Spring Break Trip: Day 1&2

So yesterday I left for columbiana county -- got to the campus around 5:30 ish... got unpacked and settled. We're sleeping in a carpeted classroom with all the desks pushed to one side. Kinda interesting...

The classrooms where we're sleeping are on the first floor, but our hangout space and dining hall is the library upstairs :-)

For dinner, we had fried chicken and jojos and bananas and pasta salad. Pretty good -- I didn't eat a ton b/c I don't really like fried chicken, but I ate enough :-) The bananas were the perfect ripeness.

Rachel (the leader) welcomed us and gave us our YMCA passes so that we can take showers... I mean, that's a good thing, right? The YMCA is right behind our building across a parking lot.

We played an icebreaker game, where you had to throw a ball across the circle to someone you didn't know and ask for their name, and so you learn it. Then she had us do it in the same order over and over, faster and faster, or with more balls that would periodically get thrown in. :-) It was fun. I pretty much remember everybody's name now, except that when there were multiple balls getting thrown about, you could only focus on who was passing to you and who you were passing to... couldn't worry about the names of anybody else :-)

Then we sat around and talked about some different worries of the week -- not sleeping, freezing, food, lots of people trying to get along, etc etc. We found out we're getting fed at the poverty level -- $6 a day. But that doesn't matter too much -- it's all off brand stuff, which isn't bad, and snacks and such, and I'm so happy -- there's wheat bread! But.. I'm getting ahead of myself.

We had an exercise on what everybody's color was. Red was adventerous, spontaneous, bold, etc. Ready for a good time. Yellow was organized, lists, procedures, detail-oriented, etc etc. Green was working independently, also organized, (kinda similar to yellow, I'm having problems figuring out the difference as much. Mostly Yellow likes details and Green likes working individually, etc). Blue is people-oriented, adaptive to change, flexible, likes harmony. I was a Blue, followed by a Yellow, then jump a bit to Green then Red. Yeah, big surprise, I know.

Then when that was over, we got into our work groups -- I'm working at the Scenic Vista park or something like that -- no playground for me, but that's ok. Lauren (who went last year) is the group leader, Nick is in the group, along with Yan and Shu. Yan is a girl I met after the icebreaker time -- I sat with her and Sophie and Jasmine (both Chinese as well). Shu is one of the six Chinese guys here. Apparently not all the chinese people could come, but somehow we still have 33 people... Anywhos...

Hung out for a bit, then went to bed! it felt sooo late, even though it was only 11:30

Today I got up and had quiet times together-apart with some of the other h2oers. Breakfast was here in the library -- cereal and english muffins. Sat with Yan, Sophie, and Jasmine, and Nick and Emily R. It was a good time :-)

On schedule for today was sightseeing (and I'm running out of time, so, list time!)

went to a mill, river type place (Gaston's Mill, yes we sang)
it was freezing
it was only 9:30
We had church in the tiny wood chapel
it was freezing
Kayla played
Mark talked -- I think he said it was the circle story of the gospel? do you know what that meant Dad?
we got in the cars and warmed up
came back and got warmer clothes
went on a tour of the town, saw the five playgrounds -- they're stuck in the neighborhoods, so that's nice. Like, literally on a street corner or behind a house...
went to I don't know what it was called... but a park type place with an octogon schoolhouse turned post office, and "the tubs" -- kinda like the Colorado Bowls, I imagine. Pictures later
ate lunch next to the Ohio River
came back to rest/shower if you had to.

The rest of the day: Listen to a speaker or two about education and poverty, eat dinner, go to the Fiesta pottery/china place. Should be fun!

It doesn't feel like a Sunday -- the service in the chapel was way too cold for that! haha

I think that's it. Questions?

EDIT:: It was actually two speakers on Appalachian culture, the environment and poverty. The coal mines and such. It's actually pretty interesting... Apparently there's been all this hype about "clean" coal (liquid gasoline coal), from the perspective of what comes out the tailpipe of your car -- but the production of it is much less healthy.

The dinner was provided by the teachers/professors/deans of this branch of Kent -- it was basically a buffet line of finger foods -- wings, cheese and crackers, these biscuit balls in a crock pot, sausage, and at the very end, pizza :-) Pretty yummy...

Then we went to the pottery museum, took pictures on the steps, and took a tour. It was super fun! Now I'm going to be turning plates over all the time to look on the back -- she said some rare pieces were found at garage sales :-)

came back, played bananagrams (Kayla and I took turns winning -- but I won 3 out of 5. It's super fun! Way better/more interesting/faster than scrabble)

Now I'm off to bed. Early start tomorrow, with the real work beginning! Waking up at 5:30/5:45.... yeah.... Good night!