Hello Mr. Ambassador!

Now, before you get any ideas from the title of this blog post, let me set the record straight. I didn't meet the US Ambassador to Austria.....yet!

I was approached by one of the teachers at my school about giving her conversation lessons in English once a week after the Christmas break. I said I would be glad to, and that we could do it any time. We set it up that today after school we would meet and talk in English. She has great English already, but sometimes she doesn't know a word in English and says the German one, and then I know it and help her (ok, I don't know every word, but most...). She wants to be able to feel comfortable talking in English, and linking and connecting sentences without struggling and without awkward silence. So, what we did today was just talk a little about what she would like to get out of it, and how she envisions her English progressing as a result of our time together. We also talked about Austria and skiing, and she mentioned that she and her husband will be spending the Easter holidays skiing on the Matterhorn!!! (I'm way jealous, and think that that should be my next destination!!!!)

It was a really nice hour that went by really fast, and she is really nice (her name is Alice and she teaches Chemistry). She also lives in the 9th district, and offered to give me a ride home since I don't live that far from her. She also paid me, and said that if she took a class, there would be other people there with other needs, and since I'm there, she aught to use the chance. I agreed, and it was a great novelty to think that I was being paid for talking in English! Amazing.

So, we got back to Vienna, and she dropped me off where she was going to park her car, and said that just up the road was the American Embassy! Of course I took the opportunity to walk up the road and check it out! The building is fairly large, and is fenced off by iron gates all around it. It was interesting to see the building, and the flag hanging down. I'll take my camera next time and snap a picture of it. It was a really interesting experience being able to see the building, and hopefully one day I'll go inside!