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| Top row (left to right): Terry and Sarah Bottom row (left to right): Victoria and Tim and a kind stranger |
I know that I haven't written in a while. Things have crazy busy over the last week or so. Tomorrow the first proper week of the DTS starts. The last week or so has been introduction week. We've been going through the eighteen values that Youth With A Mission is founded on. Thursday night was great fun. I'll explain why it was so much fun.
The other DTS staff arranged a scavenger hunt for the DTS and split them into two groups. I wasn't told anything because I was one of the group shadows (my group's on the left, but I'll get to that in a moment). We were given a series of clues with riddles as to the location of the next clue. We had to complete the task and crack the riddle. I wasn't allowed to help or answer any questions, because I know parts of the city really well and the game was an attempt to help the students get a grip on the geography of the city a little and to help them get over their fear of approaching strangers to ask for help. I also had to film or photograph my team's attempts at completing their tasks. The first task was outside the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. The team had to find some willing volunteers to help them build a human pyramid (as pictured). It took them ages to find someone who was willing to do it... There were other things they had to do, like serenade a stranger and do a cover from a boy band (which were videoed). They're a great group of young people and I'm really enjoying getting to know them better.
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| Marble Arch |
Other than still adjusting to being one of the DTS staff, I'm doing really well. Thankfully there hasn't been any snow (I've decided I don't like snow). Things have been interesting with my braces, yes, my teeth are moving into the right positions, but last week one of the wires came out of the bracket right at the back of the lower left hand side of my mouth so I had an appointment today to go and put it back into place. It took a while getting to the practice but its sorted out now. On my way home, I took the bus past Marble Arch (pictured on the right). There's an interesting history.
"The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to
the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near
the site of what is today the three bayed, central projection of the palace
containing the well known balcony. In 1851 it was relocated and following the widening of
Park Lane in the early 1960s is now sited, isolated and incongruously, on a
large traffic island at the junction of Oxford
Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road. Historically, only
members of the Royal Family and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery are permitted to pass through the
arch; this happens only in ceremonial processions. The arch gives its
name to the vicinity of its site, particularly, the southern portion of Edgware Road and also to the nearby underground station." (Taken from Wikipedia).
Another thing I forgot to mention, is that every week, for the first four weeks of the DTS, we're going to a different church, so that the DTS students can get a taste of some of the local churches, then choose one they'd like to attend for the rest of the lecture phase. Yesterday, we went to an anglican church, St. Mark's, which is about twenty minutes away from Dartmouth Road. It was a lovely church service, and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised. After the service I took two different buses into London, because I wanted to attend ChristChurch, London. Its a church I've been attending for a few months now and has two services. One at 11.00 and one at 16.00 (4pm). I've been going to the evening service but usually the public transport in London makes it a a bit tricky getting to Blackfriars (its a few moments away from the station). Its common for a number of Underground Lines to have planned engineering works over the weekend, which entails in more people having to use the buses. So I was walking along side the Thames, towards Blackfriars Bridge, when I came across these seagulls. I wanted to take a photograph and edged closer to the one sitting on the railing. Just as I snapped the photo with my phone another seagull dive bombed the one on the rail and I managed to get it on camera. I had to post it to my photo journal. Its not every day I'm so fortunate to get such a good photograph.
Tomorrow's the beginning of another week here on base and I'm not sure when I'll next post. Hopefully in the next week or so.