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Austria vs. America: Business Hours

September 14, 2015 Leave a Comment

As an American living in another country, naturally I notice the difference between my beloved home country and my lovely host country.

So first things first, I want you to know that I absolutely love Austria: beautiful country, aloof but friendly people, delicious food, colorful history, divine wine, knodel (try the knodel especially the sweet kind), amazing public transport, castles and palaces.

So hear me clearly: I love Austria.

But one thing (yes, there is a but), I can’t seem to understand the business hours. It’s no secret that the USA is known for its consumerism and its materialism. Stores are open all the time. Every holiday. Every Sunday. The longer the better. The bigger the holiday, the bigger the sales.

This is what I’m used to.

Austria is different. Perhaps better different in this.

This is the fancy grocery store in my opinion.

Stores are open during business hours, some even taking a 1-2 hour lunch break. Saturdays offer a shorter amount of hours. Sundays and Holidays, stores are closed.

My American brain can’t fathom the inconvenience of this system. How am I supposed to buy groceries if I work during business hours? What about leisure shopping? I can’t spend an evening clothing shopping?

But there is the flipside of the situation, sales associates in Austria have more reliable schedules, and they can know they’ll be off for holidays. You could say that Austria is less about things and more about people.

But I don’t know if I’ll get used to these business hours. I miss being able to go shopping for clothes and shoes at the end of the day. On the up side, I’m saving money…but then again, online shopping exists so perhaps my wallet is still at risk.

If it hadn’t been for Austria, I would never have considered shop hours.

When You Feel Thin With Nothing Else To Give

September 10, 2015 Leave a Comment

Have you ever felt thin? I’m not talking about physically thin or a tummy-devoid-of-food thin. I’m speaking of being stretched so tightly from one thing to the other that you are certain that you will tear soon. That there is no more wiggle room, just tight thinness.

I am a hollow person walking. Skin on bones hiding the empty.

And then, there is the world with its aches and pains, crying out for humanity to rise up to care for one another: wiping tears, cleaning scraped knees, drawing people to hope, offering haven and purpose to the refugee, lifting up the broken hearted, wailing with those who mourn, scraping genuine community together, truly seeing other human beings.

As voices rise up to siren the horror of the refugee crisis, I wonder if there is a God. I grew up in church, and I’ve talked and walked the Christian life. But overwhelmed by the magnitude of pain, I wonder.

I feel like I’m barely holding it together already, and now this. I’m living right outside of Vienna. Not far from me is a refugee camp brimming full with people who have fled their country. Some are true refugees; some are only taking advantage of the times, having been rejected entry to other countries due to criminal records so they’re trying again.

I want to care. I want to care for each of those people whom I share humanity and breath with.

But how do you care when you feel that you have only empty hands, a hollow heart, and vacant eyes too? When your schedule is packed full already? When you, yourself, are in survival mode?

I don’t know. Can you tell me?

Where is God in all of this?

And yet, I must believe there is a God, a caring one. I don’t think I could stay in a world where there wasn’t some bigger force who cared for humanity. I’d rather die believing that there is a God who sent his holy, perfect son to die for these mean, selfish generations of human beings because of His Love for us than to live in a world where there is no God or a God who makes relationship with him impossible.

To the God of Renewed Thickness,

Do you see what’s happening? Do you see how evil plays, bulldozing lives for their cause-sake?

There is tearing here. Thinness ripping wide open. But you promise that there is a time for everything. When is the time of your renewal?

Please don’t turn away from us as we flounder in the rip tide of darkness, dragging us all out to drown. Will you come and lift us from the current? Or do we go with the flow until the rip dies? Will you allow us to be dragged that far?

I want peace, but there is only discomfort. Don’t leave us to ourselves for that is surely hell.

Please lift us from this thinness.

Want more soulful wailing for help? Keep reading at Psalm 69.

Stolen Wallet: What Can Be Done

September 7, 2015 Leave a Comment

Once upon a travel, I had the fun of meeting a friend at the train station. She came from Italy to visit me in Austria. We had met almost a year and a half ago, and at that time, we joked about visiting one another in our European countries. Who knew it would actually happen!

Our quick friendship hinged on our love of travel and living far from home (she’s from Australia while I’m from the USA).

I stood on the train platform, waiting impatiently for her arrival. Finally, it blew into the station, and in a crazy flurry of activity, passengers exited. Luggage with wheels. Luggage without. Backpacks. Duffles. Bright colors. Blacks. Browns. I had a hard time deciphering the humans from their possessions.

And then a figure that had to be her! But as I drew closer to her, I saw she wasn’t smiling. Actually, she looked worried.

“Hi. I don’t have my wallet!” She hugged me quickly. “Can you watch my bags? I need to go look in my compartment again.”

Off she went. I stood like a sentinel near her small island of two bags. Hoping. Praying. That she’d find her wallet. Mostly for selfish reasons honestly. A lost or stolen wallet meant hassle for the both of us.

She didn’t find it. She had no money nor her credit or debit cards. Thankfully, her passport had been stored in another pocket. The next few hours were spent visiting all the offices: info, train, lost & found, and police.

My friend is a seasoned traveler so this can happen to anyone; however, there are a couple of ways to prepare better.

Keep Your Wallet From Being Stolen

Ensure your wallet is in a secure location with some type of closure. If that’s a purse that zips closed or a pocket that buttons closed.
Carry money in a couple of different locations whether on your person or in your bags. It was good that I met my friend at the train station and that she was visiting a friend because it would have been a pretty scary experience to be in a new city without friends or money.
If you’re on a night train, it doesn’t hurt to use your purse or backpack that houses your wallet as a pillow or something to hug as you nod off.
Keep a hand on your purse, backpack, or location of your wallet as you’re jostled through a crowd of passengers. Sure, this may tell a potential thief where your wallet is, but if your hand is always there, it will be more difficult for them to steal.

If Your Wallet Is Stolen or Lost

Notify the Lost & Found office
File a police report at the local police station. My friend and I found out that the information desk and the train station office were not helpful except to get directions to these two places.
Cancel your credit and debit cards.

Most of those tips are no brainers, so there’s a chance that you’re kind of disappointed that my advice is so normal. But sometimes these routine things are forgotten out of laziness or blissful thinking of that-wouldn’t-happen-to-me. When you travel, you need to be alert.

The good news of my story is that my friend’s wallet was found with all the cards and paperwork (like her Italian visa) at a nearby train station. The cash was gone. The thought is that the thief lifted her wallet as they all exited the train.

These things happen. So be alert and keep traveling!