Afro-hiking Internship

Living as an Afro-European has it's ups and downs, just like every other situation. In this Blog we try to document some highlights in our lives, telling our stories raw but with a touch of lemon.

So the day started with the wish for the rain to show its best sides and flood the streets so i won't be able to go to work and therefore not go hiking in the mountains with my Co-workers (i'm just an intern) ;-)

My Grandmama used to say to my father: Mmadu choro ihu eligwe, o ngboaha ka mmiri ga na ga nje -The only time you want to see the stars, the rain will show it's grace-. The rain showed it's grace, but in a fairly measured amount so it was a trekking day picked out by the gods of Amadioha themselves. Amadioha (the god of thunder and lightning) is one of the famous gods of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria.

After what seemed like a two hours drive up to our destination, we were privileged to be given a grand tour of the house of a major artist and explorer of the 20th century Paul Kassecker. During the first world war, he had worked as a War illustrator and taken part in a lot of other creative press publishes. He also received a lot of accolades. Funny enough he had gone  to the same school I attend now. *____*

Paul Kassecker himself.... Source: http://www.st-ilgen.at/web/seiten/Hochschwabmuseum/ausstellung%202012.htm

http://www.bergfex.at/sommer/rund-um-den-hochschwab/highlights/1893-hochschwabmuseum-beim-bodenbauer-in-st-ilgen/

http://www.bergfex.at/sommer/rund-um-den-hochschwab/highlights/1893-hochschwabmuseum-beim-bodenbauer-in-st-ilgen/

Oh and the guy was also a stone collector. 

This place is basically where the water for the city I live in comes from. One just gotta love miniature works.

Kassecher's home which is now a museum called: Hochschwab museum

A miniature topography  and Kassecher's hiking equipments

Visiting goats before you start a journey this death defying is very much vital.

 I still can't believe I spent my afternoon surrounded by mountains and these splendid views.

 It was such a nice opportunity

This is a mountain goat

 And finally reaching our destination at the Häuslalm, we had a drink and got back our energy to walk back down, with each and everyone of us with a mesmerising awe of nature. Getting down, the network bars got their strengths back and took us to our digital worlds.
Afterwards, we had a colorful dessert and drove back to the city.


I am so grateful I got invited, and despite my being african and don't get all hikecited like the Austrians, I must say it was a very eyeopening experience and I do see myself doing it again in the nearest future. *____*

This is Georg. He likes hiking and obviously facial hair. Georg has misplaced a lot of his phones; What he said about that was: "It is because of people like me that smartphone companies are profiting". However many phones he has misplaced, he has no favorite music genre, he is open for news... Two years ago, Georg visited Lagos, Nigeria to research on his masters thesis, there he had a lot of life changing experiences, which we have on tape. We are so excited to have a great story as his and can't wait to share the outcome. 

Thanks Georg!







Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!

Having African Neighbours

You think being an African and living in a non-African country is hard? Then try being an African, living in a non-African country AND having African neighbours. That, my friend is hardship! And then if they somehow have kids... You're done!

I am proud to say that in my 5 years and 4 months here in Austria, and 4 times of relocating from 3 different "subcities", I still have to cope with the bountiful African neighbours who surround our recent apartment. There is no day I can seem to look out my window and not see an African pass by our house or knock on the door. 

And so I have stopped looking out the window facing the street, and have now resigned myself to peeping through the one that shows the garden.

Thus, to avoid getting visitors that were "just driving up and down the street and somehow saw your name on the door and decided to stop by", my dad "forgot" to put our name on the door bell of the new apartment even though we were supposed to. 

How on earth having African neighbours can in any way be disturbing you ask?
Lemme make this clear for you then with the help of illustration...


1. They come to "play" (EAT). 

You are forced to say yes, after all, how could you say no? 

"I'm busy"

"Ooh it's no problem, we'll be reaaaally quiet"   

"No. You don't understand, you are NEVER quiet" 

 "I promise we will be this time....pleaaaaaase O.O" 

You see, you just DON'T say no -.- 


Minutes- and I seriously mean minutes- later, they get hungry and you start to ask yourself if they wake up every morning just to disturb your peace. 

They may look cute and all, but don't let yourself be deceived, they are extremely cute when they aren't necessarily jealous of your peace and quiet.

2. They come to drink.

They do not think anything of your being busy. They ask you unnecessary questions whenever they feel like it and God knows ignoring them will cause even more agony. You answer whenever is needed of you.

Approximately 7.5 minutes after having eaten, a drink is requested. And as I said, it is useless to ignore and if you accidentally do ignore in this case, you will find glass shards on your kitchen floor and begin to regret ever letting them in.

They smile at you and reassure you that your getting up and getting them drinks yourself was indeed the right decision.

3. They come to make sure you don't get work done.

I don't think I have to say much here, the fact that this post is uploaded 2 days after the pictures were taken hopefully does explain everything.

All she did was write her name. Don't ask why!

4. They come to poke their noses into your business and lie on your bed.

They don't compliment you on your work, instead they argue about who gets to turn the next page.

Then when they get stressed out from arguing and turning pages, they lie on your bed...and start to fight until someone is on the floor, crying or just admiring the wood.

5. They come to touch...EVERYTHING

She learned to play part of the intro of Rihanna's 'Stay', but still, she was too loud and disturbing!!!  

I hope you now understand what I was trying to point out in the beginning. Having African neighbours can be terrifying, but I love this pair no matter what!! 

Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!

Summer Sport Week in Carinthia ☠ { Warning... Long! }

My whole "adventure" started with a... this:

A registration for a summer sport week in Carinthia with my class and two other not so irrelevant classes. 
Yes you read well, they left us to fever from November till June. 7 months long. You don't think that's much? Then lemme make this clear to you:

- A school year starts September and ends the first week of July... a little more than 10 months.

- A pregnant woman carries her baby for approximately 9 months.

I was going to give a lot more examples, but I couldn't come up with any more. They let us wait for very long though!

Ooh and I filled the registration form a day after my birthday!! :D

Speed telling: 

The more time passed, the more excited we got

Volleyball game in school, 

my friend serves and somehow ends up with 2 and a half torn ligaments

BAAAAAD!

We hope and hope for some kind of magic... or healing for all I care.

A month and a half before the excursion, 

The doctors announce an operation and all our plans are busted 

Life goes on.

She stays in school and I go to Carinthia.

After not enough hours of bus and road (3 and a half), we arrive to this:

First, you see a lot of mountains, then you notice that there aren't just a lot of mountains around Carinthia, but around YOU. Everywhere you go!

Secondly, You see these huge houses with huge gardens and farmhouses in even "huger" compounds like these:

And this. (I don't know if it's visible enough, but on it says 1475 on this one)

And then when you feel like the whole scene can't get any more ridiculously gorgeous, you find out that you get to sleep in this "villa" for four nights!

... alongside about +/-15-20 other people that is. 

Uuuuups... my good mood just slipped down the stairs :| 

After befriending the fact that I'd have to share my room with 4 other "friends", I saw my mood put up a good show while climbing up the stairs two at a time.

I've always had a THING with doors, so the opportunity came and I took it.
There's Kimmy hiding behind the door... maybe she was the one who put that dreadful moth on the window O.O

One of my roommates saw this and said "I've never understood tapestry".

I looked at it and realized that I'd never thought of them before.

This same roommate took my side in the fight against the chickens in our backyard.

She thought my diss, "You run around pretending you can fly, when you know you can't!" as epic, though I still can't understand why. I grateful though, that she didn't let down MANKIND to side with POULTRY.

Mine and Kimmy's king-sized bed ;)

A lot of sleeping took place here.

This television was the talk of the town aka motel.

As soon as we all found out that we got the room meant to be for our teachers, we started getting visitors that admired our TV for too long and enjoyed our fridge and beds too often.

There was one time when there were at least 13 kids in our room... NO AIR. 

I can't really say what's up with this whirlpool or even the cat sleeping on it.

They advertised that our motel would have one. They did. Fine.

What they didn't say, was that it could only be admired from afar... not used!

LIARS !! 

I'm still not sure what to make of this plant.

But somehow, I felt an urge to hug this living thing every single day I walked by it 

(it stood at the left corner of my room, which made walking by it a daily challenge).

I was there 5 days long and only once did I sit on one of these chairs 

right in front of our motel... sad :(

My balcony and the view from my balcony.

The beautiful and probably dead tree below had the honor to act as a model for my drawing.

I'm almost sure I stared at that multicolored-Google-chrome-looking-thing next to the tree for a while. I still can't say for sure that I know what it is supposed to be and why it was lying there in the first place 0.0

Sleeping in a foreign bed in the middle of a half-forest half-town is definitely not the easiest thing in the world. Somehow though, I managed to snuggle with my blanket since it was strangely cold for your average June. 

Did I say sleeping in a foreign bed wasn't the easiest thing thing in the world? Then try waking up 30 minutes later than you intended to and forgetting where in heaven's name you'd woken up in!! 

 S-H-O-C-K 

"A girl needs as much facial products as she can get"

I cannot say the same about myself, since all I need is an eyeliner, but Kimmy sure did take that seriously ;)  

#BistSoCoolMädchen *-*

Anyhow, when I'd finally pulled myself together (which wasn't that easy since I had just 13 minutes or so left to dress up before breakfast started), I half-filled my belly with a cup of hot chocolate and a bun (which, might I add, was NOTHING compared to what I normally had at home for brunch) and made my way to the dance hall.

...But first, let we take a selfie ;)

Dance lessons were probably the highlight of the whole week, though our dance "class" was just a restaurant with it's furniture pushed to the sides to create a big enough space for each class.  And somehow, there were numerous pictures of couples hung on the wall which I did not understand, and I wasn't too keen on finding out either. 

So dance lesson's over, we're dripping sweat, hungry as ever and are trying to get to lunch as soon as possible as we notice them staring at us: 

And then they start coming closer:

2 lamas and 2 sheep

This is the friendliest sheep I have ever seen!! 

And so we see Kimmy being the animal-friendly self that she is.

My excuse: I need to take the photos from a certain distance. 

I never went any closer :'D

 FOOOOOOOD !!!!

Yes, I ate my dessert before the main meal. #Like-a-Rebel 

But who wouldn't when there's chocolate pudding.

 Ooh and I think I forgot to tell someone I hate Tortellini o.o

SPAR !! 

The only supermarket for miles and miles (20 minutes walk in the wrong direction!)

Tennis meant having to walk another 30 minutes under the scorching sun.

But this floor made my day...dunno why though 0.0

Red sand... my shoes' worst nightmare!

I had to see this poster EVERYDAY! 

'Ist ein Foto wert'

"It's worth a picture", is what someone, I can't seem to remember who again, told me.

WIND SURFING!!

What do you do when given almost 3 hours to do whatever your heart so desires... in a foreign place?

You go to the best location you can find- in my case, it was the amazing beach of Döbriach- and think of the perks of being alive while watching your friends surf, because you are black and sure as heck won't risk sinking to the bottom of the water like a stone, since you can't swim. :D

After watching them surf for like the longest 10 minutes of my life, I resigned to taking pictures.

Let it be said that the capturing of this little-I'm-top-model-Heidi-Klum-girl in a picture was in no manner my intention. My lens was actually focused on the two very graceful ducks in the background. I triggered the camera and before I knew what was happening, the little girl appeared on the shot and just kept walking by. So rude! 

One should try not to notice my classmates wind surfing, but the duck swimming by.

I think I'm developing a slight obsession for ducks O.O

This my friends is what I call a war, the clouds fighting to suppress the sunlight.

They won that day though... but just that day!

I think someone farted there, judging from how fast they came paddling back to land.

Speaking of farting, while unintentionally making pictures of Heidi Klum wannabees, an Old lady sitting behind me farted, like not the 'psss' hard to hear type, but the sitting-on-a-ballon-half-filled-with-helium-type, and then started laughing like nothing happened -.-'

"Manieren zum Mitnehmen bitte"

Last night...PARTAAY OR SO

#Wake-up, No Make-up

Now what's a party without pizza aye?! 

...And Coca Cola in an Almdudler glass?! 

 Long story short... OUR STAY WAS DEFINITELY TOO SHORT!! 

03:30 pm didn't mean Tennis lessons anymore, this time it meant HOME ;(

4 hours road without chocolate, my kindle and my sketch pad?!

Unthinkable!!

One of my very poor doodle sketches :D

Congratulations Ugo on passing your final exams! 

Nur im Krieg und in der Liebe ist alles erlaubt!