#4 Alexandra Thompson: Viennas Metamorphosis, Falco and Schlagobers

One day, my friend Brigita, the house of the house of the manager of an apartment building, who was married to Rudy, who was a tram driver, decided that the best thing in the world for me would be to go on a field trip with a bunch of other apartment managers. Welcome to One Day in Vienna. Our guest today? Alexandra Thompson. I'm your host, Lauren Louvre, and welcome to this podcast, where we're going to be uncovering those memorable anecdotes about this magical city. But let's face it, we all love and hate in moments. The expats featured in this show will be enlightening us as to how they navigate becoming a local in Vienna, often with a splattering of hilarious culture clashes to boot. I'm here today with Alexandra Thompson, my beloved friend and hilarious fellow party goer. A very inspiring person in my life, and I just wanted to say to you, hello Lex, how are you? Hello Lauren, I'm doing very well, thank you. We are talking about special days in Vienna. So first of all, tell us, why did you come to Vienna? What was the reason? Because of love, it's always because of love. Yeah, I got on a plane from California to Vienna with two children and unsandals and no winter coat and arrived in February in Vienna. When the winters were still cold, really cold. Yep, that's what brought me here. And when was that that was in February of 1981? So you're in love, you fly from California with two kids, how old were they? Almost three and four. Oh my goodness. They were really little. So tell us about what your initial day and your experience is where you get off the plane. What, what, tell us we want to know everything. And it was cold. And my boyfriend picked us up at the airport in a bit of shock that my kids were insandles and my little girl was in a dress and it was, you know, two feet of snow on the ground. And then he, yeah, he picked us up. He put us in the car and he took us home to his apartment. And I've never, I never imagined that Vienna would be a grey, dismal, dark, poorly lit. Oh, it was just depressing. So you moved to a country that you'd never been to. No. No, you'd never once been to Vienna. And you moved your whole life to Vienna for a short period, but not, I hadn't seen that part of it. I hadn't. It was quite different when I visited. Yeah. Was it summer when you visited before? Yes. Summer. And just a whole different vibe, a whole different atmosphere. It wasn't serious. I was moving. So to land in the early evening when there was very little light and to drive the freeway. You don't know how beautiful Vienna is when you drive from the airport to the city. It is industrial. It's barren. It's cold and it was much worse back then, you know, in the 80s. There was nothing. So you've landed. You're in shock. But you've made a decision, you know, you've moved to Vienna. What happens next? Oh, what happens next? Did you acclimatize? Eventually. Well, after a number of years, it took some time. It really took some time. Vienna's changed so dramatically. They had three types of shampoo, pink, blue and green. That's all. That's all glen-vital. And you had your choice of color. And I'm from Beverly Hills, baby. You know, I'm like, and they had no television. You know, it's like put the kids in front of the TV so we can talk, except that there was none. You know, it was just, you know, from, I think it was from noon till four. There was nothing. Then there was an hour of like kids' programs or something. I can't remember exactly. But there were two channels. And that was it. And so, you know, I wasn't really sure what to do with myself, not speaking any German. And there we were. I question now why I'm here. How on earth did I manage to stay? And how long have you been here? I have been here 40 years. Amazing. 40 years, yeah. And I bet it's changed dramatically. I mean, even in the 15 years I've been here, it's changed hugely. Oh, yeah. And tremendously, tremendously. So much, so much more alive. And, you know, I also didn't want to learn German. I thought it was a, I did want to learn German. And then I realized or was told, I was sent, you know, right away to, to a, a, to a language school and found out that the cases for D are dead, dead, D. It's like you mean you turn it into masculine when it's the second and third case. Can we not have them all different? And so I then I decided no. And then I discovered Falco and decided that the language was worth learning. Falco was an Austrian pop musicer, known for his hit, Rock Me Amadeus. In the 1980s he was a international known. Falco combined pop, rock and rap in his music. His un-permanent style and his energy-laden Auftritte made him to pop music. In 1998 Falco died in a real name, Johann Hölzel, in a car accident. I thought this is the, this is called, this guy's got it, became a huge Falco fan. Yeah. Is that the reason why you stayed left? No, it's not the reason why I stayed, but it certainly made me think that German was okay. It could be a cool language. It didn't have to be so stiff and difficult. I think that's really it. I think it's always a setting that you place yourself in. It can seem really scary and like foreign to you. Or it can be a pathway to understanding something more. And if you have that inspiration from music then, you know, like that's a step in the door. What was the insight into like a new social lifestyle for you? No, I actually made friends with a couple who had a little girl in my daughter's class. And she decided, this woman, Brigita decided to adopt me. And she didn't speak any English, but she was going to take me around and do things with me. And we were going to, we were going to have a relationship. And one day, my friend, Brigita, the house of the house of the house of the manager of an apartment building, who was married to Rudy, who was a tram driver, they adopted me. I could speak no German. They could speak no English. And Brigita decided that the best thing in the world for me would be to go on a field trip with a bunch of other. Other apartment managers. So we took a bus to Dunstein, and then we took a boat to Melk and sailed down the, the, the Danube. And so the bus is waiting for us. And I approach and there are all of these very loud, very interesting looking people. A lot of pink leggings, a lot of one woman I remember had on a black and gold Tutankhamen t-shirt. Everyone was smoking. They were very, very loud. Couldn't wait to get a beer. And Brigita throws her arms around me and we got on the bus. And I think one thing to remember about me is that I grew up in a Hollywood atmosphere. My dad was a, was a producer. My mother was an actress. And I'm getting on this bus walking behind these very loud, very vivacious people. My mother's friends were all gay men. And I felt kind of right at home, even though none of these people appeared to be gay. but they were loud and they were full of life. They were just. just lovely real people. And I instantly felt a bond with them and felt comfortable with them. This was not Hollywood. These were real people who enjoyed each other's company. And when we, they even, oh my heavens, driving in that bus and I was in the middle of the bus, and I got so nauseous and they didn't think twice about pulling over and letting me get off and throw up. Got off, threw up, got back on and off we went, stopped at a guest house, I had real gulash and there, there no, there no small beers for anybody in that group. We all had the big beers and everybody was, you know, half two sheets to the wind when we got back on the bus and went on with the journey. It was an absolutely enlightening experience for me. And that was kind of when I realized that there were some really interesting cool people. And even though I didn't understand anything, I really felt like this was, these were good people. And I was quite, was somehow very, you know, I'm the American and when my husband was a, you know, PhD and all of this and our friends were the apartment manager and the draper driver and we got along like bread and butter and this, this couple, oh my goodness, we had the best time. We had the best time, we had the best time that day. And I remember asking her and saying, so Brickita, what is a, what is a prolo? Prolet is an abdative attitude for a simple worker or someone with social status. The word from Latin and means work. It was often used in the story to describe people with more than one or without a higher education. What is a prolo? Brickita said, I'm a prolo and I'm the lowest prolo there is. And I thought, as she said it in English, sometimes she would rumble out with something and I thought, good God, this is like, this is, this is crazy. I don't think things are like that anymore here. I hope they're not like that anymore. But these, these people, my goodness, I'm still friends with Brickita. Crazy. I found a real kindness and a real warmth. And something that I didn't see as much in Los Angeles is some real sincerity. Yeah. You know, some real depth, some real sincerity. But these are the kinds of people that I met here. And I thought, this is a really, this is kind of a really cool place to be. And what's your relationship like with German actually? I worked at an American school, at the American school for many years and my German came to a complete halt. So slowly but surely, you know, I worked for Nesterval, which is an immersive theater company. And although they let me, they write for me in English, I feel like I'm missing a lot. When we do things as a group, when we go somewhere, when we, when we do something, I miss three quarters of the conversation because my German isn't good enough. So I, a little over a year ago, I started intensely learning, every single day learning German. But now that they know I get to be German, now I have to do my parts in German. Ooh! It's not really that difficult. I've started listening to audible books in German. And just, I've always felt if you're going to move to a country, you need to speak a language or you're just missing out. You know, you're missing out. Lex, we are very curious about what words resonate with our guests. Do you have any Austrian or German words which you particularly love or you find disgusting? Tell us about them. My very first German word was down schnuppa, so I have a very, very, that's close to my heart. The word I still, after 40 years can't get over, is erinnerung because like who says erinnerung? Now I understand it's erinnerung, so I've got that down, but it's still every time I hear it, I'm jarred. And of course, my favorite word is schnuppa, because it's exactly, it tastes in it and it looks exactly like that. Thank you so much for joining us today, Lex. You are very welcome. It was not only just lovely to see your face, but it was really lovely that you shared your really amusing story with us. I thank you so much. Thank you for the blush. And see you soon. - What? - What? - Buh-bye. (upbeat music) You love Vienna too and want to learn German? In his Vienna will get you there. Vienna's best language school offers a variety of courses and trainings, at different levels, at different times, and at different intensities. All information about In his Vienna and today's guests can be found in the show notes. And there we also explain all other German words, terms, and Vienna's areas from this episode. Thanks for listening and hope you tune in next week. I'll be to her. (upbeat music)