This duck was hungry enough to almost come up and nibble my toes.

Me standing on a bridge over the Riesachwasserfall. The way up the falls to the lake at the top is incredible. They built a lot of stairs going up. I climbed 700 stairs that day! I know it doesn't sound too strenuous, but some of the stairs were incredibly steep.

This is in Schladming again. Sorry. They got kinda mixed up. Oh well. :)

And the Talbach again. I am so privileged to live here!

Hallstatt is a really old town and they used to exhume the dead because they didn't have enough room to bury everyone. It was a tradition to paint the names on the skulls and also decorate the skulls. The last person to be exhumed and placed in this little chapel was a woman in 1993. Kind of weird. They have evidence that this town was inhabited all the way back 4000 years. They also found some old roman ruins underneath the town. Lots of history here. Also they have ice caves and a salt mine. Definitely a booming tourist town now, but it's still a little harder to get to and so it remains quiet and isolated during the winter months and the early spring months.

Another beautiful view in Hallstatt

Uli and Hilde near the water. The lake was really clear and not too cold either.

Another picture of the town

And More...

An idyllic view where the river is calm

Riesachsee

On Saturday we visited a place called Hallstatt which is a little town surrounded by the mountains. This is the view.

There's little Hallstatt

And More Pictures

Elizabeth at the Falls

It was raining and there was a lot of water coming down from everywhere to join the falls

Elizabeth on the way to the falls

A pretty hut on the way to the falls

Pictures

This is in Schladming on the Talbach River

This is on the way to Riesachwasserfall

This is Riesachwasserfall

On the way to the waterfall

Few and Far Between

I apologize for the infrequent posting. Bible School has been really busy and I've been exhausted. I've actually been struggling with a vitamin deficiency and have been sleeping a lot in the afternoons. I think I'm starting to get better. I've been taking supplements to help. Unfortunately I've had to slow down a bit lately. You all know how hard that is for me. :) I tried to go running last week and actually got dizzy. Not happy about that. Oh well. I'll take it easy for a bit longer. I'll keep it down to hiking and climbing instead. :) Last week Wednesday I went on a hike that took me 6 and a half hours to walk. It was beautiful! Elizabeth and I had decided that we wanted to go and see a waterfall that the students had gone to. It was raining, but we decided to go anyway. It was a tiring day, but well worth the walk. I will post some pictures yet today. Yesterday I went climbing at the local climbing wall. It's a free outdoor climbing wall and it was part of the activities for the students' sports afternoon. Had tons of fun and even did some racing up the wall and belaying for some racers. Good times! I am a bit sore today. Some of the rocks on the wall are loose and for my race I got the part of the wall that had the loose rocks. I managed to slip and scrape up my hands and bruise my knees. Oh well, all part of the competition and fun. Today I've done some cleaning and cooking and now am taking it easy for the afternoon. I also made a Strawberry pie yesterday. yummy! The fruit is so cheap here! The students are getting ready for travel weekend this weekend. Already halfway through the school! Amazing! Time is getting shorter. God has been teaching me to enjoy each minute of everyday. I try not to look ahead too much since it makes the days seem to go faster. Life is still fun here and I'm enjoying the people I work with and even the crazy students. I have a reputation for being strict here, but all in good fun. I caught a few of the boys setting off firecrackers out their window after lock up time. I of course reported them to the principal and since then I am teased constantly. Oh well..So life goes. I do have fun as well and enjoyed outclimbing some of the guys yesterday. I forgot how much fun it is to be around a bunch of teenage guys. They are crazy! I miss you and your friends Tim! Anyway..that's how it's going here. ttfn