Well, today's the day! It's outreach time. These 2 months have flown by so quickly, and it seems like this is the end of the program, but really I've still got 2 months to go. A team left for Korea/Japan at 4 this morning, so we all said goodbye to them last night. Everyone was up until 1 hanging out or watching Despicable Me (I love movie nights here). My team leaves today at 12 for the airport to go to the Middle East so we have quite a bit of time to hang out this morning. We're flying on Emirates which I hear has awesome service and food, and they even give us unlimited free chocolate (big win). I'll be stuffing my bag with that ish all day. So anyway, because of circumstances I can't blog or Facebook while I'm in the Middle East, but fear not, I will return to both when I get back to New Zealand in early December. Plus, I can still Skype and text, so hit me up. I believe I will be 8 hours ahead this time.
Luv yhu giys,
Abby
Friday, October 12, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Bungee Jumping
Time before I leave for outreach is just ticking down. Less than a week already! It's been kind of sad going through all the "lasts", even though we will come back for a week before I return to the US. The transition to living with the guys actually has been suprisingly good, other than a more crowded kitchen, it's been nice having everyone around the house. It's near impossible to keep track of your own personal food though, so I've taken to stashing mine in my sock drawer. This past weekend was our last adventure outing, and they left the most extreme, craziest, and scariest for last: bungee jumping. I was quite nervous all week about it, I'm not the biggest fan of heights, but I couldn't just not do it. I mean, it was already paid for and how often do you get to go bungee jumping in New Zealand? Answer: almost never. Therefore I was determined to go through with it. The bungee jumping place was in Taupo, so we had to drive like 3 hours to get to it, but it was good because we got Vs to get us pumped and we just listened to music on the way up.
It was kind of windy and cloudy when we arrived in Taupo, and since we were somehow half an hour late, they said they could let half the group jump before their lunch break and then half after. The bungee place was really beautiful even though the weather wasn't that great. The bungee platform was over a beautiful turquoise lake that I heard someone say was in an old volcano crater which is pretty cool. The jump was 47m and you could choose to either just touch the water with your finger tips or plunge in up to your waist and then be pulled back out. Only one guy chose the second option, it was scary enough as it was. We all got weighed first thing so they could calibrate the bungee cords so we didn't plummet to our death, and then we signed some waivers and were ready to go. They had an option to do tandem bungee jumping which is where two people are strapped in and go together, and since it seemed more comforting to jump off with someone else, I decided to do a tandem jump with the staffer Madeline. We were hoping to go in the first group and get it over with so we could eat our lunch during the break, since I definatey didn't want to feel sick. We were placed in the second group which turned out to be better because after lunch the weather got a lot nicer. We were the first to jump after lunch though which was good. We got our harnesses on and were sitting on a bench on the platform as the guys that worked the checked through all of our equipment. The bungee cords looked like they were just a cluster of a bunch of those tiny elastic strings tied together which wasn't very comforting.
I was completely terrified the whole time, but I had watched the first group go and it looked pretty sweet so I just kept telling myself it would be awesome. They had us grab onto these loops on each others harnesses and then step up to the edge of the platform with put toes on the edge. On three we were to lean out and drop. We slowly leaned out and went off the edge and after about 2 seconds I closed my eyes. The whole thing was kind of a blur really. I remember looking down at the water then getting to scared and closing my eyes, then reopening them and seeing something hit the water, which I soon realized was one of my shoes so I start freaking out and pointing down at it. Then I closed my eyes again unil we started to slow down. Pretty much the entire time I was screaming and it was a really good thing I had someone else to go with because when I got super freaked out I just grabbed onto them. We finally slowed enough to grab the pole that the boat that would take us to land was offering then they slowly lowered us into the boat and got us unhooked, amd I got my shoe back which was really good, though it was soaking. So crazy, I can't imagine who ever thought up such a concept, but hey. I bungee jumped for the first, and probably last, time.
It was kind of windy and cloudy when we arrived in Taupo, and since we were somehow half an hour late, they said they could let half the group jump before their lunch break and then half after. The bungee place was really beautiful even though the weather wasn't that great. The bungee platform was over a beautiful turquoise lake that I heard someone say was in an old volcano crater which is pretty cool. The jump was 47m and you could choose to either just touch the water with your finger tips or plunge in up to your waist and then be pulled back out. Only one guy chose the second option, it was scary enough as it was. We all got weighed first thing so they could calibrate the bungee cords so we didn't plummet to our death, and then we signed some waivers and were ready to go. They had an option to do tandem bungee jumping which is where two people are strapped in and go together, and since it seemed more comforting to jump off with someone else, I decided to do a tandem jump with the staffer Madeline. We were hoping to go in the first group and get it over with so we could eat our lunch during the break, since I definatey didn't want to feel sick. We were placed in the second group which turned out to be better because after lunch the weather got a lot nicer. We were the first to jump after lunch though which was good. We got our harnesses on and were sitting on a bench on the platform as the guys that worked the checked through all of our equipment. The bungee cords looked like they were just a cluster of a bunch of those tiny elastic strings tied together which wasn't very comforting.
I was completely terrified the whole time, but I had watched the first group go and it looked pretty sweet so I just kept telling myself it would be awesome. They had us grab onto these loops on each others harnesses and then step up to the edge of the platform with put toes on the edge. On three we were to lean out and drop. We slowly leaned out and went off the edge and after about 2 seconds I closed my eyes. The whole thing was kind of a blur really. I remember looking down at the water then getting to scared and closing my eyes, then reopening them and seeing something hit the water, which I soon realized was one of my shoes so I start freaking out and pointing down at it. Then I closed my eyes again unil we started to slow down. Pretty much the entire time I was screaming and it was a really good thing I had someone else to go with because when I got super freaked out I just grabbed onto them. We finally slowed enough to grab the pole that the boat that would take us to land was offering then they slowly lowered us into the boat and got us unhooked, amd I got my shoe back which was really good, though it was soaking. So crazy, I can't imagine who ever thought up such a concept, but hey. I bungee jumped for the first, and probably last, time.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Soapy Slides and White Waters
There's only 2 weeks left in my program before we all leave for outreach, and although that's crazy enough in its self, there's also going to be some big changes for the last 2 weeks of lecture phase. There's an internship starting at the Tauranga House of Prayer, and so the director of our program decided to give the guys house to them to house their interns and staff, so they decided that the boys would be moved into the girls house basement, and the staff that were living there will move to the guys house. So basically all of the students in my program will be living in one house with no staff living with us. It's going to be a pretty crazy and trying 2 weeks. The director also announced that for the last two weeks we would be partnering with a couple other bases in Tauranga, and something called Circuit Riders is coming in, and instead of regular casses we will be working with Circuit Riders. I don't really know what that means or what the Circuit Riders do, but I guess I'll find out. The main thing that I got from that announcement is that we'll have to have classes with I think 50 more students which kind of sucks because I hate interacting with people I don't know/small talk. So yay. I also still have to get clothes for outreach. I predict it will be a stressful couple of weeks.
On Saturday, everyone had to help clean the boys house to get it ready for the interns coming in. Not just a light clean, but a full blown scrub down. I volunteered with a couple other girls to clean the kitchen area, which turned out to be an excellent decision because that involved going through all the food in the pantry and we got first pick at any food without names or food that the cook didn't want to use. I was the big winner of the day (well, in my opinion at least. I don't think the other people I was working with were as enthusiastic about the free food as I was.), going home with a packet of Uncle Ben's ready rice. We also got a container full of nuts and dried fruits so we took that back to the girls house, but it turned out to be one of the internship staff's so we had to return it. It was quite sad. I was almost going to be healthy. After a long morning of making the house spotless and a lunch of spicy leftovers, I headed back to the girl's house (now I guess it's everyone's house). I was planning on making some caramel slice, which is a delicious treat that I shall make and share with all of you at home, when I looked out the window to the back yard and saw several of the guys and they motioned for me and one of the other girls that was in the kitchen to "come go on the slide".
Intrigued, we stepped outside and beheld a monster of a slip n' slide that the boys had set up in the back yard, using large black tarps, which I have no idea where they got, and they had put a 2 ft. ramp in the middle of it. All the guys were soaping up then sprinting down the slip n' slide and flying off the ramp. It looked awesome, but the other girl and I waited until they had worked out all of the kinks with the ramp before we joined in, since there was a lot of thunking to be heard when someone would hit the ramp. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon slathering soapy water all over our bodies then sprinting down the slide, and after recovering from the ramp, sprinting back up the hill to get in line again. People were getting pretty fancy with it after a while, doing twists in the air and flipping from going on your back to on your stomach which I wasn't nearly coordinated enough to do, I tried but it strained my hip a bit (I'm such an old lady) and ended up just landing on my knees. It was a completely awesome time, but my body was aching for days after. One of the other girls and I were planning on having a final "girls night" before the guys moved in and we wanted to watch The Emperor's New Groove, but since it's such an awesome movie, a lot of the guys wanted to watch it so we just had a house movie night in the living room. I had snagged 3 packets of jello from the free food box so I made that to share at the movie night, and the girl who lives in the house next to us brought over these delicious biscuits to share. Once again, I. Love. Saturdays.
On Sunday, we did our adventure activity for the week, and for that we went white water rafting. It was my first time going since it's not like there's many places in Champaign County to do that, so I was stoked. It was a level 5 with a 21ft. waterfall in it that we go down. That made me a tad nervous, but still stoked. We got suited up and headed down to the river, and I got put in a raft with 6 other students and a guide, who was super nice. It was a short course, but so much fun. We did this thing called "surfing" where after we had gone over a waterfall, we turned around and paddle straight into it and the water would crash into the front of the raft and push the raft outward. We ended the day with a trip to KFC and I got a free kitkat milkshake because the workers there were so overwhelmed with all the customers and accidentally made an extra. Choice.
On Saturday, everyone had to help clean the boys house to get it ready for the interns coming in. Not just a light clean, but a full blown scrub down. I volunteered with a couple other girls to clean the kitchen area, which turned out to be an excellent decision because that involved going through all the food in the pantry and we got first pick at any food without names or food that the cook didn't want to use. I was the big winner of the day (well, in my opinion at least. I don't think the other people I was working with were as enthusiastic about the free food as I was.), going home with a packet of Uncle Ben's ready rice. We also got a container full of nuts and dried fruits so we took that back to the girls house, but it turned out to be one of the internship staff's so we had to return it. It was quite sad. I was almost going to be healthy. After a long morning of making the house spotless and a lunch of spicy leftovers, I headed back to the girl's house (now I guess it's everyone's house). I was planning on making some caramel slice, which is a delicious treat that I shall make and share with all of you at home, when I looked out the window to the back yard and saw several of the guys and they motioned for me and one of the other girls that was in the kitchen to "come go on the slide".
Intrigued, we stepped outside and beheld a monster of a slip n' slide that the boys had set up in the back yard, using large black tarps, which I have no idea where they got, and they had put a 2 ft. ramp in the middle of it. All the guys were soaping up then sprinting down the slip n' slide and flying off the ramp. It looked awesome, but the other girl and I waited until they had worked out all of the kinks with the ramp before we joined in, since there was a lot of thunking to be heard when someone would hit the ramp. We spent a good chunk of the afternoon slathering soapy water all over our bodies then sprinting down the slide, and after recovering from the ramp, sprinting back up the hill to get in line again. People were getting pretty fancy with it after a while, doing twists in the air and flipping from going on your back to on your stomach which I wasn't nearly coordinated enough to do, I tried but it strained my hip a bit (I'm such an old lady) and ended up just landing on my knees. It was a completely awesome time, but my body was aching for days after. One of the other girls and I were planning on having a final "girls night" before the guys moved in and we wanted to watch The Emperor's New Groove, but since it's such an awesome movie, a lot of the guys wanted to watch it so we just had a house movie night in the living room. I had snagged 3 packets of jello from the free food box so I made that to share at the movie night, and the girl who lives in the house next to us brought over these delicious biscuits to share. Once again, I. Love. Saturdays.
On Sunday, we did our adventure activity for the week, and for that we went white water rafting. It was my first time going since it's not like there's many places in Champaign County to do that, so I was stoked. It was a level 5 with a 21ft. waterfall in it that we go down. That made me a tad nervous, but still stoked. We got suited up and headed down to the river, and I got put in a raft with 6 other students and a guide, who was super nice. It was a short course, but so much fun. We did this thing called "surfing" where after we had gone over a waterfall, we turned around and paddle straight into it and the water would crash into the front of the raft and push the raft outward. We ended the day with a trip to KFC and I got a free kitkat milkshake because the workers there were so overwhelmed with all the customers and accidentally made an extra. Choice.
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