When It Is Cold Enough To Use The Good Ol' Outdoors To Refrigerate Your Liquids.

Okay so here is the super weird thing about today. It is October 16^th and this is the day that I would have been arriving back in New Zealand after galavanting in Canada with family and friends if I had not stayed in Austria. I feel the need to reflect on the last four months of my life and tell you guys how incredible they have been and how grateful I am for all your support and emails letting me know what you guys are up to even though I am not ‘present’ in your life at the moment. The last four months of my life in Austria have been an unforgettable life changing experience and I am so glad that I got to stay here 3 months longer than I was supposed to. But it will be just that much harder to leave. But how weird is it that this morning I would have been hugging and probably crying at the airport as I gave everyone who was there the biggest best hugs of their lives but instead I was watching the sunrise across the Austrian Alps. (and then I skype Lorna :D)

Yes, this morning there was a wake up call at 5.40am where a small group of dedicated students (about 20 of us) headed out on the Tauernhof cars to a mountain somewhere, after a ridiculously horrible windy road that made me wanna hurl we got to the parking lot and walked for about 15 minutes to this super tiny church that someone had built on the mountainside (literally mountain SIDE and it was about big enough to hold like 5 people). The sun was just starting to make the sky light up so we sat there taking 500 million photos of everything, the same mountains but oh! The sun had moved up a little bit, takes another photo. It was a very slow sunrise but it was an incredible view and amazing company so it was okay. So the sun rose, as it does everyday only this time I saw it! As Emma and I bounded down the mountain we thought about all those poor souls down in the valley who were sleeping in bed and how awake and amazing our morning was. Everyone should go see a sunrise sometime in their lives.

There was Sunday breakfast as usual where I ate so much I still feel full. And eating a lot after going up and down a ridiculously horrible windy road is not a good idea.

Oh yea! Then there was yesterday where we went to Hallstatt; one of the oldest towns in Austria and it apparently dates back to 2000 BC! I know. Crazy. It is a stunning town sitting on this lake that is pretty much in a hole, surrounded by mountain cliffs. So we wandered around talking 500 million photos of everything. We ended up at this church on the hill and Kenton, Liz, Sian and I decided that it would be a good idea to pay 1.50 Euros to go into this tiny room that we heard had skulls in it. (Cool right? Well that is what we thought..) it is this tiny shack type room and it apparently had 1,200 skulls in it and they were all stacked up on this table that went around the room and under the table was body bones. It was really freaky but interesting all at the same time. There were some more photos, a waterfall, eating lunch while looking over the town, a lady telling us off for taking pictures in her store, an awesome store with a bunch of wood stuff, a ‘second hand store’ (in which I would use the term loosely as it was pretty much just this hole in the wall that some lady had put all her crap that she obviously didn’t want anymore in it and made a sign out of cardboard saying ‘Second Hand Store’). We went to a Cafe where we found this man who had glasses on that magnified his eyes to like a bagillion, so we got Kenton to stand awkwardly sorta behind him and were like ‘You want a picture with those mountains right?’ and stole a ninja photo of him. We also got sorta free cups! Well you bought a coffee and you got to keep the cup. Awesome right? Who doesn’t love a free mug. Oh yes there were also toilets that were sexist. The guys, if they just wanted to use the urinal didn’t have to pay the 50 cent fee. But girls, oh but the girls had to pay 50 cents either way. Rude right? I thought so too. But that brought about a rather humorous joke that I chuckled at. Wanna hear a joke? Woman’s Rights. Heh. Heh. Sorry if there are any women’s rights activists out there. It has to be said with just the right amount of sarcasm. In the evening a small contingent of us watched The Passion of the Christ, which is super intense. But it was really well done I must say.

Yea so not much else happening in my life; normal week where exciting things happen every day so it just blurs together and I can never remember them when I sit down to write my blog. Oh! We went to Salzburg last Saturday and I spend way too much money shopping... I went to Annina’s birthday gathering last last Friday.. Kendra came back to visit last weekend! She had just finished travelling around with Ben (who lives off 5 euros a day and sleeps under bridges, so she had a lot of interesting stories) and she came back to get her luggage before she headed back to the states so it was nice to see her again J. On Friday we had our social night and this time we played a Schladming wide game of Capture the Flag which was awesome! Emma and I took this super back route and ran into Thomas and Marc and joined them and we like climbed up the side of the Planai and were like running through these fields and slipping and falling over and jumped over this ditch creek thing into a bunch of mud and killed a fair few trees then we get to Tauernhof where the flag of the opposing team is on the volleyball court. Thomas and Marc jumped over the fence to check it out but people started coming so Emma and I had to move quick so we jumped down behind the Lecture hall where there is this like alley that is super dark and creepy and we are hiding behind the corner and we hear Sian and Michael discussing whether or not they should go down and check it out. It was actually quite funny to listen to cause Sian was freaking out and was saying “Michael why don’t you have your flashlight!” But in the end Michael sucked it up and came down the alley, much to mine and Emma’s silent protests and got caught. But it was an awesome journey getting there where my jeans and shoes and now saturated in mud. :D

Yes so that is all the stories I can think of telling they world.
Until next time!

From Staff to Student

So this last two weeks of life have been pretty interesting. I went through the transition from staff to student at Tauernhof which I have to admit is not super easy. You just feel super confused about where you are supposed to be all the time. So last week was spent trying to convince my brain that I was no longer a staff member meaning things like, I could no longer use the kitchen door to enter the main house, but the main entrance. I could no longer walk through the kitchen. I no longer go to staff prayer/devotion in the morning. No free item from the bistro!! And of course I didn’t spend my whole day with Lothar and my fellow kitchen girls. But being a student is also amazing although you don’t get the perks. On the plus you don’t have to clean as much! However for my daily duty they put me on cleaning, you could imagine how thrilled I was.

Anyway.. the lectures have been incredible and I am learning so much! Subtle as things that I never even knew where in the Bible just pop up and are like WOAH. How cool is that? Last week Hans Peter went through Genesis and Creation which was incredible and this week we had a guest speaker from England that was part of this company called Sports Reach and they go around the world and play soccer with people and share God’s word. They all had really awesome accents and it was the ‘veteran’ team or as they liked to say the ‘Classics’. So there were all these 30-60 year old English guys and it was hilarious.

My fellow students are awesome. 31 Canadians, 25 Germans, 9 Americans, 4 from the UK, 2 Dutch and 1 New Zealander. So there are a crap load of Canadians everywhere and there is just so much sarcasm and it is a beautiful thing. However Nat has told me that I need to tone the sarcasm down and build people up instead, so I am trying. It is hard when there is 40 ridiculously sarcastic beings surrounding you to resist the sarcastic pull.

As a student you entertain yourself during your free time with copious amounts of volleyball, reading, ping pong, bouldering, slack lining and of course crocheting, because really who doesn’t like crocheting? I have taught numerous others how to and am making touques and headbands for those unfortunate souls who can’t crochet at all or are just not epic enough to try. So last Saturday we went on a ‘hike’ where you climbed a couple stairs from the parking lot for about an hour and got to this glorious lake that was gorgeous. Those brave enough to jump in the freezing mountain water endulged themselves while the others watched and laughed at how cold they were. Then we had to walk all the way back to Tauernhof. That took us about 3.5 hours? Yea no big deal. My hips were numb by the end. But it was so great just walking down the valley, it wasn’t steep but just flat so it was a casual 3.5 hour stroll really. A few girls and I stopped at a hutte and enjoyed ourselves a skiwasser and continued back down.

On Friday, as part of the social committee we planned a very extravagant and extremely awesome game. So the social committee members (about 11 of us) hid all around Schladming and the rest of the students had to find us, we had to sign their arm for one point and their face for two points. Larry (aka Larissa) and I got real intense and disguised ourselves super ninja like. She wore a hoodie with a hat and glasses and I wore a touque with glasses and a huge puffy jacket and we sat in a dark corner with our heads down and our hands in our pockets. I would say that we looked pretty dodge. But I brought my crocheting! So there was that.. I have also enjoyed a few outings with the staff and kitchen girls, even though I am no longer staff and a kitchen girl. We went to Hans Peter’s house for coffee and cake for Marina’s birthday on Tuesday and last night we went up there again and just hung out and Nat and I baked banana bread and it was good. Now, this Saturday as in yesterday we did what I have been wanting to do all summer; hiked to Guttenburghaus and Sinabell.

For the last 3 months of my life there has been this mountain outside my beautiful window up in the Whitehouse and from that beautiful window your eyes fell upon a mountain. This mountain has a name and is called the Schikenspitzer and has a huge glorious cross that I could actually see from the window on top of it. To the right of that mountain you see this hutte; Guttenburg Haus. I had to look at this mountain every single day for 3 months and it stared and me and called out to me “MacKenzie, please come climb me. Climb meee. Come up here. Please.” Every. Day. So you could imagine my excitement when I walked past the list of ‘Saturday Outings’ and saw ‘Guttenburg Haus and Sinabell’. Now the Sinabell is no Schikenspitzer but it is a mountain that is high and awesome! The day started with all us students super hyped and pumped up for this hike ahead of us. We got there and started and after about 20 minutes many of us were like, gahh why am I doing this. 2 ½ hours later we reached the hutte. It was a glorious hike but probably the longest one of just continuous uphill that I have gone on so that was challenging but you just enjoy the company around you and the scenery and time flies; before you know it you are at the top! We ate our lunch at the hutte and enjoyed some skiwasser (pronounced she-wasser) while some enjoyed the Kaiser-schmarrn. It was such a beautiful hutte in such a beautiful spot as well. It was so cool to see the opposite view, I am constantly looking up at the hutte and it was nice to look down onto Schaldming. Some people slept, others took 500 photos and some decided to climb the steel cords that were attached to the house.

After about 45 minutes, those who wanted to continued the hike up to the top of Sinabell; about a half hour hike up. Once you got to the top it was just incredible! You could see the entire Tauern- Region of mountains and if you turned around you could see behind the Dachstein-Region of mountains. It was amazing. After a few hundred photos up there we began the hike down the mountain. Along the way we met some ponies that wanted to be our friends, there was even a baby pony with them and he and I became good buddies as I fed him dandelions. We got back on the bus to go home and it just smelt like sweat and feet. For the most part everyone’s backs were saturated. Sweating is great. Many, including myself had a lovely little sunburn. Once we got back to Schaldming Emma and I thought it was a good idea to go jump in the river! So we did. Three times.. Later that night some brave fellows decided to have a hot sauce competition with peppers, Tabasco sauce and Frank’s Insanity Sauce. There was crying. There was red faces. It was brilliant.

Thus concludes the last two weeks of my life. Enjoy :D

An Austrian Birthday..

Oh why hey there world. Haven’t seen you around for a while! Life at Tauernhof has been pretty normal the last couple of weeks. Not many exciting stories to report. There have been movie nights, sitting on the parking garage looking at the incredible stars, a whole lot of crochet action happening. Like a lot, tons actually. We frequently have crochet parties in the afternoon when everyone is too tired to do anything else we will put on some girl movie like Miss Potter or Persuasion and crochet until our hearts are content. I am working my way away at a scarf, I figured that it would be so much cheaper to just make your own scarf but it turns out after buying all the crap load of wool you need to make a satisfactory sized scarf it cost the same if not more. Then there is all the hours you put into making it. Buying a scarf is generally cheaper and faster. But of course then there is all the joy and elation that making and completing your very own scarf brings! I am excited for that day to come. Mind you it might be in a year or two...

There has been a lot of eis eating.. hey even a staff outing last Saturday! We all walked up the Talbach and at dinner in a hutte in Rohmoos. However you this seems like a simple, fun and enjoyable task but the night before it was the kitchen girl named Kerstin and the housekeeper Julia’s last night here as they were leaving Saturday morning right after breakfast so we all decided to party it up in dear little Schladming. It was so not ready for this party to happen. We started the night at Maria’s but no one was there.. so then we went to our dearly beloved Cult Club. Which sounds really dodgey I know.. and it is a little bit.. interesting but pretty much it is a bar with a big dance floor and it is in like a basement. But it was Retro night! So all this music was from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the best times, especially for dance music. So needless to say our feet did not leave that dance floor until roughly 1.30am. In the end it was just Kerstin, Matthias and I dancing like fools to MC Hammer and Michael Jackson, this activity while it was supremely fun resulted in a very sore and I suspect pulled butt muscle on my part. This made the walking up the slight hill that is the Talbach super painful and my walking pace which is already slow even slower. Poor Bastian and Josh kept me company while I limped in agony up the trail. Eis, Leo and Steve were behind us and I could sense their great concern for my well being through their laughter. Eis was even wearing Lederhosen. I got passed by a man in leather pants. Then at the hutte there was Schnitzel the size of your face and eis desserts the size of a road cone (okay maybe slight exaggeration..) but they were so incredible and we left the hutte all feeling very fat and full, yet satisfied.

After I hobbled back to Tauernhof which seemed to take longer than walking up the hill.. the ‘North American Clan’ as I like to call them (such a clan consists of Ben, Josh, Kendra and I; two Canadians and two Americans so we are even every time we fight..) decided to have a movie night as one of our final evenings together. So we all nestled into the Eagle’s Nest and watched Anchorman. Oh there was also some home video watching.. How you may wonder? Well I opened my birthday parcel from my parents and there was this ridiculously awesome Yoda USB stick and a note saying, there is a surprise when you plug it in! So I got all excited and brought it to the Eagle’s Nest so I could show my fellow N.A.’s and we go to plug it in, all of us frozen in anticipation as we watch and expect there to be some kind of light flashing or perhaps the USB to go “Mmmmm Yoda I am” but no. We sat there staring for a while. Then this folder pops up on the screen ‘Yoda I am’ I realise much too late that perhaps my wonderful Aunt and Uncle have loaded some random terrible childhood photos on it so I attempt to take it out and convince them that we should watch the movie but they are determined and open the file to find four, half hour long home videos on the memory stick. Oh dear. After some more attempted fails at persuasion we watched them and they were... lets say... funny. :D Thanks Auntie Niki and Uncle B!

Sunday morning! The birthday has begun. It consisted of laying around and sleeping in and being awesome and breakfast in bed and being 19. Then when it felt like it was time to get up and get ready for the world  we went outside and made some plans, however these poor plans got changed 50 times. So everyone was very adamant that I HAD to choose what we did that day as it was my birthday and all, only I felt more like making them choose because it was my birthday and I couldn’t be bothered choosing.. So first plan that they actually made on Saturday at the hutte was to surprise me and take me to Salzburg for the day. Second plan was to hike up to the Schikenspitzer (I have not a clue how to spell this mountain..) but it is the mountain that I look at out my window everyday and want to climb so super desperately. But doing this requires some organization as we would have to ask Heli if we could use the equipment and then the bell went off in their heads as I hobbled down from the hutte that my hip was broken and I had two cuts on my feet from cleaning.. (with no shoes on.. I thought I could hobbit it up a bit..) so they decided against it. Also our guide turned out to be busy to then there is that.. third plan which was made Sunday morning was to go to Haldstaat which is apparently a super lovely town on the other side of the Dachstein and it is on a lake and it is really pretty. But by the time we all got ready to go it was decided that it was too late in the day to make such a journey as morning is optimal. So then we get to plan number four, which turns out to be plan number one! We ultimately decided to go to Salzburg at about.. 3 then wander and look around then of course go to McDonalds for dinner and finish the night off with a movie.

After the painful course of choosing something I skyped my wonderful Father for an hour and a half then had a nap on the couch outside which was also glorious. By that time it was leaving time so I grabbed my crocheting stuff (one must never leave the house without it) and got in the car. The party crew consisted of Nat, Ben, Suza, Julia, Josh, Kendra and I. To make life more exciting Nat remembered that Luke said he wanted to come so we drive to the river spot and shout at him across a field “Luke! Us! Salzburg! Go! Now!” so he biked like a mad man back home as we chased him and he got is stuff and we were finally on our journey! The drive to Salzie is about an hour so we all enjoyed some good conversation as we drove through the Alps and I finished Ben’s rainbow hippie headband which is amazing. Yay! Salzburg!

First of all, it was boiling hot there. And we couldn’t find a parking space but then in the end we did of course. We walked over to this lovely garden and there was an Italian market out the front! So we walked along and tried all the taste tester things. There was this beyond incredible meat and cheese stand. Wow. Then for a wander about the gorgeous garden park type thing and there was taking of a million photos; with bushes, with flowers, with unicorn statues, with fountains. We decided that we had had enough of flowers and went on to the buildings, they were so beautiful and there was a huge fountain that we of course got our photo by. Ben and I found a really gorgeous statue that we made friends with, it sorta looked like a Ring Wraith.. Then I may have ran across a giant chess board while there was a game going on because Nat suggested that we have 19 minutes of tickling for my birthday. I didn’t like that idea. Let’s just say the old man wasn’t too happy... Next stop the main shopping street! Were we of course bought some eis and I went and gawked at the Austrian hats and Nat says, you need to buy one MacKenzie! It’s your birthday! So.. I did. :D It is amazing and I love it and it even has a feather! Then there was some photo taking at the beautiful river that runs right through the middle of the city. Next up, dinner! And I am not sure if this truly is a tradition or if I just made it up.. but I feel like every year my family goes to McDonalds for breakfast on our birthday so I had to keep the tradition alive so we went there for dinner. I got a ridiculously amazing McFlurry. It was a Magnum Brownie McFlurry. Oh my word. At this point this random guy comes up and asks Josh, “Hey wanna go get a beer?” Josh says no. But he keeps asking and his friend was like “Don’t worry he’s not gay..” So we ask why he wants to have a beer so badly with Josh and he says, “Because you look like a bro!” At this point there was some laughter.. Then we got kicked out of the McDonalds garden because they were closing so we went to the river to chill while we waited for our movie to start. Suza, Julia and Luke wandered off while Nat, Ben, Josh, Kendra and I thought that it would be a good idea to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey while we waited..

Have you ever played PTTOTD not in a house or a backyard? It proves to be a little bit dangerous. We searched for a place to hang it up and found the fence that goes along the river. So it is like fence, steep hill, river. So Nat gets the camera and is our videographer. You see me pumping everyone up get them ready for this Extreme PTTOTD then the blindfold goes on, some spinning action starts, Nat wanders with the camera showing you the scenery when you hear this KAJLDGHSIEL, she turns around and you see me on the ground laughing and everyone else laughing around me. Turns out that spinning around blindfolded by a steep hill with only a fence protecting you is not such a good idea. My foot slid under the fence and brought me down with it. So there was that.. So we tried again! This time no one got injured and I got it perfectly on the butt! Hooray! By about this time we thought we should head over to the movie.

Salzburg is almost more beautiful at night then during the day. The lights reflecting on the river and the moon and stars it was just stunning! On our way to the theatre we saw some girls playing in a fountain getting their clothes all wet and this old lady stops us and says, “Doesn’t that just look like so much fun?” I guess she figured out that we spoke English and she continues to ask us where we are from and Luke says, “Washington State” she gets all excited, “I lived there for 6 months!” Then Josh says, “California” she gets even more excited and says, “I lived there for 5 years!” She goes on to show us a picture of her and Tom Cruise and her and Arnold (you know the one) and she is giving us copies of these photos and she tells us that she was a Ballerina and has performed in all the prestigious centres around the world and how connect to Russia she was. She was the most interesting lady and I really just wanted to sit down with her and have her tell all her stories but our movie was starting so we had to leave her. After we left her Nat goes, “I knew she was some kind of famous actress type lady, just from the way that she carries herself.”

Last stop on the list was the movie theatre! We could only find one English movie.. one called Midnight in Paris with Owen Wilson. Let’s just say it was an interesting film... It was good and funny but a little bit confusing. It is hard to describe my feelings towards this film, you might just have to go and see it for yourself. This theatre was the only theatre that I have ever been in where it was actually hot inside. Usually they are freezing. But no, this one you were sitting there with a thin layer of sweat on your brow. Not nice. So walking back to our car we passed the fountain where the girls were playing in earlier.. and I just really got the urge to run through it.. So I did! It was brilliant! Except for the fact that I was cold and wet the whole car ride back home.. We got home and I went to bed. Thus concludes my amazing birthday in Austria. It was thoroughly enjoyable and thank you to all those involved in making it awesome.

So over the next couple of days all the summer staff left and the new staff arrived. Ben left Monday morning; Josh, Bastian and Jonathan left Tuesday morning; Kendra left Thursday morning and Suza left Friday morning. This week has been filled with hard goodbyes and hellos. And a whole crap load of anticipation for the new students to arrive.

They are all coming today. I see about 10 of them outside my window and I want to go say hi to them! I see one who I knew from Upward Bound so I am about to have a joyous reunion.

Well I hope this was a satisfactory blog for all those who wanted to hear about my birthday and I apologize for not having written one for so long. But here you go! Until next time.

"Sorry Blog, But You're Getting Written Tomorrow."

So I sat down to write this wonderful long as blog about my birthday that was amazing in Austria because I am dedicated and I want to write one about it cause it was so cool. So I open the page and sit there staring at the screen. I start talking to Anna (the new kitchen girl) and getting distracted as I do. Then she goes, "We should go have a rummage around the lost and found!" I reply, "Yea we could go shopping!" "Wouldn't that be fun!?" "Yea screw this, sorry blog but you're getting written tomorrow."
I think I have said that everyday this week. Don't worry though! Tomorrow is supposed to be a free day.. Maybe the words will come into my head and I will spill them onto my blog at some point...

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.