What the heck!? part two: What I do each day

So, we have established that I am living in Austria this summer.  But what the heck am I doing?

If you follow me on facebook, you might get the impression of fun, rest, adventure, and constant enjoyment.

This is somewhat true, but probably not the whole picture.

I am currently volunteering as a "intern" with ORA International Austria.  It is a small NGO, which has partner offices in over 20 countries.  The developed world offices partner with people on the ground in developing nations throughout the world.  ORA began with aid to Eastern Europe after the wall fell, and is still active there today.

I worked with ORA International in Arua, Uganda.  We ran the 10 principles of leadership for their staff.  It was a great success.  My dear friend, Katharina (mentioned earlier) is now the CEO of ORA in Austria.  Thus, when I needed a place for the summer, it fit well with what I do and what they need.

I work at the ORA office 3-4 days a week. I am basically consulting for them. Currently, I am helping them to develop a system of monitoring and evaluation, working on creating Win Win partnerships, creating easy to use project request forms, as well as listening to situations and trying to ask the right questions.  (I also help where I can with whatever odd job needs to get done.  The other day it was to take nice photos at the flea market, and today it will be doing some adding/checking of the finances.)  

Kat and I in beautiful Sherding

This is a great opportunity for me to try out being a consultant!  And, so far, so good.  It's a lot of research and learning, but I know that the knowledge I will gain here will help me in future consulting work. 

Mantler Family at Jakob's graduation

At the same time, the "not full time" nature of the internship allows me to do something which I do not find at all fun... job search.  I am currently in the process of trying to find a job in Grand Rapids, Mi for this fall.  It is an enormous amount of work, and it is time consuming.  Thankfully, I am able to create blocks of time to dive into trying to find a job.  I am applying for between 5-10 jobs per week.  It's a lot of work, and hasn't paid off at all yet, but I am trying to stay optimistic.

From what I've written so far, it may sound like life is slow and not very busy.  But that is not actually true.  Katharina and I have a running joke that I am actually her "personal assistant".  I am trying to be helpful everywhere... so "everywhere" included:  the ORA office, wedding prep, helping at home, helping to fix up their new house, creating relaxation for the somewhat stressed couple, and joining them for various life/family
adventures (attending Jakob's graduations, washing dishes and taking photos at Uncle Max's celebration of 50 years of priesthood, visiting friends at a sports camp, etc).
 

"Girl's Night" includes a run to the hardware store

Jakob and Katharina are getting married in a little less than a month.  Needless to say, there is a TON to do.  They bought a beautiful house, but it needs a lot of work.  So, some days, after work, we go to the house and work late into the night.  Or work on something for the wedding.  Or pack up things.  Or watch TV.  We also often have friends come on the weekends to help with the house... this means that we also work all day Saturdays and sometimes Sunday too.  I am mastering the art of taping for painting! 

It is a full and beautiful life.  Small town Austria may sound at first like it would be boring, but it is in fact quite exciting.

I have "my" bicycle (which needs some serious oiling) and that makes me decently free to move about however I like.  I like it because I can then take small adventures like randomly going shoe shopping or stopping for ice cream after work.  This works very well, because it means Katharina and I can have different schedules.  We have agreed that this arrangement is working out great.  We are able to be in the on me place and actually get work done, but we are also comfortable to not "always be around each other"... so it is pretty perfect.

Her family and I already knew each other before I came, and  deeply love them.  Austria is a surpringingly familial culture.  And I love it, being with a family is refreshing and restorative to me.

So yes, I am enjoying life, looving my work, and I am able to rest when my weary body needs it.  But I am not on a permanent vacation; I am working very hard with wonderful people and am proud of all the things we are doing together. I promise to keep up posting pictures. 

And yes, I am making new friends and having some fun adventures too...

What the heck!? part one: How I got here

I think it's time I explain where I am and what I am doing.

Lots of people have been confused, so it's probably time to explain.

Currently, I am sitting on my bed in Andorf, Austria in the Hofinger's house.  My bed is right next to Katharina.  We have the upstairs apartment of this beautiful 140 year old house.  Across the hall from us is Jacob's room.

Katharina and I met at the end of 2004 in Dublin, Ireland.  I had moved there to be a nanny, and she was there doing a training school in my neighborhood.  We became better friends when she came back to visit in 2005, and from then on have remained very close.  I generally call her my "best friend in Europe".  We both are Catholic, have experience with community, and are also development practitioners.  So basically, we can talk about everything.

Last year in February, I went to Ireland to attend a conference called ReLay.  I convinced Katharina to join me, and we stayed together for 5 days and attended the conference, as well as visited some old friends.  It was very wonderful.  At that point, Kat was already engaged, and so I promised that I would come to her wedding in Austria, in August 2013.

Then I decided to leave Africa.  I knew that the timing would be best if I went in June of 2013, for many reasons.  But I didn't want to spend the extra money to go all the way to the States and then come back (in August, peak season) to Europe.  It didn't make sense.  So I started thinking... I came up with a variety of plans, including an internship in Rome, working on organic farms in Slovenia, etc... but all of them would have taken a lot of work to make it happen.

And then... I decided to email Katharina.  She currently is the director of ORA Austria, a small NGO based here in Andorf.  I knew I wanted to DO something with this summer, specifcally something related to my field (international development)... so I was bold and asked if I could come and help with her NGO as well as help her get ready for the wedding/help with the house/live with her family (whom I had already met)

 She said Yes!

So, it happened!  I traveled in June, which was unexpected and incredible.  The opportunities to learn about the Middle East was amazing, and I now have a lot of learning to do in relation to comparative development between Africa and the Middle East... (hopefully soon Eastern Europe too.)  I also visited friends in Geneva for a short break and took a "congratualtion you survived 3 years in Africa" short trip across Switzerland with Natalie Way.

After a visit with friends in Munich, I found my way to little Andorf, Austria.  I had been here before, so it felt a little bit like coming home.  It's one of my favorite places.  I have now been here for 2.5 weeks, and have another 4ish to go.  So far, so great!

The next post will detail what I am actually doing here... :)

24 hours: Africa and Austria

I am, slowly, starting to process.  I am not forcing it, just living one day at a time and allowing realizations to slowly surface.

So.  Here's the first one:

Time.

I am finding it slightly overwhelming here that I can do so much with a day.  My brain isn't sure how to handle it.  I get up, go to work (more on daily life later), work on anywhere between 2 and 6 different projects, go to Kat's house, work on something there, come home have something to eat, or work out, or read a book, or watch a movie, or talk to people, or.. or.. or..

We went to Vienna last week for Jacob's graduation.  In two days we did more that I would do in a week in Africa.

In Africa, I am used to accomplishing between 1 and 3 things in a day.  I think that 3 was my max.  I quickly learned if I tried to do more than that I would get frustrated. 

Three things.  That's it.  And I felt accomplished! 

The difference is stricking, it's jarring, it's strange. 

In Austria...
The internet works, really well.  There are no power cuts.  I have my own transportation, or share a ride with someone who always leaves on time.  I am not terribly tired (*I am tired, actually very tired, but not in the same way as in Africa).  I am not always on the spot.  People don't always notice me.  The roads move quickly.  Everything works.  There are more activities to do in the evening than go out to eat or watch TV.  There are clear boundaries, on and in everything. 

In Africa...
 It was overwhelming.  The smallest thing could take hours. Very little was constantly reliable. The phone network would stop working.  The power cut sometimes. I am muzungu.  And I found I could not do very much in a day.

But it's not black and white.  Better and worst.   It's not like that.  It's different.  It's hard.  It's change.

Do I miss only being able to accomplish one, two, or three things a day?  No, I don't miss it. 

But I do miss my team.  Pineapples. My apartment. 


And sometime, I do miss the feeling of being ok with not accomplishing so many things.

6 weeks of Sundays: part two

Sunday June 16th
Location:  Amman, Jordan
Mass?  None
Reason:  Jordan is a 96% Muslim country.  This means their weekend is Friday and Saturday... which is very different.  It was so interesting to learn about how Friday in Jordan is a family day.  We spent our Friday morning with Wissam's Family, and the Muslims with us took their time to pray.  I also was on a conference, so our schedule was packed for every day!

I asked Wissam, whos family is Catholic, how it works for them with mass.  He said that some people would go to mass on Friday, and that there are also Sunday evening masses.  I also had some wonderful opporunities to ask some of the Christian Jordanian participants about what it's like to be such an incredibly small minority.  There answer was surpising.

I think in the West there is a perception that if a country is majority Muslim, the other populations must be oppressed, persecuted, or disempowered.  But in Jordan I found that to be totally untrue.

The Christians I met shared with me that they did not feel that they were at all persecuted, or even discriminated against.  They are able to be who they are without fear or violence... they live their lives, in peace with others.  Yes, there are areas where Christians live and where Muslims live, but it's not forces... it'd be like Latinos, African Americans and white people living in different neighborhoods... it happens but they are not always seperate. 

I think western perception of  "The Middle East" is very wrong.  I am so grateful I had the chance to go and learn, listen, serve and share.  I hope I can share more with you over the coming weeks about these eye opening and wonderful experiences.

Sunday, June 9th
Location:  Beruit, Lebanon
Mass?  English Mass with Victor and his brother
Events of the day:  Victor picked me up and we went to mass, with all my stuff as I was moving house that day.  After mass, which was in English! we went to where I would be staying and met Gus, the father of the family.  I then went with Gus to pick up his very fun father and drive into the mountains to have a delicous lunch with his family.  It was some sort of Italian and crzy good.

After lunch we went to a Christian Community meeting and I got to say hello to some different friends.  Then I went with my hosts, Gus and Madonna, to their friend's beautiful home, and we all went to a town about 20 minutes from us for the evening.  It was lovely time with great conversation, interesting and delicious food (including fruit cocktail which was awesome) and seeing Lebanese traditional culture at a large school event which was open to the public.  It was a beautiful evening.  On the way home, Gus and I discussed development issues at length, which of course made me incredibly happy.

Sunday, June 2rd
Location:  Kampala, Uganda
I didn't go to mass... it was the day I left Uganda (posted about previously)