FT

06:29 Edit This 0 Comments »
Hey All,
I'm just over half way through the training seminars for the new Pais year!
My team is a bit different than I expected. There's now Elena, who was also in Großenaspe last year, and Søren, who's new to Pais. 
The seminars are going really well, it's really good to get to know all the others who're severing God and Germany this year, and the time we have together is really blessed. The seminars are all really informative and inspiring and I've got a lot of new ideas that I'm going to try to incorporate into the year!
We have just 1 week left to go, and then next Saturday I'm off back to Großenaspe, where we'll be working this year. We kick off with Vision Week, where we have a week together as a team and think about what our vision for the year is. Then we're away for the weekend with all the youth leaders and then the following Tuesday our work in schools kicks off! So it's all go at the moment, but lots of fun!
The weather is amazing, we're going to the beach tomorrow for our team social, which should be a good day (if I take enough sun lotion with me!)
:D

Wieder Da!

12:48 Edit This 0 Comments »
Hello Everyone,
As you're probably aware, I'm not very good at keeping my blog updated!
Hopefully I'll do a better job of it this time!
I'm back in Germany as of yesterday, and I'll hopefully write short updates here so you can check in on how I'm doing.
Feel free to give me a gentle reminder when it's been too long!
I'm away though for the next few weeks so don't get too anxious yet! :P

We Plough The Fields and Scatter

04:26 Edit This 0 Comments »
Hallo Hello! :)
This week has had a bit of a harvest theme! I could be wrong, but I think that harvest festival in Germany is always celebrated on the first Sunday in October, which of course is today! On Friday we had a Harvest Festival service for the Primary School here, that was really lovely; we had a lot of songs and a little play about potatoes! :) This morning was then of course the 'normal' harvest festival service, but not normal to the English! :P Well, really it's not that much different, only that people don't bring fruit and veg and the such like with them, but the children did do that on Friday, so that was all still there! :) And... what is a Harvest Festival without singing 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter' well, it was there in sorts, ie, we sang it in German! That was slightly odd but it did make me giggle that it was there at all! :)
Well, I don't think there's a great deal other to report, not much has changed really!
I'm starting something new in my blog this week, and that is word of the week! So you can all learn a little bit of German! :P
This week it's: verwirrt, which means: confused! A very important word for me to know haha!
'Till next week then!
Tracy.

Nicht Geschafft

12:28 Edit This 0 Comments »
Hello all,
Sorry that I didn't manage (nicht geschafft) to write my blog on Sunday!
I guess I don't really have an excuse!
Firstly, I have a picture for you this time, it's from the confermation class weekend away! :)
So... updates...I'm not ill anymore! Yey.... oh wait... did I say I was better in my last post? I think I did... well I got ill again, and I'm better once again! :D My first (and second) MyPlaze (the youth group) were really good. It's kind of just a general drop-in cafe youth club, and we play games and stuff :). There's not a great deal new happening at the moment, everything is just plodding along as usual really! Everything in the schools is going really well! Something I'm rather excited about is that the high school we're working in have said that I'm allowed to do an English afterschool club after the half term! :D This week I'm going to be thinking up a plan exactly of what I want to do in it! This Friday we have a Harvest Festival for the primary school, so that's pretty exciting too!

News Bulletin:
  • My English really is getting worse! I keep putting german words in or using german grammar when I speak/write English!
  • My new shoes are broken in and comfortable!
  • I have new jeans, cardigan and other such things to go with new shoes :P thanks to a little shopping trip on Saturday!
  • The german word for conker is Kastanie
  • My tea is running out... Please feel free to send me some!
  • We've finished the first series of Lost now and will probably start the second this week!
That's all folks!
'Till Sunday! :D
Tracy xx

P.S
The large type is for my mummy! :P

It's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

13:05 Edit This 0 Comments »
Okay... So my aim is to blog at least one every week, and that's clearly not happened so far. I got into a bit of a routine of doing it on Sundays and so I thought, Sunday is blog day, but then we had 2 weekends away, and I just didn't have enough time. So hopefully from now on I will blog on Sundays!

So to fill you in...
I'm having a great time! :D

We've started work properly now, and I'm working in the primary school in the first class in the mornings,(except Friday) helping the children with their work etc. Then in the afternoons (except Tuesday and Friday) I'm helping in an after school club, playing games etc and then a homework help session. I'm particularly good at English homework! :P

In the church I'm helping in the confirmation classes on Tuesday afternoons, they're quite cool. Kids here can take confirmation classes, and they last 2 years. We have around 55 first years (about 13 years old) and about 35 (I think) second years. We just had a weekend away with the first years and it was pretty awesome, we took 22 leaders and had a great weekend of fun around the theme of the book by Max Lucado called 'You are special'.

I'm also on the 'relationship team' for the youth club on Friday nights (MyPlaze), I basically have to talk to people play games with them etc. I haven't actually been to one yet though, as we've had 2 weekends away, so this Friday shall be my first!

Friday mornings we have 'Hub' which is where we meet with the other Pais teams in the area, share what's going on, have a bit of a theme and a worship time, they're pretty cool :)

In other news:
  • I've managed to wear a hole in the bottom of my shoes already! I only bought them in June! So I have 2 nice new pairs now! :)
  • I've started watching Lost with my team-mate... we're almost at the end of the first series
  • I've had a cold, but am just about over it
  • I have a violin! :) Someone from my church here has lent it to me.
  • I have tea! :D... my team-leader had some from when he went to England, and gave it to me! :)
  • Unfortunately, my English is getting worse and worse by the day!
That's all folks!
Tracy xx



P.S.
I realise the title has nothing to do with my blog post, but I couldn't think of a title... although it's probably quite apt for me at the moment! :P

You shall go to the ball...

06:16 Edit This 0 Comments »

Soooo, my first week in Großenaspe....
It's been a nice gentle start. The other girl in our team didn't arrive until Wednesday evening, so we couldn't start with the vision stuff until then really. Monday I had the day off, and Tuesday I had a meeting in the morning with the church leaders here, just a general what's going on type of thing. Then Tuesday afternoon, I registered, and I now have an offical piece of paper saying that I'm in Germany! Wednesday morning there was a church service for children starting school, I did a little role play thing with Maddo! I was rather nervous about that, with the German and such, but it went well :), I also used a party streamer for the first time in my life! Wednesday afternoon I had off so I went shopping!! :D Thursday & Friday we had team days, talking about vision and expectations of the year. And then yesterday I went to a ball! :D It was like a fundraising ball for Pais, and something else. That was really good fun! I don't have any really good photos though, I'm waiting for other people to upload them on to Facebook! But for now here's one of Sarah and Avalon, the other English speakers, and one of Sarah and me! :P Funny story about them last night actually... they wanted a drink, but they wern't serving tap water, so they took glasses from the table and got water from the bathroom!! hehehe! It was quite late when I got in, so I'm pretty tired today. This afternoon there is My Coffee in the church, for young adults, and then a youth service, where I'm being interviwed! :S
Well, I guess that's enough waffle for today!
Hope you're all well! :D
Tracy x

Time To Play Catch Up

01:31 Edit This 0 Comments »
Foundational Training is now over, and I have moved in with my guest family! :D

FT was really good, we had a lot of seminars, some Christian stuff and some about children and youth work. Everyday we started with team time at 9, where we shared how we were etc and studied a bit of the bible together, we looked at Philippians and Philemon over the 3 weeks. Then we had a worship time, and then seminars till about 4/5ish. Then we cleaned. Some evenings were free, and some we had socials or ‘Pais open evening’ for anyone to come to.

I have a picture to upload! However I didn’t take it. Last Sunday, we had a social and we went somewhere... not quite sure what it’s called now. We travelled to Kiel by train and got a boat to a beach somewhere, I’ll try and find out where it was. Laboe, I just looked it up! Anyway, the picture is of some of the other Pais interns and me. I’ve never uploaded a picture to a blog before, so we’ll have to see if it works.

There is now another girl in my team! :D Whoop! She’s called Yvonne. She only rang up last week to ask if there was still room on Pais, and then she came to FT the day after. So she’s now gone back home for a few days, and will come back to Großenaspe on Wednesday me thinks.

My guest-family are lovely! The parents are called Torsten and Beate, and they have two children (twins) a boy and a girl, called Lars and Nele. They’re 9 years old. I'm getting on with them well. We went to an agricultural festival of some sort called a "dreschfest" (I think) which basically had lots of tractors! Was good fun though, and my church here had a stall up and stuff. :)

Today I have a day off! :) I think I'm meeting with my team leader (Maddo) later so sort out what we're doing the rest of the week. Wednesday we have a church service for the start of the new school year, which I think I might be taking part in! :S But we'll see!

Guess that's it for now! :)

Thanks for keeping up!

Tracy.

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