Anyway, we’ve all taken up hobbies. Apart from Liesl and Kurt. Marta  and Louisa are doing Horse riding, Gretl is doing Flute and Friedrich is doing Piano.

And me? I’m doing choir(the girl group choir, there is a boys and girls one at school). I started last Thursday after school, they were looking for people to join, and its only for 3rd-5th grade. There are about 15 girls altogther. I’m one of the oldest there. We’re learning an American folk song, I can’t remember the name, buts a fast-ish one. Choir lasts for  40 minutes after school, and we learn alot in those 40 minutes, how to reach those high notes, which is pretty hard as the pitching has to be right when you sing it otherwise it sounds squeaky and out of tune.

At the weekend, we went to the nearest lake and rented a boat, as it was a nice day and the water was calm. We had alot of fun. But we only had two hours on the boat though, and we had to go home and Reherse a bit more, but only 1 hour. After that, it started to get cold, and by that time it was 6:00pm and dark out outside. We put the log fire on and got out the guitar and sang a few songs.  It was fun.

Yesterday, after school, it was a nice day, so until it got dark, at 5:00pm, about 3:45pm, 45 minutes after school was over, we went for a walk in the woods around us. We spent ages collecting stuff for the school’s nature project(me and Marta did) and we had a really fun time. Its a big hill behind our house, and its a hard climb. But worth it, because in the middle of the woods, there is a space of grass, with a tree gap and you get amazing views of the hills, towns and mountains, its all quiet and only saw two hill walkers there, together. After that, we made our way home.  We’ve been walking up there almost every day.

Today was just a normal day, no rehersals until Tomorrow.  We might change one of our songs, but we don’t know yet, we decided today. Its all fun!

Must go, Dinner is reday!

Brigitta xxxxx

The day after I wrote my last entry, what happened was we went out that evening for dinner and we saw a leaflet posted up for a festival taking place and Auditions for 2 days after, Father said no straight out. He hates us singing for the money. We were all gutted, but you know what happened?! When we got home, Mother gave the person a ring and they said its not a cash prize. She told Father and he said he’ll think about it. So we kept our fingers crossed he would say yes.

And the very next day…He said, YES! But he said if the prize is cash, we are not to accept it, as (according to Father) Rich people don’t like singing for the money. So we rung up and said he’d like us to audition for him. That same day! So at 3:00pm that day, we went to the place where the festival was getting held in about 5 weeks time, and as we sung, I watched his face at the same time. I could tell he wasn’t SO sure…So at the end of the song, I whispered to Mother “He isn’t sure.”, so we planned to do a 2 piece harmony, which we did and I watched his face, and I could tell he liked it. So when we finished the song, he said straight after to us “That was very good…”. Our faces lit up and he told us there on the spot “Your through to the contest.” . We were overjoyed! So that night we planned what we were going to sing. We planned to Harmonise ‘Do Re Mi’ and we chose our Exit song as ‘So long, farewell’. We are allowed to pick two songs.

The next day at school, we had to go straight to rehersal and we managed to arrange a 2 piece Do Re Mi harmony which came out nice, but it still needs ALOT of work. We changed our So Long Farewell routine a bit, that needs work too. We have lots to sort out for the festival, which is in 5 weeks time. About 1 week before it starts, we go for rehersal with the other people entering and get our order of appearance and all that. Its all fun! We have to reherse 3 times a week, once on a weekend and twice in the week.

Anyway, The good news was broke by some bad today after school. Father got a phone call From Uncle Max(good, right?) BUT he told us our house has been taken over….by some people from the army, And he has been in there apparently, he says all our stuff has been chucked out, apart from the beds and shelves. I was shocked to hear. He told me, Kurt, Louisa, Friedrich and Liesl and mother too. Marta and Gretl are too young to hear it, and it would upset worse than us. It was awful to hear. We’re vowed not to tell any of our friends, or anyone from the outside world about this, as they may turn on us. I’m am extremly upset about this, as this means we can’t return home to Austria after the war and live in that house again…! But we can still go back and visit when the war is over…! America is nice, just not as nice as Austria. Everyone agrees.

Then, after that, to cheer ourselves up, we cooked a nice meal together, apart from Father and the younger girls, we helped make Snitchzel, and baked cake for dessert. It actually took our minds off what happened in Austria, and we enjoyed it, and never thought about it after that! But I could tell Father still had it on his mind, he was acting as if he wasn’t bothered, but he was, I could clearly see it on his face. He tried to hide it though. But we didn’t talk about that, we just talked about the festival and all that. We are all very excited for that, and forthcoming rehersals too.

Anyway, I must go to sleep!! I must keep myself off those books at night…!

Brigitta xxx

We arrived at school at 8:30am for school to start at 9:00am..Well  Friedrich is in higher school(or Hauptschule as we call it in Austria) and Louisa and Kurt, Middle school as they call it in the USA. Liesl is in college. Gretl isn’t in school. Marta is in 2nd grade, I’m in 5th grade, Kurt is in 6th grade, Louisa is in 8th grade and Friedrich is in 9th grade. The middle school and elementry school are joined up so we see Kurt and Louisa only at lunch.

Anyway, Once I got settled into my class, I discovered the first lesson was english(on my timetable written in German), good start, and it is not easy when your first starting. So I got out my German-english dictionary and wrote down translations and meanings in my english book. I wrote the meanings in German, but the words in English(even though, in Austria I was taught it and can speak it well). Then came maths, quite easy, then break, Marta and me sat together and we stuck side by side outside, as it was first day. She seemed to like school too.

After break, it was art lessons, I am a pretty creative girl and people say I’m a good artist, so that was no problem for me. We had to draw a picture of a winter scene, which was fun. I inspiried mine on Austrian mountains, and drew the Untersberg mountain, which is viewable from where we lived in Salzburg. I even drew the lake infront of our house(so basically drew the view from my house). The lesson was a double lesson and after that was lunch. After we ate, me Louisa and Marta met up. Kurt found an Austrian boy in his class and stayed with him, so he has a friend. Louisa said she got on ok, but she is the one out of us who can’t understand no english, and said she struggled a bit(she forgot what she’d learnt of english from mother and school). Marta got on ok, it seems like also.

The rest of the day went ok, the last two lessons were Biology and music. Musci was good fun, we sang and played instruments. We even sang a song in Spanish too-I didn’t quite pronounce the words right, but Its a nice tune and song. We got no homework.

I got home and because it gets dark early and cold these days, we all sat in the living room, once we’d changed out of our school uniforms, infront of the log fire. Father was at work so Mother sat with us. We got home at 4:00pm, and it was almost dark. At around 5:00pm, Father came home and we had dinner-an Austrian meal! Oh how I miss Austria. We had it like we used to, with candles on the table and all. And a dessert too, Liesl(as a nice treat) made us Sachertorte wiuth cream on the side, like we had it. We had water to drink, while father and mother had wine.  After that we just did our own thing, by that time it was 7:00pm and I curled up with a book on the sofa. The book was a book on Austrian history, I always read books like that, but for some reason, I just enjoy any book! I’m a bookworm.

Then, we all(children) decided to go up to bed at about 8:30pm as we’d had a long day. But i couldn’t sleep so I decided to write this, and now I am feeling tired. I’m going now!

Brigitta xxxx

I’m Brigitta Von Trapp, the 5th out of 7 children. I’m 10 years old and I have just come over from Austria to America with my 6 siblings, father and my step mother(my real mother died when I was about 6…).  My eldest sister is 16, that is Liesl, then comes Friedrich who is 14, then Louisa, who is 13, Kurt is 11, Marta is 7 and Gretl is 5. We escaped from Austria 3 weeks ago, because a war is raging on and Father got a request to join the german army, which he didn’t want, its 1938 and he hasn’t fought a battle since 1914(well, he told me that…). And he said it was awful, and doesn’t want to do it again, i have to admit, judging from the many books I have read, it does sound awful!!

Anyway, today has been the first full day in our new house in America. We all miss Austria terribly, but we’ll visit again someday,  just when the war is over. Louisa and I share a room, and she doesn’t like it because the room is full of my books! Her side is full of pictures and a couple of diaries. Well, my half of the room. But I know she is only messing around, I know my sister. Anyway, after we all got in, I read yet another book(I was tired!). It was around 2:00pm after we finished unpacking.

Anyway, at around 5:00pm, we went out for a meal at a local(but posh) restaurant. Since Liesl is the only one who can speak the most english out of all of us, she ordered what we wanted. And it actually tasted ok…But Austrian food has more taste I felt than American food, but it tasted nice. We had a chocolate cake each for dessert and it was done up liek we had in Austria, expect it wasn’t the same cake, but it tasted nice anyhow. It was 7:30pm by the time we all got home and everyone was tired out. So mother made us children all a hot chocolate and the eldest 5 of us curled up on the sofa together, while Mother when to sort out Marta and Gretl and put them to bed. Father sat with us. This is what we used to do, curl up and together some evenings and just joke around with a hot chocolate.  By the tone of his voice, I can tell Father is not happy with the way thinbgs have gone in Austria, or the sudden escape and everything. He will not admit it though. But we had the fire on, and were joking around and drank hot chocolate and Mother joined us.  It just seemed cosy.

At around 9:30pm, we all went up to bed, aside from Father and Mother who stayed up to do some last minute bits. But While everyone went to sleep, I stayed awake, writing this, and that is where I am now. Louisa is sound asleep and dosn’t hear me at all. But I am tired, I must read a bit and then go to sleep.

Brigitta xxxx