Nesting?

A deep thought after digging around in a few veggie gardens the last couple weeks (P.S. I really would like to have a vegetable garden one day.) I was over at Ron and Lee's and told her I would help pick some stuff since they had so much and she couldn't do it all by herself. We ended up collecting two full plastic grocery bags of green beans, I think 4 stuffed with cucumbers, five or six green peppers, a few ears of corn, and a handful of cherry tomatoes.

As I was out there discovering cuc after cuc hiding beneath huge prickly leaves, I couldn't help but think of Luke 10 where Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." And that is when he tells the 72, "Go!" If lettuce doesn't get picked at the right time it starts growing really tall and it tastes really sour, if you just leave a vegetable on the vine, eventually it will just fall off and rot. That is what happens to hearts ready to accept Christ, or ready to dig deeper when there is no gardener around to help. How sad is it when someone takes the care to cultivate the soil, find the best there is, plant the seeds, water, and fertilize the little heart, and then no one is there to harvest.

I think it is very interesting that right when Jesus told the group of 72 disciples to pray for more workers, that is exactly when he sent them out. I think whenever we pray for more workers, more missionaries out in the field, we should immediately ask ourselves if we should go. Are you willing? Are you looking for opportunities to water, or plant seeds, or harvest every day? You have to constantly look under the big prickly leaves and in the corners to find the ones that are ready.

Sorry it's been so long. From my return home at the beginning of August I quickly headed up to Alaska for two weeks with mom so we could spend time with Dad and Jared. Then cousin Parker, Darby, and Aunt Janice came up for a long weekend-their first Alaska experience. It was awesome until Darb broke her wrist and collar bone on the 4 wheeler. Poor lady, at least she had two injury free days first. When I flew back into Seattle I went North to visit with friends, had a couple meetings for work, and started on support raising.

By the time I drove into Anacortes the first night and found Sarah and Miranda's house, I was feeling so exhausted, disconnected from the world and the people around me I was just ready to finally rest in the arms of a good friend which I hadn't done for a long time. I was not excited when I saw a big group of people through the window in the house but praise the Lord, before I could get my stuff out of the car Miranda came out and we just hugged. It was the beautiful, long, don't care if you stink, good friend/sister in Christ hug I had been waiting for. I cried. What can I say? the next day we celebrated Sarah's birthday and then it was off to B'ham.

It was awesome being back in Bellingham my old, rainy college stomping grounds. So many people have scattered since graduation but I got to hang out with Missy and Kurtis and help a couple people move.

Upon my return to the Tri-cities, I unpacked, repacked and headed to Dallas, Texas for a two day ministry support raising training. Wow, it was already September by then! Mom came with so while I was in class 10 hours each day she got to visit with an old friend and hang out by the pool.

I got back and started my fund raising for real, hard core. I was at the Tri-cities base camp for a couple days, planned, preped, and, as usual, repacked so I would smell pretty and headed to the Portland area for about 3 days. What a joy it was to see more of my favorite humans on the planet! Pull weeds, pick fresh veggies, cook together, laugh together, and laugh uncontrollably just like the good old days when we were roommates--except now there are multiple fiances around; crazy!

Back to the TC base camp, got to go to my old church, the church picnic, hang out with the youth group. Wow, that made me feel old; I didn't know almost any of them. Lots of phone calls, stamp sticking, and people meeting, more veggie picking, and yes, you guessed it, repacking. On Friday I finally got to drive over to YD Adventures Stonewater Ranch to meet with my boss, go to Adam's wedding and see lots of YD friends. Oh yes, and dance like a crazy person. I love it. On Sunday before heading home I spent the day climbing up at Castle Rock with Kurtis. It was my first trad climb in over a year which made me a bit nervous. I became slightly more nervous after a hand hold failed causing a melon sized rock to fall. Yay for helmets!

Based on the last sentence and following picture, I should note that we wore helmets the whole time, until we made it safely to the top where there was no longer any rockfall hazard. Just in case that looked a bit suspicious. : )

Sweet Home Washington

This is just a copy of the e-mail I sent to most of you but I think some of the addresses aren't good anymore, so just in case you did not get this:

Dear family and friends,

I’m back! I returned to the country of my birth last week, stopped on the east coast to visit my friend Kristin for a few days and am currently hanging out at my parent’s place in Tri-Cities, WA. In case you forgot, or were perhaps in therapy to try and block me out of your memory, let me help you refresh it. After graduating last June with my degree in German and (almost) a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try and use my degree, improve my German, and travel a bit. So I went to Austria (not Australia), conveniently a German-speaking country, and worked from September 2007- May 2008 as an English teaching assistant in two public secondary schools. I was able to use the job as my practicum for the TESOL program and now have my minor/certification in TESOL.
I lived in Landeck, a town of 8,000 squished in a valley between the Austrian Alps west of Innsbruck. I had a nice (although retro looking) basement apartment under a sweet family that brought me apples from their garden, homemade desserts every once in a while, and invited me up to try homemade Schnapps too. The social scene left a bit to be desired so I spent lots of time reading, visiting people in Innsbruck, or people from my church in another nearby town, and trying to play outside. There were great places nearby for trail running, hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing so I tried to take advantage of those opportunities as much as I could.
When I finished my job at the end of May I packed up and headed to Spain-alone-for a month. It was my first time traveling alone for more than a day or two and my first time in a country where I didn’t speak the language for more than a few days. But I guess that makes a good combination for learning the language, which was one of my main goals. I spent two weeks working on an organic farm through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and living immersed in the language and then two weeks traveling and climbing in the Northern half of Spain. At the beginning of July I flew back to Innsbruck to meet Allie and travel for three weeks before returning to the states. We started with a hut to hut hike for 3 days in the Alps near Innsbruck and then from Slovenia to Northern Croatia, climbing and running from bad weather as we headed south.
And now I am back. Even if I could use as many pictures and words as I wanted, I would not be able to adequately encapsulate my experience in its fullness. It was good, it was hard, I learned new things about myself and the world. I’m glad I went but I’m glad I’m back. Here’s a few tidbits from the last year…
The greatest joys: not being crazy busy for once (time to read, journal, talk with God), living between beautiful mountains and rivers, all the visitors (Allie, Mom and Dad, Kurtis, Jason and Thom, Allie again), being affirmed in my ability to teach and speak German well.
Challenges: getting bored and feeling purposeless at my job about half way through the year, not connecting or having many opportunities to connect with people.
And here are a few leads to (hopefully interesting) stories you can ask me about:
· How trying to turn the hallway light on turned into a party with wine, traditional Tirolian songs, and an ice climbing partner
· Near Burgos, Spain: the Battle of the Wine, jumping off waterfalls, camping 40 feet off the ground and in caves
· How I got to go climbing with the Spanish lady who was in the Everest IMAX film.
· Covert camping with scorpions in Croatia
· What would lead us to say things like this: “I don’t think the evangelical reformation is a huge draw on New Year’s Eve…except for us” –Allie, “I look like a naked business man.” –Becca, “If you’re going to travel with me, you’re going to eat mold.” -Becca
· What to do when your tent rips open on day 2 of a 2 week camping trip
I hoped that doing the TAship would help me decide whether I want to be a teacher or not. I have gathered a lot of information and experience, but alas, my mind is still not made up. Some of my biggest passions in life are God, people, and adventure; so based on that and after much prayer and consideration I decided to do a yearlong internship with Youth Dynamics Adventures (YDA) starting in the fall. This is the adventure-based youth ministry that I had served with for two summers and I’m looking forward to exploring what it’s like for a longer period of time and in the off-season. I’m so excited to get to serve God in this ministry for a whole year and see if it is something I should be doing in the long-term.
Over the next month I will be up in Alaska to visit my dad and brother and will be also be wandering around Washington to visit people and prepare for my internship. I am so excited to get to see a lot of you or at least talk on the phone for those of you who are far away. I am still using the same cell phone number (if you need it, let me know, I don't want to post it on the internet). Hopefully I will finish putting pictures up on Facebook in the next week or two and then posting the link to my blog which you can find at: http://beccawholehearted.blogspot.com/. So if you want to see pics but not be forced to look through all my photo albums, feel free to check that out at your own pace.
Drop me a line and let me know what’s been going on in your life and if you will be around in August (for the Washingtonians) for me to stop by and harass you. Also, once I start the YDA internship, I will be sending out a newsletter every few months, so let me know if you would like to hear some stories.
Wholeheartedly,
Becca

"This is what it means to be an adventurer in our day: to give up creature comforts of the mind, to realize possibilities of imagination. Because everything around us says, ‘no you cannot do this, you cannot live without that, nothing is useful unless it's in service to money, to gain, to stability.’ The adventurer gives in to tides of chaos, trusts the world to support her -- and in doing so turns her back on the fear and obedience she has been taught. She rejects the indoctrination of impossibility." -Unknown
“The value in experience is not in seeing much but in seeing wisely.” Sir William Osler

Espana es muy bonita!

Sad.  One thing I love about this blog site is that it automatically saves your post every couple minutes so you don^have to be an idiot and lose everything you just wrote, but as has been my luck the last week or so with computers and internet, I managed to mess things up anyhow.  So I just deleted 4 fat paragraphs and since it is already 1 am and I have a plane to catch tomorrow, I will give you the summarized version of Spain:

It^s rad.  I climbed.  I picked delectable midget plums on a farm.  I jumped off a sweet waterfall.  I made my ugly Spanish a bit less ugly.  I laid on a beach.  I read some books.  I climbed limestone.  I cartwheeled in the night.  I hung out with some cool Spaniards.  I climbed conglomerate.  I danced the night away.  I celebrated in a teepee.  I climbed my hardest routes ever.  I slept in a cave.  I slept in front of a church.  I slept on the side of a cliff.  I made a 113 Euro phone call to my wonderful mother who continually complained by e-mail that I hadn`t called in so long.   I pulled weeds.  I watched the moon in a giant telescope.  I climbed with Araceli Segarra who is a local climber who just happened to be in the Everest IMAX film.  I dug holes in the ground and made circulos around cilantro. I started a list of things I want to do the next time I come to Spain :).  

I am flying back to Innsbruck, Austria tomorrow (the 8th) and Allie is meeting me there on the 10th when we will embark on a bit more adventuring, hopefully mostly climbing :)  and then on the 29th--less than a month!!--I will be home SSWWWWEEEEETTT home.  And I^m ready for it, especially after traveling solo for a month.  

Highlights from Barcelona and prayers

Barcelona is great. So far the highlights have been consistently pleasant weather, warm and suny but not too hot, always a nice sea breeze. Relaxing on the beach yesterday afternoon. On my walk back to town, coming across a rad local band playing in front of the harbor for free. Starting up a conversation with some guys from the US and Austria and hanging out at a park with them and some folks from France, Spain, Austria and slack lining. Super laid back, super fun. Going to the fresh market for breakfast, oogling all the beautiful new produce I've never seen before, sipping a coconut-banana-chocolate fresh fruit smoothy shake thing. Yum.

As I embark on two months of travel I would very much appreciate prayer. Some ideas for you:

Pray that whatever I do, whether in word or deed, that I do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him (Colossians 3:17)

Pray that I am purposeful and prayerful throughout my days beyond just looking at old buildings and taking pictures: Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful...be wise in the way you cat toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. -Colossians 4:2, 5-6

Pray that I wouldn´t feel too alone or isolated as I travel alone and that I would get the chance to meet and be a friend to other travelers.

Pray that I would learn more about God, about this world, about humanity, about justice, about loving...the things that will help me live fuller, and love God and others better.

Thank you friends! Know also that you are also in my prayers. Let me know if there are specific ways I can pray for you.

¡Soy en Barcelona, Spain! ¡Soy Feliz!

I made it safely to Spain yesterday. Woohoo. I haven`t done much yet because I got here in the evening but I walked down to the harbor in the dark. Beautiful. I`ve got a few days here and then on Sunday I`ll be heading a bit west to where I will be WWOOFing.

Do Cows Attack? and other Tirolean Tales

This week we had another 4 day weekend, sad (and yet not). On Thursday I decided to explore more on my beautiful borrowed bike. So I headed towards Italy. Unfortunately the trail ends up joining the twisty mountain highway with a super narrow shoulder so it was at that point that my helmet-less brain decided it was time to turn around. Sad. But on the way back I encountered a small heard of cows on the trail. I didn't think cows were violent but I haven't actually ever been near cows not behind a fence. My first inclination was fear since in Alaska, anything as big as a cow is usually something you don't want to get near, but as I thought about it, I decided that cows were not dangerous after all. I survived.

It had been overcast but pleasantly warm the whole day and then I felt a raindrop, then 4, then within a few minutes it was absolutely pouring. So I had a half an hour of rain riding. Luckily it wasn't cold but after my rainy bike accident a few weeks go, I was super careful when making turns or going over bumps and lumps.

On Friday I got tons of stuff done planning my trip to Spain, and then I rode my bike to Imst (1 hr one way) to hang out with my friend Raphi. The weather was nice so we sat outside at a cafe and had ice cream and "Suesser Weiss" a "sweet white", which is white wine with some sort of sweet soda or something, super good, you can get it with red wine too. She gave me a beautiful book of the 40 coolest mountains in Tirol and a CD. So cool, she wasn't sure if I'd like the book, but she couldn't have found something more perfect. It is big an had great photos. We've actually got plans to head to one of them on Monday. The Zugspitze is the tallest mountain in Germany but it is right on the boarder of Austria so the summit ridge is the line between the two countries. It's only a 30 minute drive from Imst. I guess you can take a cable car to the top (wow! That is weird) and then hike around from the top. I told her that in the US we usually have to start our mountain hikes at the bottom. But it is pretty common here to have something like a lift or cable car at least part way up. Oh, yeah, and after the hike we are going to go to the best ice cream shop in Tirol.

How could it get any better? A day in the mountains with friend and ice cream afterwards!

I also got to go climbing with Johanna on Saturday. We met halfway between Innsbruck and Landeck. We led some fun routes and then got to share a few ropes with another group and so we got to try some hard stuff on top rope. What a good challenge.

I can't believe I won't be here in a week. I am just starting to realize it. When I went on my run today and looked around at the mountians and my regular trails and the river, I realized, I will only run by this river on this trail a couple more times (assuming I am not too lazy this week). And I'll only go to the bank where they actually remember my name one more time, and I won't get to stick around till mid June when they finally open the mountain huts behind my town. And I have to start saying good bye. Hmmm.

My Plans...to infinity and beyond

In exactly 11 days (5 days of actual class) my mission as an English TA in Austria will be complete. Wow, that's crazy. I actually started saying goodbye to people at church since I will probably be out of town the next two weekends and have started gathering my possessions to see if they will all fit back into two suitcases. Oh yeah, at this point, if you were thinking of mailing something, you should maybe not send it after all.

My plans for the next couple months just so ya'll know:

May 29 Last day of work
29-June 2 ? Play, pack, hang out, climb ?
June 3 Fly to Barcelona, Spain
June 9-20ish Work on an organic farm near Barcelona, get dirty, learn cool stuff
June 20-July 7 Climb, travel, eat Tapas, drink sangria, learn Spanish, ....
July 8 Fly from Barcelona back to Innsbruck
July 10 Allie arrives from the land of fast food and apple pie.
Go climbing and travel with Johanna
July29 Allie flies out of Innsbruck at 6am, me at 1pm.
She goes to Portland, I got to Boston, spend a few days with the Getbeheads.

Not entirely sure yet, but I will probably be in WA between the 2 and 5th of August. I might be attending a training for my YDA internship on the 2-3 of Aug in Florida but I don't know yet. Especially while I'm in Spain, I will probably not have much access to Internet or other forms of communication. I will have my Austrian cell phone with me if there is an emergency.

That's all for now. I will probably write some more in the near future but I've got a cold and need to get into bed.

Spring and Lederhosen are in the air

Sorry it's been so long. I've been keeping busy but I guess I also felt like the "Adventure" post was so well thought out, that I wanted to follow up with something decent. But alas, I don't think I have any huge thoughts this time, just some updating.

First of all, I hope this works again, I've posted photos from the last month of so on Facebook, including a traditional Austrian dance with Lederhosen and me in dirndl, as well as beautiful mountains. Check it out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113644&id=25913493&ref=share

And now a different format; a list of things I'm currently stoked about:

Today I saw my least favorite class for the last time! There are some great and nice kids in this first period class but some of them just have nasty attitudes, don't listen, throw paper and other stupid things. But now it's done!

One more period of class today and I only have three weeks of school left. The funny thing is though, we have several 4 day weekends and since the graduating classes are writing exams, have fewer classes per week.

After very volatile but warming weather, it has started to stabilize more. It's been 70+ degrees the last week or so and sunny almost the whole day. I'm losing my winter translucence and discovering new freckles every day.

My landlady let me borrow an extra bike the family has, so I've been scooting around Landeck and riding to Church in Imst (about an hour one way) for the last couple weeks.

The outdoor swimming pool, that's only a 5 min walk from my house, opened so yesterday I went and froze my buns off in the still cold water, but was able to jump out and lay in the warm sun afterwards. I would have swam longer but I kept getting leg cramps. I'm not sure why, maybe cuz it was so cold?

I bought a plane ticket to Barcelona, Spain! Woohoo! I will be in Spain from June 3 to July 8. i am in the process of trying to plan a two week stay at an organic farm with the organization World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). You can find out more about them at http://www.wwoof.org/. I will spend most of the other two weeks rock climbing and am trying to figure out if I can meet up with some of my German relatives who will also be in Spain around that time.

I have a four day weekend this weekend so I am leaving this afternoon and hiking up into the mountains behind my house for a four day four night backpacking trip. Alone. This is the first overnight trip I've ever done in the back country. Another TA was considering coming but got a cold and backed out. So I'm armed with all my gear, my Bible, Spanish phrase book so I ca practice, and a climbing book in German by Reinhold Messner-good inspiration while in the mountains.

I've got to run in a minute, but for the praying types out there here are a few prayer requests:

Thanks and praise for my fading homesickness and down-ness has given way to enjoyment of spring and excitement for my coming adventures. Also for the cool stuff I've been learning in the word.

Purposefulness this weekend hiking alone, in my final weeks in Landeck and with the relationships I've built here.

For the coming transitions from work to play and culture shock from Austria to Spain, new language, etc., then Allie's visit in July (yes, that's right, she's coming again) and then again when I return home at the end of July.

OK gotta run to class. Don't forget to check out the funny pictures!

Or on Wednesdays

Saturdays, a song by Late Tuesday-who are from the NW somewhere

Bake another cake please
I really need a party
to pull everyone together.
I'm shaking off this bad dream
I know, I'll make it through till morning
And then I'll pull it all together.

There are ways, on these days
there are ways to celebrate
what is great on Saturdays
though I'm still learning.

So pull out your umbrella
we're pushing through the downpour
you know, you make up for the weather
and we'll pop in a movie
and then we'll talk for hours
about the things
that make up for the heartache.

I'm letting the sun appear brighter
You're making the dark appear lighter
And this is exactly what is good for me
On these days, on these days
I'm still learning
what is great on Saturdays.

So that subsiding feeling of homesickness I mentioned in the last post? Not so subsided now. I still know it won't kill me but I'm at the point where I'm wondering why I didn't buy my plane ticket for the beginning of July instead of the end. And this may seem silly but I seriously feel like my mood and energy has been affected by the weather. Today? Pouring rain and cold again. Considering how much sleep I've gotten lately, I'm pretty puzzled by how little energy I have. I've been taking a daily vitamin so I shouldn't be low on iron, I've been trying to eat salty stuff, so it shouldn't be my low blood pressure. Just the blahs?

I read this though, "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice..." Psalm 116:1

What is the adventure in this? How can I appreciate it? How can I pull out of my half-heartedness right now? Lord, give me the strength, cuz this isn't something I'm going to do on my own.

Plan C: Uploading Pictures

Like I've mentioned before, it takes forever to upload picutures onto Blogger because it has to be done one picture at a time. I already put pictures on Facebook and finally (I think) figured out how to get a link for those of you who do not have Facebook accounts. So click on these links and let me know if they work.

This is the beginning of Mom and Dad's visit including Landeck, Innsbruck, and some of Venice:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=Z6C43XR54XVM5CCBYE45PR

This is the rest of Venice and then Vienna, Austria:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=Z2FU5YQ4P4VM5CCBYE45PR

This is Bratislava, Slovakia and Mannheim, Germany with our family:
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=25913493&k=YXAX3XQ5V64M5CCBYE45PR

So, hopefully this finally works so the rest of you can see photos but I don't spend my whole life uploding them!

My slight but growing feelings of homesickness have subsided somewhat after a rousing weekend with friends. On Friday I invited Johanna to go to see the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Innsbruck, a festival that shows all sorts of outdoor adventure films. When I was at Western, I went and saw it with friends every year. One film shown this year, The Endless Knot, with Conrad Anker, showed the Khumbu Climbing School that trains Sherpas to be more skilled for porting and guiding in the Himalayas. The Sherpas sang the song 'Ice, Ice, Baby' by Vanilla Ice but changed the lyrics to talk about the school and training. This immediatly reminded me of the ice climbing trips with the Outdoor Center that I went on. Deborah and I thought of the same song and then I ended up making up some new words for it (before The Endless Knot was filmed I might add). It went like this:

"Ice ice baby..dun dun dun dundalunda..."Yo Debo let's kick it/Ice ice baby (x2)/All right stop collaborate and climb it/OC is back with a brand new excursion/This fat ice grabs a hold of me tightly /Flow with my ice tools daily and nightly /Will it ever stop yo I don't know/Put me on belay and I'll go /To the extreme I rock these crampons like a vandal..."

Afterward we went to the birthday party of a friend of hers and danced the night away. The next moring I helped her correct some of her students' essays for English and then headed home. In the afternoon I had another friend over, Raphi. We went for a walk in the beautiful warm weather ( got to wear my Chacos, but still a long sleeve shirt) then I cooked dinner, we made chocolate chip cookies, and watched The 6th Sense in German.

After about a week of crazy winter weather and lots of snow again, it has finally started to feel like spring. Yesterday I went on one of my beloved run-hikes where I run as much as I can to a trail and then slow to a hike once it gets steep. (Allie, this is the trail you and I hiked on and turned around at the frozen waterfall crossing the trail. I was able to go further this time.) It was so warm, I laid down in the one grassy outcropping for a half an hour, just in my shorts and tank top and just enjoyed the sun. I was so exhausted afterwards, but it was beautiful and refreshing. In the evening I got to talk to a couple friends on Skype who I haven't gotten to talk to in a long time, so that was great. Then I managed to get into bed in time to get 8 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I don't have any proof, so I'm sure none of you will believe me.

Way More

After reading Eddie and LeeAnne's blog about their ministry in Mexico (http://heartsformexico.blogspot.com), then talking to my mom on the phone, and writing a birthday e-mail to one of my dearest friends, Stacy, I was definitely crying. In sorrow and in so much joy. I am profoundly reminded that the only reason I am crying right now is that I have gotten the chance to love and be loved. Deeply. With endurance. Unconditionally. The reminder of the love I have received and given in this life, however imperfect, has given me a sliver of a view of how crazy huge and inconceivable God's love is for me, for us. And I am truly thankful for that slice of goodness, because it is so hard for me to see the extent of God's love.

"...it isn't just those beautiful moments in the midst of the everyday and mundane; it is also in the tragic and the gut-wrenching moments when we cannot escape the simple fact that there is way more going on around us than we realize."

"Truth is everywhere, and it is available to everyone...For Paul [the writer of several books of the Bible], anyone is capable of speaking truth. Anybody, from any perspective, from any religion, from anywhere...I don't follow Jesus because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, 'no one comes to the Father except through me', he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest level of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God."

-Rob Bell, in the book Velvet Elvis

Thank you God for life and love. Thank you to you who I get to love and who love me.

Adventure is Everything

I wrote this a couple days ago. A fraction of the fruits of much pondering....

Since I’ve been in Austria, travelling, climbing, teaching English; I’ve gotten the line a lot, “Your life sounds so exciting, adventurous.” But adventure isn’t everything.
I’m on month seven abroad; right around the time most of the others are really feeling good and comfortable, confident with the culture and their language skills, I’m starting to feel homesick. After days-weeks of dreary snowy weather (despite the fact that the calendar says it’s spring), the clouds finally rolled back for a few minutes today to expose the sun and the glorious snow covered mountains, the birds were singing, and I had tears in my eyes as I pictured all of your beautiful faces in my head and heart, knowing how far away you all are from me.
Yeah, I know, Dad and Mom just left of Friday. I should still be carried by the high of getting to see them, but somehow that is what has allowed these feelings to surface, made them suddenly so acute. That is the bitter sweetness of having visitors.
Allie was here in December. She is basically the friend that I’ve had for the longest, she understands me, I understand her in ways many others don’t. We could just be together and enjoy seeing those smiles and hearing the laughs we each know so well.
Kurtis came in February. We have many mutual friends, went to the same college, have both worked with YD Adventures for a while, and have many common interests and faith, but we only cross paths every once in a while and usually only for a short time. Despite or because of these factors we had a lot to talk about. We discussed, questioned, encouraged, shared stories in a way that I hadn’t gotten to with anyone for a while. It was a short but deeply meaningful slice of the community I miss so dearly from home.
I even got to cross paths with Jason and Thom from YDA for a few short days in Prague.
Dad and Mom were here in March. The loins that produced me, two of the people that I love most dearly but too frequently take for granted. Despite that fact that there are things that I don’t always share with them, they know me like no one else on earth does. And perhaps love me more unconditionally than anyone else on earth—I base this primarily on the fact that they have put up with me the longest—that really says something. Oh my dad’s big, long, man hugs, my mom’s jokes and smiles, the way she laughs at the little things I do—like my lizard face. How I love these things so dearly. I even sort of miss how she makes loud kissing noises in my ear, just to be silly.
I’m learning lots, enjoying lots, relaxing, and playing here in Austria. But I miss being known. I miss being understood. And I miss knowing and understanding the people around me. There is a certain beauty in the written word but frankly I’m tired of trying to express myself through a keyboard that doesn’t know what I want to say. I miss being able to have long solid conversations without using the technology of phones or the internet. Conversations that happen on long road trips in the depths of Canada, girl talk while piled on one of my roommate’s beds, discussions at Boundary Bay, laughter echoing from the side of some mountain, tears…anywhere--but shared with a friend.
I can’t complain my life is so good; I appreciate every day God has given me. But I am also learning more and more about myself and my passions. I love adventure—and it comes in so many shapes and sizes, some half way across the world, some in the challenge of a hard conversation in your own living room. Maybe I’m getting old fashioned, but I think I like the idea of, dare I say it, settling down. I would really like to live somewhere for a long while, have community, continuity. When I left Bellingham I knew that I was leaving a place that had very much become my home. I love new people and situations but I loved showing up at Mallard Ice Cream or some outdoor film, recognizing a bunch of faces and wander around chatting with them. I don’t mean get boring and lazy, what I want really is a base camp. It is the place you always come back to but you regularly venture off to try something new, be challenged. But you’ve got a cozy place to sleep, first aid, community, all waiting for you there when you get back (and usually you don’t leave for 9 months or more). By the way, base camp itself is pretty gorgeous too, rivers below, peaks all around.
I am perhaps idealizing things back home. It wasn’t perfect before, I was way more stressed out with school, work, and always busy, not much money. But at least I had friends to share it with. I think there is so much adventure and challenge in being somewhere for a long time, in knowing people more deeply. It requires more commitment, more sacrifice, more patience. You can’t just say,”Oh well, I’ll be gone in four months anyway.” The fact that you are sort of stuck with each other (voluntarily or not) makes you want to and have to work harder at being a community. But what a sweet adventure that is.
Adventure is in the simple things. I love going out and challenging myself on a rock face or in a long running race. My second summer at YDA Brie reminded me of the adventure in simple things; intense long laughter, skinny dipping, running around your city in the dark playing hide and seek or some other equally beautiful and innocent spur of the moment activity.
Adventure is in our heads. That is what makes some of those simple things such an adventure for some but a bore to others. Wrapping my mind around God is an adventure. The challenge and joy of living my life for God is an adventure. Listening to other peoples’ journeys is a great adventure as is learning, reading, watching, jumping in, staying out, questioning, walking, looking. A challenging adventure I’m having right now is learning that, “Being a Christian is more about celebrating mystery than conquering it.” (Rob Bell from the book Velvet Elvis). Trying to live frugally and generously at the same time is a great adventure. Other good adventures: trying to ease some suffering in this world, having purpose, understanding politics, learning to be wise but not worry, living today like there might not be a tomorrow, trying to express my appreciation and love for the people around me, getting out of my comfort zone socially, learning how to listen more and speak less, how to be more patient and not get angry.
There are so many adventures in this life if we would only see them as that. I’m talking to myself as much as I am to any of you. Adventure is everything, but our attitudes are what determine whether we classify things as adventures or not. So as I turn from my homesick lament to teetering on the edge of corny motivational speaker, I must ask myself, “How will I let my homesickness be an adventure and not purely a sorrow or dread?” Adventure is not everything unless you can make everything into an adventure. So maybe the next adventure is figuring out how to make everything an adventure.
“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” –Pascal
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” –Matthew 10:39
“An adventure is an inconvenience rightly deserved.” –G. K. Chesterton
“The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps dependent more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to. If only we could apply a travelling mindset to our own locals, we might find these places becoming no less interesting than the high mountain passes and butterfly-filled jungles.” –Alain De Botton from The Art of Travel
We live today in a world of growing isolation, frantic activity, and desperate violence, where paradoxically, we find ourselves longing for both solitude and companionship, intimacy and community. Some of us may look back to times when life seemed to make sense and relationships were more certain. Whether or not such times ever existed, we nevertheless long today for relationships that acknowledge who we are and who we want to be. We want someone to hear us, to hear our hearts beating, to hear our deepest longings—even longings of which we dare not speak. - Sondra Higgins Matthaei Faith Matters

Spring?

Spring is supposed to start on March 21st right? Or am I in another dimension? I was running outside in a tank top and shorts the last week of February (granted that was pretty warm for that time of year) but when I got home on Friday afternoon it was snowing and continued to do so all evening. We ended up with 4 or 5 inches that night. This is what it looked like out my front door: The next day it got sunny, a bit warmer, and a lot of the white stuff melted but now it is Sunday and it just started snowing again.

I check online and the average low for March is 31 degrees (F). This year it has dug deep to 18 F!! The average high is 51 F, but this march it has gotten up to 63. Wow. So it was super warm at the end of Feb and now it's snowy again. I was just getting pumped for climbing but it looks like I might need to pull out my snowboard stuff again.

Happy Easter! Revel in the resurrection!

Familial Adventures

Sunday the 9th, after 11pm my parents FINALLY arrived. They were flying standby and missed several connections so they got here a day later than we had hoped, so I was waiting with “grosse Schmertz” (much pain) for them the whole time. It was so great to get to hang out, talk, hug, and travel together. We did so much but here are some of the highlights; One stand out memory from:

Landeck, Austria (my town): Dad’s excitement at the Metzgerei (deli) where everything is homemade and fresh, asking questions about the smoking process, trying to tell them stories of his meat experiences, fishing, and smoking despite the language barrier.
Venice, Italy: Wandering the back streets at night in the dark, when it’s quieter, stopping and taking artsy pictures, running to catch up with M+D and squishing my hand under one or both of their arms and walking arm in arm, stopping for gelato, looking down little old alleys at crumbly old houses that are beautiful and real. “I’ve reached the time of life where my idea of a fabulous time is to sit around for half a day with a cup of coffee and a newspaper…” –Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There
Vienna, Austria: Standing outside in the cold on the cobble stoned shopping street at the door of our Pension at 10:30 pm the first night with mom, trying to convince the doorman that we really did have a reservation and having him hang up on us repeatedly. “Vienna is certainly the grandest city I have ever seen… a Martian coming to earth would unhesitatingly land at Vienna, thinking it the capital of the planet.” -Bill Bryson, “Neither Here Nor There. And on Viennese waiters, “I didn’t feel precisely like excrement, but the waiters certainly did have that studied are of superiority that you find among a certain class of European waiter. “

Bratislava, Slovakia: Our evening meal at Prašná Bašta a cozy cellar of a restaurant with thick arching walls, fitting non-English music, and the most delicious and authentic food. The highlight was thick potato pancakes with tender meat and mushroom sauce and two different delicious soups.
Mannheim, Germany: Getting to see mom interacting with her cousins and relatives, speaking German, telling stories, looking at old pictures of their parents and home town. Also, the amusement of being the translator for dad and getting confused and speaking to him in German.
Most thought provoking: having a quarrel with my dad about which way we should go to the train station and noticing that I become frustrated and snappier far more easily with my family than anyone else in my life. Sitting on a train for 7 hours after that reminding my self:
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19
“Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins…if anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God.” 2 Peter 4:7-8, 11

Really satisfying: joking with mom about her fascination with Rick Steves, a travel author that she quotes like my brother does lines from movies.
Best Idea for future travel: Don’t do it with my parents. Just kidding. Read a book related to when you’ve been or where you are going. When I was in Prague, Czech Republic, I bought the book, “Summer Meditations” by Václav Havel, playwright, dissident and the first president of Czechoslovakia (right after the breakup of the Soviet Union). He writes about the Velvet Revolution that helped Czechoslovakia break free from communism and what it’s like to try and guide a new (and old) country into a new birth. It was super interesting to learn about the not so distant past and his views on politics, moral responsibility, and transforming society. We get to visit Bratislava, Slovakia and look down at the city from the castle and see row after row of huge concrete communist housing units (see background of picture below) and I rode through the still transforming countries-Czech Republic and Slovakia (the two countries were together Czechoslovakia and split shortly after the book was written in 1992). It is a great book for people who are apathetic, frustrated, or uninterested in politics because he shows how, “politicians have duty to awaken this slumbering potential, to offer it direction and ease its passage, to encourage it and give it room, or simply hope. They say a nation gets the politicians it deserves…Those who find themselves in politics therefore bear a heightened responsibility for the moral state of society, and it is their responsibility to seek out the best in that society, and to develop and strengthen it.”

Best addiction: I like coffee but limit my coffee shop stops for budget reasons when I travel normally but Dad is a big coffee drinker, so we would sneak off several times a day for cup of joe. The best (and cheapest) was a stand up coffee bar in Venice with huge cloth bags of whole beans piled up in the front of the store. Mmm.

That’s all for now!

“If you’re having a good time- stay. If you’ve met someone you fancy and who fancies you-stay. If you’re too beggared to move- stay. If the police are closing in on you- go.” -Peter Moore, travel Author

Kurt's Visit and more photos

Man, putting up these photos is so time consuming. I'll put up some more later. So this is still under construction.

Wait, I'm going to try something. Does this link link to my Facebook photo album work? Let me know. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2103704&id=25913493

These are from Verona:

Back in Austria we went snowboarding one day. The sky cleared up for great views in the aftenoon but there hadn't been any new snow for a while.

Kurt's last day in Austria, we do a bit of buildering in Landeck and do a walking tour of the town, castle, and some little ponds up in the hills.

The smallest mountian rescue vehicle ever. You probably can't see the mountain rescue sticker on the wind shield.

Yay for vacation

February was pretty uneventful for most of it, school, started climbing in the gym again, working with my refugee kids. But last Friday and old friend that I met through YDA and went to WWU with me, came to visit. Kurtis was here for 9 days, while I had a week off for semester break and we had a blast. I don't have time to put up all the pictures now so I've just put up a couple. We spent some time around here hiking, snowboarding, drinking cappuccino and talking for hours on end and then we went to Italy to climb. We had one day of great weather and then one day of not good weather so we wandered the nearby town, then went to Verona for a day. Kurt left this morning and I have to start school again tomorrow. Sad.

Hopefully more to come later!

In the News..From Lake Wobogon and Wenatchee

I was stoked today to hear of two little Washington (state) towns in the news on several of my National Public Radio shows. A story from Concrete was used for a quiz question on "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and the other one was from Wenatchee where a guy with the last name of Moron ran his car into something after drinking. Oh WA, how proud I am of you and your little towns!

In other news, if you haven't been following the primaries much, and don't know where to start,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21116732 has a big, interactive graph of all the remaining candidates and their veiws on big issues, so you can click how much you agree with differnt things, and then see which candidate you match up with best. Pretty cool. So check it out! And Vote!!!!

Another cool article I found, from the New York Times entitled, "Evangelicals a Liberal Can Love" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/opinion/03kristof.html?_r=1&oref=slogin And a couple quotes from it:

"Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives."

"In parts of Africa where bandits and warlords shoot or rape anything that moves, you often find that the only groups still operating are Doctors Without Borders and religious aid workers: crazy doctors and crazy Christians. In the town of Rutshuru in war-ravaged Congo, I found starving children, raped widows and shellshocked survivors. And there was a determined Catholic nun from Poland, serenely running a church clinic."

So if you fall into the category of "Christian", Be a crazy Christian! In a positive way, not just for the sake of being crazy, just to clarify. And if you are a crazy-anything-else-positive, Be crazy about being positive!

Hard Core Running and Big Decisions

So I was on a run last week, and as usual, after 5 minutes of warm up, I take a fork up a little hill to a playground where I attempt to do pull-ups so that Allie doesn't kick my but when we go climbing in the summer. While I was up there I saw a big group of people heading down the trail in dark clothes; it was just getting dark out (again, don't tell my mom I was running in the dark), so it was hard to see. But then they dissapeared behind the cover of trees. But they didn't come into view again in a minute or so, as their former pace would have suggested. I continued my little strength routine wondering if it was a group of mourners or some strange Tirolian holiday I missed. Finally they were on the move again. As they passed below me, I went near the edge of the playground to look. They had big packs; mountain rescue doing training? But then I realized they were all wearing the same thing. It was the army. Kinda funny that they were passing through on this trail in the dark at 6pm. I thought of a few extra excercises to do in the hopes that we wouldn't have to cross paths in a minutes or two.

But no such luck. I started down the trail again, and they had stopped, all lined up, so I figured I could just run to one side of their neat line. As I jogged toward the front of the line of 20-30 guys, the front ones had spread to two rows on either side of the trail facing with their weapons pointed out toward the dark night, woods, and the river. At this point, I was commited, so I just kept running through hoping that they wouldn't take me as a sample hostage for training purposes. the whole thing was so eerie though, first trying to figure out what big group would be wandering the trail at night and then jogging right through the middle of their little training thing, but it is a completely public path with loads of people going down it all the time, even in the evening.

In the meantime, I am trying to save money so that I can spend some of the summer travelling and camping out in a few places and go rock climbing as much as possible and maybe pick up some work at a farm here and there (WWOOFing). I was considering renewing my Fulbright for another year. And even though I have really enjoyed my time here, I have achieved my goals of checking out teaching, improving my German, and travelling a bit. I have decided to move on to a couple other goals which are to do some kind of longer-term mission or ministry, explore a job in the outdoors, and be closer to family and friends.

So the big decision is that after much prayer and consideration, I have decided to do a one year internship with YD Adventures (see www.yd.org), the ministry I have served with for two summers. I have been thinking about it for a while, excited about the opportunity to give a whole year serving God in this youth ministry, working with people who I look up to and are like another family to me, and getting to be out in God’s creation. But I had been nervous about the prospect of raising support for a whole year. I have been reading Matthew and when I got to chapter 6, Jesus says, “So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or “What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” After getting encouragement from friends and family, that was all I needed to push me to commit. Now the fear has disappeared and been replaced with excitement and purpose, knowing that I will be serving God. If all goes as planned I will be starting in September. As it gets closer I will be keeping you all updated.

My Refugee Kids

I finally started doing the refugee work regularly now. I am working with the kids every Wednesday afternoon for an hour or two. The first half hour or so the older kids (8-12) bring their homework to work on and after that the other kids join in too. The youngest that come are probably four-ish. Most of them are pretty great, but when they all get together, they can get a bit rowdy. One girl is kind of loud and domineering.

If I can say I have favorites, it would be one little boy who is about 4, Stefan. After a few of the kids had already left this week, he tugged on my sleeve and pointed at a “Winnie Puh” book on the other table. I asked, ”Do you want to read the book together?” In German. He nodded and got a big smile on his face. I tried actually reading but he just wanted to look at the pictures, so we flipped through and I tried to name the animals and as him what color they were and things like that. He would get excited and point at different characters. It was so cute!

One of my other favorites is Simona who is 7. Her two older sisters are good kids too, but Simona and I got to work on a puzzle together. I forget how hard it is for little kids to do some things still. But it was super fun to giver her tips on how to put the pieces together and look for similar colors or the pieces with straight sides or corners. We did the same puzzle together twice and then I did some stuff with some other kids while she worked on it again. Then she asked for my help again after a while. With some tips and questions, she does really well, but I think she doesn’t know where to start when it is just a random pile of pieces. Bt she just sat on my lap and we worked together. Really fun.

Arzu, who is 12 wanted to know if I knew 50 Cent and other rappers, or if I had ever met any of them before. He also wanted to know if I had been to NY. He talked a lot about rappers and gangsters and weapons. He was curious and didn’t seem like a bad kid but I am worried about his fascination with these things.

Most of the kids come from Eastern Europe, the sisters are from Kosavo, and there is a kid from Mongolia, and a few from Chichenien (I have no clue how to spell that).

This week jsut a couple kids came which was kinda nice. I think when there are a lot of them it is too much like school and doing classroom management. It was Simona, her older sister Danijella and a boy, Musabeg, who's a good kid. We started a huge puzzle, gave up and then read Cindarella. there were a few other kids that randomly came and went too. It is nice getting to know them a bit better.

Well, I finished my essay for the week for my TESOL practicum (about classroom management) and am soon off to Innsbruck to hang out with some other TAs and hopefully go snowboarding tomorrow and churhc on Sunday. I have missed a few weeks so I am excited to go again.

Christmas Part 3: Innsbruck, Liechtenstein, Hike

Here's another installment of Allie and my Christmas adventures.

The week after the trip when I went back to school, I was so drained I didn't want to do anything. So I didn't do anything I didn't have to. I skipped Bible study, climbing, I didn't go running at all. I just took naps and read my Bible and other stuff. Last week I made up for it by snowboarding and running three times each. One of the snowboarding days was with one of my classes. Yes, Austrians take field trips to go skiing. That is what I am talking about.

I had to move my schedule around to do my TESOL practicum, so instead of having Friday off, i have Tuesday off instead. So today I went snowboarding again. It was amazing and crappy at the same time. There was about a foot of new powder but it was still snowing and windy all day. Really hard to see anything at all. But the the powder felt amazing.


We started out in Innsbruck with a boat: We actually went to the Hofburg castle to see an Austellung about mountains and climbing from the Austrian Alpine Club, which was my favorite museum visit ever! I wish they were all about stuff as cool as climbing! We also saw some mosaic which from Italy which was pretty interesting and a general look-see at the palace:

A cute little hidden square near the Altstadt:

And Innsbruck's most famous sight, the Goldenes Dachl or the Golden Roof:

And two days later we went to Liechtenstein, a tiny principality of a country squished between Austria and Switzerland. They are the largest producers of dentures, have more companies registered there than people and are famous for their postage stamps. They also have unique fire hydrants:

And interesting home architecture:

And interesting visitors (Thanks mom for the Christmas cookies!!!!!!):

We got little glimpses of the mountains but not much, it was overcast most of the day.

Here's the castle. You can't go into it because the prince and his family actually live there. Craziness.

Cold, beautiful day. Allie got this detail:

Yes! The clearest moment of the whole day probably. It lasted, well, about a moment. Then more clouds came in. I know, I know, they probably look just like the mountains in Austria, but I just can't get enough of them.

Like I said, they get interesting visitors:

Funny money. This is one of the few places in western Europe where you actually have to change currency. They use the same stuff as the Swiss; it's pretty cool and colorful, but hard to convert. That's the great thing about the Euro, once you start using it, you don't really have to do math anymore.

Our after lunch homework assignment: write postcards. We had Fondue, which I don't think I have ever had before. It was good but it was just bread and cheese. It would have been cool to dip some other stuff too. Oh well, next time.

Evidently the human in the picture didn't provide enough umph to the photo, so props were necessary:

I couldn't help but join in swimming with the naked man. Who could resist?

Jesus: the ultimate fire extinguisher. Is that what Allie is trying to say with this photo?

One more mountain picture:

And the Rhine river. I lived near it when I lived in Dusseldorf.

Did I mention we didn't have much luck couchsurfing? So it was a good thing that Allie brought my down coats for us. Catching some zzz's along the Rhine.

After lunch we decided to take a walk to Switzerland. Neither of us had been to Switzerland before so it seemed like a good idea. I think it was my first time on a covered bridge too.

Crossing the line: Some disgruntled Liechtensteiner got a bit jealous of Switzerland's immense size?

Once we got to the other side, they just pointed for us to go back. The closest town in die Schweiz (Switzerland) was still a few km away and it was starting to get dark so we decided to head back to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. The ten minutes in die Schweiz were good though.

Ok I lied, here is another mountain picture, I think this was from the morning though.

We wandered down some streets with rad old houses and on our way to the 600 year old winery we saw this cool sign. It is so typical in German for them to squish 2 or 3 or 4 words together to make a new word. This makes for long words but nice if you are learning the language; easier to decipher what it could be. Extra credit to whoever can figure out what it means without looking it up.

Austrian creativity; mayo in a toothpaste tube. Just don't get the two confused.

The next day, another hike right behind my house:

"We live today in a world of growing isolation, frantic activity, and desperate violence, where paradoxically, we find ourselves longing for both solitude and companionship, intimacy and community. Some of us may look back to times when life seemed to make sense and relationships were more certain. Whether or not such times ever existed, we nevertheless long today for relationships that acknowledge who we are and who we want to be. We want someone to hear us, to hear our hearts beating, to hear our deepest longings—even longings of which we dare not speak." - Sondra Higgins Matthaei, Faith Matters

There was travel, adventure, trying new things, but that quote is why it was great having Al here for Christmas.