Christmas Travels: Part 1

Hey parents, look we're still alive! Yay! This is us in Salzburg. We're back in Landeck now but now for long. Soonwe will be heading west and then neth to Munich. Merry Christmas!

We got to go ice climbing too! It was awesome. Tom climbing below.

Me trying out my new ice tools on a WI 4+ (estimate)

My first "mixed" route with a couple rock and ice stemming moves:

Allies's first route a long WI 3. She did awesome, but tried to rock climb. It's hard to smear with crampons on.

Chris "the princess" and Tom "ice god" getting pretty for the camera:

Allie stepping it up on "Sektor Platte":

The Schloss in Landeck Christmas eve where we went for a viewing of the Zams man choir:

Mountains looking north from the Schloss:

Hand carved wooden nativity scene:

Christmas (eve) dinner. Spinat Spaetzle with red pepper creme sauce and a nice salad. We celebrated Austrian style and opened our gifts on Chrismas eve after dinner.

Allie enjoying the ride to the top of the ski area in Imst before enjoying the ride down on the "Alpin Coaster", the longest alpine coaster in the world.
Us at the top before the decent:
Once we made it to the bottom. Rule number two; the brakes don't exist.

December Goodness

I know, you're thinking, that picture does not look like goodness no matter what month it is. I feel like at home the milk gets stinky before it gets chunky, but here it definitely gets chunky before it gets stinky. I poured some milk into my morning cup of joe not noticing the plopping. I did think that the darkness of the coffee didn't quite correspond to how much milk I had poured in. Then I stirred it and noticed a bit too much resistance. Luckily it was just chunky, it didn't taste bad so I went for it. I didn't really have time to make a new cup, and figured there was no reason the throw something away for having a strange consistency. I didn't eat the chunks, even though they looked like chocolate pudding.

Woohooo! Snowboarding again. This time at Serfaus a rad, super big ski area. You get to the top of one peak, to see another lift going down the other side and back up the next peak. Then you get to the top of that next peak and see the same thing over again. I didn't make it to the last one. I think you could ski there for 3 or 4 days, doing each route once before you have to start doing them a second time.

At some points the weather was not so hot (this is valley number 2) and at the top the wind was crazy, but it calmed down later.

Did I mention there was a goooood view when the clouds lifted a bit?

A few of the lifts and the avalanche stopping fence things. Do we have those in the US? I don't remember seeing them in such quantities as I have seen them in Austria.

I wish I had my avalanche safety gear and a back country riding buddy! Oh the beauty!

Did I also there was much fresh, beautiful, deep, powder to be had? Not quite the back country, but awesome. Really awesome.

This Saturday near Innsbruck at Axamer with a couple other English TAs. This was the best weather day I've had all season. It was colder ,but it was clear and blue all day!!! And you can see that the back drop isn't so bad either.

Andrea in front of the hunk of amazing rock. I was trying to spot bolts or potential climbing routes for summer.

Sadly I was the only snowboarder but they didn't shun me too much, although the ones fro mteh mid-west made fun of me saying "stoked" and "rad". Another amazing rock creation of the Lord's back behind us. I think by the end of the day the others might have gotten tired of me periodically stopping, dropping my jaw, and saying this place was freakin' beautiful.

But I just have so much "Berg Freude". Mountain joy. Look at the joy in my little mountain loving smile. The year I lived in the flat lands of Germany, that particular smile was not frequently seen. I was right next to the Netherlands, which if you missed the memo, is sinking into the Atlantic. No mountains, no hills, no climbing or hiking.

And now a classic Austrian holiday. On December 5 or 6th depending on who you ask, comes St. Nickolaus, sort of like Santa but not sooo materialistic. Kids leave their nicest shoes polished up in front of the front door of their homes. If they are good kids, St. Nickolaus leave nuts, oranges and chocolate.

And here he is, doing his candy passing out deal in the Little Town of Terrenz. Unfortunately there is a bad side. If you are not a good kid, there are some dudes called the Krampus that come to punish you. Sometimes they come and visit your house and give you coal or give you a bit of a whipping with a stick but it seems more common for them to come carousing trough town in what is called the Krampus Lauf (parade or run). Some other assistants and I made the unfortunate mistake of not leaving after St. Nickolaus came by passing out candy. Then we saw this:
That would be children running in fear because the Krampus are coming.

After the children scatter, the first Krampus comes. Seriously, I was nervous at this point, standing behind some other people feeling my muscles tense.

And a few more. Don't worry, bad kids of the world, there are still more coming. But really it only takes one to scare the poop out of you.


Unfortunately, they don't just look scary, they are scary. This is me getting cornered between a rock and a giant beer statue being attacked and smeared with greasy coal. Krampus doing their thing en mass.

And here the close-up of them beating a guy to the ground and whipping him.

Some more Krampus taking care of business. By the way, all of this innocent fun is totally allowed and the police are on hand just in case things get out of hand. But how do you define "out of hand" when there are furry, horned monsters, with chains hanging off their bodies, smearing ash all over people and beating them with whips? Also, the normal people who are getting attacked are present voluntarily. I wonder if the Austrians have a complex that makes them feel like they need to be punished?

The aftermath. I think this was actually part way through because my face got worse. And the oily ash was all in my hair down to the roots, up my nose, I even found it on my back.

To complete the fine evening the Krampus gather around a burning firecracker, chant and holler, and then remove their masks.

This is us trying t0 make friends with the Krampus afterwards. I guess some of them were students of the one of the assistants. It might be hard to tell but one of the Krampus is holding me up in the air. I'm not that tall.
I also sustained more permanent injuries. Those whips you saw, they really use them. I got whipped pretty hard right across both my quads. Day one I had big red welts across my thighs, day two the huge bruises started to form. And they are easier on the girls. The Krampus tend to be harder on guys and especially people they know. Inf fact after seeing me at the end one of the Krampus asked me if I knew one of them since I was so beat up. No, I just look like I'm asking for trouble.

James with one of his students. Class must be hard for him.Ryan looking like a robber, but really he was the victim.

I washed my hair a couple times to get all the gunk out and blowing my nose produced some rad substances, as well as cleaning out my ears. All the clothing gets trashed too. Before I would let my landlady wash my Krampus clothes as usual, I thought I would give them a little rinse. Above is rinse number one. Below is rinse number 4. I did one or two after that.

All in all I decided to be nicer to my brother next year, and stay home from the Krampus Lauf, or just wear more protective layers of clothing.

Oh yeah,and Allie is coming in two and a half days! And only two more days of class until Christmas break! Woooo hooo!

To Much Information! Or not enough?!?!

I just want to say that sometimes I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of information there is in the world and how much crosses our paths each day. And how much of it we are expected to keep track of, like current events, politics, etc.... I don't have a TV and don't watch it much anyway. That immediately eliminates a certain amount (and type?) of information. But I got an MP3 player for graduation so now I have the convenience of listening to that when I'm on the train, cooking, walking to school. I would guess I listen to non-music MP3 material an average of 2 hours a day. Most of these programs are Pod casts, some of which came from radio stations.

Most days I listen to an Austrian news program, a National Public Radio (NPR) 5 min. news summary, BBC World Service News, and then a smattering of other programs depending on my mood. Some of these include: Sermons from Jon Piper, NPR Environment, Grammar Girl, pod Climber, This American Life, A Prairie Home Companion, The Dirtbag Diaries (climbing and other outdoor stuff), Coffee Break Spanish, and a German grammar podcast, among others.

I feel like I take in a huge quantity of information each day and yet, I still feel like I am mission so much information, especially with current events. I feel like I never know quite enough about the middle east to understand what is really going on, or form my own opinion about it. Which candidate for the 2008 election do I support? Which is the opposition party in Pakistan the bad guy or is it the other guy, Musharraf? Or is he in another country? And did the what ended up happening at the big meeting to make goals after the Kyoto deal ends? How does the US holding out on joining affect whether China joins? Will they wait to make the new agreement until after the U.S. gets a new president in the hopes that this new pres will be more supportive of environmental issues? And why the heck was the SCHIP program vetoed? How can Bush say no to giving poor ids insurance? I don't have time to research and find out what his lame excuse was for denying children insurance and health care.

OK I couldn't help myself. Even though it is one in the morning I had to find out what his reason was. Basically he thought it was too much like socialized medicine. Ahhhh! The horror! Children, who can't even get jobs to pay for their own insurance, also can't get help from the government. "Mr. Bush, however, argued that the measure would push people with private health insurance into a government plan and would change the original purpose of the program by allowing it to cover adults. He likened it to a move toward socialized medicine. " (from an article in the NY Times). Well, as much as I have trouble seeing the good in him vetoing health care for kids, to be honest, I don't really know that much about the bill. I wish I did because I think it's important.

I am proud of myself a bit, becasue I am way more informed about the world now than I was even one or two years ago. I think some of that comes with getting older and hearing information in passing, but I have also made much more of a counsious effort to be informed about what's up in the world. But there is still so much more! It reminds me of my relationship ith God; the more I know, the more I feel like I don't know, but the more I want to know. Usually I feel realatively motivated to find out more, but somtimes it seems hopeless. I will never know it all. But how much is enough? What will satisfy me? Depending on whether we're talking about God or the news, the answer changes a lot. But that is a discussion for another day.

Anyone have any thoughts on SCHIP or information overload? How much do you need to keep up on current events to be satisfied? How much do you feel you need to know God or about him to be satisfied? Is that even the right question? Maybe not.

Creative Cures for the Common Christmas

When I got my daily dose of Sojourners this morning I was interested to read an article entitled "Creative Cures for the Common Christmas" written by Shane Claiborne. He also wrote the book, "The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical," which several people I know have read and have heard good things about. It fits beautifully with the thoughts I had the other day. This is how it starts:

"A few years ago I remember a pastor friend telling me they tried something a little different for their Christmas services. Instead of the usual holiday décor and clutter of the sanctuary, they brought in a bunch of manure and hay and scattered it under the pews so the place would really smell like the stank manger where it all began. I remember laughing hysterically as he described everyone coming in, in all their best Christmas attire, only to sit in the rank smell of a barn. They even brought a donkey in during the opening of the service that dropped a special gift as it mosied down the aisle. Folks looked awkwardly at each other, and then busted out laughing. It was one of the most memorable services they've ever had. Certainly folks came face to face with the "reason for the season" and the reality of what it must have been like for the Savior of the universe to enter the world, far from the shopping malls, as a refugee who found no room in the inn.
Imagination.
That's what our Church and our world seem to be so hungry for–that "renewing of the mind" that will allow us not to "conform to the patterns of the world" as Romans says. I am incredibly hopeful this Advent, because there are so many signs of Christians who are longing for new ways to celebrate our Savior that are not cluttered with the noise of shopping and infected with the myth that happiness must be purchased. " If you want to read the rest of the article, here is the link:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2007/12/creative-cures-for-the-common.html

I will end with a reminder to myself:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.
- Matthew 23:25-26

The Battle Against Stuff and For Love

To show great love for God and our neighbor we need not do great things. It is how much love we put in the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God.
- Mother Teresa from "A Gift for God"

It's hard to know how much stuff you have, until the fateful day you have to move. When it has to get packed up and put into a limited space, it becomes impossible to hide it away or ignore how much one has. In June I moved everything I had in Bellingham back to the Tri-Cities where most of it went to our family's storage unit. I might add that there were already boxes of things that I never actually took to college with me, things I hadn't looked at or used in several years. The important things (read: outdoor gear and books) stayed conveniently in the garage at home so mom could mail it to me if I decided I needed it while I was in Austria.

Then I packed two bags weighing 50 lbs each with every possession I thought I would need for the next 9 months. After accomplishing the feat once while heading to Germany and learning form that experience, I had a better idea of what I should take or not and set my expectations low for what would actually fit. And I might add that if i didn't like so many sports, this wouldn't be as difficult but I brought most of my rock climbing gear (except rope and trad gear) and books, magazines, and other materials for school

If that sounds hard, keep in the mind that the hardest part is getting it all back home. After a year, it is surprising how things expand. Even buying a couple more sweaters, books, or beer steins can make a big difference if you've got a 50lb. limit (and it was already maxed out on the way over).

There is a certain amount of stuff necessary to survive and a little more to survive and be pretty comfortable. And there is an unlimited amount of stuff we can buy to make us feel better, we might use it some day, it looks cool, it is cool, it will make me look cool, or because, "why not?". Industrialized nations have a knack for employing these reasons, or should I say 'excuses', for buying more stuff, and Americans are especially skillful at this art. I just watched a really cool short video that explains where stuff comes from and where it goes after we are done with it. At the end you can also see 10 tips for how to help and a list or really interesting and related books.

I highly recommend checking it out:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html

When I was a kid I had a bad habit of putting on an outfit, wearing it for a couple hours and then changing to a new one, just because. I also, in my spirit of organization, would throw away papers instead of recycling them or using the back side first. Or I would let my mom buy me some new clothes (she was paying of course) and then decide a couple months later that I didn't like it and it would end up in the give away pile. I remember especially a brown corduroy dress that ended up in the pile. Actually, in that case, I think it was a good choice. But what was I thinking buying it in the first place?

When I started buying my own clothes, I bought less, thought about it more, and looked at the price tags a lot more. My outfit changing obsession faded years ago, but when I started paying for every load of laundry I found myself wearing those jeans one more time before washing them. And when I went to Germany where you have to pay for a plastic shopping back if you want one, I started carrying around my own cloth bag or a least reusing the plastic ones. When I lived with 7 roommates and saw how often the trash had to be taken out (even though we recycled too) we asked the neighbors if we could bring our food scraps over to their compost pile since we weren't able to make our own in our rental house. When I realized it wasn't so far and I could burn off all the calorie from ice cream, I started riding my bike or walking to campus and the grocery store in Bellingham. And after living in a house without heat for a few days one winter, I realized turning the heat down a couple degrees and putting on a sweater wasn't such a hard thing (and saves money on the bill).

I've come a long way from my fashion obsessed days of my childhood but I feel like I am learning new things every day about the ills of our consumer driven society, the degradation of the environment, working conditions in other countries, poverty, and what God asks me to do for the least of these. All of this inspires me to further changes in my own life.

In this Advent season, and shopping season, think about how much you buy. Consider wrapping your presents in bags that can be reused, in fabric, in newspaper, or not wrapping them at all but making a scavenge hunt instead. And buy less presents! The holiday is not about us getting presents except for the gift of Jesus Christ so maybe we should focus on giving back something to the one who was given to us on Christmas. In fact, my guess is that the more money and extravagant gift buying are a part of Christmas, the less Jesus and thankfulness has to do with it.

So let us serve God this Christmas instead of ourselves. I'll let you think of things you can do, but the first one I think of is simply praying, wholeheartedly, to God and thanking him with all of your heart for who hes is and what he he has done. That really is all he asks of us anyway to have gratitude and love him. Love for others then springs from that. And giving lots and lots of gifts is probably not the best way we can show love for others. Not that giving gifts is bad, but I would guess that the gift of time or love or encouragement would be more meaningful than another CD for Christmas.

Prayer and meditation have an important part to play in opening up new ways and new horizons. If your prayer is the expression of a deep and grace-inspired desire for newness of life—and not the mere blind attachment to what has always been familiar and "safe"—God will act in us and through us to renew the Church by preparing, in prayer, what we cannot yet imagine or understand. In this way our prayer and faith today will be oriented toward the future which we ourselves may never see fully realized on earth.
- Thomas Merton, from Contemplation in a World of Action

Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.
- Proverbs 22:16-16

What other ideas do you have about saving the environment, consumerism, its oppression of people, showing gratitude, or meaningful ways to celebrate Christmas?

How Clumsiness Pays and other short stories

Let's see if I can make this story short. A difficult challenge for me. After hanging up the wash to dry in the evening, I took the laundry basket upstairs to my landlady. It was already dark out but the first flight of stairs had enough light for me to see. When I got to the main floor where my landlady's daughter and family lives, I couldn't see well enough any more, so I went to click on the hall way light which happens to be right next to the door bell which is the same shape (and did I mention it was dark). So I accidentally rang the door bell. I hoped no one would hear because it sounded like there was a party or something going on, but Wilfred (husband) answered the door. I sheepishly explained that I just meant to turn the hall light on. In response, he explained that it was Evelyne's birthday and invited me in for a drink.
Sometimes it is difficult for me to say yes in such situations because I don't want to be imposing, or I don't want to have an awkward time, but I am learning to say yes, because, WHY NOT? If they ask, you don't have to feel bad about saying yes. And if you say no too often, people will stop asking.
This all ran through my head, and I knew I only had one thing to say, "Warum nicht?" Which of course means, 'why not?'. I then joined a group of almost 20 people around a table and had a grand old time talking to a few different people, trying some of Wilfreds award winning, homemade Schnapps and home made Italian food, listening to a smattering of nearly unintelligible dialects and the singing of traditional Tirolean songs, including my all time favorite (since I learned it last month) "in die Berge bin I gern" 'I love to be in the mountains'. Kat and Kathi taught it to me when we went hiking in Italy. Although I only managed to remember the first line, I think it's the most important one.

I had a really cool week. Full of fun stuff that makes me feel more and more at home. On Monday I went to Innsbruck, signed up to be a member of the Austrian Alpine Club and borrowed a book from their library called, "Im Eis" (In Ice) by Ines Papert a studly ice climbing chic that lives in southern Germany. I am am really enjoying reading it and getting super pumped up for exploring the Alps and improving my rock and ice climbing skills. And learning how to say important vocabulary like Eisgeraet (ice tool) and Hoehenkrankheit (altitude sickness). My German is improving so much, but only the people I climb with can tell the difference since I only learn climbing words. On Tuesday I got togeter with some of the other young women from church and we talked about our week and prayed- super cool.
On Wednesday I went climbing with 6 other teachers indoors at the climbing gym where many European competitions take place. It was super fun, but I haven't climbed for a few weeks so I got tired really quick and was super sore after. Then we all went out for a drink after. I got home super late and then had to prepare for class the next day so on Thursday I think I read some from the ice climbing book and fell asleep in my chair. Friday I slept in, did some cleaning, went for a run, worked on travel plans for Al and I and then went to a climbing film festival and a little town near Innsbruck and invited Johanna and her boyfriend to come. It was super fun. We got to see a slide show from this old Austrian dude, who's name I don't know but he climbed a bunch with Reinhold Messner and did crazy mountaineering stuff. he was a really engaging speaker.
Then on Saturday I went with some people from my church to a refugee home nearby and we brought drinks and cake and hung out with the families, played games, talked, sang songs. I was nervous about it, because they are in some pretty sad situations, far from home (where there is maybe a war going on or bad governments) far from family and friends, they don't know German, they are in a totally different culture and they have a lot of trouble integrating. Another thing that made me especially nervous was that I knew there were some people from Afghanistan there. I just pictured our meeting coming across as, "Hi my name is Becca. I'm from the U.S. that country that blew up your home." Although I am less opposed to the war in Afghanistan than Iraq, and see some good in it, that doesn't necessarily make it easier for the thousands of people that have lost their homes, families, jobs, lives. It turned out really well, I want to tell you more, but it's getting pretty late. Anyway, after that I went to my pastor's house for dinner since there was just an hour or so before church (once a month we have church Saturday night). It was nice to hang out with them and a couple other younger girls from church that were there too.

then of course I went to the Birthday party, stayed until after 2 am, slept in LATE this morning. I dd some sewing repairs to a bag and head band, read my Bible, ice climbing book, learned some non-climbing oriented words, went for a short run, and did a bit of cooking (oriental cabbage salad). Mom, I used the ramen noodles you sent, thanks! It was real yummy.

On another note: I just found out today that my cousin Jeff and his new wife who live in Virginia, just had their baby. That means I'm an aunt. Craziness!

Happy first day of Advent! I hope everyone gets a chance to slow down during this impending Christmas season and think and pray and enjoy family and friends and life and not just shopping and running around like crazy. I know it is too late, but if you haven't heard of it, the counter-culture "Buy Nothing Day" takes place every year the day after thanksgiving when most people are out in the cold waiting in lines to get the good deals. Google it and you'll find their web site.

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18