Cleaning the "hut"

So, I had my first work day today.  Our assignment was to clean a cabin, or "hut" as they call them, in the mountains.  The cabin belongs to a family that lets Tauernhof use it during the summer and fall.  Andy, one of the construction workers m and a native of the area, took seven of us to the hut.  Everyone kindly asked each other if they get car sick when we picked our seats.  I said, "no, I don't" and got in the third row. Andy got in the vehicle introduced himself and said, "It's about 40 minutes through the mountains so just relax and enjoy the ride."  Lovely, a nice ride through the mountains.

We headed up some winding roads at what seemed like a faster than usual pace.  About 10 minutes into the ride, the three of us in the back looked at each other and I started to feel a little queasy.  So, we opened the window and I kept thinking that we'd almost be there.  The roads got more narrow and winding.  I think it's the first time that I recited the verse "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" in a car ride.  The only thing that I can compare it to was a road that we took once to my grandparents house when I was younger, and never took that road again because it was so winding.

We arrived at the hut and I felt very green.  But the ride really was spectacular through the upper mountains.  The cabin was just like "Little House on the Prairie."  Dani, my roommate looked at me and said, "why don't you get some fresh air for a bit," noticing my green color.  After I took in some fresh air we promptly went to cleaning the cabin.   Before this, we got a quick tour and the cabin was all wood, no insulation, and mattresses on boards.  This was really remote.  No electricity, but running cold water.  There was even an room where they split wood and there were a lot of tools in this room as well.  Dani and I cleaned the loft area containing about 10 mattresses in one room.  The others cleaned the remaining bedrooms, the dining area, the bathroom and the basement.  The cabin isn't used in the winter, so it had been sitting for 6 months.  It was mostly dusty with cobwebs.  But we shook out the mattress and everythig else. 

Dani (Germany), Sharon/me (USA), Spencer (USA), Ana (Germany), Steph (Germany), Whitney (Macedonia), Elizabeth (USA), and Andy (Austria)

After about one and a half hours we had the place cleaned from top to bottom.  As we sat down for a snack of fresh milk from the farmer and some baked desser, Andy told us more about the cabin.  It used to be used for farmers, called an "alm" in German, for making cheese from the milk. The farmers used to bring their cattle up and this was the way to preserve the milk.  They no longer use it for that, but just for Christian camps.  I must admit it was pretty rustic and pretty remote. I thought of how much I appreciated my little twin mattress in Schladming.

On the ride back, I kindly asked Andy to drive slower and sat in the front.  While it was a much better speed, one of the girls looked green when we got out of the van back at Tauernhof.  We laughed so hard as we thought about the ride being worse than cleaning the cabin.  Makes for good memories anyway.