During our 4 days in Vienna we learned a lot about Ute, and were increasingly impressed the more time we spent with her. With love in her eyes and pride in her voice, Ute shared numerous stories of her children with the most memorable tale recounting how her daughter, at 12, arranged to spend a day job shadowing the President of Austria. She also shared stories, perspectives, and emotions of working with people in Kenya, Colombia, Ghana and Slovenia in her role as a project manager with the NGO - Child Rights Connect. To collect info for a future podcast, Ute booked some radio time to record our reflections on our travels and lives as educators. And as a finale to our time, Ute took us on a lovely forest hike, complete with a stop at a retirement home to wait out the rain and winery restaurant for lunch and great conversation.
We were sad to say auf wiedersehen (Sound of Music fans will know this is good bye in German) to our time in Austria. We will carry with us Ute's open heart, love of life, along with her positivity and laughter. What a treat our stop in Vienna has been.
