EC Blog Archive for September, 2010

After a summer of hard work by many, hindrances like injuries and long periods of rain that prevented the continuation of the work – we had a lot of reason to celebrate yesterday: Edwin and his team put the last tile on the roof of the 2nd House, took down the scaffolding right afterwards and celebrated the fresh and clear view from all sides together.

Lots of thanks to all the friends who spent hours, days and weeks of their summer on the roof to get this done – please come back home soon to see the results of your great work (before it’s all covered by snow! ;-) ).

Once a year, the Immenstadt ladies put on their nicest dirndl – the traditional Bavarian dress – and the gentlemen the according fine leather trousers for the “Viehscheid”. Translated directly, this means something like “cattle division” and it refers to all the Allgäu cows being taken down from the meadows to their home farms for winter. Even the cows themselves are dressed up – the sound of the hundreds of huge bells around their necks is very impressive when they pass through the valley. The “leading” cow of each farm wears a crown made out of flowers to show everyone that things went well during the summer season up on the mountain meadows.

After the cows have all arrived safely in their owners’ transporters, it’s the Immenstadt version of the Oktoberfest. Probably there’s no need to add much to the pictures. ;-) We had a wonderful time down in town today, learning a bit about the Bavarian culture and traditions – hopefully you will also enjoy some “Viehscheid” impressions!

Even the cows on the meadow seemed to be wondering what was going on today. Lots of chainsaw sounds in the middle of peaceful, quiet Allgäu?

Well, to literally cut it short – our resident arborist Jürgen and a team of helpers took down the line of big trees separating the 2nd House from the parking lot. To improve the view, secure the house and to bring bright sunshine into the rather dark dormitories. New trees have been planted already and more are still to come. It’s about time to do all this, since there is already the first snow on the mountain tops…

Okay, from the outside it might look a bit like a battlefield at the moment – with the tree logs and the not yet finished new roof. ;-) However, EC residents Charlotte and Tamás immediately inspected the new view across the mountain meadows and the lake from the dormitory windows. They were obviously delighted with the result of the “tree action”!

And as if it had not been enough action and challenge already, the guys afterwards tried some rope acrobatics in the garden…