Sometimes sports is a whole lot of politics. And sometimes politics is a lot of sport. Such was the case on Sunday when Nicholai, my husband, joined the Knights softball team, many of whom work at Vienna International School, to play in the end-of-season tournament at Prater, a huge park slash amusement area once reserved for the royal court and aristocrats.
First up to challenge the Knights was "the Dominican team," as they were described to me. After the game, in which Nicholai did a bang-up job, including hitting four home runs and several RBIs, a member of "the Dominican team" approached him to ask his name and to compliment him on his skill around the field. He then told Nico, as the Knights had taken to calling my husband, that Nicholai (the only black person on his team) is clearly playing for the wrong team. (laugh) Later in the afternoon, during game two, the same player and one of his teammates (they would eventually tell me that they were of Cuban and Venezuelan heritage, respectively (I thought: That doesn't equal Dominican...) ) sat next to be on a bench I had perched behind home plate. Immediately the began to ask me a few questions about my husband. How long had he been playing? Where was he from? How did he come to join that team? Of course, earlier the sister of the Venezuelan, Karla, had already come to talk to me about joining her team. My husband, they all agreed is quite the player.
In the end, the common language, camaraderie and potential networking with the Knights proved far more important to Nicholai. I agreed.
But talk about recruiting! Some players take their game seriously, boy! How funny I thought it all was.
But the scene at the park was even funnier. It was like the United Nations with players from China, America, Canada, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and who knows where else! I didn't know whether to say hola, ni hao, hello, gross gott or what! But what a beautiful setting in which to be confused. The day was glorious - and fun!
At around 4, we headed back to the 22 district where we are living for the moment and from there headed to Ha Kai Chinese restaurant. I must admit that aside from sausages, we have yet to sample a traditional Viennese dish. But soon.
The city of Vienna is divided into 23 districts, or neighborhoods, and tonight we go to check out an apartment in the 6th district, very near the city centre where I work. Speaking of where I work, my office is right outside of the famed Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), a centerpiece of Vienna tourism. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna and is also celebrated for its architecture (it is built of limestone).
Back to the apartment ...
One very discouraging fact about Vienna is that when renting an apartment, one must not only pay first month's rent and a security deposit equivalent to that (known as a 'bond'), but typically you must also pay a realtor's "finders fee,' if you will, of two to three months of the total rent cost! It's highway robbery and a topic of heated discussion among my colleagues and I. Particularly pissed about it is my very British colleague who calls it extortion! He may be right! So we'll see what happens with this apartment tonight.
Alison
25 Aug. 2009
1:38 p.m.
p.s. Nicholai has been harrassing me all week to correct my blog concerning the number of homeruns he hit. So, over the course of two days and playing five games, he hit EIGHT homeruns. Good grief. (Alison, 27 August, 11:24 a.m.)
First up to challenge the Knights was "the Dominican team," as they were described to me. After the game, in which Nicholai did a bang-up job, including hitting four home runs and several RBIs, a member of "the Dominican team" approached him to ask his name and to compliment him on his skill around the field. He then told Nico, as the Knights had taken to calling my husband, that Nicholai (the only black person on his team) is clearly playing for the wrong team. (laugh) Later in the afternoon, during game two, the same player and one of his teammates (they would eventually tell me that they were of Cuban and Venezuelan heritage, respectively (I thought: That doesn't equal Dominican...) ) sat next to be on a bench I had perched behind home plate. Immediately the began to ask me a few questions about my husband. How long had he been playing? Where was he from? How did he come to join that team? Of course, earlier the sister of the Venezuelan, Karla, had already come to talk to me about joining her team. My husband, they all agreed is quite the player.
In the end, the common language, camaraderie and potential networking with the Knights proved far more important to Nicholai. I agreed.
But talk about recruiting! Some players take their game seriously, boy! How funny I thought it all was.
But the scene at the park was even funnier. It was like the United Nations with players from China, America, Canada, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and who knows where else! I didn't know whether to say hola, ni hao, hello, gross gott or what! But what a beautiful setting in which to be confused. The day was glorious - and fun!
At around 4, we headed back to the 22 district where we are living for the moment and from there headed to Ha Kai Chinese restaurant. I must admit that aside from sausages, we have yet to sample a traditional Viennese dish. But soon.
The city of Vienna is divided into 23 districts, or neighborhoods, and tonight we go to check out an apartment in the 6th district, very near the city centre where I work. Speaking of where I work, my office is right outside of the famed Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), a centerpiece of Vienna tourism. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna and is also celebrated for its architecture (it is built of limestone).
Back to the apartment ...
One very discouraging fact about Vienna is that when renting an apartment, one must not only pay first month's rent and a security deposit equivalent to that (known as a 'bond'), but typically you must also pay a realtor's "finders fee,' if you will, of two to three months of the total rent cost! It's highway robbery and a topic of heated discussion among my colleagues and I. Particularly pissed about it is my very British colleague who calls it extortion! He may be right! So we'll see what happens with this apartment tonight.
Alison
25 Aug. 2009
1:38 p.m.
p.s. Nicholai has been harrassing me all week to correct my blog concerning the number of homeruns he hit. So, over the course of two days and playing five games, he hit EIGHT homeruns. Good grief. (Alison, 27 August, 11:24 a.m.)
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