Hello everyone!
On Tuesday we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Auschwitz-Monowitz, the two other parts that were built onto the original Auschwitz nearby. Monowitz was a small camp, but Birkenau was massive. It was here that the most people were murdered.
I saw in Monowitz a community that wanted to put the horror behind them. There were almost no remains of the camp.
I saw a community that had built up where once was a concentration camp. This was the people who had lived here before the Nazi's drove them out.
In Birkenau I saw the train tracks where train loads of people were brought, and if they were fit for work they were sent to one of the more than one hundred barracks, and if they weren't they were sent straight to the gas chamber.
I saw the brick barracks where up to 700 people would be crammed in, to sleep in the cold, on stone.
I saw the wooden barracks where 700 people had to sleep. These wooden barracks were originally stables for horses.
I saw their toilets and washing "facilities", the toilets being literally just one hole after another over a pit, and the washing "facilities" having either cold water, or no water in the winter.
I saw the ruins of the 5 crematoria where millions of people were burned after they had been gassed.
I saw a pond where the ashes of these people were thrown.
I saw little pieces of bone in the ground that are still there from this time.
I saw where people were brought when they first arrived, where their clothes, belongings, hair, and identity were stolen from them, where they no longer had a name, but were a number.
Birkenau was massive. No matter what direction you looked, it seemed to go on forever. Everything was perfectly linear. The ground was stony and harsh. There was no hope to be found here. The biggest atrocities ever committed by mankind were committed here.
"The biggest graveyard in the world"
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
The Concentration Camp 1
Hey again!
So I hadn't planned on writing again so soon, but I thought I'd just quickly share a few of the thoughts and impressions I have from visiting the original Auschwitz Concentation Camp today. Tomorrow we visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, the much bigger part later built onto the original 3km away.
I saw rows upon rows of photos of people who didn't last longer than a month in the camp.
I saw pictures of women and children who were experimented upon by Dr. Mengele, a sadist who did illegal medical experiments on prisoners.
I saw a huge cabinet of hair, people's hair, people who'd been gassed, or died, and I saw that it was used to make carpets and other things.
I saw the clothes and shoes of babies, who were sent to the gas chambers as soon as they arrived.
I saw quotations from Hitler and others that damn near made me sick.
I saw where the prisoners slept, what they ate, and an example of the ridiculously hard work thay had to do.
I heard how they had no shoes at the start, I heard how they got only 1700 Kcals for 12 hours work a day, 7 days a week.
I saw the gas chamber, where thousands of people were killed. Later, when we had our own time, I went back to the chamber. I coincidentally walked in on the spontaneous singing of a Hebrew prayer song by a group of 30-odd Israelites, singing for their fallen forefathers in the gas chamber. That God allowed me to witness that is one of the most incredible things I've ever had the privilege of.
"Opinions vary on the number of Jews killed in the camps. One Historian says it was 1.1million. Another says it was 1.5million. But the fact remains, whatever the exact number is does not matter. When one was killed, it was already one too many."
So I hadn't planned on writing again so soon, but I thought I'd just quickly share a few of the thoughts and impressions I have from visiting the original Auschwitz Concentation Camp today. Tomorrow we visit Auschwitz-Birkenau, the much bigger part later built onto the original 3km away.
I saw rows upon rows of photos of people who didn't last longer than a month in the camp.
I saw pictures of women and children who were experimented upon by Dr. Mengele, a sadist who did illegal medical experiments on prisoners.
I saw a huge cabinet of hair, people's hair, people who'd been gassed, or died, and I saw that it was used to make carpets and other things.
I saw the clothes and shoes of babies, who were sent to the gas chambers as soon as they arrived.
I saw quotations from Hitler and others that damn near made me sick.
I saw where the prisoners slept, what they ate, and an example of the ridiculously hard work thay had to do.
I heard how they had no shoes at the start, I heard how they got only 1700 Kcals for 12 hours work a day, 7 days a week.
I saw the gas chamber, where thousands of people were killed. Later, when we had our own time, I went back to the chamber. I coincidentally walked in on the spontaneous singing of a Hebrew prayer song by a group of 30-odd Israelites, singing for their fallen forefathers in the gas chamber. That God allowed me to witness that is one of the most incredible things I've ever had the privilege of.
"Opinions vary on the number of Jews killed in the camps. One Historian says it was 1.1million. Another says it was 1.5million. But the fact remains, whatever the exact number is does not matter. When one was killed, it was already one too many."
Report from Auschwitz
Hiya evereyone!
So, I thought I'd just write a quick wee blog about what we've been doing on the trip!
On Thursday, we basically just did ice-breaker games and getting to know each other, and Friday morning was the same. Tis a good bunch, all from Germany apart from me and Judit, the majority are still in school, and then there's a few of us who are a bit older. But they're all grand. A few funny characters. One huy loves his Star Wars. Says if he sees anything to do with Star Wars he has to have it. Tis funny, cos most of us are reading books about Auschwitz or concentrations camps and he's reading some Star Wars book, lol!
On Friday afternoon we then did a role-play game, where some of us were Jews being made to work in a factory, and others were Nazi officials or police or shop-owners, who basically made the jews' lives difficult. I was a jew. Twas interesting. No matter how hard we worked it was near impossible to reach our quota, and therefore earn money. We were also punished for the littlest of things. And it was totally unfair. We were in a Munitions Factory, and were meant to do 20 cases of Munition a day, but one day I was given a different task to do, which meant at the end I didn't have 20 cases, and I therefore didn't get my pay. 2 people also got fed up and got themselves killed. I got sent to a camp and, strange as it sounds, was happy when I got brought out of the camp to work again, cos when you work you at least have a hope. Then, I wanted to destroy the factory. I had it all worked out, it was a munition's factory, if we destroyed it we'd make a big dent in the Nazi's plans, and it'd be easy to destroy cos it's got explosive things there. Yes, we'd have to die for it, but who cares, we'd hurt the Nazi's! I'd tried to convince my other Jews, but they were too cowardly. Twas interesting just the different emotions it brought out. And it was only a game!
On Saturday then we came to Oswiecim, the Polish name for the town where the Auschwitz concentration camp is. We're staying in a youth hostel here, which also has a german guy as a guide and helper, so that's handy. On Saturday night we watched a film based on a true story about a guy who was in a few camps. The film was crap, from a purely film point of view, it got on my nerves, but the story is insane, what the guy had to go through was awful!
On Sunday morning, thought, it got particularly mad. We met a lady who had been not only in Auschwitz, but also in another concentration camp. Halina Bierenbaum is her name, and you can look her up on t'internet, she's written books and been in documentary films and other things. That was truly insane to meet someone and here a first person account of everything that went on in the concentration camps. These are 3 things which are just insane:
1) "Auschwitz saved my life." She said that, because the other camp was even worse, but then she got sent to Auschwitz. Isn't that insane?
2) She was actually meant to be gassed. She was in the room with the other women, naked, looking at up at the supposed shower heads, knowing this was it. But then nothing happened, and a soldier came in and said they weren't working that day. There was some sort of problem and they could gas that day. She was then never selected again to be gassed.
3) She was shot, but still survived. When the Allies were nearing in on camps, a lot of the time the Nazi's tried to cover themselves, so to speak. They would burn all the documents. And sometimes, when the Allies were right on the doorstep they'd shoot any remaining prisoners as well. She was shot, twice, but both bullets missed her vital organs. She just said she felt the pain, but knew the Allies were coming, so would not give up now.
She was a living example of the power of hope. Her book is called "Hope dies last" and that's a fitting title for her life. And the joy she was able to experience again after surviving it all, it just made me so happy to see how she delighted in things.
We later did a tour of the town here, and went to the Jewish centre, which was built onto the synagogue which was built up after the war. The original had been torn down by the Nazi's in 1939. Before the war something like 55% of the population of Oswiecim was Jewish. Now there's not a single Jew living here.
We also bumped into a group of Americans who were staying at the hostel as well. Twas funny, I asked them where they were from, then said that I was from Ireland, and they were like, "Oh hey, Rob's from Ireland!" Then this guy with a full american accent starts speaking to me. Turns out his Grandparents are from Cork, but moved to America in the 50s. But fair play, they go home every summer, he usually spends 5 weeks in Cork during the summer.
So, hope you're all doing good! Just thought I'd let ya's know some of the things I've been experiencing here!
God bless you all!
The German-speaking Ginger Genius!
So, I thought I'd just write a quick wee blog about what we've been doing on the trip!
On Thursday, we basically just did ice-breaker games and getting to know each other, and Friday morning was the same. Tis a good bunch, all from Germany apart from me and Judit, the majority are still in school, and then there's a few of us who are a bit older. But they're all grand. A few funny characters. One huy loves his Star Wars. Says if he sees anything to do with Star Wars he has to have it. Tis funny, cos most of us are reading books about Auschwitz or concentrations camps and he's reading some Star Wars book, lol!
On Friday afternoon we then did a role-play game, where some of us were Jews being made to work in a factory, and others were Nazi officials or police or shop-owners, who basically made the jews' lives difficult. I was a jew. Twas interesting. No matter how hard we worked it was near impossible to reach our quota, and therefore earn money. We were also punished for the littlest of things. And it was totally unfair. We were in a Munitions Factory, and were meant to do 20 cases of Munition a day, but one day I was given a different task to do, which meant at the end I didn't have 20 cases, and I therefore didn't get my pay. 2 people also got fed up and got themselves killed. I got sent to a camp and, strange as it sounds, was happy when I got brought out of the camp to work again, cos when you work you at least have a hope. Then, I wanted to destroy the factory. I had it all worked out, it was a munition's factory, if we destroyed it we'd make a big dent in the Nazi's plans, and it'd be easy to destroy cos it's got explosive things there. Yes, we'd have to die for it, but who cares, we'd hurt the Nazi's! I'd tried to convince my other Jews, but they were too cowardly. Twas interesting just the different emotions it brought out. And it was only a game!
On Saturday then we came to Oswiecim, the Polish name for the town where the Auschwitz concentration camp is. We're staying in a youth hostel here, which also has a german guy as a guide and helper, so that's handy. On Saturday night we watched a film based on a true story about a guy who was in a few camps. The film was crap, from a purely film point of view, it got on my nerves, but the story is insane, what the guy had to go through was awful!
On Sunday morning, thought, it got particularly mad. We met a lady who had been not only in Auschwitz, but also in another concentration camp. Halina Bierenbaum is her name, and you can look her up on t'internet, she's written books and been in documentary films and other things. That was truly insane to meet someone and here a first person account of everything that went on in the concentration camps. These are 3 things which are just insane:
1) "Auschwitz saved my life." She said that, because the other camp was even worse, but then she got sent to Auschwitz. Isn't that insane?
2) She was actually meant to be gassed. She was in the room with the other women, naked, looking at up at the supposed shower heads, knowing this was it. But then nothing happened, and a soldier came in and said they weren't working that day. There was some sort of problem and they could gas that day. She was then never selected again to be gassed.
3) She was shot, but still survived. When the Allies were nearing in on camps, a lot of the time the Nazi's tried to cover themselves, so to speak. They would burn all the documents. And sometimes, when the Allies were right on the doorstep they'd shoot any remaining prisoners as well. She was shot, twice, but both bullets missed her vital organs. She just said she felt the pain, but knew the Allies were coming, so would not give up now.
She was a living example of the power of hope. Her book is called "Hope dies last" and that's a fitting title for her life. And the joy she was able to experience again after surviving it all, it just made me so happy to see how she delighted in things.
We later did a tour of the town here, and went to the Jewish centre, which was built onto the synagogue which was built up after the war. The original had been torn down by the Nazi's in 1939. Before the war something like 55% of the population of Oswiecim was Jewish. Now there's not a single Jew living here.
We also bumped into a group of Americans who were staying at the hostel as well. Twas funny, I asked them where they were from, then said that I was from Ireland, and they were like, "Oh hey, Rob's from Ireland!" Then this guy with a full american accent starts speaking to me. Turns out his Grandparents are from Cork, but moved to America in the 50s. But fair play, they go home every summer, he usually spends 5 weeks in Cork during the summer.
So, hope you're all doing good! Just thought I'd let ya's know some of the things I've been experiencing here!
God bless you all!
The German-speaking Ginger Genius!
Monday, 12 October 2009
Heimweh!
Hi Everyone!
(Steven has Irish teabags again! Nambarrie! Yeah!)
So, the last two weeks went grand! Work-wise things have been fine, as usual, though a bit disappointing has been the numbers attending things! Youth Group, Kids Club, SNL have all had low numbers over the past 2 weeks. Hopefully things will puck up again soon!
I organised Schulandacht in the Hospital this week! See, there's a school attached to the hospital we live at which teaches people to be nurses or old-folks-home-nurses, and every friday at 7:15am (!) they have a wee service. The thing is, barely any of them are Christian, or from a chruch background, and therefore are only there because they have to be. Tis interesting doing a little 15 minute long service for people who just aren't interested! But it went fine, I did a wee talk about 1 Corinthians 13v1, one of my favourite verses of the bible. And it went ok, I had some funny stuff at the start and actually got them laughing a bit. And afterwards one of the students said that she thought it was a cool sermon. Who knows, maybe something got through!
Then, from Monday to Wednesday of this past week my Mum and Dad were here. That was great! They brought me some things like extra clothes, a pair of football boots, my iStation, my shaving kit, football and movie magazines, a few books, some nibbles, and perhaps most importantly, TEABAGS!
Twas lovely having them here too, they're so encouraging and it was just nice to have some more familiar Northern Irish input for a few days. I showed them around a wee bit, and they got talking to Gillian for a little bit, and we went to the Italian restaurant, my favourite restaurant in Chemnitz, which we found together when they came over last year!
But, alas, once they left on Wednesday night, I started to get really homesick. That's why I entitled this Blog Heimweh, the German word for homesickness. Well, there were a few factors: I'd already been feeling a little down cos a friend of mine's having some problems and I'm not able to be there for her, then Mum and Dad reminded me of how I missed them, then a good friend of my sisters passed away at just 26-years-old on Thursday and my sister's struggling with it and I can't be there for her either. And there's Autumn Soul coming up and I haven't missed it for years. So I'm a little down at the moment, just cos of the homesickness.
But, work goes on, and life goes on here. On Thursday we're going on a trip to Auschwitz. It's like a Young Adults trip combined with visiting the Concentration Camp. So we spend a few days together doing a plan along with spiritual teaching, then we visit the camp, then we have another couple of days with more teaching to help us digest what we've just seen. Should be both a fun but very challenging trip.
I played for FC Arche again yesterday. We drew 1-1, though we probably deserved the win. I was a bit slow to start but had a much better second half. My Dad says it's just lack of match practice.
Played football tonight too, found it amusing how silly some people are when they're trying to be cool: one guy went and changed kit half-way through! He started off in Bayern Munich and when he came back after the drink-break he was wearing Brazil. Why wear two different kits?
I'm now going to go enjoy some of the tea Mother and Father brought me, along with the last of the Dairy Milk they brought me!
God bless you all, wherever you are, whatever you're doing!
Love, your favourite Ginger Nut!
(Steven has Irish teabags again! Nambarrie! Yeah!)
So, the last two weeks went grand! Work-wise things have been fine, as usual, though a bit disappointing has been the numbers attending things! Youth Group, Kids Club, SNL have all had low numbers over the past 2 weeks. Hopefully things will puck up again soon!
I organised Schulandacht in the Hospital this week! See, there's a school attached to the hospital we live at which teaches people to be nurses or old-folks-home-nurses, and every friday at 7:15am (!) they have a wee service. The thing is, barely any of them are Christian, or from a chruch background, and therefore are only there because they have to be. Tis interesting doing a little 15 minute long service for people who just aren't interested! But it went fine, I did a wee talk about 1 Corinthians 13v1, one of my favourite verses of the bible. And it went ok, I had some funny stuff at the start and actually got them laughing a bit. And afterwards one of the students said that she thought it was a cool sermon. Who knows, maybe something got through!
Then, from Monday to Wednesday of this past week my Mum and Dad were here. That was great! They brought me some things like extra clothes, a pair of football boots, my iStation, my shaving kit, football and movie magazines, a few books, some nibbles, and perhaps most importantly, TEABAGS!
Twas lovely having them here too, they're so encouraging and it was just nice to have some more familiar Northern Irish input for a few days. I showed them around a wee bit, and they got talking to Gillian for a little bit, and we went to the Italian restaurant, my favourite restaurant in Chemnitz, which we found together when they came over last year!
But, alas, once they left on Wednesday night, I started to get really homesick. That's why I entitled this Blog Heimweh, the German word for homesickness. Well, there were a few factors: I'd already been feeling a little down cos a friend of mine's having some problems and I'm not able to be there for her, then Mum and Dad reminded me of how I missed them, then a good friend of my sisters passed away at just 26-years-old on Thursday and my sister's struggling with it and I can't be there for her either. And there's Autumn Soul coming up and I haven't missed it for years. So I'm a little down at the moment, just cos of the homesickness.
But, work goes on, and life goes on here. On Thursday we're going on a trip to Auschwitz. It's like a Young Adults trip combined with visiting the Concentration Camp. So we spend a few days together doing a plan along with spiritual teaching, then we visit the camp, then we have another couple of days with more teaching to help us digest what we've just seen. Should be both a fun but very challenging trip.
I played for FC Arche again yesterday. We drew 1-1, though we probably deserved the win. I was a bit slow to start but had a much better second half. My Dad says it's just lack of match practice.
Played football tonight too, found it amusing how silly some people are when they're trying to be cool: one guy went and changed kit half-way through! He started off in Bayern Munich and when he came back after the drink-break he was wearing Brazil. Why wear two different kits?
I'm now going to go enjoy some of the tea Mother and Father brought me, along with the last of the Dairy Milk they brought me!
God bless you all, wherever you are, whatever you're doing!
Love, your favourite Ginger Nut!
Sunday, 27 September 2009
"Life should be enjoyed, and for that, sometimes you need chocolate!"
(This blog was written while listening to Dave Matthews Band and while wishing I still had Irish teabags)
Hello all you lovely people!
So, this week was again pretty good! On Monday night we were invited over to Katja and Matthias's house for dinner. They're a lovely young couple from the church in Chemnitz, and it was very nice. We had Spaghetti Bolognese, twas very tasty.
We had breakfast with Barry again on Tuesday and we ended up talking about all different work things for 3 hours! It was long, but good! Meant we got all our concerns, ideas, suggestions, everything talked through.
Then that afternoon we as a Team sat down and organised things for the week, and any other things that needed sorting. That was also good, it all went pretty quickly and smoothly. It was also roasting on tuesday, so we had our TeamTime on the roof.
After that we had Home Group outside as well, and it was nice and we had a good discussion about friendship and community.
On Wednesday we again spent most of the morning organising things. And it again was grand. You may be noticing a pattern here: whenever I talk about team things, I seem to usually say that they went well. Well, that's cause they are. Even when an event doesn't maybe go so great or to plan, there's no bad feeling and finger-pointing like there was last year. It's a lot more like, "Look, don't worry, it happens, let's just do it better next time!" And we encourage each other. I'm very thankful to God and my Teammates that things are going so well.
On wednesday night Matthias (mentioned above) came by to fix our bikes. We have three bikes and all 3 were unridable. Is unridable a word? Ah well, I'm saying it anyway. So Matthias was fixing them and I was trying to help. I was useless.
On Thursday we had Kids Club and Youth Group as per usual. Kids club was great. I did the story of Noah's Ark, and got all the kids on a group of chairs that was the Ark, then I kept flicking water at them, twas a great laugh! Then Youth Group was a bit strange, all the young people were either not feeling great or really stressed with school or other things, so the atmosphere wasn't great, and poor Judit felt terrible after, because she was leading it, but it really wasn't her fault.
Afterwards I decided to buy us all chocolate! I just really felt like chocolate, and I wanted to treat the other two to something nice too, especially since they weren't in great form. So I bought us all Milka, yummy. When they asked why I just said, "Because life should be enjoyed, and for that, sometimes you need chocolate!"
On Friday Katja (mentioned above) took the three of us to get new T-shirts to be made into team T-shirts. We chose a navy colour, looks pretty nice. Now they just need to be printed. I'm looking forward to see what they look like. We then later had Youth Group and, in what is becoming a bit of a tradition, lots of us went and had a Kebab afterwards again.
On Saturday we had our first Family Afternoon and Saturday Night Live in Augustusburg. Unfortunately both of them were practically washouts. One couple with their two kids and one mother with her daughter came to Family Afternoon, and only two people came to SNL. We've decided to advertise the rest better.
Today we had a special kids service, Promiseland, a monthly kids service started by the Willow Creek Church in Chicago, and it was good fun!
Now I'm going to watch the latest episode of The Office, and eat some Ice Cream!
God bless all ya'all!
Hello all you lovely people!
So, this week was again pretty good! On Monday night we were invited over to Katja and Matthias's house for dinner. They're a lovely young couple from the church in Chemnitz, and it was very nice. We had Spaghetti Bolognese, twas very tasty.
We had breakfast with Barry again on Tuesday and we ended up talking about all different work things for 3 hours! It was long, but good! Meant we got all our concerns, ideas, suggestions, everything talked through.
Then that afternoon we as a Team sat down and organised things for the week, and any other things that needed sorting. That was also good, it all went pretty quickly and smoothly. It was also roasting on tuesday, so we had our TeamTime on the roof.
After that we had Home Group outside as well, and it was nice and we had a good discussion about friendship and community.
On Wednesday we again spent most of the morning organising things. And it again was grand. You may be noticing a pattern here: whenever I talk about team things, I seem to usually say that they went well. Well, that's cause they are. Even when an event doesn't maybe go so great or to plan, there's no bad feeling and finger-pointing like there was last year. It's a lot more like, "Look, don't worry, it happens, let's just do it better next time!" And we encourage each other. I'm very thankful to God and my Teammates that things are going so well.
On wednesday night Matthias (mentioned above) came by to fix our bikes. We have three bikes and all 3 were unridable. Is unridable a word? Ah well, I'm saying it anyway. So Matthias was fixing them and I was trying to help. I was useless.
On Thursday we had Kids Club and Youth Group as per usual. Kids club was great. I did the story of Noah's Ark, and got all the kids on a group of chairs that was the Ark, then I kept flicking water at them, twas a great laugh! Then Youth Group was a bit strange, all the young people were either not feeling great or really stressed with school or other things, so the atmosphere wasn't great, and poor Judit felt terrible after, because she was leading it, but it really wasn't her fault.
Afterwards I decided to buy us all chocolate! I just really felt like chocolate, and I wanted to treat the other two to something nice too, especially since they weren't in great form. So I bought us all Milka, yummy. When they asked why I just said, "Because life should be enjoyed, and for that, sometimes you need chocolate!"
On Friday Katja (mentioned above) took the three of us to get new T-shirts to be made into team T-shirts. We chose a navy colour, looks pretty nice. Now they just need to be printed. I'm looking forward to see what they look like. We then later had Youth Group and, in what is becoming a bit of a tradition, lots of us went and had a Kebab afterwards again.
On Saturday we had our first Family Afternoon and Saturday Night Live in Augustusburg. Unfortunately both of them were practically washouts. One couple with their two kids and one mother with her daughter came to Family Afternoon, and only two people came to SNL. We've decided to advertise the rest better.
Today we had a special kids service, Promiseland, a monthly kids service started by the Willow Creek Church in Chicago, and it was good fun!
Now I'm going to watch the latest episode of The Office, and eat some Ice Cream!
God bless all ya'all!
Friday, 18 September 2009
What's new?
(This blog was written while drinking Punjana Tea and listening to the Scrubs Season 1 Soundtrack)
Heya everyone!
So, what's new since I last wrote? Well everything's still going grand! On Saturday I had my first match for FC Arche this season. Beforehand they had played 5 matches already (3 losses and a draw in the league and a loss in the cup). Not a great start, it has to be said, but we were all determined to change that against one of our lower end of the league rivals on Saturday. And change it we did, with a very convincing 6-1 win! It was 5-0 at halftime, and we could take the second half fairly easy, with the opponents not offering much in way of a challenge.
And, I'm very happy to say that I had a hand in 4 of the goals! The first of the game was an own goal coming from a defender trying to clear away a pass aimed at me, but rifled it into his bottom corner. The 6th goal came from a header from a free kick which I won!
And our 2nd & 3rd goals? Well, they were scored by none other than yours truly! If I sound like I'm bragging, you should know that in almost 150 games, they were only the 3rd and 4th goals I've ever scored! I've a scoring ratio of something like a goal every 37 games, lol! But I'm mainly glad we got the win, and hopefully we can get a good run going!
An already good day was made better with the news that Agape FC, my team at home in Northern Ireland, won 13-0, and then it got even better when Man U won 3-1 against a very good Spurs side.
On Sunday we had dinner with a very nice family from one of the churches here. It was very funny though: There were 10 of us at the dinner table, and in the middle of conversation the 4 year old daughter says "Steven?" and I reply "Yes, Lea?" "I think I love you! In fact, I could see me marrying you!" LOL! We all laughed, it was very funny!
On Monday I watched Valkyrie for the first time, tis very good, if you've never seen it you should watch it some time. I later on played football too, which was good fun, apart for a few people throwing the strop because their team was losing.
On Tuesday we had our first Breakfast/Work Meeting with Barry, which went fine apart from us being a tad late. Then on Tuesday night we had our first Home Group of the year, which was ok, although it was only two of the old regulars who made it. Hopefully we can reach a few more people soon.
I was then sick on Wednesday and ended up most of the day in bed! But I'm pretty much all better now!
We had Kids Club and Floha Youth Group yesterday. Kids Club was good fun, although we only had 3 kids. I had a chat with the mother of 2 of the kids who regularly come, and she said that Thursday is a bad day for some of the kids. So we may be looking to change that at some point, but that's still only an idea. Youth group was great as well, we had fuller numbers again and had a nice practice for Abenteuerland. And then, in candlelight (which was really nice, though it was only because the power's out in our youth room because work's being done), we chatted about God's protection and plan for us, looking into the Bible a lot. It was very encouraging and I really enjoyed it.
On Thursday and Friday, Judit and I took part in a First-Aid-Course, so I'm now a qualified First-Aider, yay!
For those of you who can, you should swing by the Lesecafe in Augustusburg on Sunday between 14:30-18:00. IMT are on duty, ya see!
For all of you, I hope this weekend is a lovely, relaxing, fun, and blessed few days!
Love to y'all, from your Ginger Nut!
Heya everyone!
So, what's new since I last wrote? Well everything's still going grand! On Saturday I had my first match for FC Arche this season. Beforehand they had played 5 matches already (3 losses and a draw in the league and a loss in the cup). Not a great start, it has to be said, but we were all determined to change that against one of our lower end of the league rivals on Saturday. And change it we did, with a very convincing 6-1 win! It was 5-0 at halftime, and we could take the second half fairly easy, with the opponents not offering much in way of a challenge.
And, I'm very happy to say that I had a hand in 4 of the goals! The first of the game was an own goal coming from a defender trying to clear away a pass aimed at me, but rifled it into his bottom corner. The 6th goal came from a header from a free kick which I won!
And our 2nd & 3rd goals? Well, they were scored by none other than yours truly! If I sound like I'm bragging, you should know that in almost 150 games, they were only the 3rd and 4th goals I've ever scored! I've a scoring ratio of something like a goal every 37 games, lol! But I'm mainly glad we got the win, and hopefully we can get a good run going!
An already good day was made better with the news that Agape FC, my team at home in Northern Ireland, won 13-0, and then it got even better when Man U won 3-1 against a very good Spurs side.
On Sunday we had dinner with a very nice family from one of the churches here. It was very funny though: There were 10 of us at the dinner table, and in the middle of conversation the 4 year old daughter says "Steven?" and I reply "Yes, Lea?" "I think I love you! In fact, I could see me marrying you!" LOL! We all laughed, it was very funny!
On Monday I watched Valkyrie for the first time, tis very good, if you've never seen it you should watch it some time. I later on played football too, which was good fun, apart for a few people throwing the strop because their team was losing.
On Tuesday we had our first Breakfast/Work Meeting with Barry, which went fine apart from us being a tad late. Then on Tuesday night we had our first Home Group of the year, which was ok, although it was only two of the old regulars who made it. Hopefully we can reach a few more people soon.
I was then sick on Wednesday and ended up most of the day in bed! But I'm pretty much all better now!
We had Kids Club and Floha Youth Group yesterday. Kids Club was good fun, although we only had 3 kids. I had a chat with the mother of 2 of the kids who regularly come, and she said that Thursday is a bad day for some of the kids. So we may be looking to change that at some point, but that's still only an idea. Youth group was great as well, we had fuller numbers again and had a nice practice for Abenteuerland. And then, in candlelight (which was really nice, though it was only because the power's out in our youth room because work's being done), we chatted about God's protection and plan for us, looking into the Bible a lot. It was very encouraging and I really enjoyed it.
On Thursday and Friday, Judit and I took part in a First-Aid-Course, so I'm now a qualified First-Aider, yay!
For those of you who can, you should swing by the Lesecafe in Augustusburg on Sunday between 14:30-18:00. IMT are on duty, ya see!
For all of you, I hope this weekend is a lovely, relaxing, fun, and blessed few days!
Love to y'all, from your Ginger Nut!
Thursday, 10 September 2009
The Old Days!
Hi everybody!
So, IMT 2's going really well so far. Judit and I organised Jungschar (Kids Club) together for today, and it was great because she has a bunch of experience as well. So we could just bounce ideas off each other and work out what we think would be best. And to be honest, it was one of the best Jungschars I can remember. Not because of us or what we did, or what our ideas were, because I'm pretty sure we've done better stories in better ways with more fun games and more interesting crafts before. But it was great today because the kids were all on really good form. They were really well behaved, were good craic too, and listened well enough to the story, seemed to really enjoy the games, and got really into the craft. It was nice and easy today, which rarely happens.
Things are also comfortable within team-life too. Maria and Judit are both very nice, Maria's very talkative, almost to a fault, and Judit's still a bit shy but lovely. No problems there. We also can sit down and share ideas fairly openly and easily, which is also good!
Lukas came to Floha Youth Group tonight too! Lukas is the guy who was on team with me last year! He's working in a church about an hour away now, and starts tomorrow properly, but has said he's gonna try and come to our things as often as he can. He then came back to ours after for a cuppa. And it actually started to get me kinda sad. See, it was just like the old days, him being here again, and I started to miss it. Last year was an incredible experience, extremely difficult though it sometimes was. And now it's all so different. It's just strange. It's gonna take me a little while still to get used to it all!
Tomorrow I'm going to be spending pretty much all of my day translating. I don't exactly how long it'll take, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna take a good while, and could take me a normal working day, 9-5. That's what I'm aiming for anyway, that length of time. If I'm done anytime sooner, then happy days!
I also have my first game of the season for FC Arche on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to immensely! They've played four league games already, three losses and a draw, and a cup match, which they lost. But this Saturday they hope to take all 3 points. I can't wait! I haven't played a full match of football since the last day of last season, so I hope my fitness holds up!
I hope you're doing well, whoever you are, wherever you are!
Your Ginga Ninja!
So, IMT 2's going really well so far. Judit and I organised Jungschar (Kids Club) together for today, and it was great because she has a bunch of experience as well. So we could just bounce ideas off each other and work out what we think would be best. And to be honest, it was one of the best Jungschars I can remember. Not because of us or what we did, or what our ideas were, because I'm pretty sure we've done better stories in better ways with more fun games and more interesting crafts before. But it was great today because the kids were all on really good form. They were really well behaved, were good craic too, and listened well enough to the story, seemed to really enjoy the games, and got really into the craft. It was nice and easy today, which rarely happens.
Things are also comfortable within team-life too. Maria and Judit are both very nice, Maria's very talkative, almost to a fault, and Judit's still a bit shy but lovely. No problems there. We also can sit down and share ideas fairly openly and easily, which is also good!
Lukas came to Floha Youth Group tonight too! Lukas is the guy who was on team with me last year! He's working in a church about an hour away now, and starts tomorrow properly, but has said he's gonna try and come to our things as often as he can. He then came back to ours after for a cuppa. And it actually started to get me kinda sad. See, it was just like the old days, him being here again, and I started to miss it. Last year was an incredible experience, extremely difficult though it sometimes was. And now it's all so different. It's just strange. It's gonna take me a little while still to get used to it all!
Tomorrow I'm going to be spending pretty much all of my day translating. I don't exactly how long it'll take, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna take a good while, and could take me a normal working day, 9-5. That's what I'm aiming for anyway, that length of time. If I'm done anytime sooner, then happy days!
I also have my first game of the season for FC Arche on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to immensely! They've played four league games already, three losses and a draw, and a cup match, which they lost. But this Saturday they hope to take all 3 points. I can't wait! I haven't played a full match of football since the last day of last season, so I hope my fitness holds up!
I hope you're doing well, whoever you are, wherever you are!
Your Ginga Ninja!
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