Happy Turkey

So…it’s been 2 months since Pais 08/09 started and this weekend is Thanksgiving weekend a.k.a Happy Turkey.  I get to spend Sunday with some of my favourite people and then get Monday off work too…which is great!

Ok, update on life thus far….

I got back from England and had a beautiful few weeks in the sunshine of Vancouver, I went to Vancouver Island and visited some family friends, I went down to Portland, OR to visit a long-time friend and got to see Seattle, WA too – the weather was amazing and it was wonderful seeing my friend Jennica again too (it’s been 4 yrs).  From there I flew to Fort Worth, TX for 2 weeks of Pais Foundational Training.

 

Pais Training:TEXAS

My role as Team Leader kicked in as I met the first member of my new Pais team – Sophie is 23 and from Germany.  My other team member is Sarah, she’s 20 and from Germany as well – she wasn’t able to get to the training in Texas until the last day because she had problems with her visa.  The training was an intense 2 weeks of seminars and teaching – it was good but crazy busy.  I was staying with the most AMAZING host family though – they had a swimming pool, hot tub, boat, jetski….it was amazing and the couple were the kindest, most loveliest people EVER!! I felt so blessed to have met them and live with them for two weeks.

Pais Canada::VANCOUVER!!! 

Back in Vancouver and It’s never felt more like home – I’m so glad to be back after being in Texas!! Vancouver is a sweet place to live. Seriously.

So, being back in Vancouver now, I have moved churches. I know work at a church called Cariboo Christian Fellowship Church, which is in the city east of Vancouver called Burnaby.  Because of this, I have had to move house too – so I spent my first week living with a Filipino family in Surrey.  The family were so lovely but Surrey is so far away! I was driving for nearly 2hrs each morning to get to devotions in Vancouver, as I had to pick up the girls in my team from Port Moody (which is also far far away!).  I moved after a week to near where the girls were living to another city called Coquitlam – where I live at the moment with a lovely couple called Bob and Sara.

My team life has been challenging – trying to hold onto the vision of creating a media team, but not having anything turn out how I expected it (not just things I wanted to happen not happening, but things I didn’t want to happen happening!)  So, I’m learning to be faithful with what I have and to hold on to my dream.  I have the most amazing people around me and I love my new church – my new youth pastor is called Ben and he’s awesome.  I just don’t like being so far out in the suburbs. I miss my old host family and being in the Westside…but I keep visiting.

And now it’s been 2 months and things are plodding along….it’s not bad but it’s not great.  But I do have tons to be thankful for….and now it’s Thanksgiving and I’m so thankful, I’m happy and feel so loved.  I feel at home in this temporary home for the year…..that sounds weird, but it’s all ok!!

 

Some photos:

Germany – fotos von deutschland

I had the privilege of visiting 2 awesome friends (and seeing 2 more) in Germany – just an hour flight from England, and I landed in Frankfurt Hahn Airport.  I arrived on the Wednesday and spent the first few days with Lotte and then Robin picked me up on Saturday and we drove down near to Stuttgart…or rather to Moensheim! hehe.

Joni came on Monday and we made the trip to Bodensee, where you can get phone signal from Switzerland because it’s right across the lake.  We got wet, as it was raining but it was great fun and we got to see Tabi.

Robin likes to do a million and one things, and so he showed us his Paragliding stuff…we played mini-golf, twice…we went for bike rides…shot air rifles…drank lots of Becks with Lemon…and many more things – like meet Robin’s twin, Heiko!!! haha.

I really loved Germany 🙂 

 

Englandtown

How lucky am I?! I got to go back to England and see all my wonderful friends and family that I haven’t seen in a year.  It was such a strange feeling as I arrived in London Gatwick, for the first time in nearly a year, I wasn’t the one with the accent!  Suddenly, it felt like my life in Canada was only a dream as everyone drove on the left, spoke all posh and drank Tea everywhere.

I spent my first week in Cheltenham, the town where I spent 3 years at University. It was wonderful being back and seeing so many of my friends! It was like I’d never left….conversations picked right back up again, especially as I had to catch up on all the goss.  I realised here how much I miss England, and that I prefer small towns to giant cities (like Vancouver).  It’s a place that feels comfortable – it’s home.  And so I had a crazy week of seeing a million people over lunches, dinners and cups of tea!

Second week…I made the trek up to Cumbria, where my Mum lives in a small coastal town called Maryport.  It was great seeing the family again, and to see how far the boat has improved in a year.  This week was a lot more relaxed – reading, walking the dog, and not much else.  We drove up to Scotland for the day and I got to stand on Hadrian’s Wall – oh the fun! 

I then went to my Gran’s over near Hull. That was nice. I then made my way back south towards Birmingham and then Stansted Airport – to go to Germany (see above post).

Back in England after a week in Deutschland, I stayed in Birmingham with my Aunt’s family. I video’d Sebrina and Steve Miller’s wedding which was a lovely day – still working on the video!  I then went and saw Rosie…..before leaving back to Canada! 

 

Quick Update

Here’s what I’m up to until September…

w/c 9th June – LAST WEEK OF PAIS YEAR 1!!!

w/c 16th June – Week off….nice break in Vancouver, I hope it’s sunny. I fly outta here at the end of the week. Will be sad saying some goodbyes.

w/c 23rd June – I’m in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England!! I can’t wait to see my people here 😀

w/c 30th June – Up north in Maryport, Cumbria, visiting the family…seeing the Flying Buzzard once again. I can’t wait to see my mum and the Lake District. Then over to Hull, Yorkshire to see my Gran.

w/c 7th July – I’m going to Germany this week, seeing Robin and the girls I’ve been working with this year on Pais. I’m excited for this trip and trying out my German speaking skills on new German people…haha.

w/c 14th July – Still in l’allemagne (that’s Germany in french) until the 16th, then back to Birmingham. It’s Sebrina and Steve’s wedding on the 19th!!! I’m doing some video-ing work for them, should be sweet. They are friends from Pais:USA.

w/c 20th July – Visiting Rosie in Northampton, she’ll be taking me to the airport on the 22nd July… I’ll be back in Vancouver before I know it.

w/c 28th July (3 weeks) I HAVE NO IDEA YET!!…..hopefully taking advantage of living in British Columbia, which is stunning! Vancouver Island would be a fun place to go…if anyone’s interested in joining me then let me know.

w/c 18th Aug – (2 weeks) TEXAS, USA. Pais Foundational Training ’08. I’ll be meeting my new team and having lots of training in the hot, hot place of TX…hopefully I wont melt.

w/c 1st Sept – Back to the True North – living in Burnaby, starting at my new church (Cariboo Road Christian Fellowship), leading my fab team…..living the crazy life again for another 10 months!!

….and breathe…..