Another Retreat

Instead of having seminar this past Friday morning, we went on a retreat this weekend. We left late Saturday morning and got back late this afternoon. It was a good weekend and so nice to get away for a little bit. I decided it is extra nice for me to get away from our "apartment" since it is also where I work. Even on the weekends when I am not working, I still feel responsible for stuff when I look out the window and see lots of trash everywhere or tons of people in the parking lot (African kids, Bosnians, whoever..) So this weekend was a nice escape. Anyways, our retreat was in Paoli, Indiana, a small rural town. It is about an hour drive from here. It is where the closest Mennonite church is and several members of this church are on the board for our program and are always interested in how we are doing. We stayed at a nice cabin in the woods owned by members of the church. We had some organized group stuff with our director Susan, but also a lot of free time. We explored the woods and ate lots of good food. Susan and I had a really interesting conversation about African culture for over an hour. She knows a lot and it is helpful for me to understand where the kids I work with are coming from. Especially since I am supposed to start home visits this week!

This morning we went to church and they had a hot dog roast after worship in our honor. I love how welcoming this church is. They have a high ropes course on their property and they opened it up for us. It was so much fun! In the pictures you can see me climbing up a rope ladder (which was actually quite a work out!) That was the hardest part. Once I got up there, I got to slide down on the zipline which was so much fun. If you look at the picture of the trees, you can see a very little me sliding through them. The zipline was the most fun, but they had some other stuff too. We were out there for a couple of hours. Then an older couple from the church invited us over to their house. And they had a piano!! This time I had music with me. I also got to play at the church some when they were getting lunch ready. It was so great to play and several people that heard me asked if I have access to a piano here in Louisville. I told them no, and a couple people said they will work on getting us a piano! I really hope it happens because I would love it. A few of my housemates play too. So if we get one I have a feeling it will be put to good use. The hardest part will be getting it up the stairs.

Oh yeah, I have to tell a story explaining the picture of Emily climbing through the screen. Soon after our arrival at the cabin, we all went out to the screened in back porch for our first group session. We decided to close the door to the inside of the house to not let any bugs from the porch in. Somehow we got locked out. We did not have a key and there were no windows. So our only solution was to rip the screen and have Emily climb out and then enter through the front of the cabin to open the door for us. It was amusing, but we felt bad about ripping their screen! They didn't seem to mind when Susan told them this morning and I think they already had someone fix it. In sum..it was a great weekend and so nice to spend time with all my housemates, Mennonites, and nature. Ok, time for Desperate Housewives!