on friday

Friday was such a unique day that I don't want to miss writing about it. The first half of the day was spent with Terry, an American woman from the church I've been going to. She is an artist and is married to Bill, who works as a writer for the Associated Press. Bill's job assignments have taken them all over Europe and they've lived in Paris, Geneva, somewhere in England, and now Vienna. Terry is really involved with the church's programs for kids, and helps coordinate a high school youth group every Friday afternoon with students from the American International School (absolutely incredible school). So, on Friday from 11am-3pm, Terry and I made cookies, brownies, potato salad, hamburgers, and other stuff for that day's youth group. What a blessing it was to be in a beautiful home with someone who speaks my language and wants to get to know me!

Like any good Austrian would, Terry and Bill have two beautiful dogs. I plan to take Zoe (their golden retriever) on walks so that I can pretend I'm Austrian. Have I told you that Austrians are more in love with their dogs than any people I've ever seen? Most dogs are extremely well-behaved and seem to be treated like children.

Anyway. At 3, we met four other helpers my age (Petro and Petrina, twins from Tanzania; Em from South Africa; Celine from Sweden) and headed to the American International School to pick up the high schoolers. Several of the girls were American, but hadn't lived in in the States for quite some time. So, despite the fact that they sounded totally American ("Oh my God, give me some of those Oreos...I hate Miley Cirus"), they also said they knew little about the States and would like to take a year off before college to drive around and get to know their country.

When we got to the River, we met a guy named Peter from our church. Peter is some sort of investment banker in Vienna, and is one of the nicest Austrians I've met thus far (he's wearing a red jacket in the video below). He chartered a little boat for us, so we hopped on and rode around the river for a while. This video won't be quite as exciting as the one with liederhosen and trombones, but I wanted to give you a sense--

The building at the end there is where Peter, his wife Virginia, and their little daughter Alexandra live. After our sailing adventure we went to their apartment for our barbecue. They live on the very top floor, and you can literally see all of Vienna from their balconies. Ridiculous. Also ridiculous that they let a bunch of teenagers with dirty tennis shoes run all around their penthouse apartment, but apparently they're quite generous and have various groups at their place all the time.


Here's a fuzzy picture I took from a window--the impressive United Nations Building is below (Vienna is one of only four UN headquarter cities; Geneva, Nairobi, and NYC are the others.)


So that was Friday. We had a great dinner and a really engaging discussion with the students about some of the ways they question and struggle with the idea of Christianity, particularly its juxaposition with Catholicism. I loved hearing their questions and was just so glad to be a part of the day. Unfortunately, my travels during the next month will keep me from these Friday afternoons quite a bit. What great kids though. I was glad to hear that many of them will be at the youth retreat I'm helping with at the end of October.

I was not necessarily planning to be so involved with a church during my time here, but have really loved the people I've met and found it easy to get plugged in and help out with whatever's going on. Huge blessing.