All Good Things Must Come to An End!

Hello!


This is my final blog post!

On Saturday November 29th, I graduated VGY. It was an incredible night filled with awesome memories and final farewells--until the next day, when we did most of the graduation over again during church. My family came to watch me graduate, and it was really good to see them again! I hadn't seen them since January, so it was really weird, but in a good way. Both my sisters grew a lot, and I will probably be the shortest in a few years. Then we drove down to Cape Town, traveling along the Garden Route. After we returned to the States, we spent a week at home (in which time I had a job interview), before driving down to California to spend Christmas with my grandma. We returned two days before new year. The past few days has been catching up with friends, getting employed, applying for scholarships, and staying in contact with my friends around the world! Needless to say, the past few weeks have been very busy and an adjustment!


Here are some highlights:

 

I spent a lot of time at the beach the last few weeks, to make up for barely going to the beach at all during the third term. Summer was starting, so the weather was usually really nice. As my house dad always said, JBay is where wind is made! So it was always really windy. My friend Rachel and I laid down in the sand, and after a minute we were covered from head to toe!

 

 

The Wednesday before graduation, we did Paper Plate Awards as a house. We nominated 60 awards, and then voted who should win which award! It was a blast! Dooitze and I also won the Old Married Couple Award, because we argue on the most pointless things, but we're still best friends. I won the disaster kitchen award because of the time when I was cooking captain that we accidently made 4 kilos of rice and I decided to add peas and broccoli and some weird spices. It was really gross! We had so much left over that I served it for dinner too! And then I made a sauce and served it again the next day! Some people decided to fast. Some things you learn the hard way.

 

Left to right: Marike, me, and Cari

 

Graduation was an amazing night! I wore Marike's dress, which I liked because it's my favorite color (red) and was very comfortable. It was the first time most of my friends saw me in a dress! I've changed so much from the insecure tomboy I was in the beginning of the year to the woman of God I am now, realizing my identity is in Christ! I'm the daughter of the King! During the special awards ceremony, in which the receivers were voted on by students, I won the Crescendo award, for the most spiritual growth in Worship Academy. I didn't expect it, but it was a cool confirmation of the change that happened this year!

 

The theme of graduation was the same as our CD: Unshakable Kingdom. We performed two original songs from our album, and also had a time of worship. Josh lead the décor, and his team spent a lot of time decorating for the event.

Left to right: Annika, me, and Nicole

 

The car ride down the garden route was very long. It was a good bonding time, but it was weird being with my sisters again. They wouldn't stop talking! I got used to it after a while, though, and it was normal again. I'm thankful for our vacation time, to be able to integrate back into the family again in a neutral environment.

 

 

On our family vacation, we stopped at the place where the Indian ocean meets the Atlantic. It wasn't all that impressive, but I can say that I've been!

 

In Cape Town, we visited the Two Oceans Aquarium and saw a lot of cool creatures, including mantis shrimp, giant spider-crabs, six-gilled hag fish, sharks, and penguins! It was a great aquarium and I definitely recommend it.

 

We drove back from Cape Town to Jeffreys Bay in 7 hours! For dinner, we ate at Ocean Basket. It recently opened over Spur. It has good food and a nice view over the ocean. Early in the morning before we left, I went to the beach one last time. It was really peaceful. I miss JBay, but am excited to see what God has in store for me next!

 

My ticket from PE to Jo'burg was upgraded to business class! It was so nice! My flight from Jo'burg to DC was really long (around 19 hours), but I ended up sitting next to a guy my age who had just finished his gap year in South Africa. We had a ridiculous amount of things in common! It was so cool.

It's been a crazy year! I hope you enjoyed my blog! I will probably not be blogging again any time soon, but I did enjoy it while it lasted. As they say, all good things must come to an end. That's just part of life.

Have a fantastic year!
Nad

Term Four and a Little Before

Hello!

The forth term is moving along quickly; we have four more weeks until graduation! This year has gone by so fast, but so much has happened! This term has been less busy than most, although that will change soon when graduation takes up all of our focus. Highlights so far have been the Rise Fest in East London, worship lectures, chilling at the beach, boogie boarding, and Solitude week.

The highlight of my holiday was the surf trip:

From left to right: Dee (South African, Leadership Academy), me, Grant (Canadian, Leadership Academy), Hannah (American, Surf Masters), Rachel (Canadian, Surf Masters), Frank (Dutchie, Surf Masters). We went with Carl, a surfer from Surf Life who did VGY a few years ago. We spent our first day driving to Vic Bay in George and surfed there for a bit. It's a nice spot! Then we camped for the night. I went surfing as soon as I woke up--for two hours! It was really fun. I'm still a beginner, but I enjoyed it.

We stayed in a guest house on the beach near Mossel Bay. Some days we surfed right outside our house, and other days we drove to surf spots. The first few days I stuck to foamies--waves just after they break. After I had figured out how to stand, Carl showed us beginners how to ride face-waves--waves as they're breaking! I don't totally have the hang of it yet, but it was fun trying. One day we went body boarding, which is like surfing but on a smaller board, and you don't stand. If you ever have the chance to body board, I totally recommend it (if you are a confident swimmer)!

Surfing a foamy.

 

 (left to right) Dee, me, and Grant

 

It was a blast!

 

In other news:

• Last week was Solitude week--basically the next best thing to Matthew 4. We lived in the woods for a week without technology, built our own shelter, and spent most of day in solitude. For food, we were given an apple, banana, carrot, and potato--each day. It was the closest thing I've ever experienced to true hunger. I learned a lot about being content (Philippians 4) and relying on God's strength. I literally spend the whole day with God! It was amazing!
• Yesterday, I took my Rock School Exam. I did electric guitar, grade 8. I had to play a few scales, take a few ear-training tests, play a technical exercise, learn and perform a quick-study piece, and play three songs (one samba, one rock, and one metal). It went well! I could have done better, but I'm confident that I passed. It takes a lot of pressure off having it done!
• Two weeks ago, as a fund-raiser, Leadership Academy had a Country Fresh Market in the mall. They sold baked goods, lemonade, pancakes, hotdogs, and had live music. A few of us from Worship Academy and my friend Alex (my twin) played jazz music for an hour. It was really fun!

Until next time,

Nad

The Kingdom Came!

Our CD is available on iTunes!!!! http://itunes.apple.com/album/id920272411

Hello!!!

The last week was the CD launch/production! It was definitely one of the highlights of my whole year! So much work was put into it, and the result was insanely awesome!

 

Celebrating Generation: (left to right) Josh on electric guitar, Frikkie on electric guitar, Sebastian on snare drum, me on acoustic (I'm kinda hidden, but I'm there...), Marike on background vocals, Rachel on background vocals, Armand on drum kit, Callyn Leigh on lead vocals, WP on the bass, Dooitze on keys, Herman on keys, Obi on keys. This was a really fun song to do live! Callyn Leigh rocked it!! Everyone was clapping along and smiling all was well with the world.

Before the big night, we put in a lot of work behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly and create an "Unshakable Kingdom" vibe.

 

 

 The giant letters were made out of cardboard boxes, paper-mached, and painted white. I paper-mached the U and the H! We were going to make a "Kingdom" too, but ran out of materials. It all worked out in the end, though, because "Unshakable" was huge and it fit the whole stage.

 

 

Our posters were all sponsored! We hung them up all over town wherever we could, and still had some left over. We also had a bunch of papers to decorate the room with; you can probably guess which side of the billboard I decorated. (the left side. the right is a bit too... uniform)

 

The street sign polls were made with pvc pipe, spray painted with silver spray paint! The signs themselves are cardboard with paper glued on top. We're fancy. The "urban eats" sign refers to the coffee shop that catered for us. They had amazing brownies.

 

The backdrop was made with 16 giant panels of sheet cardboard. Each panel was cut, painted, and hung up individually! Needless to say, it was much faster to take down than to put up.

 

Sarah did my makeup and hair for the night. This is me right before the show...

 

...And after! So much work went into it, but it went by so fast!

 

 

For more pictures of the launch: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.954096681273630.1073741922.158045144212125&type=1

The documentary of the project is on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTfmPJo-GTM&feature=share

And, as always, you can stay updated on what we're doing at VGY on the VGY Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/victorygapyear


In other news:

• This week, I went on a surf trip down the garden route! It was a blast! I do a post on that soon. Hopefully.
• Next week, we go to East London and do our Unshakable Kingdom production there! Yay!

Until next time,
Nad



 

Enjoying Life!

Hello!

I'm really enjoying life! The Unshakeable Kingdom Project is closer to completion, I'm studying for Rock School exams (electric guitar, grade 8), the weather is becoming warmer (and windier), my music lessons (drums, guitar, vocals) keep me busy and challenged, and God is good!

Here's more things I'm enjoying:

 

1. God's beautiful creation!

I feel very lucky and blessed to live in Jbay. The sunrises are breathtaking, the stars are really bright, and the ocean is right there.

2. Photo shoots

We had a photoshoot for our album! It took a few hours to take three pictures. Despite a lot of waiting and posing, it was a really neat experience. I also quite enjoyed being a hipster!

3. The weather

Winter is coming to an end and summer is almost here! It's become increasingly warm, and very windy! Nice weather for walking, biking, chilling on the beach, etc.

 

 

4. Lekker Braai!

(left to right) Marike, Sarah, Armand, me, WP, Josh, Frikkie, and Cari

Today, we had a braai (South African barbecue) near the beach for lunch, complete with steak, potato salad, garlic bread, and guacamole! Yum!

 

5. The beach

Before we ate, we went down to the beach and watched the surfers. The waves were huge! I don't surf, but it's really fun to watch.

 

6. Being ginger!

 (left to right, back to front) Sarah, Alex, me, Matthjis, and Lauren

 We had a Ginger Tea Party! We ate ginger pudding, apple crisp, strawberries, honey crullers, and cheddar Pringles, washing it all down with ginger beer and ginger tea! We discussed the benefits and struggles of being redheaded, our hair-itage, and the truth behind the stereotypes. It was a blast!

We made the blondes and brunettes jealous. =P

 

 

In other news:

• We got 9 out of 10 songs on our album back from mixing, and they sound fantastic!!!
• I've officially lived in South Africa for seven months! We only have three months left!!! I'm trying to make the most of every moment.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere) or the rest of your winter (if you live in the Southern Hemisphere)!

 

Until next post,

Nad



Unshakable Kingdom!

Hello!

The Unshakable Kingdom project is running at full force! Here's a promo video that we released today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpJYMA17pUc&feature=share

If you could share the video with your friends, that would be great! We're trying to spread the word as much as possible about the Unshakable Kingdom. :) Thanks!

Here's a teaser we released last month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9GL-x__qNM

We also have an instagram: http://instagram.com/unshakablekingdom2014

And you can follow VGY on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victorygapyear

Also, they've updated the VGY student page! http://victorygapyear.co.za/students/meet-the-students.html
Keep in mind that these pictures were taken at the very beginning of the year, and everyone has changed a lot. Especially me. My haircut in the picture is horrible.

It's been a busy journey so far, but I've enjoyed it immensely! Here's a bit of my experience so far in picture form:

I feel like a rock star! We have a jam room at our VGY campus that we've converted into a recording studio. There's a sound-proof-ish booth there that was originally designed for drums, but we use it to record voice-overs for the documentary, film, and promo-clips. One day, Dooitze and I were bored, so we recorded our own radio show!

The recording of the CD happened at a recording studio in Humans Dorp. A guy with have connections with has his own private studio in his house that he lets us use every year! We are really blessed! I had the privilege of recording both guitar tracks and background vocals. It was a really cool experience!

Lourens (on the left) is my house dad. He's in charge of making sure the CD sounds good--arranging, editing, and producing the album. It's a lot of work, but he's very good at it! He was a part of WA their first year (2005) while this studio was being built! Obi (on the right) is an insane pianist! He's really into jazz and gospel--and he's really good at it! I'm really excited to hear his tracks. There are three other pianists on the album, and each has a different flair.

There was a lot of chilling at the studio. As part of the documentary team, Herman took pictures on an expensive camera; Armand took videos on his phone because he's Armand. He has hundreds of phone-videos on his laptop that Rachel and I watched while waiting. We got in trouble for laughing so hard! My favorite one was of Frikkie trying to flip a pancake--but it lands on his face!

This is a very sound-proof room where they keep the drum kits. It's so sound-proof, I was able to jam on the drums while they were recording piano!

 

 

The drum kit is massive and there are so many things you can do with it! Unfortunately, it belongs to the owner of the studio and if we touch it we get in huge trouble. So we brought and used our own (the one on the left). We have two drummers on the album--Armand and WP. Both have been playing for over 7 years and are insane! In the promo clip, they're the two guys who are interviewed together; WP is the one who says my favorite line at the end. The other guy who's interviewed in the video (with the amazing afro) is Sebastian (or Sebass or Seabass or C-bass or Fluffy); he's our gifted rapper.

Driving to the studio took at least a half an hour each way, but it wasn't too bad, because the drive was always beautiful! But there were a lot of dirt roads, which meant a really dirty van at the end of the week.

This is our jam studio! I popped in today to watch Ludo record her Spoken Word. She's an amazing writer!



So this is my life right now! I'm on the documentary team, and it's really busy filming people working, filming people filming, editing promo clips, filming people brainstorming, interviewing, filming in general, and sifting through the footage for usable material.

In other news:

• Leadership returned safely from Zambia yesterday! We'll hear about their adventures tomorrow morning after worship. For more about how that went and pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zambia-2014-Missions-Trip/1494509470780576
• The Call Conference was amazing! I wasn't able to attend the morning sessions, due to recording, but the night sessions were fantastic! Here's a short video on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4I3IWn5aEk&feature=share
• I have a list that a few people made for me of 200 "must-see" movies. I'm not going to watch all of them (127 Hours, Shutter Island, World War Z), but so far I've seen 31 of them in the past 6 months including the Lion King, Forrest Gump, Hunger Games 1 and 2, Inception, Beauty and the Beast, Surf's Up, and Grease. Some of them were amazing, some of them were just meh. Needless to say, I'm taking a break from watching movies for a while...
• We have three weeks to finish this project! Please pray for unity as we work with Media to release our very best.

I hope you have a great rest of your week and a restful weekend!

Until next post,
Nad

Sunrise, Sunset

Hello!

Of all the places I've been in the world, South Africa boasts of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen! All these pictures were taken with my phone's camera, without any filters. Enjoy!

Sunset over the Valley of Desolation in Graaf Reinet

 

Sunrise over Graaf Reinet

Sunset over Summerset West

 

 Same sunset, half an hour later!

Sunrise from the street outside my house

Sunset over the ocean in Capetown (behind me is Table Mountain)

Sunset from our van's window on the way to East London

Sunset in JBay from Victory Christian Church

Sunset in JBay from VCC

Sunrise in JBay

 

 

In other news:

 

• We started recording our CD--Unshakeable Kingdom! We've laid down the drum, keys, and piano tracks so far. Vocals will be recorded next week. This week, we've been working on the pitch, pronunciation, harmonies, and accents with our vocal trainer so we'll be ready to walk in and record. Please pray for our voices! A few of us are getting over colds. It's winter! Oh the joys!
• The Call youth conference is happening at church this week! http://the-call.co.za/ Pray for hearts to be opened and ears to hear the message.
• Leadership Academy is preparing to drive to Zambia next week for their outreach! It's a 4 day drive!

 

Until next time,

 

Nad

 

 



LIV Village

Hello again! Wow, three posts in one day! That's some kind of record for procrastinators everywhere!

Here's a brief summary of my time at LIV village last week. It was an incredible experience, and I'm really glad I had the chance to go!

Sunday--
Our team left JBay at 1pm, and drove to East London. Around 7pm, we arrived at a youth center in East London, where we stayed the night. There were 14 of us-- one media student (Jenna), three leadership students (Calvin, Sarah, and Luke), four second year students (Mike, Matty, Jandre, and Ruth), one third year student (Zane) a guy from the church (James) and his American girlfriend (Michelle), two leaders (Stephan and Sabina), and me. Michelle is from Kansas and speaks Chinese! We had great conversations. She looks Chinese, but has never lived in China; I'm the opposite. All week, kids would ask her if she was Chinese, and I would confuse them by responding in Chinese!

Monday--
We woke up early and left the youth center at 5:30am. Then we drove all day, arriving at LIV just before dinner. We met two volunteers, Kim and Megan, who helped us out during the week. They're from Arkansas! Dee (LA2) and her sister Kay (LA last year) drove down from where they lived two hours away, and joined our team. Then Kim and Megan gave us a quick tour. LIV has a very unique setup--it's a village, not just a house. There are clusters of houses, 5-6 in a cluster. There are 3-6 kids in each house. Each house has a 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living space. Each house also has a mother. There are just over 100 kids now; they're expanding. The village also contains several playgrounds, classrooms, a hall, a tennis court, and a giant field. The volunteers live in the back in the same style houses. Our group stayed in three of them. Food was provided all week; we took turns being on cooking team and scullery.

Tuesday--
After breakfast at 7am, we met with Tich, the founder of LIV. It was neat to hear his heart behind the village and vision for the future. Then we started with holiday club. There were maybe 50 or so kids there. In the morning we did worship, icebreakers, and field games. I lead worship with Matty, but it was awkward because I didn't know what songs the kids knew, and picked ones they didn't know. In the afternoon we broke off into 5 different clubs. I lead a music club. Unfortunately, we forgot to begin the day with prayer, so we were very stressed and confused and self-focused. While the morning went okay, the afternoon did not. Kids didn't listen, fights broke out, and crying ensued. That night we got together with the LIV volunteers for dessert and fellowship.

Wednesday--
We started the day with worship and prayer, which really made a difference. Then we filled water balloons for an hour. The morning activity was water--bouncy waterslide for the little kids, and water balloons+slipinslide for the older kids. The afternoon camps went very smoothly, because this time the kids picked which one they wanted, instead of being assigned.

Thursday--
The morning activity was more like the first day, but much smoother. We knew the kids at this point, and I knew what songs they knew. In the afternoon, a Christian school group came from Jo'burg and did a program for the kids. That night, we broke off into groups of 3. Each group went to a different house for dinner. I was with Mike and Dee. The house we went to had 6 kids--ages 13, 11, 10, 7, 6, and 3; four boys, two girls. The mom had her hands full! We had a delicious meal, good fellowship, and then prayed for the family. Neat experience! Later that night, we got together with some volunteers and had an awesome worship session.

Friday--
In the morning, we gathered in the hall for worship with the volunteers. Then we were privileged to spend time with Tich. The morning holiday club comprised of worship, a skit, and then a water slide. We had the afternoon off, so I took a nap. Then we visited Pastor Andre and his family in their vacation home. They also drove down with us. The family had been on vacation while Pastor Andre was in meetings. Had a lekker braai (delicious barbecue)!

Saturday--
Saturday was our fun Durbin day! We went to uShaka Marine World and water park. They have a really cool aquarium that's designed to look like a shipwreck. The water park was really fun! They have over 10 water slides, including Africa's tallest water slide (which I call "The Weggie Machine")! I definitely recommend uShaka! I also bought a zip-up hoodie (because I forgot to bring any sort of jacket). For lunch, we had really spicy Indian food. Very good!

Sunday again--
In the morning, half of us went to Harvest church (a sister-church of Victory), and half (including me) went to LIV's service. Worship was mostly in Zulu; the sermon was in English and translated. Really neat experience! Mike and Dee gave their testimonies. The message was about "I will make you fishers of men". For the evening service, we went to Harvest. Pastor Andre gave the message on Elisha and Elija. After that, we went to the mall. Then Pastor Andre said that one of the pastors at Harvest had blessed us with money to spend--50R per person! That was a cool blessing. When we got home, we cleaned the houses and hung out with the volunteers.

Monday again--
Woke up at 4:30am, left at 5am, drove all day, arrived at the Youth Center late afternoon. After dinner, we hooked up Stephan's computer to the projector system and put our mattresses out on the floor and had a movie night. We watched Ocean's 11 and 12. I fell asleep during the second one.

Tuesday (yesterday)--
We left at 8 yesterday morning and drove all day, arriving in Jeffreys around 1pm.

For more about LIV, check out their website--http://www.liv-village.com/

Until next post,
Nad