It has been quite awhile since I updated my progress with the internship, so we have quite a bit of catching up to do! I will highlight the major events from the third week:
Monday June 21st, 2010
First day of the Youth camp. The instructors introduced themselves to the kids, and there were great reviews overall. I ended up arriving right after this, since I accidentally took the wrong bus to the other side of campus. That was quite an adventure...
Anyways, I met a lot of the staff, ate dinner at the cafeteria with everyone (the food was pretty good), and then attended the evening worship service. I met Walnes, a haitian dancer/painter/musician, and I'm sure there's something I am leaving out. He's a talented guy, with a great sense of humor. We hit it off, and he showed me some of his watercolor paintings. They were so beautiful, and now I've been inspired to go play around with the paintbrush a bit more. ;)
The evening worship service follows form that is pretty consistent. Worship (hymns, Old & New Testament Readings, formal prayer), Sermon, Communion Ceremony, Closing worship, Benediction. This is the way the Methodists do it. I really do appreciate the liturgy. It's beautiful. I feel like we've lost something in modern "contemporary" Christianity, but approaching God in such an informal way. To have the formality is to also realize that we are sinners, petitioning a holy God who is completely "other" than ourselves. Though we may try to define Him, we simply cannot begin - we do not even know where to begin.
Tuesday June 22nd, 2010
On Tuesday, I worked on some brochures and other assignments during the morning. That afternoon, I went on campus in the early afternoon. I got lost (parking issues again), and had to walk a mile in the middle of the day. It took a long time, and I was still about 20 minutes late to her class. She had offered to show me the parking garage I could park in the night before, but I thought I could google it and find it. That turned out to be a bad idea, because google sent me to some little side road next to the campus police department (why!?) When I finally arrived, I had the opportunity to observe Ronya's sacred dance class with the youth. It is really interesting how you can format a class to give "non-dancers" the opportunity to enjoy worshipping God through movement. I attended the evening service again, and enjoyed the music especially.
Wednesday June 23rd, 2010
On Wednesday, I took a class at a local dance studio. I really enjoyed it. It was so fun! It was a contemporary/lyrical class, which was really cool because it's something I've been wanting to take for awhile. Contemporary is really close to modern/lyrical, but the goal is to extend your body to it's farthest reach, which I think gives it a more emotional feel & look. Throughout the dance, the teacher had a "hand motif" where the right hand clapped over your mouth. At first, I thought it was cool. But now I think she was a little bit obsessed with the hand over the mouth pose...maybe just a different gesture every now and then (in the choreography) would have been better visually. After dance, I grabbed a bite to eat on campus. When I was going to catch the bus back to my car, I realized (after waiting for half an hour) that the bus stopped running at 9pm. So I called Ronya & luckily, she was already in her car & gave me a ride to my car, so it all worked out!
Thursday June 24th, 2010
Thursday morning was the same- I worked on projects that I have been given, and headed out a little bit after lunch to observe Ronya's class (dance). I had planned to park in a garage that was close to her classroom, but it ended up being completely full. So I parked where I had parked on Tuesday and walked a mile to the class. When I finally got there, all of the exterior doors were locked...I wanted to cry! I had walked all that way in the scorching heat, and been trying to maintain a cheerful attitude, but this was just too much. I'm pretty sure I muttered "Are you kidding me??" when I found that the exterior doors were locked.
On the bright side, after the second set of doors proved to be locked as well, I saw people entering the first door I had tried and I got in. I was still about five minutes late to the class, but at least it was better than Tuesday (it was still super disappointing though...)
Thursday night was a hospitality dinner, so I got some dinner on my own. Then I came back for the worship service.
Friday June 25th, 2010
Friday I came early in the morning to a "Plenary Session", which is basically a teaching session, where the kids at the camp are also encouraged to ask questions, etc. It was very interesting-this particular session was focused on the suffering of Christ on our behalf, and what it means for us. Around lunchtime, I worked on some more projects off campus, and that night I came back on campus for the worship session. It was focused on Christ's death. One thing that I thought was pretty cool was that they turned the altar around from saying Alleluia, to the other side. On the alternate side, it says "I Thirst." That's it! It is the side that they turn it to every year during Lent to commemorate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior.
Saturday June 26th, 2010
Today I went home for Isaac's GMA ceremony. I left at 5:45AM from my host family's home, arrived at the campus by 6:20, and took Ronya to the airport by 7AM. I was on the road home pretty early, and arrived at about 9AM. It was so awesome to see everyone. It ended up being a super busy day, getting ready for the ceremony, etc. It was a beautiful awards ceremony, and the food turned out deeliciously! My mom went all out with amazing Bolivian cookies and pastries. I helped keep the punch bowl fully stocked, and shopped at Wal-Mart (eww). My Aunt Lucy & fam attended, as well as my cousin Amyleigh, & grandparents. Also, Jeff & his mom came, so that was awesome, since they helped us videotape & prep/clean up the food for the reception. Gotta love awesome friends!
Sunday June 27th, 2010
Today I was finally able to rest up. I had been so drained from the week at the internship, with all of the parking ordeals (they really had started stacking up!). I went to my home church, and it was a refreshing, timely word from Craig Groeschel. It was about having Unstoppable Courage in the face of fear and anxiety. The thing that he said that impacted me the most was this: "the pathway to your greatest potential is often straight through your greatest fear." Powerful and so challenging. Prior to this, God had really been speaking to me about how many times I rush to say "...but I can't!" It's draining. It kills faith and creativity. It is unbelief. And He has definitely been challenging me to champion past this mentality, to new levels of unshakeable belief in Him and the truth of His word.
Monday June 28th, 2010
This was the day I utilized to back into the groove of everything. I primarily worked the first half of the day at home, then headed on campus for the night session. It was a great transition day for the final leg of my month long journey. This was the first day of the final week of the internship, so I started making lists of items that needed attention and prioritizing them, which really helped me plan for the rest of the week as well. Yay for planning days! :)
More soon,
Lysandra
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
June 19th & 20th (Dance Internship)
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
This past Saturday was quite interesting- in a good way :)
I woke up, and realized that I was only about an hour away from the city where I will be attending
college this fall. I had to work remotely, so I figured that I could stop in at a local coffee shop (where they have Wi-Fi), and work from there. It was a great opportunity to look around for off-campus housing. I think I may have found what I am looking for! I'm getting pretty excited too. My friend, Sarah, also came with me. It was a pretty chill, fun trip. We arrived & drove around a bit, then stopped in at my favorite coffee shoppe to grab some lunch (while I worked on a few things). We arrived back at Sarah's house about an hour and a half before I needed to be leaving to meet with Ronya.
Dinner with Ronya & her friend was at 6pm. We went to this cute little mexican place - very classy, yet reasonable prices too. It was delicious! We got a sampler of plantains- so delicious! I ordered a taco salad, which was also scrumptious. After we finished visiting, Ronya & I met to discuss the past couple of weeks at a dessert/coffee shop next door. I ordered a lemon bar & coffee; I sure do love citrus flavored foods. Our meeting went well; we finished up and I dropped her off at the dorm where she is staying for the two weeks of the camp.
Arrived at my 'home base' kind of late, but I wasn't tired (at all) since I had regular coffee (at 8pm!)...not the best idea. I was up for a while, but finally headed to bed once the coffee wore off.
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Visited Sarah's church with her. It was a wonderful, powerful message. It seemed like God had me come there for a very specific purpose, so that I could hear that message. Wow, I'm still processing through the richness of the revelation that was shared.
I got an (awesome) water bottle for being a first time guest, as well as a free coffee. I tried out this s'more latte (iced, decaf!), & it wasn't bad. :) We headed back to Sarah's house afterwards, then I grabbed some lunch & rushed to meet Ronya. We went & scoped out my parking area (only 2 hour parking), then headed to the mall to look for a jean jacket or sweater for her.
She found some nice jeans (kind of look like linen jeans!), but no sweater. I think she will continue looking to see if she can find what she is looking for. We finished up by 4:30pm, and I dropped her back off at the campus.
When I came back to my host's home, we had burgers for dinner (I helped prepare them a little bit). They were dee-licious. We watched BBC's North & South altogether- I love that series! I also took a much needed nap from 5-6 (ish). When I woke up, I thought it was the next morning, which was pretty hilarious. But despite the confusion, I felt so refreshed! I believe that I will always advocate taking naps - they promote happiness & longevity.
What a great Sunday. It truly was a sabbath for me, since I was able to relax and recharge my batteries.
Until we meet again,
Lysandra
This past Saturday was quite interesting- in a good way :)
I woke up, and realized that I was only about an hour away from the city where I will be attending
college this fall. I had to work remotely, so I figured that I could stop in at a local coffee shop (where they have Wi-Fi), and work from there. It was a great opportunity to look around for off-campus housing. I think I may have found what I am looking for! I'm getting pretty excited too. My friend, Sarah, also came with me. It was a pretty chill, fun trip. We arrived & drove around a bit, then stopped in at my favorite coffee shoppe to grab some lunch (while I worked on a few things). We arrived back at Sarah's house about an hour and a half before I needed to be leaving to meet with Ronya.
Dinner with Ronya & her friend was at 6pm. We went to this cute little mexican place - very classy, yet reasonable prices too. It was delicious! We got a sampler of plantains- so delicious! I ordered a taco salad, which was also scrumptious. After we finished visiting, Ronya & I met to discuss the past couple of weeks at a dessert/coffee shop next door. I ordered a lemon bar & coffee; I sure do love citrus flavored foods. Our meeting went well; we finished up and I dropped her off at the dorm where she is staying for the two weeks of the camp.
Arrived at my 'home base' kind of late, but I wasn't tired (at all) since I had regular coffee (at 8pm!)...not the best idea. I was up for a while, but finally headed to bed once the coffee wore off.
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
Visited Sarah's church with her. It was a wonderful, powerful message. It seemed like God had me come there for a very specific purpose, so that I could hear that message. Wow, I'm still processing through the richness of the revelation that was shared.
I got an (awesome) water bottle for being a first time guest, as well as a free coffee. I tried out this s'more latte (iced, decaf!), & it wasn't bad. :) We headed back to Sarah's house afterwards, then I grabbed some lunch & rushed to meet Ronya. We went & scoped out my parking area (only 2 hour parking), then headed to the mall to look for a jean jacket or sweater for her.
She found some nice jeans (kind of look like linen jeans!), but no sweater. I think she will continue looking to see if she can find what she is looking for. We finished up by 4:30pm, and I dropped her back off at the campus.
When I came back to my host's home, we had burgers for dinner (I helped prepare them a little bit). They were dee-licious. We watched BBC's North & South altogether- I love that series! I also took a much needed nap from 5-6 (ish). When I woke up, I thought it was the next morning, which was pretty hilarious. But despite the confusion, I felt so refreshed! I believe that I will always advocate taking naps - they promote happiness & longevity.
What a great Sunday. It truly was a sabbath for me, since I was able to relax and recharge my batteries.
Until we meet again,
Lysandra
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Dance Internship Recap: June 15th-18th, 2010
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
On Tuesday I started working (or continued working) on a brochure I had put together for all of the workshops/conferences that Ronya does. It needed some additional tweaking, so we were basically talking back & forth via phone or e-mail all day. We finally got the brochure to the point that it needed to be, and it turned out beautifully! So I had quite a feeling of accomplishment in the end.
I went to B&N (my office lol) to work on it (& a ministry engagement contract). I loved the 2 story B&N- it had a Starbucks, which was sectioned off to almost a separate building within the bookstore. By the afternoon, I had come to a stopping point. So I went to Target to pick up a few things...it ended up taking 2 hours because they lost my pictures that I had developed and I had to wait...I didn't want to leave and come back.
When I finally left Target, I headed back to B&N to finish up work on the brochure. At about 5, I headed back to the Chen's house. We had rehearsal for the performance Wednesday at the Upper Room. After that, I was glad to head to bed! It was a long one.
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Planned to head to the printer to have the brochures made up. We had to make sure the formatting was correct, so I had to go there in person. I met Mrs. Pauline at the printer at about 12:30pm. Before she arrived, I grabbed some pizza at Vito's- it was an interesting flavor. Still not sure how much I liked it lol. It took close to two hours to finally get the brochure to where it needed to be. The printer really needed a larger staff I think. Anyways, when we were done I had my car checked at the mechanic (tire alignment/pressure) and checked my fluid levels. It looked ok, but my car definitely needs some work when I get home, so I'll be out in the garage helping my dad replace a few things soon! lol...
I met Mrs. Pauline at the mall after a bit (she went to buy some Jamaican food :). We finished up a few things, then I headed to the Chen's house for the concert! It went really well! All of the kids put in stellar performances. I was 10th in the line-up, so definitely enough time to get nervous! It felt like it went well, but my song was a little lengthy...so I'm still gonna tweak it a lot I hope. Afterwards, we had cake & awesome chinese food to celebrate Fanny's 14th birthday. It was fun! We also talked about setting up some volleyball playing time for the next day, but we decided to kind of play it by ear. Bed time ended up being a little bit late with all of the excitement.
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
June 17th was a great day. I woke up & prepared for the day. I decided to stretch & do a "class" upstairs in the Upper Room. I invited Fanny to join me if she wanted to, so she came & we did stretches, exercises, and I taught her part of some choreography to "Carried to the Table" by Leeland. Fun stuff! We showed Mr. Jeremiah & Evie what we had learned together, and it was pretty awesome. Fanny picked up the choreography pretty quickly! I worked on some administrative things for about an hour after that, then we headed to the park where we tossed a volleyball around for a bit and I took my lunch break.
It was refreshing to be outside in the cool breeze for a change. How I love the cool climate of that town! Ah so wonderful. Afterwards, I finished up all of the work I had left - folding the brochures we had printed the day before by hand. Fanny, Evie, and James (their cousin) helped me. It was actually pretty fun, because we had to figure out a strategic way to fold them the correct way without messing them up. These brochures were full color, on glossy paper, so they can be pretty pricey to print. They turned out well and I was quite pleased with our "brochure folding party."
Later in the afternoon, I left to the dance studio where Ronya was holding her auditions for the company she is working with. I was able to learn some of the choreography, as well as run the music for the different groups when they performed the sections of choreography they had been taught. It was wonderful to be a part of the audition process; I felt like I learned a lot about running a company, as well as holding an audition. Basically, the goal is to help everyone feel comfortable without promising anything to them....it's a fine balance, but I felt like this audition met my expectations of what an audition should be. I arrived home rather late, but my host family was still awake (the girls finished school the day before). We all hung out (I gave them each a little note, and it was really special). The girls had fun on photobooth with my mac...they were falling on the floor laughing over all of the different effects. It was definitely fun to watch. I finally headed downstairs and continued working on packing and laundry for my transition to part II of my internship in a different state.
Friday, June 18th, 2010
I ended up leaving later than I had anticipated, but I left before 11am & managed to avoid the worst of the Friday lunch traffic. That is always something that should be avoided if possible...crazy traffic! Not fun. I stopped by my Grandma's work, and she gave me some little Caesar's pizza. We had a nice time visiting and took some nice photos together. I can't wait to see all of my family on my dad's side at our family reunion! It's going to be a great time.
I headed on from my Grandma's town (the half way point of my trip), and arrived at my host family's house by about 4pm. It was wonderful timing, since I was able to get situated before my meeting that night. I was scheduled to have dinner with Ronya, but it got pushed back to dessert due to a staff meeting she had to attend. But by the time we met up, we needed to run errands and that ended up taking way longer than we though it would! So it was quite a time trying to find a Target to buy a few things that were essential (toiletries, pillows, etc).
We had a fun time, but were both pretty tuckered out by the time I dropped her off where she is staying. I arrived back at my host family's house kind of late, but they were still up for the most part. We visited for awhile, then watched Alice in Wonderland (I thought I wouldn't like it, but I loved it!). We headed to bed pretty much directly after the movie. All in all, Friday was a busy but great day.
Signing off,
Lysandra
On Tuesday I started working (or continued working) on a brochure I had put together for all of the workshops/conferences that Ronya does. It needed some additional tweaking, so we were basically talking back & forth via phone or e-mail all day. We finally got the brochure to the point that it needed to be, and it turned out beautifully! So I had quite a feeling of accomplishment in the end.
I went to B&N (my office lol) to work on it (& a ministry engagement contract). I loved the 2 story B&N- it had a Starbucks, which was sectioned off to almost a separate building within the bookstore. By the afternoon, I had come to a stopping point. So I went to Target to pick up a few things...it ended up taking 2 hours because they lost my pictures that I had developed and I had to wait...I didn't want to leave and come back.
When I finally left Target, I headed back to B&N to finish up work on the brochure. At about 5, I headed back to the Chen's house. We had rehearsal for the performance Wednesday at the Upper Room. After that, I was glad to head to bed! It was a long one.
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
Planned to head to the printer to have the brochures made up. We had to make sure the formatting was correct, so I had to go there in person. I met Mrs. Pauline at the printer at about 12:30pm. Before she arrived, I grabbed some pizza at Vito's- it was an interesting flavor. Still not sure how much I liked it lol. It took close to two hours to finally get the brochure to where it needed to be. The printer really needed a larger staff I think. Anyways, when we were done I had my car checked at the mechanic (tire alignment/pressure) and checked my fluid levels. It looked ok, but my car definitely needs some work when I get home, so I'll be out in the garage helping my dad replace a few things soon! lol...
I met Mrs. Pauline at the mall after a bit (she went to buy some Jamaican food :). We finished up a few things, then I headed to the Chen's house for the concert! It went really well! All of the kids put in stellar performances. I was 10th in the line-up, so definitely enough time to get nervous! It felt like it went well, but my song was a little lengthy...so I'm still gonna tweak it a lot I hope. Afterwards, we had cake & awesome chinese food to celebrate Fanny's 14th birthday. It was fun! We also talked about setting up some volleyball playing time for the next day, but we decided to kind of play it by ear. Bed time ended up being a little bit late with all of the excitement.
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
June 17th was a great day. I woke up & prepared for the day. I decided to stretch & do a "class" upstairs in the Upper Room. I invited Fanny to join me if she wanted to, so she came & we did stretches, exercises, and I taught her part of some choreography to "Carried to the Table" by Leeland. Fun stuff! We showed Mr. Jeremiah & Evie what we had learned together, and it was pretty awesome. Fanny picked up the choreography pretty quickly! I worked on some administrative things for about an hour after that, then we headed to the park where we tossed a volleyball around for a bit and I took my lunch break.
It was refreshing to be outside in the cool breeze for a change. How I love the cool climate of that town! Ah so wonderful. Afterwards, I finished up all of the work I had left - folding the brochures we had printed the day before by hand. Fanny, Evie, and James (their cousin) helped me. It was actually pretty fun, because we had to figure out a strategic way to fold them the correct way without messing them up. These brochures were full color, on glossy paper, so they can be pretty pricey to print. They turned out well and I was quite pleased with our "brochure folding party."
Later in the afternoon, I left to the dance studio where Ronya was holding her auditions for the company she is working with. I was able to learn some of the choreography, as well as run the music for the different groups when they performed the sections of choreography they had been taught. It was wonderful to be a part of the audition process; I felt like I learned a lot about running a company, as well as holding an audition. Basically, the goal is to help everyone feel comfortable without promising anything to them....it's a fine balance, but I felt like this audition met my expectations of what an audition should be. I arrived home rather late, but my host family was still awake (the girls finished school the day before). We all hung out (I gave them each a little note, and it was really special). The girls had fun on photobooth with my mac...they were falling on the floor laughing over all of the different effects. It was definitely fun to watch. I finally headed downstairs and continued working on packing and laundry for my transition to part II of my internship in a different state.
Friday, June 18th, 2010
I ended up leaving later than I had anticipated, but I left before 11am & managed to avoid the worst of the Friday lunch traffic. That is always something that should be avoided if possible...crazy traffic! Not fun. I stopped by my Grandma's work, and she gave me some little Caesar's pizza. We had a nice time visiting and took some nice photos together. I can't wait to see all of my family on my dad's side at our family reunion! It's going to be a great time.
I headed on from my Grandma's town (the half way point of my trip), and arrived at my host family's house by about 4pm. It was wonderful timing, since I was able to get situated before my meeting that night. I was scheduled to have dinner with Ronya, but it got pushed back to dessert due to a staff meeting she had to attend. But by the time we met up, we needed to run errands and that ended up taking way longer than we though it would! So it was quite a time trying to find a Target to buy a few things that were essential (toiletries, pillows, etc).
We had a fun time, but were both pretty tuckered out by the time I dropped her off where she is staying. I arrived back at my host family's house kind of late, but they were still up for the most part. We visited for awhile, then watched Alice in Wonderland (I thought I wouldn't like it, but I loved it!). We headed to bed pretty much directly after the movie. All in all, Friday was a busy but great day.
Signing off,
Lysandra
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