I'm back!

I am not so good at this blog thing, huh? I was thinking about what a great and effective way blogging might be to communicate, allowing me (and you!) to avoid mass-email annoyance. And then I realized - I have a dormant blog! So, I am aiming to revive it and fill you in a bit on our life in Vienna. I also won't pressure myself to come up with cute stories and funny stuff because, contrary to public belief, I am just not that cute and funny!

To update everyone - I am now working for HIAS (the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society) , helping Iranian religious minorities seek refugee status in the U.S. Yes, I am an actual social worker again! I interview three or four families a day about the persecution they have experienced and write reports for their cases, which go to a DHS officer. The officer reads their statements and interviews my clients and decides whether they are in or not. So, it is true, friends - Paul McCloskey and I are working on opposite sides of the same system! No, I don't see any debates in our future...just as there were none in our past, right?!

Roland and I did some running around before Christmas, after I gave him the "you-promised-me-the-heart-of-Europe-and-we-haven't-even-been-to-Graz" speech. I went to Berlin for a weekend to do some work with two extremely cool women I will be doing some programs with in the future...then Roland and I went to Budapest for a weekend...and then spent another weekend at a spa for Roland's annual birthday spa trip! I was in the U.S. for one short, short week and then back to Vienna. We are kind of staying put a while but planning to use Christmas money to go to another spa in February and we'll try some cross country skiing! Wish us luck! :)

Okay, I WILL be better at the blog, promise! Now that you are updated a bit, I can proceed with day to day life in Vienna...stay tuned, if you are interested!