Iowa Mom

Saturday, November 23^rd found me headed to Vienna.  I left the village at 7:00 am on the bus.  Once I arrived at the central bus station, I caught the electric trolley bus to the main train station.  I’d been there the day before to purchase my ticket.  If I’d known the system, I could probably have raced in and gotten on the 7:42 train to Vienna, but I was a bit slow and ended up finally figuring things out a few too many minutes late, which was fine.  I had intended to take the 8:42 train, anyway.  I settled into the small internet café, ordered tea, and waited for the next train.   Soon enough, I was on the next train – Vienna bound. 

The sun was out and it was a very pleasant train ride.  I had my breakfast with me, which I ate as I gazed at the passing countryside and small Austrian villages.  Within the hour we were pulling into the recently remodeled central train station – hauptbahnhof.  I quickly found an information desk and asked for directions to the Kardinal Konig Haus.  I had look it up online before leaving so had the address and a general awareness of where it was located in relation to the train station.  With a newly marked map in hand, I headed out and followed the signs to the U1 (underground – line 1).  I made it through the underground maze and found the right line headed in the right direction.  After two stops, I changed to the U4 line and once more figured out what I needed to do!  All of this time I’m remembering Tim and I navigating the Viennese transportation system in 2006 and the number of times I’d used the system map during one my class lectures to introduce graduate pre-service special educators to the idea of generalization.  Their task – compare the known, that is, the Portland Tri-Met Service map with the unknown, mystery transportation map, which is Vienna.  Seven stops later and an escalator ride, I emerged in a Viennese neighborhood at an electric trolley station. 

Here’s where it got confusing!  The lady at the train station had circled key interchanges, drawn arrows, and written the name of the final stop on the map.  She wrote Lainzerstrasse in the upper left quadrant of the map.  I found the 60 Tram line, looked carefully at the map, and noted the final destination to the north.  A quick check of the header on the tram indicated the bus was headed South – not the direction I needed to go.  I waited for the next tram – same, southerly direction.  Walked around – no Tram 60 headed North.  After the second tram left, I walked up to the driver of Tram 10.  He looked at where I needed to go and pointed to Tram 60 in the southerly direction and told me that was the right tram.  As directionally challenged as I am, I would never have thought that directions written in the north part of the paper would translate into a south direction! 

Fortunately, the directions on the Kardinal Konig Haus website noted Tram 60 and mentioned 4 stops.  As I was looking out the window, I realized we were on Lainzerstrasse and it didn’t appear to be a stop.  I was counting, looking for the stop, when I glanced out the window and saw the Kardinal Konig Haus off to my right.  I jumped up and scrambled off the tram.  Whew!!!

I was early so I walked around the neighborhood for a short while, purchased a Christmas table decoration for Astrid’s family, and got some cute little books.  I then settled myself into a chair and pulled out my crochet to pass the time.  I kept glancing up when I heard someone, but was immersed in my crochet when suddenly Astrid was standing in front of me.  I jumped up.  We hugged and there she was whispering “Iowa Mom, Iowa Mom” in my ear.  I was so glad to see her!  We’ve been so fortunate to stay in contact each time I’ve been to Slovakia.   Astrid is now a 40 year-old mother of two young boys who as an 18-year old stayed with us as a short-term exchange student in 1992.  We picked her up from the school in my Bronco II and immediately headed for Kansas City to spend a few days with friends for spring break.  It started snowing so bad I ended up pulling over and spending the night in a hotel.  What a trip and Astrid was such a trooper! 

Astrid was at the KKH for a continuing education class to become a school doctor.  She’s currently working as a factory doctor, part-time, which suits her and her family just fine.  We headed out to a traditional Austrian restaurant where we had schnitzel (me without the bread crumbs) and a potato salad, Astrid referred to as “bird salad.”  I found a picture, but since it was from someone else’s blog, I decided I’d better not use it.  It was a little sweeter than the usual German potato salad.  Evidently, the Viennese put sugar in theirs and then it was topped with some small, leafy greens.  It was delicious and my meat was perfect.  We absolutely couldn’t stop talking as we caught up with our families.  All too soon, our 2-hour lunch was over and it was time to say good-bye.  With a promise to see each other again, Astrid saw me off on the tram and I retraced my journey back to the train station and was soon on my way back to Bratislava.  It was only when I was on the U4, I realized I hadn’t gotten a picture of the two of us. 

What a wonderful day!  It really is a small world and I am so grateful for the people who have come into my life and enriched it beyond words.