Livin' Life: Home Sweet Home

Whew! WE MADE IT! Although we are still suffering jet lag, we are back into the swing of things and happy to be home. So before I write about our journey home, let me give you a brief description of the camp.

So the camp was held in a hotel. It very different than what we are used to i.e. warm weather, big open spaces, Young Life camp luxuries, but it was really neat to see how it was run. The campers had the option to ski/snowboard, go to a basketball camp, or hang out every other day. On the off days, they were scheduled to go into downtown Innsbruck for a photo scavenger hunt one day and an indoor water park the other day. The water park ended up being cancelled because of weather conditions, so the program guys came up with a quick activity that basically resulted in snowball fights and snow fort building. Our hotel was right on the slopes, so it was really convenient for the skiers and snowboarders. In the evenings, they had typical crazy Young Life clubs that ended with a talk about Jesus. Our role as the staff was to man the ski rentals, store the ski rentals, patrol the slopes, man the sled runs, craft station, serve food, bus tables and be extra help with whatever program activity was going on. We would usually rotate jobs depending on how people were feeling after the first half of the day. Our team was stellar. The MCYM staff was really impressed at how efficient and hard working we were.

Here are some things we learned:
1. Skiing in the Alps is not the same as skiing on the East Coast.
2. European bathrooms are interesting.
3. American are sadly ignorant and selfish when it comes to speaking another language. Most Europeans know English. We could not reciprocate.
4. Europeans do not like to waste food. (One of the signs at the restaurant buffet said "Take what you want, eat what you take. Think of those who do not have food enough." Okay, their English is sufficient not perfect.)
5. Beer is cheaper than water in Europe.
6. Americans haven't seen snow and bad driving conditions until they visit the Alps. Most people drive mini coopers there, and when the snow hits they just chain up their tires and go.
7. Driving on the autoban (which just means highway) is insane and a little terrifying.
8. Wiener Schnitzel is just thinly pounded pork that is breaded and fried.
9. There is no such thing as personal space.
10. There is a common sense law. Personal stupidity is not an excuse for anything.
11. There is something different about kids in military families. They are more polite. But also more stand offish. I feel like they build bigger walls to keep people out due to their lifestyle: frequently moving, unable to create lasting friendships.
12. God. Is. Everywhere. You don't have to be at a fancy resort-like camp to see God work. Get a group of kids together in a disco tech (with a full stocked bar in view), share the gospel of Jesus Christ and watch God work.

Knowing what these kids might be experiencing as kids in military families made the fact that they were being invited into an everlasting relationship with Jesus so much sweeter.

So we (15 of us) wake up at 3:30 in the morning to catch a taxi down the mountain to the airport on the day we were supposed to leave. We are first in line at the check in counter when we see that our flight was cancelled. Eventually we make our way to a line that we stand in for 6 hours. Nobody wanted to deal with the "Pittsburgh group" since there were so many of us, so we had to get a little pushy to force someone to help us. We basically had to split up. All of us were taxied to Munich (2 hours away), a few people were able to catch a flight back to the US, the other half of us stayed in a hotel for the night and caught a flight the next morning. We took advantage of being in Munich for the night and went to the original Hofbrauhaus! It was so much fun. Munich was beautiful. I was surprised at how I didn't freak out (John was even more surprised). I usually don't do well when my plans are unexpectedly changed. But I think that since there was a group of us, it made it more exciting and adventurous. We were also in a nice hotel and had our dinner and breakfast paid for...that helped. Our 9-hour flight to DC was more enjoyable than usual because we were all upgraded to Economy Plus...6 more inches of leg room people! It matters! However, our 7 hour layover in DC was not enjoyable at all. We had all been up for almost 24 hours and just wanted to get home. When John and I got home at midnight, our heat wasn't working and it was 35 degrees in our house (and 10 degrees outside). Thank GOD that all we had to do was flip the breaker and it kicked on! It was not fun to go back to work the very next day.

So glad to be back on American soil, not living out of a
suitcase and able to make my own food. I went a little crazy on the fresh food at Trader Joe's this week to make up for the numerous wiener schnitzels and fries.

This was our 2nd hotel room in Austria. We had to move to a neighboring hotel when all the kids got there. Everywhere we stayed in Europe had 2 twin beds pushed together. I guess they don't believe in the marriage bed.