Thanksgiving

I think life over here has started to become somewhat ordinary. The things that seemed new and different my first couple weeks here have turned into the usual Monday through Sunday routine. I do apologize if anyone has been waiting to read a new blog post. Really wishing I could be with my family this week in Maryland for Thanksgiving, it would be awesome to see everyone and watch the Ravens vs 49ers (easily one of the most exciting thanksgiving games played in reacent years.) All the NFL games I remember from Thanksgivings in the past were games that I did not care about, like the Cowboys.
Since the last post on this blog, there have been a few things that stick out in my mind that you might find interesting on funny.
First, and also probably most important, the other day I was running on the treadmill at the gym and I noticed something very strange on the TV. They have four large flat screens hanging from the ceiling, normally playing popular music videos, the news or sports but for some reason TV 3 was a movie. I honestly laughed out loud when I realized the gym was playing Free Willy 2. It was this strange scene where Randolph and Jesse are in the middle of a forest doing something with a special plant near a waterfall. While the mom and dad are with the brother Elvis trying to get a giant whale into the ocean. The movie its self is funny, but I think I was laughing more at the fact that no one has ever watched it since it came out in 1995, but now its almost 2012 and they are playing it in a gym. Also pondering whether or not it was getting anyone pumped up to work out.
Second, a man from church was giving me a ride the other night and his 4 year old son was sitting in the back seat. During the drive his son interrupted our conversation to ask where my home was. I told him my home was in the United States. Then he asked his dad how far away that was, his dad said many hours and we got back to our conversation. In the background though I swear for the next 5 minutes there was this type of crying or whimpering noise. The dad finally asked him what was wrong. The son replied “I just want to go to bed; I don’t want to drive to the United States.”
Haha last Wednesday at “moms and toddlers” there was a boy who was going around and hitting all the other babies on the head. It was really annoying because he wasn’t hitting them very hard, kid can barely walk, but they would scream and cry so loud. So his mom kept picking him up and making him sit by her, but once she would get talking he would sneak off and hit someone else. Very frustrating, and it doesn’t make sense because none of the other kids ever hit anyone. Now the next bit of information I am going to tell you may or may not be directly related. Haha yesterday his mom mentioned she was tired because they had a long weekend traveling to watch her older son who fights MMA. Maybe little brother has been spending too much time with big brother.
She did say two things that raised some questions in my mind though. First, she mentioned she was really mad that the guy her son was fighting hit him in the head twice. She proceeded to say her son was epileptic, and it not supposed to have stuff hit his head. (Question 1: if he is epileptic, why doesn’t he find a different hobby instead of fighting people and asking them not to hit his head?) She also said that the guy he fought was from the UFC. (Question 2: why would anyone from the UFC come to a night club in the middle of no where England to fight an epileptic person who has just got into the sport?) I didn’t ask her these questions…
Ever felt like your head was going to explode? I think mine came close to doing it today at church with the toddlers. As if Wednesday mornings with them wasn’t already the pure definition of chaos, we decided to have a guy from the church come in and take pictures. He set up his equipment in the gym, and we had the moms sign up on a sheet so we knew what order to send them in. The plan sounded like it would work, but the children were the X factor. I was designated to sit at the lap top and show the moms the pictures after their child was done, so they could decide which ones they wanted to purchase. I don’t like computers to begin with, but it was so crazy today. It was obviously much faster to snap 20 photos of a child than it was to show them to a mom and have her fill out the paper work for which ones she wanted and what size she wanted them in while also keeping an eye on her kid. So my line was getting backed up, and the moms waiting seemed to be getting annoyed, some people just take forever to do simple things. One lady kept asking “can you just go through them all one more time.” The terror of the whole ordeal climaxed when I was showing a mom her daughter’s pictures, and her daughter kept coughing on my arm. I couldn’t move it because it was outstretched to click the mouse and the table was too small to move away. Then I felt something wet on my arm, I looked and saw that she was wiping an apple that had been chewing on down my fore arm.
Funniest part of the day had to have been when one little boy ran full speed into the back drop and knocked down the whole display. At first I thought the metal bar holding it up had fallen on his head, but once I realized that it missed his head and he was alright it was definitely funnier. None of the parents or the guy taking pictures laughed.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Covie Camp

The rain is finally here , hopefully is goes away soon. Last Wednesday night at church went really well. We showed the kids two shorts video clips, one was from Louie Giglio where he describes the size of some of the other stars in the universe. And then we showed them a video clip describing the Gospel. All of the kids sat through them both very quietly and listened. We are taking small steps to show them the truth about God. One of the older boys texted Jon the next day and asked “did you show that video clip about the Gospel for me?” Jon said “no, we showed it for everyone.” Obviously the clip spoke directly to at least one person in the room.
I spent last weekend away in a place called Exford, we took the Sunday school class, called Covies, down there for a weekend camp. It was a lot of fun; I uploaded some pictures to Facebook already. The first night we got there we had a bonfire and just hung out. The next day we went to a place called Minehead and played rugby on the beach after going for a long walk in the woods. When we got back to the house we played a game on this muddy hill where half the boys had to climb up the hill and the other half had to push them back down. Needless to say, by the end of the day everyone was very tired and ready to sleep.
I had a lot of fun getting to know the Covies, most of their parents go to church, and that is the only time I get to see them is on Sunday morning. Each of the counselors gave a short talk at some point during the camp, and then on the last day before leaving each of the kids shared what they had learned at camp. It was encouraging to see that they remembered a lot of what was said during the camp. We met last night to plan another Covie trip before Christmas because this one went so well and not everyone got to go. Loretta will be here for the next one, so she is going to be an honorary Covie haha. Before I came to England I imagined spending a lot more time with the church kids but I have spent most of my time here with the non-church kids who just use the church parking lot to skateboard and scooter.
I had an interesting day today, I met up with 3 of the skaters today at the church and we walked to McDonalds for lunch. After we went in this store called Sainsbury’s, it is very similar to a place like Target. I just wanted to see how much it cost to get a pair of pants but it was a very interesting trip into this store. The boys had taken straws from McDonalds, and they started shooting spit balls at each other. At first it seemed under control, but then while walking down one of the aisles I noticed one of them had pinned the other one to the floor and then started dragging him by his feet. There were moms with their kids walking by and just staring with their mouths open. I was trying to pretend like I did not know them in case one of the workers came over and yelled at them.
Then we started making our way across the store and I ran into a lady from the church, she asked how I was doing, I told her I was just hanging out with some of the boys and before I finished the sentence I noticed she was looking past me with a smirk on her face. I turned around to see that things had gotten out of control again. One of them was in the middle of a flying drop kick to the other one’s back. I saw a mom with one hand on her shopping cart use her other hand to pull her daughter out of the way. Story gets better though…
They wanted to go to the deodorant and cologne aisle. I had no idea what was about to happen next. The three of them started spraying themselves with stuff very similar to Axe. But instead of just a small spray, they were holding the top down until it had nothing left. Then they started spraying each other, I saw one of them spray another one directly in the face. Eyes and mouth both open because he was not expecting it. This time I really thought a worker was going to come over and yell at us but it never happened. We just left the store smelling very strange.
This isn’t funny, but one of these boys wrote an apology letter to Jon while we were sitting in McDonalds today because Sunday night while I was away at camp, he pulled his pants down and mooned some of the people in the church.
On our walk back to the church from Sainsbury’s we met a girl named Georgia who goes to school with them. She asked why I was here, I told her, and then she said “I hate God”. I asked why, she said “he made me sick when I was little and then he made my dad have an affair.” Later on in the conversation she told me she would rather go to hell because you can get a tan there and heaven is cold and boring. Sad because the truth is God did not make her dad have an affair, and hell is a terrible place. I left the conversation with the simple truth, I told her she can believe whatever she wants while she is alive on earth, but the second she dies she will no longer have the choice and she will stand before Him.

Wednesday

Please pray for this Wednesday night, Oct. 17th. Seems like we are going to have a lot of kids for our youth program from 8pm-9pm and we are presenting the Gospel as clearly as we possibly can.

Week Seven

Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I have been here exactly 7 weeks, crazy to think I spent 8 weeks in Bosnia last summer because I would be really sad if I had to leave next week. I feel like there is a lot more that needs to happen here before I go home.
The past few days have been very exciting and also strange. We will start with the exciting, Sunday morning I woke up very tired, I was so tired I had actually forgotten what time church started. So I fed the cat (Giles) for the people I am house sitting for this week and then rode my bike to church. There was no cars in the parking lot, and I thought it was because I was ten minutes early, but I was actually 1 hour and ten minutes early.
The night before I was hanging around the church with some kids and they usually stay till about 11 or 12 (the latest ever being about 1:30am). This boy came up to me with the biggest smile on his face and said “we are sleeping over his house (points to his friend) and his mom says we don’t have to be in until 3!” I smiled too, matching his excitement, but in my head I was thinking there was no way they were going to stay here that late. (Needles to say they did) We played in the gym for a while, then we all skyped with Loretta, she showed them her house and shoe collection. Then at about 1am we skyped with Nathan and Ashley, they thought it was really cool to meet my brother. But they kept referring to Ashley as his girlfriend. We then went back in the gym until about 2:50am. Lucky for them, they did not have to be up for church in the morning.
I usually text some of the boys about an hour before church to wake them up and see if they are interested in coming, but this Sunday I was so tired I forgot. To my surprise though about 15 minutes before the service started a boy texted me and said he was on his way but might be a few minutes late. He showed up, and after the service we went to Dominoes and shared a pizza. It was good to talk to him one on one, he told me a lot about his family life and plans for the future. I shared with him how God changed my life, and how when I was his age I would have never imagined moving to England to skateboard with kids at a church.
We talked a lot about Heaven, and also what Jesus taught. On our way back to the church, he thanked me for the conversation; he also thanked me for coming to England. We skated with our friends the rest of the afternoon and that night he came to the evening service. The guy who spoke prayed a prayer at the end, and asked that if anyone was interested in becoming a Christian to pray along with him. My friend prayed it and said he believed it, I met with him after and we prayed, he was choked up as he thanked God for all the He has done. If nothing good happens for the rest of this trip, it will still be 6 months well spent because of that night.
Now for the strange;
Monday Jon and I loaded the mini bus with 15 people who have struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol and took them to a soccer tournament in Oxford. The tournament was comprised of teams from local areas who use soccer as a way to help people rehabilitate themselves. The original plan was to drop them off at their tournament and then go sight seeing, maybe take some pictures at Oxford University and get some lunch. But that morning when we arrived at the church, they told us they were a player short and needed either Jon or myself to play with them. Obviously Jon volunteered me.
I could not have felt more out of place. The shorts were way too short, I know barely anything about playing soccer, and I was somewhat apprehensive about who we were going to be playing against. Seemed to be a lot of prison tattoos out on the field, I gave it my all though. My team ended up winning 2 games and losing 2 games so we did not qualify for the next round. The other team we brought also did not qualify for the next round so we got to leave early. When I say “early” I mean 5pm, cannot imagine staying much longer. I was so hungry by the end of the day. Our team did receive a medal and little backpack filled with surprises though. Haha I got a drug and alcohol handbook along with shower gel, socks, and a water bottle. You can imagine the conversations that took place on the way their and back in the mini bus, I wont go into detail.
In a strange way the soccer tournament felt like a church camp, they gave each player a piece of paper with about 12 squares on it and you had to have each square signed by someone that you did not know. I know I have played something like that at youth group or camp before. The guy on the microphone kept saying stuff like “remember, today is all about meeting new friends and helping each other through this…” By “this” I guess he meant the addictions they were facing, it was funny though because the other players were really friendly. Had a lot of people tell me “bye” as I was leaving. I felt strange when the staff would smile at me, I wanted to tell them that I was not an addict looking to meet friends to help me through “this”, but I just kept silent. It seems like something out of a movie, but it’s my life.
Today I went into two schools with Jon, our first talk was to a younger crowd about the Prodigal Son, and then we went to a local high school and gave a presentation on marriage. After we came back to the church for the Moms and Toddlers program, Haha I got up from the chair I was sitting in today at the church and noticed my shorts felt wet, I looked at the seat and noticed there was a circle of something on it. I tried to convince myself it was water, but I think the baby that was sitting there before me needed a diaper change.
Mom and Dad, if you’re still reading this I love you guys, be home before you know it. : )

English Heat Wave

We are currently in the middle of a “heat wave”, meaning the sun has been out 4 straight days and the temperature has reached 70 degrees. It sounds funny when I hear people call it a heat wave, but honestly it does feel like one considering how cold it has been the previous weeks. Some people are saying it may stay this warm for a few more days, I hope so.
This past Sunday was a day to remember. I was standing out in the church parking lot with 4 boys who had never been to church; we were waiting for some of our other friends. Church had been going on for about 15 minutes when we decided they were most likely not going to show up so we started to make our way towards the building when we saw Josh. We were not expecting him to show up, he asked what we were doing, I told him we were about to go inside for the church service and asked him if he wanted to join us. At first he seemed unsure, said he had never been to church before, I assured him it wouldn’t be too bad considering we had already missed the first 20 minutes. When he agreed to come in I was very happy, but that feeling of happiness did not last very long. It was about 2 minutes after sitting down in the auditorium that Josh started texting the other boys who were sitting there with us and talking out loud to the boy next to him. I realized it was going to be a long service. I repeatedly asked him to stop talking, the whole experience culminated when he proceeded to hold up his phone and show me the text Calvin sent him. Haha it was funny because the only open seats left for us to sit in happened to be in the front of the church, so everyone behind us could see his phone. And although he thought he was showing me a text message, he must have clicked the wrong button or something because when he held up his phone it had no words on the screen, just the picture he had selected for his background. And of course the background picture for his phone was a naked lady.
After the service I still had two 5 pound notes in my pocket because we came in after they took the offering so I gave one to the two boys who sat there the quietest during the service. The crazy thing is that a few minutes after I gave them money, this old guy who I have never met came up to me and said he had heard about what I was doing and gave me a 20 pound note. Then later that night at the evening service the treasurer gave me an envelope containing a 20 pound note and said someone put it in the offering this morning.
A quick bit of advice to anyone interested in youth work, don’t ever have the kids try atomic hot sauce before you do the lesson, always save it for after. Last Wednesday Jon brought some of the strongest hot sauce ever to youth program, and was daring the kids to try it. Some of them took the challenge, but for the rest of the night they were going in and out of the bathroom to get water. One boy even had to call the ambulance because he had an allergic reaction. Funniest thing about the whole story is that the same boy took the challenge last year and the ambulance had to come because he had the same allergic reaction. I guess he was hoping for a better result this year.
This past Wednesday went much better though. We showed an “I am second” video, which we were worried about because Jon has had some really bad experiences with showing films to the kids, but they were all quiet and respectful during it. Earlier in the day I went with Jon to a school called Sheldon, we sat in front of 7 kids around the age of 18 and answered questions about God. It was a really good time, the one girl claimed she was an atheist and she asked some thoughtful questions, one of them being if Jon or I had ever experienced an answered prayer. We shared with her how when I arrived to England a month ago, I was told at the airport that I would probably not be allowed in because I did not have the right paperwork. Then about 5 minutes after Jon sent out a mass text message to people asking them to pray, I was unexpectedly allowed access into the country.
It is interesting because ever since the day I arrived I have wondered about that airport experience. I did not know why it happened the way it did, I thought maybe it was for me, to be a confirmation that I was supposed to be here. I also thought it have been for the church, but now after sharing that story to these students, maybe it was for them. It is possible that they needed to know God is real and actually does answer prayer. We went to another class after the first one and answered some more questions about God but it did not seem to go as well. The kids really did not have many questions to ask and they did not seem as interested.
Speaking of not being interested, Jon and I went to an old people’s home this week, during the prayer time; this really old guy to my left must have flipped through a hundred magazine pages. It was really hard for me not to laugh at the whole situation. Before arriving to this home, I was under the impression that we were just going to sit and talk with some of them. But we ended up leading them in singing hymns. They had a keyboard which looked like it was from Napoleon Dynamite, but the lady who played it was not there at first so we had to do some songs without it. Haha the funny thing is that none of the old people were singing so it was just Jon and I for the most part. Good times.
Woke up yesterday morning feeling very sick, I did not sleep well the night before or last night. I have a fever, sore throat, cough, and I am very congested. I went to the store thinking they would have Nyquil or something similar but found nothing. It is really strange; I do not know how they survive over here without Nyquil. I went to a pharmacy today and asked the person behind the counter for something that would make me fall asleep and she looked back at me as if I was some type of drug addict.
Things at the church are still going really well. There is a guy here this week from America and yesterday while I was outside with some of the skateboarders he asked me what I was going to do when I got back to the states, before I could even answer some of the kids answered for me. They said I should not go back, but rather stay here and skateboard everyday. If only life were that simple.
Lately I have been going into a lot of the younger schools with Jon and doing assemblies, we did 4 just this past week. We were at a school called Ivy Lane and they managed to fit 300 kids into the tiniest room ever. There was barely room for Jon and I to stand. He asked the kids where they thought I was from, and the first person he called on answered very confidently and said Brazil. The next two answered with Australia and Madagascar. It’s amazing how they can never seem to guess America. It is also amazing how amused the kids are with Jon’s puppets, he has one called Rebel the wolf and another called Squirtle the turtle. When he pulls them out of his brown suitcase the kids go wild. Rebel bit my hand yesterday when I tried to feed him a piece of bread and this little girl on the front row was laughing so hard I though she was going to wet herself.
I received a package today from my parents, thank you to everyone who donated some 1 dollar bills. The kids are going to be very excited when I give them out. I am headed up to the church now, we are having sports night in the gym at 8pm.

Don't look left

Monday, September 19, 2011 (1:46pm)
Tomorrow I will have been in England for exactly 4 weeks already. Which means I will only be here for 5 more months but when people ask me how long I am staying I still answer 6 months out of habit. Some of the kids I skateboard with have already been asking “what are we going to do when you leave?” I tell them not to think about it because it is a long way off, but it is going to be a sad day here.
Right now I am at McDonalds, using their free WiFi, I looked into getting a device which would allow me to access the internet from my house but it cost way too much money. So for now I will make the long bike rides to McDonalds.
Monday is my day off each week, which sounds kind of funny because before I left I thought I might get bored during the week because of too much free time. I have actually been quite busy. So far my average week consists of hanging out with Jon (person who had the idea for me to come to England) during the day. On Fridays we go down to the Chippenham market, he has a trailer he parks there and gives out free Christian literature. We spend most of the day sitting and talking with people that stop by. We also go over to his dad’s barn and work on the new trailer he is building.
I also go with him into the schools and help him with his talks. Tuesday we went to St. Paul’s and taught the story of Zacchaeus to a group of first graders. There were about 30 of them and it was an interesting experience. Jon read the story and since my name is Zac, I had the role of acting everything out. He would say something like “Zacchaeus was really short”, then look at me, and I would have to convince the kids that I was really short. The majority of the commands were fairly easy to act out, but when he read the line “…so Zacchaeus climbed the tree” I was totally lost. He then proceeded to say “and I am the tree”. I wish what happened next would have been caught on video, because the kids died laughing as I tried to climb up Jon. It was a really funny day. I think we are going to a high school this week to do a more serious talk.
In the afternoons I go to the church to ride my skateboard and hang out with some local teenagers. I sometimes do not get home until after 11pm. We have a lot of fun right now; hopefully the weather will not get too severely cold for a couple more months. None of the kids who skateboard and scooter at the church actually go to the church; they just really enjoy how smooth the pavement is in the parking lot. So recently I have been answering a lot of questions related to God and the Bible. A few of them have even come to the 11am service on Sunday.
Wednesday night the church opens up their gym for what is called kids zone. They allow anyone to come in and play soccer or basketball for about 50 minutes and then we sit and talk with them for the last ten minutes. From 7-8pm is the younger group, and 8-9pm is for the older ones. We had about 20 of the skateboard/scooter kids come in last Wednesday for the 7-8pm session and I gave the ten minute talk. I was really encouraged because they can be extremely crazy at times but they were very quiet while I spoke.
Someone came to pick me up from the church last Tuesday and as we were leaving the parking lot all the kids were saying “see you Zac” and “what time you coming back?” I did not think much of it because it happens everyday, but he was totally shocked. I listened as he told his wife when we got to his house, he said “you should have seen it, they were all waving goodbye and asking how long he would be gone.” For so long the people who go to the church have had a really hard time communicating and relating to the kids that hang out in their parking lot, but it has come really easy to me. I guess it has something to do with the fact that I am younger then most of the people in the church, along with the fact that I skateboard and am from America. I remember talking with my dad the day I was leaving, and he said I had nothing to worry about because I was a very likeable person. A part thought he was just saying that because he was my dad, but so far the people here do seem to like me.
Wednesday a lady from the church brought down 20 burgers and 20 fries from McDonalds for the kids while we were skating, there was about 25of us so some did not get one of each but they were super excited anyway. And Saturday some people volunteered to drive us to a skate park about 45 minutes away because Jon was unable to start the mini bus. The kids are starting to notice that the people in the church do care about them; I have already seen the gap close a little bit.
The day at the skate park was a day to remember. Haha it was an outside park and it had rained before we got there so everything was wet. We tried to dry off the bottom of the mini ramp by kicking the water off the side. It was working, but it also made my shoes soaking wet. As soon as it was almost dry enough to ride it started to rain again. This pattern carried on through out the day. We took about 14 kids, and spent most of the day sitting or standing around waiting for the rain to stop. By the end of the day, around 7pm, everyone was in a bad mood. Most of the kids, including myself were starving and cold. All I had eaten that day was candy from the vending machine. Some of the cars arrived to pick us up about 7:30pm; they did not have enough room for everyone. I had to stay with 2 of the kids and wait another 45 minutes for Jon. Driving home it was hard to feel my feet because my socks were still wet. All I could think about was what I was going to eat when we got back. Plans changed though when I got dropped off at the church and saw 5 kids sitting outside the door. One of them asked if they could use the bathroom. I said sure, I had to go as well, when I came out I saw that the rest of them were sitting in the church café. A side of me wanted to tell them to leave so that I could go home and eat but I could hear them talking about how warm it was inside the church and I decided to sit and talk for a while. After about 30 minutes of talking about random funny things that happened at the skate park one of them asked why it was called “café three hundred and sixteen” (cafe3.16) I told them it was because of a verse in the Bible called John 3:16. That then got us somehow talking about Adam and Eve and creation, I asked them what they believed and shared with them what I believed. It was a good talk; I enjoy sharing truth with them because they are not hearing it in their schools or homes. That’s why I am here. I was glad I sat and talked instead of going home to eat.
Two boys came to church yesterday morning who had never been; we got some pizza and hung out in the youth room playing pool and video games after church. A lot of other kids showed up through out the day, around 5:30pm I realized it was almost time for the night service and I had not even been home yet.
Off topic, I was in a town called Malmsbury last week, walking around a church that had been built over 1,000 years ago. We were outside looking at some of the gravestones and one of them was 200 years old and it was for a girl who was eaten by a tiger that came into town with the traveling circus. As we were walking away, someone said “don’t look left”, obviously I looked left across the river and saw a overweight man wearing nothing but hiking boots and a back pack. Hahaha apparently they do nature walks in a private park close to the church. I really wish I would have not looked left.
Off to the church now to skate.

First Entry From England

Sunday – September 4, 2011 – 9:15pm
I am home earlier than usual after Sunday night church because it started raining (soaking wet clothes from the bike ride home as proof) but the change of plans has forced me to write my first entry. Hard to believe I have been here almost two weeks, the days fly by, I will try to sum up the main events of my trip without making this incredibly long.
The flight over from D.C. to Heathrow went very well. Although I was unable to fall asleep, it did not seem like a long flight and the lasagna they served was the best tasting meal I have ever had on an airplane. The trouble started when I got off the plane. I was detained for over an hour and a half at border control because I did not have the proper paperwork needed for someone who wants to stay six months (I was under the impression that you could stay for six months with just your passport). The lady behind the desk said that I was probably going to have to board another plane back to America. She called the people who had come to pick me and up and they tried to convince her to let me stay 3 weeks, haha it ended with her saying “this is your lucky day – don’t ever try this again” and she gave me a special stamp in my passport that they normally don’t use. Handwritten inside of it were the words “six months”.
It was a bit nerve wrecking sitting in a chair and thinking how I might have to fly back home the same day I arrived, so I will definitely take her advice and never again try coming to England for six months without the proper paperwork. In that time though when I did not know whether or not I would be allowed in, I remembered something I saw in Baltimore on the drive to the airport. We were stopped at a red light and there was a guy across the intersection to our left wearing yelling pants and holding a sign. He had his back to us and Kayla saw him first, she asked us what we thought his sign said, we were still taking guesses at it when the light turned green. I thought it was a sign to promote a clothing store but as we passed him I was shocked to see it only had three words – “God never fails”. Although the majority of people that drove by him that night thought he was crazy, I was glad he held that sign, more importantly I am glad that it is a true statement.
So far I have spent a lot more time that I thought I would hanging out in the church parking lot (people here call them car parks). Yesterday I was there from about one in the afternoon until seven at night, riding my skateboard with about 15 other kids. Majority of them ride scooters, one kid even had a go kart that peddled like a bicycle. Before leaving to come here, I envisioned youth work as showing up on Sundays and Wednesdays to teach/“babysit” the church kids but so far it has been way different. I sat and talked for about an hour yesterday with 6 kids, they asked me 101 questions about America and I asked them a lot of questions about England. Funny how God uses random things like Spongebob and skateboards to help you relate with strangers. At one point in the conversation they asked me if I went to the church and I told them yes, it was the perfect opportunity to ask them what they believed. A few of them said they were not sure, but think there might be life after they die. I shared with them what I believed and they seemed to listen but not say much. Looking forward for the chance to speak with some of them one on one in the future. Really praying that one day the might come into the church for services.
There is a problem at the moment between these kids and the church members though. Most of the members don’t like the kids because they leave trash (rubbish) outside, make too much noise while they are trying to pray and “damage” the building with their scooters. The kids know that most of the church people don’t like them. So it is going to be an uphill battle convincing them that going inside the church is a good idea. Haha I was even yelled at on Thursday night, by someone who I guess thought I was one of the kids. I was riding a scooter down near the church café entrance and the guy opened the door and yelled “stay away from the building”. If I wasn’t a believer, I doubt I would ever want to go in.
The neighbor to the church doesn’t like the kids either, while talking to them yesterday they said on Friday night he came over and started yelling at them, and was even saying terrible stuff to one of their moms (“mums”). They called the police on him when he took a swing at a 15 year old; the police did not do much and basically told them they shouldn’t be hanging around the church anyway because the church people don’t want them there. Ironically enough, there was some excitement in the church lobby tonight when people looked out the window and saw the neighbor’s 12 foot high hedges in a fiery blaze. Haha it actually looked really cool, but the neighbor was very upset. Really hope they don’t try burning down the church next.
On Fridays I go down with Jon to the market, he sets up a stand where he gives away free Christian books. I enjoyed just sitting around and meeting people. One older man informed me that he was diagnosed with cancer this week; he lifted up his shirt and showed me the marks where they took the skin samples. Maybe he thought I did not believe him? The day before that though I went downtown with someone else from the church who was working with a group called Open Air Mission, they basically just start preaching on the main sidewalk and try to draw a crowd. I felt out of my element but it was a good experience watching them doing it and being in conversation with people that stopped to talk.
Food wise I have been eating a lot of cereal, also found this microwavable pizza that tastes very similar to what I ate back home. I am staying with an elderly woman in the church from Jamaica, she is super nice, but I told her I would rather buy and cook my own food. Tried Dominoes pizza last night for the first time since being here, it was funny because right before we ordered this guy brought a half eaten pizza to the register and said “umm I found this in my pizza”. We looked in the box and there was a black bug crawling around. It was definitely gross but I still ordered my pizza and it was really good.
The gym here, called the Olympiad, is very nice. Has a huge pool along with steam rooms/ saunas/ hot tubs/ etc… but becoming a member is way different than what I was used to back home. I have to go to five “introduction sessions” before I can use all of the equipment. I went to my first one Wednesday and the kind trainer showed my not only how to turn the treadmill on but also how to step onto it. It’s ridiculous that I can’t use any of the weights yet because I have not been shown how to use them but I have my second session tomorrow at 10am. At least they let me work out in the same shoes that I wear outside, unlike in Bosnia.

Final Post.

It feels good to type on an American keyboard but I am sad the summer has come to an end. I had a great time in Paris, and since I did not have to spend any money on hotels or taxi cabs, I was able to take a bus to England and stay with friends there for the week. I had a great time, the bus ride back to Bosnia from London took a little over 42 hours, but I made it back in time for my flight home. The flight went smooth, and I was surprised at how many people came to meet me at the airport. Special thanks to everyone who came, it was encouraging to see you. Thanks also to everyone who read my blog this summer, I started it because I had to for class but it was awesome that people actually read it. This is my final post though because life in the states is much more boring, for example I am at work now and start classes tomorrow morning. Best of luck to you.

Paris.

Its 2pm in Paris right now, I am about to go get some lunch with Pierre but it will be a little crowded on the streets because of the tour de france. I boarded the bus from Gorazde to Sarajevo friday morning at 6am. Bought my ticket to Paris around 8:30am and left at 9 exactly. First ten or so hours of the trip I did not talk to anyone. Almost completed a 400 page book. Then while waiting outside to get our passports checked leaving Croatia and entering Slovenia, I met Zoran. He asked what I was going to do in Paris, I said I had no idea, never been there, dont speak french, and dont have a place to sleep because the hostels I tried to get a room at where all booked. Fast forward through the next 20hours on the bus and I am at the Paris bus station. Zorans brother in law picked us up, they dropped me off at their friend Pierre s apartment who was going to help me find a place. After meeting me though he said I could stay at his apartment for free. We talked for a while, he showed ,e a bunch of pictures, I told hi, about myself. Then we met up with Zoran and some other friends and walked all around Paris. I got my picture in front of everything cool. Ate at McDonalds, the first one I have seen since leaving America. Later hung out by the river walk with a couple hundred people happy to be in Paris playing music and salsa dancing. Since the metro was closed we rented bikes and rode back to his place. I cannot believe how much I like this city.

The Candy Man Can Because He Mixes it With Love

I mentioned in the last post that some of the kids from english camp asked me for my e-mail address. Well one of the boys who asked stopped by the center this week looking for me. I had never talked to him because he was in a another group, I did not even know his name, but he said he wanted to hang out. I met him outside the center and he introduced himself, he is only ten years old but taught himself english from watching tv. He has been giving me tours around the city, he seems so much older and sometimes it seems as if he is treating me like a small child. For example he showed me the walking bridge yesterday, he doesnt know that I have walked across it close to 300 times since being here, he also explained that the bubble gum marks on the sidewalk were bubblegum. But he is really fun to be around, he took me inside the mosque which was very interesting and also pulled off a sly move by paying for mine and my roommates ice cream today at a cafe when we thought he was in the bathroom. It was very nice of him but it just seems wrong for a 10 year old kid to be buying guys in their twenties ice cream. Haha he just spreads cheer to everyone, he bought a bag of cappuccino flavored candy from the grocery store and was giving it out to people on the street, I could not help but feel like I was walking with a real life Willy Wonka. On a serious note,he is very inspiring to me. Today he showed me the exact location where his grandfather was shot six times by the Serbs stationed in the hills with sniper rifles (it happened to be about a one minute walk from where he lives). His other grandfather had his neck sliced and was thrown off a bridge along with 2000 other muslims in Visegrad, Bosnia. And when I think that my bedroom on the second floor is too hot to sleep, I think how he has lived his whole life on the 6th floor of a high rise apartment. I dont understand his fascination with me, or why he wants to hang out, he is a much more interesting person that I am but I am glad I got to meet him. It was sad today though when I told him I might not ever come back to Bosnia.
I went kayaking for the first time today down the river. It took us over four and a half hours to get back to our destination but it was a lot of fun. We would stop along the way to get out and swim, stretch our legs, use the bathroom, and empty the water out of the kayaks. Haha as if being splashed by the freezing water was not bad enough, when we would hit the really rough spots, the kayak would fill up with water and then you had to sit in it until you found a place to get out. I did not go swimming in it today, because I think I got sick from swimming it the river a few days ago. A friend of mine wanted to try to ride from the rock island to the bridge on a blow up pool raft that would cost 5 dollars at Wal-Mart. Was not the smarted idea ever but I gave it a shot. Needless to say we flipped it and had to swim for shore. The water was so cold I had trouble breathing. And then that night I woke up the chills and body aches. I hope I am not getting sick because tomorrow I am going to try to catch a bus across Europe and end up in Paris. My roommate is going saturday to Hungary to visit family, and another couple is leaving saturday to visit friends in Germany. I am excited for next week when we can all talk about how the trips went and see pictures. I decided on Paris because it is the farthest place the bus goes, takes about 2 days. Should be an adventure, picked out some books today that I am going to bring with me, I will need them for the ride, especially since my ipod is no longer working.

English Camp and my ipod are both done.

Somewhat of a sad story, this week I went to turn on my ipod and the screen was just white, I have tried a lot of different things to get it to work but the screen is always just white. Its sad because I use it a lot here because I spend a lot of time alone. What else is sad is that I could find another ipod here if I looked hard but I would not have the money to buy all the music I want to put on it. So I am hoping for some type of miracle, but if not I will just have to adjust to life without it.
Yesterday was the last night of English Camp, and overall it was a huge success. Outside of some minor problems with the boys in our group, I think everyone that came had a great time. Last night and Thursday night we allowed their parents to come and see what they have been doing all week. It was cool to see how many showed up with cameras or video taped their children with their cell phones singing and playing the games. My friend Isaac and I wanted to take some of our group out to get pizza during the day with a translator but the only time that worked for all of them was at night, so we planned to meet at the center around 8:30pm. Haha all the boys showed up on time but we forgot that the translators were only at the center during the day. So we took them anyway, it would have been hard to explain to them that pizza night was canceled when I dont know how to say that in Bosnian. It went a lot better than I thought it would have and by the end of the night I was glad we didn't have a translator. It forced me to use all the words I have been learning and hearing in conversations, it was also fun to figure out words using hand motions. For example they taught me words like "hot" and "cold" by doing motions like touching the pizza and then touching their drink. It was a really good time, one of the boys knew the word "Catholic", he said it and pointed at us in the form of a question, I tried to explain to him that i was not but then he asked "Muslim?" and I said no. That would have been the only time I wish we had a translator, but even if they think we are Catholic, at least we showed them that people other than Muslims can be nice. Because after the war most of the children have only heard negative things about people who are not Muslim.
Early this morning the whole team from Georgia and the two teenagers from London left. I woke up to say goodbye to them all, everyone here is going to miss them. It was interesting to see them leave because any other time I have been out of the country, I have been with a short term team and I never really understood the impact I had on the people who would be there before and after our trip. We were truly blessed and thankful for each person that came, we would have not been able to do the camp without them and it was also great to hang out with other people that spoke English. It does feel different though now that they are gone, I cannot believe how fast their two weeks here went by.
I walked across the river today to the small rock island called "the beach" where everyone hangs out. The river water was freezing, I am not sure how the people here swim in it. If you want to know how cold it is, our friend visiting got in up to her knees as a dare at night, stepped on a piece of glass or something and didnt even realize it because her feet were numb. About 7 minutes later we were on our way home and she says "my foot kind of hurts", she lifts it up and her sandal is covered in blood, she had a deep cut on her big toe. It ended up being o.k. but it was crazy how quickly her feet went numb and how long it took for her to get feeling back, even though she was only in the river for about 1 minute. I also saw someone jump off the bridge today into the river, even if it was bath water I would not do that because the area you have to land in is very small, if you land anywhere else it is too shallow.
I have been getting a lot of friend requests on facebook from the younger kids that came to camp, I am not sure how they even found me. What else is funny is that some came up to me and asked "email? please" while holding a pen and paper. I am trying to figure out how I will even know who they are when they e-mail me because each one of them were not in my group so I dont know their name. Plus they barely spoke English so I am wondering what they will type to me. Probably the craziest thing that happened this week was on Thursday night, a boy from our group named Amar was saying something to me in Bosnian, and his friend Azmir translated it wrong to me on purpose. Then they said some things to each other in Bosnian and a small fight broke out. Isaac and I were right there so we stepped in after the first couple kicks, but a punch was thrown while we were separating them, and then some large rocks were picked up. They both had to be sent home for the night, but we have talked to both of them since and they seem to be friends again.
Looked at the pictures from my family's vacation to the beach, haha I was really wishing I would have been with them except for the picture of my uncle John carrying a million things from the house to the beach. That is one thing I dont miss, that can feel like the never ending walk when you are holding boogie boards, beach chairs, shovels, buckets, etc.. haha. I do miss sand as well, the beach today was all rocks, its very uncomfortable to lay on.
Time is still going by really fast, and I feel like I wont be ready to leave in a few weeks, I cannot imagine how it felt for the people who came for 2 weeks. There are new and exciting things each week, I am really thankful I have been able to stay this long. Still planning on visiting some other countries before I leave, was looking at bus tickets today, will be cheaper than flying and I would also like to take the bus so that I can look out the window and see more of the country then I would in a plane. Not 100% sure as to where I am going though, my goal is to just see new places, which should be easy because I have only been to one of the neighboring countries. Best of luck to everyone reading this.

Its been a while. ( Disgusting Monday)

This is my first time on a computer in a long time, a lot has been going on since adventure Thursday (by the way-the pictures of the cave and waterfall are up on facebook now. And the person who took them is named Jo Maslen, she said anyone can add her as a friend if they want to see the entire album). Finished the first week of english camp tonight, it has been going good. We had a couple and their two kids arrive last friday, they are helping out along with two teenagers from England and 10 people from Georgia. I have really enjoyed being around other people who speak English, they have been such an encouragement to everyone here. Monday was the first night, we had about 180 kids because we allowed some of the ones who signed up on the waiting list to come. And during what we call "promo time" before camp actually started, I did the most disgusting thing, I have done nothing more gross my entire life. When I volunteered for the game, they did not tell me all the details.

Myself and another guy stood in front of all the kids and we each had someone standing behind us under a sheet. I had my arms behind my back and my partner had his arms out where people could see them. And the start of the game was not bad at all, he washed my face, tried to brush my teeth, tried to pour and feed me a bowl of cereal, shave my face with a fake razor and whipped cream. All the kids were laughing really hard and it was a good time, but then the game took a drastic turn for the worse. One of the staff came out and they announced on the microphone that they were going to now show everyone where ninjas and samurai warriors got their power (Chinese theme for camp). He then took a huge bite of a banana, chewed it for a while, then spit it into a cup. Then he swished some milk and juice around in his mouth and spit it in the same cup. Then he had a few big spoonfuls of peanut butter and honey, chewed them up and spit them into the same cup with everything else. By now people have already left the room and most look sick. No one was laughing. They stirred the cup up with a spoon and then poured myself and the other guy playing the game a cup and we had to drink it. Do to the fact that Bosnians are very concerned with preventing illness to the extreme where they never wear shoes into a house or allow cross breezes, none of the kids thought we would actually drink it. And none of our fellow staff thought we would either. So guess what...we did. It was completely nasty. I have seen people do less gross things for large amounts of money, and I did this for free. Whats really funny is that the woman who was in charge of the game, apologized after saying "Zac - I am so sorry we used a banana, I forgot you dont like them" She was dead serious too. I told her the banana was not the problem, it was the fact that it was chewed up by someone else and spit in a cup. It could of been the best ingredients ever and I still would have felt sick. I was surprised that I was able to drink it without throwing up, I was almost certain I was going to puke it all over the front row of kids. I do feel like I have gained some respect around here by doing it though haha.

English camp is much different from adventure camp for multiple reasons. One is that there is almost 4 times as many kids and also they are much younger. The crowd at adventure camp was teenagers who wanted to hang out and have fun, they also spoke fairly good English. The English camp kids dont come to hang out with us, and for some odd reason, a lot of the boys in my group like to not listen to myself or the other captain. For example, I ask them to walk up the steps, and they run up the driveway towards the road. Or we ask them not to touch each other in music class and the one punches the other one in the face. We just need to remember to have extra patience when we are dealing with them. Tuesday we got to visit a boy, his mom and dad are actually housing 4 of the people visiting. We sat and talked about everything, we also went out to ice cream with one of the kids in our group, she was very shy, so it didnt go according to plan. We would ask her questions like "If you could have any pet as an animal, what would it be?" - Her answer "I dont know - Im allergic to some animals ". Or "what is your favorite thing to eat?"- Her answer "I dont know, I like a lot of food". So I could tell she wasnt big on answering questions and I did not want her to feel like we were interrogating her so I asked her if she had any questions she wanted us to answer or any information about us that she wanted to know. Her answer "No". Haha we are visiting a boy Monday though who loves to talk, also love to touch our faces when he is trying to emphasize a point. A little creepy but it will be fun, he wants us to play ping-pong with him after.

The weather here has been nice lately, its good to see the sun. There have been people swimming in the river a lot lately. A few nights ago I was hanging out with some guys downtown, and some where messing around on a guitar but my friend and I were talking about just random things. Anywhere from pet fish to how American carpet is glued to the floor in most places. When all of a sudden my friend got really annoyed, and said we had to leave. I asked him why we were leaving and he said our other friend was getting on his nerves. I was completely lost because the dialogue they had was not in English. But he later told me that the guy told him I was just asking those questions because I was making fun of how Bosnians live. It made me feel bad because that was the last thing I was trying to do. But I can understand why he felt that way because he was only picking up bits and pieces of our conversation and his English is not very good. I wish my friend would have explained to him the truth instead of just getting annoyed and leaving. I would not have come here this summer if my goal was to make fun of how they live.

Time is going by really fast, I cant believe I will be going home in a few weeks, I know saying goodbye to some of the people I have met here will be hard. I have had two boys ask me when I planned on leaving, when I said August the one said "What will I do when you leave, you must come back". Its strange how I never considered things like saying goodbye to close friends when I was planning to go on this internship. It will be a sad day, because I dont know if I will ever see these kids again. I am looking forward to going home, I wish I could be on vacation with my family this week, I miss them.

Adventure Thursday

Today was a long day to say the least. ( I apologize for miss spelled words ahead of time, I am in an internet cafe and the keyboard is different from American ones)Woke up around 6 to meet the team at the center for a short meeting before the kids showed up. Then we loaded up the vans for 2 hour van ride to a cave none of the leaders had ever been too. My van was all boys, and they hooked up their mp3 player to the radio and blasted music I could not understand. I am pretty sure the volume was as loud as it could go. That I could handle though. It was about a hour in when the boy next to me threw up in a plastic bag, the driver did not stop because our van was in the back of the line, so he held it between his legs. Due to the fact that Bosnians are afriad of cross breezes, only one window in the van was open, and it was the drivers side. I happened to be in the back seat on the passengers side. To make things even better he proceeded to talk to me, about a inch away from my face for the rest of the ride. If I had a pack of gum with me, I would have let him eat the whole pack. We did eventually make it to the cave though, and it was really awesome. I had never been in a cave like that, we walked about a quarter of a mile into it, it was verz cold inside. Looked like something out of a movie. After the cave we had lunch, the team brought hot dogs with them, I am not sure what they were made out of but I ate one. It was the first one I have had since being here, normally when I ask people what they are made out of and they answer "I dont know", I proceed to order something else. But it was the only option and I was starving.
On the way home we decided to stop at the second largest waterfall in Europe, it was beautiful, but there is a reason not many people go to see it. The van ride up the mountain was extremely difficult. We kept getting stuck, and then once we finally got to the place where you park, it was about a hour hike into the woods. The path was super skinny, slippery/muddy, and steep. But walking down it to the waterfall was nothing compared to the walk back up the hill. I am glad none of the kids are quitters, haha because I am not sure how we would have got them out. By the time we made it back to the van everyone was sweaty, whats funny is that the boy who sat in front of me on the ride forgot to leave his sweatshirt in the van and wore it instead of carrying it. So he was extra extra sweaty. Try to guess what it smelled like in our van on the long ride home. We were supposed to get back around 5 pm to give everyone time to clean up before the last night of adventure camp, but the hike to the waterfall took way longer than anyone could have guessed. Back at the center we had pizza since it was the last night, and showed a slideshow of all the pictures taken during the 4 weeks. It went by really fast. English camp starts Monday though, when that is over we are going to try to take the kids kazaking.

Not the best week

The weather here has taken a drastic change from the way it was the first few weeks here. I have not seen the sun in about 5 or 6 days, it has been cold and rainy. Had to cancel baseball practices, and spend a lot of time inside where there is not much to do. The rain has also caused severe flooding in Northern Bosnia, we saw that over 150 land mines have gone off because the rain moved them. People are also worried because there are about 600,000 land mines left in Bosnia, and the government used to have a general idea of where they were, but now that the rain is picking them up and moving them it will make life more complicated.
I got to watch the USA play Ghana in the World Cup, I really liked our chances before the game, but Ghana played well. I was happy though that the game did not end as soon as they scored in the extra time like overtime in hockey. When I saw Ghana score their second goal, I was ready to go home, but then we got to watch another 20 minutes, haha but it didn't matter. During the game a car outside the place I was watching it ran up on to a curb and hit a fence, very minor accident, but the buildings downtown emptied into the streets. People were lining up everywhere to watch the cop give the guy a ticket, I felt bad for him, not much happens around here so a small car accident is big news.
I got back from Sarajevo today, I went there with my roommate to drop off his friend that was here for the last two weeks. I am going to miss him, he was a cool guy, we got to play a lot of ping-pong with him because of the weather. There is a group of people from Georgia coming this weekend to help us out with English Camp that starts Monday. We did the registration for it this Saturday and it was quite the experience, I was outside the center playing the role of "body guard" with another guy. The posters we put up said that it would start at 10:00 am, but since the people who have come in the past years know it is "first come, first serve" many showed up early. We are only allowed to take 160 students, and we handed out 160 cards before 9:30 am, so you can imagine the parents who showed up at 10:00 am -when we told them we had no room left. Lets just say I was glad I don't speak Bosnian. I felt bad for the kids though, we had them sign a waiting list in case some don't show up, but I am hoping we can find a way to fit them in even if everyone shows up.
I will be a team captain for English camp, it is 5 nights a week for the next two weeks, and the ages range from 6 to 13. As part of being a captain, I will visit the kids in my group during the day before camp. I am excited to get to know them and meet there parents, since most of the relationships I have built so far have been with the high school age crowd. This is the last week of adventure camp, we are planning a photo scavenger hunt for tomorrow night, so hopefully it doesn't rain, and Thursday we are planning a day trip to a cave about 2 hours from here. We never did get to go kayaking because of the rain and cold weather.
Today was my last day of Bosnian class, some of us took the teacher out to lunch before, she just graduated high school and is going to study mechanical engineering in the fall. Very smart girl.
Still not used to the customs here yet, haha had two funny experiences with ice cream this week. One was last night, I tried to order some and the man said he did not recommend it, I was confused - thinking he meant that it was not good, but I was really in the mood for it anyway, so I persisted to order it. Come to find out, they believe if you eat cold food like ice cream while it is cold outside you will get sick. And they don't even sell ice cream during the winter. But I ate it, it was good, and I am still alive. The ice cream here is really good, and I usually get 2 scoops, but they are small and it takes about a minute to eat, so I tried to order 5 scoops ( which is less than the amount of ice cream in a small blizzard at Dairy queen) and the guy completely ignored me. He thought I used the wrong word, so he said "2 scoops", and corrected him and said "pet" (5), he had a confused look on his face. So I held up 5 fingers to let him know I knew what I was saying, he eventually gave it over. Needless to say, it still was enough, took about 2 minutes to eat, haha but I am afraid he will have a heart attack if I try asking for more than 5. They tell me that no one ever orders more than 3. Speaking of food, I timed the guy at the pizza shop yesterday, from the time I placed my order, it took 4 minutes and 23 seconds to have the pizza sitting in front of me. I watched him take the dough out of the fridge and make it, the pizza is thin but it is still amazing how fast they cook it.
Sorry I don't update this more regularly, the internet here is very confusing, I have not been able to get on the past couple of days, and it seems to always not be working when I want to post a blog.

Halfway

It is hard to believe our four week adventure camp is already half way done. We were afraid the hike was going to be canceled yesterday because it was raining here, but the trail was about a half hour away and it was dry there. A couple allowed us to park at there cottage out there, they actually came with us and their grandson did the hike. After we sat in their yard around a camp fire and made "stick bread". Basically just dough wrapped around a stick and held over the fire until its cooked. The best part is putting the chocolate on it after. One of the main regrets while hiking was the idea to play basketball the night before until I got blisters. I did not think the hike would be too demanding since we were taking all the kids on it, but it was more difficult than I thought. The kids seemed more occupied with eating the berries along the way to feel tired. Some parts were really steep and on the way down one hill, a girl in our group actually fell and rolled to the bottom, we were lucky it was the grass part of the trail. She laughed about it after. Hiking is more stressful when you have to keep an eye on every kid to make sure they stay on the path, especially when most want to be out ahead of the group. Even though the internet says all the landmines in Bosnia have been found, the fact that I heard one go off Thursday while at the center and saw the smoke assures me that no one should walk anywhere but on the trail. The hike itself took about 2 hours, we had the kids split up into groups of about 20, and we made it more interesting by hiding a treasure box filled with candy bars at the end. They had to find some clues along the way which led them to the key that opened the box. This week we are planning on taking them kayaking down the river, I am really excited for that because I have never been kayaking down the river, but the water is really cold so I hope I don't fall in.
We have had 2 new kids join our baseball practice, which is encouraging, I hope the team continues to grow, our practice Saturday was cut short when it started pouring down rain. The people here do not like rain at all, they think if you are outside and you are wet, then you will get sick. So if was funny to see the whole park make a desperate run for shelter while myself and some of the coaches took our time. I thought the rain felt good, it had been really hot out. The new haircut has helped with the heat though haha. One last thing about that, I am starting to get used to it, but I also cannot be too upset about it because I have had many haircuts in America where the person cutting my hair spoke perfect English and I still did not get what I wanted. For example when the lady cut off my bangs completely then asked after if I wanted her to fix anything. There are some pictures up on facebook now if anyone is curious about what it looks like.

First Haircut , haha.

So I met my friend today downtown and he took me to the place where he gets his hair cut. On the way there I explained to him what I wanted, and he asked a lot of questions to make sure he understood what I was saying. So I was confident we had a good game plan, when we got inside he told the guy what I wanted done. They talked for a while, the hair cutter was looking intently at my hair, even touching it to make sure he was understanding what my friend was saying. The hair cut is a relatively simple one so I was confused as to how there could be so much dialogue. Then my friend had to leave, but he said the guy knew what I wanted. There was a guy in there already getting his hair cut so I had to wait about 10 minutes. Then it was my turn, I got in the chair, no words spoken, ...and he shaved my entire head. Hahaha it is definitely not what I wanted but I'm not too upset, it will grow back. It is just really funny how much time the guy spent talking to my friend about what I wanted, I was sure he understood. Good thing I brought a hat to Bosnia.

Landmine?

This morning a landmine went off on the mountain across from my apartment. It did not wake me up but it woke up my roommate, I'm sure it was loud enough to wake up most people, I have just been sleeping really good here - thanks to my new fan. He said he looked outside and could see the smoke from the explosion. We are not sure if anyone was hurt but it was a good reminder for all of us going on the hike this Saturday to be careful. Two of the guys here went to the trail today and walked it to make sure it was safe, the kids are really excited for it. We are going to do it in the evening so that it will not be as hot and also because camp fires are cooler in the evening.
The past few days have been pretty busy, Saturday was our first baseball game with the team, we actually played three, the event was from about 9 in the morning to 5 at night. In this type of heat we thought the kids were going to get sick of baseball but it was the opposite, they were asking to stay longer. That was very encouraging because it would have been easy for them to want to quit. We were the oldest team there, having kids 15 and older, but since they are all new to the sport (one of our guys had only practiced once before this) we lost all 3 games. The one team was made up of 11 and 12 year olds, but they sure knew how to hit the ball haha. Most of our guys are still not familiar with the rules yet either, which made it tough, one team stole a base on us, and you should have seen the look on our team's face, none of them had any clue what the person just did. The ironic thing though is that everyone there was intimidated to play us, some of the other coaches said their kids were scared because of how big we were. The ride there was about 2 and a half hours which was fine on the way, but after a long day of sweating in the sun, it felt a just a little longer on the way home. Before leaving we played one more game, but the coaches played with their teams, it was a lot of fun and we beat the other team, so although it may have not been an official game, our kids left on a high note. We had practice today and they were all there but one, and it went really well. They improve in their hitting each week.
Monday I went with a group of people here to Sarajevo, we hung out there for most of the day before picking up a friend of my roommate who is here for the next two weeks. It was the first time I got to walk around the city, it was fun, we also went to the grocery store there because they carry a lot more stuff than the grocery store here, including the smallest box of frosted flakes. We got stopped by the police twice on the ride home, once for speeding and the other time because they are trying to catch people involved with human trafficking. We didn't get a ticket for speeding though because our driver pretended that he didn't speak Bosnian. The cops do not drive up behind you and put on their lights to make you stop, they stand on the side of the rode with a little sign, and if they hold out the red side of it, then it means stop. I wonder how many people just keep driving when they see that?
With the recent trips, I have noticed that a lot of people here get car sick. And I still don't know if it is because they are used to walking everywhere or because the roads are very curvy. Either way I am glad I do not get car sick. And on another high note, I am starting to like the milk here. It is different from the milk I used to drink in America because when you buy it, it is not refrigerated, and has a shelf life of over 3 months. When I first got here I had trouble with it but now I think it tastes good. Hopefully going to get my haircut for the first time since being here tomorrow, and mail some post-cards if I can find the post-office. Hope everyone who reads this is doing good.

Basketball and First Night of Adventure Camp

I had the opportunity this week to play basketball with a group of guys at the local park. I was really excited to play because I have not played basketball in a while, but after just a few minutes I realized that basketball in Bosnia is quite different from what I am used to. For example, not many people play defense because the person with the ball will call a foul on you for pretty much anything just so that they don't have to play defense. Haha one guy called a foul on me because I put my hand in front of his face while he was shooting, I was confused because I did not touch him or anything, I did not understand how he could call a foul. It was frustrating. They were good at shooting the ball though, but it is easy to shoot when no one is playing defense. Although I was annoyed at how they play the game, it was good to meet new people and spend time with older guys who will not come to the camps that we are running this summer.
Our first night of "adventure camp" was Tuesday night and it went very well. We had about 20 kids register at the start of it, but while we were playing the games outside we had more kids who were watching join in. We set up and obstacle course for the kids to do, but the tricky part was they had to do it while holding a plastic cup filled with water in their mouth. At the end of the course they had to pour the water out into their team's bucket. There typically was not much water left by the time they finished it though. We also played games like "3-legged" soccer where they each picked a partner and tied their ankles together, and games similar to tag but with different objectives and rules. After all the running around we had them come inside the center just to relax before going home. Me and a group of guys played ping-pong, they were better at it than I expected. Some of the kids were playing card games or just talking, it was good to actually talk with them while sitting down as opposed to talking with them while chasing them around outside. Some of the girls who came wanted to get their picture with me before they left, which did not seem too weird but then the one asked me to marry her haha, I tried to be polite and say I was too old but they did not really care. It will be interesting to see what they say tonight. I ran into 3 of the guys I played ping-pong with last night while walking downtown and they were really happy to see me. They shook my hand and talked to me for a while, they also said they were going to be here tonight. I was glad to see that they enjoyed themselves. A lot of the games and challenges we have them do are very foreign to their culture, but it seems to interest them.
We have baseball practice today at 3, and it is going to be really hot. The game that we have been getting them ready for is this Saturday, in a town about 3 hours from here. So hopefully they all show up today, although most have been busy with school work and other things. Last practice we focused mostly on hitting, I put on the catcher's equipment, it was a good thing a drank a lot of water before that because it was super hot. One of the boys had to leave early because the heat was getting to him. 90 degrees in Bosnia is hotter than 90 degrees in America because you have to walk everywhere and no one has air conditioning. I bought a fan yesterday from the grocery store, I wanted a small one but they only sell one style. When I opened it up and saw all the different pieces and instruction booklet with no English, I was not sure I would be able to get it working but I managed. Although there are definitely some pieces still sitting on my table that should have been put on the fan somewhere, I just didn't know where. But it is working.

Back From Croatia

We got back Saturday from the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. I don't even know where to begin on describing that place, we went there because it is close and inexpensive. But I was hesitant to upload pictures from it because it was the most beautiful place I had ever been, I don't want people thinking I am in Europe on vacation. The few days away were very beneficial, without any internet or t.v. we really got to know each other. Especially on the rainy days when we could not go to the beach. We met each day to learn more about Islam and living in a Muslim country. We also had some night sessions to get a better idea about how Adventure Camp and English Camp will be run this summer. Jo and Amanda designated positions for each of us. I will be in charge of Adventure Camp on some nights and also be a "team captain" for English Camp. Adventure Camp starts tomorrow and I am excited to see how many kids show up. Tim and I are in charge tomorrow so we spent time yesterday and today planning games and activities that we think will be fun. The kids here do not get out of school for another two weeks though so we will be doing it in the evening. I think we will have more kids when summer officially starts. The weather in Bosnia is starting to get very hot, I hope the kids don't mind getting sweaty.
I heard an interesting comment this week about Islam, the person mentioned that the religion itself was only 1,400 years old and then went on to explain what Christianity was doing when it was 1,400 years old. It was about to start its first crusade, which would eventually lead to the murder of thousands of innocent people in the name of Christ. Pope Urban's speech before the first crusade stated that anyone who died while fighting would be granted access into Heaven. A message that sounds extremely similar to that of the terrorists who crashed the planes on September 11th. So while it is easy for me to say now all the things that are wrong with Islam, it is humbling to think that Christianity was not much different when it was 1,400 years old.
In Bosnia I notice mosques in most towns, for example I can see two from bedroom window. And I have yet to see any buildings that look like churches. But as soon as we crossed over into Croatia I did not see any mosques but rather noticed Orthodox and Catholic churches everywhere. The house we stayed in had one in front of it across the street and two more behind it in walking distance. Then when we went into the city of Dubrovnik, inside the wall, they were everywhere. Some were extremely old like the one from the 11th century, but most were newer because the old one were destroyed by fire, earthquake, or war. While admiring all the history in Croatia it was somewhat sad to think that Bosnia has had almost all of theirs destroyed.
I have language class today at 3:30, it is only my third class but I already know I am going to have trouble pronouncing some words. They have some letters that make noises I have never made before. I am also trying to remember that just because the letter looks like English, does not mean it is said the same way. For example "c" is a "ts" sound, and "j" is a "y" sound. What is helpful though is that each letter only makes one sound, it doesn't change from word to word. After class I am going over to the park to play basketball with Michal and some of the locals.
I have been having an amazing time here so far and am truly blessed that I have not gotten sick or had any serious problems. I am also loving the food and finding something new each week. For example today I ate Burek, it is a pastry stuffed with what tastes like hamburger meat, very good. The bread here that they use for sandwiches and pizza is extremely fresh, and that will be one thing I will miss when I get back to the states. I also noticed here that all the restaurants serve pizza, and it is all really good. America has all the pizza places like Dominoes and Pizza Hut, but if you went to a restaurant like TGI Fridays or Applebee's, you could not get a pizza. There are few places here that serve only pizza. I also noticed the intersections here are different, they have red - yellow - and green lights, but the light turns yellow right before it turns green, as opposed to turning yellow before red. With gas prices at a little over 6 dollars per gallon, many people resort to walking or taking public transportation.

First Post From Bosnia.

First off, I love it here, and I think this summer is going to go by way too fast. Traveling went as smooth as possible, I had no problem finding my gate in Munich, and it was only a short flight from there to Sarajevo. The team of workers here are awesome and it has been fun getting to know everyone. Bosnia is beautiful, but you can see evidence of the war almost everywhere you look. Many of the buildings have been painted over or repaired but still a large majority are covered with bullet marks. Looking out the office window right now I see four homes/buildings that are marked with bullet holes. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to live here while the war was going on.
So far I have spent my days getting familiar with the city, it is an amazing place. Everything is within walking distance and I could not even guess at how many people I pass by each day, there is so much life here. Coffee bars everywhere you look, I have been hanging out there and meeting people. I have also been helping out my roommate, who is here teaching baseball. It has been a unique experience working with teenagers who have never even seen a baseball glove before. So far they seem to really like the sport though. I also have been learning, for example I watched Eurovision last night, it is a huge deal in Europe and I had never even heard of it. Each country sent one musical act to perform, and then after everyone goes, people call in and vote for who they thought did the best. But area codes retrict you from voting for your own country. Germany won, I liked how they did the whole competition in one night, there were no commercials either. Much different from American shows like American Idol where they find a way to drag it on for months.
I have really enjoyed the food so far, before leaving I thought I would lose weight while being here but now it might be the opposite. Haha the Bosnians really know how to make good desserts. I did get a membership to the local gym though, it is very small. Has one treadmill that I cannot even use because it is broken, and the heaviest dumbell is 45 pounds. You also have to bring an extra pair of shoes, I did not know this the first day and had to lift weights in my socks. I am still trying to get used to the metric system, nothing here is in feet, miles, pounds, etc. They also have "marks" instead of dollars or Euros. One mark is equal to 1.40$, which is good for me. They have "5 mark" coins though which is also different, I bought something with a "10 mark" bill expecting to get bills back and got a handful of change.
The health care system here is very expensive and not very good, that is why they take so much care in preventing sickness. For example you always have to take your shoes off before entering a home, haha or a gym. The city also pretty much shuts down when it rains, becuase they believe you can get sick if you are outside with wet hair.
Tuesday we are leaving for Croatia, we are spending the week there to get prepared for all the summer activitites that start when we get back. I am hoping the weather will be nice while we are there but right now they are calling for rain.