Sunday, September 16, 2012

Coming to an end!


Hey everybody!
                Life has been very full these last two weeks, and most of it has been cooped up in this beautiful (yet getting tired of it) Carmelite Fathers Monastery. We have had talks and learning activities every day that by the end of the day you are dead tired. The only way we aren’t going crazy with information over load is pretty much every day we play Sport for one and a half to two hours which is really a life saver. We play Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, or a new game to me Flicker, and we let all of our energy out, stay fit and have some awesome friendly competition. Flicker is like ultimate Frisbee with a Rugby ball, it’s fast paced and good for all types of athletic ability (a ball is easier to catch then a Frisbee), but it is ultimately a lot of fun or as we say here in Ireland, it’s some good craic (pronounced crack). I love to get out, play, get fresh air and feel healthy, but soccer is a favorite but until this week I haven’t been doing very well, but I’m finally getting the hang of it. We have some very athletic people on NET this year, and guess what… my Brother on Team is a beast, his nickname is TIMBOWSLICE, he is a great goalie and gets all over the place to defend. I just wanted to brag about him for a minuteJ.
                We have been given time to get to know the people on our teams, which has been very nice, I really like all of the people on my team; it is going to be a great year. Since we are in teams now we all have roles and duties to play in the team from team leader to team journal, which is fun but since we are a small team we each have like 3 rolesJ. I am the Entertainment leader, the Hospitality person, the Team journal, and Recruiter; it will be a lot of craic but also lots of work. We have had two days so far that were devoted completely to learning Dramas, they are good powerful dramas but very draining, we have learned three so far; Dare You to Move, Yellow, and Guardian Angel. My favorite it Dare You to Move, it shows a girl that is tempted by sin and they end up taking her and trapping her in Despair and Jesus (I play Jesus) comes and saves her by crucifying himself for her then raises from the dead. They are all silent dramas done to a song; the name of the drama is the name of the song. Wish you guys could see us do them, they are powerful.
                We have also been learning these activities called Educational Learning Activities, that are basically games or mind puzzles that have a meaning to it. They are fun but sometimes very very frustrating! One is called 1-2-3 20 and that is all they tell us, they are holding a big jump rope, and that is it. It took us 45 minutes to figure it out and the 20 to even accomplish it, so frustrating!!!! I hate jumping rope too haha. But the meanings for all of them are good. This last Saturday we had a day called Hermit day, basically we don’t talk all day. We couldn’t use music or movies to spend our day, we had to write our talks and spend the day in a reflective state. I enjoyed the silence but it was difficult to not just sleep all day since we are all soo tired! But I think someday I want to do a silent retreat, God really does speak in the silence. Life here in Ireland is good and I really enjoy the people I am with, but I do miss home and all the people there, the saying absence makes the heart grow fonder is very true. Another thing that is true is how many potatoes Irish people eat; basically we have potatoes in some form lunch and dinner, mmhmm starch overload! Well better get back to Training only a week left, we have practice retreats next week and commissioning mass the 22 of September. I will write another post after that!

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