PT Thursday and Retreat Hosting

I saw a heron yesterday. Every Thursday morning we meet Matt at the gym for some physical acivity. You know, calisthenics, stretches, a quick jog, a short game of half court 3 on 3 and knockout. A good way to pass an hour in the morning. I stayed after a little bit to refine my volleyball skills and, let me tell ya, I've lost my game. Its a good thing most of the interns have a volleyball background (maybe we can start a team in a league or something?). Anyway, after I got tired of chasing the volleyball around I went for a short walk to cool off and refill my water bottle at the kitchen when, all of a sudden, I see something with big wings swoop down and land near the bridge leading to the classroom. It was a heron! A big gray one. I always thought it was good luck to see a heron so close, and boy did I feel like I needed it.

You see, yesterday I support hosted my first retreat (well THE first retreat any of us interns could have help host.... I feel like I am the first to have a go at everything here... ...not that that's a bad thing). Anyway, we had a little coaching from Matt about what to expect and some responsibilities, but that doesn't mean I remembered any of it. I got the chance to follow Zig around (he was hosting) and be his shadow. Zig's real name is John Zigenfuse (might have butchered that) and he's an amazingly athletic guy. Him and I might be doing P90x together at some point =D. Anyway, the retreat was for over 100 middle school students with a few chaperones. Zig and I met up with them at the Buffalo Lodge (a large meeting room on the campus) to greet them and introduce ourselves/the camp. It was a real cool chance to see yet another facet of camp life and take my crack at it. I got to help out with the meals (and actually host dinner last night) and be the face of the camp with Zig for this group. If they needed anything, they would call me over the walkie-talkie and I'd help them out.

So that pretty much explained the past two days in a nutshell, but now for the specifics. While I was working the retreat, I got to help catch people on the zip line with Sarah, Taco, Beth and LaDessa (Ryan was working paintball), help support the snack shop workers (also the interns) and belay people on the indoor climbing tower with Matt and LaDessa while Ryan, Sarah and Taco helped detail (or clean, but Matt likes to use a different word) and Beth helped with the horses (we interns do a lot...). All in all it was a real exciting first experience in hosting a retreat. Taco and Sarah have their first shots at it today through Sunday morning. Taco is the support host and Sarah is the TNT (teens in training) host (they help serve the meals and do random stuff around the camp... basically little interns that aren't here all year long). They're going to do great!!

Anywho, Ryan and I bought Rock Band for entertainment purposes. It'll give us something to do come winter months and an excuse to have people over the house. He's been far more active in it than I but I am moving closer to being on Expert for all the instruments. I just need to get used to Hard drums and I'll be set!! (maybe.... O_o). I'll be coming home for a little bit on Sunday to grab a few things and then head back to camp. Ryan's taking the trek with me, for which I'm grateful. I love taking trips with people in my car; some of the best conversations I've ever had have been from rides like that.

I'm running out of things to say so I am going to say goodnight and until next time.

Love you all,

Wah