3/29/11- Austria

3/29

Flowers my cousin picked for my grandma

Pretty Austrian landscape :)

Schweden Bomben!

9:30am: I woke up, watched my video diary again, and checked my email.

10:00am: I went downstairs to eat breakfast, packed my bag, charged all of my electronics, and got ready to go shower.

11:00am: I took a shower, changed, etc.
12:30pm: My grandpa and I went to go pick up Maximilian and Theresa from school. Theresa had brought some little flowers to give to my grandma, and I took a picture of them (above). Then, we arrived back at the house and had some delicious noodle-type food in soup, which tasted really, really good. We also had treats called "Schweden Bomben," which are chocolate round desserts filled with cream.
1:30pm: After lunch, we headed off to go to my dad's parents' house. My grandparents have wifi that they let me use (before, I was using a jump-drive-like thing that had five GB on it that cost a lot), so I went up to their living room and checked my email, facebook, etc.

3:30pm: We went to sit in my grandparents' terrace and had some ice cream with my grandparents and parents.

5:00pm: Then, my dad showed me some old electronic devices, like an Apple II and a huge "Portable Computer" (a.k.a. wanna-be laptop), which came with a strap to put over your shoulder because it was really heavy.

5:30pm: My parents and I left to go back to my other grandparents' house. I had a really bad headache, so I took a Tylenol. Then, we got back into the car a bit later to go to Theresa and Mathias's house.

6:00pm: We arrived at their house, had a really good dinner, and then promptly started working on a cool 1000-piece puzzle that they had been working on. It was a picture of a lighthouse and its reflexion in the water. It was really fun, and I had a great time!

9:15pm: It was time to go. :( We went back to my mom's parents' house, and I had a snack there.

10:10pm: I continued to write this diary and downloaded some pictures that I took today, and then worked on my vlog diary.

12:01am: Just finished my vlog diary from today- well, now i can say yesterday already! So I'm just going to rewatch it, make a few changes if necessary, and try to go to bed... talk to you later!
-Cora

3/28/11- Austria

Krapfen!!

3/28

I woke up this morning at around 8:30am and promptly fell back asleep until 10:30, which is late for me and would normally make me feel refreshed and eager to start a new day. Today, however, I felt as if I could sleep another ten hours. Nevertheless, I left to eat breakfast, and then I edited a bit of an old story I wrote a while ago.

Maximilian came to my grandma's house soon after, and we ate lunch. My favorite food that we ate was our dessert: some leftover chocolate cake (AMAZING!) and some Krapfen, which are round, doughy treats that taste like apricot jam and heaven.

Then, my parents left to go out together to Vienna, and I went upstairs to go play piano. One of the songs that I played was called 童话, which is Mandarin Chinese for 'Fairytale.' I sang along and felt immersed in the sad lyrics and the beautiful melody. It's about a man whose girlfriend is sick and is in the hospital, and he's singing this song to her, saying that he'll always be her prince an that together, they can write a new fairytale.

Another song I played was called The Legend of Arundel, which is a wonderful, expressive song. I love the mystery of its title and everything about how the song sounds and feels like as I play each note, each chord, and each measure. As I was playing, the window in my room was open, and the birds outside were twittering happily, and I felt as if I were actually in this mysterious place called Arundel.

When I stopped playing, I sat my the windowsill in my room, feeling the soft curtain against my skin, breathing in the crisp, cool air, looking at the beautiful mountains, hearing the lovely birds singing their many songs, and feeling the strong sun's beams as it peeked out of the clouds every now and then. I sat there, my knees drawn in to my body, and thought about life, and nature, and how too little people actually try to enjoy small moments like these, where nothing must be accomplished, where nothing really matters but the feeling of living. That's why I love to relax from time to time, other than the fact that it's enjoyable. People tend to be too busy in their everyday lives, and sometimes it seems as if everyone should enjoy moments of simple living as well as fulfill their to-do lists, finish all of their chores and errands. There should be room for both in everyone's lives: a balance maintained between the small things that must be accomplished and the larger, more meaningful aspects of life.

If that ^ made any sense to you, I suggest that you read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It's a really good book that touches on some of the things that I mentioned.

****

And now, as the sun's heat comes down on my head- as if it has eyes that are starting me down harshly, and I have to divert my eyes so as to not feel its sharp gaze- I smile, get off the windowsill, feeling as though the sun's burning heat could be an omen, telling me to follow my Personal Legend- to live out my dreams (again, read The Alchemist!)- and write.

****

Then, I left for Maximilian and Theresa's house. Theresa still had homework to do, so I played badminton outside with Maximilian for half an hour until she was ready. Then, we went inside, I showed Maximilian and Theresa the video I had made for them, we played Jenga, and then we went into their playroom, where I took TONS of pictures xD.

After that, I had to go, and when I arrived at my grandparents' house, I had dinner, I made a video version of my diary, and went to bed around 1am the next morning.


-Cora

3/27/11- Austria

3/27

I finished watching the movie and writing the email to Mollie around 1:30am this morning, and I fell asleep until 9 o'clock. Then, I had breakfast, sent the email to Mollie,  thought about my new story idea a lot, had lunch later, and eventually got to looking at the board game I got yesterday, Asara. It said that the instructions were simple, but inside the box, I found a whole piece of paper dedicated to the game's set-up, and then about six or seven pages worth of instructions. *sigh* I started the set-up process, did a sudoku puzzle- it was soo cool! It had little colored boxes, and this time, the numbers 1-9 were in columns, rows, 3x3 grids, AND color!- and then my mom and dad left to go visit an old friend. In the meantime, I worked more on my story idea, played piano for my grandma, and ate dinner. Then, I played UNO and Tabu (regular, not XXL) with my grandparents, and after a few hours, my parents came back, and I headed off to bed. There, I re-watched a few Leverage episodes and did a bit of English and Mandarin homework before finally falling asleep at around 12:30am.


-Cora

3/26/11- Austria

3/26


I couldn't sleep well at all, so I read more of Fang (sooo addicting!!). I ended up falling asleep at around 3:30am, which is pretty late by my standards. Theresa woke up at around 6:30am, which woke me up, so my amount of sleep was limited, and I had a migraine when I woke up.

After lying in bed for a while, feeling horrible, I took a Tylenol, got up, and ate breakfast: cereal and leftover cake. xD

After that, I finished reading Fang, my migraine faded away, and I immediately started Angel, the next book.

Then, my aunt took Theresa and me (Maximilian stayed at his house with his dad) to a store so that she could buy a birthday present for me that I liked. I found a game called Asara that looked interesting, yet slightly complicated. It said on the back that the rules were really simple, though, so I took it nevertheless.

We arrived back home, and my dad was there- he'd been working for the first week of my break.

After I said my hellos to my dad and my farewells to Theresa and my aunt, I had good food, and then I went to my room, read more of Angel. I simply couldn't put it down. My heart was pounding the whole time: I needed to know what would happen next. Maximum Ride is one of my favorite series after Harry Potter, right up there with The Hunger Games. James Patterson is fantastic.

Anyway, after I finished reading Angel, freaking out about how amazing it was, and getting upset about waiting until the last book, which comes out next year and just so happens to be called "The End of Maximum Ride," which makes me wonder if it's referring to the end of the series or the end of her life (because, though everyone dies at some point, it'd be creepy to read about her death), I watched a few of the Bonus Materials for Harry Potter 3. The last one I watched was called Creating a Vision, and it featured J.K. Rowling and Alfonso Cuarón, the director. It was really inspiring, and I got a really cool idea for a story I could write from watching it!

Then, I watched the Harry Potter 3 movie and started writing an email to Mollie, one of my BFFs from school, with a commentary of what I thought about it and basically noting all the parts that I cracked up at, quotes that I adore, etc. If I do say myself, it was pretty awesome.

-Cora

3/25/11- Austria

The playset my grandpa built for my cousins

3/25

It's my birthday! I woke up this morning around 7am and sighed happily. Another year had gone by. I looked outside the window. The sun was shining brilliantly outside, the mountains were in the distance, and everything was simply beautiful. Thinking about the exciting things that I would do today, I fell asleep again until 10am. Then, I had breakfast- bread and apricot jam- read more of Fang, and went to pick up Maximilian and Theresa from school.

****

The little stones on the road crunch beneath my soft boots. Warm air surrounds me, yet a cool breeze blows across my face. The sun hangs brightly overhead, its heat radiating out onto my face.
The breathtaking scenery surrounds me: mountains standing proudly on the horizon, grassy fields around me, and a serene, little town.

I see my cousins walking home from school with my mom, who had caught up with them on their way, and I smile at them. I reach them, they shake my hand and wish me a happy birthday, and I hug them both.

We went back to our grandparents' house, Theresa and I skipping and laughing part of the way, and then we had some delicious food, as usual.

After we ate, Theresa, Maximilian, and I went outside to play in the playset that my grandpa built for Theresa and Maximilian a few years ago. It was so beautiful and warm outside, and I took around 80 pictures and short videos.

Theresa and my aunt, who came back from work around that time, invited me to stay at their house that night, so I packed some of my belongings together.

Then, it was time for my birthday party, which would take place at my aunt's house. I started getting everything ready, and then my other Austrian friends, Mathias and Theresa, who are twins that are around the same age as I am, came over. We started by having cake- there were THREE kinds that my grandma had made- and talking a bit. Then, while the adults stayed downstairs to converse together, my guests came upstairs to play games. At first, it was a bit awkward, but then everyone started opening up, and it was really fun. We played Charades, 20 Questions, Tabu XXL, and a few games that don't really have a name. For example, there's a game in which everyone, in turn, is blindfolded, and has to feel an object and guess what it is. There's another fun game in which everyone gets in a circle around a chocolate bar. Everyone, in turn, rolls a die. If someone rolls a six, that person has to put on an old winter hat and a pair of thick gloves, and then attempt to cut as much chocolate as possible off the bar. In the meantime, everyone else is still passing around the die, hoping to get a six as well- because that means that the previous person at work cutting chocolate must immediately stop and take off the warm clothing and knife. The objective of the game is to get as much chocolate as possible! I ended up winning, though I cut off so much chocolate that I would've never been able to eat that much, so I gave most of my pieces back for everyone else to have.
We also played a game that's probably my second favorite game we played (after Tabu XXL) in which one player gets a picture- of a room, an assortment of objects, etc.- that they must describe as well as possible to the other players, who draw the picture based on what the first player tells them. When the first player is finished explaining, all drawings are shown and compared to the original drawing. It's actually really entertaining: we ended up playing it five times!

Anyway, after a while of having fun, the twins had to leave, and Maximilian, Theresa, and I started getting ready for bed.

3/24/11- Austria

3/24

Note: When I said I was going to bed last night, that didn't really happen. After I wrote that entry, I watched some movie makings and read a few chapters of Fang (the next Maximum Ride book) until 12:40am this morning.

****

I woke up around 9:30 and was really tired, but I nevertheless went downstairs and ate breakfast. I took a shower and a little nap afterwards, completed a few Sudoku puzzles, and soon enough, it was lunch time. I had some delicious pasta with ham and then I studied a bit of Chinese, played piano, played cards with my mom and grandma, etc.

****

Later on, it was time for dinner, and I had some leftovers from lunch and bread and honey. I called my dad, played more cards and watched another Leverage episode with my mom.

****

Now, I'm upstairs in bed and it's almost 11pm. It's dark outside, and the time is ticking by quickly. It's almost my birthday, March 25th. By the time I wake up, I'll already be able to say that I'm a year older. It's just another day, another 24 hours, another little bit of time drifting away. But it's a special little bit of time, and one to treasure. As I grow older, along with everyone else in the world, it just serves as a reminder that everyone is unique: everyone has a moment in their life in which they were born, and everyone has a story: a past that always stays with them, a present that they are living, and an unpredictable future that is yet to come.

The time is still flying by, every future becoming a present, and every present becoming a past. Time is a cycle, one that is everlasting and everchanging. And it's beautiful that way.