Deutschland und Ostereich

I know, there should be an umlaut over the O, but I couln't find it on my computer. Nonetheless, we just returned from our visit to Germany and Austria. Our trip began in Munich, where the weissbier und wurst flowwed like milk and honey. We spent a few days searching the streets, taking in the culture and laboring to utilize my limited German vocabulary before being recognized as American and spoken to in English. How frustrating it is to be in a place where seemingly everyone maneuvers effortlessly between multiple languages while you strain to remember the appropriate definite articles of the most basic nouns. Despite the frustration over my own limitations, we had a wonderful time in Munich!

We then rented a car, hit the autobahn and made our way to Mittersill, Austria. After a sketchy drive through heavy snow in the alps, we reached the Schloss, a castle above the town of Mittersill which serves as an international learning community focused on bringing about a new "Christian Rennaisance" in Europe. Our friends the Olivia, Patrick and Sharon Pelham have spent quite a bit of time there over the years and so we wanted to visit, experience the culture of the community and see if it is a place where we might want to spent a few months or more some day. We had a great time talking with Norm and Donna and a number of others about the community and trying to get a feel for whether it would ever be a fit for us. While we did not walk away with much clarity in regards to that question, we certainly enjoyed our stay and the opportunity to connect with others from around the world who had like hearts and minds.

Making our way from Mitersill, we continued on to Salzburg Austria, the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Sound of Music. Interestingly, the Austrians detest the Sound of Music for obvious reasons, but the American tourists eat it up as we are often infatuated with our fabricated, hollywood picture of the world. Jenni and I would have no part in it! That is, until we found out that Salzburg has it's own 24-hour Sound of Music television station. Back to back Sound of Music, it's hard to resist. Of course, we only watched it in order to empathize with the Austrians over it's deplorability.

We did on the other hand attend a Mozart concert at the Schloss Mirabell. Beautiful! The musicians could not have been more that 20 years old and were outstanding. We had hiked up to the castles above the city earlier that day, our dinner that evening was wonderful, it truly was an amazing day spent with the most incredible woman in the world! And that was really the greatest joy of the trip, to spend a full week with Jenni and explore new places together. Our time gave me a whole new excitement for what is to come as we dream about spending a year overseas.

Finally, we made our way back towards Munich, stopping in Bernau to visit the place where Jordan (Jenni's brother) studied for a few months. Just outside of Munich we got an opportunity to visit Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp in Germany. I cannot begin to describe the thoughts and feelings that I experianced as we walked those sobering grounds. For that I shall have to write in another post. Nonetheless, we are grateful for the opportunity to make that a part of our visit. We stayed out that entire evening because our flight was early the next morning. We had a blast taking in our last night in Munich, missed our flight the next morning due to daylight savings time (which we already had 2 weeks earlier in the states), and spent the next 2 days in airports. What more could one ask for, than to share the joys and frustrations of travel with the one you love! It was truly a gift and I am so very grateful.

When we get our pictures onto the computer I'll be sure to post a few.

free coffee!

Ha! I've found a way around this whole anti-consumer Lenten resolution thing. Oh, did I mention that I did after all sign up for the non-consumption pledge at my church. Well, no worries, because tomorrow from 10am-noon, Starbucks is giving away a free cup of coffee to all who enter. I realize that I've already admitted defeat in this area being that my ever-lengthening list of essentials already includes coffee, but man does this help put my conscience at ease! All this time I've been avoiding the great green consumer whore and then she goes and does something like this, so benevolent, so beautiful, so inviting...

How does she do it? Selling herself in mass commodity to any suspecting caffeine-crazed consumer who will dish out 3 dollars for a taste of her sweetness, and yet she continues to win my affections... my addiction. I feel so used. Will I ever break free from her twisted embrace? We have this codependency thing going, you see. Believe me, I've tried to end it, but I can't seem to figure out who I am without her. And even if I do find the courage to leave her, what will I do with REI? I mean, I can't not use my dividend.

carbon negative

I watched an inconvenient truth tonight and I think I want to become carbon neutral. I haven't much thought of myself of a carbon dioxide producer. I mean I breathe, which I suppose produces CO2, but I don't cut down rain forests in my spare time or anything. Nonetheless, this movie was a good reminder of the fact that I am a consumer. As a consumer, I consume energy and yet, my western mindset doesn't always connect the dots between my action and its global impact, especially when multiplied by 6.5 billion people. The United States consumes somewhere around 40% of the world's natural resources and creates over 30% of the world's carbon emissions. That's a big deal, with big consequences.

I read an article in Outside magazine about how the island of Samso off the coast of Denmark has become carbon negative, meaning that they not only zero out their carbon emissions, but actually export more energy that they consume. Why can't we do that? We could plead ignorance, but think it might have more to do with the fact that right now, we just don't care. But we have to care, or at least I do. Ghandi said, "Be the change that you want to see in the world." So I guess I'll start with me. I am going to ride the bus or my bike anywhere an everywhere that I can. I am going to tell people about the beautiful wind towers that span the horizon in Kulm, North Dakota where my wife's family farms. I am going to recycle. I am going to change the light bulbs in our home and support green energy (like district energy here in St. Paul) even if it costs me more in the near future, because ultimately, destroying the earth will cost us all much more in the long run. Beyond that, I am going to continue to believe that God created this earth for us care for it, not to abuse it.