Out and About

Today, we decided to see what was going on in the world beyond our door and went to Burger King. Let me say here that in the US we never went to BK to eat, but given our very limited family friendly choices here in Vienna, it has become one of our regular stops. There is a small play area with a slide, which Abby loves, and this gives Jake and me a chance to have an actual conversation. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and to walk around the mall where this particular BK is located. So here a couple of pics of our day.


Abby in hew new coat from Santa aka Nana.


Jake and Abby taking a "ride". This stupid car took my euro. At today's exchange rate that is $1.46.

Time Off for Good Behavior?

I get asked a lot about how things are different in Vienna than they are in the US. Well, almost everything is different to some degree, however, store's opening hours are a biggie. Firstly, all stores--grocery, bakery, department--are only open until 7:00 during the week. I think on Thursdays they possibly stay open an hour later in some cases. On Saturday everything closes down at 5 or 6 and on Sunday nothing is open. I've heard rumors that there is one grocery store open on the other side of town, but have never checked it for myself. Now, for the holiday season all of this changes a little, at least for the last week, anyway. For example, everything closed early on the 24th and remained closed until the 27th, which was a Thursday this year. Then everything was closed again on Sunday. Today, Monday, open again, but closed early for New Year's Eve and will remain closed until the 2nd. So, to do the math for you, in the last week everything has been open for only 3 1/2 days!!!! Needless, to say I'll be glad to get back to normal. I went to the grocery store today and stood in line for 25 minutes!!!! It actually took me longer to check out than it did to fill my basket. Next time you run to Wal-Mart or Crest at 10:00pm, remember me. Happy New Year, everyone!!!!

Frohe Weinachten

Wow!!! Has it really been a month since my last post? Apparently, so. Well, December is almost over and we are fast approaching the 6th month anniversary of our arrival in Vienna. I know I've said it before, but it hardly seems possible we have already been here that long. Well, December here shared some similarities with the Decembers we've spent in the US and, of course, there were also some differences. We started the month off with some new experiences, sort of. In Vienna, like many other places in Europe, the Christmas markets open the season. These are large outdoor market areas filled with all kinds of yummy foods and drinks and also a vast array of Christmas ornaments and other yuletide accessories. I'm not sure how many of these there are in Vienna, but we managed to make it to a few. I guess we'll save the rest for next year.

Another, sort of new experience for us was buying a Christmas tree here. Now, Jake has assured me since our first Christmas together that no self respecting Colorado native can have an artificial tree. So, like years past we set out to find a fresh tree. Now, we have traditionally, put our tree up the first weekend in December. However, we discovered in Vienna most people don't put up a tree until Christmas eve. Well, I wasn't too excited about that idea. Luckily, a few trees did start appearing around town the second week of December so we scored one fairly early by Austrian standards.



Mid December also held another blessing. Jake's parents made their first trans Atlantic flight and joined us for Christmas. I think everyone was a little nervous about this flight, but they arrived safely and right on time. We had a great time having them here. Abby was especially excited to see her Nana and Grandpa. We took them to a few places of interest around Vienna and shared with them the little bit of information we new about what we were looking at. I would say Jake and I for sure need to learn a little more about this beautiful city if we are going to be proper tour guides. The weather here has been pretty cold, below freezing, so we didn't get to go out too much. Dragging a 4 year old around to look at old building while her lips are turning purple from the cold, is not anyone's idea of fun. Nevertheless, we all had a good time spending the holiday together. Jake's mom and I fixed Christmas dinner in my miniature, European kitchen. All was well, but it take some extra planning ahead. My oven is only big enough to cook one thing at a time. Brian and Alisha also joined us for dinner.



It was a little strange being so far away from our entire family, except Jake's parents, for Christmas. Vienna is a lovely place at Christmas, but I must say, I missed so many things from home. Here is a list of a few: day after Thanksgiving shopping, Salvation Army bell ringers, 24 hours a day Christmas music on the radio, Christmas parades, Christmas parties, Santa Claus, Christmas TV specials (the sappier the better), peppermint mocha from Starbucks, Christmas cards (thanks to the couple of you who sent them), and last but not least eating Mexican food on Christmas eve and driving around looking at Christmas lights afterwards.

So, I hope all you readers out there in blog land had a Merry Christmas and a have Happy New Year.

Germany and Thanksgiving

Jake, Abby and I had the blessing of traveling to Germany for the 45th Annual Euro American Retreat. This is a retreat for American military stationed in Europe and Missionaries serving in Europe. I can not begin to say what a blessing this retreat was. It came at the perfect time for us. We were so encouraged by the singing and lessons. It was also so nice to meet others who are "like us". We especially enjoyed getting to know 3 members of the Olomoc, Czeck Republic Team a little better. I believe there were about 100 people in attendance from all across Europe. The weekend was filled with encouraging messages from God's word delivered by Tony Coffee, from Ireland and Dale Hawley from the US. Several other men also shared great devotional thoughts as well. Jake and I, along with the rest of the Vienna Team, had the privilege of working with Dale as we prepared to come to Vienna. It was so good to see him and his wife, Vicki, again. We also read Tony Coffee's book several years ago as we prepared to do a summer mission in Warsaw, Poland. Tony is a gifted speaker and teacher. You can check out some of his work here Abby also enjoyed the retreat, seeing some of her "old" friends and also making some new. Children's classes were held each morning and evening, so Jake and I got to concentrate fully on the messages. Parents everywhere know how exciting this was for us. On the final night of the retreat the kids did a little program for us. You can see Abby's class in the video below.

Retreat Pictures


The Performance



After a great time in Germany we returned to Vienna on Wednesday night, everyone spiritually uplifted, but physically exhausted. Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving, but not here. A few restaurants offer Thanksgiving dinners or buffets, but they are pretty expensive. In the Haskew household, we celebrated by ordering pizza and watching the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions game, which was actually broadcast here. Not to worry, we had a real dinner with the team on Saturday. We all gathered at the Lockwood's for food and fellowship. It was a little sad not being with family for this first major holiday, but our team has become like family to us. We had plenty of food, which I must say was prepared mostly by other people. I got off easy and only had to bring the turkey. I'm sure everyone else spent days in the kitchen getting ready. It was soooooo good!!! So, now the countdown to Christmas begins. What Vienna lacks in Thanksgiving it more than makes up for in Christmas. I am looking forward to having Christmas here. I'll try to keep you all posted on the fun activities.

Great friends

I just wanted to send out a big thanks to Candice and our awesome Bible class from MRCC. We scored two packages this week from these folks. First, Candice and Jonathon sent a care package full of goodies and then today we got an evelope full of cards from our Just Starting Out class. These things came at a great time. I've been a little down at times lately missing friends and life in general in the States. It was so encouraging to get the notes from our friends. Actually, I even got 2 phone calls recently from Candice and Elizabeth. That was so AWESOME!!! Candice has been so good at keeping in touch with us and is a great encourager. I want to say thanks to everyone who has sent an email, a note or who has visited us already.

Birthday Girl

Well, we have reached another milestone, Abby turned 4. I can hardly believe my little girl is so big. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital, but alas.....
We had the entire team over to help us celebrate and a good time was had by all, I think. We had lunch, then cake and presents. Afterward, we took the kids over to the pond near our house to feed the ducks. Here are a few pictures of the festivities.



And just as a point of reference here she is 4 years ago

The Hills and Halloween

*Warning-this post is supposed to have pictures, but Blogger seems to be having some problems with uploads. So, in an effort to at least get something new up here, the pics will come soon.

Ok, ok so I'm not that great at updating the blog. So here is a quick catch up of how things are going here in Vienna. Last weekend, the Rushers, a few people from the Inzersdorf congregation and family went up to a camp owned by the churches in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany to do a little work on the camp. If you want a full detailed description you can check out the Rushers blog
It was pretty fun to get out of Vienna awhile and see what else Austria has to offer. I must say this country is gorgeous. I think it has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. On the drive up we were going through the mountains and all of these small villages that looked like they were taken right out of a story or something. The trees on the mountainside were bursting with reds, yellows and oranges. When we got to the camp, after a long hike for most (Abby and I lucked out and got to ride up with the luggage in a 4x4) there was already snow, a lot of snow, on the ground. Jake spent most of his time working outside, which he loved, but was disappointed not to be able to do any wood cutting. I helped in the kitchen and got to cook on a wood burning stove (see the picture below). This was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I loved this stove. We were only there for 2 days, but by the time we got home on Saturday evening we were all exhausted. It was a great time!!!
So, Halloween isn't exactly sweeping across Vienna with the fervor I was used to in the States. It is here, but not as popular and it is very dark here. By that I mean, if you are lucky enough to find costumes, they are all witches, Dracula, devils, etc. Since, Abby is just now at the age when she might actually care about Halloween, it wasn't too big a deal for her. We just decided we would sort of skip over this holiday. However, the Hensal kids were very excited about Halloween. So, Brian and Alisha offered to host a small little party for the kids. They got to watch the Charlie Brown movie, decorate some cookies Alisha made and wear their costumes. The grown ups sat and sipped cider. Yummy!!!
You will see in the pictures below Abby's very poor excuse for a costume. I really like making her costume, but by the time the party idea came around it was too late to make anything. Besides, the fact that fabric is insanely expensive here. So I found like 3 princess dresses at a toy store. This was the least expensive one, the others were 100 euros!!! Don't let the price fool you, the quality was roughly the same. Carli, Caleb and Cotter wore costumes their grandparents brought with them from the states. Zaden was protesting the whole costume idea.