This
Thursday I met with my German class at a private art exhibit we were invited
to. The art was really beautiful, and of course, we were given the task of
finding our favorite painting and writing about it in German. I found my
favorite pretty quickly. It was a landscape of a valley with mountains
surrounding it. It looked a lot like Crested Butte looking up valley towards
the Paradise Divide. I was pretty amazed by the similarity, and how well the
artist was able to depict this mountain range with only water colors. Then my
mind was blown, as I was told that the artist was born without arms, and he
paints everything with his feet! It was sooo cool! A few minutes later, the
artist himself, Heinz Halwachs, showed up and did a live demonstration for us!
It was super cool to watch, and I have total respect for that man! He has every
reason in the world to just give in to life’s troubles and stop trying. But
instead, he’s flourishing and creating beautiful works. People like this
inspire me so much. So much strength there!
Heinz, painting with his feet
One of his works! He did that with his FEET!
After the
art show, we went to a nearby café and studied some German! Oh my gosh, this
language is incredibly frustrating sometimes! I’ve basically been told it’s
virtually impossible for me to become fluent in just one year over here! There
are so many little details and rules I have to remember and when I’m talking, I
don’t have enough time to think about that! But hopefully that will start to
come with time! I’m super nervous for the German test I have to take with
Rotary in December. Apparently if we fail, we have to go back home to America
Which
brings up the point of homesickness. Based on our big Facebook groups, and just
talking with friends, I think a lot of us are getting homesick for the
holidays. For me, it truly hasn’t been awful. There are some moments when I
just want my mom, or to see my friends for a day. But that kind of thinking
just keeps me stuck back home, and I try to just stay in the present over here.
That usually helps, and I just have to immerse myself deeper every day. But this
weird thing has been happening lately. Even though I miss people, I by all
means don’t want to go home! At all! And I’m actually starting to dread having
to go back! Good thing I’ve got over 7 months left over here!
Yesterday, I was invited to a dinner at my school
friend Kathi’s house. This was a big deal, considering everyone there was
Austrian! That means I officially have Austrian friends! Haha Kathi’s parents
had just bought this mini stove thing. It sits on the table and you can fry
meats and veggies on the top stone, and then melt cheese underneath. Kathi and
Sofie went grocery shopping beforehand, and ended up buying way too much food! So
we feasted last night! We even finished the night with chocolate ice cream cake
and hot chocolate! We played a really fun board game, where we all had cards
with strange pictures on them. Then we had to tell a story about one picture,
and guess which one was correct! It was a super creative game, and I was so
proud that I understood all of that German! We spent the rest of the night
talking and playing Wii. I had a really great time getting to know the girls in
my class better! I’m stoked that I can finally understand almost everything,
and those moments where I just nod and agree are so seldom now! I basically was
grinning from ear to ear the entire night!
Me, Kathi, Sofie, and Johanna
A quick storie about this picture. So we got a phone call that the house next door was on fire, so naturally we ran outside.... with the camera. There were a bunch of fire trucks and ambulances, but by the time we got there nothing was burning. So naturally, Kathi thought it would be a good time to take a picture. The reason we are blue is fromt the ambulance lights!
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