Baby, It's Freaking Hot Outside

So after the initial shock of the fact that I get to stay here for three more months settled down a bit there was some fun that was waiting to be had! Hans Peter decided that it was a good idea to have a staff outing on Saturday night and so after a boiling hot day of cleaning we got all prettied up and went to a hutte! (Of course!) It was gorgeous. The drive there was stunning as we followed a dirt road that followed a river and it was so cool to watch the temperature drop from 32 to 19 as we rose in the mountains. (The ninja awesome car had one of those thermometers in it...) We got to this hutte which was actually pretty small.. Our party took up almost the entire place. There were pigs and goats and a pony to play with and a little playground. And Jonny's little boy was wearing little baby lederhosen which was possibly the cutest thing ever. After making the difficult decision of which table to sit at it was time to look at the menus and enjoy some authentic Austrian food. Of course we all had to have our beers, wines and radlers, what would an outing in Austria be without them?
After thoroughly enjoying ourselves there a few of us wanted to check out this Weinfest that was going on in Forstau, so we piled into the van that only had one CD and it was dance music and it kept skipping so we just made our own remixes and the two gentlemen in the front seats had the time of their lives dancing which gave the people in back seats the time of their lives laughing. We got there and everyone is in Dirndls and Lederhosen and it is in this huge tent with loud amazing Austrian music and people are dancing on the chairs and tables and there is beer and cigarettes everywhere and it was amazing. It was so loud that you couldn't hear the person next to you and so full of smoke that my hair then whole next day smelt like an ash tray. But it was so incredible to see Austrian culture like this and to be part of it, standing on those picnic stables clapping your heart out. After a couple of hours of shouting at each other we left to go home only I wasn't tired at all. We got back to Tauernhof and a couple of people wanted to grab some kebaps so I told them, I am coming but I have to pee! So I go pee and come back and there is no one in sight. I was so confused that after about 15 minutes of deciding what to do I went and found them. We enjoyed the kebaps and the company while sitting outside the big yellow Catholic Church until the kebaps were over and tiredness found us. Then it was bed time.
It is freaking hot outside. So hot that all you want to do is hide from the outside world. On sunday it seemed like a good idea to go to the river and enjoy the sun and hang out in the sun. Until you fall asleep in the sun and get sunburnt in more places then you have ever been sunburnt before. I am not talking about just the shoulders got sunburnt or just the back. I'm talking; back, front, legs, shoulders but not my face yay! As glorious as that day was it caused some pain on my part. Not only the sunburn pain causing me to walk like an old woman cause it hurts to bend my legs, but the bruises I obtained, while going into the river to cool down but at a spot that was moving really fast and getting mini-swept down the river and banged on rocks, hurt too. So then I got told to put some Topfen on it cause Germans put Topfen on everything when it goes wrong. For those who don't know Topfen is sorta like sour cream, yogurt type thing that they mix with this kind of mixing yogurt and cream to make this type of food that you eat like yogurt. Get it? I thought so. So today I tried to do that. It was weird smearing sour cream on myself.. but I think it worked. Ish.. The burn is slightly less painful now.
It is so FREAKING hot. Or maybe it is just me because of my sunburn it is making me feel even hotter when the sun hits it. I feel like I am on fire. Kicking back in this big hot bubble. We went dirndl shopping yesterday which was probably not a good idea to do while sunburnt in the sun.. walking around.. dying. But we tried on some dirndls! It was awesome. I felt so Austrian. It was Annina's last day in the kuche so she wore her dirndl. In the evening we got to go to Martin's humble abode and celebrate Cede's birthday (his kid's nanny for the summer and ex-UB student). I found a hammock and made the mistake of lying down on it and struggling to stay awake while looking at the stars and listening to the conversation going on upstairs on the deck about how Cede can fit her fist in her mouth. Then their dog came over and we became best friends.
This morning was also interesting.. I was on breakfast and so had to be in the kuchen at 5.40am because breakfast was at 7am. And so I am sleeping, and I roll over to look at my clock to see how much longer I get to sleep for and it said that it was 5.42am. I kinda look at it.. then look at it again. It is so lying to me. This cannot be. I freak out and jump out of bed and managed to get ready in 5 minutes which was awesome and successfully completed breakfast. :D After breakfast while working in the kuchen I peeled and cut a whole bucket of onions without a single tear being formed. I was so proud. So was Lothar.
Well, I have no more words in my head. So until next time!

I Have Found You, Super Happy Place

Hey world. So I am in this place right now called, Super Happy Place. This has been one of those grrrrreat weeks at Tauernhof again. We kick off the week with an amazing hike with my dearest Kat who was visiting from Germany for the weekend with her parents. We went up to Giglachseehütte that was on a beautiful lake and in order to get there we have to go through this village type place that I learned was the location where the movie Heidi was filmed. After some amazing skiwasser and kaiserschmarrn Kat and I decided what mountian we should climb. We walked out of the hutte and looked up and there were two mountains with crosses at the top (that is what they do here. Put crosses at the top of mountains. It is so cool and beautiful!) and one looked a bit easier than the other so we decided to go with that one. We begin our hike and get a bit lost and ask this nice old German man for directions and he looks at my shoes (I was wearing running shoes rather than the beloved hiking boots) and he goes, "You can't be a hero." But never the less he points us in the right direction and off we go! It was a stunning hike up the top with this view that you could die for. Mountains everywhere and lakes and even some snow. We get to the top of the mountain and we get to walk along the ridge which was just incredible because you just have AMAZING scenery 360 degrees around you and we take a bunch of pictures with the cross which just look so cool and then we turn around and hike back down. We had to kick our butts into gear because I had to get back to work for dinner at 5.30pm. But it was such a beautiful day, super sunny with not a cloud in the sky. On our way down we passed this couple which will honestly make me never complain about hiking again. They must have been in their super late 80's or 90's. This little lady was up to my shoulder and had the cutest voice, it sounded old. It is hard to describe. And her husband was just incredible. He had like bowed legs and needed crutches to walk and he was practically crawling down the mountain. I was shocked. Kat and I were just blown away. Anyway, after a super crazy insane drive back down from her dad who I guess really wanted to make sure that I wasn't late I got to work and was the first one there. Only to have Anna call Lothar and tell him that dinner is being postponed until 6.30 rather than 6 as half of the guests weren't even there yet. Poor Lothar. 

Monday was your average day at work and chilling out, relaxing, actin' all cool in the afternoon. 

Tuesday arrives! Hooray! MacKenzie's day off meaning she gets to go and do something exciting! So this week I went with the Geinesser Woche (Enjoyement Week) where they were going to go on a five hutte tour around Ramsau (the town pretty much right next to Schladdy). It was another amazingly clear blue sky day and we set off! It was nice to get to look around the area in which I am living and some of the history it holds (Eis was nice enough to translate what Martin was saying..) So the group split into 3 groups, the path of the road that goes up to the hutte, the path that goes above the hutte then back down to it, and lastly the path that goes way up up up above the hutte and back down to the hutte. I did the last one. It was such a good hike! I might not have thought that while I was doing it but that burning feeling you get from hiking is so great. I love it! So we got down to the hutte and enjoyed some amazing Austrian foods and then headed back. It was a highly enjoyable day. After we got back since it was so freaking hot Luke, Andrea and I jumped in the river. After dinner (in which I didn't have to work!) I got to just chill and talk and then the North American Clan as I like to call it all ended up sitting on the Most Comfortable Couch In The World and was trying to decide whether or not someone should eat this slug we found. Then it was time for Eis and playgrounds! After a while when it was getting dark and some of those crazy people were getting tired Annina invited us up to her house where there was a TRAMPOLINE and juice :) Kendra, Josh and I accepted her kind offer and spent our night drinking juice, jumping and looking at the stars. After a quick stop by the Talbach to see it at night we got home and went to bed at the crazy hour of midnight.

Wednesday was once again just your average working day that included an amazing 2 and a half hour nap in the afternoon :) 

Thursday rolls around and I am on breakfast! Yay! Lets wake up at 6 and make food for people.I had a bit too much coffee to drink that morning and until lunch the kitchen was a very interesting place. Poor Lothar having to work with a bunch of women. Kendra, Suzi and I had fun. So much fun that at one point we were pretty sure that Lothar locked himself in his office... The kitchen consisted of chopping up all these peaches and putting them in yogurt YUM YUM. and a bunch of other stuff.. The morning ended with me being very excited to go make the coffee for staff lunch but ending up dropping all the coffee grinds all over the floor, counter and myself.. It was a little bit epic.. Our afternoon found us walking 40 minutes (thanks Annina..) To get to the 'perfect' swimming/tanning spot. Yes that is right people. I tried out this thing called, tanning. Not much happened. Unless you count gaining a million freckles as tanning then right on! On our way we stopped at the wool shop and bought wool and croche needles because we all want to become cool old grandma's who know how to croche things for their grandkiddies. So every thursday evening the top bars in Schladdy host live music in town so of course we go to it and this week it was these guys from Turkey I think... pretending to be Irish. They played Irish folk music and even spoke in English with an Irish accent. So afterwards Josh goes up to get a CD and discovers that they don't speak any English at all. They just memorized what they said to the audience. Ha! Good old Turks. Then of course a bit more playground action afterwards. Seriously this is a fun playground. And for those of you who don't know I love playgrounds. And this one is actually right on the way to town. 2 seconds from TH. Perfect. Happy MacKenzie. Thus concludes thursday. 

Then FRIDAY rolls around! So I was feeling pretty tired today. Just working in the kitchen joking with Lothar as usual and showing Julia how to master the art of meat folding. Lunch comes up and I am eating lunch, then lunch is over and I am just sitting there with Lisalotte thinking about how I should really be getting up to help with the dishes. So after a couple more minutes I get up but Maja calls me over to her so I go. She says, I talked to Hans Peter today. I get a little bit excited and start smiling but realise that it might not be good news so I should stop smiling but it is hard. I can see her fighting her smile. I sit down. She says, we have made room for you to stay for Fall School as a student. :O I freak out and start laughing and crying and flipping out and hugging Maja 500 times. And the kitchen girls see what is going on and come over and get all exicted and are hugging and there are smilings and all that jazz. 

Okay for those of you who don't know which will be most of you as I kept this on the DL while it wasn't confirmed, I have been really wanting to stay here longer and just really feel like it is not my time to go home yet and that this is the place that I need to be. I have thought about it so much and prayed about it and talked to Nat about it and so I went and asked Hans Peter (the director) if I could possibly stay for Fall School and he said that he would have to talk to Maja about it and see if there were spaces etc. That was almost 2 weeks ago. So I have been patiently waiting to hear back from him and today I got my answer! It has been so sweet though, so many staff members over the last two weeks kept coming up to me and asking if I had heard any news yet. It was a big deal. :D So Fall School starts Sept. 18th and ends Dec. 10th. So all you beautiful people in New Zealand I am seriously sad to say that I won't be seeing your bright shiney faces for an additional 2 months. And I am beyond sad to say that you wonderful Canadians that I miss so dearly I won't be coming to Canada at all anymore. It breaks my heart but don't worry. I see a trip that is longer that just 2 weeks to Canada in my near future. 

So, these are the events that directed me to Super Happy Place. :D

Hiking Down A Mountain At 10.30pm In The Rain And Fog? Smart.

If there is something that Austrian's know how to do it would be dancing and partying and... drinking beer. Simply pull out the Lederhosen, Dirndl's and an accordion and fun will be had by all. After another rather fantastic week the people of Tauernhof thought that we should party it up Austrian style on Saturday night (minus the beer.. causing some disappointment among a few).

Friday was spent anticipating the arrival of the students back from their Tauern Tour for this event I made cookies! Who knew that a simple recipe off the internet could taste so good and bring so much joy to those tired faces. To my amazement a few students weren't completely exhausted and so we watched Tommy Boy, where a couple decided that Tommy and I would be good friends.. And so it brings us to saturday. At breakfast I was kindly reminded that the Talent Show would be tonight and that I was the only one who was signed up, so I had better be ready. Saturday is known as the day of cleaning however this saturday didn't seem to need that much cleaning and we were done by lunch which was a pleasant surprise. So the afternoon was spent cutting Luke's hair, running around getting distracted, practicing my talent for the talent show and going for coffee with my Sweet Caroline. So the time comes when we must get dolled up for the dance and Anna mentions that she might wear her dirndl. I freak out. She actually has one! So she lets me try it on and I have a good time pretending that I'll get to wear it tonight then she says to me, "Why don't you wear it and I will just wear one of your dresses?" NO WAY! So I got to wear this amazing beautiful dirndl and dance all Austrian like for the next 2 hours and it was amazing.

So the dancing is over and everyone is kinda standing around talking or having a drink when I hear someone calling my name. Then more people start to call it and are saying, "MacKenzie go do your talent!" At this point I was half hoping that people had forgotten about that.. but I was still pumped to do it. I was so ready. So I get up on stage and pick up my guitar. "I just wanted to do this song for someone who I know is struggling a lot with their self confidence and has a lot of self image problems. So I just wanted to boost their confidence a little bit.. So.. Brett can you please come up on the stage?" I give him a flower. Then I proceed to sing Brett You Got It Going On by The Flight of the Conchords. With a few lyrics altered to make it a bit more appropriate.. But I liked my version. So after the one woman talent show was over and I tried to encourage more people to show off their talents a few got inspired and did a little something. Ben sang a blues song he wrote about Upward Bound and Ian showed us one of the songs that he had remixed and made. Then we got to see the footage the Steve had shot forthe UB video he was making.

So the night came to a conclusion, some when to bed, some went to the Bistro, some (like myself) went to the kitchen and hung out while making tea, others continued the dancing outside the kitchen by showing off their waltzing skills. Then the night actually came to a conclusion by me going to bed.

So sunday morning the students all headed off for their next big adventure of climbing some mountain then they were going to do 45 hours of solo time where all they get is a tarp and they have to build their own tents and they are also fasting. So they are alone in the forest with no food and no one to talk to. I was lucky to get to join them on tuesday night I went up there with Nat and Kristi who are the female instructors who were taking the night shift. We had a lot of really good quiet time and bonding time in the gorgeous forest that we were surrounded by. At about 7pm we wondered around the forest to give the students more water making a couple of them really confused when they saw me, a kitchen girl in the middle of the forest. Their faces were great. But my favourite reaction was Caroline who was like "No way!! HI!!!" and proceeded to talk to me a lot and I had to remind her, you are not supposed to be talking right now! Then we made a lovely dinner of pasta and popcorn and then slept as well as we could in our tent. I had the most wonderful huge rock right under me resulting in my snuggling up next to Nat for warmth and to get away from the rock.

Morning came and with it our duty to deliver more water to the starving students.Then we packed up our stuff and assisted the guys with bring more supplies when they got there. So at about 12pm the instructors all set out to find their team and tell them that solo time was over and that they get to come and have some food! After our delicious lunch of soup, buns and bananas the teams set out on their two hour hike to the lake where we would be camping. I joined Brett's team while carrying Nat's team's tent because their team is super broken and full of injured people. Beautiful songs were sung by Amanda and Niek and Southern food was talked about with Ian and Caroline. Just as we were approaching the lake is started to rain so everyone is running and freaking out because they want to set their tent up before it starts pouring and thankfully most were successful. Then there was a wee bit of swimming (even though it was freezing) and David and I decided to attempt to take this little fisherman's boat out even though it only had one paddle.. We ended up paddling once, then giving it to the other person and this is how we moved our boat. I imagine it would have been quite entertaining to watch.. But the end of the boat right we were so wet from the rain and the wet seats under us that we might as well have just jumped in. 

At this point I started freezing a little bit considering that I was only wearing shorts, a tank top and a rain jacket... but another delicious meal of pasta warmed up my insides for a short while.. Luke and I attempted to collect rain water that was dripping off the small hut to drink. It tasted a bit like dirt.. Then it was time for team meetings where I joined Luke's group and they gave me some tea which was super warm and nice. At this point it was still raining and getting colder and Andi decides that we should built a fire! So this fire starts getting built and keeps getting built until it is the size of a person. Which was so brilliant. We made smores and got warm and dry (even though it was still raining..) 

So right about then was when I was supposed to be getting picked up by Simon and Matthias to bring me back to Tauernhof so that I could work the next morning.. But there was so reception so we couldn't call them. They managed to get through once but it cut out after about 5 seconds. So we had no idea if they were in fact hiking the 2 hour uphill hike up the mountain in the rain and fog or if they just decided not to. I was hoping they just didn't cause I would feel so bad for making them do that. But as I found out the next day they hiked for about an hour, then because it was so foggy and they didn't want to get lost they turned around and went back down.So I baked them some cookies. :D But anyway.. so I knew even if they didn't come get me I would still have a way down because the instructors were leaving the students in the middle of the night so that the next morning they would wake up and there would be no instructors and they would have to find their own way back down the mountain using a map and compass. But you see, this hike has a history of people falling and hurting themselves. Martin even broke his finger one year so I was a little bit nervous about this option. So at about 10.30pm we tried to make the students go to bed and we set out, leaving Brett behind to sleep across the lake alone in some sorta sack thing, anyway I was glad it wasn't me.

It was incredibly muddy, rainy, wet, foggy, steep, slippery and rocky. But I still enjoyed it a lot. It was such a neat experience that I will probably never get to do again. I was pretty proud of myself as I was the only one, who didn't fall on their butt. Luke said that I am nimble. Well Martin didn't fall down either but he doesn't really count as he has done it loads before. So about 1hr 45min later we arrive at the van that was left for us. After attempting to go to McDonalds because we were all starving, we discovered that it just closed like 5 minutes ago so we ended up going to a bar in Schladming and getting pizza. It was so good! So we eventually got home and in bed at about 2am. Then it was 7.30am and Kerstin runs upstairs to tell me, MacKenzie! Breakfast is at 7.30! Yup. Off to work on 5 hours of sleep. Yay. I drank a lot of coffee and cleaned. It was a good morning. 

At 12pm the students started arriving after their 12km run back to Tauernhof from a mountain somewhere and everyone was so excited and happy! So cool to see the joy on their faces from not only completing the run but also completing Upward Bound. The afternoon was spent baking cookies and delivering them around Tauernhof. In the evening there was team meetings, during which some staff went to go listen to the live music entertainment in town and afterwards myself and a few gentlemen went to the river to 'ice' which is basically just sticking your legs in the freezing river for 15 minutes.

And now for the story of my encounter in a drunk, old Russian.

So afterwards they, being men are of course hungry and want to go get some kebaps. So we are standing at this kebap stand and these drunk Russians come around the corner and sure, they creep me out a bit but I didn't think too much of it as I was standing with four large guys. So one of them tries to talk to Kenton, who doesn't speak German because he is Canadian and so we are like, wha??? So the drunk old guy goes away and Brett's team walks by so we start talking to them and being distracted and the drunk Russian decides to come back. So he starts trying to talk to Amanda and holds out his hand, so we assume he wants to shake her hand so she gives him her hand and then he goes and kisses it and we are like, What. Just. Happened. So we are laughing and freaking about a bit and so Amanda and Niek leave and so I start talking to someone else. Then the Russian decides it is a good idea to try and kiss my hand. So he takes my hand and is trying to kiss it and I am saying NO. Then I start to say, NEIN. And finally the surrounding people see what is going on and come and save me from the drunk Russian. So that was an interesting experience... 

ANYWAY. With friday brought the last day the students would be there. It was a sad day. Friday night was graduation where we all got dressed up and pretty and they got their certificates and everyone went to Maria's or got Eis or Kebaps. It was a glorious final night. Caroline, Alex and I hung out in her room and ate chocolate. Then Kendra, Josh and Kate thought it was a good idea to start a movie at 2am. So I watched about 10 minutes of it then decided it wasn't worth it and went to bed. 

Saturday morning was a sad morning. Everyone was leaving and there were lots of hugs to be hugged.And I painfully said goodbye to my Sweet Caroline and then went and listened to sad music and cleaned. It was super weird at first, Tauernhof was a ghost town but the staff had a lovely bbq that night which took our minds off things. Sunday morning we hiked up the Talbach and had a small church service of 6 people on this beautiful field surrounded by mountains. Then Josh decided to introduce us to the card game 'Trump' which is amazing. I have won 2 out of our 3 games much to Josh's disappointment. 

So life at Tauernhof has taken a turn. It is still incredible and amazing, just different. 

Until next time my friends.