Hotel Rooms

Last night’s bus load of students was American. I heard them chattering in the halls again, though they weren’t nearly as noisy as the Italians and they were all girls. This morning they stumbled in to breakfast bleary eyed and bed-headed – as did I, though not as bleary eyed as yesterday. Staying in hotels …


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Sleepless in Salzburg

Because I work at home most of the time, I forget what going to an office is like. Being in this modern glass box isn’t really much different than being in any modern glass box – there’s computer hardware and wires everywhere, tan cubes full of technology nerds in cool shoes, a messy kitchen… we …


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Splat.

It went like this: The recruiter called at about 4. The phone interview was at 5. I asked about deadlines and location and the hiring manager said he’d get back to me. The offer came a few minutes later with the answer that yes, I could work from home part of the time. The usual …


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Laundry Quandaries

For as long as I’ve been coming to Austria, laundry has been much more than a mundane chore. It’s been an existential crisis. There’s been much anxiety around who does the laundry, when it’s done, and where. It’s a whole thing with cultural identity and family structures, trust me, you don’t want to know. Things …


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A Day in the Life

I am, always have been, a hopelessly early riser. Husband gets up at the crack of to go to work. Earlier this winter, when it was still pitch dark when he crawled out of bed, I went back to sleep, but now that daylight is leaking in, I’m getting up too. My mornings are very …


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Burkah Blues

On Sunday afternoon I was flipping through the newspaper at MIL’s house. I had a nice piece of cake in front of me. A big spoonful of whipped cream was dissolving in to my coffee. I can’t really read the Kronen Zeitung, plus, I’m always put off by the topless girl on page three. “This …


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