Word Comparison:
British: chunter. American: mutter/complain.
Example: What's that ol' nutter chuntering on about now?
British: whinge. American: whine.
Kids are excellent whingers, teens are expected to decrease their whinging as they mature, and adults that whinge are called Whinge Buckets!
At the beginning of April, our parish had it's annual Week of Prayer, which involves 4 prayer times each day for a week (9am, 1pm, 5pm, 8pm) with each session lasting about 20 minutes. This year's Week of Prayer was fantastic! It was a great way to join together with God and one another outside of the normal Sunday morning service. Everyday there were different members attending, and it was excellent to pray with one another. The Edge youth group fell on the 8pm slot on Friday, and we joined in! It's so refreshing to hear young people pray :)
At a ministry team meeting, the ministry team was given the opportunity to speak during the Good Friday Service, and I did a short reflection on the thief on the cross next to Christ. I was so nervous but it went well! I have been given the opportunity to give a sermon in July, and I thought this would be good practice for that.
For Easter, I was invited to have lunch with Colin and Ann Jones, an elderly couple in the village, and met their family that came to visit from around the country. It was very fun, with a lovely Sunday roast and a beautiful walk in the countryside afterwards. The day after Easter, the Butlers brought be to a Colchester United football game! It was so good to see a professional soccer game, and to experience English football with the Butlers and the Sheils :)
And of course, I can't forget the royal wedding! It fell a day after my 23rd birthday which was the same day as my buddy sister, Becky's, 13th birthday, and two days after my buddy dad, Dominic's, birthday! The Sheils threw a royal wedding viewing party and luncheon afterwards, and we celebrated English style! Also that morning, the Sheils took me to stroke and feed a baby lamb called Burt. He was adorable and so cute and I almost died with happiness!
The next day, I took Becky and Lawrence into London for Becky's birthday. We went to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham palace and Docklands Museum and the Natural History Museum and Hamley's Top Shop and had lunch at my friend Edwin's flat. It was a stunning day!
Our next big program with the Edge youth group is our weekend away at St Mark's College up near Saffron Walden, which should be great! My goal for the youth that weekend is really to bond as a family, a support group, which will bring them into a closer relationship with God. We're planning up a storm! Keep us in your prayers, please!
Farewell :)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March Updates
British: knackered
American: exhausted
This is such a descriptive word, because you simply can't say the word 'knackered' without feeling the full weight of it. A few hours digging in the garden, an evening with the youth group at Solid Remix, an afternoon of football with the boys, and you will be completely knackered.
British: plonk
American: cheap wine
Example: Some people take the ferry to France because there's no tax on alcohol, so they can get good French wine at plonk prices.
Save that bottle of plonk for the next time we need cooking wine.
Hey! It's been a bit since I've last posted, so I thought I'd run through the most significant things that have happened since my last post, after the TFG conference in Wales.
First things first: My CRB check came through! Which means I can now work in both Primary School in the villages (Boxted and Langham Primary). Now, I volunteer at Langham Primary on Wednesdays and Fridays, and at Boxted Primary on Mondays and Thursdays, during lunch time and at break afterwards. I spoke with the head teacher of Boxted Prim and she asked about anything else I'd like to do with the school or ways I'd like to work with the kids, so I might start tutoring as well :) Very exciting!
Solid Remix: We took the Edge youth group to Chelmsford Cathedral for Solid Remix, an event for all the CofE youth groups in the Chelmsford diocese. It was sooo much fun! Solid Remix had a bunch of different activity stations, like music circles, relay races, a bouncy castle, art projects, etc. There was also a time of worship and a sermon in the middle of the program, while we were eating dinner. All in all, it was brilliant!
Connect Contemporary Worship: We had our first Connect Contemporary Worship on 6th March! Connect worship is something that's been in the making for about 5 months now. When I first got to England, the kids were really interested in going to the local contemporary worship service in Colchester called St Johns, and we went about every other week for months. This is something the youth were really passionate about, so we organized a contemporary service created and run by the youth and their families! We now have a worship band, and our service centered around connecting with God. It seemed to go really well, and our next service is 16th May!
That's all for now! Travel light :)
American: exhausted
This is such a descriptive word, because you simply can't say the word 'knackered' without feeling the full weight of it. A few hours digging in the garden, an evening with the youth group at Solid Remix, an afternoon of football with the boys, and you will be completely knackered.
British: plonk
American: cheap wine
Example: Some people take the ferry to France because there's no tax on alcohol, so they can get good French wine at plonk prices.
Save that bottle of plonk for the next time we need cooking wine.
Hey! It's been a bit since I've last posted, so I thought I'd run through the most significant things that have happened since my last post, after the TFG conference in Wales.
First things first: My CRB check came through! Which means I can now work in both Primary School in the villages (Boxted and Langham Primary). Now, I volunteer at Langham Primary on Wednesdays and Fridays, and at Boxted Primary on Mondays and Thursdays, during lunch time and at break afterwards. I spoke with the head teacher of Boxted Prim and she asked about anything else I'd like to do with the school or ways I'd like to work with the kids, so I might start tutoring as well :) Very exciting!
Solid Remix: We took the Edge youth group to Chelmsford Cathedral for Solid Remix, an event for all the CofE youth groups in the Chelmsford diocese. It was sooo much fun! Solid Remix had a bunch of different activity stations, like music circles, relay races, a bouncy castle, art projects, etc. There was also a time of worship and a sermon in the middle of the program, while we were eating dinner. All in all, it was brilliant!
Connect Contemporary Worship: We had our first Connect Contemporary Worship on 6th March! Connect worship is something that's been in the making for about 5 months now. When I first got to England, the kids were really interested in going to the local contemporary worship service in Colchester called St Johns, and we went about every other week for months. This is something the youth were really passionate about, so we organized a contemporary service created and run by the youth and their families! We now have a worship band, and our service centered around connecting with God. It seemed to go really well, and our next service is 16th May!
That's all for now! Travel light :)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
TFG Big Conference in Wales
Here's a short story about Wales I wrote as part of a creative writing/art exercise the YAGMs did at the TFG Big Conference in Wales.
"Mmmmm, fresh morning-frost grass! My favourite. Just a slight silver frosting on top of the mountain. Not that warm, mushy afternoon grass or grass that's covered so deeply in snow that I can't even get to it!"
Tammy the sheep was happily munching on a patch next to her best friend, Eva. Tammy loved being around Eva; she has such a calming presence, and Tammy didn't get into trouble nearly as often when Eva was there. She made sure that they only went down to the stream for water at least 30 minutes before the herd moved on, so they were never left behind. Also, Eva was considered one of the 'cool' lambs in the herd, which meant Tammy wasn't picked on near as much when she was in Eva's vicinity. However, Malfoy the sheep, the biggest bully in the herd, was heading their way right now! Tammy started to tense up, just as the sight of him trotting towards them.
"Hiya Eva, you're a wee star, hen!" said Malfoy.
"Hello, Malfoy. You alright?" asked Eva.
Tammy the sheep tried to slowly inch away from the two, trying to get away from Malfoy the bully.
"Where do you think you're going there, Tammy?" asked Malfoy, a sneer forming on his lips.
"No, I... I'm not going..." muttered Tammy.
"HOLY CRAP!"
All of the sudden, a human started running down the mountainside at them. Tammy freaked out, let out couple of stray bleats, and ran away from the crazy human being running straight towards them, shouting some crazy human gibberish:
"Let me pet you, sheep!!!"
"Mmmmm, fresh morning-frost grass! My favourite. Just a slight silver frosting on top of the mountain. Not that warm, mushy afternoon grass or grass that's covered so deeply in snow that I can't even get to it!"
Tammy the sheep was happily munching on a patch next to her best friend, Eva. Tammy loved being around Eva; she has such a calming presence, and Tammy didn't get into trouble nearly as often when Eva was there. She made sure that they only went down to the stream for water at least 30 minutes before the herd moved on, so they were never left behind. Also, Eva was considered one of the 'cool' lambs in the herd, which meant Tammy wasn't picked on near as much when she was in Eva's vicinity. However, Malfoy the sheep, the biggest bully in the herd, was heading their way right now! Tammy started to tense up, just as the sight of him trotting towards them.
"Hiya Eva, you're a wee star, hen!" said Malfoy.
"Hello, Malfoy. You alright?" asked Eva.
Tammy the sheep tried to slowly inch away from the two, trying to get away from Malfoy the bully.
"Where do you think you're going there, Tammy?" asked Malfoy, a sneer forming on his lips.
"No, I... I'm not going..." muttered Tammy.
"HOLY CRAP!"
All of the sudden, a human started running down the mountainside at them. Tammy freaked out, let out couple of stray bleats, and ran away from the crazy human being running straight towards them, shouting some crazy human gibberish:
"Let me pet you, sheep!!!"
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Peek back at December!
If this is your first time reading my blog, please take a second to see what I'm doing this year!
I haven't updated my blog in far too long; sorry guys! Here's a few quick snapshots of my last month, and other videos that I've taken and wanted to show you, but my internet connection at the cottage is far too slow for me to upload them. Here in Krakow, however, the connection is very fast!
New Years Eve celebration in Market Square of Krakow, Poland with my friends Virginia and Anne!
State of the roads after a "big" snow in Essex- 6 inches :)
My host family took my friend Kathleen and I to see the British Military Tournament in London! Here's a band "battle" between two regimental bands :)
More to come later :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)