Saturday, September 29, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey everyone so to start off with it was brought to my attention that some of you don't have my e-mail address so if you would like to e-mail me you can at kendra_rae_@hotmail.com I love hearing from you all just know that it might take me a while to respond! Also some of you wanted my phone number so its 1-705-754-2444 and the extension number is 233, so if you don't want to wait for a e-mail response this is the way to go.
So on to more exciting things on Tuesday we went white water kayaking at this place called palmer rapids. It was a class 2 rapid (pretty small stuff) where we learned how to get down rapids and do some fun stuff such as "surf" a wave. This is where you point your boat up stream and position your boat so that your hips are at the white part of the wave. Once you get in this position your boat will kind of just sit there and you can move side to side....or so they say I wasn't able to do this too well but eventually I will.
So how a typical week works is Monday and Tuesday we have classes or day trips. The classes are not like ordinary bible school classes because they are usually only a couple of hours long and then there done. So some of the classes that I have taken so far are Effective Communication, Philosophy of Leadership and Conflict Resolution. Then on Wednesday to Friday if their is a group booked in we get to facilitate them. So we normally get a group of 10-12 people and lead them through different activities that we have here. This week I had a group of grade 8 kids and lead them through archery, riflery, rappelling, zip line, GPS, and high ropes such as leap of faith. One of my favorest things to teach the kids is rappelling because when you are up on the tower most people are scared to go down and you get to help them get over their fears and once they reach the bottom they are usually really happy that they did it. Then on Wednesday night we have a bible study at Michaels house (he's one of the leaders), this weeks we brought peanut butter with us (because Medeba is a nut free facility) and ate it by the spoonfuls yum! Thursday night there is an open gym in Haliburten and they either play volleyball or soccer so I went to that and it was fun but their weren't many people there although it just started so hopefully more people will join. Then on the weekends we can choose to join the fee reduction program where we facilitate groups the same as during the week. You only work every other weekend though. So thats kind of how my weeks look.
This next week we are going on a rock climbing trip from Sunday night to Friday morning. We are going to be right by Niagara Falls so we are going their too!!! The only thing that is bad is that I am cook of the week with Drew so we had to plan all the meals and get all the food. Its really difficult to plan for meals with 13 people! So right now I think that we have enough food for everyone but I'll have to tell you how it goes later. Oh and there are two girls who can't eat wheat so that makes meal planning interesting but I made them wheat free muffins yesterday that they turned out pretty good!
So I just realized that I haven't told you about everyone else in my program and you are probably confused as to who I am talking about. So I will briefly tell you about everyone. So first there are Michael and Bruce they are our leaders. Michael is the sporty guy he would much rather be outside than teaching. Bruce loves the outdoors but he is really wordy and can tell you anything about the bible its so cool. Then there is Anna and John they are the married couple and are really nice. I love them because they have really high standards and keep us all accountable. Then there is Melinda she is really outgoing and loud and has the awesomest laugh and is running a half marathon this weekend. Laura is from Australia and is a fruitaholic we have gone through so much fruit its crazy! Heidi is fun she's a couple years older than most of us but shes a blast to hang out with. Esther is awesome she comes up with the crazyest ideas such as shrink wrapping Michael's car (which we haven't done....yet anyways) but is also the sweetest person you'll meet. Drew is also a fruitaholic along with Laura, he's also a magician and has some sweet card tricks. And lastly there is David he's really quiet but once you get to know him you find out stuff like he writes poems and stories all the time.
So as you all know thanksgiving is coming up and I thought I should let you know that I am going to Esther's house for the weekend so don't worry I'm not alone. Its going to be awesome because there are nine people in her family ahhhh craziness! So I'll have to tell you all about that too. Well thats it for now have a great week and an awesome thanksgiving! Kendra

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Bunny Hollow



Alright I’m back, sorry guys but my internet has been down for a while now so I’ll try to fill you in. So let’s see last week was my solo it was really awesome I took a bunch of pictures and got some much needed sleep. It was so beautiful I would recommend that everyone take a few days out of their schedule and spend time alone with God its awesome. Then last weekend we went to Canada’s Wonderland which was so fun! We went on all the rollercoaster rides and ate cotton candy. Then on Tuesday a school group came in so we got to lead them through all the activities that we have learned in these past few weeks. That was pretty fun but also intense, it was hard to go from learning everything to teaching it but I feel like I did a good job. Then after the school left we went to The Gull which is an intense river with rapids about a half an hour away. We learned how to swim and do rescues, it was so fun!!! Then on Thursday we went to Bunny Hollow which is a rock cliff about a half hour away. It’s kind of funny because it’s just this rock cliff about thirty meters to the side of the road. It was so much fun and I can’t wait until our rock climbing trip! And now it is the weekend so I’m just hanging out in my pj’s letting you all know that I’m alive and well.