watching through a window

I watched clouds form today. I know you must be thinking, "wow, she has a lot of time on her hands if she can do that." But it was one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. Probably the only other thing that I found so amazing recently was watching a spider spin it’s web. That was art right there. But back to the clouds, I failed to mention that today was the first rainy day I’ve experienced in Austria. It’s been incredibly hot here until today with my second day at 100º F. As I was walking to the train station I saw what looked like smoke rising from the forest near by. But i think it was steam. And now here’s my bit of theory and anyone who knows better can correct me. I think that all this steam was rising up because the trees work kind of as an insulation system for the ground they cover. So the earth in the forest was still very warm when it started raining. Therefore, when the cold rain hit the warm earth it just turned back into it’s gaseous form and rose up from the forest like steam rising from a pot soup. It slowly got higher and joined with other strands of steam and formed massive amounts of clouds because there are massive amounts of forest around here. It was beautiful watching them form while I was riding the train and listening to iron & wine. It was kind of surreal, in fact. Being on the train by myself in such a beautiful place, thinking, this is where I live. Iron & Wine was the icing on the cake. actually, Iron & Wine has kind of become my theme music for my stay so far. It’s so soothing and quieting.

that part of the entry is actually a little old, as of midday on saturday, but i still wanted to post it. the lettner's, the family i'll be au pair-ing (nannying) for only have dial up in their house and it's hooked up to their one, old pc. so, when i actually move there it might take me a couple of days to get to an internet cafe and post stuff. the picture above is of untersberg, the most recognizable mountain in salzburg. it's much taller than that but all those clouds that were being made kind of took over about half the mountain.

oh, by the way, false alarm with the water in the shower being backwards here than in the US. it's just the krifter's shower being weird.

on saturday, after i got to the lettner's, we went for a hike in the woods behind their house. there are a lot of old marble quaries back there and the kids like to go exploring back there. it was so cool to watch the kids play and watch thomas and birgit, the mom and dad, interact. thomas would explore with the kids some, showing them interesting things to look at and birgit would watch from a safe distance. and then, when the kids were content playing and romping around thomas would go sit by birgit and they would have quiet conversations. she would sometimes do a very cute, schoolgirlish laugh at something thomas said. you could just see the love eminating around them. i asked them later how long they've been married and they told me they've been married 9 years. and they're just as in love as ever. it's incredibly refreshing seeing that. as a babysitter i get to see how a lot of families work and, from what i've been able to see so far, this is one of the most functional families i've ever encountered. the dad is very involved with the kids but not at the expense of the mother. and the mother is not over protective or clingy with her children. and the boys will just be boys. there is so much love in the family and i'm so glad for the kids that they have such great parents to watch and learn what love looks like.

okay, enough with the mushy stuff. :) i have a key to lock my room so that the kids don't get into all my stuff while i'm gone. the great thing about this key is that it looks like the key from cinderella! i'm not lying! and for all you boys who didn't watch cinderella because it was a girl movie, it looks like a key that would open a treasure chest. you can even look through the key hole in my door! it's so cool.
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i also got to go to church on sunday. but the funny thing was that church was at night. apparently it always is except for one suday a month. it was really strange sleeping in on sunday morning and knowing that i wasn't skipping anything. as far as i could tell church was good. i really can't make much of an opinion on a first time visit along with not knowing the language very well. i think i will like it. i'll keep you posted.

one more thing and then i must start cooking, i had my first gueniss yesterday. yep. i think i was a little too gung-ho on trying a dark beer. the initial taste was good. it had one. but the aftertaste was almost unbearable. it was so bitter. but i think i might be able to like it after i've had some other stuff that isn't quite so strong. but i'm not going to go out of my way to try that one again. maybe at the end of the year. i might have worked up to it at that point.

i'm making a dish called "spanish tortilla" for the krifter's tonight. my mom got the recipe for this omlette but not type dish when we lived in spain. it's really good. it has potatoes and onions and eggs in it. so now i have to go make it.