uh oh
OK so normally you all avoid the roads when i'm drivin in the UK, and now it turns out i've got the loan of someone's car while they're out of town, so I'm gonna send a news report into CNN or whatever tellin nashville to stay off the road if they see me coming cos i'm sure i'll try drivin on the right hand side heeehee.
Anyways today was filled with more meetin people and hangin out with them and stuff so it was fun, only it was starbucks for the 3rd day in a row and lots more fast food so i feel like a huge bloat and might start goin to the gym (have also somehow got hold of a free gym pass, ain't that handy) to make sure i don't come home lookin like i'm 30 stone or somethin.
I got home last night feelin quite emotional and tired and i still feel a bit the same today, the whole travellin so far and takin in so much information in such a short space of time kind of got to me. I guess i miss havin people i know around me and hearin the norn irn accent too, so if anyone wants to email anything please add loads of norn irish phrases heehee.
For now tho I'm gonna go and try get a cell phone that i can use out here in case i'm lost drivin etc so I'll see ya soon and Happy New Year.
Ruth
still fattenin up
Yes I'm back and as I said earlier I'm spendin the next few days gettin to know some of the young people and to see what school and life generally is like in Nashville. It's been real interesting today so far, had breakfast in Waffle House with a few of the guys as I've said already, and just had lunch with a girl called Meg who's real nice, she's moved to Nasville just recently so it was interestin for us to follow directions to get to a place when neither of us knew where we were goin.
I'm expectin a couple more girls to call by about 3 to go out for coffee..... more than likely Starbucks heehee.
Well a few things to be prayin for......
- that i don't start sayin "y'all" every five seconds
- for the meetings with the young people that are lined up for me over the next few days
- for getting used to the american way of life here and that i don't miss things at home too much.... it is quite a culture shock
- there's rumours that i might have access to a car soon, so pray i remember to drive on the right hand side of the road and so on if it happens.
This Sunday will be my first Sunday at the church and I'll be meeting lots of new people there so it should be a good day. The weather's still good here, i'm usually just wearin 2 t-shirts and jeans and i'm nice and cosy for the day but it's apparently a warm week for winter here. I'm also working on cutting out paper into different shapes to make scrapbooks for the graduating class where they fill them with pictures of stuff each person has done in the youth group through the years and so on so it's a lot of work. Also have my first Church Staff and a Youth Staff meeting on Tuesday morning so there's a few things to keep me busy anyway.
Can't think of much else right now but I'll keep you up to date when i can.
God Bless
Ruth
i'm fat already....
I can literally feel the weight goin on, yesterday had huge sandwich for lunch, then had an American Christmas dinner (basically lots of leftovers but hey it was fun), then this mornin was out at Waffle House with some of the guys from the church here for breakfast, and in about 5 minutes I'm headin for lunch with some more people, then out for coffee with someone else..... so if i come back and I've outgrown my clothes does anyone wanna come shoppin with me? heehee
Anyways I'll be back later today with more info hopefully, c ya soon
twenty one hours in nashville later....
....... and i still don't have an american accent or even a hint of one! So proud of myself cos usually I can be real stupid and mimic people without noticin I'm doin it heehee. Anyway, I've had a fun day so far, couldn't sleep in much cos my body clock's a bit messed up now, so i got up and was talking to Judy (my first host mom), we had a cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage patties and toast with some great tastin OJ. Then spent the mornin relaxin a bit by unpackin and showerin (and that's pronounced 'shour' heehee).
About 1pm I was picked up by Jacquii who took me to a great place that serves fabulous pancakes for lunch, then to a place called rocketown that was set up by Michael W Smith to be an outreach cafe to young people so they could come and skate or chill out or use the basement club or whatever, it was a pretty cool place to be. Then she brought me on a mini tour of the city..... it's apparently got 800 churches which makes it either the highest church populated city in the world or very near it.
She then took me to the church (First Presbyterian, Nashville) and showed me round and it's flippin huge, they have stables with horses and fences for them to jump, a swimmin pool, football fields, playgrounds and part of the grounds is a school for primary school age kids. I then got to meet some of the staff and was introduced as "our intern, Ruth from Ireland" heehee. Then we sat down with Mark and talked through some of the stuff I'll be doing while I'm here and basiclly I'm hangin out with loads of people takin them out to coffee, gettin to go to all the youth groups and possibly even their youth ski trips (I've never been skiin in my life, either I'm gonna die on the first one or else be so amazingly good at it I'll have to go back to the second tri for more heehee.)
All that and it's not even a full day here yet, anyways speak again soon, love y'all ;o)
Ruth
The Eve of Chris Mass
Not too much longer to go now and I've spent a lot fo this week phoning round different airlines checking flight times and weight allowances and so on....... doin my head in a bit and i've still people to email with details about my arrivals and sort out bank details with my mum so she can transfer money if i need it and then get bags packed properly, email people in the church who i'll be working with to introduce myself, set up automatic replies so that if people email me they know i might not reply til i get home from the US etc etc etc
Oh and enjoy Christmas :D:D:D:D
Well God Bless and more updates soon
Ruth
One more week to go....
It's now a week until I head to Nashville for my placement for Bible College and I have to say I'm a little nervous about it and not sure what to expect or what will be expected of me.
In the final run up to going away now, I have lots that needs to be done, like packing, seeing friends, working and also enjoying Christmas.
That's all that can be said for now, will update again soon,
Ruth
