summer..what is that?!

So it feels a bit unusual..because every year at home I look forward to summer..and then parachute (a music festival where you tent and hangout and get sunburnt most of the time but its flipping amazing)..and always before parachute I go around to Chrissy's house and highlight every thing we are going to see..and go over EVERY possible detail we will ever need to know for our 3 day stay in a tent..and then me and Esther usually start an orderly list of what we will cook (as we usually end up cooking for a load of boys who just so happen to be around at dinner time every night) and then decide exactly the best place to pitch our tent..and this year this is all happening without me..
But my mum is coming tomorrow which makes me so excited
and its not TOO cold today
and i love the kids that i work with
and im going to london for a long weekend this weekend
and apparently im ghetting better at football
and God is amazing

more later
x

staff conference.

This was amazing. SO GOOD. Not only did we get to stay in a castle that had been converted into a hotel that served 3 course meals..But the seminars and the teachings were just AMAZING...there is so much that really hit home about it..and I got to see friends and make new ones...so exciting..

a new kind of new year.

A new year always seems to give me the 'tingles' which is the only word that I can use to describe the feeling I get when I think about a whole year stretched before me..It is a similar feeling to that of the one I get in the spring..the fresh air and the knowing that summer and the warmth is getting closer and closer..the excitement and anticipation of what summer is going to bring..what will happen and what I will do..and I think this is so appropriate for the new year..
Ive never really gotten into the fuss of the new year..I have in the past just seen it as time going by as it always has with us not being able to do anything about it..But as I looked over 2008 I found myself thinking, and knowing, that I have never had a year quite like this one..I have never had a year with such new-ness and adventure than 2008...and this has seriously stirred something up in me for 2009..It is as if I look into this next year expecting more..But I just dont seem to know what that MORE is..
I even found myself at 2am on New Years morning, after all the hype of the countdown and fireworks had subsided, with this excitement and this determination that this year can be so full of dreams that actually become a reality, that this year there will be so many new opportunities that I can take up...and this led me to write down a few things that I will put effort into doing this year..not so much resolutions but improvements...dreams, thoughts and goals..as I called the list...

I hope to be nice to people I dont know. Strike up conversations with strangers. I wont limit my dreams and goals because I know that things that we find impossible CAN happen. Find at least one exercise that I enjoy. Smile more. Put more effort into keeping in contact with friends. Look out for opportunities where I can be of help. Take time out to think and ponder. Take risks. Make the most of each day and sieze every opportunity. Keep up to date with whats happening in the world And most of all I am going to give each day to God and let him do with it as he wishes.

I expect big things from this year. I know it will be amazing. I just have that tingly feeling. I don't want to look back on this year and see it as just another year.

Welcome 2009.

A different kind of Christmas..

This year Christmas was nothing like I have ever had before..but it was new and amazing all the same..I family hopped..to Gillingham, then to Cambridge..then to Reading..new faces and places everywhere..and more chilly outlook on Christmas than Ive had before..as in the weather got below freezing..no sun and salads on Christmas day for me..It was roast meals, cups of tea and copious amounts of uno this year..
It started in Cambridge, after dragging my tons of luggage through the London stations up stairs and everywhere, I met up with my friend Bee and we adventured the last leg of the journey to Cambridge together...I'm pretty much a pro at the public transport system in England now...I just hop on the trains and they take me where I want to go..haha Although there is definitly still the initial fear once hopping on a train that I have in fact hopped on the wrong train and will be whizzing somewhere that I dont know how to get back from..It is yet to happen to me though..lol

HIGHLIGHTS OF CAMBRIDGE:

• The cute carol service we went to on the first night we were in Cambridge: Dans mum was in a choir so we went to see them perform..The event of the night however was someone in the front row of the choir fainting halfway through the performance..She was fine but it was definitely eventful haha Also this is when I realised as long as I am in England I will be introduced as 'This is Jess. Shes from New Zealand..' haha in case people mistook my glamourous accent for some kind of secluded English town accent..lol
• The German Festival: It just so happened that a German festival had come to town while we were staying there...It would be rude of us not to check it out..lol They sold amazing hats with ear flaps that look straight out of a Russian film..and reindeer skins? I was trying so hard not to tell the kid next to the stall that rudolph wouldnt be pulling the sleigh this year haha I have realised also that the funiest thing to do is watch people ice skating..the expressions and the classic arms flailing as they whizz around the rink trying to maintain balance haha
• Cueing up for over 6 hours to see a choir performance on Christmas Eve: So Dan and I decided that we should go and see a choir performance at the Kings chapel as it is apparently broadcast all over the world and is amazing..The thing was people had been cueing for 4 days to get tickets and a guy even travels over from America every year for it...me and dan just rocked up on the morning of the performance and ended up cueing for 6 hours..But we were succesful! and it was so nice..So eery being in this warm cathedral with amazing choir music and candlelight..Once in a lifetime opportunity..Such an amazing way to spend Christmas eve..
• The amazing welcoming of the Droy family: It was so lovely being so far away from home on a usually family occasion and just being so warmly welcomed into a family..They got me presents and Dans Nanna knitted me a wooly hat...and it was just so amazing..! We spent Christmas morning at church..then had a roast lunch with Dan, his mum and dad, and his nana and Grandad (who are just so lovely) and then we spent the day watching classic christmas films and playing uno...so relaxed and nice..

I was so lucky to have such a good Christmas..and even though I couldnt help but miss home it was just such an amazing time..
Im about to pop off to the seaside with my host family..I am so lucky!
I'll tell the rest of my adventures later..
xx