Rotes Kreutz, Heavy Metal, und Judenburg

The day after Christmas, Johannes and I drove to the Red Cross station which was right in front of the hospital. We had to reschedule my volunteer hours due to the funeral and get my official tour of the facility and of the ambulances themselves. The building itself was huge, as it was the old hospital building. There were rooms for storage, offices, the main call center, a room for the first responders to relax as they waited for the calls, rooms for sleeping overnight if it was your turn to be on call, a youth center, classrooms for training, and the entire lower portion was the garage where the ambulances and cars were parked. Fairly similar to ambulances in the US, the Red Cross had many smaller versions of these vehicles about the size of a utility van in the states.

These smaller vehicles were used for doing transports to and from the hospital. The two large ambulances were fully equipped with fluorescent lighting, refrigerated and heated cabinets for medicines and IV saline bags, and more equipment than you would hopefully ever need.

I will have to wait until the start of January to see if I have a spot to work, as there are a lot of people in the process of being trained to work, and they of course get the first priority of shifts to get their hours in. The next day Johannes and I rode bikes to the village next to Hartberg to visit his friend Patrick, whose family owns a farm and hotel/restaurant. It was about 60 degrees F, so getting out and getting some fresh air was a must. There is no snow on the ground, and the sun is shining...definitely doesn’t feel like December! We biked back into Hartberg and to the other end of the town to a small park at the edge before heading down the road a little bit to the hospital to visit Johannes’ mom at work. The park was beautiful and several benches were set up overlooking the down on the hill.

There was no formal reception area, just a few desks off to the side of the main lobby with information. At one end of the lobby was a waiting area surrounded by several numbered doors. This was the emergency area, anyone coming in for stitches, burns, etc would be treated here. It was just weird that there were no hallways or wings, just rooms just directly off the lobby.

There we three stories to the hospital and a top floor with access to a roof garden. Johannes’ each floor split off into 2 wings, with each wing a different department. After the quick visit, we headed back to the house on our bikes...I told him that I could find my own way back from where we were, so Johannes forced me to ride in front and prove it...I of course did ;)

That night after dinner, Engelbert, Johannes, Kathi and I walked to a heavy metal concert (it was similar to a garage band concert) with a few different bands playing throughout the night. It was held in an old warehouse building, with a large stage at the front, a connecting room with a fireplace and standing bar tables and a beer bar, and in the back, a full bar. It was crazy to see how many young people were there...I think Johannes and I may have been some of the oldest there. It was weird to be in a place that allowed smoking and where almost everyone smoked. We had to leave for a bit to get some air, so we walked to McDonalds.

It was by far the nicest McDonalds I had ever been in. There was a full coffee bar with bakery off to one side, the regular ordering stations, and then extremely nice leather seating with modern decorations. The menu was also a little different...when you order chicken nuggets, you get Curry Sauce instead of honey or barbeque sauce, or ranch. With curly fries (which I have also never seen at a McDonalds in the US) you get sour cream instead of Catsup. We did go back to the concert for a little while before heading home, but we didn’t stay too long. I discovered my strong dislike for smoke-filled rooms, extremely crowded places, and ridiculously loud noises. Apparently I just wasn’t meant to be a heavy metal fan.

The next morning Johannes and I got up early to catch a bus to Graz. From there we took a train from Graz to Judenburg, the town where his mothers’ parents and family have a farm in the mountains.

We got there just in time to have a HUGE lunch that was amazing. Everything made from scratch and either raised themselves or bought from other farmers. My new favorite food is Selmerknodel...really hard to explain, but tastes kind of like a really flavorful stuffing. It is formed into a ball, baked, and then cut into slices and served hot. After lunch, we went on a tour of the new barn and milking operations.

Austria just passed a law forcing farmers to give their cows more space to roam around even inside the buildings. With this new law and the need for updated milking equipment, the family decided to build a new barn. Although they only have 30 cows producing milk, this remains their full time job. The old barn serves as the barn for the young calves and yearlings.

After the tour, we went back to the house to warm up and ate Mehlspeise (cookies and cakes) and coffee with ice cream and hand-whipped cream on top. We then went on a walk around the land and to see the old farm building from the original barn, etc. We talked about the differences between American and Austria and before dinner headed back to the barn to help out with the chores.

Dinner was Jause, just like at Johannes’ home-only being on a farm, most of the products were home-raised/home-grown. After dinner, the Christmas bell rang and we went into the room with the Christmas tree. The candles and sparklers were lit and we sang Christmas songs, drank wine, and ate more Christmas cookies and candies before heading to bed.

The next morning, we slept in and around 11, the rest of Johannes’ family came for lunch. Again, a huge meal cooked from scratch. Absolutely delicious. Although I think Austria is fabulous as it, if anything, the food is amazing. We visited for a while longer, loaded up the car and drove and hour and a half up and over a mountain to his dad’s parent’s farm for dinner.

Tomorrow we will maybe go into town and to a spa before visiting some more family. Aufweidersehn!