Family bikes = independence

Well, it has been over a week now and things are coming together.  We are all finally healthy!  Yeah for us!  We have a bank account now as well.  The fees are a bit much though:  20 Euro/year/person/debit card + .68 cent every time you deposit money and .28 cent every time you use the debit card.  And there is more fees for taking money out... many folks here just make one withdrawal every month with the money they need for the month and just pay with cash everywhere.

We have bikes!
The costs here are outrageous in the stores.  700 Euro for a chariot type contraption brand new.  New bike for Tristan would run around 300 Euro.  Where is Canadian Tire when you need one, eh?  So, on our only day to shop and before we fell into a depression, we prayed for some deal somewhere.  We ended up finding a ToyRUs outside of Vienna and bought Tristan a bike for 130 Euro ($170 - still way too much) and we found a sports store closing out and bought Becca a bike for 200 Euro (regular 350 E) and a bike trailer for 150 E (a very good deal - though we found out after that it doesn't convert into a stroller).  Nonetheless, with a bit of work to an old bike found for me, we were able to go for a family bike ride on the bike paths to the neighbouring town for ice cream and then to a local pond to swim and then to buy groceries.  Yes... the kids were wiped at the end, but it is good training.

I have found out there is a way to bike to the Traiskirchen (the town where we all buy most of our groceries (4km from Trumau) on the paths (as one can't take the hi-way).  I bribed a guy with beer to show me the way tomorrow night.  Then I'll be able to bike there, fill up the bike trailer with groceries and bike home.  Ahhh... life without a car, eh?

To school we must go!
Tomorrow we have to register Winter for school.  We could homeschool her this year, but the Education Minister would then test her at the end of the year on the German curriculum written in the German language. She would most likely fail and then they would force her to be in school the year after anyways.  So, I guess school it is (we are quite disappointed, but excited for her to be immersed in the German language).


*[As a side note for anyone interested, there is a group of homeschooling families here at ITI who are fighting to continue homeschooling their children as the Austrian government has made it increasingly difficult to do so. This group believes as we do that the parents are the primary educators of their children. They are lobbying the Austrian government to let their children be homeschooled and tested in English according to their own curriculum. In spite of the issues that the education system in Alberta faces, I am thankful for how forward-thinking our home province actually is in comparison to Austria. We had no idea how blessed we were in Alberta. Here is their website: http://www.primaryeducators.net/
(click "About Us" in the top menu to see pictures of some of the families we are currently living with here in Trumau!)]


Winter will go to school from 7:45am (yeah my mouth hung open too) to 1pm.  We will still do English reading and writing at home in the afternoons. If she is to miss any days at school, we have to get written permission.  For example, if we wanted to leave on Friday to take a long weekend somewhere, we would have to weeks prior write a letter to the Director of Education in a big city nearby and ask permission.  If it is not granted and we go, we are  fined.  I must admit, I'm having a very difficult time with the idea that the Austrian government can decide what is best for my family and children.  Blasted socialist education system!  They make decisions based on what is best for the school system first and child second.  Every rebellious bone in this spry body wants to shove it .... ok... maybe God is teaching me humility and obedience or something...


Rules, Rules, and more Rules

 Here on campus, we are finding out the unwritten rules of communal living. The outsides of all flats are  to be kept spotless (no bikes, toys, etc).  There is an unofficial dress code here on campus and for masses. It's basically that we are expected to dress modestly- women cover shoulders for mass and generally people don't wear tanktops and I haven't yet seen any ladies wearing dress pants to mass. There will be some shopping trips for me coming up real soon! Kenton was informed that no one walks around topless (as he is inclined to do)- although, he was asked to put his shirt back on at the Calgary Zoo, so I think that unwritten rule goes without saying :)















Becca's Nutritarian Kitchen


With all the success I've had in the last couple of months eating a "nutritarian" diet (losing 25 pounds), I decided to continue eating a plant-based, whole food diet in Austria (like I didn't have enough stress in my life already). I knew it would be a challenge at first, seeing as I don't speak much German and food labels are pretty important, but I have been able to make do! First order of business was to locate leafy greens! Well, the Austrian supermarkts only carry butter lettuce and a cabbage/kale hybrid called "kohl" at this time of year but those two greens were calling my name! They are so beautiful - just look at them! The kohl in the first picture below looks like a tree of life with all the veins running through it! I'm a nut, I know :)

First green smoothie in Austria: 1/2 head butter lettuce, 1/2 head Kohl, 3 TBSP ground flax, 6 dates, 1 orange, frozen berry mix- blackberries, raspberries, red currants, black currants, 1/2 pineapple.

                                                                           Beautiful butter lettuce

Bean, avocado, tomato, garlic, bruschetta mixture that I wrapped up in the butter lettuce leaves to make wraps.

                                                               The yummy bean lettuce wraps for tonight's supper.





Coming up...
We will move into our permanent flat this weekend on the third floor with a terrace!
It'll be nice to unpack everything and focus on making a place a home.



Tristan's new bike.

Winter's bike we fixed up.

Benedict and his new stryder.

Sweet Kate eating food of the kitchen floor.

Crossing the river out of Trumau.  Becca's new European lady bike.

Going for ice cream at a cafe in the neighbouring town.

Winter swimming in the pond.  Attention!  Good swimmers only!  Stop! (at least that's the intention of the sign).

Benedict and Tristan watching some ducks.

Becca and an old German guy.

Getting settled...

We've been here a few days now and the kids have made new friends already.  They play and run around all day long despite the +30 degree weather.  We went to our first daily mass this evening.  There is mass offered every day and the Divine Liturgy as well.  And, this year we may have the old latin mass offered too.  Three to choose from every day.  Wow.  Our first mass was a bit of a gong show as the many parts were sung and all the responses were in Latin.  The kids didn't know how to respond or what to do.  I guess we'll all be learning Latin as a family.  The institute offers a kids' Catechism using montessori methods once per week.  That sounds great!

We have been given a temporary flat - the guest suite - for a couple weeks until our flat will be available.  There is quite a bit of room.  Actually: there are 4 bathrooms.  2 for toilets and 1 with a tub and 1 with a shower (interesting way to waste space I think).  The three kids are sharing one room, though it is tough as Benedict is a bit of gong show when it comes to going to sleep at night. There is a set of bunkbeds in the kids' room as well as another set of bunkbeds in one of the other spare rooms. The kitchen is an Ikea style kitchen with nicer cupboards than we have ever had. We are getting by with less-than-adequate kitchen essentials- we made spaghetti tonight without a colander or a pot lid. We'll slowly build up our supplies :)

We have much to do still like buy bikes, register for health care, register Winter in the local school, get an Austrian driver's licence, and get a bank account.  A bit overwhelming.  The little bit of German we do know is coming in handy.

We've been asking around for bikes and it is pretty difficult to get used bikes in Austria because most are put out to the side of the road once a year for the poor.  The rest are trashed.  We may have a place near the border of Hungary to drive to to look for bikes.

As of Saturday we finally were able to get a broom and mop, an alarm clock and really cool high chair for Kate.  Things are starting to feel more living rather than camping.

Oh yes, and Kenton and Winter are sick with the flu. Apparently most people get sick within their first few days of moving here. It's no fun to be sick in +30 weather!

There are few neat things about Austria that we've learned:
- Every car must have new tires every year.
- Every car must have winter tires during winter
- Despite Austria falling into secularism, there remains a deep Catholic root.  Grocery stores, and cafes and such all still have crosses and crucifix's hanging on their walls.
- Once a year, everyone puts out used items on the side of the road.  Then the poor people and people from Hungary come over and grab what they need.  The rest is picked up the government.
- The concept of super-sized doesn't exist here.  Everything comes in small packages. You buy what you need.  Period.
- Kids up to twelve years of age must sit in a booster seat in a vehicle.  (This one seems a bit weird).
- If you attempt to speak some German, most are very eager to help you with the language.
- On Sundays, all the stores are closed

The kids playing in the fountain the square right outside our flat.

The court yard of the castle where Kenton takes his classes.

The castle where Kenton takes his classes.

Walking the streets of Trumau on a very hot day.

*Here's our mailing address for those of you who wanted it:


International Theological Institute
Schloss Trumau
Schlossgasse 21 
2521 Trumau • AUSTRIA

Good bye Canada

We had a couple crazy weeks saying good-bye to all our friends and family.  Finally, we made it to the airport on the final day - Aug. 21st. Our flight took us to Chicago, then to Munich and then to Vienna.  It was our kids' first plane ride.  They were very excited.

In total we had 24 pieces of luggage!  This included 2 car seats and a playpen and 5 carry-ons and 5 personal carry-ons and 2- 50lb suitcases each and one 50lb suit case for Kate.

After 18 hours total of flying, we finally made it into Vienna where it was 30 degrees C.

Benedict, as we flew into Austria said, in regards to all the houses, "Look at all the toys dad.  I want to play with them when we get to Austria."  He also said, "Dad look at all the snow outside," refering to the clouds.  He was so so cute.

We were pleasantly surprised at our living quarters. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and quite a large dining area with a kitchen fully furnished. It opens onto a courtyard complete with a splash- water fountain where the kids are safe to play with the other children. We were expecting much less! We were gifted some groceries by one of the families here- it was such a blessing.

We dined with the dean (who is also a Byzantine Catholic priest) and his wife and 7 children. It seemed a delightful ending to our first day in Austria. Tomorrow we will grocery shop, attend Mass, sign forms, unpack more and attend a student bbq.

We miss everyone in Canada- I sang Edelweiss (from the Sound of Music) to the kids as their bedtime song tonight and we were singing of Canada for the part in the song where it says "Bless my Homeland forever".

Our kids were awesome on the plane.  I was very proud of each of them.  This picture was in the German airport and we were sweating to death as there was no air conditioning.  Hiya!

Dearest little Kate slept well in our arms throughout the flights and has faired the best of us all.

Next post: our new home