So Much and So Little
I'm back in the land of the living. Last week was terrible. Being so sick and unable to stay awake for more than 3 hours at one time was devastating. While I am still not back to my Sonic the Hedgehog super energy, I am definitely no longer battling chronic fatigue. I have so much to write about; Feschmarkt, a party, and of course the US Marine Ball. And tonight I can only write a little because I'm tired. Not tired, tired, but want to watch an episode of Ladies of London tired and then crawl into bed to read a book tired. A much more acceptable tired.
So the weekend before this most recent past weekend, I was at Feschmarkt helping out at the stand of The House of Canada. The Feschmarkt is a twice a year design/craft fair that takes places in the old factory of the Ottakringer brewery. The location is truly amazing; a huge and empty warehouse. It's like the stuff of nightmares but with the fun feeling of that place Kevin Bacon dances in in Footloose.
On Friday, around noon, I headed to my friend's office so that we could go to the brewery together. We grabbed a taxi and made our way over full of excitement. We had some boxes of stuff and instead of walking the 3 flights of stairs to our stand, we took the elevator of death. It's an open air outside elevator that requires pulling down bars and pressing scary red buttons and I might have prayed a little as we rode up in it. We got the stand ready and in our matchy matchy red plaid shirts, waited for the clock to strike 2. We were ready for crowds. We were ready for people to be throwing money at us non-stop. We were ready for war.
Yeah, that didn't happen. In fact, nothing happened for a while, a good long while. We smiled at everybody and anybody and we might have scared them off with our wide eyes and wagging tails. People would walk up, take a look at the merchandise and then walk on. It was rough. Trying to ignore the fact that I was sick, I decided to get us some beer. A friend of mine had a stand in the next room over so I told her I would get her a beer too. I walked throughout the whole blasted warehouse and could not find a stand. I even asked a woman in a Ottakringer polo shirt and said "Bier? Wo?" and she shrugged and I laughed because how on Earth could it be so damn hard to find beer in a brewery. I kind of laughed. And then I didn't. Not cool, guys. Not cool. I did finally find a stand in the courtyard and I felt like high fiving the guy. Then I had the challenge of transporting three beers up the several flights of stairs in the warehouse. I totally earned that beer, by the way. We made a few more sales and we were kind of disheartened. The lovely lady with the stand next to us assured us that this was a slow day and it would pick up on Saturday. We nodded and smiled and pretended to ignore the fact that the plant guy across from us was selling like plants were the newest trend ever. Actually, they were pretty cool plants. But I don't like plants. They know what they did. I don't want to talk about it.
P.S. Office Twin. Remember when I told you that if you brought plants into our office I would cut you. And then you assured me you would take care of them and take them home with you? Yeah, you left them here. You will pay when you are back. Stupid plants. Anyway, around 9:30 I took off my hipster Kissinger glasses and put on heels and a dress and headed out into the drizzly night. I had been invited to a special party for the book industry and despite being cold and tired, I had to go because OH MY GOD A PARTY! It was at the Gartenbau Kino that I had no idea was more than a movie theater. Plus I had no idea how incredibly cool and 1960's the place is. I met my friend outside and we walked into the incredibly retro hall. And there was music from the 60's playing and I felt like I had walked onto a Mad Men set.
The party started at 10 and according to my friend, when a party starts at a certain time in Vienna, you never show up at that actual time which kind of blows my mind considering how incredibly punctual everybody is here. My mother is half German so I could have shot up heroin in front of her but if I was late? Death sentence. This is why I am always early. This is why I always bring something to read. As the time passed, the place filled up with writers and publishers and journalists and we drank gin and tonics and talked. The music switched to dancey stuff and we hit the dance floor. I also apparently know the words to a classic Italian song which makes no sense considering I don't speak Italian. But heh, osmosis? Or maybe gin? There were a lot of people and at one point I checked my phone and realized something terrible had just happened in Paris. It was time to call it a night. The next morning I woke up and donned plaid again and made my way back to Feschmarkt. My heart was heavy due to the attacks in Paris the night before and also due to the fact that I was exhausted. We sighed as we readied the stand and braced ourselves for the day. And well, what a difference a day makes! We really started to SELL SELL SELL! Our onesies were a HUGE hit! The maple syrup, too. Many many people chatted with us and it truly was a different crowd. We kept giggling every time we made a sale and suddenly Feschmarkt was back in our good books.
By 9 I had to head home. I slept 11 hours straight and that should have been a clear indication that I was truly ill. Sunday was a bit of a blur but we had another great day of selling products. By 7 I had to apologize to my lovely friend and take my leave. I don't even remember getting home but I woke up the next morning still wearing my plaid shirt and with the Kid head butting me. Blergh. That was the start of the week of blergh. So that was last weekend. It was definitely an interesting time and I think I learned a lot. I only wish that I had felt better. I also want to say thank you to everybody who dropped by to say hello. It was great to see some friendly faces and I apologize if it seemed that I was stoned. I wasn't. I was on Dayquil, which actually is kind of the same thing. I have so much more to write but as I said before, I be tired yo. I also had some white glühwein at a friend's earlier so I am all happy drowsy and smelling like cinnamon and a vineyard. Stay tuned for more blog posts this week and more stories and plans as well as review on Viden hair products. My new favourite brand. I wish you all a fabulous Monday! Nighty night!
So the weekend before this most recent past weekend, I was at Feschmarkt helping out at the stand of The House of Canada. The Feschmarkt is a twice a year design/craft fair that takes places in the old factory of the Ottakringer brewery. The location is truly amazing; a huge and empty warehouse. It's like the stuff of nightmares but with the fun feeling of that place Kevin Bacon dances in in Footloose.
On Friday, around noon, I headed to my friend's office so that we could go to the brewery together. We grabbed a taxi and made our way over full of excitement. We had some boxes of stuff and instead of walking the 3 flights of stairs to our stand, we took the elevator of death. It's an open air outside elevator that requires pulling down bars and pressing scary red buttons and I might have prayed a little as we rode up in it. We got the stand ready and in our matchy matchy red plaid shirts, waited for the clock to strike 2. We were ready for crowds. We were ready for people to be throwing money at us non-stop. We were ready for war.
Yeah, that didn't happen. In fact, nothing happened for a while, a good long while. We smiled at everybody and anybody and we might have scared them off with our wide eyes and wagging tails. People would walk up, take a look at the merchandise and then walk on. It was rough. Trying to ignore the fact that I was sick, I decided to get us some beer. A friend of mine had a stand in the next room over so I told her I would get her a beer too. I walked throughout the whole blasted warehouse and could not find a stand. I even asked a woman in a Ottakringer polo shirt and said "Bier? Wo?" and she shrugged and I laughed because how on Earth could it be so damn hard to find beer in a brewery. I kind of laughed. And then I didn't. Not cool, guys. Not cool. I did finally find a stand in the courtyard and I felt like high fiving the guy. Then I had the challenge of transporting three beers up the several flights of stairs in the warehouse. I totally earned that beer, by the way. We made a few more sales and we were kind of disheartened. The lovely lady with the stand next to us assured us that this was a slow day and it would pick up on Saturday. We nodded and smiled and pretended to ignore the fact that the plant guy across from us was selling like plants were the newest trend ever. Actually, they were pretty cool plants. But I don't like plants. They know what they did. I don't want to talk about it.
P.S. Office Twin. Remember when I told you that if you brought plants into our office I would cut you. And then you assured me you would take care of them and take them home with you? Yeah, you left them here. You will pay when you are back. Stupid plants. Anyway, around 9:30 I took off my hipster Kissinger glasses and put on heels and a dress and headed out into the drizzly night. I had been invited to a special party for the book industry and despite being cold and tired, I had to go because OH MY GOD A PARTY! It was at the Gartenbau Kino that I had no idea was more than a movie theater. Plus I had no idea how incredibly cool and 1960's the place is. I met my friend outside and we walked into the incredibly retro hall. And there was music from the 60's playing and I felt like I had walked onto a Mad Men set.
The party started at 10 and according to my friend, when a party starts at a certain time in Vienna, you never show up at that actual time which kind of blows my mind considering how incredibly punctual everybody is here. My mother is half German so I could have shot up heroin in front of her but if I was late? Death sentence. This is why I am always early. This is why I always bring something to read. As the time passed, the place filled up with writers and publishers and journalists and we drank gin and tonics and talked. The music switched to dancey stuff and we hit the dance floor. I also apparently know the words to a classic Italian song which makes no sense considering I don't speak Italian. But heh, osmosis? Or maybe gin? There were a lot of people and at one point I checked my phone and realized something terrible had just happened in Paris. It was time to call it a night. The next morning I woke up and donned plaid again and made my way back to Feschmarkt. My heart was heavy due to the attacks in Paris the night before and also due to the fact that I was exhausted. We sighed as we readied the stand and braced ourselves for the day. And well, what a difference a day makes! We really started to SELL SELL SELL! Our onesies were a HUGE hit! The maple syrup, too. Many many people chatted with us and it truly was a different crowd. We kept giggling every time we made a sale and suddenly Feschmarkt was back in our good books.
By 9 I had to head home. I slept 11 hours straight and that should have been a clear indication that I was truly ill. Sunday was a bit of a blur but we had another great day of selling products. By 7 I had to apologize to my lovely friend and take my leave. I don't even remember getting home but I woke up the next morning still wearing my plaid shirt and with the Kid head butting me. Blergh. That was the start of the week of blergh. So that was last weekend. It was definitely an interesting time and I think I learned a lot. I only wish that I had felt better. I also want to say thank you to everybody who dropped by to say hello. It was great to see some friendly faces and I apologize if it seemed that I was stoned. I wasn't. I was on Dayquil, which actually is kind of the same thing. I have so much more to write but as I said before, I be tired yo. I also had some white glühwein at a friend's earlier so I am all happy drowsy and smelling like cinnamon and a vineyard. Stay tuned for more blog posts this week and more stories and plans as well as review on Viden hair products. My new favourite brand. I wish you all a fabulous Monday! Nighty night!
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