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.