Almost a month already

I’ve decided here a Sunday with God doesn’t mean sitting in a church pew. It means you spend 4-6 hours hiking up a giant mountain so you are physically closer to God. It’s also quite possible at some point you get lightheaded and dizzy and think you “see the light.” The scenery you do see is beautiful. Last Sunday I could see the highest point in Austria from one of the places we stopped to take a break. I also go to see a groundhog. Due to technical difficulty with my camera I wasn’t able to get any photos. I did get a video clip the week before of the church group singing and something that could very well have been a yodel. So, yes they do sit in the mountains and yodel.

I’ve made friends with Florian the almost 2 year old nephew/cousin of the family. Most of my host dad’s family lives on the street across the field from our house, so there is lots of socializing among the family. Since I’m not able to engage in any adult conversation because I don’t understand German I’m been appointed to entertain Florian. He talks to me, but I don’t know what he’s saying except when he says “Da Lacey!”

I spend my days helping in the kitchen they have their big meal of the day at noon, so all the cooking happens in the morning. I also mow the lawn and help clean the apartments after the guests leave. In the evenings we often go for a walk or bike ride. Last Friday I cooked a Johnsen family specialty of pork loin with apple raisin dressing and I also made brownies. They seemed to think I did a good job. And ironically, since it was South Dakota food day, there was a picture of Mt. Rushmore in the local newspaper because of the Green Peace things that were going on. On Monday I also made tacos. I had to demonstrate how to make a taco and how to eat it.

Last week Tuesday my host mom and I went to this thing with the farmers’ wives. We met a bunch of other ladies along the side of a road. This guy that turned out to be a fancy vegetarian cook started showing the ladies different plants along the side of the road. To me all the plants looked like weeds. We walked some and he showed more weeds and then they started collecting the weeds in their baskets. I met a girl whose mother had been an English teacher and always made her kids speak English at home, so she knew English well. Then after they’d collected a bunch of weeds they started collecting flowers. After they’d gotten enough roughage we went to the restaurant of a fancy hotel. They sorted all the weeds and flowers. Then the cook started cutting and blending and mixing the weeds with other ingredients. After 3 hours of chopping and cooking we ate the weeds. There was soup made from weeds, salad made with weeds and potatoes, tofu kabobs with weed sauce, juice with flowers in it, and a fruit salad that was actually good but it had flowers that you were supposed to eat in it. I just didn’t eat the flowers in my fruit salad, but my host mom hid them in her napkin I knew we were going to be doing something with plants and then cooking and eating, but I wasn’t expecting that.

The rain has finally stopped coming so often. Out of the first 17 days I was in Austria there were only 4 days without rain. They say this year is unusually wet. I’m convinced all the rain here is to make up for my 10 days I spent in Ireland with only 1 day of rain.

Tonight my host mom and I will go to an event where there will be traditional Austrian music, dancing, and dress. I borrowed a dress from my host aunt.