Guest Speakers this week Part One Hannah Stadler 

Hannah is still a growing child, as she had reported she has grown to the point she can  no longer fit her national costume. The youngest of three siblings who lives at home with a small cat (Arthur) , a very large dog (Polaris) and two average sized parents. They live in Eastern Austria in small town of 8000 people close to the Hungarian border and one of the largest steppe lakes in Europe, Neusiedler See. A national part of 300 sq km boarders the lake on one side and you can cycle or walk around it if you wish and have the time . It's surrounded by reeds which are constantly removed simply to ensure they still have clear water, the days of thatched roofs are largely over.

Vienna is the national capital and is home to the worlds oldest continuously operating pub / restaurant founded in 803. It's also Europes oldest company. It has a wonderful cultural history but in the editors opinion you can't beat a good beer!  

Whilst its a bit muddy as no water flows in or out, it's perfect for sailing as its usually quite windy. Her father works in Vienna, which is 40 minutes away by train,  as banker and her elder sister and brother study medicine and physiology respectively and live there as well. Her mother was working as a medical assistant but is now currently teaching refugees German as they have a refugee camp in their town.

Austria has a population of 8.2 million and a land area three times smaller than our own. So population density is 101.2 people per sq km. As only 32% of the country is under 500m in altitude you would to be right to guess it snows a lot and gets as cold an an Auckland summer in winter. The country is divided into 10 states and her's is the Eastern most and flattest.

They have just had an election and Alexander van der Bellen of the Austrian Green party is the new President by a narrow margin over the ultra right wing candidate.

Hannah generously thanked us, and her host families,  for the best six months of her life and has great expectations for the next six. 

School is quite different here, at home Hannah's school focused on Languages , English, French, German and Latin. In total they are expected to take 13 subjects per year in contrast to 5 subjects  here classes are much smaller with only 16 pupils in her class. Classes start at 8am and finish at 1.30 pm three days per week and 4 pm the other  two days but  you can expect to have at least two hours of home work per day.  As well as sailing and skiing, Hannah is keen on dog training and agility. She is very proud of Austria's one Olympic medal for sailing.   

To raise money for ERK boxes she is keen to organise a fundraising dinner of Austrian Schnitzel and apple strudel, watch this space.