Hi from England!

Heeeeey people!!

I think it's time to have some updates here...

I'm now in England for 8 days and I already experienced a lot! This first week and the coming two weeks I spend in Richmond which is a very cute city two hours from Manchester.
Some first impressions:

-when I arrived at Manchester Airport the SUN was shining! (in HH it was rainig when I left)
-next day it rained in Richmond
-everyone around me is speaking English
-the cars are driving on the wrong side
-lots of worship
-so many seminars
-kingdom principles
-proverbs 3:5-6
-when I want to cross a street I first have to watch to my RIGHT
-toastbrottoastbrottoastbrottoastbrotwabbelwabbel
-sandwich and cornflakes for breakfast, sandwich and chips for lunch...
-the tap water (leitungswasser) tastes like pure chlorine
-I'm getting to know many great people
-I'm trying to get used to all the unusual habits of all the different kinds of people
-I'm very much enjoying the time here!

I'm doing really fine although I miss the delicious Hamburger Leitungswasser and the good German bread, they really don't have any comparable bread to what we have in Germany. What they call bread here is just different types of Toast as we would call it in Germany. But well, I'll have to get used to it and I'm doing my best... It's really good that we have a warm and kind of normal meal at least in the evening. We cook with about 10-15 people, that's so much cheaper than always going to some kind of pizza hut like some are doing... and it even tastes good =) And it's fun cooking together and then eating with a very international group of people! Today we had Pasta with Tomato souce and salad! Fantastic! =)

The days are full of seminars, we start at 9 with team devotion, then worship and afterwards seminars seminars seminars. The past week has been full of information and sometimes it's hard to get everything because they mostly speak in their normal tempo and that is sometimes when they are in a flow very fast! But I always have my good friend the dictionary around and that helps me a lot. And the weekend was great! We just slept in and had breakfast in pyjama and relaxed a lot and went swimming in the next swimming pool and we just enjoyed our free time, that was great!

So the new week has started now and it's gonna be good! I'm sure! All the best for you!
God bless!
Maraike

ps: I'm sorry I can't post any pictures yet but I'll do so as soon as possible!

Meine letzte Woche bricht an...

Ich bin zurück vom Seminar in Neumünster. Eine Woche viel Lobpreis, viele Seminare, viele gute Gespräche, viele neue Freunde, ganz viel super schöne Gemeinschaft, sehr viel Wohlfühlen, sehr wenig duschen, nur noch ein bisschen Brei, sehr viel Lachen... ich hatte ne unglaublich gute Zeit! Am liebsten wäre ich jetzt direkt nach England geflogen, dann wäre der Übergang einfach nahtlos gewesen, so hab ich noch eine Woche voll schwerem Abschied, Sachen packen und dreimillionen Gedanken vor mir...
Ich werde in einem 5er-Team arbeiten. Außer mir noch ein deutsches sehr liebes Mädel, das ich jetzt in der Woche grad schon kennengelernt hab, zwei Engländerinnen und one American, ob Junge oder Mädchen weiß ich nicht. Meine Familien, in denen ich wohnen werde (ich werd während des Jahres einmal umziehen), sollen sehr nett sein, meine Vorgängerin hat sich superwohl gefühlt und mochte kaum gehen... Hört sich schon mal gut an =)
Naja und mehr werd ich dann tatsächlich erst in England erfahren.
Ich glaub ich pack jetzt mal Sachen.

Next step -> 1week Preparation Seminar

Some days of hamstering around and getting a lovely colourful face after a 4-wisdomteeth-removement-operation have passed by, now I'm not that much a hamster anymore but my cheeks are getting a beautiful greenyellowbluepurple touch. Wonderful!



Tomorrow my first preparation seminar for England starts and therefore I'll be in Neumünster for one week. I don't really know what I'm supposed to expect there but I'm looking forward to getting to know all the people that are going to do (kind of) the same work as I'll be doing the coming year! And I'm very curious about when I'm going to know all the details about my works and projects, maybe next week, maybe not until I'm really IN England... surprise surprise...

Last Holiday

I'm just back from my last real summer holiday! I had a great time in Switzerland with 150 other great people on a 2000 m high mountain named Engstligenalp. I could enjoy every moment there since I was lucky to stay well and don't get sick during Camp as well as I never froze in the night or had problems with my tent or whatever.... Also I wasn't ever punished to do the dishes or prepare breakfast. That was nice! Thanks Joel and Sophie ;-)

But what I really enjoyed most was the amazing atmosphere during singing, family prayers, silent time while the sun was rising, talks, conversations, preparing dinner for 150 people, caregroups, at the campfire, while having fun, whenever, however and wherever... it really was a great and blessed time.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this wonderful Camp!

Im Vorfeld...

...muss noch das eine oder andere getan werden, bevor es dann wirklich heißt: Ab nach England!

Inzwischen weiß ich immerhin schon, wo genau ich hinkommen werde: in ein kleines Städtchen namens Glossop, 21 km östlich von Manchester, sehr nahegelegen an einem recht großen National Park. Über die Familie, in der ich dann leben werde, weiß ich allerdings noch nichts, genauso wenig wie über die Kirche und die Schule(n) und Projekte, in denen ich mit arbeiten werde.
Bleibt also spannend, ich denke, ich werde in 2 Wochen bei dem Vorbereitungsseminar in Neumünster mehr erfahren!

Mit dieser Seite will ich versuchen, euch alle so gut wie möglich auf dem Laufenden zu halten, was so um mich herum und mit mir passiert in meinem Jahr in England!