I had to go to London to have my first big birthday party, I had to go to Canada to have my first Staatsfeiertags celebration. A couple of days I wrote an e-mail to the president of that German club and told her about the 26 of October. So she sent e-mails to the club members suggesting they could wear red and white. I was really surprised when I turned up - some had indeed clothes of that colours, some attached the words Austria and Oesterreich to it or had painted flags on their cheeks. And that was it pretty much - I mean, we didn't go as far as singing the anthem or folk songs or whatever. It was just right the way it was. A good time. Austria day. Actually I think we could celebrate differently in Austria. I mean what's the point of the day? We don't have to work, public buildings are flagged, and most museums offer free entrance. That's it? Well I guess in Vienna you also have the military parade and could visit parliament. But still. I mean, don't get me wrong I don't want some nationalistic falderal and it's not about Austria is the best country in the world blabla. But wouldn't it be a good opportunity to deal with our country, heritage and history, to be happy about positive aspects and reflect about negative aspects? Anyway.

Here are two pictures. The girl below is the president of the German club, Bari, and wears a jersey of the Italian city of that name (which I think is very funny). But as you might be able to see - as a special gesture of celebration she yesterday put a sticker over the "B" and added "ust" and "a" to turn her into A-UST-RI-A. The only colourwise matching clothes I had was my England jacket, which similarly was quickly transformed into an Austria jersey (at least the front). On the back someone attached a sheet of paper saying: "Vorsichtig! Ich bin aus Oesterreich" - I guess it was meant as a warning that the big "England" letters are misleading..