und then there were zehn

location:
chaos house. i'm sitting at a computer desk in a room which contains more bookshelves than i can count ~ let's go with nine for now ~ as well as a dining table that seats eight, two couches, a sewing desk, the tv, two computers including mine and more...the floor is covered with three or four different carpets and the dining table with a colourful cotton cloth. the walls, or what remains between the bookshelves and the windows, are adorned with large photographic prints of africa ~ libya, i guess.

s'mum is sleeping soundly (slash having a nap) on one of the couches ~ her current bedroom because of oma's recently broken leg and subsequent extended stay at chaos house. we've had dinner already but it's still light outside coz it's daylight savings. atop the computer monitor in front of me lies a mini zezbbles and beyond that an array of baseballs, photos, trophies, statues, candles, vases, ashtrays and other odds n ends. i can see, but just barely, the mammoth front hedge and the top of elisabeth's house across the road.

soundtrack:
nichts (pronounced "nix" = nothing) but my fingers clicking on the keyboard. the coffee was bubbling but it's stopped now. s'mum was snoring but she's stopped too. i think she operates in tandem with the coffee, you would too if you drank that much of the stuff! i can hear the cars going by outside on kierling hauptstrasse, that's the main street between klosterneuberg, tulln and beyond.

every now and then oma (grandma) coughs or shuffles about. but the house is quieter than it's been all week coz the schierach kids are all at waterpolo training and markus is keeping to his sleepy self upstairs. it's a good opportunity to complete the final module of my tefl course, the young learners module. but i can't be arsed.
i got my grammar results a couple of days ago and with 94%, i'm giving myself a break. don't actually know how useful or necessary that piece of paper is going to be. seems i might be okay for a job without it.

today, s'mum and i met with stella (christian's friend AC's mum), who's british and teaches at the vienna international school. we talked a bit about different teaching opportunities in vienna, and a lot about travel and life and all sorts of other things. i'm going to meet her next week at the school, hopefully to meet with the head of her department and some other teachers from australia and nz and see if they've got any ideas for me.

but i'm not too worried coz i had a pretty successful day yesterday. i met with the principal of zeiselmauer primary school where our neighbour elisabeth teaches. i visited the school a few times last time i was staying in kierling and, together with gabs once, managed to teach the kids a few games and some bad habits! it was a lot of fun though and i'd be keen to work there again...if i get paid, and it seems i might!

the principal, karin, was really friendly and excited to meet me and keen to have me working there assisting the other teachers with their english classes. only thing is, she has to find out how keen THEY are. and how much the parents are prepared to pay. it probably wont be all that much per student but, because of the number of students, will work out to be more than enough for me.

karin also made an appointment next tuesday, for me to meet with the principal of klosterneuberg gymnasium (that's what they call the more academic high schools here, as far as i can gather) which is closer to home and would involve working (potentially) as a teacher's assistant with high-school aged kids, i think 12-18 or something...so we'll see how that goes!

oh yea, and i've got an interview with biztalk on monday too. and another meeting scheduled for the following week with teachers representing all of lower austria and the man who writes the english language books for each year level for ALL the schools. should be interesting whether or not it involves any chance of employment.


so my life's been pretty busy coz that's not even the half of it. yea, if you can believe it, chaos house got even MORE chaotic this week. with the sudden arrival of cousin olivia from salzburg, our population rose to zehn (ten, duh!)...including the ghost and the dog. i wouldn't have thought there was room for more but i don't know that s'mum would be able to say no if she tried.

olivia's gone home now though so we'll be back down to seven, coz i don't really include the ghost and the dog! fugazi and i have been hangin out a bit too, which has been cool. we met with J meister T (fugazi's mate who travelled to oz with her last year) and her brother gerald (fugazi's ex who used to live at chaos house too) at cafe leopold last sunday and it was, honestly, much better than i expected. JT was FULL of beans and had a million ideas for us to go out dancing, to bars, to yoga(!) and to circus workshops too!

but for now, i gots to GO, coz there's english language poetry on tonight at cafe kafka and i wanna check it out!!