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| Carissa and Kaylee - I love "my girls". |
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Already hosting tea with Kaylee and Gretchen. They have style!
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Our trip back was smooth. Paul and I left mid-morning on July 22. (If you have been a faithful reader, you know that my friend Lydia from Salzburg has a 14-year-old who is spending 6 weeks with us before his school year begins in September). Since Paul needed to fly round-trip and with a companion, it was better for the two of us to travel independently of Craig and the kids. I find that international flights are no longer pleasant with the repeated security measures, the waiting, the layovers etc, but things did go smoothly. I didn't particularly enjoy the little 20-seater puddle-jumper from Toronto to Detroit - just a bit hot, cramped and bumpy. Craig's dad picked us up at the airport in the early evening; even though it was only the two of us, we required a van. He dropped us off at home and Dominic immediately jumped in the van to get the others. Kaylee was waiting excitedly and joined Dominic in greeting Craig and the kids at the airport. (The girls did a great job of staying in touch during the year, mostly with Skype and picked up right where they left off without a pause. Kaylee essentially lived with us for the next couple of days which we all enjoyed. It is so great to see such good friends.)
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| Vienna airport |
Paul and I got into the house and it was good to be back in our home. It seemed very spacious. And the refrigerator seemed huge!! Unfortunately, the first foray into the kitchen dampened my enthusiasm. The kitchen was filthy and in disarray. Dominic had moved in 2 days before our return and had declared everything in good shape. An 18-year-old guy and his 46-year-old mom disagreed. Paul and I spent a couple of hours cleaning before heading to bed when the others arrived home.
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Laundry day week!
Not a great sight when walking in the door. |
I will only touch briefly on the following week. If I write much, I am forced to walk away from the computer due to the pain of the remembrance. It was a flurry of cleaning, repairing and replacing items. I spent the first few days in tears as I felt so much sorrow at finding my home so poorly treated. We had rented it to 3 older, female students who assured us they would treat it like a home, and I was naive in my expectations. There were holes in the basement walls, an area of wrong color paint in the master bedroom, a piece of carpet missing in the living room (an area about 3 inches around where it seems the fibers had all been pulled out), water damage on the top of my roll-top desk, broken back door handle,.....you get the idea. Every room had at least one issue. There was a huge pile of dirty laundry - some mine and some theirs and some of it wet. As the days went on, we discovered many missing things: towel sets, some of the silverware, casserole dishes (have the lids), glass bowls..., the list goes on. They also left a mountain of their own things - anything from shelving sets, crock pot, glasses, tons of plastic containers, blankets, pillows, towels, clothes. We've had several email conversations with a few of the renters, who did come back to get some of the items and the rest went to Goodwill. I don't believe that anything was done with malice; just the whole situation got away from them and they were immature in their response. Luckily, it appears at the moment that the deposit will cover the damage (and my time). But the hassle and effort was (and still is) enormous for me. This was in addition to the unpacking from the move AND unpacking from the things in longer-term storage in the unused bedrooms of the house. The kids were really shocked and enjoyed relaying the drama to their friends and neighbors. Craig, as usual, took it in stride, glad that there was no structural damage. One month later, much of work has been done, but it will take a few months to finish everything.
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This is only the hard liquor left behind.
No worries here; I will keep working on it! |
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| Luckily,nothing was lost in any of our 9 checked items or 9 carry-on's! |
The following week, at the end of July, Craig's brother Jeff and his family arrived for a visit. They stayed with Craig's parents but we saw them most days and did many activities together. Our backyard is still a paradise for kids. These children are our kids only cousins and it was great to see how they've grown.
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| three generations of Zirbel's |
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| Jeff, Orrin, Judy, Craig |
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Alex, Carissa, Maria, Matthew, Craig, Dominic - the Zirbels from the west
(yes all the guys are taller than all the girls) |
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Arianna, Sarah, and Paul Zirbel
(Zirbels from the east (CT)) |
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| 50 years in December. What great people. We love 'em. |
On a positive note, since we sold our Prius to Alex before we left, we needed a new car so a lovely blue Chevy Volt now charges in our garage!
Craig is very committed to alternative energy and getting away from gasoline engines so was excited to explore this. It has a battery range of about 45 miles, enough for us to get to either of the kids schools and back before the gas motor kicks in. It recharges overnight so we can do it again the next day. The only down-side is that it is a 4-seater (the batteries run down the middle) but the acceleration of the vehicle is very fun - no waiting for that gas engine to rev up since it's instant energy.
Alex arrived for a 2 week vacation and we loved having him around, as we always do! He continues to enjoy Mountain View, CA and working at Addepar. He plays ultimate frisbee and soccer and loves to go to his gym to do mountain climbing. A wrist and ankle injury sidelined him for a while, but he is mostly back to full strength. Lucky for us he will be back in Oct to be in a friend's wedding so we will see him again soon.
The
next week, we were off to Illinois to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. I was in charge of decorations and activities so I had much to do to prepare. We spent several hours in Chicago on the way to show Paul the city. He is an avid photographer and loved being there.
My siblings and their others arrived and we all pitched in to host a great party. And a great party it was. My parents thoroughly enjoyed themselves, which means that we did as well. So many friends and family came to share the day, which meant a lot to all of us. We had a lovely lunch and toasts to the couple and many good visits.
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| Everyone pitched in to help decorate |
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| Dad with his favorite daughter-in-law Alice |
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| Someone's gotta do the hard work |
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| Dominic and Alice serve dessert - Mom's favorite Tiramisu |
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Greg and Alice, Craig and Maria with kids, Mom and Dad, Lisa
(and her love, David, was sadly missing) |
The surprise came at the end of the day when we announced to my mom that we were whisking her away for a girls weekend with her (female, immediate) family and a few friends. Lisa had arranged for us to rent a cabin in WI near a lake and off we went. A few days later, the guys joined us and we spent some great days together.
The downside to this is that Matthew had to miss the getaway since he had to return to BG early because his school year began on Aug. 14. (Craig's parents graciously stayed a few days extra in IL and then brought him home and helped him kick off the school year.) He is a tall, deep-voiced 10th grader, who although taller than his mother, would never mention that fact. He likes all his classes and teachers. The name "Zirbel" is known at the school (since he is the 3rd one), so he almost has to join the chess team. He even managed to get his summer reading and assignment finished - considering his very short summer, that was a great accomplishment. He still is a quiet, careful boy and loves to read, play computer games, and spend time with little kids. There isn't a mean bone in his body and I am very proud of who he is becoming.
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| Paul and Matthew to SJJ - 6:30 am comes early |
Paul spent 3 days at St. John's High School (shadowing Matthew and other students as well) last week and visited our public high school this past week. He is very helpful so is keeping busy helping with chores around our house (and earning some money with the neighbors). He is also very energetic and active so you will usually find him outside playing basketball, riding his long-board, or with the neighbors. He returns home on Sept. 1, in time to begin his school year. He will be in 9th grade this fall.
We returned to BG in time for Carissa to start her 6th grade year on Aug. 20. She is back at Lial, in a mixed age (6th, 7th and 8th grade) middle-school classroom and with many of her friends. She swept in, happy to be back and reunited with her school and friends. She continues to accel academically so is with the older kids much of the day. She has decided to try volleyball this year and is on a mixed 5th grade/6th grade team. (This is perfect for her since she is the age of the fifth graders but in 6th grade). She is also tall, but so far I am still in the lead. She still loves to decorate, plan and host parties and teas, be with her friends, accessorize, takes her clothing choices seriously, read, and avoid bedtime.
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| Carissa's middle school classroom |
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| Lial's beautiful wooded campus |
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| Beautiful young lady |
Many of you know that Dominic took a leave from CMU in the middle of the spring semester. He will remain home this fall and plans to return in January for the spring semester. He got caught in a perfect storm of too many math classes at one time, uninspiring teachers, and indecision about his own direction. He still loves to code and works part time (for a colleague of Craig's) creating a website for college students to use to learn about metabolism. It is very impressive. He is also attempting to become a professional e-gamer in the game League of Legends. This is an online game where you play as a 'champion' on a team of five and need to beat an opposing team of five. It requires learning about the characters, their strengths and weaknesses, how to work together on the team, etc. He finds it incredibly fun, and often plays with his brothers and dad (and his mom in her weaker moments). You can become a professional by being a top player (there are professional teams whose players make well into the 6-figures), or more likely, a very good player that streams their games for others to watch and learn from. It has been harder than he expected to advance, but he feels this likely his best chance to pursue this dream so he is doing so. When he returns to CMU, he will try to move into the school of computer science (and no longer double-major in math) and continue to figure out his career goals.
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| The doctor is in |
Craig began his new semester today (Aug. 25). He is teaching two classes; unusual for him in that one is an undergraduate class (in logic). The university has had a tough couple of years with budget cuts and low moral. The business model of student as consumer seems to drive higher education these days, but not in a good way. The math department had to let five instructors go at the end of last year and everyone is pushed to the limit. It will be an interesting year, to say the least.
In mid-September I will likely return to work (still part-time at home) at Maritz Research, where I was when we left. I will continue to do text analysis, so when you fill out those surveys at the bottom of your receipts and actually answer questions with words, be sure someone will read them! The challenge of re-learning the software and doing the programming is daunting so it will require me to stay positive.
I can only speak for myself in that the culture shock has been modest but a bit unsettling. I find I don't fit well into the spaces that fit me before. I can't really say
exactly how I've changed quite yet. I have wanted to leave Ohio for a better climate for
several years, so that is not new, but the homogeneous-ness as well
as the lack of cultural diversity (not just racial) is hard to adjust
to. Perhaps it is the "small town" feel, partly being in the
mid-west where people tend to be a bit more parochial (but gotta
love that friendliness and good nature), partly lousy weather, partly wanderlust.
As for specific moments, perhaps one example will illustrate. On the Sunday that Alex returned to CA, I stopped at a Lowe's on the way back home from the airport. I picked up the few things I wanted (several associates asking me if I wanted help, what??!!!) and went to the check-out counters. There were two registers open, although one was stalled with a price check. I was probably the second or third in line, and within a few moments, there were another one or two behind me. After another moment of no movement forward, the lady behind me said in a very disgusted voice, "only 2 registers open on a Sunday afternoon!".
On many levels this struck me as funny: the place was
actually open on a Sunday, people were around
to help, there were
2 (count 'em, 2)
registers open, I was
greeted by the cashier in a friendly way and asked if I needed any further assistance, and was on my way in a very
timely fashion. I also knew that if I wanted to return anything I purchased, I could do so very easily with little hassle.
I totally understand that these small things are just part of our culture here, and very expected, but once you are somewhere else, these small moments just look different. This still happens daily, usually with my reaction just a smile and a chuckle. No doubt this will wear off but for now, it gives me a sense of appreciation and patience I didn't have before!
I hope this fall finds you appreciating all the blessings in your life and that your journey takes you to new places. I know we will be back in Austria many times as it has become a second home with good friends and beautiful country. You are all very welcome to join us on either side of the pond and adventure with us.
Happy trails with our fondest wishes and love,
Maria
