An Austrian Christmas

After a year long trip in Africa (and a little Europe) we came home, at least for one of us, to relax with Eva's family in Austria.  Oh man, what a relief not to be carrying a backpack for a while.  Of course the flip side of that was that now I had to carry a hat, gloves, and a winter coat everywhere.  We spent half the time in Bergl (South-Eastern Austria) and half in Vienna.  In between meeting up with people, looking for a job in Hong Kong, celebrating the festivities, looking at schooling, and non-stop eating, we had a busy two months.

The Prater in Vienna.

Willkommen zum Geisterschloss.

When you play men versus women there tends to be one side that wins.

At least someone is happy.

Lucas, Eva's student from Chile, came to celebrate Christmas in Bergl.

Christmas football.

Too tired to move.

Little David the star child.

Doug came to visit for the New Year's.  And he brought some friends!

New Year's Eve beer on the Ubahn.

Walking on the frozen Danube.

Playing with my birthday present.

Budapest

Our final stop on our year trip was Budapest.  The head of the Hungarian Empire and the best party in Europe.

 

 

The Chain Bridge connecting Buda and Pest.

The most expensive building in Hungary.

Europe's largest synagogue.

Eva; colder than Ice Santa.

A Ruin Bar; famous for the nightlife in Budapest.

A real life Disney castle.

Beograd

From Bulgaria we crossed over to Serbia and stayed in the capital city of Belgrade.  Belgrade translates to white city.  The city lies where the Saba and Danube river converge and once was on the border between the Austrio-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.  Because of its strategic importance, poor Belgrade has been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times.  It is called the white city from the stone used in its many reconstructions.  Serbia is famous for party, and for a good reason; the local drink of choice rakija will put you under the table before you know it.  Eva and I had some hot rakija to keep warm on those cold, dark Yugoslavian nights. 

King Alexander, liberator of the Serbians.

A nice sample bottle of Rakija.

Belgrade's famous naked man.  His bum is facing Austria.

Ms. Mader warming up with a rakija in the ? bar, Belgrade's oldest.

София

Our Europe trip was just major cities.  From Istanbul we crossed over to Bulgaria and the capital Sofia (seen above in its original Cyrillic).  Sofia in winter time is what I always imagined Soviet Russia to look like.  It was cold, snowy, and chuck-full of communist era statues.  That being said, it was interesting to see and worth a visit.

What nightmares are made of.

No love for Marxists.

Istanbul

Eva and I decided we hated perfect temperatures, cheap food, and all-you-can-eat lychees, so we went to Europe.  First stop: Istanbul.  With the recent happenings in Turkey, we had the imperial city almost by ourselves.  Istanbul is great.  We got an AirBnB two blocks from Sultan Ahmed square.  What neither of us were ready for was close to freezing rain.  We spent almost all of our time in the city whining about how bloody cold it was but still we got to see, eat, and walk our way around the city that connects Europe and Asia (making it that I technically went to 5 continents in less than 1 year).

The dome of the Blue Mosque.

Eva converted just to stay warm.

The church, turned mosque, turned museum Hagia Sophia.

The Sultan Ahmed/Blue Mosque from the second story window of Hagia Sophia.

Where dreams are made/slow spun to perfection.

Getting schmusig with a lion from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.

A view of the Golden Horn from the Asian side.

A Year in Africa

After one year in Africa (okay, okay, 11 months) we flew to Istanbul to do a short Eurotrip.  There are many ways one could wax poetic about their time crossing the continent.  If you are looking for that, just find a book with Africa on the title and a white person pictured on the cover.  Still, I have had an incredible opportunity to see, experience, and jump off of a number of things.  One thing this blog doesn't capture how much help we got along the way: from my family, Eva's family, friends, shopkeepers, mototaxi drivers, minibus drivers, hotel staff, park rangers, fruit stall ladies, fellow teachers, racist Afrikaaners (they helped us, but not much else), exchange students, NGO workers, Malawian border post officials, Swazi wine enthusiasts, Drakensberg tour guides, a family of strong Zulu women, and sometime strangers on the street.  We had to pay a few bribes, someone tried to drive off with my bag, I know I gave a guy in Nairobi 10 dollars for nothing, and ironically the meanest people ever were to us was technically in France, but overall, everyday, people took us in, treated us well, and made us feel welcome.  Africa is special, because in everyway, life struggles to survive.  Thank you to everyone who made it an absolutely photogenic year.

Making Money in Madagascar

Madagascar is really, really big.  Also the infrastructure is bad, like really really bad.  I have seen some bad infrastructure and Madagascar said "No, No, my friend, you've seen nothing yet."  One thing both Eva and I found unique about the Malagasy is how much more vibrant life on the big island is than the neighboring continent.  It may not be easy to get places in Madagascar, but where ever you go, people are going somewhere.  Business is more active, people are more creative, and you see more of both gender walking down the road.  In fact, it seems that business is always a family affair. Here is a touch of Malagasy work life.

 



Selling baguettes out of a Renault 4.

A Zebu at market.

Finally touching a hump.

Market coffee.

Zebu truck drivers playing Petanque while waiting for the sale..

Making treebark paper.

Wild silkworm cocoons. 

Wild silk scarves.  They are all dyed with natural dyes like beetroot, passion fruit leaves, and turmeric.

The Antananarivo Taxis.