Ends and Beginnings

Well, Upward Bound is drawing to an end.  I can't believe how the time has flown by these past 5 weeks!  So much has happened even in the last week, that it would be impossible to convey it all (especially in the limited time that I have).  For the sake of time (and the train I have to catch), I will just put out a few highlights from the last week.

The best drink ever!

We got an early start on our final tour, leaving Sunday, and heading for the infamous "Guttenberg Hütte."  Although it was a very nice hut, and the people there were friendly, I think my favourite would still have to be Simony Hütte, which we stayed at during our 2nd or 3rd tour.

Cows near the edge of the forest

From Guttenberg, we hiked east, past Silberkar, and into the forest.  Once we were deep in the forest, we were told that we would be spending the next 45 hours alone, as part of our "solo tour."  Each person was given a tarp, and told to find a spot to build a shelter.  We were also encouraged to fast during our time alone, as an aid to prayer and meditation.  This wasn't too tough of a choice, as we were all out (or nearly out) of food already; however, it was a completely new experience for me, never having missed more than 1 meal before that I can remember.

My shelter.  I unearthed the huge rock in the foreground in my excavations.

Luckily, I was able to find a fairly good spot to build the shelter.  I spent most of my time making the ground soft (removing some large rocks and roots), as my sleeping pad wasn't holding air as well as I would like.  As for the 45 hours of solitude, I spend most of it reading the Word (specifically Ephesians and Phillipians), praying (or making prayer lists), thinking, or just being in God's presence.  I think a lot of good things came out of it, although, of course, I was more than ready to see my friends again when the 2 days were over.

When we all came stumbling out of the woods to our meeting place, we were pleased to find some hot soup and bread waiting for us!  It was a little tougher than I expected getting my stomach to accept food after depriving it of nutrition for so long.  However, the soup tasted great!

First glimpse of the lake

At the lake

Our last stop of this, our final tour, was a beautiful lake nestled down in the mountains.  It was perfect for swimming in (comparatively warmer than most other bodies of water around here).  We all dropped our packs near the shore when we arrived and swam to a rock near the far end.  Later that evening we were ecstatic to learn that the owner of this particular lake (yes, people own lakes and mountains over here), allowed camp fires!  It hadn't rained for a couple days, so the wood was easy to set ablaze, and before long, and nice fire had developed.  We sang worship songs until late into the night, when the moon and stars shown over the water.  Some members of the group even got started some old Newsboys and DC talk songs for those who could remember the words.

Trees grow on rocks in Austria

We had one more challenge ahead of us on this tour, and that was the 12k run!  People had been talking about this coming up for awhile, so it wasn't unexpected.  However, I don't think too many people expected it to be 30 degrees Celsius (that's approx. 90 degrees Fahrenheit)!  As a non-runner, I wasn't too competitive, and for the most part, adopted the strategy of walking through the shady spots, while running through the sun, so as to keep my body temp as low as possible.  We were all still pushing it pretty hard though.  One of the guys in the lead even pushed to the point where he fainted, and fell down off the trail near the river.  Luckily, someone saw him, and was able to pull him out.  He did need to go to the hospital for a day, but has since recovered, praise God.  I finished the run strong, coming in with a time of 1:17.  I did some quick calculations, and figured I was running about 10 - 11 minute miles on average.  Not too bad considering the longest I ever had to run as a gymnast was about 70 feet down a vault runway.  :)

The guys in my small group.  Luke (our leader) and I are sporting our lederhosen and team shirts (mountain goats)

Yesterday was very busy with everyone packing, cleaning, and purchasing anything they still wanted to get before leaving.  My big "souvenir" for the trip was a pair of traditional Austrian lederhosen!  They are made out of goat skin, and are surprisingly comfortable!  I wore them to our graduation ceremony, and later when we all went out for a night on the town.  We had some "half yard" Schladmingers (the local beer), which came in glasses that were (I'm assuming) half a yard tall!  Later we went and got kabobs from a local vendor who is open late.  It was so good, I'm going to grab another on my way out in a few minutes.

There's so much more I could say, but I do have a train to catch...

Luckily, I was able to pick up a 64 gigabyte flash drive yesterday, and, amidst the chaos, find most of the picture takers and download roughly 40 gigabytes of pictures and video that others have taken onto it.  So, once I have a chance to go through them (which may be later in August), I will definitely post a few of those!

For now, I'm off to the "Bahnhof," about to leave the beautiful city of Schladming.  I will miss it, but London is calling, as they say!

Auf Wiedersehen,

Globetrotter out

Cows and horses... and more cows!

Last week, we went on our third tour!  This time, instead of the Dachsteins and glaciers to the north, we traveled south into the beautiful  Tauern range.  The biggest difference between the two ranges (aside from the glaciers) is the type of rock that they are made of.  The Dachsteins are mostly limestone, which forces the water underground, and doesn't allow much grass to grow.  In contrast, the Tauern range is mostly granite, which makes for gorgeous streams and meadows!  The first day, we made camp by a lake, and then set out in search of a stray calf for one of the farmers.  Unfortunately, we never found the little guy, but we did find a bunch of other cows grasing by the lake.  We were a little short on fuel to cook dinner, so most of us walked around the lake to the nearby hut for a bite.  Once we got about halfway around the lake though, we looked back to discover that a team of horses had invaded our campsite.  Most of the food had been put away, so there wasn't much left, but it was a little disconcerting to see your camp ransacked, only a hundred meters away.

Our hike the first day

Camping by the lake

The next day, we hiked to a new location (again, near a hut) and made camp.  I found out that we only camp near huts, because nearly everything in Austria is privately owned (e.g. no state forests or anything).  Therefore, in order to camp, you need the permission of the property owners.  Since Tauernhof has good relations with both the Austrian Alpine Society and many of the hut owners, they give us permission to camp on their lands.  In repayment for their generosity, we have to be very careful to "leave no trace" and it is also encouraged to go into the huts and buy something to eat and drink (generally no arms need twisting on this account).  ;)  When we came back from the hut on this particular night, in the dark with flashlights, we discovered that yet another group of animals had invaded out site.  This time, the newcomers were cows, and they were roudy!  With the near constant "cow bells" clanking, it was a wonder anyone got any sleep that night.

Our second camping spot

Wednesday was rainy off and on.  We climbed over two fairly large mountains, before coming to our camping area.  As an added challenge today, however, we were not told where the camping area was, but only it's general visinity on the map.  Our very detailed map did have one landmark designating our goal location; a little house.  Unfortunately, our map was made in the 80's, and the "house" was nothing more than a small foundation of rubble where some plants were growing.  Luckily, we got our tents up during a repreive of the rain.  However, we awoke the next morning to a torential sounding downpour!  Luckily, the rain sounded much louder on our tents than it actually was.  We quickly realised, though, that it had been raining most of the night, and little rivers and streams had magically sprung up all around us.  As the group LoD (leader of the day), I rallied the troups, and we set off for day 4 of our tour! 

As LoD, I was told where we would stop for lunch, but was not given further instructions.  The weather and hike were similar to the previous day.  We scaled another very large mountain in the rain, then climbed down the other side.  After descending from the peak, we came to some very interesting alpine lakes.  It was very misty and foggy though, which made navigation tricky.  Half the time, I expected to turn a corner and realize we had been going in circles!  At one point, I slipped on a rock, and came down hard on my left hip.  Nothing was broken, fortunately, but it did bruise the muscle.  Eventually we did make it to the lunch spot, near one of the lakes.  The instructors were acting suspicious though, leaving to "use the WC" with their backpacks, and coming back w/o them.  As we were finishing lunch, Heli got up and told us we would be heading back to Tauernhof today!  This was met with widespread approval, as we were all soggy and cold from the rain.  However, he then added that the instructors would not be joining us, and we would be finding our own way back, and quickly skipped off over the ridge.

At the top of one of the peaks looking north

The fog was clearing however, and the way back was simply to follow a canyon down the mountain.  Spirits were high, and we made great time getting back!  Upon returning to Tauernhof, I grabbed a warm shower, and started a much needed load of laundry, as 75% of my clothes were dirty, and the other 25% were dirty by association (or proximity of the other clothes).  After dinner, my group went out for ice cream (again).  This time, they had some new flavors, including applestruddle and grapefruit, both of which were fantastic!

A couple of little sheep near one of the huts we passed

Friday was water day!  The instructors took us down river to a nice spot along the Tauerbach with a newly constructed bridge, where they setup ropes.  One of the ropes was right down on the water, and required swimming in order to cross.  The current was very strong though, and only a few made it across without being swept downstream.  I swallowed a ton of water, but was able to make the crossing.  Later that day, we had our river race, where each team was given 6 floating tubes, 2 wooden planks, and 2 ropes, and told to construct a raft.  The first team to make it (with all members and the raft intact) to the finish line would be declared the winner!  We got off to a fast start, and were the first in the water, even leading the race for a time... however, a stretch of rapids instantaneously wreked havock on the raft, and before we knew it, each person was holding a tube and paddle, and floating down the river sepparately!  After several cold minutes, we were able to re-group on the bank, reconstruct our badely damaged raft, and complete the race (albeit in last place).

It doesn't seem possible, but we are moving into the last week of UB!  It has been a fantastic experience so far, and I can't wait to see what this next week will bring.  Last night we watched the opening ceremony for the olympics.  I stayed awake until the olympic rings were hoisted into the sky, and then ended up nodding off.  I am hoping to catch some of the gymnastics prelims later today!

Globetrotter out 

Glaciers, mountains and canyons!

 On Tuesday, we left for our second tour!  We were all pleasantly surprised when a tour bus came to pick us up.  We were even more excited when the bus dropped us off just north of Ramsau, near Austria-Hütte, where the Dachstein ski lift starts.  However, instead of taking the beautiful ski lift, we ascended the 700 meters of mountain on foot.  It was extremely cold, very windy, and difficult to maintain your footing, as the ground was mostly covered in snow.  Using a lot of switchbacks, however, we eventually made it to the top, where we ate some lunch and photographed our accomplishment!  To get to the hut where we were spending our first night required crossing the western part of the glacier.  Some stretches were fairly steep.  The daring mountaineers attempted to ski (w/o skiis or poles) down these slopes, and invariably ended up on their rears (myself included) before the bottom.  Seeing our miserable attempts, Heli, our mountain guide, took everyone over to a smaller hill for some practice sliding, and more importantly stopping. We practiced quickly turning to an uphill facing pushup position, from whatever position we may find ourselves in.  It felt like I was in a lot like a colony of penguins, and was a lot of fun!  After the sliding practice was over, we came to our destination, Adamekhütte.  There was still a bit of light left, so we did a little bouldering on the rocks outside.  On one of these boulders, Heli and I were the only ones able to complete it.  I think Heli was impressed, because during dinner he came over to talk to me about rock climbing, asking how long I had climbed and so forth.  Apparently he used to climb semi-professionally, and toured all over the world, looking for the biggest rocks!

Nearing the top of our first mountain ascent!

At the top

The next day, we were woken up early for breakfast.  At the end of breakfast every morning at Upward Bound, someone stands up and shares a devotion.  This morning, it was my turn, and I talked about a recent experience I have had, and the importance of having good Christian friends who aren't afraid to show "tough love" and keep you accountable when you go astray.  I think it came off well, and several people approached me afterward, saying how applicable it was to their lives, which was neat.

The edge of a crevase

After breakfast, we put on our harnesses and roped ourselves together, as the stretch of glacier we were about to traverse had many crevases (pronounced Crev 'Ass es), which are often 50 meters deep, that you can fall into with out careful navigation.  Luckily, no one fell into any of these hidden pits, and we made it to the great Hoher Dachstein, standing 3000 meters tall!  In order to scale this peak, we used our kletterstieg sets.  In addition to the wind and cold, we also happened to be climbing in the middle of some very dark clouds, which made it impossible to see farther than a few meters.  However, this also didn't allow us to see the hundred meter drop that awaited us, should we fall off the other side of the mountain, which was nice.  At the top, was, of course, a cross.  Due to the extreme conditions at the top of this, the highest mountain in the Dachstein range, the cross was constructed out of metal poles, which made it ideal for climbing!

Climbing up Hoher Dachstein

The peak!

After klettersteiging down the other side of the mountain, we roped up again and made out way for the Simony-hütte, our next destination.  Heli led the way with me right behind.  He was very anxious to get to the hut, and practically bounded across the glacier!  At one point, however, it became too icey, and we had to contruct a sort of slackline with our ropes and ice axes to get everyone across .  Simony-Hütte was worth it though!  As we were arriving, the sun came out, so we all got to relax for an hour or so on the rocks before dinner.  Dinner was excellent as well, consisting of soup, followed by mashed potatoes and ham, followed by fruit and wipped cream.  :)  I appreciated the meal even more after learning that all the food must be flown up by helicopter (which costs 70 euro/minute to operate).  The huts are mostly all run by the Austrian Alpine Society though, and apparently they get enough outdoor enthusiasts during the summer months to make it work.  Before bed, Martin gave a lecture outside on the rocks, which was cool.

Little pockets of clear skies coming down

Yesterday, we made our way back to Tauernhof, by way of the eastern glacier.  We climbed up a ladder, and through a tunnel in the rocks, then slid (again, some on their feet, but most on their backs) down a steep slope which brought us to a meadow where we ate lunch.  Following lunch, we got to slide down a scree hill, which I personally found to be more fun than the snow (if a little more more painful).  At the bottom, a bus was waiting to take us back to Tauernhof!

At Simony-Hütte looking south east

Crossing the glacier

Our view after coming out of the tunnel

Today, we got to go canyoning!  We geared up in our wetsuits, gloves, socks, and helmets, and drove about an hour west.  The descent, like everything else around here, was very steep.  On the way down, we jumped a few odd looking deer and saw another mountain goat on the ridge across from us.  The bottom of the canyon was so amazing!  I wish I had a waterproof camera, so that I could have taken pictures.  One of the girls did bring hers though, so I'm hoping to steal some of hers at some point.  :P  We swam for parts, and walked others.  There were also several jumps (the highest of which was around 10 meters or 30 feet).  I backflipped off a couple of the mid-sized ones (6 - 8 meters or so).  As picturesque as the canyon was; however, the water was very cold!  By the time we got back to the cars, I was very thankful I had packed an extra set of dry clothes to change into.  We all worked up a big appetite with all the swimming, so we stopped at a McDonald's on the way back and pigged out!  Gotta love good ol' international fast food chains.   
   
As for life here in Tauernhof, it's only been a couple weeks, but it almost feels like home already.  I mean, sure the culture is different, and obviously most of the people speak German, but it's not really that much different from the United States.  It is a very affluent city though, and I have definitely seen more Audis and BMW's than ever before in my life!  It is also a very sporty city, sitting in the valley between two mountain ranges.  There was actually an outdoor clothes fashion show the other day in town center.  It is also a very musical city, as there seems to be a band playing nearly every night (even the week after MidEurope).  Finally, they have very good ice cream here!  My small group (the mountain goats), have now tried three different ice cream shops.  All of them offer scoops for 1 euro, but the best one will give you a large scoop, allow you to mix flavors, and gives you the option of a waffle cone for only 20 cents more!

To any readers who are still with me, thanks for reading!

Tomorrow is a free day, and there is talk of a trip to Salzburg, so I may be blogging about that next time.  


Until then, Globetrotter out

First tour!

Well, this week we went on our first tour (away from Tauernhof), and it was quite the adventure!  On Monday morning, we were driven a few kilometers west to a little town whose name escapes me.  From there, we grabbed our big packs (loaded down with food and supplies), and set our course for another small town called Filzmoose.  There, we ate lunch, before continuing the climb up to our destination, a mountain hut called "Hofpurglhuette," run by the Austrian Alpine Society.  It was quite the climb sitting at 1703 meters (roughly a mile) in elevation.  However, the food was excellent, and the beds were fairly comfy as well.

Hofpurglhuette at sunset

The next day was spent rock climbing in the "rock garden" just a few meters outside the hut.  This was the highlight of the tour for me, as it was my first time climbing "real" rocks!  I completed 6 climbs, along with what is known as a "Klettersteig," where you have to use a steel cable that is bolted onto the rock and climb around it using carabiners to clip into the cable at various points.  The rain started to come down for awhile, but quickly let off, allowing us to climb to most of the day.

Our climbing area is in the lower right rocks with all the green on top

The next morning, we woke up, packed, and set off for our next destination.  Our first stop was the top of another mountain (of which I forgot the name), where we ate lunch.  From there, we could see a good chunk of the Dachstein range, which was very cool! It is said that one of the mountains has supernatural powers of healing, so people come from miles around to gaze upon it.  After hiking for another couple hours, we came to a little open space beside a stream.  At this point, Martin informed us that we would be hiking up into a cave to spend the night.  To that end, we were provided with various "caving" gear, including helmets with lights, food/stoves, tarps, and some extremely stylish canvas jumpsuits!

Approaching Mordor!

We dawned our new gear and trecked up through the mist toward the looming mountains beyond.  It felt very similar to Lord of the Rings, as we approached the rock face and saw the cave entrance.  At the entrance, we left our regular packs, along with anything we didn't need, as the path downward was both dirty and trecherous.  We climbed down ladders, through narrow holes, and across suspention bridges, all with just the tiny light of our headlamps to guide us.  It was both extremely cold and humid (99%), so if you breathed to hard, your breath almost totally obscured your vision for a moment.  After an hour or so of travel, we came to a large cavern with a small waterfall, where we all congregated.  This place was very cool!  Heli asked us to turn out our lights, and gave a devotion on those living in darkness that was very moving.  Afterwards, we lighted up the stoves, and ate some hot soup.  Although the soup tasted amazing, it did little to warm me up, and I was more than ready to crawl into my sleeping bag when it was time to sleep (whatever time that was)!  It wasn't the most comfortable night to be sure, as the space we slept in was very small, and I was crammed up against a rock.  When the leaders woke us, I was still cold, and very ready to be out of the cave.  We quickly packed up and made out way back up to the mouth of the cave.

I was overjoyed to see light once again (even if it was a grey drizzely morning)!  After a very long day of hiking, we eventually made it back to Tauernhof.  It's amazing how going on tour for 3 nights can make even a relatively new place feel like home.  That night and the next day (today) were pretty laid back, as everyone recovered from the trip.  We did hop over to the town last night to enjoy some free music.  Apparently Shladming is hosting an international music festival called "Mid Europe" this week.  We mosied around, sampling everything from a Japanese youth orchestra to a Taiwanese marching band.  My favorite though, was a group of four Austrian soldiers playing some smooth jazz.  The drummer and bass player were extremely in sync, and the trumpet/saxaphone combo on the front end was as good as I've ever heard.  We listened to them for quite awhile, before heading back and turning in.

All in all, it was a great week!  Can't wait to see what next week will hold.

First week recap

Wow!  This first week has been great.  I feel like I am learning a lot and can really sense the lord's presence here at Tauernhof.  I'll go through a quick day by day.

Wednesday, June 4th

Today, we got some hands-on experience with mountain rescues.  After a quick "map and compass 101" course from Heli, Tauernhof's expert mountain guide, each small group (made up of 8 - 9 students) was given a map, compass, and instructions to go find the "injured person" (one of the leaders) who had fallen somewhere up in the mountains.  We made the trek up north into the hills, asking some of the locals for directions along the way, and eventually found it to the designated spot on our map.  Sure enough, there was our leader, Luke, sprawled out on a side hill in one of the most awkward spots imaginable.  It took us several minutes to diagnose his condition, and figure out a method of transporting him to the local hospital.  We ended up constructing a stretcher with a couple long sticks, a mat that someone had, and our mountaineering ropes.  Hauling our 200 pound leader the couple of kilometres back to the "hospital" was no easy task either.  However, with teamwork and a lot of sweat, we eventually, we were able to make it.  Upon arriving, we were greeted enthusiastically and congratulated for our work by some of the other UB leaders who were waiting there for us.  We were supplied with juice to go with our sack lunches, and waited as the other teams arrived with their fallen leaders.  Of course, as soon as the stretches were laid down, our leaders made miraculous and instantaneous recoveries!

Thursday, June 5th   

Today, we were instructed to get up early, and be to the dining hall by 6:30 for breakfast.  After breakfast, we learned that we would be doing some trail maintenance today in an act of good will toward the local mountaineering groups.  My group, the "mountain goats" or "MG's" as we like to be called, all piled into the Opal UB van, and George (pronounced Gay'org in German) drove us east to a little town called Überhaus, where we then took headed north into the Dochstein mountains.  Apparently last year there was an avalanche in this canyon, which partially washed up some stretches of the trail.  So, armed with pickaxes, rakes, and clippers, we marched up the steep trail, carving it back into the side of the mountain, digging well placed trenches to help with water erosion, smoothing out certain spots, and trimming back overgrown foliage.  Near the top, we stopped at a little meadow, ate lunch, and read some scripture.  The view was amazing!  George, told us there was a little lake just over the top of the mountain, so we scaled the last couple hundred meters and sure enough, there was a beautiful lake nestled down in a valley on the other side!  Myself, and a couple of the other guys in my group jumped in.  It felt great to cool off!  On the way back down the mountain, I tried to converse with Rebecca, a German girl in our group.  She refreshed my memory on a lot of German vocabulary, and I helped her with some English words (and sounds, like the 'j' in jug).  We also found a bull frog on the trail, which we all kissed.  That frog must have been pretty confused.  Near the base, we also stopped at this nice little Austrian restaurant, where the owners gave us free "Schiwasser," a lightly flavored drink, and pancake bits with apple sauce (so yummy!).  Right before we got back to the van, we found another excellent swimming hole in a river that was pure blue.  Upon jumping in, we realized this was a glacier fed river, and easily the coldest water I've ever been in!  It was extremely refreshing though.  On our way out, some workers were just preparing to replace the (only) bridge.  Luckily we were able to convince them to let us pass first, or else we would have been stuck waiting quite awhile.  George, drove extremely fast in the way back!  This may have been because, as I found out, he used to be a world class downhill mountain biker.  We were all tired by the end of the day, but felt that we had done some good work and really made a positive impact on the community.

Friday, June 6th

Dachsteins!

Tauernhof valley and beyond

Today was a big "non-work" hike through the "Obertal" and "Untertal" mountain ranges and up to the top of Guschen peak, 1983 meters high.  Starting at Tauernhof (750 meters), this was a sizeable elevation gain, along with the roughly 10 flat meters distance.  The views from the top were worth it though, as you could see for miles around, including all the Dachsteins, and the ski hill that is above us at Tauernhof.  There was also a large wooden cross at the top, and a little booklet where we signed out names and where we were from.  Beaverton, Oregon has now been in Austria folks!  After eating our lunches, we headed back down the mountain.  As soon as we started, however, it began pouring buckets of rain!  This made the trip down a little more treacherous, but also more fun!  I was again very glad to have my rain jacket with me.  Once we got back into town, I saw an extremely old lady feeding some geese in her yard.  I asked Rebecca about it, and she said that geese are common pets in Europe.  Who knew?  After we all got dried off, we had a group meeting in "the hut," a little wooden house near the edge of Tauernhof.  It was nice and dry, and we all shared some laughs.  Later that night, we set-up our tents in the yard for practice, played some games and enjoyed some worship time.  I had just gotten to sleep at 11:30, when I was woken up and told to come down to the bistro.  Upon arriving at the bistro, we were told that we would be sleeping in our tents tonight, and to pack our bags for a hike.  So, we all grabbed sleeping bags and piled into the 4 person tents.  In another hour or two (it seemed like no time at all) we were again woken up, and told to come to lecture hall. There, by candlelight, Martin told us a story of Austrian Christians (Lutherans) during the 16th century Catholic oppression, and how the Austrian king (a Catholic) would not allow the people to have bibles.  A few brave mountaineers, however, would hike through the mountains by night, and smuggle bibles in from Germany.  Tonight, we would re-enact this piece of history.  Each group was given a bible, and, tieing each other together with rope, we hiked up the Tauerbach river (as we had done earlier that day), single file, silently, should the Austrian gov. catch on to us, until we reached the Obertal/Untertal valley.  We then headed east, back down to Tauernhof.  Along the way, you could look down on the city of Tauernhof and see the lights, with the Dachsteins, veiled in mist, towering behind them.  It was pretty incredible!  Upon arrival back at Tauernhof, we climbed back into our tents, and slept until morning (uninterrupted).

  

Pictures from around Schladming

Well... I made it!  It took me 2 planes, 3 trains, 15 hours of total travel time (not counting layovers), and an all out sprint to make my connection flight in Amsterdam... but I made it!  One of the best parts, suprisingly enough, was the 10 hour plane ride from Portland to Amsterdam.  I had planned on sleeping durng the flight, but with all the food and movies, I ended up staying awake the whole time.  The train ride was also very cool, as I got to see a ton of the countryside (including several castles)!  Unfortunately, I did finally succumb to fatigue eventually, and slept for the last 45 minutes or so.  Luckily, I woke up just in time to get off at Schladming, the little town where Tauernhof  (Upward Bound) is located.  During my travels, I also got a chance to talk to several people from Germany.  Suprinsingly all of the young people I talked to had an excellent grasp on the English language, which, as I understand, is a huge focus in the schools over here.  The older German folks were about as proficient in English as I am with Deutch though.

My first night at UB, consisted of dinner, orientation, and a plunge into the local (mountain spring fed) river with a bunch of guys.  After everyone was in, we prayed, and dedicated out time here to God.  It was really cool (in multiple ways)!  On the way back, we stopped for a few minutes to watch the world cup, which was being shown on a projector in the middle of the town.  I didn't stay until the end, but I understand it was pretty lopsided.  After getting back to our cabins, we got to witness an awesome thunder and lightning storm!  I'm not sure if it was the humidity, or our nearness to the Alps, but seriously, it thundered and lightninged like I have never seen before in Oregon!  


The next day (today), we all got up at 7:30 and had breakfast.  We then went to lecture, where Martin (pronounced MAH'tin), the school principal, finished going over what to expect here at UB.  At noon, we broke for lunch (a big BBQ on the lawn), during which it alternated between blazing sun and light rain (crazy orthographic precipitation!).  After that, Martin informed us that we would be going on a hike with our small groups.  What he didn't tell us was that the light rain would turn into a torential downpour, and the thunder and lighting we heard last night would come back (seemingly) twice as powerful.  :D  As we were walking down into a valley, a bolt of lighting actually struck a tree not 200 yards (or "meters" as I should say) away!  Luckily, that's as close as the lighting got, and most everyone had a rain jacket, so that was no big deal either.


We finished today off with some dinner, another short lecture, another dunk in the river, and a short workout with a few of the guys.  I think I'm really going to enjoy my next 5 weeks here, and hopefully will grow closer to God as well!  I probably won't be blogging as much as I had initially thought, as we have a pretty busy schedule here at Tauernhof.  My posts may also contain a few typos thanks to these weird Austrian keyboards (among other things, they've got the 'y' and 'z' swapped which is very hard to get used to).  However, I will try to post maybe once or twice a week, and hopefully get some pictures up soon as well!  


Until next time, um... stay green Oregon! 


Globetrotter out.