Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble :)

Happy Thanksgiving...gobble gobble!!   I was kindly invited to a fellow missionary's house to celebrate the wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  It's kind of funny being in a different country and celebrating your own holiday.  Many of the Christmas decorations were up and I am pretty sure our school was the only institution that did not have work that day.  However, the family who invited me to dinner prepared quite a feast and I felt like I was at home.  They even had ESPN on their television so we were able to watch the Lions and Packers game which completed the holiday.  I was very thankful for their kind hospitality and enjoying this feast with friends.

Earlier that day my roommate, Becca, organized a turkey bowl football game.  We invited both students and staff and ended up playing for about 2 hours!  It was fun to teach our students how to play football and we got quite a few funny stares from the Austrians.  I feel very blessed to have celebrated such an important holiday in such a traditional way.

This weekend I also thought about what I was truly thankful for.  So much has happened in such a short amount of time and God has been so faithful.  Many things came to mind but I just wanted to share a few.

I'm thankful for...

1.  Having a relationship with a loving God

2.  Meeting students from all over the world and learning about their cultures, religions and lives

3.  Being fully supported from faithful friends and family - Thank you! 

4.  To be able to come home for Christmas

5.  To have had a Thanksgiving dinner with new friends

Check out some pictures below!  

All ready to play

                         

 Let the Turkey Bowl Begin!

Fun on the field

Might not look like it now, but I did eventually get his flag

My team... we won :)

Becca hiking the ball

The only time I was a quarter back

The whole gang

And now onto the feast!

 Lovely Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner with some Scottish and British friends :)

A great ending to a GREAT season

This past weekend was our last volleyball tournament and the end to our season.  It was quite a long volleyball season so we were all pretty happy to have some free time and our weekends again.  I will miss seeing all the girls so often and spending time with them.  Since our tournament was in Salzburg, 3 hours away, we were able to spend the weekend there and have some quality team time.  After getting settled in our hostel, some of the girls wanted to spend the night in worship which was so special.  We gathered in one of the rooms and all sang worship songs together.  Not all the girls on my team are Christians so it was another great opportunity to share Christ's love.  It is such a foreign concept to many of my players to have a relationship with their God.  When discussing this concept, I almost have to define the word relationship more than explain who Jesus is and what he did for us.  It was interesting wrestling with the idea of how other religions view our "relational" religion.  I am hoping to dive deeper into this idea in order to better explain the love of Jesus Christ!    

The tournament ended so well.  We ended up taking 2 trophies home and a sportsmanship award!  Our JV team lost to Budapest in the championship.  We'll get 'em next year!

8:00AM and ready to win some games!

In action

Varsity and JV team

JV team with the 2nd place trophy!!!

Showing off our metal

After the tournament we spent some time in the city of Salzburg and visited the Christmas market!  

All the streets were already decorated with Christmas lights!

Entrance to the Christmas market

One of my Austrian students showed me all around

Wishing I could buy all of these to bring home!

Girls trying to stay warm

Yvonne and I

JV Eagles 2011

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead (El Día de Muertos) is a Hispanic holiday celebrated throughout Spanish-speaking countries and around the world in many cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died.  Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts.

About three weeks ago I assigned a Day of the Dead project for my Spanish 1 students.  Their assignment was to chose a deceased hispanic person, write a paper about their lives and then create an alter or gravesite to honor them.  I really enjoy this project because it allows the students to be creative and learn about the hispanic culture.  I was so impressed with their work that I wanted to share it.  

It was also a great way to discuss the concept and idea of death with my students.  Why do we celebrate the dead?  What can we gain from this?  Is it truly full-filling to bring honor to someone that is no longer in existence?  It was a great way to discuss Christ and his conquer over death.  Thankfully we do not have to celebrate a god who is dead, but one that LIVES!  

Crazy girls acting like Frida

Great alter for Salvador Dali

 Using puzzle pieces to create a Dali portrait 

Excited to eat the food!

My Spanish 1 Class

Girls loving the delicious food

An awesome video that my good friend, Lindsey Harrell, shared with me to remind us that Jesus is Alive!

A sweet little visit

This past weekend Becca and I had our first visitors!  When we were at PFO (pre-field orientation) this past summer we met many fellow teachers who were about to venture across the world.  There was a small group going to Europe and we got to know many of them pretty well.  Our friends, Kathryn and Megan, are currently teaching at the International Christian School of Budapest in Hungry and decided to visit Vienna.  It was great to reconnect, share stories and have some great time of encouragement.

In addition to Kathryn and Megan, my friend Amy visited as well.  She is student teaching at ICSB and decided to visit as well.  It was a nice little treat to see her and have somewhat of a taste of home.  I am looking forward to coming home for Christmas and hope to see you all :).

The whole group!  

First taste of Weiner Schnitzel 

Amy and I :)

Making the train look good

PFO reunions

Fall Festival

This past Friday ICSV hosted a family fall festival night.  Everyone was invited and it was a great way to see the whole school come together for some family fun!  Very rarely do I get to see the elementary students since I work in the high school so it was a nice little treat to spend some time with students that I do not have in class.  Check out pics below!

Arm Wrestling fights

Sack racing (The girl did end up winning!)

Fellow ELL teacher :)

One of my students representing the Austrian Flag well

Elementary Kids singing 

Cutie

Pie in the face!