not so homeless anymore

Here I am sitting in Camrose at a computer, thinking about how weird it is to not be a travelling hobo anymore. I do indeed have a home. I moved in with Jen and Angela yesterday, though I am not unpacked yet. That will come with time. My summer was wonderful. I had many amazing experiences and met some very cool people along the way. I enjoyed Camp Luther very much, and hope to return there one day. I thought I should write a little entry to thank those of you who read along with my adventures and even posted comments. They were great to read and know that I was actually writing to people. Now that I am settled...ish, I will try to keep this blog thing going. I don't really understand internet companies though. I can't get internet for 6 months because I don't have credit. Lame. So, my roomies and I are long-distance phone-less and internet-less. I guess I am going to learn about the Camrose library pretty quick. I guess I don't have much else to say right now. I have been busy emailing and I dislike writing, so I have filled my quota for today. Peace out A-town.. I don't know where that came from... Bye!

Bahaha, stupid sluggards

Ok, so I was reading the bible one day and stumbled across some verse about sluggards and lazy people. Not gonna lie, I probably laughed a little, I mean who doesn't - stupid sluggards. So, today God chose to teach me, and my team, a little lesson - most likely so that he could laugh and say "stupid sluggards". I think God sits up there in Heaven and we are his form of cheap entertainment. How are we humans not funny, really? He says "hey, look at this, I'm gonna teach these little people a lesson, trust me it'll be great". Back to our little lesson. Now, it isn't like we were being all that sluggardish or lazy. All week we have been painting and doing some yard clean-up here in Bellingham. We moved on to our next task - a room that used to be a nursary. They had already removed the wallpaper, but there was all that paper backing still on the wall. This means that there is still one heck of a lot of old wallpaper paste on the wall. We start by wetting and removing all of the paper backing junk. We collectively decided on some wallpaper remover stuff. Upon returning to the church we partook in applying said stuff to the wall. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but still required a fair amount of scrubbing to remove said paste - ending in sore arms. We got tired and decided that scrubbing the wall was overrated. We wiped it down to remove the cleaner stuff.. kinda. We puttied the holes and let it dry. Seems like good work right? I mean yes, we maybe took a short-cut on the paste removal, but all in all, good work. NOT GOOD ENOUGH! BAH!! This is when God chuckled. We arrived here today and started painting this beautifully prepared room. Once finished, looking at the wonderful job we had done, there is a problem in plesentville. I see bubbles... there should be no bubbles on my wall. No, it took too long prepping and painting for this to happen. This must be a misunderstanding. No, I see bubbles, I see paint ready to come off the wall, easily and happily. I see thick, paste like paint coming off the wall when I touch it to investigate. Well, that's too bad (not exactly what I said upon realizing that our "short-cut" was ultimately the downfall of our painting experience). After all of that, we scraped said bubbles off the wall, sanded the rough areas, continued painting and are ready for coat #2. All we can hope is that it all works out and there are no major problems and that the Americans can still look kindly upon the Canadians who came to visit.

Remind me to never be an 81 year old German woman

I have come to a conclusion. I never want to be an 81 year old German woman. Hear me out.
I spent my last week with an 81 year old German woman. She is sweet and wonderful, so much so that you can't say "no". It isn't a word that can really come out of your mouth. "No, I am full thank-you" really gets you nowhere. This wonderful lady fed us and fed us until we could be fed no more. In fact, she bought 2-4 litre containers of icecream for Jen and I to eat this week. (8 litres of ice cream may sound really awesome to some people... but let's think about this... THAT IS A LOT OF ICE CREAM!!) Ok, so here are the happenings of one of the days this week. (maybe not a total accurate depiction of the average day, but it hurt none the less).
7:22-Jen wakes Patti up. 7:45- Martha announces breakfast. 7:47- Patti and Jen sit to be filled to capacity with ham and egg, a bun, a cinnamon bun, tea, fruit, and offered to eat more because I am not eating enough. 8:02-We finish getting ready to go to VBS. 8:23- Jen tells Patti it is time to go. 8:29-11:46 VBS (mind you that doesn't mean high activity content. I was, for all intents and purposes, the "grace sayer" for snacktime this week.) 11:54- Home for lunch (buns or bread, meat, tomato, cucmber, butter (which can't be spread too thin now, we must be able to see it), home made grape juice (very good by the way) and again the "you're not eating enough talk". 12:26-1:04 read a book. 1:04-2:27 nap time. 2:27 Martha signaling"snack time" Ice cream like you wouldn't believe, like 2 and a half bowls before we are allowed to get up form the table, along with dough chips, and cookies. (remember I have still not done anything yet today). 2:43- sit down to watch Anne of Green Gables, the sequel, part 1. 5:54- Supper time. potato dumplings, moose roast, pork roast, green beans, tomato salad, cucumber salad and grape juice. (there might have been desert, I can't remember). 6:42- Watch Anne of Green Gables the sequel Part 2. 8:22- Martha brings out the icecream part 2. (2 and a half bowls later the serving dish is empty and we are allowed to stop eating). That is the end of the food for the day, although Martha did offer us some cherries, but we kindly refused... somehow.
All in all this week was good though. I may go for a week long fast due to the fact that I do not have a super speed matabolism, nor do I have an extra "ice cream stomach" like my dear friend Erika. I look back on this week as a discovery of how cute old women usually look innocent and harmless, but really are cruel and unusual in their feeding practices. Martha is a blessing from God, don't get me wrong, but her lovely caring ways, and that face that you just can't say "no" to, ultimately makes her mighty and powerful. Here ends my rant of not wanting to become a cute, wonderful, 81 year old German woman.

Oh yeah, the VBS was good too. Cute kids, lots of singing and laughing and fun-ness. Oh, and I got to bake feet cookies one afternoon with Reide's host lady, and went on a trip to Vancouver for an afternoon/evening with her, her daughter and Reide. That was fun.

long time, no post

Hello all, long time, no post. I know I know, this day has been greatly awaited and the tension is building to hear all of the amazing stories that I, the travelling hobo, have to share with you.

OK, here goes.
I spent a week in Mission, which was very cool. I got to wear an african dress, and a big black afro wig, and fake tanner and dark foundation, and attempt to look african. It didn't work so well.. I more just looked like an old woman with a fake tan from like Miami or something. Then I started to look like a leper, because I was peeling where I was sweating cuz it was so hot here, and the fake tanner didn't like the sweat so much, so yeah, definately had an awkward week of leprosy-ness. The church had so many amazing decorations, and it was definately cool. I even got to sit in a shamba, african hut, and tell bible stories all week, very cool.

Now I am at Camp Luther. It was cool to come out here and see all of the CLBI people. So many working out here this summer. We(team possible) came out here after the VBS and have been here for the past almost 2 weeks. The staff are very neat people and the kids are so cute and fun. We had junior youth the first week and this week was family camp. I really enjoy camp I have decided. I will be here for 3 weeks in total, so I get to paint my name in the craft shack, so that is cool. I have no idea of what to do, my name is Iceberg, that's all I have so far.
1 funny story I have involves a camp staff night out on the weekend. It was quite a fun time. We eventually ended up at red robin, and 8 of us decided to have an "appitizer potluck" if you will. So, after decided what to order, somehow we came up with actions. So, humor me. Imagine in your minds, 8 camp staff, 18-20 ish years of age, sitting at a table, laughing really hard, and making actions to order our food. The night continued with oh so much laughing and food sharing, and really no rules as to how to consume said food. Then our waiter, Andrew, decided to get on on the acton. He made an action for when he brought our bill, that started a whole new bought of laughter. Good times had by all, or our table at least.
I guess that's all for now folks.