Today we started our testing of different rivers. We went down to the area of the Danube that is commonly know for swimming and took some samples. Each group is responsible for one of the locations that we are going to be at for a group and the Rachael, Taylor, Lovett group was responsible for testing today.
We went swimming a little bit, some more than others. I went in up to my neck but my shoulder was still bothering me so I took it easy. We all sat there and talked to some Turkish young men who shared some of their tea. After swimming we split up the group and started trying to get people to take our survey.
Surveying was an interesting task because we had to try to ask people, most of which didn't speak a lick of English, to answer these questions for our random American survey. Not to mention Ferdi kept telling us that the perception of America is not good in Austria. The only thing that saved us was that the survey was both in English and German. Still I had some interesting experiences.
I was in a group with Stacey, Gary, Abe, Dana, and Elizabeth but somehow it seemed like i was the only one who encountered people that just talked German. I had a couple ask me about 6 questions and I just gave them the blank stare back but for some reason they still took the survey. One guy I asked was a close talker and didn't speak English. Now this doesn't sound to bad because everyone has encountered some close talkers in their life but when you have no idea what they are saying to you right in your face, its a bit awkward. Eventually the guy said America and I was just happy that he wasn't telling me off. I'm pretty sure that all the guy could say was "thank you" and "good" in English because once he found out I was American he just kept saying thank you and shaking my hand and laughing.... sounds like something I would to if I was trying to talk to a German person. The best part about that guy is that he still wouldn't take my survey.
While we were out taking surveys, we ran upon a water slide and apparently, Gary and Stacey cant walk by a water slide twice without going down on it. It seemed kinda odd by me but they were very enthusiastic about it. Me Abe and Dana were waiting by one of the turns to see them go by and we were noticing that kids were going down this thing quite often. Apparently in Austria they just allow you to go down the slide if there are people on it or not. No checking to make sure the bottom is clear for safety or anything like that.
First we heard Stacey coming because she was yelling at this kid that was apparently slowing her up. When she came around the corner, this kid in front of her had this terrified look on his face because he had this foreign girl yelling at him behind her, just barreling down on him because she couldn't stop. I mean its a water slide so what did you expect from her. That was hilarious so I went down to the bottom of the slide to help her out and ask her how it was and such. While were were talking Gary poped out of the slide, immeadly stood up with a look of dissapointment on his face and then 6 little kids poped out of the tube TIGHT behind him like pouring olives out of a test tube. Apparently Gary's shorts did not work well with the cracks in between the pieces of the slide because he said his shorts just kept weggie-ing up more and more as he hit each crack. That wasnt even the best part.. he claimed he was too heavy for the slide because he had accumulated these kids behind him who wanted to go faster but Gary couldnt help it so they just started kicking him in the back to try to speed him up. He started yelling at the kids but he was obviously yelling in english and these kids were around 5-6 so they definatly did not understand and just kept kicking him down. Abe has a great picture of both of these situations. I will defiantly be getting them.
After all that we went back to the hotel and had some time on our hands before a group dinner. I took a shower and just ran cold water over my shoulder because no place that sells ice is open on Sundays (lame).
We were going to this Beethoven Wine place. When we got there it basically looked exactly like what everyone imagined historical Vienna would look like. The walls were like a smooth stucco or grout but also had a weathered look to them like that had been though a few centuries. There was no roof on the place, just a grid of grape vines that acted like a semi roof. The place didn't even really have a menu. The way you got food is you went up to a room that was basically the best deli (but not a big selection) I have ever been to. I got 1 piece of pork with hash browns and sauteed vegetables. I could even finish my plate, and for anyone that actually knows me, that is really really impressive.
We all had a good time after that, just talking and sipping on wine.
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