Sometimes I am overwhelmed by all that goes on here in Vienna. During the moments of cultural awkwardness, the challenges of ministry, the frustrations of fatherhood, or the depth of God's faithfulness; I sometimes feel that I am missing something.
That's how I feel tonight...but for a good reason. We just returned from a mid-week getaway to Woergl (a small town near Innsbruck) where I (along with three friends) participated in a shoot for an episode of "Extreme Water Parks" produced by the Travel Channel!
This all started last week ago. Well, actually it started about a year ago when our friends Jeremy and Kristi Wilson were filmed for an HGTV show featuring Americans living abroad. Recently they were contacted for help identifying people to be a part of this water parks show. At 5:18 pm last Friday, about a week after I responded to a facebook post with an assumption that nothing would happen, I received an email from the production company asking if our family was interested in participating. Since Justin was too young (had to be 14 to ride the slide) and Rebecca couldn't ride due to her recent ear surgery, I enlisted a couple of friends. After 30 plus emails back and forth with the associate producer, and multiple calls getting Michael Maples, Ulrich Hoeger, and Oscar Pacheco involved; two of us (Myself and Maples) finally did a skype conference call at 11pm or so...Ulrich followed with a skype call of his own with the producer after midnight...and by 1:15 am we were accepted as the cast for this episode! I can't even begin to express the level of our excitement...
While it didn't take that long to convince all of us that an all expenses paid day at a waterpark (including train and hotel) was a good idea, we still had some arrangements to figure out. Of course, Rebecca and Justin wanted to join us on this adventure, as did Oscar's sister Stephanie...so on Monday I headed down to the train station and purchased 7 train tickets for the trip.
The shoot was scheduled to take all day Wednesday, and since the town of Woergl is a 4 and half hour ride from Vienna, we figured we should head out on Tuesday night...only problem was, Rebecca was hosting a baby shower for a friend at ICSV. All this meant was that we would be getting into our hotel after midnight...not too big of a deal since we were all too excited to sleep.
So...basically, we spent 11 hours at this waterpark...I feel like I've already typed too much. I'll let the pictures from the day speak for themselves. Warning: there are pictures of me without a shirt. Consider yourself warned.
Such a great experience. This was without a doubt one of the coolest things I've done in my life...stay tuned for air dates.
That's how I feel tonight...but for a good reason. We just returned from a mid-week getaway to Woergl (a small town near Innsbruck) where I (along with three friends) participated in a shoot for an episode of "Extreme Water Parks" produced by the Travel Channel!
This all started last week ago. Well, actually it started about a year ago when our friends Jeremy and Kristi Wilson were filmed for an HGTV show featuring Americans living abroad. Recently they were contacted for help identifying people to be a part of this water parks show. At 5:18 pm last Friday, about a week after I responded to a facebook post with an assumption that nothing would happen, I received an email from the production company asking if our family was interested in participating. Since Justin was too young (had to be 14 to ride the slide) and Rebecca couldn't ride due to her recent ear surgery, I enlisted a couple of friends. After 30 plus emails back and forth with the associate producer, and multiple calls getting Michael Maples, Ulrich Hoeger, and Oscar Pacheco involved; two of us (Myself and Maples) finally did a skype conference call at 11pm or so...Ulrich followed with a skype call of his own with the producer after midnight...and by 1:15 am we were accepted as the cast for this episode! I can't even begin to express the level of our excitement...
While it didn't take that long to convince all of us that an all expenses paid day at a waterpark (including train and hotel) was a good idea, we still had some arrangements to figure out. Of course, Rebecca and Justin wanted to join us on this adventure, as did Oscar's sister Stephanie...so on Monday I headed down to the train station and purchased 7 train tickets for the trip.
The shoot was scheduled to take all day Wednesday, and since the town of Woergl is a 4 and half hour ride from Vienna, we figured we should head out on Tuesday night...only problem was, Rebecca was hosting a baby shower for a friend at ICSV. All this meant was that we would be getting into our hotel after midnight...not too big of a deal since we were all too excited to sleep.
So...basically, we spent 11 hours at this waterpark...I feel like I've already typed too much. I'll let the pictures from the day speak for themselves. Warning: there are pictures of me without a shirt. Consider yourself warned.
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| Justin and Ulrich (who also is Justin's German teacher) |
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| Stephanie and Oscar |
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| looking forward to the trip |
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| Michael |
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| enjoying a cheeto puff. |
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| 8 months old and already a pro on a train |
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| breakfast in the hotel |
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| group pic waiting for the bus to the waterpark. |
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| Not many people have captured this Tyrolean monster on camera. Fortunately Justin survived the attack. |
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| on the bus. |
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| our first view of the slide. |
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| the slide starts at the top of the square tower on the left of the picture. 14 meter freefall into a full loop...then another loop...then a couple of twists and turns. All in all, a ride of 130 meters in 10 seconds. Pretty dang cool. |
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| so...this sign is actually a bit crude...but essentially it's asking if the scariness of the slide is causing you to, well, you know. Hoeger's pose should clarify. |
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| There were posters about the show all over the lobby... |
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| preparing for our first shot...I know, it's a rough life. |
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| getting ready for our shoot in the sauna... |
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| chillin... |
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| during/after our lunch shoot. They served us delicious Austrian food. Then they filmed us enjoying delicious Austrian food. |
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| While we "worked", Justin enjoyed the wave pool |
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| Kailyn really enjoyed the water |
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| Justin entertaining his sister. |
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| Oscar with our sound guy...the crew worked so hard...that is all sweat. |
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| The stairway up to the slide |
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| 3/4 of the crew (producer, cameraman, and "fixer") |
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| amazing view of the Alps from the launch tower. |
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| quick tutorial on using the camera |
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| the ride operator was messing with me by prolonging the countdown...I guess he wanted to make sure I had a genuine surprised reaction |
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| 25 meters up |
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| looking down the stairwell that we had to climb |
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| the crew and the owner of the waterpark |
Such a great experience. This was without a doubt one of the coolest things I've done in my life...stay tuned for air dates.
So cool. I hope we can watch it over here! Let me know when you can. :)
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