Where we live.

Trumau is a small town in lower Austria, highlighted by its Schloss (castle) which is the home of the International Theological Institute. Now for a bit of history on the castle adapted from Wikipedia... Below is Schloss Trumau in 1672.

The castle of Trumau is a moated castle in Trumau in Lower Austria. From the beginning it has been in the ownership of the Zisterzienserstift Heiligenkreuz (a nearby Cistercian monastery). The castle was a present from the Babenberg’s Margrave Leopold IV in 1138. In the 12th century, a grange was built by the Zisterzienser at the place where the castle is standing nowadays. At that time there has also probably been a water ditch, an overflow spillway and a mill with a mill stream. The Zisterziensers practiced agriculture, viniculture and sheep-breeding there. The courtyard was rebuilt from 1548 to 1558 because the estate had been totally destroyed in 1548. The building was burnt down by Hungarian rebels in 1621 during an anti-Habsburg riot. In 1650, abbot Michael Schnabel arranged the rebuilding, which was finished in 1667. Emperor Leopold I. lingered several times at Castle Trumau. Since 1959, the castle also has a sundial. During the 5th Austrian Türkenkrieg the castle was heavily damaged in 1683. In course of the rebuilding, the towers were gravely changed. Further fires like in 1811 and 1880 damaged the castle again and again. The last restorations took place from 1993 until 1995. Two sundials were discovered in the inner yard. In 2009, the Internationale Theologische Institut für Studien zu Ehe and Familie moved into the castle Trumau.

The entrance to the Schloss where classrooms/administration offices are located.

The chapel in the Schloss where daily Mass is said.

The courtyard of the castle followed by one of the sundials found on the inner walls.

One of the classrooms.

The path leading from the Schloss to the student apartments.

 Our building, St. Therese of Lisieux, which catty-corners the path to the Schloss.

Facing the courtyard from our patio. Often there will be many children running about here.

Every corner of the residence plot is filled with herbs for student use.

The foyer of our building with our room (door open) on the far left. We are fortunate to be housed on the ground floor of the seminarian/single men's dorm, so it is pretty quiet. Now the challenge is to keep our family quiet... In our half of the building on the ground floor are only 2 guest rooms and the chapel, which is located directly to the left of our door. Farther down the hall is the laundry room.

Chapel next to our apartment.

Andrew's study area

Bathroom w/shower

 Our bedroom

Michael's room

Michael has been doing very well in his regular size bed, as we had no other option (or side railing) for him here. We have a large pillow on the ground should he fall; fortunately he is not a big mover during sleep. We are still looking for options to stuff something on the other side of the bed, as the frame leaves a gap between itself and the wall.

 Kitchen

 Second half of kitchen - dining area

 We have sampled some of the regional sweets.

Very seriously, I might add.

 We were fortunate to find some useful items in the storage building...just need some cleaning and tune-up's.





1st week in Austria survived.

Well, we have come to the conclusion of our first week in Austria, and it has been a week of much absorption to say the least, but there is oh so much more to learn. We have shopped at some local grocery stores and completed a successful trip to IKEA, with Andrew driving a long Volkswagen van with manual transmission, which he handled well...although, we won't comment on the number of people who sped around us. Andrew is good about getting out the German handbook to be prepared with his questions, and most Austrians are forgiving and either speak English or can understand enough combined with our broken German.

 

Some things we have learned about Austrian living thus far...

 

: No right turns on a red light.
: People walk slow but drive fast even around these small towns.

: The local church bells ring continuously for 15 minutes before Mass on Sunday and holy days.

: Shops and businesses are closed on Sundays, and holy days are considered holidays.

: Crosses and saint statue columns (picture below) are a normal sight in the small towns, with almost every town having its own Catholic church. 

: At grocery stores, shopping cart placement is controlled. One inserts a 50 cent Euro to use the cart, and in order to get the money back, must return it to the cart area and lock it back into the line of carts.
: Food is packaged in smaller sizes - use as you go to reduce food waste. And there are only 10 eggs instead of 12 in a carton.

: Absolutely no bags are provided for free for shopping. Either bring your own or purchase as you need.
: Everyday trash must be separated into 4 groups - bio (food waste), plastic, paper, and restmull (meat/diary scraps, diapers, dirty containers) and then disposed into the appropriate trash bins sans the plastic bag. Make-up, cleaners, hair products, etc. are labeled as "problem trash." They sure do take trash seriously here.

: To own/maintain a car here is extremely expensive. For example, a simple oil change costs around $250. 

 

On Sunday, we attended the local parish church in Trumau at the Katholische Pfarrkirche hl. Johannes der Täuferfor (Catholic parish church of St. John the Baptist) along with other people from the ITI; all in German, of course, but very pleasant. We are starting to work on learning the Mass parts in German.



After a long hiatus...

...we definitely do have news! And more news. Initially, this blogging hiatus resulted from pregnancy nausea, as during the duration of that, I have little energy or desire to do anything besides the necessary.  We discovered I was pregnant the day after my birthday, on February 25. I am now almost 29 weeks, due around November 6 with our second boy! Nausea has passed as of 19 weeks, praised be God, and I am feeling quite well. Baby boy is doing well and kicking non-stop, it seems. We are so happy that Michael will have a robust playmate!

 

In other BIG news, the Steele family is now living in Austria (you'll note the blog title change reflects this)! I am still getting over the shock of it myself. :) Andrew was unexpectedly laid off from his job in early May, and after going back and forth between job prospects and the idea of returning to school, this is the course he has chosen. He has been accepted to the International Theological Institute located in Trumau, which is about 20 minutes south of Vienna. After the decision was made in mid-June, it was a rush to have a big garage sale and exit our rental home. We then spent a week camping on the Olympic Peninsula with my Mom's side of the family for our annual family reunion and then spent a few weeks with my family in Dallas before we flew out last week. We were able to see my paternal grandparents, and finally introduce them to Michael. It was so lovely to be able to spend quality time with everyone before we departed. All the 7 Stone siblings were even in 1 place at 1 time for a few evenings! Michael loved spending time with his aunties and uncles.

Our flight from Dallas to Amsterdam was about 9 hours and went very smooth. Michael was extremely well behaved and slept twice. We were fortunate to have a row of 4 seats to ourselves. We arrived in Amsterdam 7:30am local time and after we used the internet and phone to confirm our pick-up ride, we went right to sleep in something called the "Yotel-Motel." It is basically a hotel located inside the airport, and is comprised of small cubicle rooms which include a bed and bathroom. We all slept deeply for 5 hours and felt much better.

After, we walked about the airport, picked up some coffee and sat down to eat a meal. Michael enjoyed waving and calling out loud hellos to almost everyone who passed; he also enjoyed watching the movement of the airplanes.

We boarded our flight to Vienna around 8pm; a quick 2 hour flight with Michael sleeping the whole time. Upon our arrival, we were dismayed to see that my suitcase was not anywhere to be found. All other 5 pieces of luggage had arrived. I filed a claim while we waited for our ride from ITI. Unfortunately, the guy waited inside the airport for us, while we were waiting curbside for 1.5 hours. We did not yet have a working cell phone for Europe, and were quite exhausted trying to juggle the stroller, car seat, 4 pieces of luggage, plus 4 carry-on's, and keep Michael's spirits up. Thankfully, we found each other and after a short ride, we arrived in Trumau. And 4 days later my suitcase arrived - this pregnant woman had been getting very anxious...thank the Lord!

 

Our first few days here have been mainly filled with grocery shopping, unpacking, and lots of sleep. We have walked around the town a bit, and rode into a larger town nearby with some other students for shopping. More updates soon...we miss our family and friends! And learning more about complete trust in God every day...



Michael is 1!

On March 9th, we celebrated our little man's 1st birthday! Wow, that year flew by. Michael has grown up so much in terms of character, comprehension, expression, affection, awareness - it has been so fun to experience. He will now take a few steps here and there on his own (mostly from one furniture piece to another) and has on a few occasions, reached a standing position unassisted. He still relies heavily on his speedy crawling style, which helps him chase Mama around the house as I move from one room to another. Michael tries to imitate many of our words; his most coherent, in addition to "Mama" and "Papa", are: "diaper", "baby", "Jesus", "bird", "key", "truck", "bath", "bye-bye" and "Nana".

On Michael's big day, we had a nice quiet morning with balloons, breakfast, and a few gifts. After Michael's nap we headed to the Woodland Park Zoo - it was a beautiful sunny afternoon! Michael was a little more interested in watching the people instead of the animals, especially the little children, but he did focus on the larger animals like the elephants, the giraffes, and the monkeys. The highlight for Michael, I think, was the carousel ride. Michael promptly fell asleep on the way home. Later that evening, he opened a few more gifts and we sang to him and shared a cupcake from a local cupcake store that uses organic ingredients. :) Thank you, Nana and Auntie Laura for the gifts - he enjoys pushing the shapes in the sorter and will soon enjoy the match-animal game.

Dear Michael Man,
Papa and Mama love you so unspeakably much and thank God every day for placing you in our lives. We are so proud of all the things you are learning and look forward to seeing you grow even more in the coming year. Thank you for all the love you give us! We love you!
Love, Mama and Papa