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

Holiday Highlights

Hello!

The second term went really quickly, but was very busy.

Highlights of second term include: Purpose and Destiny lecture series, Deliverance course, Empowering Relationships lecture series, Garden Route Outreach, One Voice Comference, guitar lessons, drum lessons, vocal lessons, vision casting the album, and song writing.

We've officially started working on the album! Recording is next week. Here's a teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hNVGdawC4o&list=UUVHZTGjVJp_c9fVJvNdhBAQ
I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's why it's called a teaser. :)

After the term ended, holiday began! Here are some highlights of my vacation so far:

(From left to right) Josh, Armand, Herman, me, and Dooitze at a KGB church event. Yes, KGB. We dressed up in orange jumpsuits and war-paint. Then we chased 10-13 year-olds around a school and tried to catch them while speaking in Russian accents. If we caught them, we would take them to "jail", where they were "tortured" (fed weird foods, covered in flour, did pushups, etc.). There was even a real police van there! It was really fun! Great exercise! Unfortunately, there were several people in the neighborhood who didn't know what was happening. They called the police, saying, "These people need backup! The criminals in the orange jumpsuits are trying to catch children and the police aren't stopping them fast enough!"

And this is what happens if you try to steam spinich with a plastic strainer. 

One Saturday, I biked over to the Surf Masters' house, and spent the day with my freind Kayleigh (she's Canadian). We randomly decided to make sushi, so we walked to the store and found everything we needed--seaweed, avocado, salmon, rice, carrots, cucumber, and hoisen sauce. It was the equivilant of $9 each to make 10 sushi rolls each--much cheeper than going to a restaurant for the same amount of sushi! It was a lot of sushi. I ate it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Last week, a team of 14 of us from church drove down to LIV village--an orphanage near Durbin. It's actually less like an orphanage, and more like a village. I'll post a post on it after this one. This is the sunset. We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the kids for safty reasons, so I don't have a lot of pictures from my time there. But I do have a lot of memories. :)

On Saturday, we went to uShaka Marine World in Durbin. It was like a mini Sea World! Really fun. I definitely recommend it. They also have a water park, with Africa's tallest water slide!

Nemo in uShaka!

(From left to right) Jandre, Jenna, Kay, Zane, Dee, and I eating Bunny Chow--really spicy Indian food that you eat with your hands--just outside on uShaka water park. It was amazing! Durbin has the highest population of Indians in South Africa, so it was authentic.

Bunny Chow--nothing to do with bunnies.

 

(From left to right) Jandre, Dee, me, Mike, Michelle, and James in the Quantum (a van). We did a lot of driving. It was four hours from JBay to East London, and then eleven hours from East London to Durbin. Needless to say, we got really close--literally.

 

The sunset in East London (we stayed the night at a youth center there on the way driving back from Durbin).

The major highlight of my holiday so far was LIV village. Like I said, my next post will be about that.

It's funny, because althought it's technically winter holiday here, the temperature has mostly been in the 70's and 80's (Ferinheight)! A cold-front is starting to settle in, though, which means late 60's. It's raining now; I think I'm the only one in this house who likes rain. What can I say--I'm a Seattle-ite!

Will post soon!
Nad

Selfie!

I was supposed to post this last month, but for some reason didn't. Oops. I'll post it anyway. :)


Hello!


As busy as life gets, somehow I always find time to take a selfie... (That's ironic...)

Artistic!

My roommate Rachel and I at the beach

Selfie with a peacock! (at the campgrounds we stayed at for the One Voice conference)

I met and took a selfie with Paul Baloche! Well, kinda...

Grace and I at the One Voice conference

 

 

That's all I had. I will post something else soon.

 

Until next post,

Nad



 

 

It's a sign!

Hello!

I've seen some strange signs in my life, especially in Beijing. But some signs that I've seen here have taken randomness to a whole other level!

I saw this shop on the way back from Ado Elephant Park. At the park, there was a sign that said, "Yield for dung beetles!"

 

I found this on a bathroom door in a restaurant in St. Francis. The most creative interpretation of a hook I've ever seen!

This is another sign I saw in a bathroom, in George. Creative use of poetry, puns, and clipart!

I found Olaf in Capetown!

 

 

A restaurant in Stellenbosch with the name of a fish and the picture of a panda...

I think sometimes people get bored when naming trees.

 

The sign pretty much speaks for itself.

They have the strangest potatoes East London!

In other news:

• The One Voice conference was amazing! I learned so much about worship! It was interesting to see how guys who wrote amazing songs (Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown, Don Moen, Lenny LeBlanc) were so humble and focused on Jesus; then people who nobody had ever heard of were super prideful and focused on self. Really sad. My high-light was Aaron Keyes' workshop on Worship Fathers. Worship leaders lead songs, worship pastors lead people, but worship fathers lead family. You can find out more about him here: http://www.aaronkeyes.com/
• In previous years, Worship Academy has made a CD. Now that we have Media Academy, we are also making a DVD! This week, we vision casted the theme, product, and launch! By Monday we will know the theme, which is really exciting!

Prayer requests:

• Unity with each other and creativity while preparing for the album
• Diligence in studies

Until next time,
Nad

A picture says a thousand words

So... it's been a while. Today, I have officially lived in South Africa for 4 months! I can confidently say that Jeffrey's Bay is my home; the people here definitely feel like family. I do miss my friends sometimes, though, but that's what Skype and e-mailing are for! Also, thanks for everyone who's been sending me letters! It really means a lot!

Here's some pictures:

Living near the beach means a lot of sand! Everywhere! In my socks, in my shoes, in my guitar case (beach jam-sessions are the best!), on the bathroom floor, etc. I don't go to the beach everyday, though, especially since Winter is upon us!

And this is what my friends and I do for fun.

I went on outreach for two weeks with a team of fifteen, along the Garden Route. We shared our testimonies at schools, churches, and youth groups; played with kids in townships; and enjoyed God's beautiful creation!

On the way to Cape Town, the journey was just as pretty as the destination!

 

Selfie!

Cape Town!

Worship Academy is preparing for our CD recording next semester! We've been writing songs like crazy; so far we've recorded three demos!

I was licked by a cheetah!!!

 

 

:)

 

I'll try to post more pictures soon. We're going to a Worship conference next week, which is exciting.

 

Until next time,

Nad

 

Orientation--"You did what???"

Hello!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Life here is progressing quickly! It's been a month since Orientation ended, but I thought I would tell you about it anyway:

Orientation--the most intense thing I have ever paid money to do. We nicknamed it "Disorientation" because it really disorientated us. We didn't know where we were, we didn't know what we were doing until we did it, and no one was allowed to wear a watch, so no one knew the time (except the leaders, who set their watches inconsistently.) Here are a few highlights of each day:


Day 1:

• Intense wake up
• The leaders woke us up at 4am with firecrackers and shouting "URGENCY!!!"
• Dress code
• Everyone wore (and had to have with them at all times) a yellow bib, a rope, and a bandana with their team color. I was white; my bandana did not stay white for long, though. If someone forgot one of these items, everyone had to do 30 pushups.
• PT (physical training or painful torcher)
• We had our first PT session, which consisted of pushups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, squats, burpies, and running. I thought I was fit before this, but I was wrong. Every part of my body was sore, and my mind kept saying, "Give up! Give up!" We had to run up and down the road, but I convinced myself it was too far. My team had to actually carry me. It was a very humbling and embarrassing moment. The ten teams contained an average of ten people of different fitness and endurance levels; thus, we struggled with consistency and unity.
• A long walk and food
• We walked down the beach in our teams carrying long, thin sticks. We stopped for lunch (peanut butter and bovril sandwiches) and continued until we arrived at our campsite in time for dinner (unlabeled tin cans and rice).
• Camp
• The campsite consisted of bathrooms, sinks, a canopy, a place for the girl's tents, a place for the guy's tents, a campfire, and plenty of space to do PT.

Day 2:

• Morning
• A typical morning consisted of waking up before the sun, an intense PT session, and then a breakfast of Weetbix (my new favorite cereal).
• Pole and barrel challenge
• Each team received a clue which lead us to a slip of paper. Each paper represented a specific number of either poles or barrels. Then the team had to take the slip to the leader to collect the "reward" and receive another clue. Then the team had to carry the poles or barrels to the next location, return with another voucher, collect more supplies, and receive another clue until each team had 6 barrels (waist-high water barrels), 2 giant poles (think telephone poles), and 4 shorter poles (shorter, skinnier telephone poles). Our final destination was a lake. We used our ropes to tie the barrels to the poles, and then hoisted the poles onto our shoulders. After this day, our shoulders burned so badly.
• Fire challenge
• In the evening, after our tin-can supper, each team had to dig a fire pit in the campsite and start a fire using the following supplies: two thin boards, a fire-starting chemical powder substance, and a tampon. It is possible!

Day 3:

• Raft
• Using the poles, barrels, and ropes, each team constructed a raft, and raced them across the pond. Then we hoped on the rafts, floated them in the center of the lake, tied them together, and then stayed on them until they told us to come to shore. We ate dinner on the rafts. Then the sun went down, the stars came up, and people started to complain. So my friends and I started singing praise songs. Soon, no one could complain! I have no clue how long we waited on the raft, but it was probably close to five hours long.

Day 4:

• Morning off
• In the morning, the leaders gave us an opportunity to shower and wash our clothes! It gave us new appreciation for water and soap.
• Five challenges
• In the afternoon, each team took turns completing five challenges. They really challenged us to work together as a team and to communicate to each other.

Day 5:

• Hike
• We woke up and, instead of PT, shuffled into our vans. After a long drive, we arrived at a beautiful mountain. The next few hours consisted of hiking over hills, carefully crawling down steep declines, marching through forests, wading through rivers, and wandering down gravel paths. The view was breathtaking; God's creation is truly inspiring.
• Intense PT
• When we returned, we lined up in our teams. Each group carried a pole to a large field. We preceded to do PT in teams with the giant poles: holding the poles above our heads and doing squats, holding them while doing sit-ups, etc. After it was over (and we had all cried our eyes out), they let us know that Phase 1 ended, and Phase 2 would start shortly.

Day 6:

• Resort
• We climbed back into the vans and drove to a really nice campsite where we relaxed for the day. We played Ninja, walked along the beach, and took naps. In the evening we performed skits, and had a few laughs.

Day 7:

• Worship service
• In the morning, we had a very much-needed time of worship and praise. At the end we felt renewed and ready for another week.
• Different campsite
• After we packed up our stuff, we drove to a different campsite where we did a PT session and ate dinner. Then they had us return our bandanas and assigned us to new teams; but my team stayed the same except for one person.
• Night walk
• After dinner, each team received a map of the area, and then we raced to our original campsite. I don't know how long it took, but it was probably 2 to 3 hours. We read the map easily, kept a brisk pace, and finished in second place. The orange team lost their way, and ended up at the campsite less than two hours before PT started!

Day 8:

• Rafting again
• After breakfast, we broke off into two groups. My group took poles and barrels to a river, made a raft, and floated down the river. We stopped for lunch, and then pushed the rafts back up the river. Our teamwork had really improved since day one and our raft building skills had improved from day three; we encountered no major problems and completed the challenge effortlessly. 

Day 9:

• Obstacle course
• Following breakfast, we broke off into our two groups again. The other group did our activity from the day before, and we did their activity. We drove to an international school and used their obstacle course. First, two guys from each team went through, to get a feel for the course. Then one guy from each team had to complete the course as fast as they could. (Josh from our team won, with a time of two minutes and 30 seconds!) After that, anyone could try the course, so I tried it. It was fun! I felt like Jane from Tarzan.
• Water polo
• Since, the international school had a swimming pool, we put on our swimming suits (had to keep our bibs on, though) and played water polo! The water felt refreshing, and the chorine was a nice change from murky river water. It was also a good way to exercise our upper-body strength.

Day 10:

• Chill day
• In the morning, we drove to a nice place with a lake, a small island, a water slide, tire-swings, a lounge house, and a small pool. We attended two lectures about the vision and values of VGY, and were then free to enjoy the water.

Day 11:

• Intense PT
• PT started off like normal--pushups, sit ups, squats, etc. Then we jogged the Dairy Run--a 2 km run in just outside of the campgrounds--twice; usually we would run it once. After that, we continued PT. Then the PT instructor instructed each team to grab a pole and jog to a giant field. Then we did another set of PT with our huge poles. This time, we did twice as many types of exercises and the session lasted twice as long, but we were twice as prepared. At the end of the session, they announced that we completed Phase 2.
• Cleanliness is close to godliness (or something like that)
• They also announced that the next day we would attend church! This would be a very special service--vision Sunday. Because of this, they allowed us to clean our clothes and take showers.

Day 12:

• Vision Sunday
• We all arrived at church wearing our Sunday best--the cleanest/least smelly clothes we could find, our bibs, and ropes. Then they placed us throughout the church. A few people gave us weird looks, and other people (who knew what they were looking at) gave us words of encouragement. The message was about the theme for the year: One Name Alone. It really encouraged us, and prepared me for the week ahead.
• Dance-off
• After dinner, we gathered in our groups. One girl and one guy from each team volunteered to do a dance-off. Naturally, I wanted to do it. So my team chose me. The guys went first, and did various styles of dance to "I Don't Care". Meanwhile, a lot of the girls were having second thoughts--"What if they laugh at me?"; "I can't dance."; "I don't want to do this"; etc. But I was ready. When they guys finished their battle, the winner (Herman from Worship Academy) won a two-liter bottle of Coke for his team. Then we girls danced, and I totally rocked out! They played the Macarena, but I put my own special twist on it and started doing the worm. I also invented a few moves of my own--the chicken with no head, the caffeinated penguin, and the expressive jellyfish. I moved up to the next round, and we danced to "I Don't Care" (which is pretty much a song about being stupid. I don't recommend the non-radio-edit.). At the end, everyone had to vote through cheering. I totally dominated and won the Coke for my team! All I had to do was be myself.

Day 13:

• Walking, walking, walking!
• In the morning, we drove to a beach. Upon arrival, we ate breakfast. After breakfast, we walked along the sand two-by-two until lunch-time! Then the leaders gave each group a map, and announced we had to race home. Our group followed the path through brush and bush until we came to a wide, open field. Then we saw a wild boar and bushbuck literally 10 to 20 feet from us! There was also a baby bushbuck, which was really cute. We kept walking until we arrived to a fork in the road, and then turned right. We continued on until we realized we probably should have turned left. Instead of turning back, we consulted the map and then jumped a fence. Then we found a river, and followed it upstream until we reached our destination. Our team finished in third place. Then we climbed into a van and returned to the camp site where we chilled for the rest of the evening.

Day 14:

• Night walk part 2
• The leaders woke up extra early. The sky was pitch black. We had 5 minutes to pack up everything (but our tents) into our backpacks. Then they told us to hand in our bandanas. Due to nearly half of the students acquiring injuries, the teams had shrunk severely. So we were divided into 6 new groups of roughly 10 people each. This time I was put on the green team. I felt very out of my comfort zone with a new team, but I prayed that God would somehow help us bond. Then we walked back to the campsite where we started the first night walk. This time, though, all our groups walked together. We literally walked all night. Finally, we arrived at the camp as the sun was coming up. They let us unpack our sleeping bags, and we had 5 minutes of sleep before they woke us up for PT. Even though we were exhausted, we did a very good PT session--we worked as a team, persevered through, and encouraged one another.
• Cross challenge
• With our new teams, we took turns competing another team (team brown in my case) in three challenges. For our first challenge, we had an empty barrel (from the rafts), two empty water jugs, one short pole, and one shorter pole. First, each team was given a piece of paper, and had to write down the scriptures we had memorized during Orientation so far. Then we had to take the jugs down to the river, fill them up, bring them back to the water barrel, fill the water barrel, and repeat until each person had completed 5 trips. By then, the barrel was full. The first team to complete this had to pick two tools out of four provided: a shovel, a spade, a pick axe, and a long metal stick. We came in a close second, so the other team left us with the shovel and the long metal stick. Using our tools, we had to dig a hole deep enough for the big pole to fit inside, tie the two poles together to make a cross, fit the cross in the hole, and balance one of our water bottles on top! At first, we were like, "Uh, we have a stick. What do we do with a stick?" But then one of the leaders showed us how to work it, and we ended up digging faster with the metal stick than the other team did with the pick axe! (The pick axe swung at an angle, but our stick just went straight down, giving us an advantage.) We ended up winning and bond as a team in the process!
• Stretcher challenge
• For our next challenge, we walked down to the road for what seemed like forever, until we reached the middle of nowhere. Then we had to use the thin poles from day one to make a stretcher and carry someone from our team all the way back. This time, we came in a close second.
• Kayak challenge
• After lunch, our team and the brown team hopped in kayaks and kayaked around a river. It was so pretty! Once we reached an island area, we hopped out. The water had a layer of mud covering the bottom. Then the leader with us said, "Okay guys. You have ten minutes. Cleanest team wins. Ready? Go!" And we had a giant mud fight!!!! It was the best thing of the day!!!!
• Test
• After we dried ourselves off, we were each given a study guide based on the lectures from the tenth day. Forty-five minutes of (mostly) studying later, we took the twenty minute test. It was nice to take a break from physical activity and focus on mental activity. I have no clue how I did, though, because they still haven't told us our scores.

Day 15:

• Amazing race
• After a solid PT session and a quickly devoured breakfast, we all climbed into the vans and drove to Main Beach. Each team was given a clue which lead to a location, a challenge to complete, and another clue. The catch--unless necessary to complete a challenge, the whole team must be tied to each other with their ropes. We looked like prisoners with our yellow bibs, ropes, and backpacks! Not to mention that we hadn't showered in a week. That helped too. One student actually told someone that he was a prisoner, and that the tattoo on his arm was his cell number (it's actually his birth date). The lady started crying! Among the most interesting challenges were: two people from each team have to eat raw kidney and liver; someone has to help an elderly person across the street; a member has to give three strangers compliments; one person has to memorize the entire list of ice cream flavors available at Ninas; and the whole team has to use grass to create a wig for two members. Since the whole thing took place walking distance from our house, it was a great way to get to know the neighborhood. Unfortunately, our team took to long to find a location, so we finished last. Also, I had developed a really bad cough and was hacking the whole way. But I ignored it and pressed on.
• False hope
• After lunch, we walked for a long time on the beach, feeling very warn out, tired, and discouraged. When we arrived at our destination (the place where we did our first PT session), a bunch of people greeted us with cheering, applause, and general celebration. A lot of us thought it was over. However, following a long speech of encouragement to "press on" and "die to yourself", it was very clear to us that we had to keep going. We spent some time reading our Bibles, and
• Sandy night
• The "injureds" shuffled into vans and drove away, while us "abled" lined up in rows and started walking along the beach. I felt much lighter than before! During a water break, we started bursting into Phineas and Ferb songs, which pretty much made my life. When we finally arrived at our destination (the other side of a giant sand dune), we rolled out our sleeping bags on the sand and ate our tin-can dinner. Once the sun had completely set, we played a really fun game--two teams took turns sending people to grab a sleeping bag from the middle of a circle thing. That night, we fell asleep under the stars.

Day 16:

• Unified PT
• In the morning, we woke up, packed up our sleeping bags, and walked some more. We finally stopped at a nice flat patch of sand and dropped our backpacks to the ground. Then we did PT. This was definitely the hardest PT so far, but also the most unified. Even though we felt like giving up, we kept encouraging each other. We had come so far from the first PT session! 
• Quarry
• After breakfast, we walked (and walked and walked carrying our long sticks) to a quarry, where we were greeted by the PT instructor. He reminded us (with pushups) that we were getting sloppy and had to keep acting as a team. Then we were given 15 minutes to build stretchers with our sticks. Our team did our best we could. We were afraid that the person might fall off, but we ran out of time to fix it. Next, we all worked together and cleared the quarry. We actually had fun moving rocks and encouraging each other! And then we had another PT session. This time, we had to wear our backpacks--our heavy, bulky, annoyingly large backpacks.
• Coughing attack
• During the PT session, we had to run up and down the quarry. As a ran, I started coughing uncontrollably. Then I started losing my breath. Then I couldn't breathe! It felt like my lungs were collapsing. But I wouldn't let myself quit. Some leaders stopped me and slowed me down, helping me to catch my breath. I was crying and kept saying, "I don't want to let my team down!" After PT, we ran down the road carrying our empty stretchers. My breathing continued to worsen. A leader stopped me and tried to convince me to slow down, but I wanted to stay with the team. Eventually, a truck picked me up and gave me a lift, which I needed. Then it dropped me off and I a ran the rest of the way. I found out later that I actually made several leaders (grown men leaders) cry! They had seen how I had started (not wanting to continue the first day) and how I ended (not letting myself quit). The change was truly amazing. When I reached my destination, I was greeted by all the "injureds". Then we used our stretchers to carry one person per stretcher up a hill. There were a few times our person almost fell off, but in the end, the stretcher held. But it was very sketchy.
• Best news ever
• At the top of the hill, they told us that we would be staying at a resort for a day. Although exhausted, we were ready to keep going. But then, we received the best news of our lives: "Alight guys. You've done really well today. And I have the pleasure to tell you that Orientation 2014 is officially over!" We cheered! We laughed! We cried! We jumped up and down! We drank coke-a-cola! Everyone hugged everyone, and cried over everyone, and it was probably the happiest day of my life. Or at least one of the top five. Then on the count of three, we took off our yellow bibs and threw them in the air! We had graduated Orientation!

So that was a brief summary of the most insane 16 days of my life! It was hard, but the joy at the end made it all worth it. :)

Until next post,
Nadia

Picture update

Hello!

Orientation finished the day before Valentine's day; it was the most challenging 16 days of my life! I'll post a summary of my experience later. For now, here are a few pictures from my life here so far:

Chilling at the SeaTac airport

Chilling at the Frankfurt airport

Eating a frankfurter in Frankfurt! (Okay, so technically, it was more of a sausage...)

 

A few of us went for a morning jog around J-Bay and watched the sun rise

Posing with a surfboard

Attempting to surf (I stood up a few times, but I wouldn't call myself a natural)

My ginger friends! From left to right: Britt (from Colorado Springs, Leadership Academy), me, Alex (from Australia, Leadership Academy), Sarah (from SA, Worship Academy), Lauren (from SA, Leadership Academy).

For Valentine's Day, the guys in my house took us girls out to dinner for pasta and pizza.

Back row: Dooitze, Herman, Frikkie, Josh, Armand, and Willem-Paul.

Front row: Grace, Cerys, Sarah, Me, Marike, Callyn-Leigh, Rachel, Ledise, Cari, and Ludo

Missing: Sebastian, Obie

 

If you would like to see pictures of Orientation, check out VGY's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/victorygapyear/photos_stream

 

(No, I don't have a Facebook)

 

In other news:

 

• I finally watched the Lion King!!
•  I can't believe it took me 18 years to see it, but now I have. And I thoroughly enjoyed it! Although, I did find it extremely dark for a kids' movie. The songs were great, though, and the animation incredible! Even better: I watched it in Africa!
• I met Americans!
• At church yesterday, I met a group of Americans! They are part of a mission group who travels the world in 11 months. They were from all over the States--Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, California, etc. I told them I was from Seattle, and they said one of the guys in their group was from Seattle too! He wasn't with them, but he would be coming in the evening service. When I met him at the evening service, I found out that he's from Kirkland!!!!! Kirkland, WA!!!! Technically Juanita! 10 minutes away from where I live!!!! Also, he lived in Taiwan for two years and speaks Chinese! So that made my life.
• I received mail!
• When I arrived home from Orientation, I was greeted by a bunch of mail! Thanks to everyone who wrote me; it really means a lot! A special thanks to my friends at Crossroads Bible Church for bombarding me with a jillion notes! It made me feel super special.

I'm leaving for lectures now.

 

Have a great day!

 

Nad