May 26,2009

Guten Tag from Austria! And what a good day it is!!! The Austrian summer came upon us quickly and with gusto. We have been enjoying beautiful, sunny days and cool, pleasant nights. This is when living in Vienna reminds me of Colorado.

It's been a great couple of months since I last wrote. So much has happened and things are so amazingly fun right now that I couldn't wait to write and fill you all in.

For the big start... many of you may already know, but on March 27 I entered the Rudolfinerhaus Hospital here in Vienna and thanks to the wonderful work of a terrific plastic surgeon, I am now 17 pounds lighter in the stomach. My long awaited and much desired tummy tuck is now a thing of the past. The best part is that I recovered very quickly and very well and have NEVER felt better. It is so much fun and I feel like a different person. I was lucky that my mom offered to fly over and stay with me and take care of me after my surgery. She is an amazing mother, a terrific nurse, and a truly dear friend. The surgery itself lasted 8 hours, I spent 12 hours in recovery, needed 2 pints of blood and was out of the hospital 2 days later. I was off of work for 3 weeks and have not had even one little problem. The high school students who were heading up a clothing drive for the poor were really happy because they were the lucky recipients of 8 giant trash bags of clothes that no longer fit. Oh darn!! I have to buy new ones.

During my recovery I had the fun of being able to watch, via internet and ITunes, my friend Nina, the female impersonater perform on a show called RuPaul's Drag Race. She did very well and came in a very respectable second place. She has since gone on to appear all over the country and I am currently in talks with the organizers of several events here to try and get Nina a show here in Vienna. It's been a fun and delightful new hobby!!!

A few days after my mom left to go back to the US, my sister, Dee, and her husband Dale arrived for a 2 week visit. It was their firs time to visit me here and we had a blast. They are so much fun and were so sweet and helpful and took really good care of things and themselves while I was recuperating. Dale insisted he take care of my Honey Do List and Dee cooked and shopped and entertained me well. They took some overnight trips and before they left I was up to a long weekend trip so we went to Lake Bled, Slovenia and the northern tip of Italy for a few days. We had a great time and saw the most unbelievably beautiful landscapes. It was a real joy to share it with them.

Shortly after they left it was my friends' Joan and Zoe's turn. They arrived with their 6 bags in tow. I was their last stop before heading back to live in the U.S. after a year in London. They had had a great time there, shared tons of stories and we played tourists together here in Vienna. I had just gone back to school when they came so they entertained themselves during the days and then we traveled on weekends. One of the highlights for me was a long weekend in Salzburg, Austria. We saw the beautiful city and even took the Sound of Music tour. Salzburg and the Alps around there is where they filmed the movie The Sound of Music.We got to see the homes where they filmed the VonTrapp's home. We saw the wedding church, the lake where they tip over in the boat, the mountain where Maria sings "The Hills are Alive" and the mountain where they are hiking away from Austria at the end of the movie. It was great fun. The interesting thing is that most Austrians have never seen the movie, know it's not a totally true story and think we are nuts for getting so ga ga over it. Oh well, I still love it anyway.

While in Salzburg I chalked up another of my extraordinary life experiences!!! This time, as you will see in the picture at the left, I was the first one to cross the finish line for the Salzburg Marathon. I guess I should add that it was the day before the actual race and that I just happened to be standing at the right place at the right time after they inflated the finish line so I handed Joan my camera and started to jog!!! Just so you know, I have also run in the both the Vienna and Prague Marathons (about 20 feet each) I have sung on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville (Mary Had a Little Lamb during a tour) I have been backstage at the Vienna National Opera House with an Opera Star (that one really is true) and I have played a Steinway piano at the most elite piano seller in Vienna ( That one I played chopsticks and embarassed the heck out of Chadwick). The point is, I've had fun, I have stories to tell and I'm not lying when I say that I've done those things. OK, so I leave out a couple of details, but it sure makes life fun.

My next big event of the last couple of months was that I got to attend the Life Ball here in Vienna. It is the largest AIDS/HIV fundraiser in Europe and draws celebrities from all over the world. This year's big shots were Bill Clinton, Eva Langoria, Pamela Anderson, Fran Drescher, and Katy Perry (the singer). There were also lots of European stars. The idea is that the area in front of City Hall is all decorated up with a huge red carpet. This year's theme was Water and so the carpet was blue. Four thousand people attend this ball and pay the equivalent of $175 US each to attend in an outrageous costume!!! Yes, yours truly was among them. My friend David got tickets and asked me if I'd like to join him for the fun. We had a great time, helped a great cause and had an amazing evening. We even made the main Austrian television station's coverage of the ball. Our picture was one of the ones that was on their internet story too. The picture of two of us at left is the one that was sent around on the web.

This past weekend, thanks again to another Catholic holiday, was a four day weekend and my friend Gail and I went to Berlin, Germany. It was a wonderful experience. I toured the city and saw what remains of the Berlin wall, went to the new Jewish museum which was extraordinary, saw the places that you always read about in history books, met lovely people, ate and drank way too much and bought a whole bunch of new clothes. As I'm sure you can tell, it was a very successful journey.

I only have 13 days of school left for this year. I can hardly believe I've been here two years. It's been the most amazing experience of my life and I have created a life for myself here that is truly wonderful. There are still people and things I miss about home (Cheetos and Mexican food top the list) and I love coming to visit. However, for now, I'm planning on taking it one year at a time. I will be back in Vienna next year and see where life takes me from there. I feel very, very blessed. I am honored, humbled and incredibly grateful for this life.

I will be leaving a couple of days after school is out to visit the country of Montenegro. It is part of the former Yugoslavia and I have friends who have invited me to visit and stay with them at the beach for a week. I'll leave there and come back to Vienna for a couple of days and then head to Denver. I'll be in Denver from June 30 to August 4. If you have time and would like to chat send me an email and we'll see what we can work out. I'm really looking forward to the time just to unwind, relax and enjoy home.

Well, my friends, thank you for reading another installment of Life By Jodie. I hope you know how much it means that you encourage my comings and goings and that you cheer me on through emails. I am one very lucky woman.

Until later, Auf Wiedersehen!!
Jodie