Skiing, volleyball and elastic

Sorry for not putting up any new posts recently. Have been busy and so tired lately. The morning call of 6.30am for school is really hitting me now these days.

ANYWAYS, so the last time I left you I went skiing with my host dad in Alberschwende. I actually didn't know how to spell that and Maurice typed it in for me. Well back to skiing, that is if you can even call it skiing. I was so shocked at how young some of the skiiers were, like around 3 or 4 years old and they FLEW past me. I swear while I was hobbling along and just learning the basics. I didnt like the insecurity of not holding onto anything when I tried to ski so I had to hold onto either my knees or the sticks that my host dad was holding onto the other end and guiding me. At first i screeched at anytime I went 'fast'. Well my definition of fast but as time went by, I could ski for a bit but I still hated not holding onto anything. I didnt have any bruises or injuries so it's pretty good. Haven't decided to go as high as using one of the lifts yet, but another day. I only skiied for an hour or so because my knees were so tired from attempting to break. One time, my knees were too tired to break so I resorted to using my hands, which apparently many people found it hilarious....

 Me at home in ski-gear. If I looked like I gained weight, I probably have from all the carbohydrates I've been eating everyday.

 The way to the top where there is apparently blue sky and sun which I can not see...

Oh for dinner, Dietzmar's parents came over and we had the meat plate like I mentioned before on the asian sort of bbq, where you grill the meat on the top but put spades of cheese in the middle where the cheese can melt. You can put stuff with the cheese like potatoes and what not. They also bought special cheese that melts really easy and it does and looks SO DELICIOUS and was. I also had a bit of champagne which was okay but looked pretty. And I also took some photos of Maurice and I watching a show/film where there was a couple of boys like around 12 or younger SMOKING AND HAVING GUNS. I nearly had a heart attack. It was an old film by the quality of it and the boys were in the bush? But still! I was so shocked, while Maurice just laughed at my expression. I shortly fell asleep while watching Rush Hour 3 in German and went to bed at like... the unbelieveable hour of 9.00pm!

Isn't it PRETTY. To maintain it's freshness from picking it up on Sat morning we just stuck it outside. LOL

 Fresh bread my host mum made, apparently it's italian but it's so nice. I think she makes it weekly?

 Salad which was a bit strange. It's carrots with bits of mashed apple in there. So it was a bit sweet.

 That's the grill! The top is for barbequing and the spade on the right is for slotting in the 2nd level of the gril thing where you can see there are certain places for putting it. The little thing in the spade is for scraping the cheese of it.

 :D

 And this is how it works.

 ASTERIX which was in german but originally in French that's what i think

 SEE THE GUN!!!

 On Monday, after school I skyped Brandon and Janelle with video call. It was fun just chatting about stuff but felt weird to explain things here when usually they are the ones who I share my experiences with. It was all good until trouble came along. Trouble defined by Maurice and his friends. Serious abuse and even worse when Brandon and Janelle found him hilarious and told me to send him back to Australia instead of me. I'm totally feeling the love guys. Totally...

But it was nice when he invited me to join his friends to watch a volleyball match around 100m from our house which was Austria vs. Croatia. Yes it was the national teams. My hands froze while riding the bike since it was freezing and I didnt wear my gloves. It wasnt too far so I could recover alright. It costs 6 euros for me since I was defined as an adult. SOMETIMES I wish I was still a child, I like the child prices better.

We sat close to the end of the court but could see fine. Unfortunately Austria lost. I'm not sure how it goes but Croatia won the first. Then Austria won one then Croatia won the next two and won. Even though we didn't win it was thrilling to watch. Plus I had a good view of the Croatian subsitutes warming up! Haha! One of them seriously looked like the guy who played Aaron Samuels in Mean girls. Alice totally gets what I mean. And basically everyone in my group should know everything about Mean girls. But anyways, it was fun and renewed me desire to play volleyball again.

 The tallest guy apparently there, he's 2.07m. I kid you not. I think Fil and Saad have met their match.

 Camera man!

 The red is Croatia and Black and white is Austria

 The guy who looks like Aaron Samuels is on the right

 Haha it was pretty funny when they started to randomly do stretches on the floor. they even practised diving for the ball.

Tuesday's highlight was visiting the elastic factory. I know it sounds strange but it was awesome! Basically we have rotary meetings every tuesday, however on the first tuesday of every month we have a dinner instead in which one rotarian will be in charge of. So last night the head of the Rotary brought us into his elastic factory. Apparently he produces 80% of elastic in Austria. And it was AMAZING. To get there, Emily, Steffani, Tyler and I had to go to another Rotarian's house who would give us a lift there. His 'house' is apartment block which each apartment is  a level. He bought the whole thing in where the 3rd level is for him and his family, the 2nd is for the grandparents and the bottom for the maid for the children, the caretaker for the grandparents and the guestroom. It's so epic with lots of cultural things. And omgosh, his daughter is his pink lady and everything she had is pink. Plus I swear she's got more clothes than me and she's 5. I'm so jealous. She has so many toys and when looking at what she had it's hard for anyone to not think they had a deprived childhood. Haha. The Rotarian and his wife was really nice though and since there was 6 of us we went in his Mercedes van instead of his ... [wait for it] his freaking.... ROLLS ROYCE. Unfortunately I didn't even get a glimpse at it, but when i do i'm so taking a photo. I want a rolls royce. So jealous! Anyways we were first up for appetizers and we got some champagne mixed with orange juice which was actually quite nice. And then so... our tour began! I'll post the photos up and explain on the way...

So we had a tour guide but one of the Rotarian was nice enough to explain most of it in english for me. It's really hot in most of the rooms because the humidity can influence how flexible the elastic is. He produces elastic for underwear, ski-gear, bandages for medical uses and some other things....

So this is the office part

 Some sample in the conference rooms

 The tour guide showing as a sample.

 Samples! One is Simpsons!

 And so we enter into the factory! Oh btw, all the rotarians attend these dinner night ones and bring their partners.

 Just one of the room. Where most of the raw materials are or the more simplier products are made

The machines

 Soft padding to put on walls to muffle the noise the machines make, which I tell you is SO LOUD, and that's coming from me

 We were group 1.

The Rotarian who drove us there. He's really nice and funny

 Elastic just pouring out!

 Yes I was excited and awed by the size...

 The actual elastic without the brand on it and everything.

 The machines that work heaps fast.

 All the strings that are put together to make the elastic

 It goes in

 And comes out

 FINISHED!

 The never ending rows of machines

 Something strange found in the factory haha!

 The finished

To get to the finished

 HUGE SPOOLS!

 Looking at that piece of elastic and seeing the process makes it so amazing now

the HILLS are alive with the sound of musicccc....

 Looks like silk hair

 Fixing the probelm! of just one little string

 For bras!

The storage is MASSIVE!

 And I look like a retard....

 I'm still asian on the inside

 The sound proof sheets on the ceiling.

 Two people setting up the machine for another production. That means dealing with hundreds of tiny strings into specific places.

 The switch for lights!

 Someone left a nice message!

 My attempts to be artistic with the camera and probably failed.

 STEAM. this is the room where they dye the elastic certain colours. And different parts of the elastic react with the certain chemical hence some parts turn into the certain colours. Yes my grammar sucks

 The black unknown.

 Through the dying machine

 Now it washes a number of times to get the remaining dye on the elastic.

 BRA STRAPS!

 The process!

 Original beginnings of those strappy things, I forgot what they are called suddenly

 FREE SAMPLE!

 Looks like ribbons so reminded me of helen and her obessession with them

 Finished PRODUCT

 Every workplace needs one!

 Asked for a free sample from our tour guide and gave us this! I was so happy!

 Apples for the people to come to the factory

 FOOD!

 Elastic on the tables for decorations!

And that's it for now!

It was fun and hard to describe. Anyways i'm going now,

with love, from austria

Vivian

P.S. sorry for all the photos on the elastic