Week 2: Beginning in Austria

This last week I spent at the Bible School Tauernhof in Austria which will be my home for the next year. This week was mainly an introduction to some of the tasks that we will be doing as volunteers. We also helped a lot with some cleaning tasks to prepare the campus for the ski camp that is happening there over New Years.

When we arrived on Sunday afternoon we were met at the train station in Schladming (which is the town where the school is located) by two of the permanent staff. They showed us our rooms and we had time to get our stuff unpacked before meeting some of the other staff. Celeste and I aren’t roommates which is something we had wondered about, but we both really like our roommates so it’s all good. One of my roommates is from England and one from Germany and both are working in the kitchen as well. Before and at dinner we got to meet a lot of the other staff. Some of the other volunteers had been there for months already while some were also new like us. There are a lot more volunteers than I expected but I think that’s because in addition of housekeeping and kitchen (which we knew from Holsby) there are also ski and snowboard instructors who are volunteering for this season with the ski camps, so that does add to the numbers. In the evening we just spent time with the other staff, playing games, watching a movie together and talking to try and break the ice of the awkward “Hi, I’m still trying to remember your name” phase.

On Monday morning and for the rest of the week our day started at 8:00 with breakfast. This was when we met more of the permanent staff and everyone introduced themselves. After breakfast most of the volunteers for kitchen and housekeeping went up to one of the buildings and got a rundown of how to properly clean the rooms and then we divided up into teams to start on that huge task. Because we arrived right after the fall bible school finished, none of the rooms had really been cleaned and so that was something that we spent the vast majority of the week doing. It wasn’t hard but definitely a bit slow so we just talked and blasted music for a lot of the time which made it considerably more fun!

This first week we also learned how to prepare breakfast. All of the new volunteers in the kitchen got to spend two mornings helping with the prep in the kitchen so that we will be (mostly) ready to do that when we come back from break and the ski camps start. This included learning what food to put out when and how and also how to do cleanup and run the dishwashers. It was sometimes a lot of information to take in all at once but I’m sure that with more repetition it will be no problem at all. There was also always a main cook and the older volunteers in the kitchen with us to help if we had any questions so that was really useful.

So during the day that was mainly what all of the new volunteers did. We rotated between housekeeping and kitchen until everything was clean and ready to go for the camps. We always worked in teams so it was a really great way to get to know the other volunteers and permanent staff. We actually had a lot of fun working together and I enjoyed getting to work with others because I was never bored.

I’m the evenings we did a variety of things with the other staff because we always had evenings off. Monday evening was the Christmas party for the school staff so we went to a restaurant with all of the other staff and had a really nice meal and had more time to socialize. Some other evenings we spent watching movies together or playing bored games like extreme Uno or jungle speed. One night we went to the local Christmas market and walked around for awhile. It was super cute and small and it was funny because we happened to meet one of our friends from holsby there, Rahel, without even planning it! It was a crazy coincidence but Celeste and I had a really good talk with her while we walked around.

Schladming has an interesting atmosphere because it’s hardcore a ski town in the winter. One of the staff told us that it’s way more quiet in the summer but right now there are lights up everywhere and tons of people staying in the town to ski. I’m really interested to see how that changes in the spring and summer with less people around because I think it will make a big difference in how busy it feels all the time. I think that it’s going to be an awesome year here. Even without having a set schedule for this week I’m starting to feel more comfortable every day that we spend here and I’m sure it won’t take much longer until it feels like home.

This morning Celeste and I left for the 10 day break that the school requires you to take. Next week I’ll write about what we will be up to over the next days. I’ll also try to take more pictures than I did this week (oops). Feel free to text me on WhatsApp or email me at kelsikann@gmail.com during this time. I’d love to here from you!