Spring break is long over. Kenya was incredible. I could write a book about it. I came back to school so excited to blog about my experience, until I discovered all of the blogging sites are blocked!
Alas, I am sitting in Starbucks sipping a chai tea latte and remembered I have this thing.
So, that's my excuse for not blogging.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Italy update!
The past two days have been fun!
Yesterday we went to Nico's church in Milan. We know the pastor because he lectured with his wife at school, so it was nice seeing them! The entire service was in Italian, so I sat next to Maddie and we tried to pick up words we knew. I could actually sing along with a couple of the songs since I knew some of the words from choir or voice lessons. After church we went to Ikea and go lunch there. After that we came home and had pizza for dinner and watched a movie, since it is their tradition.
This morning we slept in pretty late, and then we had a breakfast of yogurt and briosche and helped his mom with some of the garden. This afternoon we picked up Ela from dance and we got gelato, which was delicious. For dinner we had pasta and bread, and now we are waiting for another person to join us, but just for the night.
Tomorrow we're going to walk around the little town and enjoy Italy!
Yesterday we went to Nico's church in Milan. We know the pastor because he lectured with his wife at school, so it was nice seeing them! The entire service was in Italian, so I sat next to Maddie and we tried to pick up words we knew. I could actually sing along with a couple of the songs since I knew some of the words from choir or voice lessons. After church we went to Ikea and go lunch there. After that we came home and had pizza for dinner and watched a movie, since it is their tradition.
This morning we slept in pretty late, and then we had a breakfast of yogurt and briosche and helped his mom with some of the garden. This afternoon we picked up Ela from dance and we got gelato, which was delicious. For dinner we had pasta and bread, and now we are waiting for another person to join us, but just for the night.
Tomorrow we're going to walk around the little town and enjoy Italy!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Italy.
The rest of our time in London was very good. We spent a lot of time hanging around the penthouse and we saw Les Mis and Wicked. After Wicked we had to go back and pack and clean up, and by the time we went to bed (after 1) we only had a couple hours of sleep. We woke up at 4:45 yesterday and then went to Heathrow and then after many many hours made it to our friend Nico's house in Italy. I have had a wonderful time so far. The home we are in is beautiful, and walking outside looks like something out of National Geographic.
After sleeping in this morning, we had breakfast which consisted of brioche (like a croissant filled with jam), juice and some really delicious cereal. Then we helped Nico out on the vineyard, which was so cool. At one point we decided to lay down on the grass and just soak up the hot sun (according to Nico's sister I've gotten some color already). After a small lunch of bread with oil we went to pick up Ela (nico's sister) from her ballet class. It was very cool sitting in on that since it was all Italian. Then we got our first gelato in Italy. I had chocolate chip, and it was delicious!! Now we are back at home hanging around until dinner which will be pasta and wine.
Tomorrow we're going to a church in Milan, and we actually know the pastor from school since he and his wife lectured!
After sleeping in this morning, we had breakfast which consisted of brioche (like a croissant filled with jam), juice and some really delicious cereal. Then we helped Nico out on the vineyard, which was so cool. At one point we decided to lay down on the grass and just soak up the hot sun (according to Nico's sister I've gotten some color already). After a small lunch of bread with oil we went to pick up Ela (nico's sister) from her ballet class. It was very cool sitting in on that since it was all Italian. Then we got our first gelato in Italy. I had chocolate chip, and it was delicious!! Now we are back at home hanging around until dinner which will be pasta and wine.
Tomorrow we're going to a church in Milan, and we actually know the pastor from school since he and his wife lectured!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Spring break!
Blogging at school just doesn't happen, apparently. But now winter school is over and I have four weeks of spring break. At the moment I am in London staying in Canary Wharf. We drove down here Thursday night and arrived at 4:30 in the morning, and then spent some time homeless in Victoria Train Station. That was an adventure in itself. So I went 40 hours without sleep, and we didn't do much yesterday except for hang out in the penthouse and take pictures of the beautiful sunset. Today we went to the Natural History Museum and ate breakfast outside in the warm sunshine, and then we walked around central London taking pictures and just enjoying the day. We also had a lovely stroll through Hyde Park, which we will be doing again tomorrow!
I will definitely be blogging more on this trip, except for when I go to Kenya in two weeks..but for the next two weeks there will hopefully be nightly posts!
=]
I will definitely be blogging more on this trip, except for when I go to Kenya in two weeks..but for the next two weeks there will hopefully be nightly posts!
=]
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
this weekend
I got my schedule for the 'meet the team' weekend which is coming up this Friday.
I will be at a Baptist church about four hours away from school.
Here is just a little schedule for the weekend:
Friday
16:30 arrive at the church
17.30-18.45 I'm working with four other team members doing a Bible club for 6-11 year olds. This time around we don't need to plan anything...
19.00-21.00 buffet supper with people from the church. For this I have the opportunity to lead some icebreaker games for 40 minutes. My team leader knows me from camp and knows how many icebreakers we do there, so it shouldn't be hard to lead. At the end of the evening we are leading a short 20 minute devotional time. We are planning on doing a couple songs and short message. I don't have a part in this at the moment since I'll be doing the icebreaker.
21.30 going to our host families houses (and most likely passing out)
Saturday
10.00 whole team meet for devotional time with the pastor
and the rest of the day we are just getting information about our ten day outreach, having lunch and then going to an informal evening with teenagers...I'm excited for that since I'm interested in working with youth.
Sunday
9.00 preparation time
11.00 morning service..we are supposed to prepare an imaginative (and preferably interactive) way of introducing ourselves, followed by a simple gospel 'thought' based on a verse of scripture...with a children's song (we've learned a couple here at school). This will last about 20 minutes until we all go to Junior Church, which meets during the later part of the service for about 50 minutes. There are three age groups: 4-6 years, 6-11, and 12+. Our team will be splitting up and going to the different age groups. Wherever we go this sunday is where we will be going for our ten day outreach. I'm not sure what I want to do yet.
After service we are going to different homes and having lunch.
15.00 Team meet back at church to prep
18.00 prayer meeting
18.30 evening service. This is where we have the most to do. We are going to be leading the entire night
20.00 back to school
and then that Monday we have lectures in the morning, and we have our practical week preparing for the 10 day outreach.
busy busy busy
Today I have three different papers I need to be working on, and I need to think of some good icebreakers..
I will be at a Baptist church about four hours away from school.
Here is just a little schedule for the weekend:
Friday
16:30 arrive at the church
17.30-18.45 I'm working with four other team members doing a Bible club for 6-11 year olds. This time around we don't need to plan anything...
19.00-21.00 buffet supper with people from the church. For this I have the opportunity to lead some icebreaker games for 40 minutes. My team leader knows me from camp and knows how many icebreakers we do there, so it shouldn't be hard to lead. At the end of the evening we are leading a short 20 minute devotional time. We are planning on doing a couple songs and short message. I don't have a part in this at the moment since I'll be doing the icebreaker.
21.30 going to our host families houses (and most likely passing out)
Saturday
10.00 whole team meet for devotional time with the pastor
and the rest of the day we are just getting information about our ten day outreach, having lunch and then going to an informal evening with teenagers...I'm excited for that since I'm interested in working with youth.
Sunday
9.00 preparation time
11.00 morning service..we are supposed to prepare an imaginative (and preferably interactive) way of introducing ourselves, followed by a simple gospel 'thought' based on a verse of scripture...with a children's song (we've learned a couple here at school). This will last about 20 minutes until we all go to Junior Church, which meets during the later part of the service for about 50 minutes. There are three age groups: 4-6 years, 6-11, and 12+. Our team will be splitting up and going to the different age groups. Wherever we go this sunday is where we will be going for our ten day outreach. I'm not sure what I want to do yet.
After service we are going to different homes and having lunch.
15.00 Team meet back at church to prep
18.00 prayer meeting
18.30 evening service. This is where we have the most to do. We are going to be leading the entire night
20.00 back to school
and then that Monday we have lectures in the morning, and we have our practical week preparing for the 10 day outreach.
busy busy busy
Today I have three different papers I need to be working on, and I need to think of some good icebreakers..
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Just another update
It has been too long since I have updated this blog. I’ve been back at school for awhile now, and I’ve been enjoying my time here. There has been a bad virus going around, which I of course contracted along with three out of five roommates. Yesterday one of my roommates, Cait, and I were both too sick to go to lectures so we stayed in bed watching movies together and finishing an essay that was due last night (I don’t procrastinate as much as I used too…but it still happens). Last night I took some NyQuil and quickly passed out. But I woke myself up too early this morning coughing and ended up going to lectures...but not before my roommates informed me I spent the entire night coughing and talking in my sleep. So NyQuil probably isn’t for me.
Today we mostly had lectures from our principal on the life of Abraham. Lately we have been focusing on relational problems and how to address them, so it’s been very interesting and practical. Our guest speaker for the week is talking about Luke, but I have only heard him once so far.
This weekend is an important weekend. For some background, to receive our certificate at the end of winter school we have to attend a ten day outreach. So we have all been put into teams, and this weekend we are driving all around England and Wales going to meet the people we are working with. I am in a large group and apparently the place we are going to is the most intense outreach our school sends students to. So that should be fun…I can’t say where I’ll be going, because I’m actually not sure where it is. They never really told us anything about our outreach except for the fact we are being picked up at 11:30 Friday and returning 11:30pm Sunday night.
So there is a lot to do this week: 2 essays, memorize 16 verses, I have to lead a discussion group Thursday, and getting ready for this weekend. I guess I haven’t really explained what a normal day is like here. So here we go:
We have breakfast at 7:30. It is supposed to be mandatory, but a lot of people sleep through it. I try and wake up at 6:30 every morning to read and get ready. After breakfast it is time to do daily duties (wash up, cleaning, etc). I don’t have a duty this time around, and since the middle of last term I go to the lounge every morning and talk with two friends, Nico (from Italy) and Maddie (from California). Lectures start at 8:55 (random..i know) and then we have two lectures with short breaks in between. At 10:40 there is tea break where we all rush up to the castle to check the mail and then chug a cup of tea before the final two morning lectures which start at 11. Lunch is at 1, and then the afternoon is free until dinner at 5:15. There is often work and reading to be done, but we also have the opportunity to go into nearby towns, go for walks around the loop, work out, and a lot of other fun activities. Dinner (called tea, not sure why), is buffet style, so it’s supposed to run until 5:45, but if you turn up any later than 5:20 there isn’t any food left for you. At 6 o’clock I often have a jam session with some musical people here. So two boys play guitar/sing and then it’s me and usually 3 other ‘regulars’ and then other people come in and out throughout the jam session. Lectures start at 7, so that’s when we head down to the conference hall and sit through two evening lectures which end at 8:40/9. By this time we are all tired and ready for bed, but we have something called supper, which is basically just hot chocolate and occasional biscuits.
On Wednesdays the first lecture period in the morning is family group. That is when all of the students go to either a staff members house or meet somewhere in the castle with at least one staff member and just talk and drink tea. My family group is very close, so we also meet on Tuesday nights and have toast and tea. It is amazing how excited we get about toast here. They have it at breakfast every morning but it’s always cold and not ‘toast like’.
During the week we also have New Testament discussion groups, Interactive groups (a small group with people who live by you), and Worship/Bible reading. The week is always very full, but it becomes routine very quickly.
Saturday mornings we have the entire day off, which everybody takes to their full advantage. Brunch is at 11, but the internet turns on at 9 which gets people up early. There are also Saturday trips to nearby towns, cities, football matches, or hikes. This past weekend I went to a cute little town called Skipton. There was a castle, cute shops, cafes and a little market.
Today we mostly had lectures from our principal on the life of Abraham. Lately we have been focusing on relational problems and how to address them, so it’s been very interesting and practical. Our guest speaker for the week is talking about Luke, but I have only heard him once so far.
This weekend is an important weekend. For some background, to receive our certificate at the end of winter school we have to attend a ten day outreach. So we have all been put into teams, and this weekend we are driving all around England and Wales going to meet the people we are working with. I am in a large group and apparently the place we are going to is the most intense outreach our school sends students to. So that should be fun…I can’t say where I’ll be going, because I’m actually not sure where it is. They never really told us anything about our outreach except for the fact we are being picked up at 11:30 Friday and returning 11:30pm Sunday night.
So there is a lot to do this week: 2 essays, memorize 16 verses, I have to lead a discussion group Thursday, and getting ready for this weekend. I guess I haven’t really explained what a normal day is like here. So here we go:
We have breakfast at 7:30. It is supposed to be mandatory, but a lot of people sleep through it. I try and wake up at 6:30 every morning to read and get ready. After breakfast it is time to do daily duties (wash up, cleaning, etc). I don’t have a duty this time around, and since the middle of last term I go to the lounge every morning and talk with two friends, Nico (from Italy) and Maddie (from California). Lectures start at 8:55 (random..i know) and then we have two lectures with short breaks in between. At 10:40 there is tea break where we all rush up to the castle to check the mail and then chug a cup of tea before the final two morning lectures which start at 11. Lunch is at 1, and then the afternoon is free until dinner at 5:15. There is often work and reading to be done, but we also have the opportunity to go into nearby towns, go for walks around the loop, work out, and a lot of other fun activities. Dinner (called tea, not sure why), is buffet style, so it’s supposed to run until 5:45, but if you turn up any later than 5:20 there isn’t any food left for you. At 6 o’clock I often have a jam session with some musical people here. So two boys play guitar/sing and then it’s me and usually 3 other ‘regulars’ and then other people come in and out throughout the jam session. Lectures start at 7, so that’s when we head down to the conference hall and sit through two evening lectures which end at 8:40/9. By this time we are all tired and ready for bed, but we have something called supper, which is basically just hot chocolate and occasional biscuits.
On Wednesdays the first lecture period in the morning is family group. That is when all of the students go to either a staff members house or meet somewhere in the castle with at least one staff member and just talk and drink tea. My family group is very close, so we also meet on Tuesday nights and have toast and tea. It is amazing how excited we get about toast here. They have it at breakfast every morning but it’s always cold and not ‘toast like’.
During the week we also have New Testament discussion groups, Interactive groups (a small group with people who live by you), and Worship/Bible reading. The week is always very full, but it becomes routine very quickly.
Saturday mornings we have the entire day off, which everybody takes to their full advantage. Brunch is at 11, but the internet turns on at 9 which gets people up early. There are also Saturday trips to nearby towns, cities, football matches, or hikes. This past weekend I went to a cute little town called Skipton. There was a castle, cute shops, cafes and a little market.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Second term
Saturday night most of us arrived back at school. There are still some people who haven't arrived, but classes started today. I'm really enjoying the start of second term. We have new roommates, new seats, and a kind of new start. I'm living in the conference hall for the term with five roommates. I'm happy with the room I was put it, and I have Stacey right next door to me!
Yesterday we had church in the morning and had our regular Sunday schedule. I'm happy to be back in the routine! In the afternoon I watched Enchanted with a lot of the girls in the conference hall and then I had my daily walk with my friend (and now roommate!!) Alaina! We have evening service on Sundays, and last night we just had a time to journal or draw and then we did communion at the tables we were at. It was nice to be back with everyone and sit and talk and hear stories.
This morning my roommates and I woke up at 6:30 so we could journal and read and then we had breakfast and I sat in the lounge like I normally do in the mornings. I played piano for a bit and then talked with Maddie and Nico, which I did almost every day last term. Our lectures for this week are 1&2 Corinthians and 1 Samuel, which is being taught by a great guest lecturer. I know this week will be a good week listening to him!
This afternoon I've been hanging out with my old roommates and new ones...and there are more lectures tonight!!
I will hopefully be blogging again soon!
Yesterday we had church in the morning and had our regular Sunday schedule. I'm happy to be back in the routine! In the afternoon I watched Enchanted with a lot of the girls in the conference hall and then I had my daily walk with my friend (and now roommate!!) Alaina! We have evening service on Sundays, and last night we just had a time to journal or draw and then we did communion at the tables we were at. It was nice to be back with everyone and sit and talk and hear stories.
This morning my roommates and I woke up at 6:30 so we could journal and read and then we had breakfast and I sat in the lounge like I normally do in the mornings. I played piano for a bit and then talked with Maddie and Nico, which I did almost every day last term. Our lectures for this week are 1&2 Corinthians and 1 Samuel, which is being taught by a great guest lecturer. I know this week will be a good week listening to him!
This afternoon I've been hanging out with my old roommates and new ones...and there are more lectures tonight!!
I will hopefully be blogging again soon!
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