Nerd's eye view - next try

To be honest I'm not really fond of this blog, but we have to check it out, though. I couldn't really find any entries which were remotely interesting for me. The only thing I found worth reading I want to share with you now. It's an interview about expats Pam recently took part in. I picked out the most interesting aspacts concerning culture and oppinions about Austria. I have to appologize for copying this part, but I don't have too much time today - it's Easter sunday and the Easter meal is waiting (-:

Here we go - enjoy:

-What do you think about the Austrians?
I find Austrians are friendly in a formal sort of way. They are absolutely willing to make the effort to communicate with you, and they can be quite a cheerful lot. But I also find their formality stifling. One doesn’t just drop by an Austrian’s home, one is invited. I also find them a bit disinterested in the new, and if you’re a foreigner, that means you. They can be very hierarchical and bogged down in titles – I find it odd that my mother-in-law will say hello from her front gate to Mrs. Lady with Dog even though they have known each other for 50 years. I am sometimes introduced as “Mrs. Husband’s Name” and I never get used to it. I don’t even use my husband’s name, so I have to look around and see who they’re talking about!
I once met a baker who had traveled a lot in the US. He said that he was stunned by how the people he met would invite him home to stay and MEAN it. Strangers he’d met in campgrounds would open their homes to him, let him sleep in their spare room, feed him, and show him around. “It takes an Austrian 10 years to invite you to stay in their home!” he said.

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Austria?
Ah, the nature (where we live) in Austria is stunning. The snowy winters, the clean sparkling rivers, it is an outdoor lover’s playground almost all of the year. The food is outstanding, not just the meals you get in restaurants, but the quality of the ingredients you can get in the markets – there is so much less weird chemical stuff in the food. Austria isn’t a particularly challenging place to live, there are no deprivations, and it’s clean and stable and very safe. Austria is the land of Mozart, opera, high culture and art, and there’s plenty to enjoy.
On the downside, in spite of its updated appearance, Austria is old Europe. It’s bureaucratic, painfully slow to adapt to change, xenophobic at times. I dislike the cultural homogeneity and the isolation of nonwhite, non-Christian populations. Austrians dislike change and for this American, accustomed to embracing the new, it’s very frustrating at times.

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Austria?
Learn the language, learn the language, learn the language. That’s huge. Embrace nature – it’s one of Austria’s finest resources – I learned to XC ski there and love it. Expect bureaucracy and be patient with it. Things will get done even if it takes nine times as long as you’d expect. Eat cake and plenty of it because cake is high art in Austria. Traditionalists are likely to feel very much at home almost anywhere in Austria – less conventional types should make a beeline for Vienna.