CALM before the STORM

Saturday January 9, 2010
CALM before the STORM!

I’m going to try to keep this one brief!!

For those who don’t already know, or haven’t already figured out; the next chapter of my life has recently begun:

The much anticipated month of December brought my good friend and housemate from Australia, Mel (anie)!! We had an awesome month of adventures spanning from Niagara Falls to Washington DC!!

About a week before Christmas, I was sitting at Baltimore’s inner harbor (harbour) with Mel sharing the American experience of a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cone and pointing out the flag on Ft. McHenry when my phone rang. A day or two before, I had left a phone message to check in on my application status at Southern Adventist University so when I saw (Tennessee) appear on the screen of my phone I was pretty confident I knew whose voice I would hear on the other end.

Sure enough, it was Mike Hills, who I had been in contact with about my application to the Outdoor Education Master’s program as well as a position as a Graduate Assistant.

Okay – lets speed things up here . . .
*I was accepted into the program as well as offered a graduate assistantship (which covers tuition!!)

*I was asked to arrive by January 4th and was given the number of a girl who lives in an apartment on campus with other female GAs

*December 30th took Mel to the airport in the morning :( (really starting to dislike airports)

*Dec 30th – Jan 1st – packing and New Year’s Eve partay at our house!

*Jan 2nd - Three days after hugging Mel goodbye at the airport, Dad and I were climbing into our fully loaded cars and headed South-bound, ten hours down to Collegedale Tennessee, near Chattanooga!

*Jan 3rd – arrived in Collegedale (after spending the night with a lovely couple from church who has retired in Knoxville, TN and graciously let us stay with them) moved into the apartment and met two of my three new housemates . . . Here we go again folks!

Okay, I’ll admit it, I am sort of getting tired of starting over and might possibly, probably, likely, be ready to settle down, somewhere , after grad school, but yeah it’s still exciting to be different places and meet different people. I think I’m going to like it down here . . . once it warms up!! I expected it to be warmer since I was coming south but it has been just as cold as Maryland and we even had a dusting of snow (and ice) this week! It was kind of amusing to see the south’s reaction to snow. The schools closed early pretty much as first sight of snow, the university was closed the next day, bread and milk were flying off the shelves at the store, and sadly, there were many accidents due to people not knowing how to drive in these types of conditions.

"Student Park Cave" on campus! "Managed by the Outdoor Leadership Program"

The apartment is nice: Laundry room, nice kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. If you have paid attention and done the math here you will have just come to the realization that this means four girls sharing one bathroom and two in each bedroom. Yes, this is a bit of a step backwards as I have been spoiled the past year and a half (besides summer camp) and gotten used to my own room and bathroom, however it has worked out just fine so far; no fights over the bathroom and my roommate is really nice!

Spaghetti dinner with Christina (roommate) and Heather!
None of us are overly into cooking but we try once in a while!

Dessert provided by undergrad Tyler! From Left: Tyler, Heather, Christina, and Lauren (Ren)

You may also have picked up on the name of the school: Southern Adventist. Before any assumptions are made: I have not converted to Seventh Day Adventist (apparently correctly pronounced with the emphasis on the “AD” instead of the “VEN” and often referred to as ”SDA”). In looking into doing a master’s program I was looking for a school that offered Outdoor Education from a Christian perspective and offered graduate assistantship that covered tuition. This school was just about the only one that covered all of those criteria!!

Things have been pretty slow so far but I know they are all going to pick up at once and soon so I’m trying to make the most of this time while I have it! We have a 10 day intensive where much of our course work is covered which runs January 17th – 26th. Part of the intensive this semester will be spent in Atlanta, GA (about 2 hours away). Our theme this intensive is "using nature as a learning tool". We will be exploring curriculum from a variety of outdoor organizations and visiting places like the aquarium, the zoo, schools with strong environmental programs and lots of outdoor centers (centres). I’m pretty excited! And might have to blog about it when I get back!

After this intensive is when the three of us new GAs will sit down with our uhhh supervisor? person and discuss, determine our roles. There are three positions open, or opening, at the moment. One involves working with SOAP Southern Outdoor Adventure Program, which coordinates, organizes, advertizes, and run activities for students on campus. Another is working with outside groups who we run activities for: low ropes, high ropes, team building, some on our site some on theirs. And the third is a unique and new position working with the Chattanooga Boys and Girls club getting an outdoor ed component going for their four sites in the area.

So that’s sort of an overview of life at the moment. Not sure how much time I am going to have once things get rolling here so wanted to at least get one post up before things get busy!
Hope all is well with everyone; that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are off to a great start to 2010!! :)

P.S. I'm thinking I should change the name of my blog to Messin' Around Down South :-P

A Chance to Breathe at Black Rock

Sunday August 23, 2009
A Chance to Breathe at Black Rock

I enjoy keeping busy but it comes to a point where it’s like “okay, I’m ready for a rest!” And today, Sunday (fitting really), I am finally getting a rest after what has been a busy, full–of-fun adventures and awesome people summer!

My third amazing summer at the Marsh came to a bit of a pre-mature end in order to begin training for my next (and fourth in a row!) “Christian camp job” at Black Rock Retreat up near Lancaster, PA. My last day at the Marsh ended on a great note with a Thursday late night cook out! I’m not sure how it all got started but after our usual meal of Marsh Stew and S’mores some of the girls began asking for more stew. However, not with the purpose of eating it, but with the idea of flicking it using their forks. Being the end of summer we allowed this to happen but told the girls to take it into the woods. Before we knew it all of the girls were off in the woods flicking each other with stew using forks. When about the fifth girl returned to get more stew out of the pot, my curiosity was peaked and I couldn’t resist the urge to join in the fun! Without fully thinking it through, before I knew it I had filled a cup with stew and was heading into the trees, plastic fork in hand. I must say, there was something satisfying about flicking stew off a plastic fork! But of course, as soon as word got out that “Chief Laura” had joined the fun, I had just about every girl running after me with forks full of tomato-sauce based stew; great idea Laura! I ran for cover back to the pot, where my fellow “Chiefs” stood chatting clean and stew-free. I don’t remember if I decided to give up and join the fun full force or if it was decided for me. What I do know is that I turned my back to run from the chaos only to feel someone reach from behind me and smear a handful of globby, luke-warm tomato sauce, ground beef, cheese, onion concoction across my face. I turned ready to retaliate only to find my boss behind me with stew – covered hands. I thought briefly but really saw no other option, so using my cup of stew, retaliated with little hesitation. Now I pause here to ask you . . . What other job is there in the world where you can smear the previously mentioned concoction on your bosses face and at the end of the day she is still asking you to return the next year?? I challenge you, really, to find another job out there. Now I’m not suggesting by any means that you should attempt this at your work place but I’m just saying perhaps this is something to consider!

So yeah, my last day at the Marsh was definitely a memorable one and a great way to end another “Toad-ally Awesome” summer!

I won’t go into too much detail about Black Rock now as there are many things I’d like to do with this day of rest. I will, however, say that I have yet again found myself feeling so very blessed and so very sure that I am where God wants me right now. I have two great bosses here, two lovely house mates, and three awesome guys who I will be working with over the next twoish months.

I almost feel like I should be getting tired of this whole camp scene thing but really each of the three camps I have spent time at have provided a different experience, through which I can and have grown and learnt / learned.

I hope this fall / autumn / spring (If anyone from Aus is reading this) finds all of you content and confident in how God is working in your life. 

A Place to get Connected

June 29, 2009
A Place to Get Connected . . .

Music of choice at the moment:
Mercy Me – I can Only Imagine, Homesick, Here with Me
Missy Higgins
Damien Leith


Although you can’t always rely on Sandy Cove for a wireless internet connection, sometimes when that fails you can find yourself getting connected to something or someone even better and more deserving of our connection. Someone who can often get pushed aside, forgotten, or even replaced by the connection of the internet . . .

So tonight as I sat outside in frustration while the Sandy Cove wireless failed me for about the sixth time today, I eventually gave in, closed the lid on my laptop and sat in awe of the amazing view laying before me. Almost as if it had been gift-wrapped and placed in the sky for my viewing and enjoyment alone. However, looking just a few meters in front of me sat couples on the benches, and others on the Adirondack chairs, youth throwing a football, and families poking their heads out to catch a glimpse and take a photo. Behind me, on the other side of the glass windows, sat an elderly couple enjoying the gift from comfy armchairs in the air-conditioning. No, the gift can’t be just for me . . . it is for anyone who is willing to take the time to come, sit, stand . . . and connect with the giver of the gift that is there for all to enjoy if only they accept it.


So if you haven’t figured it out yet I’m back at Sandy Cove for the summer, where I often find myself getting caught up and carried away in my writing – especially when sitting in front of a Sandy Cove sunset. :-P

Sandy Cove is amazing as always – families are beginning to fill the lodge and you can just feel the happy (for lack of a better word) vibes of families coming together for an awesome time of fun and fellowship with old friends and new.

Realizing this is the first time I have been here and not known for sure what is next in my life . . . the first year it was college, last year I had already figured out I would be going to Australia. But this year no set in stone plans yet. I have Black Rock in the works and think that will be the next step but yeah still not definite and even then it’s only short term. This isn’t a bad place to be though when you don’t know what’s next. A good place for reflection and thinking . . . .

Idealistic? Just thinking about how this is such a great place for families to come connect with each other and their maker but then I think of those who don’t have solid families and those who don’t even know of their maker and wonder . . . . This is great but is it reaching those who already have solid connections? Is there enough or anything out there for those who could really benefit but are lacking that connection. . . . hummmm I guess we get a mix of campers; pulic school, private, chirsitan, non-chrisitan, solid families, broken ones . . .

Now this is becoming very Laura – like; stream of consciousness, little blips of my thoughts :-P

I should probably get back to filling out this Black Rock application. Praying God will lead me where he wants me next, enjoying the Marsh, and still . . . really, really, really missing Australia; the job, the people, the place (not necessarily in that order).

So this is actually a photo from two years ago, tonights sunset was heaps nicer but I didn't have my camera on me.

Sweet and Sour

So I suppose there is still a month before I fly out of Aus but I know that month is going to FLY.

May 9 – 16 – South Island of New Zealand with Mel & Leanne
May 16 – 24 – North Island of New Zealand with Mel, Leanne , & ELLEN!
May 24 – 25 – Sydney with Ellen
May 25 – 26 – Blue Mountains with Ellen & Phil
May 26 – 30 – Nowra / Shoalhaven J
May 31 – June 5 – Alice Springs / Uluru / Ayers Rock with Ellen and Julie
June 6 - Fly Home

Soooo Excited to come home and sooooooo sad to leave . . . .
(In No particular order!)

Super Excited To . . .
-See family
-Reunite with friends
-Have my car / freedom back
-sunroof!
-The Marsh
- old campers and new campers
-old counselors and new counselors
-day trips
-circle time at he end of the day
-It’s gonna be another great summer at the Marsh!!
-Wheat bread, pasta . . . Healty food!
-Dishwasher!!!!!!!!
-Not having to wear a hat outside for work
-Allowing my hair to get blonde and my face to get tan :-P
-My third summer in a row – woot!
-A bit of water skiing (hopefully)
-Cruise (still can’t believe we are going on a cruise – wow – fun!)
-Panera, Chik-fil-a. Fudruckers
-Mom’s pre-made, big yellow bowl of salad in the fridge J
-Ice cream at night
-Runs in the am before camp
-Reading the bible in the morning before camp


Really Really Going To Miss . . .
-Housemates, friends, co-workers
-The job that I love
-Milo
-Half flush button on the toilet
-Fun Aussie names; Wollongong, Banksia . . .
-The Accent
-Different words (wiper snipper, porridge . . .)
-“Ta”
-Monday morning breakky
-Starting each workday with devos and prayer with my co-workers
-caving, abseling . . . .
-The Shoalhaven river
-canoeing on it
-seeing it outside my kitchen window
-Driving on the left side of the road (usually :-P accept when I forget and scare the ppl in the car half to death – sorry Phil, and Mel, and Chelle – hehe)
-Driving lessons in a manual – thank you Phil and Chelle and Mel and Julz and I think Steve once and Dan once . . .
-Work Utes – Uncle Lewis, Big Bro, Little Bro
-The looooooong, windy, bumpy dirt road into work / home
-Wombats (under and around our house, and of course the poor, sick, mangy ones at work), kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, the one bilby I saw!
-Out trips
-Trangia, Spundonicals (not sure how to spell but oh so fun to say!)
-My / Julz mobile (nicer than my one at home) :-P
-Church at All Saints Anglican, Nowra
-Christian Discovery
-Small group discussions
-Pinky prayers (introduced to me by a group of year 4 girls!)
-Briefings and Debriefings (yes, I really will miss these)
-Ending each activity with a prayer
-Singing on canoe trips “There once was a moose . . .”
-Real fruit smoothies – Boost
-Cadbury chocolate – Yes, we have it but not in as many variations
-Colourful money!
-$1 and $2 coins
-Fun animals on the money
-Beautiful beaches
-Princes highway
But most of all . . .
-The really awesome, amazing group of people I have been working with and working for and living with and playing with and traveling with – I’m gonna miss everyone like crazzzy

Relay for Life!!

So next Saturday I will be taking part in my first ever Relay for Life!!
I've always wanted to participate in Relay for Life but always seemed to have something else going on.
So if you would like to support me and help raise money for cancer you can visit:
http://www.relay.cancercouncil.com.au/?2009/shoalhaven_2009/all_saints_nowra/150147

ELLEN IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!

So excited!!!!
So new arrival home day is the 6th of June and I'll be flying home with Ellen!!
Mel, Leanne and I are going to New Zealand on May 9th - exploring the South Island, Meeting Ellen, exploring the North Island, then flying back to Ausralia where we will have two more weeks of travel and showing Ellen around!!!!!!! Really excited!! But also sad since I know this will mark the end of my time here :( Sweet and sour, sweet and sour

A Sleepover!!

22, February 2009

So this Saturday was moving day. After a little over three years of working for Youthworks, one of my beloved house mates, Julie, has taken a new job up in Sydney to work for a private school up there as one of their outdoor educators. Yes, this school has its own outdoor educators!! She will be organizing stuff from the school but spending at least a third of the year out on trips with students! Cycling New Zealand, Canoeing down the Murray, a 20 day hiking trip . . . you get the idea! It’s an amazing job opportunity and she will be fantastic for it but it’s quite sad to see her go :(

On Friday (two weeks ago now) I was asked to go up to Blue Gum (another youthworks campsite up in the Blue Mountains near Sydney) for the week since they were going to be short on staff. I was excited to go help out and experience a new site but also a bit bummed that I’d be missing out on Julie’s last week living with us :(

Luckily though we had planned a sort of girl’s farewell sleepover!! We borrowed mattresses from work, which we loaded up with pillows and blankets and dunas (like a comforter) to cover our lounge room floor!! Six of us youthworks girls were there (plus Jess who phoned in from England!) and five spent the night. It was such your typical girls sleepover – lol. We made cookies; Julie had bought little men cookie cutters from Germany and I wanted to make some heart ones for V-day! Nomes (former youthworks chic now married to my boss, the one from America, and soon to be mother of two!) brought rice paper rolls for dinner. You stick this hard flat crispy thing in hot water and it gets all soft and flimsy and slimyish. Then you add salad, chicken, and sauce, wrap it up and there you have it! I’ll have to take a close up photo next time we have them – they are a frequent dinner at our house! We watched movies and ate ice cream and stayed up late! Mel made us crepes with fruit and ice cream for breakky and we had a slow start to the day! Too much fun! I truly live with and work with a wonderful group of girls! :) (And boys too) :-P

So a flour fight broke out while making cookies. . . Julie clearly started it :-P

Mel got dragged into the flour fight!

Dinner on the floor - rice paper rolls! yumm

From Left: Mel, Leanne, Nomes, Al, Julz, Me

On Saturday I ended up going dragon boating with Alison and Dave, who are part of a club. It was fun and hard work; made me miss rowing although it is quite a bit different.

Monday morning I was off on the near 3 hour drive up to Blue Gum Lodge for a hectic start to the week with a group of year three boys with very little attention span; a challenge but an experience all the same. We finished the week off with a coed year 7 group. And in between them I managed to take my final exam for the Intro to the Bible course I’d been taking by distance education through Moore Theological College!! The exam went okay – good enough I hope! I think the essay worth 25% went fairly well. There were definitely questions I knew and definitely ones I didn’t know and a few I knew I should know but couldn’t recall!! There was A LOT of information covered in the course and you’re not sure what they are going to ask. A bit more study time may have helped but I think its one of those you can never know it all kind of things. I really enjoyed taking the course and learned a lot from it but I am glad to have the test behind me!

So Blue Gum! It is the smallest of the three youthworks sites so it has a smaller staff: three guys (plus the one in charge) and two girls. Since they are smaller they are a bit more laid back. They have breakky together with the teachers every morning before heading off for devos and setting up for the day. Some of the activities they run are a bit different from ours. No canoeing but they do hike mountain biking, a climbing wall, and a bike ed activity. Unfortunately Youthworks initially only trains you in the activities you need for your site so I was running a lot of archery and initiatives and low ropes this week! I also did abseiling twice at their off-site cliffs – which was pretty cool – it had an awesome view! Blue Gum tends to get mostly younger groups and therefore doesn’t do too many out tips. The year seven group did cook on trangias and sleep out in tents one night but they were just set up onsite.

It was neat and fun to get a chance to experience a different site but I will say that by the end of the week I was missing good Old Shoalhaven and the team. It’s good to go to other sites cause it makes you appreciate what you have and get new ideas!

I got home on Friday close to 6 for a house dinner at the Indian restaurant, where we went for my birthday. Then Saturday was the big moving day. I went home with Julz for the rest of the weekend and for a luau themed 21st birthday party – much fun! We spent today driving around Sydney looking at living options – lots of time in the car but neat too. Have I said I’m sad she’s leaving?? :-P :(

Tomorrow I head out for a four day hike / canoe with year 10 students. It is a coed group so I’m headed out with another male leader, Tom, and then Mel will join us for the canoeing bit to be our safety / power boat driver. Should be fun! The most days I’ve been out though – soo gonna be ready for a shower by the end!

Nearly back to good ole Nowra – caught the train down so Julz wouldn’t have to drive down then back up to her parent’s house.
Hope all is well back in the US of A :)
Miss you all.
<3 <3

"Hot as"

So there is an Aussie expression . . .
When you want to add emphasis to anything you add "as" to the end.
And let me tell you it has been "hot as" here the past week or so.

Down in Melbourne for Jax and Aaron's wedding Melbourne had record breaking temperatures!!

Now back in nowra, it is 98* INSIDE MY HOUSE today!!! Air Con isn't all that common so you just kind of have to accept the fact that you are going to be hot and sweaty all day. I'm drenched in my own seat at the moment and feel like I just came out of the swimming pool - accept with out that cool, refreshed feeling!

Walking from home to work was like walking across a desert! Being my typical self I decided to make the trek barefoot, as I have done many times. I bring my thongs (flip flops) in my back pack but prefer to feel the earth under my feet! And to day the earth was certainly under my feet; making its presence known by the burning pavement and gravel drive, and prickly grass, now dead and spikey from lack of rain recently.

When a car drives past a huge cloud of dust rises up behind it. I noticed driving along our road the other day how the trees appeared gray in colour and realized that it was because of the layers of dust that had settled on them from passing cars.

The thermometer on the glass window in the direct sunlight at work says it is over 120*F / 50* C – phewww.
It is summer my friends!


I realized the other day that it is February. I’m not sure how that happened and not quite sure how I feel about it either! I really miss everyone from home and can’t wait to see everyone and I guess it will be nice to be back in good old Maryland too! But then it’s going to be terribly sad to leave. Nine months is such a strange amount of time.

I guess I’ll end there for the moment. Again I’m finding myself with so much to say but with neither the time nor want to ramble on and bore you!

Hope all is well with everyone back home and no one is frozen or snowed in!!

P.S. Just for the record: despite my complaining of the heat I still fully prefer hot weather to cold!

JAM Holiday Camp Jan 4-10

In January I got the opportunity to lead on a holiday camp for kids! This is similar to our summer camps - quite laid back and lots of fun! The camp was at Koloona so it was weird / neat to be on camp where I work.

In addition to being a group leader, I also ran some of the activities for the camp including abseiling!

Belaying on the 4m part of the tower.


On Wednesday night we camped out! The kids slept in derby tents . . .

and the leaders slept under the tarp!

Pete slept in his swag :-P

Bundeena

Mel invited me to come along to visit her good friend who was on holiday with her family not far from Sydney.

We stopped at a lookout on the way up! So beautiful!

Smile Mel! We did a bit of exploring / geocaching along the coast of Bundeena!

Caught a really pretty sunset on the way home after stopping in Mel's old stomping grounds for dinner and church.

Boxing Day! Dec 26th

Cricket on the beach!

A BBQ at Matty Gibb's w/ more cricket in the background!

Yum Sausages :-P

Dec 16-20

Straight after the bush hike,we got back just in time for showers and our Shoalhaven Christmas party at a nearby beach / park. Dan and I took prawns for dinner - very Aussie :-P

A day at work then I was back up towards Sydney for vertical rescue abseil assessment - I passed! The next day was the Youthworks Christmas party in Sydney at a nice resturant on Bateman's Bay.

From there Alison and I caught the ferry to her house to spend the weekend with her family as they celebrated an early Christmas. Here, I had my first encounter with rubarb!

Cooked rubarb - often eaten with ice cream. It has a unique, almost sour taste, but I thought it was good.

Geocaching with Alison and Dave (married)!! I found an Australia Day hat in the Cache!!

Dec 14-15 - Bush Walk Training Hike

So I should be preparing Christian Discovery right now as I am leading it for a year 4 and 5 girls school upon my return to camp / work / Nowra / "home," but instead I am taking advantage of this wonderful wireless internet connection to catch everyone up on my life the past month and a half!

Dan and I planning our training hike. We had to detail our course, where and when we would stop, locate emerency exits points, and plan our menu. This hike would be just Dan and I and our trainer Shell!

Shell and I at Jelly Bean pool after some "bush bashing" / navigating / walking on a compass bearing. I was a bit disappointed to discover the pool was not full of colourful jelly beans :-P Thank you Mel for loaning me your gators! Just wish we had thought to put them on sooner as we all suffered several scratches before remembering we had them!


A "bush cockroach" found at our campsite in the morning. Had to pick it up for size comparison so you could appreciate just how big it is!


A quick detour to "Lost World Lookout"

It was a wonderful, enjoyable two days out the in the Blue Mountains!!

Day 1 Term 1 2009!

So today marked the beginning of Term 1!
It has been way too long since I have last blogged in detail and I'm not goignt o try to catch up on all that has happened! Instead I'll give a glimpse of what is coming next!
We have a year ten group in this week and we are headed on an out trip tomorrow. I'm going to be hiking both ways (usually you would conoe one way and hike the other but one of the girls here is having issues with her knee so I"m going to hike with her group tomorrow while she canoes with mine).
Getting back on Thursday then Flying out of Sydney to Melbourne for a four day weekend and Jacqui & Aaron's wedding (who I have worked two summers with at Sandy Cove!!) SO really excited about that!
Next week I am running Christian Discovery (CD) for a year 4+5 private girls school so I still have a bit of preparation for that, whcih will hopefully happen at some point on the way to and from Melbourne :-P
I've been taking a Preliminary Theology Course by distance education "Introduction to the Bible" and it has been really good!! I'm learning heaps! It gives pretty much a basic over view of the bible but really ties it all together and points out thinigs that you wouldn't necessarily know or think about. I'm nearly done all the studies from that (there are ten) but then I have to study study before the exam, which will be somewhere btwn Feb 11-25.
Yeah, so that's a brief update on my life at the moment.
All is well down in Nowra! I'm on the work computer at the moment so can't load any pics but will have to do that soon.
Miss you all,
Sending some sunshine.
<3 <3 Laura :)

HAPPY 2009!!!

January 17, 2009

Wow! It has been over a month since my last post. I suppose that is evidence of how busy my last month has been! Although this is meant to be the relaxing “holidays,” they have been pretty full; especially my last couple weeks.

I led on a holiday camp here (sort of like summer camp back home). The camp was here where I work but I was a counselor on it so I was staying on site with the girls in a cabin / room. It was lots of fun but also busy as I was a counselor but also working at the same time – yeah so kind of weird.

So that ran from Sat-Sat then I had Canoe training Sun-Tues with an overnight camp on Monday and back to work on Wednesday.

Now it is Saturday and I sit at work overhearing the worship music pouring out of the meeting hall from the group that is in. It is so cool to experience all different groups and they ways they interact and worship. We had an African group in last weekend. It’s just interesting how ppl worship in different ways, and so cool to work at a place that provides people with the opportunity to come away together to grow and learn and worship God.

Although I may want to, there is no way I can possibly fill you in on all that has happened since I last blogged. And you probably wouldn’t want to read that all anyway so I guess I’ll just put some photos up of highlights.

I have been missing everyone from home A LOT this past month and have been thinking of you guys and praying for you. MISS YOU ALL and hope all is well. <3>

The Wrong Way To Abseil!

So we had a bit of fun experimenting at abseil training this weekend!!!

A Day in Lieu after SHORE Week

Friday December 5, 2008
A Day In Lieu

Since this job requires us to work a fair amount of odd hours a system has been set in place where we earn “time in lieu” for every night we spend on an out trip or every weekend day we spend on training. I believe it is something like every night we are out we earn half a day off and every weekend day earns us a full day.

I had heard of “Shore Week” very early upon my arrival to Shoalhaven. It is by far the busiest most stressful, anticipated week of the year! Beginning on Sunday, somewhere around 210 students and 25 teachers from Shore Anglican in Sydney arrived at Shoalhaven and the week of fourteen groups began! Numerous “casuals” were called in to work for the week including staff that had worked at Shoalhaven in years past or had worked or were currently working at a different youthworks site.

Since I would be doing two days of hiking on unfamiliar trails I was paired with a guy who had worked at youth works a few years ago. We each had our own group but for the entire out trip part of the camp (the first three days) our groups pretty much operated as one. This was really good as I didn’t have to worry about not knowing where I was going. Not to mention it was nice to have a male leader around, being the only female amongst 30+ guys!

Each of the fourteen groups included one youthworks instructor, one teacher from Shore, 13-15 year eight boys and two year eleven boys who were meant to act as mentors and helpers. As I seem to have a habit of doing, after spending only a few minutes with my group I thought to myself “oh dear!”

In efforts to keep this short I’ll give a quick summary of our week:
Sunday – Tuesday: Out Trip
Sun: 4K / 1 hour Hike
Mon: 8K / 2 hour hike
Tues: 10K / 6 hour hike (Lynches back to Waterslea) With the boys navigating using map and compass between markers. I led a good bit of this hike, giving me experience in navigating the trails and the markers and just managing a group as they navigate through!

Wednesday:
Morning Canoe trip with Ben’s group (about 4K)
Christian Discovery
Caving (using my new head torch!!) Really getting to know the cave and feel perfectly comfortable taking a group through!

Thursday:
Abseiling at the tower
Archery

So although the week may have gotten off to a somewhat roughish start, as seems to be the case with many camps, by the end of the week I was sad to see them go. . .

Thanksgiving Down Unda!

Although most Aussies have heard of Thanksgiving, it is certainly not a celebrated holiday here. However since Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday it worked out really well for our regular staff Thursday night dinner to be turned into a Thanksgiving celebration!! We had a sign up sheet for things to bring and there ended up being at least 20 people there all gathered around the table!!

Mel and I had the day off so we spent the afternoon cooking 2 Pecan Pies, Green Bean Cassserol, and sweet potatos with marshmallows!!!

Mel mashing the sweet potatos. Sweet potatos with marshmallows was a very new concept for the Aussies, and one most of them couldn't quite handle!! lol. It didnt' help that their marshmallows are a bit different and denser than ours. Oh well!!

Our green bean casserol (with onion flakes because we couldn't find any fried onions) still tasted alright.

Our two pecan pies turned out pretty good although we had to make the corn syrup from scratch and we apparently used plain flour when we were supposed to use corn flour!

Tim (the boss from PA) carving the bird! It was quite good - very moist!!

Tima nd his wife are in the middle of renovation their kitchen so Naomi went to a friend's house to cook the turkey and we ate off paper plates! :)

It was a bit crazy with around 20 people gathered along two tables put together end to end. There was lots of "Can you pass the bread?" and "Can you put some potatoes on that plate?" "Is there any corn left down there?" But the food was really good and actually tasted pretty authentic! Not biscuits or cranberry sauce but if you focus on what we did have as opposed to what we didn't it was a pretty amazing and a very impressive attempt from teh other side of the world!!

Little Johnny got to bite into the huge turkey leg!!

We had six pies of three varieties!! Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan!
The pic didn't turn out so good.

It was a different Thanksgiving but a great one none the less!!!

Roller Coaster Week

On Saturday we took a ride out on the Port Hacking River in the Punt boat. WE went out to the sand bar in the middle of the river and played a game of touch footy! i had watched rugby league a lot but had never played it! Fun but sandy - haha.

More Photos to Come!!

Roller Coaster Week
Sunday November 23, 2008 10:30PM

Current . . .
Physical Status: Slightly Tired, the continual ear situation uggg
Emotional Status: Slightly Lonely yet content
Overall Energy: Mostly Rejuvenated and ready for another week
Music Choice: Dedications by Ellen Messerly :)

Where to begin?
Last week: Two separate year 10 groups – one Monday through Wednesday, the other Wednesday through Friday, making Wednesday quite hectic and feeling like Friday and Monday all at the same time. Such is the life as an outdoor educator here at Shoalhaven!

Only a few minutes after the arrival of the camp on Monday I had decided it was going to be a tough two and a half days, especially compared to the dream group of eight girls last week. However, my opinion was soon changed upon meeting my group and beginning our hike out to Bangalee / Scouts camp. The school overall was a bit tough but my group was great! I was partnered with Tim for this camp just to get one more practice with the hike / canoe to / from Bangalee.

Did the whole out trip camping thing Monday night. It was a bit different from last week as it was just two groups there and the other two leaders were guys. So I was in my own tent and their whole take on things was a bit more laid back then the way the girls ran things. Still being the newbie in this situation I didn’t want to take charge too much but I was up like an hour and a half before them in the morning and took care of making sure the students were up getting packed and getting breakky.

We did abseiling on cliffs at scout camp so that was neat and different scenery. We canoed back in time for lunch and had caving up the hill in the afternoon. Julz came up with us in order to access Tim. Kind of strange that my house mate who is a year younger than me will soon be coming to my sessions to assess me. But it’s not that strange cause she is awesome and when it comes to knowledge and experience in outdoor education and how things are run here she totally has authority!

Caving went well. Julz went in with the first group and I went in with the second. I was glad to get the chance to go through again since I had only been through once before, a month or so a ago, and I would be leading a group through later in the week.

I already eluded to Wednesday as being a crazy, hectic, physically and emotionally draining day; Doing an activity with my first group then being pulled to the new group, which arrived an hour early, to help entertain them on the sports field (oval) until their lunch was ready. Slipping in “goodbyes” to my first group while gearing up for “hellos” to my new group.

Well, if I had a bad feeling on Monday in terms of group difficulty, man oh man was I feeling it on Wednesday. However this time it proved to be truer than it did on Monday. And for this group I was completely on my own. Lets just say the second half of Wednesday was rough. I had just shipped off a group and it sure felt like I was due for a weekend but, quite the opposite to a weekend, I was starting a fresh with a group that was proving to be more difficult than my last!

Before I even met my group the head teacher informed me that I had a “tough group” and that one of my boys had actually been suspended from school that morning but had been spoken to and was being aloud on camp but if I had any troubles to let him know. Oh boy!

Canoeing was our first activity and it was allotted for two hours as opposed to the usual hour and a half. I used this extra time to sit them down in the grass in a circle to do introductions, lay down the ground rules / expectations, and explain our full value contract and challenge by choice. They received it fairly well and the teacher was a helpful support. I also took the opportunity to mention my pet-peeve about inappropriate language and comments. Enough cannot be said for setting out guidelines and expectations from the start. It is so much easier to discipline by enforcing a rule already stated then it is to just discipline off the cuff with no prior grounds / warning . . . Especially with this age group where they are looking for every opportunity to “muck around.”

The canoeing session was stressful but I supposed a fraction improved from my last double canoe session, where neither of us had run a canoe session before. This time the other group leader was Al. We talked before and decided it would be best just to go our separate ways. So we briefed separately and when I set my group in the water we headed the opposite direction to her group. The start of the session was okay as we rafted up and did the stand up sit down drill then all stood and did the YMCA. It was when I set them off for some free paddle that things went out of control and capsizes did not seize.

I think the key to canoeing is having a game plan, keeping it organized and moving. At least with the older groups, the more freedom given, the more likely occurrence of goofing off and capsizing, which takes lots of effort to right. Uggh.

So I left canoeing a bit frustrated and was not looking forward to Billy carting. I had never run a session where they had to construct the billy carts so it didn’t help that I didn’t know what they were doing!! They had instructions so it wasn’t too bad but one group took ages and stripped a screw and Pete had to fix it . . . . It worked out okay but just meant everyone only got one go in the billy carts – which was fine with me.

So after that Wednesday you can imagine I wasn’t too excited for Thursday and was just feeling totally drained and unenthusiastic come Thursday morning. Really a shame for the second group of the week. However, the day turned out to be really great!! We had caving in the morning. PG came to observe me and I got lots of positive feedback from him. The group was actually helping and encouraging each other in the cave. I had a good chat / talk to them in the cave relating to our faith in things unseen and how God is always with us even in the dark when we don’t think he is there or when we aren’t looking for him. Also had a really good debrief at the end with the whole group as we talked about the experience then I read Isaiah 14:2 (I think) about how God will never leave us and guides the blind over rough surfaces, making them smooth . . . Perfect verse for caving debrief!!!

Stayed up the hill to eat our packed lunch before going to abseiling. I briefed on the equipment and Jess, who was up there as abseil extra, did the demo . . . I belayed on the 10m cliff.

Back down for an archery session to end the day. Mel came along and observed. Apparently I’m meant to be observed in every activity before I’m assessed. I felt like I had already been observed in archery several times but I guess it was never official. Whatever – lol. So that went fine. We debriefed by talking about what we were focused on in archery and what are focus is in life, which tied in well with our Christian Discovery from the morning where we discussed priorities; what influences them and how we decide on them . . . Such a good job!! I get to be outside and with kids (or teenagers, which I am slowly coming to appreciate) and talk, teach, discuss with them things that I really believe in and am passionate about and can make a difference in their lives – yay.

So that’s how my week was sort of like a roller coaster – up and down. My teacher was really great. She added good comments to the debriefings and enforced that the group would pray at the end of activity, which thought was overkill at first but came o appreciate and really like! Before they left on Friday she came up to thank me and said how the group was meant to be one of the worst and how none of the teachers wanted to be with it . . . but how it turned out okay and how she thought I had something to do with that – yay!


Weekend was good. Decided at the last minute to go on the young adult weekend away with All Saints Anglican Church, the one I have been going to with Mel. Al, her husband Dave, Josh, Pete, and Jess from work all go there and went on the weekend as well. I was really glad I went! Got to meet more young adults from the church and get to know them. There were there worship / talk sessions with a speaker. He spoke about the resurrection. He had some good points and made me think – I’ll leave it at that – haha. Mainly, how we always focus on Jesus’ death and how he died on the cross but then we commonly fail to mention the resurrection and how he came back . . . . and how our faith is somewhat based on that because anyone can die but it is the fact that he came back that sets him apart. Yeah, idk. But it was a good weekend.

So Mel has been spending the past month or more working to organize a city camp. A private school is going to be staying in hostels in down town Sydney and more or less experiencing poverty. So Julz and Mel are both up there until Wednesday working on that camp. I kind of wish I was up there because I’ve been talking to Mel a lot about it and it sounds like a really neat, different camp! But we are having a year 6 group in down here so that will be a nice refresher!!! Missing my housemates but alright with some down time!! I texted Dan and borrowed his guitar this afternoon after getting back from the retreat. I hadn’t just sat and played since being here so that was really awesome! He had his acoustic with him so it was his electric but he also had the chord to connect it to the amp so it was pretty much acoustic but with a bit of a different sound and the darn G string would not get in tune but oh well!!

All good here! Hope everyone is well at home. <3 <3 :) :)

November Highlights

SOME NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS!!!

Birthday Celebration by the river and Nowra bridge. Lemon Gelato - yum.

Happy 21st Julz!

Our attempt at making Julz a birthday cake. We acidentaly left the oven on too hot so the outside burned and the middle was still gooey. Oh well.

Julz in her new birthday "dry as a bone" jacket - they wear them on farms here!! Like in the TV series McLeod's Daughtes that we have been watching - lol.

Check out hte size of that cereal box will ya! Huge!

Thursday night dinner moved to Maccas for dessert this week! Check out the size of the small McFlurry - perfect - makes ours look huge!
Jess, Julz, Lincoln & Naomi (Son and wife of my boss)


Mel putting Anna's hair in to dreads to celebrate her completed HSCs (like our SATs)

It took like 6 hours but they looked good!!

Berry Doughnuts. Hot, Fresh, Cinnamon doughnuts. On a Sunday before church.

Echidna! At work.