Monday 3 September 2012

Developing an Austrian Rhythm

Life here is beginning to take on a rhythm.  Rhythm and routine are so wonderful for the soul.  We have it in every aspect of our life and it is wonderful to have it in our worship as well.

School Begins
I have begun classes.  They gave me advance credit for 5 courses, which will take off half a year in the end.  However, I have 7 courses that I am taking until Christmas.  Crazy.
They are:
German level 1
Latin level 1
Mysterium Salutis I: essentially we read and are tested on the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Natural Philosophy I
Introduction to Logic
Why Philosophy
Synoptic Gospels
Sounds like a ton of fun!

This coming week the students take their first pilgrimage of three this fall.  We will walk about 7 hours to a Monastery that has a piece of the cross that Christ died on.  We will venerate the cross on this day and be blessed by the monks.

We will be all going to Vienna for the feast day of the Nativity of Mary.  There is a large celebration and we'll end with mass in the St. Stephens Basilica.

Then in October, we will either pilgrimage to Poland to see the Black Madonna or to Lisieux (in France) to visit St. Therese of Lisieux.  Sounds like an exciting fall!


Benedict Turns 3 years old!
 \
Some of the kids from the community join us for cake and fun.


A professor took Winter and I to Badem and we got ourselves a cell phone (we don't really use land lines here much) and we did some walking around and exploring.


The central market area in Badem.

Winter eating a banana by the canal.

Oh yes!  Strudel.  Oh oh ode to the beautiful strudel!

Winter genuflecting in the Church in Badem.

A picture of monster Kale for my wife.

A great statue outside the Church.  A real expression of man's dependence on God.


Winter thought this car was hilarious.

We often bike down this path by the river.  Here the kids are chasing the ducks.

Note the bridge is so low you have to duck to go under it.


The river that runs through Trumau.

 Winter and her new friend Magdalena.


There is a tradition that on the first day of grade 1 the parents buy this cornucopia of goodies for the students.  Most everyone had one but Winter.  When she came back to the apartment, Franz (a seminarian here at ITI) had run out and found one for her.  She felt very special and we will be eating candy for months!
                       Kenton and Kate

Walking to Mass Sunday morning- the bells ring for about 15 minutes before mass starts and you can hear it throughout the whole town.
After mass standing in the cemetery.
Winter walking into her new school.
Winter's classroom.
Winter sitting at her desk in her classroom with her deskmate from ITI, Amalia.

4 comments:

  1. Celebrating the rhythm, routine and friends that you've found! God bless :-)

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  2. So happy for Winter that she got the cornicorpia (sp) from that nice gentleman. What a kind fellow! It must have been very different walking into a school with Germans speaking all around you. What a scary feeling for Winter! n
    Love the pics. Looks like a quaint, lovely place.

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  3. Good Morning Kenton and Family, thanks for the pictures and videos. What a wonderful adventure. Very soon all of your family will be fluent in German and these early days of uncertainty will be a fading memory. For Red Deer Catholic, today is our first student day. Off to take Breagh and Ben to school. Very exciting time. Take care. God bless. The Mason Family

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  4. I look forward to experiencing more Austria through your eyes!

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