I know it's only been 3 days but it seems like SO much more! A lot has happened this past weekend! I wish I could give you full details of the youth retreat but it would take too long - so I'll just fill you in on some of the highlights!
First of all the teens thought my name was Julie Octoberbeck - hahaha! So that is what I went by the whole weekend! Some dropped the "Julie" and others the "beck" but the name definitely stuck :)
Newcastle, Northern Ireland - Up in the mountains
I really fell in love with all of the youth in those 3 days - even though I woke up the first night covered in toothpaste!! My hair, face, pillow, sheets. . . . I was covered in the minty stuff! Usually I am a light sleeper but since I still was under some jetlag I didnt wake up until about 15min after the prank had been pulled! I see it though as my initiation into the youth group and so I wasnt too upset.
We did a lot of crazy team building activities - haha the craziest for me was what they call "bouldering". A Julie definition would be; "Climbing on rocks and boulders through sub zero waters." We had on wet suits, helmets and life jackets. . . but the first jump sure took my breath away. And what I wouldnt have given for some water shoes - my converse just werent doing the trick. I fell several times! But I completed the task with about 7 of our "older" teens and really felt like we all got just a wee bit closer.
Such a great week! - A lot of picture taking and water balloon fighting, building fires with wet sticks (challenging but I conquered), raft building competition - my team worked well together and came up with the correct way to "build" the raft but when it came to tying knots we all failed and thus my teams raft sunk - haha but we created lifelong memories. . .
Me and some of my girls :)
On the way home we stopped by the town of Newcastle and went to an arcade place and something like a mini carnival. Took a walk with some girls to find a bathroom and saw this random box of lucky charms just chilling on the "candy" table! The 2 girls I was with couldnt believe in America that we eat it for breakfast!
On the way home we stopped by the town of Newcastle and went to an arcade place and something like a mini carnival. Took a walk with some girls to find a bathroom and saw this random box of lucky charms just chilling on the "candy" table! The 2 girls I was with couldnt believe in America that we eat it for breakfast!
Today I helped Rachel clean up around the house and I washed a ton of dirty clothes from the weekend. I went for a "strut" (walk) around 4pm to clear my mind and get some fresh Irish air and ended up at Tesco - (like a small walmart) So strange not seeing any brands I knew! Two random things I notice while there:
1. Their new release "films" (movies) are extremely cheap! £3-£5 each.
2. They have one whole aisle just for their coffee and tea!
Well that's all I have for today. I'm sorry, it's quite long. Hopefully in the future I wont miss days and it wont be as much. Miss everyone at home! (Home being America so if you live there then I miss YOU!)
xoxo
- J
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