Settling In

Nordkette just out the window. 

     What could have occupied our time so in the last month that we couldn't write a blog entry sooner? Well the photo above might give you a clue . . .
   
     Settling in to a new country takes a lot of work, which we knew when we arrived here, or at least thought we did. There are the endless bureaucratic hoops to jump through and expenses to cover, those were expected. It was the uncertainty of having no permanent address, the uncertainty of our ability to even stay in the country, and the emotional output needed to make a new place your home that took a toll on us. The past few weeks have been exhausting, but also full of successes, good memories, and a lot of learning.

Carrying home some loot from Ikea.

360 view of the apartment

     First and foremost, we are now very happily inhabiting a small apartment of our own about fifteen minute's walk from the centre of Innsbruck. This comes after a month of staying with various generous friends around Innsbruck, and some time spent in Airbnb. We really owe it to our friends from church for the fact that we are even still here. We arrived in Austria for the beginning of the fall semester, when seemingly every student was in competition with us for real estate. Add to that the fact that we are Canadians and not students, so a guarantee of our sticking around to pay the rent was not obvious to potential landlords. It took a long time to find anything, much longer than we had money to pay for a hotel or Airbnb room, so thank you so much to the generous Innsbruck folk who put us up and made this past month possible. Finally we did find a place though, and it seems to be just perfect for us. Its not too far from downtown, just big enough to meet our needs, has a full kitchen, a great view, and it came nearly completely furnished which saved us hundreds of Euros. With our photos, a few posters and plants, and all of our stuff (finally!) out of the duffel bags, it has quickly become home. Since Christi and I gave up our apartments in Kamloops, its was nearly four months before we were staying in a place we could call our own. Needless to say, we love this little space a lot.

View from our balcony.

     Having a place to live is not all that is required to stay here however, and that's not all we've been working on! Christi continues at her job at the cafe, but will no longer be the sole bringer-home-of-the-bacon come December, when I start a job as a ski instructor! A few weeks ago I sent out a bunch of emails, in German, to ski schools around Innsbruck, and surprisingly two got back to me. I met with the boss of one school the next day, and somehow walked away with the promise of a job. It was the dream interview we all hope will happen to us one day, so at 26 I guess I've had mine, and its all downhill from here. . . We got along really well and chatted about skiing in British Columbia compared to Austria, in English thankfully. I learned that despite my lack of German or ski instructor skills, it was my audacity to send an email in bad German that got me the interview, and my attitude that got me the job. I walked away with the promise of work and a boss excited to work with me. Now I need to study the Tyrolean ski school manual, and maybe go out and practice some skiing.

    The last piece in the puzzle is my visa, which is looking about as positive as possible before I have that coveted little red card in my wallet. We had a great meeting with the immigration office where we learned we were applying for the wrong document (maybe? we're still not quite sure). However, we happened to have every document they could possibly want in our backpack, and started a new application right there, watching the officer raise his eyebrows and chuckle when we had each thing he asked for. In the end we were only short two documents, one of which was a job offer for me, and I had just been to the interview a few days before! So we hope to have final say on my status this week.

     Things are really coming together. Of course, we haven't spent the last month just filling out forms and attending meetings, even if it felt like it. See below some photos from recent wanderings. Stay tuned for visa news, Molly's Innsbruck visit, and some glacier skiing pictures!

- Harry

Innsbruck's central square, Maria Theresien Strasse.

Enjoying the last of the fall sun.

The Goetheweg, a very manufactured trail that quickly became very un-manufactured (see below).

On the ridge at Rumerspitze.

Christi navigates a particularly spicy section of the ridge.

Hiking up to Nockspitze. 

Castle ruin above the village of Thaur.

En route to Thaur from Innsbruck.

Bacon socks.