Petronell for the rest of the week.!

So Sunday evening, the 23rd, the McGirr family picked me up from Wien and we drove to their home in Petronell, where I spent the rest of my fall break- so a week. I don't even know where to begin and could write SOOoo much, so this'll be VERRRrry much a shortened version..the entire family is just so incredibly sweet and wonderful and I had an amazing time.! Randy and Kim are missionaries and shared a lot of interesting information with me and really emphasized the importance of truth seeking and going way beyond surface level in everything..which is something I desperately both need and want to do. I slept at a nearby B&B every night but spent all day and evening with the McGirr's. Every morning Kim had an amazing, delicious spread of fresh bread, butter, jams, cheese, cucumbers and eggs. She really spoiled me with so much fantastic food. I mentioned it before, but Austrian's really aren't vegetarians..despite that, I was still able to enjoy a variety of fresh meatfree meals. The first few days I was around were grey and drizzly- kinda miserable weather. I didn't mind so much but everyone kept telling me how last week was incredibly sunny warm and beautiful, and a lot of the sights they wanted me to see were outside. Randy's super intelligent about Austrian history and archaeology, as well as lots of other things, so it was like having a personal tour guide. We went to Hainburg, Bad Deutsch Altenburg, the archaeological park in Petronell-carnuntum, and saw the Heidentor, an uncovered Roman Bathhouse, the site of a gladiator school, the amphitheater, church graves covered with personal gardens, the street where the Turks invaded and slaughtered Austrians trying to escape, and a LOT of soccer.! as well as other things too. The entire family is very involved with club soccer- between practices and games it really seems to bring their community together, and is a fun way for the family to be together and be in other people's lives as well. They all play on teams, and in addition, Keltey coaches a group of 15 young beginners with help from Coren, and Randy coaches teams as well. I really enjoyed getting to know several of their friends and teammates over the week, they were all really sweet. I felt simultaneously impressed and inadequate myself that a vast majority of the people i met were at least passably fluent in both German and English, and most were very fluent in English. Kim told Randy's boys to practice their English with me, but they just giggled and were shy about it..except for Marcos who kept shouting "I am the best English speaker!" :P On top of that, just in the McGirr family- even the youngest at 7, Benen, changes easily between German and English, Coren and Keltey are both studying Latin and French in school as well, and Randy also knows Greek and Hebrew on top of everything else. Wednesday we all went on a 9km walk as a fundraiser for ASV Petronell. Christof was shocking everyone eating sugar beets out of the fields, corn was flying through the air, and as we neared the end of the walk it started pouring freezing rain. I think it's funny that people were so concerned with me not wearing enough layers of clothing, won't drink cold beverages, think everything will negatively affect their kidneys, and won't use air conditioning..but are fine with their children running around to play soccer in t-shirts and shorts in cold weather. I was impressed with all of the windmills everywhere..and the fact that they only get their trash picked up once every 8 weeks.! That in itself forces them to recycle and try not to waste, and even their recyclables are split into 4 different types of trash- it was awesome.! Hanging around the house, we all played a lot of different board games, I beaded with Keltey and quilled, played instruments with Benen, watched the boys on the trampoline and helped them rake up a pile of leaves to jump in. On friday, Kim & I went to the gymnasium to pick up Keltey and Coren. Christof was standing there too and had his hair in an impressive mohawk, so naturally I took a picture. Later that night at the soccer game, his Mom Sabina sat by me and goes "So...Christof tells me you make picture of him. I tell him, people go to Africa and take pictures of the bushmen in the jungle..and you come to Austria and make picture of him." haahahha.! That night we went to Christina & Christof's (a different & an un-mohawked Christof) house, and got to see their little precious adorable baby Ella. :) They're both sweet people and we had a wonderful evening. Kim & I made some delicious pumpkin bread to share with them..despite the fact that it was almost disastrous because we didn't realize we were unknowingly cooking it at an extremely low temperature because the oven had blown a fuse..although in retrospect it was pretty obvious. Saturday morning was soccer training, and then a game for the women's team in the afternoon. Keltey and Kim were both excellent, and even though up against an intimidating, rough team, we won.! Go Petronell! :) Daren was cracking me up because most of the time we were watching the game, he was more intently watching the food being prepared at a table behind our seats. Everyone kept buying these huge delicious smelling fried bread circles called Langos..unfortunately none of us had any money..so everytime someone else would buy one Daren would practically swoon. That night the McGirr's took me to an amazing dinner at the Heurigen- where wine-growers serve the year's most recent wine and AWESOME food too.! Peter, Sabina, Christof and Ines met all of us there too :) Sabina told me that Ines and Benen were fighting over who'd get to sit next to me at dinner and that Ines dressed up with barettes, a bunch of bracelets, and glittery lipstick (she's 5 and ADORABLE) ! I played Uno with Christof and Coren for a long time- Christof and I SCHOOLED Coren though..we let him win one pity game..but that was it. Then we played paper football, me against them..and somehow I was schooling them both at that too..really badly. hah. We had a really fun time :) On Sunday, after a delicious pancake breakfast, we hiked out by the Danube and chilled and saw where everyone goes ice skating when it gets cold enough. We stopped by the soccer field one last time for a quick 'tschuss' to everyone and then it was back to the airport and then london all too soon.