some words from vienna on food and the failure of democracy

in vienna everything is expensive. i rescue bread from restaurant baskets, and spread borrowed butter for a cheap meal. it will be nice to return to budapest where living is so cheap. till then ill survive. unfortunately we will not be going to don giovanni. quite disappointing. however just outside of town is a horrow film festival. so maybe ill find my way out there some night. the lodging here in vienna is great. a music student dormitory. with public but private showers and internet access. right center in town. in prague the hotel slash house that we staid for three nights was quite a distance from the city and operated by a kind but forceful breakfast nazi. whose head barely rose inopportunely from his stocky shoulders. every morning whether we wanted it or not he would invade our bedrooms with shouts of breakfast! breakfast! he could speak so little english and wore a skowl constantly, though i think he meant no harm by it. unfortunately in prague i never felt more than a tourist. nor did i ever see what seemed to be genuine czech culture. as everyone in the streets in their nikes spoke english......

uh oh time up must go.

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oh what joy a piece of fresh bread topped with cheese and salami can bring to a hungry stomach. no i'm not really starving. unless self induced. a few of you know how i am about rationing. a few words should be spoken about the food i have consumed. how i have managed to avoid such a pressing topic i do not know. unless i was too certain that i would spend all my time on cuisine and bore you no doubt. but havng as yet said nothing on the topic, i shall now attempt to fill that void.

in budapest they love paprika. at tables they set out salt pepper and paprika. at the grocery store they sell paprika pringles. one night we were guests on TCUs bill of a wonderful all you can eat hungarian buffet. and there everyone could taste a little of everything. even so i have a difficult time discerning exactly what makes hungarian food hungarian. they love meats that is for sure. the beef is a little sketchy though. they make a wonderful goulash stew. i never tried the goose liver. for cheap meals chinese food is a good idea. and there are plenty of places to choose from.

in prague i ate out twice at nice restaurants. i had a chicken dish called alchemist chicken or something like it and i also had boar. i found the food very rich in flavor, not overpowering though. delicious. the boar tasted less exoticor gamey than i had thought. kinda like a roast beef.

in vienna i have so far eaten seafood and indonesian food, but i have no idea what is local to vienna. one night no doubt i shall find out.

essential to the culture and the experience of the culture in central europe is no doubt the beer. which is brewed aplenty and sold everywhere. prague is the beer capital of the world. there it is cheaper to drink beer than water. and much better than any US beer. however after so much beer it was quite a delight to drink a coke (which is also much better) on the train to vienna. though it cost me an arm.

now after all that boring discourse on things i have put in my stomach. i hear that at least two major events have taken place since i left the states. ONE i saw in a german culture magazine that thom yorke released his solo album. and TWO tv on the radio released a new album. has anyone out there listened to them yet? or maybe they have only been released in europe. the magazine seemed to like them, but unfortunately i speak no german, so i have no idea what it said.

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yesterday evening the professors took us to a coffee house and attempted to get us to discuss US political topics. after much prying we began to open up and express our feelings and viewpoints. i was surprised to find myself, quite possibly to be the most liberal student. and i'm sure that you know that i am not very liberal at all. after coffee some of us went tot the food and film festival in the park to grab a bite to eat and possibly continue the discussion, which, with the help of the capuchino and cake, had gotten me quite excited. i'm sure most of you know what happens when i get excited, the volume of my voice inevitably rises and rises. most of the students were uncomfortable talking american politics in a european park (though i doubt they would feel much different had we been in the states) much less at the volume at which i persistently found myself speaking. now i dont feel that we were were doing any wrong, at whatever volume (the park was quite busy after all), but eventually the group splintered with feelings of exasperated futility on both halves.

this refusal to present and discuss ideas openly is a blantent failure of intelligent democracy. AND THESE ARE POLITICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS!! what should we make of this?