The Surreal Life

So... I'm still in Scotland. I'm feeling pretty spoiled, actually. This afternoon I went for a walk and took some photos-- I think the island is Arran... but sadly, I have not become any better at remembering things like that.

Today we talked about team work and different personality types, etc... it was good, if not particularly new. But this course is good for actually working through what those things mean a little more. Anyway... not much to say, really. Here are some photos:

You can see my window here!

The island...

town rooftops and the island:

Okay, secretly this is a few days later than I originally wrote the rest of it-- had a great day in Glasgow today. It was super sunny the whole time we were there, and then got cloudy again on the train ride home. So yay for sun. Anyway, gotta run. I have homework!

Scotland

Scotland rules.

Seriously, it is so beautiful here. And also the town that I'm staying in, West Kilbride, is adorable. There are all these brick buildings and big churches with steeples and church bells, and there's a glen right by the base where I'm staying that you can walk through, and I can see the ocean from my window.

Today I met a man who would have been staff for my DTS if I had done it here 6 years ago. And instead, I ended up in New Zealand. Which is also beautiful. But it's so strange to think about how different my life might be today if I had ended up here in 2002 instead of there. Oh, life. I think it's in Prince Caspian that Aslan says something to Lucy about how we don't get to know what might have been, only what is. And that's probably a good thing. But sometimes I indulge my imagination anyway.

Whatever. I am here now, and that is good. Although, I am so tired... I woke up at 2am today and was wide awake. Stupid jet lag. I am fighting to stay awake until bed time, and then should get my internal clock or whatever straightened out for the rest of the week. And that is all of my news for now. Boring, huh? Anyway, I'm going.

This is the Day

Okay, so in a couple of hours I will be loading up a car and heading to Auckland to catch my plane home. I am pretty excited... although it still kind of feels like just a normal day. Then again, in my life, this is not SO unusual. I guess that I am often getting on airplanes and flying places. It's just that I feel like this is going to be a significant time. Not that the rest of my life hasn't been significant... it's just... whatever. Obviously, I cannot explain it. And so I will stop trying.

But the other thing that I am excited about is the flight, itself. I love airplane flights (usually). I love the airport, and all the different people and all of their intriguing stories that I make up for them. I love the smell of airports and airplanes. I love watching as many movies as I want to on my own personal little screen. I love getting my food tray and opening every little container of food. And so, I love flying.

You can all pray for me to get bumped up to first class. Some day, it will happen, I know it. :)

Okay, here I go. Woo hoo!

2 days

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! 2 days left until I leave! I am so not ready. And I am so not helping the situation by sitting around all Saturday morning watching movies and checking email. But... well, I've always been a bit of a procrastinator.

Okay, also: I am now officially 30 years old. I sat in meetings most of the day on my birthday, but then all of the YWAM New Zealand ministry leaders (we were having a ministry leaders' meeting, so I was in Auckland) went mini-golfing in the evening, and then we had a little cafe night at one of the Te Au Marama bases and there was cake for me and also a chocolate banana smoothie that was really good. And everyone was really great and fun and it was just nice. I had a really good night.

And now I'm just getting ready to go (except that I'm not! Hmmm...) and chilling. Tonight is my friend Juliet's 30 birthday, so she's having a big party, which should be fun. I'm pretty excited to get home, and also to go to Scotland, and cannot believe that I will be there in a week. Seriously, a year ago, I had this passing thought that I'd really like to go to Scotland and do this school, and dismissed it as basically impossible. And now I'm going!

Anyway... the meetings that I was at were really good, and really kind of set a stage for the next little while for me, I think. We talked a lot about not getting caught up in doing stuff so much, and just getting to know God in a deeper way. Which, actually, is something that I always talk about. But now I'm actually taking some serious time to do it. And of course, doing stuff is important, too. But... well, whatever. This is going to be a good year. And it's going to be a crazy one. And I'm excited about that.

It Figures

It's Feijoa season here in New Zealand. If you have never eaten a feijoa, then I recommend that you try one. The awesome thing about New Zealand is that fruit trees just grow all over people's yards and gardens here. And feijoa trees are one of the many. And the fruit is good.

Tonight Becks and I were sitting around our lounge floor (we call living rooms "lounges" here, Americans), eating a pile of feijoas. I thought to myself that they must be very healthy, because... well, they are fruit. And they're kind of sour, so they can't have much sugar. They are a little gritty on the edges, and you eat the seeds, so they must be high in fiber. And they grow in people's yards, right next to the lemons and mandarins, so of course they must have lots of vitamin C. The logic, as you can see, is mind-blowing. Whatever. The main point is that I was very proud of my pile of fruit, and so I decided to find out the exact degree of health that I was showering upon my stomach.

Here's the thing: I think they are not unhealthy, for the most part. But the vitamin C level was kind of disappointing. And allegedly there is no fiber. And also, feijoas actually contain fat. What the heck? I mean, like a gram of fat. That seems like a lot to me, for a fruit that is not an avocado. I'm kind of mad that I looked up the feijoa nutrition content, because I really would prefer to just continue to feel self-righteous in my feijoa eating. Now it's ruined. But I still like them, don't worry.

What was the point of this story again? Hmmm... Maybe that it's time for bed. Even though I got an extra hour of sleep today, because daylight savings ended in NZ last night. Yay! Best day of the year! But I should still go to bed. Good night!

P.S. 8 days...

Oh My Life

Okay, the countdown is officially beginning. In 12 days I am leaving New Zealand. For a while. Tonight we had our weekly community meeting, and everyone prayed for me, since I won't be at the meeting next week. It kind of just hit me as I stood at the front of the room with all of these people surrounding me that... oh man. I am actually doing this. I mean, I have been home before, and it was exciting, but not as exciting as this time. And of course, I am finally going to Scotland, and the course that I am doing will-- I think-- be really good for me. But I just feel like there are new things coming for me. And that is good. In 8 days I will be thirty years old. That is insane. But I think that this year is gonna be a big one for me. So... I guess I will just live it and see what happens!

I have been SOOOOO busy lately. This is mainly because there is no cook for everyone on base, and I am kind of the obvious not-doing-anything-else person around right now. And cooking for 30 people takes up a lot of time. Sigh. I need to get started packing, which is very forward thinking, and unusual for me, but I am going to be gone at a 3-day meeting next week, (YWAM really could mean "Youth With a Meeting" sometimes...) and then time will race by and I am going to be really sad that I did not pack earlier if I don't do it now.

And I am pretty sure that most of what I just wrote qualifies as rambling. So I'm gonna go to bed. But... it's really happening. 12 days. Good night.