Saris

This semester I'm taking a course called "Fashion, lifestyle and culture" and today it was related to the materiality of clothing where the sari was used as an example through this study. I will spare you for the details, but the lecture was packed with colorful images that had me go straight home to look for more. And now I figured I might as well post some of them here...

All these colors are such a stark contrast to those dark colors that are prevalent in clothing in Scandinavia! (It was an American friend who once pointed out the Danes' love for black to me. I had never though about it before, but I do think she's right.)

Now, who would have thought I would be writing about clothing of all things... I for sure didn't.

Obviously I can't take credit for these images, but check out tripowski|pepealcaide|entrelec|sarahlane who took the pictures for more great material.

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Einen Knödel im Hals

We've started the birthing class. It's all going well, and the midwife is really nice and not difficult to understand, which is great! Last time she was among a lot of other things talking about the baby blues, how the hormones crash a couple of a days after delivery and how one can expect to be down without no apparent reason. She described the I-think-I-need-to-cry-but-I -don't-know-why-feeling as having a Knödel im Hals - to have a Knödel in ones throat. The analogy of course makes sense even for non-locals like us, but I still found the expression totally hilarious and SO Austrian. Now I can't wait to put in into use myself: Hey friend, you got a Knödel im Hals?

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The Junior Mints

When going home we usually stock up on Icelandic/Danish candy, which is later kept under somewhat strict rules of consumption. We sometimes bring stuff to friends to share whatever we have from home (and before we leave by the way, we will negotiate about giving away the Icelandic versus the Danish stuff, because ... it's precious stuff you know, and both of us are obviously quite protective about what comes from our home). :)

Anyways, last time we went to the US Bjarni bought some candy in the airport while waiting for our flight back - and among those things were a box of Junior Mints. Now if you know Seinfeld, you must remember the episode where Kramer accidentally drops a Junior Mint into the patient's body under a surgery (see the clip here). Our Junior Mints have been laying in a kitchen cabinet among the other goodies from afar, and have only been allowed to come out when we were watching Seinfeld. Now the box is sadly empty, but boy has that box been treasured!

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Farmor macht Wien

My energetic and soon to be 90-year-old farmor (grandmother) made it to Vienna together with my dad and Anni over the long weekend. It's been such a great visit with lots of food and music. They brought along lots of goodies from Denmark for us and the baby. Now after days of being tourists along with the family, both of us have to return to a busy student life, which proves to be quite intensive these days. Arg, I definitely prefer family visits...

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The Scientist Hairdo

Sometimes when my questions or comments are replied with silence, when he is so focused on his arabidobsis thaliana and his genome wide association mapping (?!), his hair will look like this. I was even able to snatch this picture without him noticing. It's all beyond my comprehension..

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Picture to Amma

As promised to the Icelandic grandmother-to-be. Er hún ekki sæt? She is heads down, and according to the doctor not likely to turn around anymore. Estimated weight of 1200 g. so we still got a way to go if we are to have one of those average Icelandic-size babies of 4 kgs. I'm not holding back food-wise though, so do not worry Pála. All numbers are in die grüne Zone according to the doctor, so all is thankfully good so far.

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Feels Like Summer

These last few days have been warm and sunny. It's incredible how this place seems to change with the weather: People are hanging out everywhere outside eating gelato and drinking aperol spritz. We are sucking it in, and enjoying the comfortable temperatures, before it turns humid and sticky later on. Feeling the summer spirit I managed to study from the park around the corner Friday afternoon, which reminds me that being a student again includes certain benefits.

Hey, and check out the chest of drawers in the back of the first picture, which we got last weekend. We have been having an empty corner in the living room that is now finally used due to our growing need of storage space. Funny how this apartment is coming together piece by piece over a long period of time.

And on another note, we were woken up by marching music this morning (!) when a may day parade were coming through our otherwise quiet street. I missed the red banners and balloons in the picture, but nevertheless: Happy May Day (to be imagined with the sound of horns and drums).

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