At the Park...

Ahh, Another beautiful day in Vienna...I had given piano lessons to Jemima and Nathaniel, a brother and sister from England, and took them over to the park down the road to meet up with their mom and younger sister Christina (who is in my class). Now, I really didn't have to go with them - around here people just let their kids walk around alone, or even ride the public transportation alone! I guess it must be safe or something... Anyway, the real reason I went was to see Rithika, a wonderful Indian girl who just recently was pulled from our school. She was supposed to visit her grandparents in India but she convinced her parents to let her stay in Vienna (she's got a head of her own!). When I first saw her, she bolted towards me, arms outstreched, yelling: "Ms. O'Day!!! Ms. O'Day! I do not know you are coming here today!!!!" It was such a blessing to see her again. The first thing she asked was what we learned in Bible that day at school - wow. How humbing to know that God speaks through even me, a broken vessel, to reach His children. She really loves Jesus.
We had fun taking pictures of each other - I even let the kids use my digital camera! I'm pretty impressed - we may have some future photographers on our hands!

The Dancing

Here they are performing their Austrian folkdances. Some of them were quite complicated and beautiful...too bad we don't do this kind of thing in America!

Austria in Spring!

On the first warm day of Spring, I went walking around the center of the city, enjoying the beautiful weather, and watching all the Viennese people out on their bikes, scooters, rollerblades, and feet. It was like they had spilled out from every nook and cranny in the city after the cold winter, to enjoy the coming of Spring. When I reached the Rathaus (Town Hall), my favorite building in Vienna, the courtyard was filled with a Spring Festival. Everyone was out in their traditional Austrian garb (liederhosen and durndles)! This group is playing traditional tunes on Austrian instruments, and there were booths set up everywhere selling travel brochures, beer, sandwiches, etc. They even had a stage set up, surrounded by bales of hay, where a group performed Austrian folkdances for a couple hours straight! And all of this was happening in the middle of Vienna. I love this city!

Who Are They?

Here's my class in disguise...during our Book Character Costume day! We had everything from butterflies to pirates to lions, and all of them were totally pumped about it...ahhh, for the days when life was so simple, when things like dressing up made anything special...wait a minute, I'm still there! I had just as much fun waltzing around Vienna Christian School with a red-and-black striped top hat and a tail. :) Gotta love working with little kids!

So here goes...

So I've never done this kind of thing before...we'll see what happens! It actually took me half an hour just to think of a name for this blog - I guess literary creativity isn't my strong suit. So in order to try to generate a name out of thin air, I started thinking about who I am. Kinda scary to go there, let me tell you! I'm a missionary, a teacher, a musician, a reader, a thinker, a sister. But what really stood out to me is that I'm a daughter. Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents...but what I love even more is being a child of God. My only true identity is that I'm a daughter of God - The Carpenter's Girl. I'm learning more and more that this is the only identity that really matters. So, I hope you enjoy my ramblings!