Icy Wien
Our last holiday season event this Sunday, plus brief commentary on a potpourri of recent events, and a TV recommendation.
It was a glorious, cold and sunny morning on Sunday when I hauled myself to the other side of the city by u-bahn, bus and tram, for what are reportedly the best apricot jam-filled donuts in town. I walked into the cafe and heard Serbian, and switched to that language, announcing myself as the Tanja who pre-ordered two dozen. It was so damn nice to be greeted by the bakery ladies as if I was part of some secret members only club “we thought you were one of us from your name!” which I didn’t do anything to enter into other than say a few words of a language a barely speak.
When you never quite fit in anywhere, it is such a comforting feeling to be welcomed somewhere. I can’t explain it. They teach kids in international schools about third culture. Sometimes I feel like sixth. On the one hand, you are nimble, on the other hand, no one can figure out how to label you or which team you should be on.
Coffee in hand, I then headed to the square in front of Vienna’s Rathaus (city hall) to meet 20 Ukrainian kids and their guardians for an ice skate. The city of Vienna generously donated the entrance tickets, and the Cards for Ukraine XMAS donations helped with the cost of skate rentals. It was a bit of organized chaos, especially when one of the Ukrainian moms who works part time in a balloon party supply shop decided to blow up and put on a giant white polar bear costume, which resulted in a flock of kids immediately around us, and then a security guard paid us a visit and told us the polar bear costume was a security risk, and must be removed immediately! It was a very…um…Österreich discussion during which I explained in my semi-dramatically correct German that no, we had not “pre-reported” the use of a polar bear outfit, but we were in fact guests of the city. It didn’t fly. So the mom took it off and deflated herself. Then some Austrian moms complained to me, where did the giant polar bear go? And I explained…security told us no bears. Not even standing next to the rink.
The kids seemed to enjoy the skating although because of the park layout it was harder to keep an eye on the entire group. I chatted with the moms and grannies and heard a bit more about how they are all getting on. Their tenacity and determination without getting frustrated really amazes me. Two families recently found new apartments (seriously a ridiculously challenging task at the moment especially if you cannot present a full-time employment contract). The polar bear mom told she literally turned to prayer until one night at nearly midnight she received an email that she could rent an affordable apartment for herself and two kids. Her son is already enrolled in his new middle school and much happier than he was in Lower Austria. These moms — they make the impossible possible. I just stand there and listen. Another mom is a professional make-up artist for TV and film but hasn’t been able to find work here yet, as everyone demands B1 level German. Which is weird if what you need is the artistic skills she clearly has. But….that’s Österreich. Her son is an athlete, training on a swim team 6 days a week, they get home each night at 10pm to the Lower Austrian town where they live. Not a word of complaint. That too is dedication. I sharp-tongued granny who looked like she has a lot of cheeky stories to tell showed up with a few middle-school aged boys, and she made us all laugh.
At one point the conversation grew nostalgic for the Ukraine they miss and they know they may never return to because the old Ukraine may never be recreated again. This is what time does. It erases the bad and you only remember the good. It is the nostalgia of expats. I have heard it for decades now.
One mom told me how well-connected friends who at first decided to wait out the war in Ukraine are now too looking for options to leave. For the men, this is nearly impossible at the moment. They think about America. Although they know that means not working in your profession and starting with manual labor. That is how it works on the other side of the ocean. You have to be young and full of energy and know what you are doing it for, what your goal is. Here in Austria, there is a mix of those who really now see their futures here, or least their children’s futures, and those who are trying to wait it out without losing their minds. One mom talked about how hard it is to live in a dorm. You have all sorts of neighbours. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I remind her that ordinary people brought their problems with them. The alcoholics don’t stop drinking just because they became refugees in a new country. And unfortunately, there really are not any good mental health resources. I saw a post in our Telegram group this week asking about a therapist “covered by insurance” and I just shook my head. Even Austrians who speak native German have a really challenging time finding those on insurance.
In the end, the kids skated for hours, gobbled down the donuts, thanked me to tell all of you thank you for the fun Sunday activity. A few hours of distraction. We all needed it. Me included.
I saw a play on Saturday evening just across from the ice rink at the Burgtheater, Molière’s 17th century “The Misanthrope” rewritten for today’s Austria, with plenty of political satire and social commentary. It was really well done, and used water on stage, something I had never seen before. I understood most of the inside jokes. That felt like a win.
By Sunday evening, I was reading online that our incredible Mario did it again, this time quickly building a website to show how few people are actually watching the livestream of a Austrian media outlet funded by a wealthy businessman (but also receives plenty of government subsidies!) that can fairly be labeled at times far right, pro-Russian propaganda. Mario went viral, and he used the opportunity to spread the good word about Cards for Ukraine. In short, he raised over €6000 this weekend. Can you believe it? Amazing. Just amazing. Mario was inspired to do all this when a local journalist, editor-in-chief of Falter, noticed he was literally the only person watching this livestream, and tweeted about it. And then Mario was like hey man, but we can track that without you even having to watch it. And then the whole thing got retweeted by the man who filmed the whole Ibiza affair. It was a lot for Austro-twitter.
I am super grateful we received new funding because today I have received some difficult messages and I tell those who write me to please be patient and I will send cards when we have them.
The granny with the grandson who got fined for stealing a sandwich will receive a card tomorrow. I received €50 tonight. And so it goes. One step at a time, one card at a time, I remain confident we are making a small difference to people the “system” has forgotten.
There was a damning article in a tabloid today about schools in Vienna, and how “integration” classes aimed at teaching German totally struggle to accommodate kids from all sorts of backgrounds, some of whom can barely write in their own native languages, and teach them German in mixed classes in which the only thing the kids have in common is they all cannot speak German. I shared it with the Ukrainians tonight, so they can see the education system itself is collapsing in some areas as a result of poor design and lack of resources, a horrible combination. It is not your kids, and you, who are the problem.
In fact, this Sunday, I was really pleasantly surprised to read how well many of the kids are doing in school, and to read Ukrainian parents discussing education topics which would be totally normal for Austrian parent chats.
As one mom told me yesterday, the day before she just broke into tears, realising that the dreams she had of how she would raise her kids, what they would do at their dacha in Ukraine, that those will not become reality anytime soon. Another shook her head and told me of the horrors she hears about from friends and family who know people serving on the front. And then I read this very grim report from the front (warning — it gave me nightmares).
I read some very astute commentary today from a Ukrainian in America, and I would like to share the tweet thread here. There seems to be a growing divide between official messaging coming out of Ukraine and the rumblings I hear from ordinary Ukrainians. Which is understandable in a situation in which there are no good answers to many questions. I read somewhere recently Zelensky reportedly wants to push back on the army over the 500,000 new recruits figure, and also tossed out the word elections. His team must know what the mood on the street is.
A Ukrainian sent me the news of the horrific marketplace artillery hit in Donetsk, occupied DNR. The first I read about the very deadly attack (27 people died, all civilians) was in a tweet by the Kremlin. That made me pause. I then saw a bit of speculation (though not from any sources I would have known prior) on Twitter today that Ukraine could not have fired from so far away. I have no idea and do not want to speculate, but something smells off, and with Lavrov in New York right now… I immediately thought back to these horrific tragedies from decades ago.
I wish there was an end in sight to the dying.
I don’t see one.
Apropos of nothing, they put the TV series “Yellowstone” on Austrian Netflix, and I feel like I now understand the last decade of Republican politics and voting patterns in a whole new lens. I can also imagine European viewers might just be totally repulsed. I guess as someone who great up “out west” (but in the suburbs with A/C), I watch it with a certain sentimentality, although sitting in a European social democratic capital, the ridiculously enormous trucks, the guns and violence everywhere, the testosterone on steroids, the myths of money and family and land and freedom above all else, even when it kills you slowly from with in — it is a lot to take in. But it is entertaining. I never thought I would recommend a cowboy show, but here I am doing just that.
I know. It’s weird.
Switching back to Austria, we are making international headlines again for all the wrong reasons. This time for an ambitious, young, homegrown (in the suburbs of Lower Austria, zero surprise there) far right “extremist” (Martin Sellner is actually banned from entering the U.S. and UK, I did not know this before today). There is a great podcast series in German by German & Austrian print journalists with more detail. I listened to the first episode this morning:
Sellner is in the news after the infamous meeting in Germany with the AfD during which “repatriation” of German citizens with immigration backgrounds was discussed. This event sent shock waves through Germany, and Germans have now taken to the streets in huge numbers across cities in waves of “anti-fascist” protests. I cannot say the same has happened here in Austria. In all likelihood, it will not. There are more voters (not people, but voters, the distinction is important) here who support the far-right views than there are firm leftist voters. Although the Green Party did surprise many this week by nominating a 23 year-old (!) climate activist to be its candidate for the EU election. Quite the pay rise for someone who just barely finished school and has taken part in all sorts of protests to prevent highway construction in contentiouos parts of Vienna.
Only a fool would try and predict the future, especially this year. I have learned one thing these past few years, and that is whenever you think now it really cannot get worse, it inevitably does. And then these little miracles happen, seemingly out of nowhere and you restore your faith in the whole human experiment, if only for a fleeting moment. If I were a religious person (I am not), I might just start praying.
Thanks again for supporting our holiday activities. It was good for the kids and for me. Really.
Amid such heavy topics, the polar bear mom story was so funny and also culturally interesting. Thanks for keeping us informed with your unique and insightful perspective!