Just thought we would share a few funny moments from English Club. We have English Club every Wednesday evening for anyone who wants to come. It is very casual, we usually just play games and have conversation.

~ Some time ago we played Apples to Apples, the word was strange. Everyone put in their cards and the winner was Super Bowl. I chuckled and asked why they chose that word to match with strange. They said “it would be strange to see such a big bowl.” Ha! They all laughed too once I told them it had nothing to do with a bowl but with American football!

~ Another time we were playing a game that involved describing items without directly saying it. The word was actually meatloaf but no one knew what that was. I said “its ground meat in the shape of bread.” Everyone got it and instantly wanted to try this bread shaped meat.

~ During the same game, the word was bull. The student said “the husband of a female cow.” It took everyone some time but they eventually got the word. I thought it was a clever description!

Ternopil, Ukraine was transformed into Middle-earth for one day in March. Actually, it was transformed into the mines of Moria to be exact. Every year for about ten years now, a few faithful followers gather to watch Lord of the Rings… in one day. Did I mention it was the extended versions? Yeah, that adds up to almost 12 hours!

Not only do they just gather to watch the movies, no, no, no. That would be boring. No, here we go all the way. We decorated the room to match a scene for the movies. Past themes have been Minas Tirith, Shelob’s lair, flags of Middle-earth, the library at Minas Tirith, Moria, and this year, the bridge of Khazad-dum. We even included the balrog as a shadow formed from red lights.

Many other YWAMers came from other bases to watch the movies. It was a fun gathering, about 20 people in all. We did pause for lunch which consisted of “lamb” stew (aka chicken soup), and lembas bread (or biscuits.) There were a few other snacks through out the day but primarily we remained focus on the movies. We all enjoyed being able to see friends from other cities and chat a bit during a least favorite scenes.

April 12th is Cosmonaut Day, its a rather obscure holiday that many people forget about.

This year, a friend of ours decided to celebrate her birthday on Cosmonaut Day. She told us to dress up. So we did.

Apparently no one else got the memo about dressing up. Needless to say, we were a hit at the party!

 

Rule # 1 Pile 6 people into a 5 passenger car.

Check.

Rule # 2 Shoot your son-in-law with an ice bazooka.

Check.

Rule # 3 Stab your brother-in-law with an ice dagger.

Check.

Yes there was a small ice weapon war that occurred about half way up FS 7012.

Rule # 4 Find a dense patch of trees and try to get lost in it.

We almost lost a few family members until my dad appeared on the road above us.

Rule # 5 Sing Christmas songs or just blast Christmas music from the car for all of creation to enjoy.

The birds would say check.

Rule # 6 Take pictures of the amazing Pacific Northwest.

Click.

Rule # 7 Climb a tree with the intent of cutting off the top to serve as your Christmas tree.

Rule # 8 Forget the chainsaw

Rule # 9 Break the bow saw but fix it with a bungee cord

Um, yep. We wanted the top of this tree, but the bow saw broke about 1/3 of the way through the trunk. We had to forgo our first choice and find a smaller tree. (Not sure what we were thinking…)

Rule # 10 If you miss taking a video of the tree coming down, just stand it back up and do a “redo”

Check.

Rule # 11 Kiss your sweaty sweetie while sitting on a snow-laden log.

Check and double and triple check, and…

Rule # 12 Don’t forget hot chocolate and Spritz cookies.

Yum!!

Rule #13 Take pictures with your sisters while miraculously wearing coordinating colors.

Check!

Rule # 14 Admire the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

Can’t get enough.

Rule # 15 Get a family photo while out in the mountains.

 

A week before I left Ukraine, my dear friends threw me a bridal shower. I had originally planned to just have a party to spend some time with all the girls before I left, but they insisted I had to have a bridal shower. So a bridal shower I did have.

The girls planned a few games, naturally there was some toilet paper involved. Yes, toilet paper, they tried to recreate my dress using toilet paper. I had to pick the winners, it was tough but one seemed to stand out more than the other.

They took advantage of my love for tea and created a game about guessing what ingredients are in the tea just by smelling it. It was kind of fun to see what everyone thought was in the tea, we had a lot of grass guesses.

We played a version of hot potato/musical chairs. Instead of a potato we used a bouquet of fake flowers and passed it around until the music stopped. When it stopped, whoever was holding it was out. It all came down to Marilyn and I. It was an intense game that almost turned into ping pong with flowers. Marilyn won.

Gifts were given much to my surprise. I had not expected any gifts but the girls brought gifts. It was fun to get things for our new home… when I get back. One little tradition here is that the bride should receive something for a baby before she gets married. So I already have my first baby bottle!

The best part of the night was receiving blessings from everyone. Everyone shared different blessings or memories that involved me. I was surprised at the different things that people mentioned. Little things that I didn’t think mattered or was a big deal but to someone else it made an impression.