The weather isn’t the only thing that Filipina expat Melancolia had to adjust to when she moved from the Philippines to Austria in 2001. She also had to learn the language, become acquainted with the local customs, and adapt to Austrian behavior. However, the positive aspects of living in Austria are experiences that she relishes.	Melancolia

November 20 2006

-Where were you born?
I was born in the sleepy city of Marikina, Philippines

-In which country and city are you living now?
I am now settled in the heart (one of the inner districts) of Vienna, Austria

-Are you living alone or with your family?
I am living with my little family. That includes my little rascal, who is now 16 months old.

-How long have you been living in Austria?
Since April 2001. So I am gonna celebrate my sixth year here in 2007.

-What is your age?
I just turned 33 last month.

-When did you come up with the idea of living in Austria?
I fell in love with a Viennese. Distance was a hindrance to our relationship so I decided to marry him. After that I followed him, quit my job and left the comforts of my parents’ home and the Philippines. We were also looking at the practicality of living closer together. The intercontinental calls were expensive (there was no Skype or even a similar website/service that time) and we both despise chatting. What we had left was a hundred of emails that crashed my former email address, thousands of SMS and beeper messages and a handful of snail mails.

Naturally, living together with a piece of paper has more advantages than merely having him as a boyfriend. Partnership without marriage in Austria is also recognized, but it would be hard for me to immediately settle here as I have to depend on the quota set by the Austrian foreign ministry. The quota pertains to the limited number of immigrants, who aren’t members of the European Union or countries that don’t have bilateral agreement with Austria, who are allowed to come and stay in Austria. Usually, one has to wait four to five years. I didn’t want that so I took the plunge.

-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
Not at all. I am considered to be a relative of an Austrian national so I was automatically given the permission to stay in Austria. And that includes the benefit of being allowed to work here too.

-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
No. It was actually part of the package. After we got married my husband arranged my papers. As soon as I arrived, we filed for my insurance and I was given my own social security number. Immediately I was part of the Austrian community. That means I am entitled to get support from the state. My rights are that of the Austrian citizen except for the right to vote.

-How do you make your living in Austria? Do you have any type of income generated?
I work as an English-speaking kindergarten assistant. I got it after two and a half years of accepting the fact that it was really hard to find the same or almost the same position I had before. There are several international organizations here but it isn’t easy to get in, especially if you don’t know anyone inside. One day, I was so desperate that I lowered my standards. Well, “lowered” could be a harsh word for someone who likes to be working with kids. But out of desperation and the fervent wish to be part of the working class again, I saw an ad from Virtual Vienna.net. One kindergarten organization was looking for an assistant. Luckily, I got the job. At first it wasn't really my intention to stay there. But that same year my husband’s company went bankrupt and was forced to close down. So the one-year tryout became our primary source of income.

Even though I like kids I am not planning to be a “wholesale babysitter.” First of all, call it arrogance or too much pride, I am a degree-holder and have had working experience related to my education. Second, I learned recently that companies tend to cast doubts on your IT skills once they find out that you busy yourself taking care of the kids. And that’s freaking frustrating. I never intend to make teaching kindergarten a career. But for someone whose mother tongue is not German, it is pretty difficult to convince them that you can do the job.

To be honest, the only kids I’d like to take care of are my own children and my nieces. Right now, I am still searching for the right career. I am longing to be part of the corporate world again. Moreover, the competition (among expatriates/immigrants who can speak English well) is so tight while the unemployment rate in Austria is increasing.

-Do you speak German and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
Yes, I can speak German albeit there are still mistakes (grammar and pronunciation). I am practicing my written German, though.

It is very important to learn the official language, by the way. One doesn’t have to master it as it is futile but survival is the key. How can you get around or buy your food if you cannot express what you want? It is true that some Austrians can speak English, but won’t do it as much as possible.

One of the customs I have learned is that the Austrians also celebrate name’s day, like a birthday. During my first year here, my mother-in-law asked me if I had any idea when my name’s day was. I was really surprised as it was not a tradition in Manila. It took her a couple of years to find out mine and it took me awhile before I finally let it become a part of my habit. By the way, these are the corresponding names written on the calendar.

Also, there is a big difference between addressing a stranger and a friend. There is the formal “Sie” and the informal “du.” You have to take care that you don’t mix the two together as it will show how uneducated and disrespectful you are. But lately, due to the increasing influence of MTV and pop culture emerging from Germany and the States, the cool and hip kids today take the practice in stride. But knowing how it works can save you from lots of trouble, say, an unwanted person who keeps on intruding you on the train. By addressing him/her with the formal “Sie” the other passengers can take a note that you two don’t know each other personally.

Also, this sounds so shallow and even silly but academic titles like Magister (master) or Doktor, among others, are a great deal here and people look at you as this high and mighty person from above. It helps you to land a better job. As a matter of fact, the Austrians are so obsessed with it that even in their tombstones the living relatives include their deceased loved ones’ academic titles. Just go to Vienna’s Zentrafriedhof (the largest cemetery in Austria) and take a look.

Well, like everywhere, observing the local customs isn’t a bad idea at all. In fact, the natives will appreciate and admire your efforts if you respect them.

-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
Rarely. I am not really that close to my family back in the Philippines. What I miss is the ritual at home during the Lenten and Christmas seasons. And the sights and sounds of the Philippines during these times. If there are people I miss at home, they are my jogging partner Armin and my artist friend Nath.

-Do you have other plans for the future?
I am planning to go back to university. Maybe take some courses in social work. Through the years I find myself very much interested in immigration and asylum-seeking. Also, we are compiling the requirements I need to take to become an Austrian citizen. The political climate in Austria has been getting stranger the last two years. I wasn’t thinking of it four years ago as I was really keen on retaining my nationality. My husband and I still consider the idea that someday we would find our way to the Philippines and settle there. But, recently, reports of interracial pairs that are forcibly separated by the interior ministry are hogging the headlines. Also, the birth of my son added to the factor. I don’t want to lose them just because the right-wing politicians have created a stupid law that could mean losing my right to be with them. To combat these fears, I finally conceded to make it as an option, that is, to become an Austrian.

And perhaps, next year, if financial issues are solved, we could embark on our first vacation to the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
We are renting a flat in Vienna and we also have a house that my husband inherited from his parents in the countryside, which is located more than 40 kilometers away from the capital. Well, it is a house like any other house in the village. I call it a weekend house as we tend to stay there only during weekends. But it is a big house with a big garden. Lots of greens and also very quiet, which disturbs me sometimes as I am used to the city noise.

Thankfully, in Vienna, compared to other big cities in Western Europe, renting a flat is cheaper. The social housing authority sees to it that every Viennese can take part in the program. It takes consideration of how many members of the family live in an apartment. The rule is one person per room. It should work like that, ideally, but the trend shows otherwise.

Ours is a 62-square meter flat with two rooms, a small kitchen, one bathroom and one toilet room (bathrooms and toilets are usually separate) and a small hallway. The pay is 300 euros a month, excluding the electricity, water, gas, etc. For a three-member household it is pretty small.

-What is the cost of living in Austria?
Of all the major European cities, say Paris or London, Vienna is cheaper. Therefore, the food items here are more expensive than anywhere else.
But one has to note that in order to survive here an income of 1,000 euros a month is not enough. You can get by, of course. But if you rent a private apartment and you have children, it will be a very hard life.

One fact is that the euro’s introduction to the markets has greatly affected and influenced Austrian buying power. Most of the everyday products have doubled their former prices and are much more expensive now than they were four years ago, when they used to be priced in Austrian Schillings.

-What do you think about the Austrian people?
Honestly, even though I find the straightforwardness of the Austrians admirable, I also find it puzzling and unpleasant. For someone who is used to warmth, however hypocritical or otherwise, displayed by strangers and friends I have met in Manila, one cannot find that attitude of beating around the bush to be useful here. If you don’t like something, say it immediately. You don’t have to dilly-dally and let others guess what you want. But compared to Germans and Americans, the Austrians’ frankness is nowhere near those of the two nationalities. Also, the Viennese are known to whine a lot. Sometimes I find it annoying as they tend to complain about the simplest of things.

My husband told me that the Western Europeans view the Viennese as laid-back. But in truth they are not. Well, not all of them actually. They are as hectic as any other denizens living in a city. Even if you find racist vandalism, read reports of neo-Nazi violence here and there, and hear small successes of right-wing parties, not every Viennese is a characters straight from the novels of Elfriede Jelinek’s, an Austrian writer and 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature winner. That is, not every Austrian is xenophobic or is hiding Nazi ideology in his/her closet.

What I find odd is that many Austrians won’t mind foreigners but they are especially wary of the Eastern Europeans. It must be the history, the geographical distance and the Eastern Europeans’ readiness to work for half of the money compared to their Austrian counterparts.

The number of racist violence is often far and between. In some cases, the racists are concentrated in one area or district where there are a lot of unemployed Viennese. These are the same people who blame their misfortunes on the poor immigrants, who think they steal the jobs from the Viennese. Often the discontented Viennese youths operate at night where no one sees them, writing their hatred on the mute and helpless building walls, on the benches and the backseats of the buses.

There are two instances where I encountered nasty aggression from the locals. Once was in a shopping mall and the second was on the tram. But I don’t think the motive was purely racist. Maybe, a part of it. But you can never be sure.
Thing is the Austrians themselves can attest to the fact that respect among the younger generation is becoming more like a foreign word each day. You can even find this type of bullying among the children of the immigrants too. All in all, it is just matter of how the families of both locals and immigrants bring up their children.

Unlike Vienna, Manila is chaotic and polluted. But there are certain familiarities to it that you cannot simply find in Vienna: the closeness among the people. In Vienna, people are so distant. But I can say that the mentality is different in the countryside. The lifestyle in the provinces is slow and laid-back. Our neighbors treat us like members of their family. But there’s a big “if” and a number of unwritten rules to be followed to be accepted by the community. That is, it always depends on your attitude and behavior. Lately, my husband suggested that the villagers’ reaction might be different if I were an African as it isn’t usual to find black people in our small towns and villages. Right now, I attract looks from a few individuals. It’s not racist. But because I am an oddity, it causes others to look at me twice.

Also, many expats believe that a friendly Viennese/Austrian is hard to find, especially in a working place, but once you find one, it means it could last forever. It is also known that even if your break up with your Austrian/Viennese partner, his/her friends might even adopt you for life.

Oh yeah, most of the Viennese don’t have any idea about the “Sound of Music.”

-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Austria?
Vienna is far from being a paradise but it isn’t a hell either. It is a mixed pot of good and bad that intermingles together.

Anyway, let’s start with the positive aspects:
* The social welfare system. Coming from the Philippines where the social system is almost null, as an employee/taxpayer in Vienna, it is nice to know that one can see the progress. In truth, availing of the benefits is not for free. In order to reap them you have to part with not more than half of your salary. It is correct that the present Austrian government tries to find ways to save and reduce the welfare system. But, hey, still long live socialism!
* The transportation system and the well-maintained roads and highways
* The endless cultural possibilities/offers. It encourages you to be cultural-minded
* Vienna’s rich history and the way the Austrians--from private citizens to nonprofit organizations to the government--preserve it, by way of maintaining the old buildings like the museums, castles, etc. My mother-in-law used to live in a 200-year-old flat building in the fourth district, which is usual in the inner districts
* The Viennese value their weekends and free time, that means most of the shops are closed during Sundays and holidays. Hopefully they won’t succumb to total capitalism.
* The city library
* The flea markets, antique shops and secondhand stores
* Low crime rate
* Superior healthcare system combined with clean and high-tech hospitals

Now, let’s tackle the negative ones:
* Dog poop everywhere. Thank God the irresponsible owners got a beating lately after a group of concerned citizens spoke out against this travesty. Now that winter is about to come, can you imagine how unhygienic and disgusting it is to let the kids stumble in the park, especially if the ground is covered with snow?
* Like I mentioned before, the Viennese are a whining lot.
* If you are a non-smoker, then be prepared because Vienna is a haven for smokers.
* Nepotism is normal and a way of life and the Austrians are not ashamed of it.
* Unfriendly service crew from the groceries and bakeries. Maybe because they are underpaid and overworked?
* Gay people cannot marry in Austria.
* The weather. It is true that witnessing four seasons a year is exciting. The truth is I cannot stand more than three months of gloomy, grey and cold weather. It is funny for a day or two but I don’t need it for four months. Maybe because I came from a tropical island. In fact since living here I have contracted an allergy that tortures me whenever springtime comes. It is dreadful. Although I can say that reminiscences of my first winter in Vienna are happy and pleasant ones. Imagine lying in the bed, sipping tea, reading my favorite book or just writing stuff; outside it was snowing and the flat was cozy and warm. It was one of those days you thought you only read about in books or see in the movies.

-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Austria?
First, learn German. Second, learn German. Third, learn German.

Okay, lastly, before you decide to pack your bags and leave your place for Vienna, inform yourself of the cost of renting and the location. If you don’t know anyone, make sure that you have enough money to get by for a few good months. The rest, I think, is just common sense.

-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about Austria?
The University of Vienna used to have an English-language newsletter, Very Vienna, where the authors write their observation/thought/opinion toward the city they live in, whether it is negative or positive, enlightening or amusing.

If you are new to Vienna and would like to know more of the city through the eyes of the expatriates, why not visit the Vienna Expats forum? Members encourage questions from every newbie.

If you want to inform yourself about legalities and other important stuff concerning living in Vienna, wien.at is a big help. Fear not, as it has an English version too.

I seldom update my website but I document most of my experiences and my emotions there. The Rot is my playground where I dedicate and keep all the personal stuff. I have a separate page for all my musings and rantings about Vienna here at Lost in Vienna.