Last month I have been at home visiting my parents in Austria or better say I have been in Carinthia which is the south part of my homecountry. It is an awesome place with huge mountains, with fresh air and with lakes their water you can drink and with nice people.
BUT: Since 2002 I am not living in Carinthia and I have to say everytime when I am coming to my little village with 500 inhabitants I see which special things there are going on :)
So one fine day I had to go to the next town, 20 km far from my village and just to reach with a bus who is driving just once an hour and at weekends not even that - going to the next town is really something you have to plan and you never just go there to have fun, you need a real reason! I am always saying Vienna is far away and it is like a wonder if you are saying that you are going to Vienna - it is like you will say that you would like to make a world trip and in general the carinthians don't like Vienna because in Vienna are the bad politicians who are not interested in our people - the so called eggheads who are far away from reality ...
So I stepped out of our house and the sun was shining, the fresh air invites you to stay in nature, the first flowers were in blossom and the birds were twittering - a real wonderful feeling.
When you are going on the street to the bus station which is 20 minutes away people are all greeting you with the obligatory "Grüß Gott" (if you translate it like this it means "Greet God" which is the greeting Austria is known for "May God bless you" - so germans should never make jokes about that as they do and don't say "Have a good day" in Austria as everybody will know that you are german and will stare at you bewildered but if you are Austrian living in Germany you have the highest respect in Austria) although you never saw the person before - most of the people I know in my village but they don't know me or better say they can't remember me :)
Than at the bus station you are standing and waiting for the bus enjoying the sun BUT you can feel that there are some look daggers at you! In every car which is passing by the car driver is starring at you, is x-raying you and you can see how their brains are working thinking over "who is the new one and to which house does she belong?" and than an old lady came along. She starred at me and she didn't know what she should think about me ... I saw how her brain worked and laughed inside - I always feel like incognito :)
So after a few minutes she started talking to me "Oh the weather is fine but it is too early to seed flowers and vegtables." I just sad that my mother is not having flowers so far. Then she continued talking to me and I saw that she was thinking all the time "Where is she from? Which family could it be?" and than we started talking about my grandmother and she was thinking and thinking and after I said the Magic Word (my family's name) she said "Oh yes of course I know your grandmother but which of her sons is your father?" I answered "I am the daughter of Walter, living in xxxway" than for her was absolutly clear were I am from - but she never had the idea to ask me directly - it's clear she wanted so hard to know who I am but she doesn't want to be pushy.
So than the bus came and the bus driver said with a big smile in carinthian dialect "Dirndale, gehst heite stirzln?" (It is really hard to translate but it means something like "Lass, are you going out today?" the word "stirzln" is translated by the University of Klagenfurt, a carinthian university, with breaking out of daily routine for amusement) - the prices are really high for busses and trains. I am always very shocked but ok for that you have the bus 20 km long for you alone as everybody is working and just a few elder woman are driving by bus and discussing what they will cook and the bus driver is talking with them as well and flirting and let them feeling like 20 - I am always so happy to see that and I have always to laugh about that. It is really amusing how friendly austrians are and how much fun they have together even if they don't know each other.
Than I came to the city because I had to renew my passport. After that I went to a drugstore - when you go inside a carinthian shop all salesmen or saleswoman are looking at you and greeting you in a friendly way - so if you pass the whole shop you will meet 4 or 5 of them and they will all greet you and at the cassier they are alway wishing you a nice day/a nice weekend and they are all talking to you in such a melancholy, friendly way with a smile on their face and asking you if you have a loyality card - they do that in almost every store and in almost every store I am saying the same sentence "I am sorry but I don't have such a card" - the saleswoman:"Would you like to have one?"- me in pure carinthian dialect: "I am not living in Austria!" I always enjoy this moment as the vendors are all looking that bewildered! Like - she is speaking carinthian dialect but she is not living in Austria??? My friends are always laughing when I am doing like that and the best thing is when I am saying that I am living in Germany - oooh, I am the big traitor who betrayed our country, culture and our high ideals!!
Once carinthian always carinthian! Before you are an austrian you are always carinthian! deeply attached by one's native soil!
At my first morning back in Austria I turned on the radio and I was just thinking "I am definitly back"! The radio is singing folk music, Schlager music and Carinthian choirs and a woman called the radio station and said "God bless our Skijumpers"!
I am nobody will call for our national football team :)) (the highest aim of the Austrian football team is to prevent the other team shooting goals and at the same time we prevent ourself to shoot a goal ... who is moving first has lost)
That was my little story of my beloved Carinthian homeland :) God save Carinthia!
