Further Reflections on our Jerusalem Friends

Here's an excerpt from my journal written during our visit from our Jerusalem friends:

"We introduced ourselves around 3 candles and a lit fire and they commented saying we had a good team. When I was introducing myself the Muslim Sheikh asked if I brought my family with me. I said "no," but then caught on and said "well yes." He believed he brought his family wherever he goes. He introduced himself as being 458 years old and considers himself from Ubeckistan even though he has been living in Jerusalem. He has books written by his ancestors that are about 500 years old. The Jewish Robat Shalom spoke often of release including releasing our certitude and releasing our expectations of change, which is very interesting to me because I associate the word "release" with Sabbath and Jubilee. Both Jew and Muslim talked about planting seeds which is very much the language of Jesus."

Interest in Ecology

Over the past couple of months I have developed a strong interest in ecology. I have had an interest in the wilderness for quite some time now, but recently I have now delved into studying ecology during my spare time. It all began when one of the group leaders listened to my interest in both theology and ecology and recommended a book to me by Sean McDonagh called The Death of Life: The Horror of Extinction that he spotted in the Corrymeela shop. It is a book by a Catholic Missionary Priest who has also done a lot of ecological study and awareness work. The book brought to light the most devastating environmental destruction that is going on in the world and in Ireland particularly as well as touching on the negative effects of a broken relationship between church and scientific communities. I was never one to read the news, but now I am starting to regularly check environmental news on BBC online. I have also led a worship based on McDonagh's book and continue to search for books on environmental topics. I have found one masters program that combines theology and ecology and that is through the University of Toronto. If logistics allow I hope to study there sometime.

Trip to Edinburgh

On Tuesday afternoon Niki and I took voyage to Scotland across the Irish Sea. Once we landed in Stranraer we hopped on a train to Edinburgh. The city is so full of history that it seemed like Niki and I only got a taste. The place itself is beautiful, full of ancient buildings and castles as well as some more natural surrounding hills.
As Niki's face shows above we got turned down at the Edinburgh Castle entrance due to high winds. But this was the only real disappointment. The trip was many firsts for us. The first time to Scotland, the first time riding a train (for me), the first time crossing the Irish Sea etc... In Edinburgh we did a variety of trips including a science center, the woolen mills, local museums, the house of John Knox and a section of the old city underground. It was a good chance to learn more about Scotland and the Scots, although there's still much to explore.

Meeting with those of the Abrahamic Faiths

I had, possibly, my best weekend at Corrymeela yet. Saturday I spent listening to and collaborating with a group of Turkish/Turkmenistan Muslims who are seeking to raise awareness and create inter-faith dialogue within the Irish/Northern Irish communities. They hold a lot of passion for what they do. I was very much inspiring to hear them speaking the same language of peacemaking that we speak. I will be meeting with them again, and hopefully that will be helping me plan an inter-faith youth conference for next April.

Sunday we had two visitors from Jerusalem, a Rodef Shalom (a Jewish order of people who are anointed to be pursurers of peace in the Orthodox tradition), and a Muslim Sheikh from the Sufi tradition, who have chosen to work together in Jerusalem for peace. They formed a organization called Jerusalem Peacemakers, the website is www.jerusalempeacemakers.org I was blessed with the opportunity to spend the evening with the two of them and our Centre director. It was fascinating to hear their stories and recieve their wisdom in building peace. In the morning they joined us in worship and taught us to pray in Hebrew and Arabic, quite the experience. We were told that we would be welcome at any time in their homes, so maybe we'll just take them up on it.

I've found over the last little while that the idea of peacemaking between religions gives me a lot of energy and captures my imagination. I've had many chances lately to meet people from the Muslim faith and they've all captured my respect very quickly. I really admire their deep spirituality and their dedication to building peace, which is contrary to how the media has been potraying people of the Islamic faith lately.

Update

Just a quick update about our week. Since our trip to Dublin I worked with a youth group that was thinking about bullying in their own communities and coming up with ideas on how to support other youth. This I have noticed is a major issue in Northern Ireland because people are being pullied and over extended abuse many are committing suicide because of this. Even mean texting is a problem here. Niki worked with a church group looking at Celtic spirituality. This past week I have been on resource updating the Corrymeela website (check out the photo gallery and bookings section), making a comprehensive list of available dates at Corrymeela up to Jun 30th and doing an analysis of the cottages for three fiscal years to give an estimate of how much income Corrymeela will lose moving volunteers into the cottages next year while Coventry is being rebuilt. Niki was on housekeeping and during the evenings she spent some time painting an encouragement tree in Coventry similar to the tree at Camp Valaqua. This weekend we are both on resource and Niki is present for a couple of day groups. Next week we are off to Edinburgh for a few nights holiday to celebrate my birthday. Today is a significant day for Northern Ireland and if you would like to find out more about the current events start by checking the BBC news online. www.bbc.co.uk

Dublin

Jason and I spend a lovely (and rainy) few days in Dublin. We spent our time wednesday visiting some of the historical sights of Dublin such as the old jail, where many of the leaders of rebellions against Britian were kept and executed, and the Dublin Castle, really a parlimentary palace. Ireland gained independence in 1921 and they are very proud of their history. Our passports did get checked by an officer coming onto the bus on the way into Ireland, but not on the way out. So it's pretty difficult to tell that you've moved into a new country. However, in some ways Ireland was a breath of fresh air, because you no longer have to watch what you are refering to or what to call people etc... Most of the signs in Ireland are in both English and Irish, Irish is the official language and students have to take it in school.

We spent Thursday on a day long tour into the Wicklow Mountains right outside Dublin, beautiful territory. Our stay was spent at a downtown hostel, which was in the perfect location and not to much of an expense, but besides that Dublin is a very expensive city to travel in. We also enjoyed a really good celtic music band one evening. Unfortunetly the trip home was a little frustrating as Northern Irish public transportation is not great.

Last weekend I worked with a lovely church group exploring celtic Christianity and Jason worked with a youth group looking at ways to reduce bullying in their communities. This week I get the great pleasure of being on Housekeeping and Jason is on resource. After that we're going to head out to Scotland for Jason's birthday trip! We'd love to hear from everyone who's reading, so keep sending emails or comments our way!

Holiday Plans

Here are our tentative plans until Christmas:

Nov. 14-17 - Trip to Dublin (First time in Ireland)
Nov. 28-Dec. 3 - Trip to Edinburgh (First time in Scotland)
Dec. 20-25 - Stay with Volunteers in Northern Ireland
Dec. 26-Jan. 3 - Travel Irish Counties Cork, Clare, Kerry and Donegal

Training at Corrymeela

Corrymeela is very kind in giving us many training opportunities throughout the year. So far we have received: Child Protection Training, Assertiveness Training, and Diability Awareness Training. Before Christmas we will receive Food Safety Training.

Tea and Coffee at Corrymeela

If you are asked if you would like tea or coffee you may be asked if you want a "cuppa." And I find that if you are asked, just say yes because if you don't have a cup of tea or coffee in your hands you will be asked by three or four people before the break is done. If someone is going to make a cuppa for themselves it is practice to ask everyone else if they would like one as well.

Tea and Coffee at Corrymeela is all fair trade. The coffee here is usually made weak and may be compared to a cup of tea with a coffee flavour. The tea here is black with the options of milk and sugar. What we call "mugs" in Canada are called "cups" in the UK and what we would call "cups" are called "glasses."

Having tea or coffee, however, does not mean simply the drink. Usually having a cuppa involves eating something as well, like a "buscuit" (which we call cookies), scone, toast with butter, or a bun (which we would call doughnuts with whipping cream inside).

I usually take tea with two sugars and milk and it is becoming one of my favorite aspects of a day here at Corrymeela.

New Website up Yesterday

Hey,

The Corrymeela website has been under construction for a number of months now, but yesterday at noon it was up and running. There is still a lot of gaps, but have a look and be sure to take the virtual tour. The link on this blog will take you to the website.

Talking Peace in Birmingham

I had a fabulous weekend at a retreat centre just outside of Birmingham. The conference was put on by Fellowship of Reconciliation, the group was about 30 people mostly in their 20s and 30s. The topic was Religious Rights and Wrongs in Contemporary Conflicts. They brought in really interesting speakers, one of which was a female Muslim councilor from the city of Birmingham. It was interesting to hear her reflections on what the Muslim community has been going through since the London bombings. My favorite part of the weekend was really just the chance to connect with the peace community throughout England. I had some really inspiring conversations. I would say that most of the people there were more towards the activist end of the spectrum when it comes to the peace movement, Corrymeela tends more towards the community development end. I love my work here, but was missing the activist energy. We looked a fair bit at inter-faith dialogue and the difficulties that accompany it, which is an area I would be interested in entering. I arrived back at Corrymeela tired and inspired. Many of the people from the conference I hope to keep in contact with. If you have any questions about the conference feel free to email me, we really enjoy hearing from everyone.

We're both off this week and this weekend I'm working with a Habitat for Humanity group that's preparing to go to Sri Lanka, doing mostly team building activities. It's getting colder here, but no snow yet.

Birmingham and Ballycastle

For the weekend Niki and I are separated by sea and country. Niki is in Birmingham, England attending a conference on Religious Rights and Wrongs in Contemporary Conflict, and I am in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland teaching people how to play Settlers. As we speak there are three Northern Irelanders playing a game of Settlers on their own. Before we came to Northern Ireland I don't know if anyone had even heard of the game.

As far as an update is concerned. Last weekend Niki and I stayed in Belfast mee'n Corrymeela friends and ge'n to know the ci'y a wee bit be'er. This past week I was hos'n and facilita'n a youth group taking a class in religious studies. Their sessions were fabulous and as a group they were good craic.

This weekend I'm on housekeeping and after Monday Niki and I are off until Friday. It seems to me that Halloween is a bigger event here than in Canada. At least in Ballycastle there is festivities all weekend right up until Tuesday.

Inter-Faith forum at Queen's University

Yesterday I along with two other volunteers had the opportunity to go to Belfast for a meeting on world religions in religious education. One of the most interesting speakers at the forum was a father who shared how Bahi children experienced both Catholic and Protestant schooling in Northern Ireland. The question this man left us with was how can schools accomodate children of other religions in a relational way. There was a book launch at the forum as well, the books are meant to be a resource for teaching world religions. Snapshots of different religions are presented throughout the book showing local faces and interpretations of their faith.

Connecting with Vic Thiessen

This past weekend Niki and I shared a traditional Ulster Fry at Corrymeela with Vic Thiessen, Director of the London Mennonite Center. It is nice to connect with another Mennonite on the other side of the world. We played the Mennonite game and talked about our lives here and in Canada. The website for the London Mennonite Center is www.menno.org.uk/.

Lord John Alderdice speaks to group at Corrymeela

This past Saturday morning I got up early during my off time to attend a session led by Lord John Alderdice. He spoke elequently on his experiences and what he has learned from those experiences. John touched on the role of religion in Northern Ireland challenging the religious communities to be more concerned about being prophetic unto its own community and less concerned about presenting its own troubles to the public. John emphasized in his stories the importance of providing hope, respect and a space to speak and to listen.

Above is a photo of myself and Lord John Alderdice at Corrymeela.

If you would like to learn more about Lord Alderdice here is a link: www.independentmonitoringcommission.org/cv_01.cfm

What do we do at Corrymeela?

This question of what we do at Corrymeela is very difficult to answer for many of us here, but I will try very hard to describe our work simply for the benefit of those who have been wondering.

There are four main areas of work that we are scheduled for: 1) Working with a group 2) Kitchen 3) Housekeeping 4) Resource.

The type of work that we do the most of and is most difficult to describe is working with groups. I'll divide this into tasks we need to do and what is flexible.
1) tasks we need to do: We need to prepare the residential space for a group by turning on the heating/lights, tidying, making a welcome poster, getting a coal fire ready to light if it is cold out, preparing a tea/coffee/juice and buscuit/sandwich trolley and generally create a welcoming atmosphere before the groups arrive. When the groups arrive we sit in with them during the cover speach about health and safety at Corrymeela and lead the group in some ice-breaker activities such as silly songs or games. After this there may be a session which will vary depending on the group and may be led by us, one of Corrymeela's staff or the group's facilitator. These times are usually the most interesting times for us. At 9:00pm everyone is welcome to worship in the Croi (meaning "heart" and is a building for worship, sessions or indoor activities), and following this there may be a session or free time. A lot of our work here is simply making someone a cup of tea and having a conversation with them. Around 10:30pm we will serve hot chocolate and buttered toast for "supper." Basically our schedule is dependent on the group's schedule and sometimes we are asked to lead, participate or if we are not needed or it is a private session we will be allowed an hour or two of down time. In the mornings we prepare breakfast, which always consists of cereal, toast, orange juice, sometimes porridge and of course tea or coffee. Worship in the morning is at 9:15 except Sundays where worship is only at 12:30 in the morning; worship is led by volunteers/staff/community members/group facilitators who sign up for worship. We will set the tables for lunch and dinner (or "tea" if it involves meat and potatoes), get the food in an electric trolley (if we are working in a residential space that is not where the food is cooked) and serve the food to guests. If we are scheduled for lock up we lock up the site at 12:00pm. Volunteers are off at 12:00 unless the fire alarm goes off in which we have to evacuate the building etc. If a group goes to bed before 12:00 we may be off then as well. 2) what is flexible: The in-between meal times and worship times is flexible; we may be taking a group of kids down to the beach, taking a tour of the Northern Coast with an adult group, listening to powerful political leaders from Northern Ireland or elsewhere and the list here is could go on and on, hence what we do is so hard to explain because we don't have much of a set routine. When the group leaves we do a verbal evaluation of how the week went.

Kitchen is more structured and usually considered a break from working with groups. We start at 9:30 work until about 10:30 when we take a 15-30 minute coffee break, then we work until lunch which is usually around 1:00. We then have our lunch and afterwards we just wash up, put the leftovers in the cold room and sweep and mop the floor. We get a break until about 5:15 when we do last minute prep work for Dinner and after Dinner we clean up and enjoy an evening off.

Housekeeping is from 10:00 in the morning until 3:00pm with a coffee break and a one hour lunch break. I haven't done this yet, but from what I understand it involves sweeping, mopping, cleaning windows, laundry etc. Housekeeping and Kitchen volunteers during the week decide and organize between them who does reception from 7-9 each day.

Resource is basically a float job and if there is a lack of groups on site there will be more volunteers on resource. This week I've worked an average of about 4 hours a day helping out on reception, kitchen, recreation store organization and preparing information packages to be sent out.

Groups are here from Tuesday to Friday or Friday to Sunday, Monday is a meeting day. Meetings involve a program co-ordination meeting, resource meeting (where we spend an hour organizing our resource area -- my area is the Croi, Niki's area is the playrooms), Coventry meeting (Coventry is where we live -- so we discuss the nitty gritty of living together as a community), and all site meeting. After that we have one of three things for 2 hours: training, reflections, community activity. Dinner is prepared by one of us and is a community meal, at 7:00 is what we call "super sevens" which is an opportunity to learn from all sorts of people from Northern Ireland. Sometimes this year groups have come on Monday already in which case we would start work after our "super sevens," but Monday nights have traditionally been down time for volunteers.

Our schedule involves roughly 6 days off a month, but this is not usually evenly spaced. During our year here we get two weeks off at Christmas, one week off before Christmas, one week off after Christmas and two weeks off during July and August which apparently is a whole new "system." We also get one week where we may work or get training from an organization of our choosing in Europe. Niki is hoping to go to Bethlehem and I'm not sure yet where I want to go.

That's a very simple outline of what we are currently doing. Basically, we are training to be experts in hospitality.

religious conflict?

George raised the question of how much religion plays a part in the conflict. So far I have the impression that religion plays very little role in the conflict. I asked one of the volunteers from Belfast if religion has anything to do with the conflict and she laughed and said no. Basically one can be a Catholic or a Protestant without having a faith or going to church, it just depends which side of the political conflict one is born into. People here refer to the Catholic/Protestant conflict but it is best not to see this as meaning people here are fighting primarily over religious issues.

Derry

A highlight last week was when Niki and I had the opportunity to get a wee tour of Derry. With our group we walked the streets where "bloody Sunday" occurred and visited the memorial museum there. We saw the murals and walked the wall of the inner city on a guided tour.

At the top is a picture of Niki looking from the wall at Derry; below that is a picture of a mural depicting Bloody Sunday.

Rathlin Island

Jason and I had our first weekend off this weekend and we choose to go camping on Rathlin Island. It's an island right across from us, a 45 min. ferry ride. Saturday we had a beautiful day which we spent exploring and relaxing. The island has 4 lighthouses, we visited the east one. It's full of beautfully green rolling hills. There's stone ruins everywhere. We spent a fair bit of time in a cove watching seals play. That night we camped in the island's only pub's field. We woke up to a down pour, which unfortunetly lasted 3 hours. But overall it was a great chance to get away and do some exploring. For any of those who are coming to visit us, I'm sure we'll make it to Rathlin. During the summer months it's a breeding ground and sanctuary for many types of birds, so Jason looking forward to returning at that point.
Note the two seals on the rocks in this picture.

Belfast Murals cont...

It's been a week now working. I've helped to host three groups. A church group and two schools groups. Above are three photos from last week. The three above photos are taken in Belfast, the top is a photo of a Protestant mural, next is a photo of a police station and lastly is a "peace" wall which is up in an interface area.

Belfast Murals

Here are some photos of Belfast. Nationalist Catholic and Loyalist Protestants will mark their territory with flags, colours and murals. The photos above capture some of the murals from Catholic territory, I'll try to add more pictures of murals later.

Northern Coast

Last Thursday as part of our training we got to spend a day touring parts of the Northern Coast. The rock formations are unique especially at the famous Giant's Causeway; but in general the scenery is beautiful no matter where you are on the coast. We went to the famous rope bridge which used to be a good fishing location for salmon. We went to Ballintoy and the picture above gives a taste of that small town. We then went to the Giant's Causeway and made a couple of stops on the way back.

Irish English: A First Impression

The Irish accent includes some key words to learn if you are a Canadian and want to sound Irish: lovely, brilliant, aye and wee. There are also some words that we use that may give the Irish some confusion. For instance what we call a "flashlight," is a "torch," a "trunk" is a "boot," "pants" are "trousers," a "jacket" is a "coat," a "sweater" is a "jumper," "supper" or "dinner" is "tea," "snack" is "supper," "underwear" are called "pants," a "truck" is a "lorry," a wrapped ice cream treat is a "lollypop," "running shoes" are "trainers," and lastly the "washroom" is a "bog."

Time of Reflection

This is a space that could potential be a very reflective spot for me. It's looking out to Rathlin Island from Corrymeela.

A Gradual Unfolding

We've only been at Corrymeela for a couple of days, but it's felt like a long time. There are a lot of things that we have learned about the program, the history and the people. I'll maybe break up this post in those three ways:

People: "This is going to be the best year of your life," said Corrymeela Director three times in a row to the full year volunteers while discussing the centre and its' mission. We arrived at Corrymeela with a warm welcome from community members and staff Sunday evening. There was a nice room to await us and three or four people asking us a number of times if everything was to our satisfaction. The people are really great; very welcoming and lots of character.

History: Corrymeela has been around for about 40 years. It was founded by a prisoner of war and who found that while in prison that they needed to get past their differences in prison in order to get a voice for decent treatment. Out of this experience grew a community that is founded on this idea of an open and safe place for people to come from all backgrounds. The Corrymeela symbol of a diamond divided in four parts is to represent people coming together from the four corners of the earth. The community started before "The Troubles" in Ireland, but proved to be a significant safe haven for both protestants and catholics to escape the bombs and the bullets. Many people from all over the world and from different backgrounds come to the center for retreat or group learning/development.

Program: Currently Corrymeela tries to get about a third or half of its volunteers from Ireland and the other part from other countries. There are 12 full year volunteers which help out in many aspects of the community work and live in community on site. As well as full year volunteers are short term volunteers that work for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks at a time. There are also finance workers, kitchen workers, program workers, directors, managers etc. Groups come in usually with their own program leaders or with a Corrymeela program worker and we, in pairs or more, facilitate/ host/ participate with/ mediate with groups. If we're not with a group we might work with housekeeping for a few days, which involves changing sheets and wiping walls or toilets, or we might be working in the kitchen helping to prepare, serve, and cleanup meals throughout the day. We get two weeks off at Christmas when we have to leave the site and about three or four weeks off during the rest of the year. Currently we are getting two weeks of training. We get about 6 days off a month.

When we are working with groups it will be mostly all day everyday until the group leaves. The main kind of groups that come in are children or youth groups or family groups.

Ballycastle...home

We've arrived, at long last. Last night we had a potluck at our host family's home where we finally met all of our new house mates. This afternoon we were driven up to the Corrymeela Ballycastle centre, it took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get here from the house in Belfast.

Ballycastle is as beautiful as we had imagined. There are several different buildings. The main one is "the House," it is actually what I would compare to a lodge. Then there's the Village and the Cottages, which are residential places for people to stay. There's the Croi (said Cree), which is our worship building and is magnificant inside. Not much light, but it's built of stone and is a complete circle, it has several rooms but the are all semi circluar as well, with the small worship space containing pillows and a small alter in the middle. They are very purposeful on not being overtly Christian, but create a space where all people can feel safe and worshipful. Our home is coventry. Also a very unique building, it's got lots of character and I'm actually quite happy with our room. We're all in the same level, kind of like a domatory, we're at the end on the south western side. Our room consists of a bed, desk, sofa, closet and sink. It's really quite cosy. It's very green and I'm ecstatic about the ocean (and they have kyaks here!).

Our team is very international, which I'm also very excited about. We have people from: El Salvador, Nigeria, Sweden, Germany, US, Canada (us), Northern Ireland, and England. It's a really neat group and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

We now enter into two weeks of orientation and then into our jobs. I'm getting the impression that it will be a lot like camp work, with a little more focus on reconciliation and group facilitation, along with the broader range of age groups, but mostly children and youth. This post is getting fairly long, and I don't want to give all the details away at once. But as the Irish would say...it's been just lovely! Good night.

P.S. Above is a picture of Coventry which is where we are living.

First images

Here are some images early on our journey from top to bottom:
1) Local street in Belfast with brick houses and cars parked on the sidewalk.
2) Our host family's house
3) Downtown Belfast
4) Niki and I at the Calgary Airport carrying our stuff
5) Driving down a road in Belfast in the evening on the Left hand side of the road
6) View outside our current bedroom window
7) Typical residential street in Belfast

No Turning Back

We made it to Belfast safe and sound. We have a wonderful host family and we're excited about learning more. More Later.

Camp's done...packing's started

We have officially completed our jobs at camp this summer. We both left camp with a real feeling that we've done good jobs and had a lot of fun. Jason discovered new skills in the area of administrative and office work. He was incredibly creative and organized this summer. I discovered that I can in fact work with youth. I have an amazing group of 16 CITs to work with. They were motivated to learn, to grow and to get to know eachother and their campers. Basically, they made my job easy. I will miss them as we all move on to other areas. It's an odd job in the way that you work incredibly hard to get to know each other and to mentor them, then after 8 weeks of intense community life, you simply disappear from each others lives. Camp is headed in a great direction, we look forward to hearing how next summer goes.

We've got 2 weeks now of packing and goodbyes. Unfortunetly I severely sprained my ankle the second last day of camp, so I'm moving slightly slower then I had hoped to this week. This weekend is my parents 25th anniversary and our commissing from our church here in Calgary. We're spending a week in Saskatchewan with Jason's family and the rest here in Calgary. We'll be flying out at 12:30 AM on August 31 from Calgary. Continue to keep us in your prayers and we make the transition.

Summer half over

It's crazy to think that our summer is already half over. The past two weeks have gone by quickly. Two weeks ago we had a crowd of rambunctious 8-10 year olds come through camp and drain the energy of our staff. This last week, however, we had a bunch of veteran 10-12 year olds that helped the week run smoothly. Last weekend we went to two weddings, one in Rosthern and one in Tofield. We were fortunate enough to spend some time at my parents house and overall it was a wonderful weekend.

First Camp Week

The last week was our first full week of camp this summer. It was a smaller camp which makes for better bonding opportunities and smoother transitions all week. Our Nature Leader stepped up as our chaplain which was terrific and the campers and staff had a great time. Our staff is doing a wonderful job and it is a real pleasure to work at camp again this summer.

Even though I was fairly busy I did manage to get in some fluke birding as I was trying to find one of our overnighter spots off property. As I was on my way I was suddenly surrounded by at least three Great Grey Owls. They seemed agitated so I did not stay longer than 5 minutes, but it did not take long for me to realize that this was the family of Owls that nested at camp Valaqua. I saw at least two of the Great Greys and heard at least one more adolescence. The Mother had her defined features; the larger build and clearly lined face. The "babies" were now about as tall as the mother and had a similar wingspan, but were fluffier and skinnier and of course with less defined facial lines.

Another highlight for me personally was of course our hike. I was no doubt one of the people in charge but given the group this really wasn't a stress for me, but more of a break. Grotto Canyon was scenic and it had a variety of relaxing hang-out spots. We saw ancient hieroglyphs and unique watter lapped rocks.

Niki's is enjoying her job and doing very well at it. She just finished two busy weeks and is looking forward to a more relaxed schedule. I have heard very positive feedback from the CIT's.

Camp Begins

Hey,

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. First of all, last weekend was mini camp at Camp Valaqua. This was a chance for many of us to get used to our roles for the summer. It was my first time performing the duties of Assistant Director and Jon's first time as Director. It all went fairly well in our opinion. Families seemed to be having a great time and there were no significant problems. Seven hours after mini camp we started our staff orientation. At first it was a bit overwhelming to be overtaken by people, but I got used to it soon. We did lots of team building activities and standard sessions. We have a great staff this year. This week is our first "regular" camp and we don't have a chaplain. In my years at camp there has never been a week without a volunteer chaplain. Because we don't have many campers we can hopefully count on support staff to fill in for the chaplain role.

Outside of camp we are looking forward to going to Northern Ireland in the fall. We have received volunteer visas and bought plane tickets. We also look forward to going to see a play next weekend at the Rosebud theater with our parents and the weekend following that going to Matt and Emma's wedding and Kerry and Mark's wedding.

As for birding highlights, I had the opportunity to watch male and female three toed woodpeckers play together. And on the other end of camp we have found a woodpecker nest. I haven't actually seen any woodpeckers there yet, but we can definitely hear the young ones coming from the nest.

Regarding photography, Niki and I have been developing our skills and been given lots of opportunity to practice, as well as lots of compliments from all kinds of people. I personally don't like to put our nice shots on the blog because I'm afraid of someone stealing the shots. So simply ask us to see our pictures when you see us next. Since mini camp I have been given lots of time to practice people shots, so I am learning on that front. You can see one of my people shots (right) in the most recent Mennonite. It says "camp Valaqua photo", but what they mean is "Photo taken by Jason Fehr."

Birding Highlight

This past week I was privilaged enough to be shown the nesting sight of Great Greys. Rumour reached the Theological Studies group at camp about the nest and my knowledge of it; and so I led a field trip with my old nature leader hat on. We arrived at the sight and the owl that was in the nest that morning was nowhere to be found. Feeling utter failure at bringing a large group only to see an empty nest changed suddenly when someone spotted a young owl sitting on a log on the ground. It did not take long until the mother was spotted as well. We have pictures including one with me a meter behind the young owl. I don't think the group was disappointed, and I certainly was not.

Spring at Camp

Hello all. We are currently enjoying a relaxing weekend in Calgary. These last three weeks have been exciting for Jason and reviving for myself. Jason has been busy writing devotions, painting posters, exploring and developing new camp opportunities, and enjoying the camp surrounding (especially when it comes to our new camara). I have been recouping sleep, painting, reading, and overall attempting to store up enough energy to make it through the next year and a half. I start my position, CIT (counselor in training) Director on June 5, my group of 18 CITs is shaping up to a fun one. Last weekend we spent time with Jason's family up in Banff and some time with Kari Enns and Amy Goerzen here in the city, boy was it hot. The weekend before that was Nathan's birthday, check out the size of the steak in his plate. The highlight of this past week as checking in on the Jeff and Ing's (camp managers) one hour old baby goats, there were also a pair of 3 weeks old goats...what fun they are.

Goodbye to Winnipeg, hello to The Rest of Western Canada

Time for an update. Well until this week the last two weeks found us on the constant move. On Thursday April 27th we handed over our keys to our first home, hopped into a very loaded down little truck and drove to Jason's parent's farm. We'll miss Winnipeg and hopefully Winnipeg will miss us. It was a great place to spend the first year of married life.
After successfully making it to the farm, we unloaded, stayed a day, and then hoped on the 11:30 (not the 8:30AM, as we had thought) grey hound bus to Calgary (via Edmonton of course). We arrived in Calgary at 11:30 in the evening, enjoyed some conversation with my parents, successfully made a disaster of our home in a hurried packing for the next morning and fell into a deep sleep. The next morning we were at the airport at 8:30 in the morning flying to Vancouver Island for a week to spend some time with my family. The week was a lot of fun. Besides giving my mom's family and Jason a better chance to get to know eachother we took long walks, bike rides, minigolfed, read, ate salmon, birdwatched...birdwatched...birdwatched. You get the idea. The Island was as enchanting as ever.
We drove directly from the Calgary airport to Edmonton with my family to attend songfest and more importantly to see Nathan's girlfriend, Bekki...this has become a family event. After Edmonton we were dropped off at camp. Jason started his Assistant Director position on Monday and is really enjoying it thus far. I am figuring out what to do with myself for a month off...something I have done for quite some time. Currently I'm in Calgary spending some time with my family, and trying to get our documentation in order.
Thanks to all who are checking. Starting in September there will probably be faster updates, but we'll try to be consistant through out the summer.

Dear Friends and Family,

Welcome to our new website. We have set this up so that others can keep informed of our detours. For ease we have set links to Camp Valaqua and Corrymeela where we will be working for the next year and a half.