Time in Texas

The last 4 weeks feel like they have flown by; so quickly, this place has become home. I almost don't know how I managed to live without 20 other people in the house!

Texan times: 

Rodeos in Texas are the real deal! Tassels, spurs, cowboy hats, yeehahs and everything fried and covered in cheese... need I say more? I keep asking whether the hyper-Cowboy look is put on for these events, but apparently this is pretty standard Texan style... Almost as authentic as my outfit...
Driving to the rodeo, we passed through a lightning storm. We braved the rain a bit until it stopped, and during the rodeo watched the most incredible lightning lighting up the sky. Yes, those are steel seats... health and safety much?

4th of July celebrations - 'yard games', fireworks and good ol' fashioned hamburgers. Who could ask for any more?

Room mates - Susanna, me, Whitney, Lydia

Our elementary teaching team

The past few weeks' training: 

*Week 2: Foundations of Mercy Ships - the Why, What and How of Mercy Ships, and why it runs the way it does. It was really cool to learn about the huge range of projects that Mercy Ships are involved in - not only the range of surgeries, but also the work that they do before, during and following the field service in building local capacity. Really, Mercy Ships hopes to do itself out of a job by helping the local communities to be self sustaining.

*Week 3: Faith Foundations - prayer, worship, living in community. We also started out field practice preparation sessions, gearing up for the 2 weeks we will be staying in Dakar, helping with different projects, learning about the local culture and people, and building good team work before joining the ship.

Teaching sessions in the International Lounge

We also learned about Money Matters in African societies which was incredibly insightful - just how much of an impact being a collective society has on use of money, and how strange we Westerners find this. E.g. in many African societies, if you have resources or money you aren't 'using' at the time, it is interpreted that these are free to be shared around. When we see half finished buildings (and scoff at the lack of planning), this is actually a way to invest money so it isn't 'available', even if they don't have enough capital to finish the entire project. So many things I've been learning about, I'm starting to recognise: "It's not wrong, it's just different!"

*Week 4: Personal and Interpersonal development - personality types and strengths and weaknesses, strategies for living in close quarters well, without killing each other:D My main take away from this was to learn to listen well, to listen with empathy (see video below), and pitfalls of comparisons.

Birthdays, baking and bits and bobs: 
We have had 3 birthdays in our lodge during the past few weeks, and have had to be creative with our 'cake' making:D Oreo balls, giant sized Reeses Pieces, and a giant cheese ball coated cheese ball... who would have thought...?