Vienna Trip Part 5: Weird Stuff

Whenever you travel there are lots of weird things that you find along the way.  This final post about my trip is about these things.  Here we go.

German toilet

In some parts of Europe this is what the toilets look like.  It's like there's a shelf to do your business on.  My brother dubbed it the "observation deck" on one of our trips.  This kind of toilet was everywhere when I was traveling.  When I went to Cheryl's she had different toilets more like ours.  She said her husband was determined not to have this kind of toilet.

Of course you run into all kinds of different foods and drinks.  Here is a favorite soda in Vienna.  It tasted a lot like ginger ale to me.  We followed the truck in the picture below carrying another brand of soda.

The road to the Haus was a winding road because it ran along a creek.  At some places along the road there were frog crossing signs.  There were also little fences along the creek that were designed to keep some of the frogs off the road.  This is a safety issue.  If a car squishes a frog it makes a slick spot on the road and this can be particularly dangerous on the curves.  Lots of cars have slid off and into the creek because of the frogs, hence the warnings.

Frog crossing sign

I ordered a hot dog from a street vendor in Vienna and got this.

The hot dog is about a foot long.  They put the roll on a spike to create the hole for the meat and mustard.  

In Eastern Europe they are very fond of poetry.  They write their own poems to share with each other.  They may come to church with a poem to share during the service.  I saw this sign on a street in Vienna.

Traveling gives you all kinds of interesting things to see and do.  I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to make this trip. Can't wait for the next one!

Vienna Trip Part 4: Detour to Budapest

I've already told you about taking the train to Budapest to see my college roommate, Cheryl Winget. Now I want to add some of the details about this leg of the trip.

Cheryl met me at the train station and immediately we got in her vehicle and made our way around town.  Like anyone who has lived anywhere for 21 years, Cheryl knew the area well and was a great guide for my adventure.  We made a stop at a piano store (if you know Cheryl that's no surprise) and then we made our way to a restaurant called Vak Varju (Blind Crow) where I had a Hungarian specialty, veal paprikash (paprika).  It was delicious.

Afterwards, we made our way around all the beautiful tourist destinations in the city.  Budapest sits on the banks of the Danube River and there are many beautiful sights.  We walked through the markets and through the parks.  You know you're in a whole other world when someone says, "This is my favorite castle in the city."  Then Cheryl described what it would be like to be at the castle for summer concerts and hear the music and see the courtyard lit up.  It sounded wonderful.

Cheryl and her castle

View of the city along the Danube

Cheryl took me on a tour her school.  She is in charge of special education at the International Christian School.  I got to meet some of her colleagues and several of them are from Grace Baptist Church in Chattanooga.  Some of them had even been to Camp of the Woods.

What an accomplishment!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out and talking about our lives.  I could see how Cheryl's life in Budapest is now, but I wanted to know what it was like to come there 21 years ago.  What was it like to not know the language or your way around?  What was it like to put a first grader and a third grader in Hungarian school?  This was some of what we talked about.  We always have lots to talk about and we enjoy each other's company.  But our visit wouldn't be complete without including our other roommate from our college days, Peggy Decker, so we skyped her and got to visit with her too.

We finished off my visit with a trip to the city at night.  The weather was perfect and the city was beautiful all lit up.  From our vantage we could see the palace of the Hapsburgs, the bridges over the Danube and many boats and buildings sparkling as they reflected in the water. We happened by a restaurant where many people were dining outside and they had live music.  It was the perfect way to end our day.

The Buda Castle

The trees at the market were decorated for Easter

Cheryl and I go way back, all the way to 5th grade at Wanamaker Elementary School.  We were both amazed at where our lives had taken us, and we were happy to still be connected and sharing this time together.

Vienna Trip Part 3: Working at Haus Edelweiss

The purpose of my trip to Vienna was to work at Haus Edelweiss.  I explained about the ministry in a previous post.  But that post was published before I had any first hand knowledge of what I'd be doing, so now let me share my experience there.

The main part of my job was in the area they call Guest Services.  I worked with a team of ladies from Iowa and South Dakota.  We basically performed the duties of a maid for the rooms the students occupied.  This was not the most enjoyable part of my service at the Haus, but it was a privilege to be able to serve these dear brothers and sisters by keeping their areas clean and pleasant.

The team I served with

My favorite part of my duties was serving as a table host.  During each meal the table host made sure the food was passed around the table and served coffee, tea and dessert, and cleaned up after the meal.  But the best part of being a table host was keeping the conversation going.  Every meal I was able to sit with different people (although some became my favorites and showed up at my table more often) and find out about their lives back home.

The beautiful table I hosted

These men and women ranged in age from 24 to 65 and had a passion for the Lord and for His Word. They loved to talk about the ministries they were leading back in their own countries.  One day I sat by two men who were discussing how they were being asked to become the senior pastor at their church, but they both felt they were better at being the assistant.  Another man told me about having a child who had died and now he and his wife have adopted a 9-year-old boy from an orphanage in Romania. I talked to a woman who had felt God calling her into teaching, and she was praising Him for the doors He had opened to give her a job teaching math.  She ministered in her church by teaching the youth in Sunday School, and she was taking classes so she would be better prepared to teach.

A man from Ukraine spoke passionately about the fighting in his home country.  He and others go to the front lines and speak to the soldiers.  They tell the soldiers that there is an honorable way to fight a war.  They say that you can fight to defend but not for revenge or hatred, and they urge the soldiers to consider what they are doing every time they must pull the trigger.  He and the others are trying to be peacemakers.

Some of the student and workers preparing to leave

I sat with one of the professors who was teaching Old Testament.  I was able to find out about the how the Old Testament canon was formed and why the Bible contains the books it does.  It's not every day you get to sit down with an expert and discuss these kinds of things.

The man who lead our devotions each morning was another Ukrainian who was fleeing the fighting in his country.  He spoke with great power and knowledge.  Every morning we all just got up saying, "Wow!"  I was able to serve at the table with his whole family who were now part of the ministry of TCMI.  He had gotten a degree from Denver Seminary and another degree from the University of Wales.

All the students spoke several languages.  In that part of the world it is a necessity to know more than one language.  Imagine if every state in the U.S. spoke a different language, but the official language was still English.  If you traveled very much you would need to know the languages of the states which you most commonly visited.  That's what it's like in Europe--lots of countries about the size of our states with different languages.   I asked a couple of students how many languages they spoke, and they would answer that they spoke four or five and the last language they would list was Spanish.  I said, "When are you ever going to use Spanish in your part of the world?"  They responded, "I just love the sound of the Spanish language.  It is beautiful, like music."

These two were so entertaining.

So you can see, even though I went to serve, I was enriched and I was blessed by the time I got to spend with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ.  I am so thankful for my time at Haus Edelweiss.

Vienna Trip Part 2: Road Block = Trains

On this trip I already talked about being in Vienna and climbing the tower at St. Stephen's as a roadblock for my Amazing Race.  As I traveled to Budapest I was thinking of a task to do there, but I decided that my travel on trains would be considered my challenge.

After my work was done at Haus Edelweiss I traveled by train to Budapest to visit my college roommate, Cheryl. Robin took me to the train station in Vienna and got me in the right place.  We were early and so she said, "Will you be ok if I go ahead and leave?"  She said the look on my face was one of terror and let her know that she had to stay.  I felt like a kid whose mom was putting her on the bus for her first day of kindergarten.

I had to purchase a first class ticket for the train because there were none available in second class.  On the first class car you have assigned seats.  Also, the seats are arranged so that you are facing each other like this:

When I got on the train I was the only one in my car.  So for an hour of my three hour ride, I rode alone.  When the train made one of its scheduled stops a group got on my car.  There was a woman with 4 kids.  They were all middle school age.  I thought the woman could be their mom, or at least one of their moms, but I didn't know for sure.  They came into the car and found their assigned seats -- all the seats right around me (and no one else on the train).   The kids were having a good time.  I learned one girl's name right off as the woman had to keep telling Oleta not to do this and that.  Oleta pushed every button she could find and checked out every feature of her seat and the car.  The woman had very good interaction with the kids.  After about an hour of listening to them speak Hungarian I got up the courage to ask if she spoke English.  She did.

She told me that she was a teacher taking her students to a Latin competition in Budapest.  Three of her students were in grade 7 and one in grade 9.  They were her best students.  She told me the competition is 4 hours long.  We both thought we were worried about Oleta sitting still for 4 hours (teacher humor).

She also told me that the students start taking a second language in first grade, choosing either English or German.  When they get to grade 5 they are required to take 2 years of Latin, which is what she teaches.  After that they can continue in a language they are already studying or take a new one, so when they get out of school they know 3 or 4 languages well enough to use them.

All the time I was gone I felt pretty dumb because I only know one language.

I got to spend an hour of the trip having a great conversation with this teacher and her students.  I got to share with them about my trip to Baden and Beethoven's home.  I got to show them the video of the Ninth symphony (see yesterday's blog).  Teacher's gonna teach.

Actually this encounter on the train was one of the highlights of my trip.  It would never have happened if I hadn't had to travel in first class.  The assigned seats forced us to all have to sit side by side in an otherwise empty car and that led to our conversation.  And it was quite ironic to actually meet a teacher who was doing what I do in my job -- taking really bright kids to a competition.

When I arrived in Budapest my friend Cheryl was there to meet me.  I'll have an entry about my time in Budapest later.

My other train challenge happened the last night of my trip.  I stayed in a hotel at the airport so I could be ready for my early flight the next day.   In order to make my Amazing Race seem more authentic I decided to make my way on the train and subway to the center of Vienna for my last evening.  I just wanted to know I could do it.  I am thankful that there were no real time constraints on my travel because that would have made it very stressful.  As it was, I checked my path a few times at each point to make sure I could make my way back.

Here's a little taste of my time in the center of the city:

It was very satisfying to complete this self-imposed roadblock.  It gives me confidence that I can make my way around on my own.  (But I'm very thankful I had friends meeting me at both ends of my journey.)

Vienna Trip Part 1: Music Everywhere

Vienna Opera House

I thought that I would post a few entries about some of my experiences on my trip.  While I was there I didn't have much time to write.

I already wrote about visiting the Vienna Opera House.  I loved the tour and the idea of being in a place that hosted so many great names in music including Beethoven and Mozart.  My last night in Vienna I considered going to the opera.  Even though the performances always sell out there are standing-room tickets you can get on the evening of each performance.  I did my research, but in the end I decided that I would be back to my hotel too late for my travels back to the states.  I definitely plan to make this happen on my next trip to Vienna.

So I didn't go to the opera, but I did visit the opera toilet that is at the subway stop for the Opera House.  It costs 70 cents to use the toilet and opera music is playing constantly.

The entrance

Inside

Another place I visited was Baden.  It is a small town that was just south of where we were staying, and we spent the afternoon there.  Baden is famous for its mineral baths, which are still popular with the locals even today.  It was these baths that brought Beethoven to Baden.  He suffered from very poor health and hoped the baths and the mineral water would bring him some relief.  Beethoven spent several summers in Baden and the house that he stayed in is a museum today.

Door to Beethoven's house (museum)

Street scene in Baden

My favorite part of the museum was the exhibit for his Ninth Symphony, which he wrote in this house. You may be familiar with this piece of music if you think of "Ode to Joy."  In the room there were four screens.  The first screen showed Beethoven's original score, and as the music played you could follow along on this score.  The second screen listed all the instruments in the orchestra and the names of the instruments would light up as the notes were played.  The third screen showed the conductor and the orchestra, and the fourth had the words to the music in German.

Here's how it looked:

I am disappointed that the part of the music I recorded is so quiet, but, oh well.  I love how the people who work in museums are so creative in putting exhibits together.  The blend of history and technology as well as art is so interesting to me.

There were statues to other musicians all over the place, some I recognized, and others I did not.

Statue for Strauss brothers

Finally, I made a couple of trips to the monastery in town, Stift Heiligenkreuz, where I was able to attend the vesper services and hear the famous monks.  HBO made a documentary about these monks called "Top Ten Monks."

Stift Heiligenkreuz

If you are a music lover there is much to do and see in Vienna which you would find very interesting. I thought it was great!

A Memorable Good Friday

Austrian countryside

Today is Good Friday.  I have often spent time in different ways reflecting on what this day means to me, but today will go down as my most unique remembrance of this day thus far.

After we finished our work today, I walked to town with two of my fellow workers.  There is a monastery that is centuries old here.  Next to the monastery is a series of monuments depicting the Stations of the Cross.  We were able to visit each memorial and reflect on part of the suffering of the Lord.

The monastery

Path through the Stations of the Cross

I am thankful that the final monument showed our risen Savior. 

Jesus is alive!

As we started back to the Haus we passed the monastery and heard the sound of the monks chanting.  It is quite an experience to hear it in this beautiful space

.

In the evening we celebrated part of the Seder, the Passover supper.  We shared the cup and the bread and remembered that we are all one in the Lord, because of His death for us on the cross.

The table I hosted for supper on this special night

What a day!  Thank you, Lord, for your love for me!