So to be honest, Nichole and I did not encounter the Krampus on our late night, snowy walk tonight. But, Jan and I did have a run-in when we were out on Friday, and I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit scared. As the story goes (thanks to my research on the ever truthful Wikipedia, yeah right) the Krampus accompany St. Nicholas around the countryside visiting the families. The Krampus are responsible for punishing the bad kids with minor forms of torture, and may even carry them away, while St. Nick rewards all the good children with gifts of nuts, fruits, and candies. Around Austria, leading up to the Feast of St Nicholas on December 5th, it is common to have Krapmus runs, which I hear is like a parade of Krampuses, or Krampii, thoughts? They go around "beating" and "whipping" the townspeople that attend the gathering. They also make the rounds at the local bars, getting successively drunker, scarier, and more annoying. I have a minor scratch and bruise on my arm from one sitting on my lap and my arm encountering the spike on its back. Fun times for sure.
This week also brought our first real snowfall with accumulation. I've bought my skis and ski outfit, so I'm ready to go skiing this saturday for the first time out! Hopefully the snow continues falling in the mountains. Nichole and I did venture out tonight after the kids went to bed because it was so peaceful, in stark contrast to a normal day inside the school walls. We saw some wildlife, well really just a single jackrabbit. But, thats more jackrabbits than I've seen in my whole life. Because of the lighting and the snow we failed to get a good picture, so you just have to take my word for it. We capped off our walk with a few perfectly made snow angels in front of the school!
We were blessed to have a "headmasters holiday" (surprise day off) as we wrapped up the first trimester on Friday. Thursday night, in lieu of a typical Thanksgiving, we had a great replacement with an all-school awards dinner downtown at the Sternbräu. The kids got all dressed up and had a great time, as did the staff. Naturally we capped off the night with some glühwein at the Christkindlmarkt, which finally looks perfectly festive with a coating of snow!
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| It's a Winter Wonderland at AISS |
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| Christkindlmarkt!! |
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| Surrounding the Markt they had 3 wind assembles playing Christmas music on terraces. You can't see them though. |
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| Hotel Sacher all decked out |
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| Krampus!!!! |
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| and here he's whipping a bartender, lovely. |
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