Senior Pancake Breakfast

Steph and DK making pancake and waffle batter.

All week we have been getting everything ready and organizing stuff for our pancake breakfast. The pancake breakfast was started years ago as a fundraiser the senior class does to help pay for their senior trip. It is a lot of work, but definitely worth it! We were at the school until 6 Friday night working on stuff. Then we got up early and was at the school at 7:45 am (super sad we didn't get to sleep in at all) so Stephanie could start mixing the batters for the pancakes and the waffles. At 8:30 our parent help and all of the senior class showed up to help cook, and get everything set up. It started at 9:30, and from then until 11:30, we served people pancakes and waffles, sausage, fruit, juice and coffee. We had over 100 people there, so it was a great turnout. Stephanie had to keep running downstairs to make more pancake and waffle batter. She made her pancake and waffle recipe 17 times over!

How well do you know your seniors placemat?

Throughout the morning we had different forms of entertainment. We had interactive placemats, cartoon corners, live music, videos made by the senior class, and of course, the auction.

The Serving Line

At 10:30 we had an auction, which is the biggest part of this fundraiser. Each senior had to be involved in a service we auctioned off. The services ranged from golf lessons, soccer camp, guitar lessons, babysitting, computer help, and slave labor. Stephanie decided to join in on the "fun" and she auctioned off one dessert a month from November until June. Her service was bought for 65 euros. Everything auctioned off and made a good price, so we definitely had success!

David Introducing DK's service at the auction.

Thankfully everyone chipped in to help clean everything up, and we were done and ready to leave the school at one! We came home and totally crashed on the couch, to nap and watch some tv.

End of Soccer Season

In the last week of the soccer season, we had an extremely busy week.
Monday in Budapest against ICSB. This game should have been an easy win for us, however it was not. We travelled 3 hours in the vans and got there to find out that we had to be off the field by 5 and the game was supposed to start at 4. So we played 25 minute halves just like 11 and 12 year olds. It was very frustrating, but we could do nothing about it I guess. We were winning 1-0 at half-time. After the half we got an early goal to make it 2-0. However, ICSB got some motivation at that point and put in a goal which game them even more motivation. With about 10 minutes to go they tied it up. Our guys responded really well and dominated the rest of the guy but were unable to put in another goal.

The game ended even more prematurely than we expected when some old Hungarian guys walked onto the field in the middle of the game and told us to get off so they could warm up for their game that was to start in 15 minutes (the practice field wasn't good enough I guess). What a wild time in Hungary.

On Tuesday, we were scheduled to play in Vienna at 4 (it gets dark now about 5:15). Well the team we were supposed to play did not go to the right field so they were 1 hour late. Well the field we rent doesn't really have lights. Well it does, but only 2 lights and only on 1 side of the field. But we played anyways. Thomas and I were on the side opposite the 2 lights so we saw very little of the game (the parts that were near us). Even despite the dark, our guys played one of their best games to that point and we won 5-0.

On Friday, we travelled back to Budapest to play their American International School. This is a school of about 800 students compared to ours which is just over 200. Quite a difference. However, we put our best game together and dominated the enitre game and won 2-0. It should have been much more but the keeper made some really good saves and we had trouble putting away our easy chances.

All in all it was a very good season. We had our ups and downs on the field, but Thomas and I feel the guys grew a lot in their lives. They were exposed to some hard times on and off the field, but showed their true colors by putting together 2 great games at the end of the season.

Fall Break

This past Tuesday marked the end of the first quarter at VCS. We cannot believe first quarter is already over. Time has really flown. Wednesday was a teacher work day for us all to get our grading done and our grades turned into the office. Then Thursday and Friday we had no school!!

Although we did not have enough money to travel anywhere, we had saved enough to do a few fun things over break. Wednesday after a day at work, we went out to eat with some friends at a new restaurant here in Vienna, which was like a Chipotle. It was super exciting for us to have some tex-mex here in Vienna as there are only a few Mexican restaurants here, and they are pricey and not very good. But this burrito joint was very yummy and very reasonbly priced! After that a smaller group of us went to go see a movie at the English cinema. This was a "splurge" for us as we normally don't have money to waste on a movie.

On Thursday I (Steph) went to Sopron, Hungary which is only 45 minutes away from Vienna, if we don't get lost. We did miss our exit so it took us a bit longer to get there, but it was fun. In Sopron there is a really cool and cheap pottery shop. The other girls I went with really got some good deals. We then went to Tesco which is kind of like a Wal-Mart, in which I got a bag of marshmallows and 2 things of body wash for super cheap! I know, really exciting purchases! In the meantime, Matt got to have a day of playing PlayStation, which was fun for him. Thursday night we had some friends over, and I fixed chicken and dumplings.

Friday was a national holiday here in Vienna, so the national museums were open with free admission. We couldn't miss out on a free activity, so we went to a few museums. The first museum we went to was the Military History Museum, which was really awesome. It went through the military history of Austria, which included stories, uniforms, weapons, and all kinds of cool stuff. The highlight of this museum was definitely the car Franz Ferdinand was assasinated in. Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austrian throne, and his assasination was a main trigger to the start of World War I. We then went to the Parliament building in which we had to wait in a long line for, but it was really cool and worth it.

Saturday Matt had soccer practice and I hung out at home. Then we went to a friends house to play Balderdash, which was a lot of fun. Today (Sunday) we have had a really lazy day at home, but was still able to accomplish some stuff. We got all of our articles typed for our next newsletter coming out in November, which was a huge accomplishment. We also had a lot of time to discuss the big decision we are in the process of making (making another commitment to VCS or returning to the States). We are still undecided, but feel like we had good discussion about it and that God is leading us in the right direction.

Blog Cuteness...

We decided our blog header and layout were quite boring, and that they needed some help! So we are having a super cute header and layout designed for us! We came across this designer's blog through a friend of ours, so you should check it out! She has several examples of really cute blogs she has already done, and the best part is, her prices are amazing! So to make your blog cute....go to http://www.fabulouskblogdesigns.blogspot.com/

You will never guess....

Saturday morning we were awakened to.......SNOW....in OCTOBER!!!! It was a light snow that didn't amount to anything and eventually turned into rain, but the point is, it snowed! Yes, this means it was in the lower 30's Saturday morning as well. It has gotten rather chilly here. The high temperature this next week is in the 40's, which I (Stephanie) am thrilled about (the snow too) but Matt is NOT excited about. I love cold weather and especially snow, but Matt hates the cold weather and snow, and would much rather live on a tropical island.

Fall Festival

This past Friday night was Fall Festival, put on by our Parent Teacher Conference. This is a night much like any fall festival in the States. There are a lot of free games provided by the PTF, high school classes are able to do a game for a fundraiser, and the basement is taken over by the science department in which each science class chooses an activity to demonstrate what they have been learning in class. All in all, it is some crazy fun chaos! At the end of the evening, there was a program in which the 4th and 5th grade, middle school and high school choir performed. It also provides an opportunity for us to meet parents of the amazing students we teach!
These pictures are of the "Chocolate Mess" game in which Matt and I were in charge of for part of the game time. Two students would dip a marshmallow in chocolate syrup and then with their eyes closed, feed it to the other person. Needless to say, this got messy!

Our senior class chose to do a maze with a jungle theme. We were pretty curious to see how it all worked out, but they had a plan, and it ended up being a huge hit! They made the maze out of butcher paper, used desks for obstacles, had lots of fun lighting (black light and strobe light...), as well as interactive parts where in the first part you met maze fairies and in the other room, maze pirates!

Senior Class Fall "Bonfire"

This past weekend was also our class party for the fall season. We had a "bonfire" at one of the other teacher's house who has a really nice yard. Sadly, all we had was a tiny fire pit that created a small fire, but hey, it worked! The weather was even the perfect-nice and chilly! It was a lot of fun to "roast" hot dogs, and introduce some of the students to the wonderful world of SMORES! Yum! I definitely think the smores were a huge hit! We had a lot of fun hanging out and had the opportunity to get to know more of the seniors better. Again, we were reminded of our purpose in being here, and were tremendously encouraged by the hearts of these students.

HS Boys Bible Study

At the start of the year, two of the senior boys, David and Oscar, both felt God leading them to start a Bible study to reach out to the high school students. They started off with just the two of them, then it grew to 4, and now they have had up to 17 students attend. They meet every Friday night, have a time of food and fellowship, then David or Oscar will share from God's word.

This past Friday night, Oscar's parents were out of town, and they told Oscar in order for them to have the study at their house, they would need a chaperone. Well, Oscar and David decided to ask Matt and I, so we went. It was an amazing thing for us to witness. Of course it was fun to sit around and hang out with students, students from all different "clicks" from the schol. But it was so powerful to watch David lead a study and discussion about the body of Christ. To listen to them pray for their fellow students, and life struggles. To hear them talk about the need to witness to those in their school, to reach out and pursue one new person each week to bring to the study. To hear them talk about how hard it will be, how they may be made fun of, but how they need to continue to press on and take on the leadership role God has called them to.

What a tremendous blessing for us to be there and to watch this happen. It is just what we needed to witness. The reminder we needed of why we followed God's call away from our home, our family and friends, to serve in Vienna, Austria at Vienna Christian School. This is why we are here, to help students in anyway possible to reach this point of maturity and leadership in their faith, even if we're just the chaperones.

Please join us in praying for this Bible study and all the students involved, as more students step up and want to share and help lead in the study. We truly believe great things will happen through this study and the leadership of these young men.

Spiritual Emphasis Week

This past week has been Spiritual Emphasis Week for the middle and high schools. This is a week where we focus on the spiritual side of life. We bring in speakers and have chapel everyday of the week. This year we had three speakers come, all from the great state of Texas: Duke Underwood from Lubbock, TX was the main speaker, a partner, Joel from Sulfer Springs, TX, and Duke's big sister, Mary Anne Kent from Austin, TX. It was really interesting to see how the three worked together, and they each brought a different dyanamic, a different perspective on life, and a different but just as powerful testimony. I think they did an amazing job, and I know many of the students were touched, challenged, and encouraged by their words.

At the end of the week, we have activities where the students can hang out with the SEW speakers in a fun atmosphere. This year they planned a Fear Factor event for the middle schoolers. We attended, but neither of us participated as they had absolutely DISGUSTING things for the kids to do.....eating marshmallows dipped in mustard....m & m's with ketchup.... carrying sardines from one side of the room to the other... drinking coke with a dirty sock around the can...and searching for clothespins in a bucket of slime with their feet. All stuff I find utterly repulsive, but of course, middle schoolers loved.

HS Boys Soccer

The high school boys soccer team in which Matt helps coach, is in the middle of their season. Unfortunately, they have had several games cancelled, which is really disappointing. However, to try and make up for their lack of games, they decided to have a staff versus student game. There was a lot of smack talk going around about the game and who would win. It was a really good game, but the students came out on top, winning by two goals. It was a really fun game for those playing, and just as fun for those of us who were watching! I don't think the staff will ever be okay with losing, so I am sure there will be plenty of rematches in the future!
On Saturday the boys played a local club team from here in Vienna. It was a bit chilly and windy, and some key players were out sick or with injuries, but we still managed to pull off a win. The final score was 4-2.