Day 6 (aka "Screeching Reunions") (aka "Cherished Memories Part 4") (aka "THE FIRST DAY OF CAMP!")

Today I'm combining my "daily journal" of the Slovenia trip with my "Cherished Memories" series because, well, why not?

Day 6 of our trip was amazing.  Like, the whole entire day.  Like, this post is going to be long because it was so awesome.

The morning started off with a great team devotion at the top of the hill at orientation.  We talked about Philippians 4:4-9 (my favorite verses and verses that we talked about during morning devotions on our last trip to Slovenia) (I'm looking at you Travis).  Afterward, we took some group pictures and enjoyed the view.  We then walked back down to our rooms to get ready to go.  We packed our bags, drug them down the stairs, and loaded them in the cars.  We then took turns getting rides down to a rest area where the bus picked us up.  Then we waited and waited and waited.  FINALLY, the bus showed up and I flipped out.  I ran and jumped and screamed and hugged my friends that I met at Winter Camp last year.  It was so wonderful.  It was amazing.  This is the "cherished memory" of the day.  It was great knowing that the students missed me as much as I missed them.  We immediately got to hanging out, talking, laughing, telling (bad) jokes, and singing songs.  I also started meeting new students and tried (and failed) to learn their names.  We then boarded the bus and embarked on the long drive to the castle.

Once we arrived, we walked up the hill and immediately got to work. The students signed in, received their shirts, wrist bands, and journals and went to get interviewed for English classes.  I went upstairs and started organizing all of the supplies that we would be using for the rest of the week.  This is where my first, last, and only emotional breakdown would happen (which is a success in my book).  Luckily, I had Becky there to keep me calm.  Once we finished, we got settled in our rooms, played games, and continued to try to learn names.  The biggest hurdle was trying to pronounce their names correctly (they roll their R's).

At night program, we started learning the camp dance, the camp songs, and talked about what we would be discussing the rest of the week (God and life).  We then broke off into discussion groups where we would get to know the students in our classes.  Once discussion groups were over, we went back into the main room to play circle games (I freaking love circle games).

Eventually, we all went back to our rooms and got ready for bed.  I did a small devotion, freaked out at the fact that I was in FREAKING SLOVENIA, and then, finally, fell asleep.

I don't think I could have been any happier in that moment.

-Ashley

(The lake.  I'm not sure what that dark spot is.)

 

(Walking up to the castle.)

 

(The castle we lived in for an entire week.)

 

(Another view. Josh took this picture from the villa where the guys stayed.)

 

(Hanging out at camp.)

Day 4 and 5 (aka "orientation is da bomb dot com")

So, I decided to combine day 4 and day 5 of our trip into one post.  The main reason for doing this (besides laziness) is because I can't remember which day we learned certain things.  Orientation kind of blurs together for me, so just having one "Orientation" post sounded like a good idea.

Now I realize that most people hear the word "orientation" and probably shudder and, honestly, I usually do the same.  Orientation is usually synonymous with boredom, facts, rules, and being talked down to (like, "I have information that you don't have and you have to listen to me to get this information that you don't have.").  BUT, I was excited about this orientation.  This one meant seeing friends, laughing A LOT, pranks, gag gifts, dancing, singing, praying, interesting information, chocolate, bonding, unity, and coffee (lots of coffee).  Obviously, the thing I was excited most about was seeing friends that I haven't seen in months (Dan and Barbara), in a year (Brad and Laurel), or in a year and a half (Andrej and Nina).  These people mean a lot to me and the chance to get to reconnect with them was thrilling.

One thing I would like to note is that our camp was not the only camp that was being held the following week.  So at orientation, the workers of multiple camps were being trained there.  It was really cool being able to hang out and learn with others who have a desire to serve in Slovenia.  So, because of that, there were a lot of people there.

At orientation we learned about the cultural differences between Slovenes and Americans, we learned about the history of Slovenia and how it affects Slovenes today (probably my favorite lesson at orientation), we learned how to teach our English classes (this was the most helpful talk), we learned how to lead effective discussion groups, we learned how to share the gospel without speaking "Christianese", and we learned how to reach out to the students using our fingers to remember (thumb = next step discipleship, pointer = direct with respect, middle = listen to Jesus and respond, ring = watch your language dude, pinky = it takes a village to raise a child).  [Note: We actually learned a lot more that just that, but 1) I can't remember it all and 2) this post is already getting too long.]  I really didn't expect to learn as much as I did at orientation.  It went really well.  As a matter of fact, we were asked after camp if there was anything at orientation that we would change, and I couldn't think of anything.  Every lesson was necessary and important and was communicated excellently.

Thanks for reading this long and boring post.  I promise that Day 6 will be exciting because it will be the first day of camp (woo-hoo)!!!!

-Ashley

What do you think of when you hear the word "orientation"?

(Josh's room at orientation. Exciting, huh?)

 (Our team had morning bible studies at the top of a hill near the hostel  This was the view from the top of that hill.)

 (This was right in front of the hostel.)

(Apartments right across the street from where orientation was held.)

(The morning bible study on the last day of orientation.)

 (Josh and I being awesome at orientation.)

(Jesse and Sam are awesome too.)

(So blessed to have met these two ladies. Vanessa and Vesna are super awesome.)

Cherished Memories Part 3 (a little late)

Hey there.  Ummm... so it's been a while.  Sorry about that.  I could use the excuse that life got busy, but that wouldn't be true.  Yeah, so here we go...

Ugh!  This is already starting to get difficult.  I have so many cherished memories that choosing JUST ONE is not fun!  But if I were to choose just one, it would have to be my last English class session.  I mean all of them are a cherished memory, but the last one was very special.

Let me go back and explain.  The main purpose of the trip was to help run an English camp.  Everyone on the Florida team was divided up and given different jobs.  My job was to teach an English class.  I had 6 students in my class (Jan #1, Jan #2, Janja, Rene, Nejc, and Primož), 1 assistant (Bobby), and 1 translator (Karmen).  We spent the entire week together doing English lessons in the morning and discussion groups in the evening.  Throughout the week we were also working on a presentation to preform for the parents.  On Saturday morning, we were to have one last lesson to prepare and practice our presentation.  Before that lesson, I decided to do a little exercise with a ball of yarn.  This is how it works: one person would hold on to the end of the yarn and throw the ball to someone in the room.  The person who threw the ball would then give the person who caught the ball a compliment.  Then the person who caught the ball would throw the ball to someone else (while holding on to the string).  Then that person would receive a compliment from the person who threw it.  We basically did this a few times around until it created a cool looking web.  This moment was very special to me.  At first, I was worried at how well this exercise would go over.  I figured that my students would think it was stupid and would not want to participate.  Boy, was I sorely mistaken.  The things that were said in that room were the most well thought out, kind, encouraging, and meaningful compliments that anyone could ever hear.  In that moment, I knew how important my job was at camp and was extremely thankful for it.  The bonds that were formed that week are the kind that cannot be replicated.  No one will understand the unity that we had in that room in that moment.  And honestly, my words will never be able to describe what I felt (pride and joy are two words that come to mind, but even then, they aren't enough).

If you were in my class and you are reading this, thank you.  You guys and gals are very special to me.  :)

-Ashley

P.S. These pictures were taken with Bobby's iPod, so the quality of the pictures aren't that great.