de gerne gør lidt extra arbejde for moderne goder.

Dressing for Winter

Tue, 07 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We arrived at Ried im Zillertal with just enough winter clothing to get us from the airport to our new home. Old ski gear for mum and dad, hand me down starfish suit for the youngest and a flash new green Quicksilver ski set for the oldest, purchased with a slight discount at an Brisbane ski store at the end of the Australian winter.

What we needed urgently in the first 2 days were warm and waterproof winter gloves and boots for the children. Their beloved gumboots didn’t keep them warm for very long - not as long as they wanted to stay outdoors anyway.

But our new hometown of Ried had only a train stop (which looked more like a bus shelter), a church, a little corner store, a florist, a pizzeria, and a surprisingly large hair salon. For clothing or shoe shops we would have to travel further afield, so after a bit of online searching we gambled on catching the train to Fugen, as a Quick-Schuh store was supposed to be located there.

As we still where extremely jetlagged and sleeping odd hours, Dave and Miss S went off first and came home with great new boots, paid on credit card, with a discount. Success!

Then Mr K and I went off in the afternoon (using the same daily train ticket), located some great warm, waterproof boots for Mr K, which he was even happy to try on, yay, in between playing with the duplo in the kids corner. After I finally dragged Mr K out of the play corner I was way too tired look for something for my self and deciding that my four year old boots could last another week, we paid, but with no discount on the 80 Euro boots. And in cash, as the shop only takes Austrian savings cards or so they insisted. Well I should have sent my husband second round, as he seemed to charm all the Austrians with his broken Deutch-lish. (My German was pretty bad too, but didn’t seem to have the same effect….)

In the first few days we also needed to locate a reasonably priced sports shop to buy more outdoor gear, thermals for the kids, beanies, extra gloves, ski socks and not the least ski boots and skis.

In Schlitters, another train stop heading out of the valley, we found Hervis - one of the big budget sports chain in Austria. There we found most of what we needed to get ski ready and stocked up on the necessities. We later found out that Mayrhofen at the end of the Zillertal Bahn train line, was by far the largest town and had almost all we have needed, inclusive another Hervis. So if you are shopping in Zillertal without a car, go straight to there.

Finally the skis. My standard short carving skis were from Hervis, while the rest of the familys got ordered from Conrads in Garmisch, Germany. Conrads - our absolutely favorite store - had a far better selection for the kids and at very reasonable prices. And of course we could not possibly get Dave’s favourite fat skis cheaper anywhere else.

Most people who are more familiar with sun and the beach, might think that getting children dressed for the cold and snow is hard work. But just like sunscreening an Australian child, and yourself, from top to toe every morning before you walk out the door, it’s not any more effort once you have a routine and everyone knows the order.

With the extra outdoor layers you have to work fast once you start getting dressed as everyone gets really hot indoors, and hot kids and parents get frustrated very quickly. We would often put on the boots in the stairwell which was about 5 C cooler than inside our apartment, or I would open a few windows and let in some fresh morning air while getting the kids dressed, to cool down the apartment, before finishing off with the beanie and gloves when we stepped fully outside!

Gloves in the snow must be waterproof because if fingers get wet, they get cold. And kids with cold fingers are miserable! Gloves should also sit quite high over the wrist and be able to tighten around the arm, outside the sleeve is best, to keep snow and cold air out.

Christmas Time

Fri, 27 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Christmas in the snow is just magical; Gluhwein. Christmas markets. St Nicholas. Candles. Pine. Chocolate. Happy people.

We got into the Christmas spirit from the 1st December, the children got a present from “Julemanden” which we call Santa in Danish, every morning, mostly it was chocolate, but also small toys some days, but the chocolate was the best present, despite the kids not having many toys at all in our new home - yet.

We found a local Christmas market that was on a late afternoon in Fugen, oh the large firepits, charming Gluhwein, cookie & craft stalls and the visit of St Nicholas and Krampus was the finale.

The Markets was our second best authentic Austrian Christmas experience after meeting St Nicholas and Krampus on the 6th December at our neighbours house!

We got invited to join our landlord-family for a very special event - Krampusnacht. St Nicholas is accompanied by Krampus on home visits around the village. St Nicholas has information about the children, praises them for having been good but also tells them if they shall behave better, and finishes with handing out a goodie bag, all along Krampus was hanging around in the background with his bundle of birch branches.
Having Krampus follow along into a family living room is very frightening for the children, the Austrian girls that had seen him before was more frightened than our jetlagged, half asleep kids who had no idea what we were supposed to expect. It was very impressive to experience this Alpine tradition so close up, we were very hounored to be invited along.

We had family visit us from both Denmark and Australia at Christmas and it was wonderful, my best memory is dancing around the Christmas tree with the presents underneath, literally, while singing Christmas carols. Well we had a miniature tree - placed on a coffetable, but we where more than 50% Danes so we had to dance around it while singing on Christmas eve. Mr K loved it! It was a great night.

And regarding our miniature plastic tree, we had hoped to buy a real tree for the kids, but didn’t know where to find one, as without a car we did not venture too far around! Last minute I did come across the secret spot where the locals bought theirs, but didn’t have cash on me, hence I wasn’t going there with plans to bring anything back home, It was at the recycling station/council workshop. That was only open twice a week for a few hours - but this is a whole different story, worth it’s own chapter!

Back to Christmas eve and dancing around our coffetable - oh Christmas tree, Mr K who was 2 thought it was awesome and had a big smile on his face during every song. This Christmas has been great for the kids; chocolate, toys, presents, markets, St Nicholas & Krampus, snow and loving family members around them to play with, read books with, explore outdoors and ski with.

Heut ist so ein schöner Tag

Thu, 12 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Every father has not insignificant aspirations for their children’s performance, especially in activities that are close to dad’s heart. So Tina was justifiably a little bit apprihensive about us skipping ski school and having me teach the kids to ski myself.

I’d binge watched youtube for every teach-kids-to-ski clip out there. Some where good, some where not so, but I a pretty good idea of what to expect. Start on the flat, go slow, and positive encouragement only. Yeah, yeah, yeah….what do they know.

For once though, I took the wife’s advice to heart and lowered my expectations. Maybe Miss 5 could be doing reds after a month. We found a bunny slop and started sslloooowwww. I needn’t have worried though. Miss 5 took to it like a duck to water and was on reds after 4 days. #prouddad.

In the meantime, Tina took Mr 2 up the mountain to play in the snow and enjoy plenty of hot chocolate. Everyone is having a blast so far.