Living in Austria - that pile stinks

This post has to do with one of the business parts of the day. I'm not talking about the one where there is a boss or you have a desk or a cubicle, the business I'm talking about has to do with reading a magazine/doing a Sudoku, possibly having some really good ideas, or maybe even just relaxing. Yep I'm talking about the business of #2, numero dos, nummer zwei.
Over here the toilets are a little bit different than the ones back home and in the spirit of trying to share what life is like over here I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out. In the picture you can see our lovely "toilette" (pronounced toy-let-a). You may notice that there isn't a little handle that you push down to flush. Instead the flushing mechanism in on top of the toilet. The toilets here are like back home in a way, where if you push the lever/button all the way down the toilet will flush with a lot of water. Well, this isn't always necessary, so when you push down on one side of the button and the toilets starts to flush you can also push down on the other side to stop the flow of water. Seems simple enough but I think it is a great water saving idea.
Aside from the this the toilets are pretty much the same, except for one major difference. The bowls. The bowls back home are filled with water, and describing the process aside, whatever you did flushes down in the water. Over here - not the same. The bowls are not filled with water almost all the way like they are back home. There is a ledge that catches whatever you deposit.
Have you ever walked past a fresh pile of dog poo out in the open? It stinks, and you are roughly 6 feet above it, now try sitting 6 inches above it. And then there is the problem of getting what rests on the ledge to actually go down. Have you ever stepped in dog poo and then tried to wipe it off? Not the easiest thing in the world if you don't have water. Same deal here. The ledge is without water and so your business sometimes gets stuck...not streaks, but the piles; and unless you have a toilet brush handy you're better think quick...dook and dash (like dine and dash) or find some way to get it to go down.
Being the reader-of-this-blog-loving-person that I am I will give you some tips if you ever find yourself in Europe at business time.

1) You can put a couple strips of toilet paper down which will act as a barrier on top of the ledge and send what is supposed to go down where it is supposed to go. (this however doesn't alleviate the smell.

2) The better option is to push the flush button as you go (remembering that you can stop the flow of water as well). You can still crack the magazine, think, or work on that Sudoku but this way you can do it in a non-terrible-smelling environment (the people after might thank you as well :) ).

Sledding.......For Real

What do you do if you are by the Alps, but shouldn't ski as it could be really bad for your job (ex - hurt your knee or break your wrist)....GO SLEDDING!
Last week on Monday a teammate and I drove 2hrs45mins to a sledding hill - Wildkogel am Bramberg. It might sound kind of crazy but this place was cool. When we got there we rented sleds, and the sleds aren't your average plastic sled you can get at Walmart, or a saucer or inner-tube; these were the real deal. They were made out of wood and had metal lining on the two rungs that made contact with the snow. Then there was a woven net that you sat on and you had a rope to hang onto that could help you steer. - we asked how much it would cost to buy one of these sleds new - 140 euros (thats like $190)
To get to the top of the hill (mountain) we took a gondola up. Once we got a ways up we thought this was going to be awesome because the run looked so long and it turned out we were only halfway up the hill. At the top of the mountain we could see so far and see many of the different alps and we could barely see the houses at the bottom - which was awesome because we knew we were going to get to ride a sled the whole way down.
The sled run was 9 miles long (14kms) and the internet says it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on your skill level and how fast you can go. We did it twice. The first time it took us closer to an hour, especially as we stopped halfway down for a little break to warm up (they had a hut/bar/small restaurant halfway down that you could stop and grab something to eat/drink and warm up). Because we both didn't bring super warm boots and winter clothes - we had basketball shoes and thin winter coats- we took advantage of this. (And before the second run we stopped at the restaurant at the top of the hill and grabbed a hot chocolate and warmed up our toes).
The first run may have been a little slow and with a couple crashes into snow banks, but after we warmed our toes up and it was time for the second run it was game on and we hauled arse. The second time down we passed other sledders and even a lady on skis-we for sure made it down in 20 or so minutes. And the cool part about the 2nd time down is that we did half of it at night with the lights on. The run we did is actually the longest floodlight toboggan run in the world and we wanted to make sure we experienced that night aspect of it too.
I can't tell you how fast you get going but there were times where we were cruising. It was so cool....I definitely recommend if you get the chance to do something like this to do it!; and I am hoping that I will also get the chance to do it again.

Katy at home

The apartment here in Austria has a been a little quiet the last 1.5 weeks as it has just been me here. Katy flew home almost 2 weeks ago with Myla and spent time at home visiting her and my family.
Even though Myla was only 3 months old when she flew on the plane, Katy said she did really good. She only had one meltdown and that is because she was really tired. Otherwise, when she was awake she was people watching and flashing that bright smile at anybody who stopped to say hi. (I think she really likes to be where there is a lot going on so she can see whats happening). When you get on a plane and see a baby you get a little worried, at least I do. But Katy said that the other people on the plane really liked her and had a lot of fun with her.
While at home Katy got to see a lot of our families and many people got to meet Myla for the first time. Myla got to meet many of her cousins and had some fun playing with them. Katy said they were pretty busy while they were back but said she really enjoyed the time with everyone!
They fly back this week and I am very excited to see my two girls again and give them both big hugs. Two weeks doesn't seem like it would be that long, but it felt like it was a long time and it will be good to have them back.