(no subject)
the exact letter i just wrote to mi famiglia:
I just wanted to catch you up on the past two days of my life, because they have been the best two days of my entire stay at the Ranch. Thursday morning I was scheduled to facilitate a mock debrief session for a hypothetical Global Village Overnight program. I had randomly volunteered to do it the night before and spent Wed. night preparing and thinking of questions. It went SO well. Basically, the other volunteers-in-training pretended they were a group of 6th graders who had just spent the night in the Global Village. I had to facilitate the discussion that comes the morning after their experience. Everyone was so impressed with my questions and with my style and confidence. That was a definite ego booster and it made me feel very confident with my ability to lead a group and facilitate a discussion. Later that day we did the High Challenge course, which includes the 40-ft. climbing wall and "uplifting elements." The climbing wall has two sides-- one at an angle that makes it pretty easy, and one that is vertical. I was scared at first on the easy side, but I gained confidence and decided to do the hard side, too. Only 2 people in our group made it to the top. I tried twice but only made it 3/4 of the way. I'm going to keep trying and at some point i will make it. That wall really works your upper body. The one Uplifting Element we did was called the Flying Squirrel. You are hooked into a harness on by your back with a rope that goes up over a cable between two massive poles, through a pulley, and down to the rest of the group who are working on the belay system. They run in one direction, you in the other, and you shoot up 40 ft. into the sky. I suprised myself on both of those by stepping out of my comfort zone and letting my inhibitions go. It was an amazing feeling.
Later that night I went with a bunch of Ranch people to Little Rock for swing dancing lessons. I walked in and guess who I saw across the room? Mama and Daddy! That was strange but fun. The lesson didn't help me much, but when they opened the floor for regular dancing, men kept coming around and I had a dance almost every song. By the end of hour I could swing dance pretty proficiently. They are so nice there and really help you out. I love just focusing on the simple step and having the guy lead you around and twirl you. It's sooooo fun! Later, Matthew Martin showed up with some Henderson kids-- they go dancing every week and are REALLY good! He took me for a spin at one point.
Today, I killed, skinned, and gutted a rabbit. It was a very interesting experience. For the Global Village overnight, one of the main things is that one of the "families" has to choose whether or not to have rabbit for dinner that night. If they choose to, they have to attend the Rabbit Ceremony where the rabbit's life is taken in front of them. It is a very powerful and solemn experience. As a GV facilitator, we are not required to be the one who kills the rabbit, but I have been told that the group responds better if their leader does it. I thought I would be squeamish, but I was not at all. i watched them demonstrate twice at the Rabbit Training and then tried one on my own. The only condition about killing the rabbit was that we had to take the meat home and use it. I feel that as a meat eater it is important to know where your meat comes from and how it is retrieved. The only part I had trouble with was the actual killing. It is a little weird to think that you are responsible for an animal's death. But I realize that this was an important exercise for me as a meat eater, because now I appreciate these animals and what they provide us even more. The skinning and cleaning was actually pretty fun. It is an interesting excercise biologically. I was among only 3 girls who killed a rabbit. One girl got hers hanging in the stirrups and then started crying and couldn't kill it. She was thinking too much about it-- she kept saying how it felt like her cat at home. It's dangerous to put these endearing terms on food items. We are supposed to makes sure that people understand that livestock is for eating and materials. Creating a relationship with an animal that will be food can be emotionally draining. So my meat is cleaned, quatertered, and in the freezer. Joel gave me some good ideas for cooking it.
Today was two Ranch people's birthdays, so we had a potluck. I fried okra and we had a cooking party at Valleyview house. Betsy made soup, MC made a carrot cake, Laura made some little appetizers, and we listened to some really good bluegrass music and watched the sunset go down over the hills. The potluck turned into a sing-along and we sang all kinds of folky songs I remember from my childhood (which only just recently ended-ha!)
I also found out that I have been switched to the select group that will be facilitating the challenge course! I was so happy because I it is amazing and I showed a real interest. I stayed afterwards every time to help them put up the ropes course and learn how to tie knots and do activities. I showed a genuine interest and it really paid off. I love how if you show enthusiasm and competence in an area, they notice and put you where you want to be.
Tonight the entire UCA Honor's College came to the Ranch for a weekend and I got to see some people I haven't seen in a long time, like Jenny, Ace, Jeremy, Brian, etc.
Tomorrow we are going camping at Blue Hole!
Next week my real work begins. I have been studying like mad. There is so much info and I am not yet confident about all the things i am supposed to know how to do. There is so much! I feel like I'm at school this week-- learning and presenting. I'm so glad that my group speaking skills are up to par. It's great when 65-yr.-olds are so impressed with your performance that they go home and tell their family about you and then their spouse accosts you the next morning and congratulates you on a job well done.
The great Acadia reputation is spreading! Jacob says I'm a goddess.
I just wanted to catch you up on the past two days of my life, because they have been the best two days of my entire stay at the Ranch. Thursday morning I was scheduled to facilitate a mock debrief session for a hypothetical Global Village Overnight program. I had randomly volunteered to do it the night before and spent Wed. night preparing and thinking of questions. It went SO well. Basically, the other volunteers-in-training pretended they were a group of 6th graders who had just spent the night in the Global Village. I had to facilitate the discussion that comes the morning after their experience. Everyone was so impressed with my questions and with my style and confidence. That was a definite ego booster and it made me feel very confident with my ability to lead a group and facilitate a discussion. Later that day we did the High Challenge course, which includes the 40-ft. climbing wall and "uplifting elements." The climbing wall has two sides-- one at an angle that makes it pretty easy, and one that is vertical. I was scared at first on the easy side, but I gained confidence and decided to do the hard side, too. Only 2 people in our group made it to the top. I tried twice but only made it 3/4 of the way. I'm going to keep trying and at some point i will make it. That wall really works your upper body. The one Uplifting Element we did was called the Flying Squirrel. You are hooked into a harness on by your back with a rope that goes up over a cable between two massive poles, through a pulley, and down to the rest of the group who are working on the belay system. They run in one direction, you in the other, and you shoot up 40 ft. into the sky. I suprised myself on both of those by stepping out of my comfort zone and letting my inhibitions go. It was an amazing feeling.
Later that night I went with a bunch of Ranch people to Little Rock for swing dancing lessons. I walked in and guess who I saw across the room? Mama and Daddy! That was strange but fun. The lesson didn't help me much, but when they opened the floor for regular dancing, men kept coming around and I had a dance almost every song. By the end of hour I could swing dance pretty proficiently. They are so nice there and really help you out. I love just focusing on the simple step and having the guy lead you around and twirl you. It's sooooo fun! Later, Matthew Martin showed up with some Henderson kids-- they go dancing every week and are REALLY good! He took me for a spin at one point.
Today, I killed, skinned, and gutted a rabbit. It was a very interesting experience. For the Global Village overnight, one of the main things is that one of the "families" has to choose whether or not to have rabbit for dinner that night. If they choose to, they have to attend the Rabbit Ceremony where the rabbit's life is taken in front of them. It is a very powerful and solemn experience. As a GV facilitator, we are not required to be the one who kills the rabbit, but I have been told that the group responds better if their leader does it. I thought I would be squeamish, but I was not at all. i watched them demonstrate twice at the Rabbit Training and then tried one on my own. The only condition about killing the rabbit was that we had to take the meat home and use it. I feel that as a meat eater it is important to know where your meat comes from and how it is retrieved. The only part I had trouble with was the actual killing. It is a little weird to think that you are responsible for an animal's death. But I realize that this was an important exercise for me as a meat eater, because now I appreciate these animals and what they provide us even more. The skinning and cleaning was actually pretty fun. It is an interesting excercise biologically. I was among only 3 girls who killed a rabbit. One girl got hers hanging in the stirrups and then started crying and couldn't kill it. She was thinking too much about it-- she kept saying how it felt like her cat at home. It's dangerous to put these endearing terms on food items. We are supposed to makes sure that people understand that livestock is for eating and materials. Creating a relationship with an animal that will be food can be emotionally draining. So my meat is cleaned, quatertered, and in the freezer. Joel gave me some good ideas for cooking it.
Today was two Ranch people's birthdays, so we had a potluck. I fried okra and we had a cooking party at Valleyview house. Betsy made soup, MC made a carrot cake, Laura made some little appetizers, and we listened to some really good bluegrass music and watched the sunset go down over the hills. The potluck turned into a sing-along and we sang all kinds of folky songs I remember from my childhood (which only just recently ended-ha!)
I also found out that I have been switched to the select group that will be facilitating the challenge course! I was so happy because I it is amazing and I showed a real interest. I stayed afterwards every time to help them put up the ropes course and learn how to tie knots and do activities. I showed a genuine interest and it really paid off. I love how if you show enthusiasm and competence in an area, they notice and put you where you want to be.
Tonight the entire UCA Honor's College came to the Ranch for a weekend and I got to see some people I haven't seen in a long time, like Jenny, Ace, Jeremy, Brian, etc.
Tomorrow we are going camping at Blue Hole!
Next week my real work begins. I have been studying like mad. There is so much info and I am not yet confident about all the things i am supposed to know how to do. There is so much! I feel like I'm at school this week-- learning and presenting. I'm so glad that my group speaking skills are up to par. It's great when 65-yr.-olds are so impressed with your performance that they go home and tell their family about you and then their spouse accosts you the next morning and congratulates you on a job well done.
The great Acadia reputation is spreading! Jacob says I'm a goddess.