Church in town

We have church at school at 7:30pm, but I wanted to go to the protesant church in town.  So, I walked over with a young man, Bastian, from Austria.  He lives about one and a half hours away and said that his youth group often gets together with the Schladming church youth group.  On the way, he said that he was looking forward to church because there would be a youth choir.

We walked in to a full church and most were dressed in the traditional attire that you would think of when you think of Austrian wear.  It felt like I stepped back in time.  The men were wearing brown leather shorts with green knee socks and gingham blazers.  The women and girls wore the traditional white puffed-sleeve blouse with a traditional dress that looked like an apron.  Most dresses were gingham print.  The youth choir sang songs in English and they had beautiful messages about trust and faithfulness.  Bastian said that it was confirmation, that's why there were so many people and youth up front.  I didn't know that the Protestant church had confirmation, but Bastian said that they still do it here. 

While I didn't understand but a word or two of the serman, the congregation seemed to enjoy it.  Bastian said afterwards, that it was a good sermon about not just saying that you're a Christian, but truly living out the life.  After the service, I talked to two young boys and they showed off their English with, "good morning" and Albert introduced himself.  Many of the children were so adorable in their garb, with many of the girls having braided hair or flowers in their hair. 

Albert, a young boy at church

After service, Bastian said that all of the congregation was dressed in the traditional attire because of confirmation.  As we walked back, Bastian said that his father started a service where he organizes trips to Israel for churches.  Bastian travelled to Israel and his parents go their often.  When I asked him what it was like, he said that is was really great to be on the mountain where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. We walked back to Tauernhof and I enjoyed a much needed day of rest.

Hiking

Today is our free day.  Kerstin, Esa (pronounced EE-saw), Kate and I decided to hike some of the trails on the mountains behind Tauernhof.  Another organized group drove to another hike, but we stayed closer to school because Kerstin needed to catch a train back to Germany in the afternoon to become the Godmother of her 6-month-old niece. 

At the top: Sharon, Esa (from Germany), Kerstin, and Kate

We looked at the map and decided to head up towards Planai, a famous ski area in Schladming.  How hard can a hike be?  Oh my, I had no idea that we would literally be hiking up very steep mountain faces.  The first 25 minutes of our hike felt like it was straight up to God.  And the air is different here because we are at a higher altitude, so it's easy to get winded -- and that I did.  It was nice to be with Esa and Kerstin because they are both experienced in hiking.  The trees are marked with the Austrian flag, but at times, it looked like we were in the middle of the forest, but we'd always find our way.  There are several different paths and you can choose choose as you hike along.  Once we got to the top of the mountain, I caught my breath not only because we had such a challenging hike, but it was simply stunning. 

We continued on and I thought that we were off the trail, but Esa and Kerstin found the path and we continued on.  We went up, down, and crossed over ski slopes.  There were still patches of snow on some of them!  In the middle of our trip when it wasn't so steep, we were able to talk.  Esa spent 7 months in Israel helping the mentally and physically disabled before coming to Tauernhof. She went to church on Christmas in Bethlehem and said that it was amazing.  She is headed to Tanzania after this for a few months to continue helping the disabled.  We also talked about the differences between denominations in Canada, the US, and Germany -- over 90% of Austrians are Roman Catholic (not to be confused with Catholic, which really means the church) and many Germans are Roman Catholic as well.  We talked more about the different denominations but felt a common bond between us.

The way down was challenging because it's very steep in spots and at points, you're walking down a ski slope -- we did a little salem walking so that it was easier on our knees.  At one point we passed a stable of horses on a road and a big house built into the hill.  It looked the home for the Hobbits.  Really.  As we headed back to home, it was 3 hours later.  I am so tired but never felt more at peace by just hiking in God's creation.  I can't wait to try other paths.

Barbeque

It's sunny and 70 degrees today.  I went for an early morning walk through some side streets in town.  I stumbled upon a bakery and there must have been 20 or more different kinds of breads and pastries.  The bread here is amazing.  When you talk to the Germans or Austrian natives, bread -- whole grain, dense, but tasty breads -- are a staple in their diet.  We have it with every meal.  So, I continued on my walk and on the way back, I passed several groups of children going to primary school (about 6 through 10 years of age).  They are all chattering in German, ready to start school at 7:30am.  I headed back for breakfast after reading on a park bench for a bit.

A typical breakfast is a fresh bread or pastry, yogurt, granola, juice.  Today, we had fresh croissants.  Oh, so good.  Then there's always three bowls of cereal to eat with plain yogurt.  Usually muesli and two others.  And there's always tee and kaffee.  Dani and I have been searching out mugs so that we can take a cup to go (some habits die hard).  We have a break during lecture around 11am and have a piece of fresh fruit and tee and kaffee.  For lunch, it is a hot meal, like pasta, salad, and dessert.  All very fresh and very healthy.  But today for lunch we had a barbeque.  Not your typical barbeque.  They prepared fresh salads, like cucumber, carrot, cabbage, and of course German potato salad.  Then there's the sausages, all different varieties.  And fresh bread.  For dessert, we had ice cream.  In talking to the German and Austrian students, they would call an ice cream shop an 'ice dealer.'  And I learned that when something is really delicious they say, 'lecker.' 

Barbeque lunch

For dinner, we have a hot meal, like tube pasta with peas, beans, ham with olive oil and fresh spices, or spaghetti with cheese sauce, or even rosemary potatoes and meatloaf (the guys say that it's the best that they've had).  Or we've had pinapple pizza and ham or even leftovers.  Tonight we had camenbert cheese rounds with pomegrante sauce and leftovers.  And there's usually a salad that's prepared with a light oil dressing and boston bibb lettuce.  For dessert, there is something light like a pudding salad with fresh fruit and light cookies.  In my opinion, it's all very gourmet.  And we eat in two dining rooms with about 6 to 8 people at a table, making coversation more intimate.

Soccer

We learned about the outreach that we're doing in the communitý this morning.  Most likely, I'll be headed to visit the old folks home (as they call it) and the mentally handicapped.  In the afternoon we played team sports -- Wednesday afternoons are set aside for this purpose.  We could choose from hiking, speed hiking up one of the ski slopes, soccer or boxing.  I decided to play soccer.  I haven't played soccer since high school and I think it was just once.  About 16 of us played for over 2 hours.  But I wasn't the only one that hadn't played, though, and we had many Europeans on our team.  The German players were especially good.  There are students here from Germany, Great Britan, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.  While we worked hard and I felt a bit new to the game, I think that I will play again. 

On the way back from soccer, I spoke with one young man from Germany who left his Engineering job right before coming to Tauernhof.  He may go into disaster management or something else.  I've met a few people here who have done this and would like this time to see what will be next.  I am glad to have company in this regard.  Who knows what direction we will head after two months.

The route to the soccer field.





Adjusting

From left: Dani (my roommate), Kerstin (pronounced CARE-stin, from Germany), and Kate (from Ottawa) as we walked through town this afternoon.

Today we had our first lecture on the book of Revealation.  It's quite the adjustment to sit in class, but the teacher, Hans Peter Royer, did well keeping our attention though a careful explanation of the first several chapters.  And it's an adjustment to meet so many people and try to remember their names.  I've met and talked with many of the 68 students here. But I can't remember all of their names.  When then meet me, some  ask how old I am and usually think that I am 30-years-old.  Being the oldest student does have it's advantages, though.  While everyone received a daily duty, like cleaning bathrooms, floors, and cleaning the kitchen, I received the duty of being the one that the students will see if they have questions about the washer and the dryer.  Julia, who gave me the duty, said that the younger students needed the discipline of working, and that she gave me this role just so that I would have a duty.  I think I have it down -- washing soap on the left in the drawer, turn to 40 degrees, close the door and then insert the coin. I can handle this.

The other adjustment is being with many people 24x7.  But it's so interesting talking to the students because many of them when to other bible schools before coming to Tauernhof, so they have these interesting stories of their travel through Europe between semesters (most had 4 weeks to travel).  My roommate, Dani, came from Germany on "holiday" since she graduated in December.  Her husband could not get away from his job, but they liked this arrangement just fine.  I enjoy spending time with her and we get along quite nicely.  She is glad to be here to practice her English for her training to be an English and Italian language teacher.  So she asked me to help her get better.  At night, I practice some German with her and she helps me get better.  Boy, German is tough.  She says to me, "it's not very beautiful sounds."  I'm learning to place my tongue on the roof of my mouth and utter more air-like sounds.

There's even small adjustments like the beds.  I looked for the top sheet my first night, but there was none.  I thought that maybe the school was trying to save money.  So I finally commented about this to Dani. And she said that in Germany and Austria, they just have a blanket covered by a duvet.  She said that when she has visited Italy she noticed that she had a top sheet, but she doesn't always like it because she said that she feels trapped when the sheet is tucked in to tight at the bottom; she likes the freedom of just a duvet on the top.  We laughed for a bit because I knew what she was talking about (several American hotels are like this!).

It's even an adjustment with the computer being in German.  The operating system and the pages default to German.  You should have seen me trying to uploadthe pictures that I have.  I finally had to ask Dani to help me because I couldn't figure out how to open them in Picture Viewer.  Even signing on to enter this blog is in German.  And the strangest is the key board -- the z and the y are reversed in location, and things like the delete key and end key are in German so you have to figure it out.  And much of the punctuation keys are in a different spot.  So as I tzpe this it would look like this if I tzpe the waz that I tzpe at home.

While there have been many differences, what is the same, and comforting, is very genuine people who love God, who want to learn how to know Him better and serve Him more.

First day

I slept well and seemed to have adjusted to the new time zone.  It was amazing to look out the window and see the Alps.  The morning was a bit cold, but then we just had to walk downstairs to get breakfast.  It's so nice to have meals prepared for us.  There are a few duties that we participate in around the school, but nothing very taxing.  After breakfast we received an orientation, explaining the cirriculm:  3-4 hours of lecture, study time, outreach on some days, small group time, and we're required to log at least 4 days of fitness each week, which can include hiking, swimming, mountain biking, volleyball, and a number of other activities.

We hiked 2 hours after lunch in the mountains behind the school.  Just spectacular views, including the 'sheep on the hill' scene that you'd picture of the Alps.  The picture above is from town just as we were walking up the hill.  We'll also go on other adventures as time permits.  For now, I'm headed to study.

Arrived Safely in Austria via seat 1C on Austrian Air

[Note: no pictures yet until I can get them uploaded - it's different here]

I am safely in Austria.  I had no trouble getting to Toronto, but once in Toronto, there was a problem with my boarding pass.  After patiently waiting I finally received my boarding pass.  I asked for an aisle seat and the flight member said, "you won't be disappointed."  With that I boarded the plane.  As I boarded the plane, I noticed that all of the women attendants wear all red and a blue scarf (including red tights and red shoes).  When I sat down, I said to the gentleman next to me, "these are really roomy flights."  And to that he said, "this is first class."  I couldn't believe it.  I received a four course meal, a hot towel, a massage chair, a comfort care kit, and was able to lay completely flat and sleep 5 hours on the 8 hour and 25 minute flight to Vienna.  What a blessing.  I even received a good breakfast. 

In Vienna, passport control let me through even though I didn't have a boarding pass.  Once in Sazburg, I took the bus to the train station.  The bus dropped me off, but I had no idea where to go since all of the signs were in German.  I headed down a flight of stairs, but there was absolutely no one there and the information desk was dark.  I only slightly panicked knowing I only had a 25 minute window until the train left.  I found a sign saying that Graz (direction of Schladming) was on platform 5.  I asked one young man how to get there and he pointed back upstairs and said,"upstairs and straight."  So I did that but no obvious signs.  I asked another person and they directed me.  When I arrvied at platform 5, the sign did not say Graz.  Asking another person, they assured me that it would appear shortly after the last train departed.  Whew.  I did get on the train safely and met a few other students going to Tauernhof.  People have been generally very helpful here.

By train, the view was spectacular.  It's like out of a movie.  Rolling green hills, little cottages, cows in green pastures, and a castle.  We arrived at Schladming a hour and a half later and met a few more students headed to Tauernhof.  After a 20 minute walk through downtown, we found the school thanks to a kind guide and a German speaking student in our group.  And downtown is simply charming.  Like a picture out of Holland.

After being greeted by a few of the staff, we toured the main building and the other rooms.  I'm in the main building with the dining facilities.  I'm in room 1. And I only have one roommate (there can be up to 6 in a room).  Danny is from Germany and speaks very good English.  She is in her late 20's, married, and is studying to be a teacher. I practiced my German on her and she is helping me.  So, maybe I will know German after all. 

I'm headed off to dinner, and very thankful for a safe journey.  Tomorrow class starts.