Johnstein!

Each high school class raises money during their four years for their senior trip. Perhaps you remember some of the Junior class events that we have been involved in as sponsors (see here ). The most recent fundraiser was put on by the Sophomore class. They offered an international menu and hosted an ICSV edition of the  "Newlywed game" that saw the Stocketts , Kleins , and Rings  battle it out for a great prize. Lots of fun to watch these couples answer questions about each other... The hosts The Rings The  Stocketts  (Jeff was at a admin conference, so Kristi-Anna took his place for the game) The Kleins (The Winners!) The scorekeeper: very excited about an answer "Jeff" celebrating a correct answer Matt looking for help Our scorekeeper announcing the winners with 80 points

In addition to all the other great things in Vienna, we are very fortunate to have a great museum that has some amazing artifacts chronicling the long military history of Austria.  Thomas Gardner (10th grade history teacher) and I took the 10th graders to this museum as they have been learning about WWI recently in both History and English. They recently took their unit test in history and in my English class, we are about halfway through All Quiet on the Western Front.  a group of students getting talked to... they weren't in trouble...but I didn't know that when I snapped the pic Walking through a park to get to the museum The entire 10th grade class (minus 2) in front of the museum waiting to go in... Gardner collecting the money fun with cannons fun with artillery shells checking out a recon plane This is the car that Franz Ferdinand was riding in when he was  assassinated head in a bunker my tour group in a bunker that survived a

The concert we went to this weekend was held in a little village in the lake region of Salzburg. We walked around the village in the morning and snapped some pictures trinkwasser (apparently this drinking fountain is rigged to dispense beer during festivals during the summer) the Gasthaus where we spent the night the village church the old (400 years) brewery - concert was held in the Kellar  WWII memorial WWI memorial. It was amazing to see how many more young men from this small village died in WWI compared to WWII. a board in the central square of the Obertrum commemorating the key points in the village's history Easter Egg tree outside a house in the village

Football We had the opportunity to watch our friend Ulrich (German Teacher at ICSV) play in an American Football game on Saturday. We sat in the rain and cheered on his team to an exciting OT victory. Game ending touchdown Final Score Strobe Light After the game, we drove to a small village outside of Salzburg for a concert. The bands Spoken (USA) and Ceil (DE) were scheduled to play in Vienna; we had some issues with finding an appropriate and affordable venue so we had to cancel the show. The problem was, Spoken had planned their itinerary with a departure from Vienna. So we agreed to drive to this concert and pick them up so Ceil didn't have to make a 450km detour to drop them off. We will be hosting the band members at our apartment and showing them around the city. We had a good time at the concert, held in the kellar of an old brewery, despite an increasingly annoying strobe light...it was the last official concert of the tour so both bands really put on a good sho

I want to share a short piece that my dad wrote this week. It really moved me, especially as we prayed this morning at our staff devotions for the many family members of ICSV staff who are suffering with cancer and other health issues. Joy Comes in the Morning Written by Douglas Johnstone, Pastor at First Lutheran Church in Long Beach, CA Ruth is dying this week. Her pain is managed as best as can be expected, and there is  always family by her bedside, but she is dying this week, and there is nothing any of us  who love her can do about it. If it were the only unsettling thing to happen this week, maybe the tears would not  flow so easily in the dark night. How troubled is life with bombs, gunfire, and rage;  with earthquake, tsunami, radiation; with bitterness and anger shown to those I love;  hopelessness and despair; visits to ER, ICU, and hospice care; maliciousness and harm  rampant in the neighborhood! Tears flow in the night. Phyllis and I met Ruth as a young t

Last Friday was the most recent installment of Coffee Haus at ICSV. This is a monthly event where students get together to hang out. Each Coffee Haus has a different focus. March was an "Open Mic", allowing the students to show of their talents. It also allowed the teachers to show of their talents as well; or in some cases, their lack thereof. Rebecca with some of the 10th grade girls I'm reading a poem I wrote about some stale popcorn (written in the 4 minutes prior) Justin preparing to rock.  "rapping" Rebecca and Reesa enjoying the talent