Fön with Fünferschlag and ...COOKED OATMEAL???

I am so happy that week was over. Here is what I have been up to the past three weeks:

Fön
Yes, he came again in full force and whenever this dry wind decides to rip through the city, every time I feel its affects worse and worse. It started with insomnia and headaches, but this last time it culminated to vivid day-dreams that would last minutes and by the time I finally snap out of them I find myself somewhere with no recollection as to how I got there.

Concerts:
My host family and I have been having trouble finding times to meet since our class this semester is rather wacky (class begins at 6pm on Tuesdays), so rather than dinner they have been inviting me to some strange events, most of them being concerts in some form. First, two Monday's ago, my host-brother's band Stichprobe, had a concert at the Weekender. While their experimental rock music wasn't to much to my liking, it was fun to finally see him play. I had never been to the Weekender before and really liked it, but it strangely reminded me of an Austrian Legends. Then last Saturday, as we were having a group Knödel dinner (traditional Tirolean bread dumplings the size of pool balls with cheese, bacon, or spinach) my host mom gave me a call to see if I wanted to see a band at Triebhaus (concert venue) with her because she couldn't convince anyone in her family or her friends to come. The band sounded interesting and it turned out being really fun. They were called Fatima Spar und die Freedom Fries and they played a really interesting mix of dixeland, swing, baltic folk, pop, among others. Plus the trumpet player of the group harmonized with himself by playing two trumpets at once, one of the most amazing trumpet feat's I've seen! Then the next day my host mom's cousin in law (???) who was in a chior had a concert of Haendel's "Messiah" which she invited me to. I said yes regardless of the two mid-terms and 6 page paper in german about one of history's most boring figures I had due that week. I did enjoy parts of the symphony but 2.5 hours is a long time for me to sit still.

Oatmeal
I have been eating a lot of it lately since its cheap and filling. About three times I have been asked by curious Austrians in the kitchen what I was doing when I was cooking it. I was really confused why they were asking since they sell large bags of it in the store, they must also eat it, but apparently they don't ever cook it... One time one girl was really interested and I told her what I was doing and then she announced to several other very interested Austrians in the kitchen, "So you add milk and water and oatmeal and you cook it, then add sugar, cinnamon, and fruit!" And everyone was very amazed at this fascinating looking grey mash I was consuming and I now feel very self conscious when I eat it.

Schuhplatterl
So a few of us signed up for this weekend-long dance course at the university sport institute. I was looking forward to it all month. It's called the Schuhplatterl and is the hysterically nerdy bouncy slap dance that they do in Bavaria and Tirol. There were about fifteen other students in the class and our tiny southern tirol teacher and his accordian-playing sister in law taught us about six different dances. The dance itself is suprisingly difficult, and after doing 8 hours of it that weekend, my thighs were extremely raw from all their slapping, and my hamstrings were worn out from all of the "hochsprungen" (high kung-fu-esque kick jumps) we had to do. The entire experience was really fun and we ended up making a lot of Austrian friends, but I often find myself jumping and slapping myself around the streets of the city to practice.

Search for Lederhosen
So I was greatly inspired after the above course and decided that it would be fun to own a pair of lederhosen, the only accepted wear when doing the Schuhplatterl. I was starkly against buying these when I first arrived here since they were unbelievably expensive - 300 euro for the cheapest pair - but I've grown a liking to them in the past 7 months. I went to one of the really nice places just to try on a pair and see how they felt and when I put them on, it felt like I was born to wear them and I became obsessed. I started checking Austrian Ebay as well as the the poor excuses for second hand shops they have in town and even visited a giant flea market and I came across almost nothing. I had every Austrian I knew (Host fam, Guertlers, teachers) helping me out with this search. Finally my host mom pointed out that a Trachtengeschaeft (traditional clothing store) in town was having a sale with lederhosen half off). A lot of boring things you dont care about happened and then I found myself paying only 99 euro for a brand new pair that fit me perfectly. It was over my budget (I told myself I wouldnt pay more than 60 euro) but they fit me, were exactly what I wanted, and weren't unreasonable. And now I have no remorse whatsoever, I'm obsessed, and even though the Austrians in the kitchen are snickering at me, I can't stop wearing them, I'm actually wearing them right now.

I think that's all the interesting things that have happened recently.