lower case g

Monday, June 28, 2004

the most fun dancing ever

alright, so most people know about how dutch people dance, and i am no acception to this rule! not so much rythem and much flailing is the general case when those of a dutch background take the dance floor... so when i heard that we would be dancing tonight, i thought to myself, "self, this could be an interesting experience." i was completly up for the experience but at the same time... what would i do... having some lack of rythem and all. but, the dance was an absolute blast. it was a hungarian folk dance put on by a music camp that is near by. it was so good to experience the whole thing... and the students had a fun time trying to teach us what to do! it was just a wonderful mix of tradition meeting with the new generation! i loved it! even in my steps might not have been in the right order... in the end that did not really even matter that much...

Posted by lowercaseg :: 5:22 PM :: |
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Sunday, June 27, 2004

all i wanted was something cold to drink... water maybe

mmmm... cold water, one of lifes sweet little pleasures! i have realized since being here that there are so many things that i take for granted. such as going to a store were you can get more than just beer refrigerated (yes this is the land of cold beer and warm carbonated water ;)! also this last week some of the missionaries braught us oranges and bananas... i have never been so excited to get fresh fruit in my whole life! it was so good! sometimes i really do think that we have lost the ability to get excited about such things... because back at home we can get pretty much anything anytime that we want it, but here getting uncarbanated water is a treat that i appreciate so much more! part of me kind of wishes that we could still only get certain fruits in season... but i also really do like being able to have apples all year long. anyway, i hope this does not sound like a negative post, for it was not meant to be if it was... and i did find the whole cold beer warm everything else to be quite funny, laughed and then drank my warm mineral water, which i have decided is ok, if you are not expecting it to taste like water ;)

Posted by lowercaseg :: 9:21 AM :: |
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004

drawing and spelling... not really my stong points

today i had my first lessons... lets just say i have a new found respect for every teacher (no matter how boring) that i have ever had. kodos to you all those teachers and future teachers out there... your job is not an easy one (note: especially difficult if the students dont know the langauge you are speaking in!) i was a little bit apprehensive about the whole thing becasue they stuck me in the cafeteria and i wasnt quite sure how this would affect the whole paying attention thing, but it actually turned out fine. this afternoon we played sports with the kids... well actually the girls played basketball and i joined with the guys playing soccer... i think that i embarrased myself a bit (it is always a bit embarrasing to get schooled by a 10 year old) but they were nice about it and i had a ton of fun... so that was good! tonight we played capture the flag and i found out that hungarians cheat like crazy! at one point both flags were hidden on the same side, so well my team lost that one! but it was a lot of fun adn it was great to get to know the kids more and break the ice a bit. i thank you for your prayers! oh and i just have to add this one last note... HUZZAH for the choir times being changed for next year!

Posted by lowercaseg :: 4:51 PM :: |
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Sunday, June 20, 2004

off to camp

so i leave for camp tomarrow... excited, but a bit scared about the whole english teaching thing, once again asking for prayers! :)

Posted by lowercaseg :: 3:43 PM :: |
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Saturday, June 19, 2004

lessons learned while crossing the ukrainian border

1. never try to cut in line, you end up getting yelled at by a very scary looking ukrainian women in a guard's uniform

2. communicating in another language is never easy, especailly when you dont know any of it

3. be very thankful for people who know what information you need to write down and are animated enough to make you understand what to do.

4. a good way to pass time is trying to guess what is going on

well i have to go now... dinner calls

Posted by lowercaseg :: 11:22 AM :: |
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Tuesday, June 15, 2004

europe bound 2004 :)

well i just packed the last thing into my backpack and closed it all up (it is sitting on the ground though and i am not quite sure how i will lift it... but i have another good hour before i have to worry about that ;) anyway, my team and i leave for the airport in an hour... i am, to say the least, just a tad bit excited... actually extremly excited! i am still in the sureal phase just a bit, but once that is probably a good thing becasue otherwise i might now be able to contain my enthusiasm. i will try to keep up on the blog if i am able to get to a computure that has more than just e-mail capabilities! i am hoping that there will at least be a few places were i will be able to update (after all i have an addiction ;) but near the end we will be in an area without running water or electricity so i have this funny incling that there wont be computers (dont know why, just do :) anyway, i should be going now, but i again ask for your prayers as i head off... thanks for the prayers that you have already been given, they mean more to me than you will ever know!

Posted by lowercaseg :: 3:52 PM :: |
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Thursday, June 10, 2004

you are so good to me...

day: 3, today someone was praying before lunch and accidentily thanked God for the 3 weeks of orientation. well it is day three but the amount of info. swimming around in my head could definitly make it three weeks. in spite of this fact, the time has been amazing so far. tonight we spent about an hour and a half in prayer, it was amazing. i would appreciate your prayers as we continue on. thanks, gayle

Posted by lowercaseg :: 11:17 PM :: |
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Tuesday, June 08, 2004

day 1... and i am stuck at table 5

today i had the first day of orientation. i got to calvin around 6:30 last night and found out that we were staying in kalsbeek, for anyone who knows calvin's campus, this is the dorm makes the least sence of any if you are doing stuff at the seminary... at least a 10 min walk... but that is alright, i like the walk and the exersize is always a bonus. all of today i have been enjoying the company of my teammates and the other people who are going to other sites around the world. we have learned a bit about hungarian culture, and a little hungarian... well this was more of an attempt then an actual learning but hey what can i say, i shall just have to try my best and let God do the rest (hey that rhymed). anyway we also played a game this afternoon, it was a card game where we were split into 5 tables. i was at table 5, this was the loser table. we got the instructions and everything and then the game started, here is the catch though... you cant talk. after about 2 min (after you had played a couple rounds of the card game) you figured out the two winners at your table and the two lossers, the two winners move up and the lossers move down. anyway, we started and i did not win once, not even a little bit not even at all. so we keep playing and i just stay... content at table 5. the game finally ends and i find out that unbenounced to me, each table had different rules... i was completly out of the whole loop (and really really bad at the game ;) oh well though, the point was not to win but to teach a lesson about differences and how to communicate without spoken language. it was really cool. well i should be off, but there was a really cool thought from today's lectures and such and that was that there is a difference between serving and being a servant. i think that is so true... i hope that i can truly be a servant during these next months.

Posted by lowercaseg :: 4:54 PM :: |
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Monday, June 07, 2004

and i'm off...

well almost. tonight i head off to calvin seminary to start a week of orientation for my summer missions trip to eastern europe. i am not quite sure what to expect but i am hopeing that everything will turn out amazingly. i will try to update my blog if it is possible... until later, this is gayle, off on an adventure

oh by the way may i just add that one of the small pleasures in life has to be taking a cold shower after a run in hot weather!

Posted by lowercaseg :: 4:06 PM :: |
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Saturday, June 05, 2004

to the fight...

i read red the book red moon rising at christmas this past year and i was looking back through the quotes that i had written down (something that i often do with reading) and there was one that stuck out, for it hits something within me...

"while women weep as they do now, i'll fight; while children go hungry as they do now, i'll fight; while men got prison, in and out, in and out, i'll fight; while there is apoor little girl lost upon the street, i'll fight; while there yet remais one dark soul without the light of God, i'll fight- i'll fight to the very end."

i hope and pray that this can become my creed... for i want to fight for God and serve him, that is all i want and i want it to be so very badly.

Posted by lowercaseg :: 11:24 PM :: |
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Thursday, June 03, 2004

they came... finally!

so i finally got my marks back from redeemer... i was beggining to wonder if there was a secret plot to keep them a secret from me, but no need to fear i have them now... and the good news is i passed all of my classes and there were even a few pleasent suprises! anyway, the other super good news of the day is that tommarow is my last day of work... or as i have become accostumed to saying, "yo tengo un dia de trabajo mas." i am super exicted about this. it hasnt really been a terrible job but i am still glad that it will be done with. i have enjoyed the time to think and pray, and improve a bit on some rusty spanish. but soon i will be heading off around the world :) good night to all!
oh and a note to the choir members... i sang the agnus dei from charpentier to the ladies that i work with (they asked me to sing a song and it was in my head)... they loved it... and then asked me what it meant, so i had to translate latin to english and then english to spanish... i just hope that it all turned out ok! i did tell them that it sounded much better when i was singing the song with my choir, and i'm sure that i got that translation right! miss singing with you all!

Posted by lowercaseg :: 7:52 PM :: |
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