Autumn Half Term, Part 1

If you're visiting my blog for the first time, click here to see what I'm doing this year!

Word Comparison:
English: rubber. American: eraser.
The first time a child asked me for a rubber, I almost had a heart attack!
English: pants. American: underwear
Don't compliment people's pants. They'll either laugh at you or think you're incredibly rude.

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on my blogging; so much has been happening! My apologies about the length of this blog.

Colchester Castle

Two Wednesdays ago was rehearsal for Boxted Methodist Silver Band. Finally beginning to read treble clef! (a little bit) There is actually a song we played that I could read the whole piece of music except for one phrase! WOOT!
Thursday, I met with Colchester Youth Outreach (CYO) in the morning for a prayer and planning meeting. They're a great bunch of people :) We talked about the possibility of me going into one of the secondary schools this year to work with the kids! We'll see how this pans out. Thursday evening was the Point youth club, and we made paper mache globes and talked about creation!

On Friday, we had the Edge youth group, and we had a lovely evening of worship and prayer. We sang some of the songs we are considering using for our contemporary worship after the new year, to get a feel for the songs we'll be playing soon :) We also took turns reading prayers and scripture, and doing activities in between! We did stone washing, where you write your sins/fears on stones with chalk pastels then wash them off, symbolically washing your sins away! This is an idea that Heidi suggested and we did during worship at our last TFG conference, and I decided to use it with my kids :) Also, we did watercolour psalms, where we read a psalm and painted our interpretation onto watercolour paper. The pictures that came out of this were absolutely beautiful, and many of the kids gave me their paintings! I will have such a beautifully decorated room by the end of the year :D

Kathleen and I pointing to the Roman tiles

On Saturday, Kathleen came to visit me! :D :D :D We cooked lunch together, then went into Colchester and walked around the town! Colchester is the oldest recorded town in all of the UK, and has a big stone wall surrounding the town, though it's crumbling. The wall was rebuilt sometime this millenium, but still has red Roman tiles from the original wall which was built around 0 AD! When Jesus walked the earth! Gah :D We also went to Colchester Castle, and saw some pieces of the oldest mosaic in the UK!

The Inn at Stratford St Mary

Afterwards, we looked around the shops in the town, including a music store where I bought tuba sheet music! and a charity shop (like a thrift store in America, but smaller, better organised, with better things) Kathleen and I both got new jackets for under 10 quid! We then went to Dedham for cream tea! Dedham's Essex Rose tea shop definitely has the best cream tea, which Kathleen confirmed. We drove down to the river, and saw a bunch of mallard ducks as well as a swan sitting in the middle of a car park! Swans are so mean weird. I then gave Kathleen a little tour of our two villages! I think she enjoyed the sprawling English countryside.



When we got home, Kathleen asked to play the tuba! :D :D :D Girl after my own heart. It's hard to explain how to play the tuba, and even if you can explain it, it's hard to do something you've never done before! It was totally fun though, and Kathleen did a great job! She even played different octaves, and I helped her play a Bb major scale! She's a true musician :) Patsy-Ann made us supper when we got home, and then we had a game tournament! We played mastermind, boggle, some pig game, and an intense game of Checkers! Luckily, Kathleen got impatient and I won! She's a better checkers player than I am, so I was very excited to win ^_^

On Sunday, I took Kathleen to church! I was happy that she got to meet my church family :) When I introduced her to Rev Tim, he immediately recognized her, because she had been initially placed in my placement, but had to be moved because Langham and Boxted weren't sure they could take on another volunteer this year! Once they did solidify the need for a volunteer, they were given me. Poor guys :P

Canoeing! Kathleen, Becky, and Lawrence

We went to my buddy family, the Sheils, for Sunday dinner afterwards. We had a bite to eat, and then since it was Lawrence's birthday, I took Kathleen, Becky, and Lawrence to the river for CANOEING! We had soooo much fun!! I was a little worried at first because Lawrence was talking about flipping the canoe and going for a swim, but he stayed still the whole time! And no one seemed to like it much when I rocked the canoe... I thought it was fun! XD

Patsy-Ann helped us strap the canoe onto the roof of her car, and we went to Stratford St Mary and canoed to Dedham, then turned around and came back. I sat in the back and steered, Kathleen was in the front paddling, and the kids sat in the middle and behaved well ^_^

Swans closing in, Cygnets behind them

We passed a bunch of fishermen, and also some swans and cygnets (baby swans). If cygnets are around, swans get very territorial and will attack you. We came very close to this happening...  I steered us to the other side of the river, but the swans came over and ruffled up their feathers and came less than a foot from the back of the boat where I was sitting. It freaked me out! Luckily, we got the heck out of dodge and when we passed the second time, they were gone. Thankfully! Near the end, Kathleen and Becky switched and Becky got a turn to paddle!

Having a blast canoeing!

After canoeing, we went back home and had Sunday roast at the Sheils, and it was soooo good! Kathleen doesn't have a buddy family in her placement and I think we need to sort one out for her. I have no idea where I'd be without mine! After dinner, Kathleen headed back home. Totally wish she could've stayed longer, but I'm so glad she visited and can't wait til she visits next :)

Linda feeding an eager goat, Lawrence taking a photo

On Monday, the Sheils took me to Jimmie's Farm which was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! We got to see and pet a bunch of different animals like pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, emus, turkeys, peacocks, rabbits, hamsters, etc.

Becky and Dominic on our nature walk

We also went into a butterfly garden, we went on a nature walk, got food, looked at the farm shop, and Becky and Lawrence got wax hands made. It was such a great afternoon!

Then in the evening, the Sheils took me to see Despicable Me in Colchester with the Butlers! It was a pretty cute movie. I still cannot wait til Harry Potter comes out, though :)

Afterwards, we went back to the Sheils for a casserole dinner! Linda makes the best beef. Seriously. Sooo tasty.

Afterward supper, we played charades which was brilliant! The kids were so silly acting out their parts, but the adults were a whole other form of hilarity. Seriously, they were just... indescribably funny. It was spectacular getting the families together for supper, such a fun bonding experience!

Honestly, after a brilliant prayer service with the kids at youth group on Friday night, shopping, exploring and tea with Kathleen on Saturday, canoeing and Sunday roast with Kathleen and the Sheils on Sunday, and Jimmie's Farm, Despicable Me, supper and charades with the Sheils and Butlers on Monday, it was like the best 4 days ever! I don't know if I could have had a better time. I hope everyone can experience such joy from work and friendship as I have :D