On Saturday my brothers and I went out with Nadine and Winston to go ice-skating. It was supposed to be a bible class get-together, but it ended up just being an outing with the Tans and the Andersons!
We left home without the ice-skating rink address, which isn't exactly the brightest thing to do. I couldn't find it in the map either, so we ended up driving around Avondale trying to look for it. I told Aonghas I was pretty sure it was somewhere near a temple, as I had been there once before way back in year 9 or 10 for a school trip. After figuring we'd be able to get the address off the internet on one of our phones, we went searching for the address, and sure enough it was near a temple! We had spent 15 minutes driving around Avondale but that's OK!
We got there, wondering if the Tans were there yet, as they had earlier texted us telling they'd be late (like us). We decided we'd go in and wait for them there, just in case they were already there. It turns out they were!
The ice rink was quite packed, mainly with younger people. I guess it's one of the last days of the school holidays so it's understandable.
Once we got our skates on, we got onto the rink, and discovered just how hard it really is to skate! I remembered my previous experience at ice-skating and just how difficult it was, so I wasn't too shocked. I was worried about coming into contact with the blade of someone else's skates though, or falling over and doing some damage like one of my classmates did when we went skating way back then!
Winston and Nadine seemed to have gotten the hang of it, and Aonghas got used to it pretty quickly, seeing as this was his first go. I had my moments, although I wasn't too great at turning though, so would go skating straight ahead at full speed, only to start wobbling and head straight into the side of the wall!
Hamish though was not as confident, and held onto the side wall as tight as he could! We tried our best to get him used to skating. We all formed a protective shield around him and managed to travel a few metres before he wanted to grip onto the wall again! Aonghas and I also held onto his arms, and he held onto Aonghas's arms, almost cutting off the blood supply to his hands! It was like Hamish was giving birth! He did manage to make it right around the sides of the ice rink several times though (despite causing a bit of a jam a few times!). We wanted to give Hamish one of those metal rails little kids can use to help support them on the rink, but the people told Aonghas it was only for under-six year olds, and would cost money. Winston managed to grab a stray one but one of the staff members took it off him!
There were quite a few falls, collisions and injuries on the ice rink. It looked pretty dangerous! Aonghas had a near miss with a child, and got complained at by the child's father. Aonghas, not being able to stop, tried to apologise as he skated past! I managed to stay upright for a while, but then as time went on I had a few slips and falls! Fortunately I didn't get too many sores though!
Once time was up we all headed to Lynn Mall where we went to say 'hi' to Nadine and Winston's younger sister Leonie, who was still working. We had some something to eat (we even tried that blue frozen smoothie thing from McDonald's!) while waiting for her to finish work. Once she did, it was off to bowling!
That must've been one of the lowest scoring, and weirdest scoring games of bowling I've ever encountered! Aonghas, who is usually a high scoring bowler seemed to get the gutter quite a lot! Hamish threw the ball into the air a few times which was funny, but he managed to get a good score in the end. Winston ended up having the highest score, with me and Nadine tied for second. Aonghas should've outscored us, but the computer played up and gave him several extra goes which replaced his final score! Because we thought we would get unlimited goes at bowling, we each had a turn under Aonghas's name. It just happened that it recorded the worst score for Aonghas!
We finished the night off with some KFC across the road. We got one of those giant combo meal things, but when Leonie asked for some plates, all they gave us was sandwich paper! We were about to eat off the sandwich paper/table when we tried getting some cups. We ended up making makeshift bowls with the cups!
Winston had a bit of a pepsi spill but fortunately it was a near miss! I was then reminded of my water spill on Nadine in Sunday school a few weeks ago!
It was a pretty cool day out, and a good way to finish off the holidays! Maybe next time the rest of the class will come, or else we'll just have to have another Tan/Anderson outing! Maybe yumcha....
Monday 20 July 2009
The End of Another Chapter for my Teeth
What I thought would be the end of the story for my braces ended up only being the end of another chapter! Last Tuesday I went in to Middlemore Hospital to get my braces taken off. The dental nurse had to use something that looked like pliers to take the metal bits off my teeth. There were a couple that were cemented down hard though, and so she had to use some sort of drill thing to loosen them a bit before she pulled them off. I can tell you it hurt quite a bit! She also cleaned my teeth.
It felt so weird without braces! My teeth looked extra long, and when I moved my tongue around my teeth I couldn't find anything sharp jabbing my gums, and the front of my face felt a lot flatter! I was in Heaven!!
After the braces were all off, I had to get some photos and x-rays taken before I was asked to come back the following Thursday instead of later that afternoon. We just spent the rest of the day pointlessly driving around South Auckland (it was supposed to be a family trip!).
That Thursday afternoon the orthodontist at Middlemore Hospital glued this piece of wire along the back of my bottom teeth and gave me a plate to wear. I was to wear it for the whole time till Monday. It was just as well, as they were so uncomfortable and annoying, having to constantly remove them before eating, and then clean them and brush my teeth before putting it back in my mouth!
At least now I don't have to worry about my mouth getting sore, and I look a lot more normal! I'm now more cautious about keeping my teeth clean. I really want to get one of those teeth-whitening kits, but I might just ask the orthodontist first.
Now that my teeth are sorted, it's time to get the eyes fixed!
(I'll have a video of my orthodontic/surgical experience put together sometime soon)
The Inaugural Oddfellows Camp!
Beware: Really long post! Finally got around to finishing it!
Last Friday (10th July) finally marked the beginning of our two and a bit day Oddfellows Youth Group camp, the first one for our group! There was a bit of a crisis the night before with the clothes that we had put in the wash still not being fully dried. Our clothes dryer doesn't work so we had to put all our clothes near the fireplace and hope they'd dry! We also realised that one of our camera batteries wasn't fully charging and so we were scrambling to find somewhere that would sell one, which wasn't a success! We'd just have to make sure we had at least one of the two other batteries charged at any time.
We didn't end up starting packing till late Thursday night. We had to watch 24 first of course!
We arrived at church late on Friday morning to discover everyone was already there! As soon as we got there though the teams were announced and we started loading the cars with our baggage. I was in charge of Group 4 (with the help of Youth Group leader Fiona), which had Jireh, Carmen, Daisy and Ben. We were the ultimate group and we were determined to make sure our team won all group competitions!
Last Friday (10th July) finally marked the beginning of our two and a bit day Oddfellows Youth Group camp, the first one for our group! There was a bit of a crisis the night before with the clothes that we had put in the wash still not being fully dried. Our clothes dryer doesn't work so we had to put all our clothes near the fireplace and hope they'd dry! We also realised that one of our camera batteries wasn't fully charging and so we were scrambling to find somewhere that would sell one, which wasn't a success! We'd just have to make sure we had at least one of the two other batteries charged at any time.
We didn't end up starting packing till late Thursday night. We had to watch 24 first of course!
We arrived at church late on Friday morning to discover everyone was already there! As soon as we got there though the teams were announced and we started loading the cars with our baggage. I was in charge of Group 4 (with the help of Youth Group leader Fiona), which had Jireh, Carmen, Daisy and Ben. We were the ultimate group and we were determined to make sure our team won all group competitions!
Our first opportunity was the Digital Scavenger Hunt - each team had to take pictures of certain things on the way to the campsite, such as a yellow car, a school, gorse, etc. Our group had the SLR so we had a bit of an advantage! (You've gotta take whatever you've got in order to ensure your team wins right??) The only problem was sometimes when we went past something we needed to get a photo of, such as a police car, and by the time I was ready to shoot, it was already gone! By the time we got to camp though we were pretty confident we had taken photos of most things on the list though!
Once we all arrived, we held off on unpacking as the cabins hadn't been cleaned yet, so Lyndon, the camp manager took us on a tour around the campsite. He showed us the lake and the kayaks, the flying fox, the confidence courses, the archery range and the go-kart track. The recurring theme seemed to be 'be careful or else you can get injured or even DIE!'. Apparently some boy drowned in the lake because he was wearing denim shorts, so that was a big no-no. Pointing a bow and arrow was also a big no-no. So was treating the kayaks like bumper boats...
Lyndon understandably went over-time taking us around the campsite and telling us all the rules and dangers (sooo many!), but that was OK. He became an icon to us! By the time the cabins had been cleaned, we returned to the cars to get our stuff and take them to the cabins before having shared lunch. Us older guys got Cabin 3, which was on one side of the common room, while the older girls got the cabin on the other side of the common room. The younger guys and girls got the two cabins across the lawn from us. Our cabin had seven beds, but there was a bit of a problem. While there were seven guys, there was also the adult in our cabin - On. He ended up having to sleep on the couch!
We went to enjoy the shared lunch that each of us had contributed to before going into the common room, which would end up being our makeshift hall for the camp. We played a quick game of 'roll the car across the room' relay, where you had to push a toy matchbox car across the room with your head without using your arms. I was first to go for my team and I think I broke the car when I pushed hard down on it! Our team managed to win that game though and Jireh decided he'd go another few more times while the other teams tried to finish!
Jenny and Lisa then announced the rules to this ongoing game we'd be playing throughout the entire duration of the camp, where each of us would pick a slip of paper. The person who gets the slip of paper that is marked with a cross will be the 'murderer'. He/she will then try to claim the magnet on the table and for the duration of the camp have to show the magnet to people in order to 'kill' them. Those who die then have to write their name down on the 'Murdered List' along with the time they got killed. Others who aren't dead yet could also put down the name of the person they think is the murderer and the time they list the 'suspect's' name. The winner of the game will be the first person to guess the murderer.
The game didn't exactly go according to plan! It was revealed later in the night that two people, Jenny and Claire both got a piece of paper with a cross on it, and also because of a bit of confusion as to what the murder weapon was (it was initially the magnet but the toy fish was also suggested as the murder weapon). After Claire killed a few people, Jenny and Claire ended up killing each other! Once it was realised, the game had to be reset. This time someone else was the killer...the only thing was Jenny was the first to be killed!
Anyway, back to Friday afternoon, after we finished the game, we all set off outside. The first activity was trust building games. There was an area with several different little activities for separate groups. The first activity involved half of the group members each standing on wooden posts at one end, and the other half of the group members standing on wooden posts at the other end of the row of wooden posts. The task was for both halves of the group to get to the opposite end, which involved climbing over group members! The challenge was not to step off the wooden posts and touch the ground. There was a similar activity but instead of standing on wooden posts, group members had to stand on one long wooden log.
Another activity involved trying to get all group members to walk along a cross wire. This meant team members had to support each other to the end! Another activity involved having to create a bridge using the correct planks of wood and then getting group members to cross the bridge. ANOTHER activity was like a scale. Group members had to work out how many members needed to stand on either side of the log to balance it.
Once we completed those activities, it was time to split up - we could choose to either try out go-karting or archery. The go-karts were little trolleys that you can sit in and steer. There are no brakes, so you roll down the hill and as the hill gets less steep you slow down and stop...or that's what is supposed to happen! Most of the guys chose to try out the karts, no surprises there!
Claire had warned us earlier that when she went on this camp at Rangeview (like a lot of us had done), someone at her camp tried the karts injured themselves badly! This made us all a little weary of what to expect. As it turns out, it wasn't actually too bad! There were three tracks, the red, blue and yellow track (in order of increasing difficulty). The red track was not very fast, and everyone managed to master the blue track. However, when we all moved to the yellow track, that's when things started to get a little crazy! Hamish only travelled around one corner before flipping over completely in his kart! He looked a little shaken and was holding his hand. We were afraid he might have broken something, but fortunately the blood on his finger was from a graze. Andrew flipped in his kart too, while Ben suffered from two crashes, one right at the end when he flipped his kart, and one when he drove into the tyre barrier!
We joined the girls at the archery. Apparently quite a few of them got bulls eyes! They let us have a go at it before we moved onto the obstacle course. Lisa the pro helped us out! I wasn't good enough to get a bulls eye, but at least I hit the board!
And now it was time for...THE OBSTACLE COURSE! Once again there were three levels - red, blue and yellow, with red the easiest and yellow the hardest. The obstacle course involved swinging on a rope to a net, climbing a net, swinging on tyres and walking along balance beams all over a dirty stretch of water!
Claire got things going and she didn't do so badly! She completed the red level in just over 5 minutes! After that we sorta lost track of how fast people completed the course as we tried getting as many people completing it before it got dark. I was trying to film as much as I could before the battery died.
We had a few long sticks that were named 'encouragement sticks' which were used to help people get through the course, like helping them across the balance beam. I tried to be as encouraging as I could with the camera, even though I couldn't help but film people dangling and falling into the water!
Once the battery died though I did take on the encouragement stick and tried helping people! Daisy, this girl in my group got stuck in a dangling tyre and just sat there for a while, causing a jam with all these other girls waiting for her to move! By then it was starting to get dark. I still hadn't had my turn yet. Lisa, the score-keeper hadn't had her go either and I was doing my best to exert some peer pressure on her but she wouldn't budge! She said she was going to do it the next day. Lucky for her it was raining the next day so she didn't have to!
After the last of the girls went (after a little while of encouraging them), I finally had my turn. I was originally going to attempt the yellow course in order to get enough points to tie our group with the leading team, but it was dark and cold and so I just went with the second hardest level. I managed to make it halfway through the course with not much problem, but when I got towards the end where I had to climb up a pole, then climb back down a rope to tyre steps along the side of the river, I was too tired to climb down the rope! I just decided to fall straight in the water! After having a little rest in the water and then the net, I managed to make it to the end!
I quickly ran back up to the cabins. I got inside our cabin to find the girls standing around talking. Jenny, a girl I sorta teased (in a friendly way of course...I just asked her if she could fall in the water again after I missed recording it on camera!) after she fell in the water, noticed I was all wet and laughed at me! I guess I deserved that one...
After a nice warm shower, dinner was ready in the common room. We had rice, soup and vegetables. Karvin, one of our youth group leaders had kindly prepared it for us!
The first worship singing was after dinner and was led by Aonghas, Gabrielle (another youth group leader) and me. We sang four songs, which were mostly upbeat songs. We had taught a few of the songs to some of the youth group members at the baking night earlier in the week, so they were familiar with a couple of them. The new song we taught involved a bit of competition between the girls and guys, which turned into a shouting match! Aonghas played on the keyboard while I tried jamming on the ukulele!
The evening's programme involved playing a couple of games. We played Spotlight, where everyone had to hide around the campsite outside, and one person (Daisy) had to find and catch people with her torch. I first hid under the porch, and she came by and shone her torch at me. I thought she would've seen me but she just walked off! After that I hid behind the cabins and just looked under the cabins for anyone or any lights approaching. I just happened to be crouching right outside the girls' toilet, and so whenever they flushed it was a bit scary! I was there for a long time, and heard some noise coming from the bushes, like burping and rustling. I tried to ask if anyone was there but got no response. After a while, I decided to just give up as I wasn't sure if the game was over yet. It turned out it wasn't over yet, but fortunately Jireh, who was in my team, was one of the last people to get caught, which meant we scored some points anyway!
We also played this game where each team was given some string and a spoon. You had to tie the string to the spoon, then the spoon and string had to go down the clothes of one person, then up through the clothes of the next person, and so on. We were taking our time till Gabrielle reminded us it was a race! It was really funny. I hope no one mistakenly used those spoons without washing them first!
Once the games were over, we were free to do whatever we wanted for a while. Aonghas, Hamish, Cleo, Claire and Lisa had formed their own little group and had a very intense bonding session. I'm not too sure what they talked about but it seemed to be pretty amusing (going by the laughing going on!).
I was with On (another youth group leader), Jireh, Jenny, Miriam, Stephanie, Gabrielle and Andrew having a little singing session. On had brought some lyrics with him so we were doing a bit of singing. Miriam also impressed us with her really good classical guitar playing! Once On went off to sleep, Jireh, Miriam, Andrew and Jenny played a bit of the Chinese music they had on their phones for us to listen to. Once I got hooked, they decided they'd try teach me how to sing a Chinese song! The lucky song - Kiss Goodbye by Wang Lee Hom! Only after they started teaching me did they realise they had just taught me a break-up song!
It was really cool though. They typed up the lyrics on the laptop, and then tried teaching me the characters and getting me to figure out what it all meant in English. It was really nice of them! It was about 3am by the time I had learnt the chorus! We did a bit of the first verse, but it got a bit late and we decided we'd try get some sleep!
My brothers and I sneaked back into our cabin, trying not to wake the others and On, who was sleeping on the couch. We were in a separate bedroom and a bit of a crisis as Hamish, who was in charge of the duty roster, had not printed it out and neither did Gabrielle! Aonghas managed to find it on his phone though and wrote it out.
I have to say the sleep was pretty terrible that night! I only got a few hours, and the time I slept it was not too great. For a start, I'm pretty sure my sleeping bag is a children's sleeping bag! It was also so cold my nose was freezing by the time I woke up!
I was one of the last to wake up, and by the time I had gotten up everyone was already well into their breakfast. While we were eating it, Claire had the music turned up and we just sang along as we ate.
After breakfast Cleo and I were leading worship, with Cleo playing the guitar and me doing a little on the ukulele. We sang a few songs, including Shadowfeet by Brooke Fraser. We had practised the song a bit the night before during our little singing session and everyone was into it, so we were counting on them to sing up with us! They did sorta, but they did sound quite dead! It must've been the late night.
Straight after worship we watched a video about this guy called Nick Vujicic, who was born with no arms and no limbs. The video was of him giving a speech to high school students on being nice to others, making the most of what you got and so on. It was very inspirational and it really did strike a chord with most of us! We had a bit of group discussion before our group had to leave early to make lunch - macaroni and cheese!
I did the odd job around the place, while Carmen and Daisy diced the bacon and Ben cooked it. While we were doing this, we came up with our skit for the concert that would be held later that night. We were going to get at least each person in youth group to do something they wouldn't usually do!
Once we finished preparing lunch, we went back into the common room to see the other groups working on their skits while Karvin and Claire slept upright on the couch with jackets covering their bodies!
After lunch, it was decided that the weather was too bad for us to go outside, so we would just stay inside for the rest of the day and have group competitions and games. Some of the games included a roley-poley race, where two members of each group had to roll across the room but with their feet always touching at any time. We also played a game where we got into a circle and Gabrielle was in the middle shooting people. If they ducked fast enough the two people on either side of that person had to try shoot the other person. Whoever was the slowest was out. I was too slow and got shot! The final showdown was between Lisa and Jenny. I was cheering on Lisa as I originally thought her team had less points. It turns out I should've been cheering on Jenny! We also played a game where two team members held a piece of string and other team members had to blow pieces of paper from one side to the other the fastest. Our team was accused of cheating the first time! We didn't cheat the second time though!
After the games we had some free time to practise our skits before dinner, worship and the concert. Since our group didn't need to practise as it was going to be on the spot, Jireh, Miriam and I did a bit more Chinese singing. I swear I had that Kiss Goodbye song stuck in my head all weekend!
We had burgers for dinner, and after dinner Lisa, Aonghas and Gabrielle led worship. The keyboard malfunctioned a bit while Aonghas was playing it and created bit of a techno-remix sound! Fortunately he managed to regain his place and we made it to the end!
After worship, it was time for our camp concert! It started off with Aonghas and Claire's group combined to perform a skit about Aonghas being late for university. All the others involved were Aonghas's ever-changing props! We saw Jenny as Aonghas's fridge and car, Hamish as Aonghas's bathroom mirror, schoolbag and a motorcycle, and Vanessa as a chair! In the end Aonghas tried to have a drag race with the motorcycle, crashed in to a barrier arm and died. The main message: do not speed!
Alvin, Robert and Brendan were next to impress us with their shuffling skills! They were pretty good!
Finally, it was our skit! We called it the 'Who's Your Favourite...? Gameshow'! We started off by getting On to do a Britney Spears impersonation, which he's famous for! We also got to see Aonghas attempting some ballet dancing, Rebecca and Robert doing shuffling (coincidence?), Brendan and Stephanie singing a Cantonese song together (or lip-syncing anyway!). We tried to get Andrew and Vanessa to do stand-up comedy, but that didn't go so well. Andrew was left on stage trying to get Vanessa who wouldn't come up. It looked a bit like a drama involving a husband to come back! Similarly, we had a bit of trouble getting Lisa and Justin to beat-box, and Claire and Hamish to rap about grass. Claire was game though and rapped a few lines, while Hamish just stood there silent while we were all anticipating something to come out of him!
Things were a bit better with Gabrielle and Jenny having to do krumping. Once I showed them how to do it (just going spastic!) they did a little before walking off! It was funny when it was announced that we wanted Jenny to do krumping. She got up, stormed towards me, pointing at me saying this was all because of me! I think it must've been when I joked to her before camp about krumping!
Cleo and Alvin were called up to do gymnastics, but when they just stood there doing stretches, Jireh got up and started showing us some somersaults which landed with some pretty loud thumps! He didn't even look injured by them either!
The grand finale was Karvin and Miriam doing the robot. They actually did it too!
The final concert item was...me singing in Chinese! I managed to bring my back-up band up (Jenny, Andrew, Jireh, Gabrielle, Miriam and Stephanie) with me to sing! I had people shouting out
"I LOVE YOU CALUM!!!"
and someone presenting me with bread (hey, it's the next best thing after a bouquet of flowers!).
And now it was free time! It didn't start off as well as Friday night though. While Aonghas, Hamish, Claire, Cleo, Gabrielle and Andrew got into some deep conversation that started off about religion and then got into some other more personal stuff, Jireh and I had nothing to do!
Some of us played Twister though! The girls had a go first. I jumped in when the game only had three people and was going nowhere. I ended up having to lean over this other guy Ben, which didn't look too great! I ended up falling over and landing on everyone!
After Twister died down, Jireh and I tried finding stuff to do. We created our own version of Twister DDR, before I noticed the stack of unused chairs, and remembered how the engineering students like to build chair pyramids! We then first created a maze with the chairs before we got Jenny to join in and we built out very own chair pyramid!
We dismantled it after a while so as to avoid any accidents. That's when Jireh, Jenny, Stephanie, Vanessa, Miriam, Ben and I formed our own little circle! The conversation started off in a very weird way, when we got Ben to tell us about some stuff.
Jireh and I ended up trying to steer the conversation in another direction (let's just say...at a higher level?). We wanted to get to know the girls a bit more as we still don't know as much as we'd like about them!
After a noodle break, Ben showed us a game of Land Owner (apparently there are two versions...). Jireh and Andrew tried to predict how each person would move before even making a move, which pretty much meant the game was over even before it started! The girls and I were just lying there on our pillows watching, and waiting for the game to start/end!
Eventually we passed Friday's sleeptime and by 6 am Aonghas's little circle decided they'd power nap. A few of us didn't really want to sleep so while we switched the lights off in the common room and they slept, Miriam and I just sat there together for a while till we decided we'd lie down and get a little rest!
Not too long after a few of us got around the heater and sat there under our blankets while the others were sleeping. Gabrielle had woken up and went around taking photos of people sleeping! I just did a little filming...nothing too bad! Because the girls in my group didn't help with supper the night before, Jireh and I decided we'd go and wake the girls up with heaps of loud noise and make them prepare breakfast! The rest of the girls who were up with us decided to join us, so we stormed their bedroom and woke Carmen and Daisy up! Carmen looked so funny as we woke her up! She was wriggling around in her bed! They claim they were already awake but we're not so sure...hmmm....
During breakfast, word spread that the 'murderer' was going on a killing spree! I just happened to see the 'murderer' kill Claire (by showing her the magnet!). It was...Robert!! I decided to avoid any eye contact with him for the rest of the morning, which meant walking backwards and keeping my eyes away from him while cleaning up the cabin, until he was declared the murderer!
Once the cabins were cleaned, Jenny and Miriam led a very beautiful worship with Miriam on guitar, before Gabrielle gave some emotional last words.
We headed outside for group, cabin and combined group photo before we got in our cars and headed home.
The ride home was completely the opposite to the ride there. Nearly everyone was falling asleep in the car I was travelling in! I would've let myself fall asleep, but I had leaned forward and the two guys beside me had fallen asleep behind me, so I couldn't lean back!
We got back to church, had some sandwiches for lunch before saying goodbye to everyone.
Overall camp was an awesome experience. We had so much fun and our youth group got so much closer together! They're all really great people and I can't wait till our next camp!
Jenny and Lisa then announced the rules to this ongoing game we'd be playing throughout the entire duration of the camp, where each of us would pick a slip of paper. The person who gets the slip of paper that is marked with a cross will be the 'murderer'. He/she will then try to claim the magnet on the table and for the duration of the camp have to show the magnet to people in order to 'kill' them. Those who die then have to write their name down on the 'Murdered List' along with the time they got killed. Others who aren't dead yet could also put down the name of the person they think is the murderer and the time they list the 'suspect's' name. The winner of the game will be the first person to guess the murderer.
The game didn't exactly go according to plan! It was revealed later in the night that two people, Jenny and Claire both got a piece of paper with a cross on it, and also because of a bit of confusion as to what the murder weapon was (it was initially the magnet but the toy fish was also suggested as the murder weapon). After Claire killed a few people, Jenny and Claire ended up killing each other! Once it was realised, the game had to be reset. This time someone else was the killer...the only thing was Jenny was the first to be killed!
Anyway, back to Friday afternoon, after we finished the game, we all set off outside. The first activity was trust building games. There was an area with several different little activities for separate groups. The first activity involved half of the group members each standing on wooden posts at one end, and the other half of the group members standing on wooden posts at the other end of the row of wooden posts. The task was for both halves of the group to get to the opposite end, which involved climbing over group members! The challenge was not to step off the wooden posts and touch the ground. There was a similar activity but instead of standing on wooden posts, group members had to stand on one long wooden log.
Another activity involved trying to get all group members to walk along a cross wire. This meant team members had to support each other to the end! Another activity involved having to create a bridge using the correct planks of wood and then getting group members to cross the bridge. ANOTHER activity was like a scale. Group members had to work out how many members needed to stand on either side of the log to balance it.
Once we completed those activities, it was time to split up - we could choose to either try out go-karting or archery. The go-karts were little trolleys that you can sit in and steer. There are no brakes, so you roll down the hill and as the hill gets less steep you slow down and stop...or that's what is supposed to happen! Most of the guys chose to try out the karts, no surprises there!
Claire had warned us earlier that when she went on this camp at Rangeview (like a lot of us had done), someone at her camp tried the karts injured themselves badly! This made us all a little weary of what to expect. As it turns out, it wasn't actually too bad! There were three tracks, the red, blue and yellow track (in order of increasing difficulty). The red track was not very fast, and everyone managed to master the blue track. However, when we all moved to the yellow track, that's when things started to get a little crazy! Hamish only travelled around one corner before flipping over completely in his kart! He looked a little shaken and was holding his hand. We were afraid he might have broken something, but fortunately the blood on his finger was from a graze. Andrew flipped in his kart too, while Ben suffered from two crashes, one right at the end when he flipped his kart, and one when he drove into the tyre barrier!
We joined the girls at the archery. Apparently quite a few of them got bulls eyes! They let us have a go at it before we moved onto the obstacle course. Lisa the pro helped us out! I wasn't good enough to get a bulls eye, but at least I hit the board!
And now it was time for...THE OBSTACLE COURSE! Once again there were three levels - red, blue and yellow, with red the easiest and yellow the hardest. The obstacle course involved swinging on a rope to a net, climbing a net, swinging on tyres and walking along balance beams all over a dirty stretch of water!
Claire got things going and she didn't do so badly! She completed the red level in just over 5 minutes! After that we sorta lost track of how fast people completed the course as we tried getting as many people completing it before it got dark. I was trying to film as much as I could before the battery died.
We had a few long sticks that were named 'encouragement sticks' which were used to help people get through the course, like helping them across the balance beam. I tried to be as encouraging as I could with the camera, even though I couldn't help but film people dangling and falling into the water!
Once the battery died though I did take on the encouragement stick and tried helping people! Daisy, this girl in my group got stuck in a dangling tyre and just sat there for a while, causing a jam with all these other girls waiting for her to move! By then it was starting to get dark. I still hadn't had my turn yet. Lisa, the score-keeper hadn't had her go either and I was doing my best to exert some peer pressure on her but she wouldn't budge! She said she was going to do it the next day. Lucky for her it was raining the next day so she didn't have to!
After the last of the girls went (after a little while of encouraging them), I finally had my turn. I was originally going to attempt the yellow course in order to get enough points to tie our group with the leading team, but it was dark and cold and so I just went with the second hardest level. I managed to make it halfway through the course with not much problem, but when I got towards the end where I had to climb up a pole, then climb back down a rope to tyre steps along the side of the river, I was too tired to climb down the rope! I just decided to fall straight in the water! After having a little rest in the water and then the net, I managed to make it to the end!
I quickly ran back up to the cabins. I got inside our cabin to find the girls standing around talking. Jenny, a girl I sorta teased (in a friendly way of course...I just asked her if she could fall in the water again after I missed recording it on camera!) after she fell in the water, noticed I was all wet and laughed at me! I guess I deserved that one...
After a nice warm shower, dinner was ready in the common room. We had rice, soup and vegetables. Karvin, one of our youth group leaders had kindly prepared it for us!
The first worship singing was after dinner and was led by Aonghas, Gabrielle (another youth group leader) and me. We sang four songs, which were mostly upbeat songs. We had taught a few of the songs to some of the youth group members at the baking night earlier in the week, so they were familiar with a couple of them. The new song we taught involved a bit of competition between the girls and guys, which turned into a shouting match! Aonghas played on the keyboard while I tried jamming on the ukulele!
The evening's programme involved playing a couple of games. We played Spotlight, where everyone had to hide around the campsite outside, and one person (Daisy) had to find and catch people with her torch. I first hid under the porch, and she came by and shone her torch at me. I thought she would've seen me but she just walked off! After that I hid behind the cabins and just looked under the cabins for anyone or any lights approaching. I just happened to be crouching right outside the girls' toilet, and so whenever they flushed it was a bit scary! I was there for a long time, and heard some noise coming from the bushes, like burping and rustling. I tried to ask if anyone was there but got no response. After a while, I decided to just give up as I wasn't sure if the game was over yet. It turned out it wasn't over yet, but fortunately Jireh, who was in my team, was one of the last people to get caught, which meant we scored some points anyway!
We also played this game where each team was given some string and a spoon. You had to tie the string to the spoon, then the spoon and string had to go down the clothes of one person, then up through the clothes of the next person, and so on. We were taking our time till Gabrielle reminded us it was a race! It was really funny. I hope no one mistakenly used those spoons without washing them first!
Once the games were over, we were free to do whatever we wanted for a while. Aonghas, Hamish, Cleo, Claire and Lisa had formed their own little group and had a very intense bonding session. I'm not too sure what they talked about but it seemed to be pretty amusing (going by the laughing going on!).
I was with On (another youth group leader), Jireh, Jenny, Miriam, Stephanie, Gabrielle and Andrew having a little singing session. On had brought some lyrics with him so we were doing a bit of singing. Miriam also impressed us with her really good classical guitar playing! Once On went off to sleep, Jireh, Miriam, Andrew and Jenny played a bit of the Chinese music they had on their phones for us to listen to. Once I got hooked, they decided they'd try teach me how to sing a Chinese song! The lucky song - Kiss Goodbye by Wang Lee Hom! Only after they started teaching me did they realise they had just taught me a break-up song!
It was really cool though. They typed up the lyrics on the laptop, and then tried teaching me the characters and getting me to figure out what it all meant in English. It was really nice of them! It was about 3am by the time I had learnt the chorus! We did a bit of the first verse, but it got a bit late and we decided we'd try get some sleep!
My brothers and I sneaked back into our cabin, trying not to wake the others and On, who was sleeping on the couch. We were in a separate bedroom and a bit of a crisis as Hamish, who was in charge of the duty roster, had not printed it out and neither did Gabrielle! Aonghas managed to find it on his phone though and wrote it out.
I have to say the sleep was pretty terrible that night! I only got a few hours, and the time I slept it was not too great. For a start, I'm pretty sure my sleeping bag is a children's sleeping bag! It was also so cold my nose was freezing by the time I woke up!
I was one of the last to wake up, and by the time I had gotten up everyone was already well into their breakfast. While we were eating it, Claire had the music turned up and we just sang along as we ate.
After breakfast Cleo and I were leading worship, with Cleo playing the guitar and me doing a little on the ukulele. We sang a few songs, including Shadowfeet by Brooke Fraser. We had practised the song a bit the night before during our little singing session and everyone was into it, so we were counting on them to sing up with us! They did sorta, but they did sound quite dead! It must've been the late night.
Straight after worship we watched a video about this guy called Nick Vujicic, who was born with no arms and no limbs. The video was of him giving a speech to high school students on being nice to others, making the most of what you got and so on. It was very inspirational and it really did strike a chord with most of us! We had a bit of group discussion before our group had to leave early to make lunch - macaroni and cheese!
I did the odd job around the place, while Carmen and Daisy diced the bacon and Ben cooked it. While we were doing this, we came up with our skit for the concert that would be held later that night. We were going to get at least each person in youth group to do something they wouldn't usually do!
Once we finished preparing lunch, we went back into the common room to see the other groups working on their skits while Karvin and Claire slept upright on the couch with jackets covering their bodies!
After lunch, it was decided that the weather was too bad for us to go outside, so we would just stay inside for the rest of the day and have group competitions and games. Some of the games included a roley-poley race, where two members of each group had to roll across the room but with their feet always touching at any time. We also played a game where we got into a circle and Gabrielle was in the middle shooting people. If they ducked fast enough the two people on either side of that person had to try shoot the other person. Whoever was the slowest was out. I was too slow and got shot! The final showdown was between Lisa and Jenny. I was cheering on Lisa as I originally thought her team had less points. It turns out I should've been cheering on Jenny! We also played a game where two team members held a piece of string and other team members had to blow pieces of paper from one side to the other the fastest. Our team was accused of cheating the first time! We didn't cheat the second time though!
After the games we had some free time to practise our skits before dinner, worship and the concert. Since our group didn't need to practise as it was going to be on the spot, Jireh, Miriam and I did a bit more Chinese singing. I swear I had that Kiss Goodbye song stuck in my head all weekend!
We had burgers for dinner, and after dinner Lisa, Aonghas and Gabrielle led worship. The keyboard malfunctioned a bit while Aonghas was playing it and created bit of a techno-remix sound! Fortunately he managed to regain his place and we made it to the end!
After worship, it was time for our camp concert! It started off with Aonghas and Claire's group combined to perform a skit about Aonghas being late for university. All the others involved were Aonghas's ever-changing props! We saw Jenny as Aonghas's fridge and car, Hamish as Aonghas's bathroom mirror, schoolbag and a motorcycle, and Vanessa as a chair! In the end Aonghas tried to have a drag race with the motorcycle, crashed in to a barrier arm and died. The main message: do not speed!
Alvin, Robert and Brendan were next to impress us with their shuffling skills! They were pretty good!
Finally, it was our skit! We called it the 'Who's Your Favourite...? Gameshow'! We started off by getting On to do a Britney Spears impersonation, which he's famous for! We also got to see Aonghas attempting some ballet dancing, Rebecca and Robert doing shuffling (coincidence?), Brendan and Stephanie singing a Cantonese song together (or lip-syncing anyway!). We tried to get Andrew and Vanessa to do stand-up comedy, but that didn't go so well. Andrew was left on stage trying to get Vanessa who wouldn't come up. It looked a bit like a drama involving a husband to come back! Similarly, we had a bit of trouble getting Lisa and Justin to beat-box, and Claire and Hamish to rap about grass. Claire was game though and rapped a few lines, while Hamish just stood there silent while we were all anticipating something to come out of him!
Things were a bit better with Gabrielle and Jenny having to do krumping. Once I showed them how to do it (just going spastic!) they did a little before walking off! It was funny when it was announced that we wanted Jenny to do krumping. She got up, stormed towards me, pointing at me saying this was all because of me! I think it must've been when I joked to her before camp about krumping!
Cleo and Alvin were called up to do gymnastics, but when they just stood there doing stretches, Jireh got up and started showing us some somersaults which landed with some pretty loud thumps! He didn't even look injured by them either!
The grand finale was Karvin and Miriam doing the robot. They actually did it too!
The final concert item was...me singing in Chinese! I managed to bring my back-up band up (Jenny, Andrew, Jireh, Gabrielle, Miriam and Stephanie) with me to sing! I had people shouting out
"I LOVE YOU CALUM!!!"
and someone presenting me with bread (hey, it's the next best thing after a bouquet of flowers!).
And now it was free time! It didn't start off as well as Friday night though. While Aonghas, Hamish, Claire, Cleo, Gabrielle and Andrew got into some deep conversation that started off about religion and then got into some other more personal stuff, Jireh and I had nothing to do!
Some of us played Twister though! The girls had a go first. I jumped in when the game only had three people and was going nowhere. I ended up having to lean over this other guy Ben, which didn't look too great! I ended up falling over and landing on everyone!
After Twister died down, Jireh and I tried finding stuff to do. We created our own version of Twister DDR, before I noticed the stack of unused chairs, and remembered how the engineering students like to build chair pyramids! We then first created a maze with the chairs before we got Jenny to join in and we built out very own chair pyramid!
We dismantled it after a while so as to avoid any accidents. That's when Jireh, Jenny, Stephanie, Vanessa, Miriam, Ben and I formed our own little circle! The conversation started off in a very weird way, when we got Ben to tell us about some stuff.
Jireh and I ended up trying to steer the conversation in another direction (let's just say...at a higher level?). We wanted to get to know the girls a bit more as we still don't know as much as we'd like about them!
After a noodle break, Ben showed us a game of Land Owner (apparently there are two versions...). Jireh and Andrew tried to predict how each person would move before even making a move, which pretty much meant the game was over even before it started! The girls and I were just lying there on our pillows watching, and waiting for the game to start/end!
Eventually we passed Friday's sleeptime and by 6 am Aonghas's little circle decided they'd power nap. A few of us didn't really want to sleep so while we switched the lights off in the common room and they slept, Miriam and I just sat there together for a while till we decided we'd lie down and get a little rest!
Not too long after a few of us got around the heater and sat there under our blankets while the others were sleeping. Gabrielle had woken up and went around taking photos of people sleeping! I just did a little filming...nothing too bad! Because the girls in my group didn't help with supper the night before, Jireh and I decided we'd go and wake the girls up with heaps of loud noise and make them prepare breakfast! The rest of the girls who were up with us decided to join us, so we stormed their bedroom and woke Carmen and Daisy up! Carmen looked so funny as we woke her up! She was wriggling around in her bed! They claim they were already awake but we're not so sure...hmmm....
During breakfast, word spread that the 'murderer' was going on a killing spree! I just happened to see the 'murderer' kill Claire (by showing her the magnet!). It was...Robert!! I decided to avoid any eye contact with him for the rest of the morning, which meant walking backwards and keeping my eyes away from him while cleaning up the cabin, until he was declared the murderer!
Once the cabins were cleaned, Jenny and Miriam led a very beautiful worship with Miriam on guitar, before Gabrielle gave some emotional last words.
We headed outside for group, cabin and combined group photo before we got in our cars and headed home.
The ride home was completely the opposite to the ride there. Nearly everyone was falling asleep in the car I was travelling in! I would've let myself fall asleep, but I had leaned forward and the two guys beside me had fallen asleep behind me, so I couldn't lean back!
We got back to church, had some sandwiches for lunch before saying goodbye to everyone.
Overall camp was an awesome experience. We had so much fun and our youth group got so much closer together! They're all really great people and I can't wait till our next camp!
Tuesday 14 July 2009
Camp Preparation
On the last Monday night prior to camp, Aonghas and I went over to our youth group leader Gabrielle's house to sort out which songs we would lead for singing. Aonghas, Gabrielle and I would be leading the singing for the first Friday night of camp, while I would lead singing on the following Satuday morning with Cleo, and Aonghas would lead with Lisa later that Saturday night. We spent quite a long time there, having a look through music books and having a go at some of the songs on piano. We even missed Desperate Housewives! It was worth it though!
The following Wednesday night a few of us from youth group got together to do some baking for camp. Gabrielle had asked us to buy some ingredients so we went shopping just before. We would be baking Afghan biscuits, cheese straws, hokey-pokey biscuits and muffins. They all sound so yummy! We divided into groups and I was in the group that made hokey-pokey biscuits.
I'm terrible at baking, so luckily we had Vanessa and Brendan in our group, who does cooking at school (I think). Oh ok...and we had Jireh! We couldn't have done it without him either!
It didn't take too long to make two batches of everything, but there were a few hiccups along the way, such as running out of sugar (did I misread the ingredients list?) and not having any cornflakes for the Afghans. They all smelled really nice! The hokey-pokey biscuits came out a lot larger than expected! The biscuit I made into the shape of a cross ended up looking like a flat, fat plane!
We still managed to finish before 9pm though, giving us enough time to do a bit of singing practice with those who were there. We wanted to familiarise them with the songs we were going to sing at camp so that we'd actually have people singing, and not just us!
By the night's end, we had pretty much most things sorted for camp!
The following Wednesday night a few of us from youth group got together to do some baking for camp. Gabrielle had asked us to buy some ingredients so we went shopping just before. We would be baking Afghan biscuits, cheese straws, hokey-pokey biscuits and muffins. They all sound so yummy! We divided into groups and I was in the group that made hokey-pokey biscuits.
I'm terrible at baking, so luckily we had Vanessa and Brendan in our group, who does cooking at school (I think). Oh ok...and we had Jireh! We couldn't have done it without him either!
It didn't take too long to make two batches of everything, but there were a few hiccups along the way, such as running out of sugar (did I misread the ingredients list?) and not having any cornflakes for the Afghans. They all smelled really nice! The hokey-pokey biscuits came out a lot larger than expected! The biscuit I made into the shape of a cross ended up looking like a flat, fat plane!
We still managed to finish before 9pm though, giving us enough time to do a bit of singing practice with those who were there. We wanted to familiarise them with the songs we were going to sing at camp so that we'd actually have people singing, and not just us!
By the night's end, we had pretty much most things sorted for camp!
Hanging/Not Hanging out with Friends!
This happened last Monday which is about a week ago, but I've been at camp for the last several days so I'll try catch up! (I'll post about camp a little later, but before I forget it all!)
I finally got to catch up with some of my other Rutherford friends, Zahir, Alex and Gwen when they invited me to bowling. I was actually only invited the night before and I only replied the next morning, which meant I had little time to prepare before they arrived to pick me up! In fact I only just got out of the shower when they arrived! I was rushing around trying to put on some clothes while Zahir was standing at the door talking to Aonghas. When I got out of the house to meet them, my hair was all over the place!
Alex drove us all to the bowling alley nearby in Lincoln and we played a couple of games. The first one wasn't too bad, with Zahir and I leading the pack despite me accidentally fouling by stepping over the line during one bowl. The second game wasn't so great, with me bowling the ball into the gutter several times! This time the girls were bowling really well and beating us!
By the time we finished our second bowling game, we decided we needed to go somewhere for lunch! Before that, we went across the road to Mitre 10 Mega so Zahir could buy something for the wheatgrass he was growing (oh so healthy!). Gwen and I just stayed in the car and chatted till Alex and Zahir got back.
We then went to Westcity for lunch. We eventually decided what to get, after having a bit of a difficult time deciding! We then agreed to go watch a movie, but once again we were going to split up. Zahir and Alex were going to go off to watch Transformers 2 while I decided to keep Gwen company and watch Ice Age 3! We went to Countdown to buy some food before Zahir and Alex had to go off to their movie. Our movie started half an hour later.
While waiting for our movie, Gwen and I wandered around the shopping mall having a look at different shops. We went into a shoe shop and checked out some boots. I saw one leaning over slightly, and thought I might try stand it upright as a favour! I nearly ended up knocking over the row of shoes as it just wouldn't stay standing! Eventually I got it to stand on its own.
As for Ice Age 3, it was a pretty good movie. I liked its soundtrack, and Syd, one of the main characters! I probably won't say anything more about the movie for fear of spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. One distraction during the movie was the little baby behind me who kept kicking me in the head! Once I knew it was a little baby I was a little more forgiving!
Gwen and I got out of the movies before Zahir and Alex, and I had to leave before they got out. It was good catching up with them though as it was a while since I had last seen them!
--
I had hoped to catch up with another friend who I hadn't seen in a while. We had discussed it before the holidays and were planning on catching up, but as time ran out I asked what happened and for some reason I got several different responses!
Here are Seven Reasons for Not Hanging out with Calum:
- Walking up queen st doesn't appeal [to me] anymore. We should plan something to do!
- I'm short on cash!
- I'm just not meeting up with a lot of people this holidays!
- I think by talking to you almost every night I know you and don't feel the need to catch up more often
- I hate lying to my parents and putting me through guilt
- ...and the fact that I'm lazy and don't feel like dressing up and having to wear a bra hahaha
- I just don't wanna hang
I found it funny how there were so many reasons not to catch up with me! I'm not angry or anything, and things are good between us now anyway so that's good!
I finally got to catch up with some of my other Rutherford friends, Zahir, Alex and Gwen when they invited me to bowling. I was actually only invited the night before and I only replied the next morning, which meant I had little time to prepare before they arrived to pick me up! In fact I only just got out of the shower when they arrived! I was rushing around trying to put on some clothes while Zahir was standing at the door talking to Aonghas. When I got out of the house to meet them, my hair was all over the place!
Alex drove us all to the bowling alley nearby in Lincoln and we played a couple of games. The first one wasn't too bad, with Zahir and I leading the pack despite me accidentally fouling by stepping over the line during one bowl. The second game wasn't so great, with me bowling the ball into the gutter several times! This time the girls were bowling really well and beating us!
By the time we finished our second bowling game, we decided we needed to go somewhere for lunch! Before that, we went across the road to Mitre 10 Mega so Zahir could buy something for the wheatgrass he was growing (oh so healthy!). Gwen and I just stayed in the car and chatted till Alex and Zahir got back.
We then went to Westcity for lunch. We eventually decided what to get, after having a bit of a difficult time deciding! We then agreed to go watch a movie, but once again we were going to split up. Zahir and Alex were going to go off to watch Transformers 2 while I decided to keep Gwen company and watch Ice Age 3! We went to Countdown to buy some food before Zahir and Alex had to go off to their movie. Our movie started half an hour later.
While waiting for our movie, Gwen and I wandered around the shopping mall having a look at different shops. We went into a shoe shop and checked out some boots. I saw one leaning over slightly, and thought I might try stand it upright as a favour! I nearly ended up knocking over the row of shoes as it just wouldn't stay standing! Eventually I got it to stand on its own.
As for Ice Age 3, it was a pretty good movie. I liked its soundtrack, and Syd, one of the main characters! I probably won't say anything more about the movie for fear of spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet. One distraction during the movie was the little baby behind me who kept kicking me in the head! Once I knew it was a little baby I was a little more forgiving!
Gwen and I got out of the movies before Zahir and Alex, and I had to leave before they got out. It was good catching up with them though as it was a while since I had last seen them!
--
I had hoped to catch up with another friend who I hadn't seen in a while. We had discussed it before the holidays and were planning on catching up, but as time ran out I asked what happened and for some reason I got several different responses!
Here are Seven Reasons for Not Hanging out with Calum:
- Walking up queen st doesn't appeal [to me] anymore. We should plan something to do!
- I'm short on cash!
- I'm just not meeting up with a lot of people this holidays!
- I think by talking to you almost every night I know you and don't feel the need to catch up more often
- I hate lying to my parents and putting me through guilt
- ...and the fact that I'm lazy and don't feel like dressing up and having to wear a bra hahaha
- I just don't wanna hang
I found it funny how there were so many reasons not to catch up with me! I'm not angry or anything, and things are good between us now anyway so that's good!
Friday 10 July 2009
At Home with the Neighbours
I went over to my neighbours' for dinner on Sunday night, which was not only the second dinner I had attended that weekend but was also the first time in a looong time I had caught up with my neighbours! For most of the night we hung out with Szelin, the younger sister, while Szepo the older sister briefly came home and I talked for a little while with her before she went out again. Kar-mun, the girl who sabotaged my Bebo profile a year or two ago was there too with her friend, but they disappeared downstairs not too long after dinner (they must've found it awkward!).
After dinner Szelin, my brothers and I were sitting in the lounge when her mum made some chocolate/mint drink that contained a bit of alcohol (Bailey's I think?) and gave us each a little glass, telling us to drink it. Aonghas and Hamish flatly refused it while I was caught out and ended up holding onto it, not knowing what to do with it! I ended up holding it for more than half an hour, causing the ice to melt!
When Zippo finally came home she joined us and I was talking to her for a while till she hit me and made me spill some of it on my shorts and their dog! I don't think the dog got drunk though.
Zippo soon ditched us and we went into Szelin's bedroom to talk, muck around and enjoy her homemade chocolate brownies! It was good catching up with them though after AAAGGEES!
After dinner Szelin, my brothers and I were sitting in the lounge when her mum made some chocolate/mint drink that contained a bit of alcohol (Bailey's I think?) and gave us each a little glass, telling us to drink it. Aonghas and Hamish flatly refused it while I was caught out and ended up holding onto it, not knowing what to do with it! I ended up holding it for more than half an hour, causing the ice to melt!
When Zippo finally came home she joined us and I was talking to her for a while till she hit me and made me spill some of it on my shorts and their dog! I don't think the dog got drunk though.
Zippo soon ditched us and we went into Szelin's bedroom to talk, muck around and enjoy her homemade chocolate brownies! It was good catching up with them though after AAAGGEES!
Sunday 5 July 2009
Finally Leaving the House
After being stuck in the house for most of the first week of the holidays and doing nothing but sleeping in till 10-12 and then playing on the computer while watching daytime telly like Dr Phil and Oprah, I finally got out of the house on Wednesday!
I met up with my friend Scholastica who does 2nd yearp pharmacy. We happened to randomly meet at pharmacy interviews last year. I was one of the helpers tasked with looking after the interviewees and calming them down before and after their interview.
We agreed to meet at 2pm in the city, as we both knew we would sleep in, and it turned out we did! We caught up at Sky City Metro where I showed her some of my notes that I would lend her for next semester, before we went over to La Porchetta for lunch.
That's where we talked about stuff over pizza before heading over to uni so I could transfer some files to her and return my two library books that were overdue by a week!
Last night I had my second outing for the week - my old high school friends from Rutherford decided to have a bit of a get-together/reunion over dinner at Zaffron Restaurant, this newish restaurant in Te Atatu Peninsula. It was also a good time to catch up with Lindsey, one of our friends who had come up on holiday from Dunedin where he's currently studying.
Because youth group was on at the same time, the plan was to drop Aonghas and Hamish off at church and then go to the dinner. I'd then leave at about 9-9.30 and try make it back to church for the last part of youth group, or at least the soccer game! Because it required me to drive at night and my mum doesn't trust me driving, she took me driving along to those destinations about an hour before I had to put it into practice! At least I now knew where to go!
I was the last to arrive at the restaurant (they wouldn't be surprised!) but no one had ordered yet, so that was good! Once we did though we all just started talking about all sorts of stuff, like what we were up to, all those good times back at high school and so on. Sarena had brought her cousin from France with her so it was interesting finding out more about France. However, we didn't realise our food wouldn't arrive for another hour and a half!
We were starving by then, and after a while our food finally arrived! I ordered a (pretty expensive!) pizza but it tasted good. Estee couldn't finish hers so she gave me a slice of hers too! Score! haha nah I felt a bit bad! We also ordered dessert (strawberry cheesecake for me!), hoping it wouldn't take as long! Fortunately it didn't!
After dessert was all finished, I decided I better go before the driving curfew, and also to meet up with Hamish and Aonghas at church. I was lucky to make it just in time for the soccer game!
Tonight there was a shared dinner at church for all the helpers. Most of the people there were older people though except for Andrew, one other guy from our youth group! At least the food was good though! We heard some speeches and played a game to end the night though.
For the week ahead our youth group is holding a cooking evening for us to cook some food for the camp we're going on this Friday. I've also got a dinner at the neighbours on Sunday and hopefully catch up with a coupe friends if they've got time!
I met up with my friend Scholastica who does 2nd yearp pharmacy. We happened to randomly meet at pharmacy interviews last year. I was one of the helpers tasked with looking after the interviewees and calming them down before and after their interview.
We agreed to meet at 2pm in the city, as we both knew we would sleep in, and it turned out we did! We caught up at Sky City Metro where I showed her some of my notes that I would lend her for next semester, before we went over to La Porchetta for lunch.
That's where we talked about stuff over pizza before heading over to uni so I could transfer some files to her and return my two library books that were overdue by a week!
Last night I had my second outing for the week - my old high school friends from Rutherford decided to have a bit of a get-together/reunion over dinner at Zaffron Restaurant, this newish restaurant in Te Atatu Peninsula. It was also a good time to catch up with Lindsey, one of our friends who had come up on holiday from Dunedin where he's currently studying.
Because youth group was on at the same time, the plan was to drop Aonghas and Hamish off at church and then go to the dinner. I'd then leave at about 9-9.30 and try make it back to church for the last part of youth group, or at least the soccer game! Because it required me to drive at night and my mum doesn't trust me driving, she took me driving along to those destinations about an hour before I had to put it into practice! At least I now knew where to go!
I was the last to arrive at the restaurant (they wouldn't be surprised!) but no one had ordered yet, so that was good! Once we did though we all just started talking about all sorts of stuff, like what we were up to, all those good times back at high school and so on. Sarena had brought her cousin from France with her so it was interesting finding out more about France. However, we didn't realise our food wouldn't arrive for another hour and a half!
We were starving by then, and after a while our food finally arrived! I ordered a (pretty expensive!) pizza but it tasted good. Estee couldn't finish hers so she gave me a slice of hers too! Score! haha nah I felt a bit bad! We also ordered dessert (strawberry cheesecake for me!), hoping it wouldn't take as long! Fortunately it didn't!
After dessert was all finished, I decided I better go before the driving curfew, and also to meet up with Hamish and Aonghas at church. I was lucky to make it just in time for the soccer game!
Tonight there was a shared dinner at church for all the helpers. Most of the people there were older people though except for Andrew, one other guy from our youth group! At least the food was good though! We heard some speeches and played a game to end the night though.
For the week ahead our youth group is holding a cooking evening for us to cook some food for the camp we're going on this Friday. I've also got a dinner at the neighbours on Sunday and hopefully catch up with a coupe friends if they've got time!
Saturday 4 July 2009
An Appearance in the Paper!
I was reading the New Zealand Herald online yesterday, when I came across an article on the University of Auckland holding an event for girls to get to know more about engineering. Guess who I spotted in the accompanying photo? Jenny!! She's the girl standing at the back. After a few of us in the family had a discussion as to whether it was her or not, I texted her for confirmation and it turns out it was her!
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