Museums and Perspectives

Yesterday I had quite a museum day. At long last, I visited Schloss Eggenberg, our local palace and museum of Medieval and Renaissance art and old coins. It was very impressive, even though it wasn't the best time of year for it. I'll try to post some photos later.

Because I had bought a ticket for the castle museum, I could also go to other museum with the same ticket. And that's how, after much anticipation, I ended up at the Kunsthaus. Modern art is very hit or miss for me. I tend to like about 1% of it, so a collection needs to be pretty large before I'll like many of its pieces! The collection in the Kunsthaus is very small. However, two works of art really stood out for me. One was a collection of mechanical spiders that apparently go for a walk every day at 3 o'clock. (Sadly, I missed this.) The other was very simple and very witty. The artist had a shipping box on the floor, with a highly pretentious title and a note that due to unpacking issues, it could not be removed, and the artist requested it be presented in the box. I like modern art with a sense of humor as well as a message.

As far as perspectives go, being here has really made me realize something about my family. We are close, and enjoy each other's company a lot. However, 'out of sight, out of mind' is very, very true for us. I've talked to my family (specifically my mother) once in the 75 days I've been here. I called her. Similarly, no one has Skype set up, despite having know that I would do this for months. In comparison, Geoff had Skype within a couple of days of me being here, long before I even had internet to Skype with.

It's not a case of my family not loving me or caring about me. My mom has done many, many things for me since I've been here, from loaning me money and helping me get it transfered, to sending me a care package at Halloween. The thing is, it's generally things I ask for. And when I don't start communication, it doesn't seem to happen at all.

This also isn't just about me. The same thing happened when my brother moved to New York. Clearly, no matter how much we love each other, we love each other loosely. When someone is out of reach, we seem to just get on with our lives. It's interesting for me to realize this, because it's absolutely a habit I have as well, and I want to change that.