Sunday, August 17, 2008
· Filed under Uncategorized
*Click to enlarge!
My English group at camp.
Vera, Zuzana, & Iveta.
During one meal we had to eat with our wrists tied to the people next to us!
Maja and Anka are both members of the youth group in Prešov.
Prešov from above.
While we were looking at the city from the tower, we saw two girls from camp relaxing on a roof!
The amazing Jaja and Zuzka! We stayed with Zuzka and her family before and after camp.
The church in the center of Prešov.
Visiting friends in Bratislava.
A favorite site in Bratislava.
Claire, Bethany, and me with Nathallie and Jane in Bratislava.
Rathaus, in Vienna.
A church in Vienna.
Friday, August 15, 2008
· Filed under Languages, Uncategorized
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.”
-Charles Swindoll
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
· Filed under Christianity, People, Places
I just got back late Saturday night from my most recent trip to Slovakia. This year I was there for two weeks, helping out at the Prešov KECY. Prešov is a beautiful town in eastern Slovakia:
I was actually a little nervous about this camp because this was the first time I’ve ever been with Prešov before. Three of the last four years I’ve been at the Bratislava KECY; the other year I was with a small town called Lučenec, but I was in Lučenec for a month before the camp began. I felt like I was going to Slovakia for the first time all over again, since I knew so few of the Slovaks (and Americans) that would be at the camp.
In reality, however, this was one of the best KECYs I’ve been at yet. The Slovak team from the church we worked with was amazing, and the American team was great too. It was a unique camp because instead of a group of Americans coming over together from one American church, we had five small groups of Americans (two teams of interns in SK, another intern team from CZ, a couple from Tennessee, and then Bethany, Claire, and me) join together at camp.
The atmosphere was relaxed and the students were a lot of fun. I think everyone had a good experience, and there was a great turnout at the first post-KECY meeting. It was cool to be a small part of what God is doing in Slovakia. After camp and a couple of days in Prešov, Bethany, Claire, and I traveled to Žilina and Bratislava to visit friends in those cities. We also spent an evening in Vienna before our flight left the next morning.
All in all, this was a really nice trip- it was good to have a short break from work. I’ll post pictures soon.
Monday, August 11, 2008
· Filed under Just for Fun
Sorry! I’m trying to redesign my blog but I can’t figure out how to take it down while I try new things. I apologize for the way it looks while I make changes, especially the few annoying green spaces that won’t go away!
PS- If you are good with html and can tell me which code to edit to change the green things to stone blue, that would be much appreciated.
PPS- Granddad, I tried to make the date and time larger and darker but can’t seem to figure out how to do that either!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
· Filed under Places
Friday, July 11, 2008
· Filed under Life
The months from June-August used to be referred to as “summer break,” but I feel like that term is completely irrelevant this summer. This summer has been fun so far, but it certainly hasn’t been a break!
The last few weeks have been incredibly busy as I’ve been teaching an extra class, tutoring my private German student who just came back from vacation, trying to keep up with my own summer class, and preparing to head back to Slovakia for another year of English camp.
I have, however, had a few chances to enjoy the best part of summer in Seattle: getting outside and enjoying the sun! It is true that it is gray and rainy here for a large part of the year. It all seems worth it though when you talk to someone at home who has been sweating in the 3-digit-heat for months, while you’re still enjoying day after day of mid-to-upper 70’s and sunny!
So far I’ve been hiking and canoing, and have spent time at my new favorite ‘city beach,’ Golden Gardens. I’ve also made it to several Mariners games, which are always a lot of fun. (And, after a period of consistent losses, the Mariners fired their manager, hired a new one, and have started winning again)! This weekend I’m studying, but next weekend I’m ‘chaperoning’ a camping/white water rafting trip with school, which should be a lot of fun!
So, sorry I’ve disappeared from this blog again; when life gets busy, this is the first thing to go! Hopefully I’ll be able to post some pictures on here before I go to Slovakia on the 25th; if not, stay tuned for updates when I get back!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
· Filed under Holidays, Just for Fun, People, Places
This is a few weeks late now, but Vegas was a lot of fun! It was great to see Mom, Dad, and Jeffrey, and we all had fun perusing the casinos, walking around town, and on our adventure through the Arizona desert. Mom and I were the big casino winners, walking out with about $12 more (combined) than what we came in with. Mom played nickel slots, I played Black Jack.
Friday morning Mom, Jeffrey, and I joined Dad at his Construct 2008 conference. Jeffrey had a good time talking to some of the vendors; Mom and I had fun collecting all the free stuff! Friday night we saw the musical Jersey Boys. The show tells the story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The music was great and the story was interesting; I’d recommend the show to anyone looking for a good show to see. I’ve been listening to “Sheerrrrrr-rrrry” on my iPod all week long!
Saturday morning we got up early to take a bus tour to Hoover Dam and the west rim of the Grand Canyon, in northwest Arizona. Jeffrey and I took a helicopter to the bottom of the Canyon and rode down the Colorado River on a pontoon boat. The trip was fun, but on the way back to Vegas, the bus got a flat tire and we spent two hours sitting out in the dry heat of the Arizona desert. (It was hot, but I have to admit that after months of the gray, cool weather of Seattle, it was a nice change).
The driver finally found someone to help change the tire, and we made it back to Vegas not too much later than originally planned. When we got back to the city I met up with a few of my former students who were also in Vegas for the weekend. All in all, it was a pretty great trip.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
· Filed under Just for Fun
The Mariners played the Red Sox in a three-game series and the Mariners won 2 of the 3 games! Last night I went to the game and watched the final victory with some friends.
The game itself was pretty short… 9 innings in 1.5 hours! Bedard (Mariners pitcher) had only two hits in 7 innings. The only run the whole game was a homerun by Seattle’s Betancourt in the 3rd inning. Anyway, we had a really good time and plan on going to more games soon!
