As the season of summer leaves us, summer camps also finished at the end of August. Two words that describe the summer would have to be tiring and fulfilling. Spending five days with teenagers from first thing in morning to late at night, both programming and hanging out, is tiring. On the flip side, it is incredibly fulfilling being able to get to know the campers, have input into their lives, minister to them, and see them learn about themselves and God.
The busyness continues through September, as we go back to school groups. The last two weekends we have had the Wycliff Race to 2025 Adventure races. (check out http://www.wycliffe.ca/raceto2025/index.html to see what the race is all about- us staff man the checkpoints along the race route.) The advanced race was an epic weekend, which ended with 3 out of 8 teams finishing the race and 2 teams getting lost. On a personal level for me, sunday was the most exhausting day of my life as I had been up sick during the night and then had to hike up to the top of a ridge to the checkpoint. We started hiking at about 7.45, got to out checkpoint at 10.30, spent 7 hours on the top of the mountain, flew the Aussie flag, spent 2 hours of that 7 alone in a snow storm as Allan hiked down the mountain a bit to look for one of the lost teams. He didn't find them (although they were found soon after back at the starting point) so we left our check point at 6 and hiked back out to the road. Still feeling ill and rather low in energy it took us about 3 hours to hike out, making it back to camp at about 10. My exhaustion was described by Becky as the most exhausted person she had ever seen along with the best public cry ever seen at Frontier Lodge- don't worry, we are laughing about it now! The second adventure race, with not such an epic route was a much more relaxed weekend for me.
August also bought some exciting developments on the 'becoming a temporary citizen of Alberta' front. Some of you may not know that I decided to stay at Frontier for the winter and next summer, committing to stay for a year. This means I needed to get an Alberta drivers licence. Sadly, this wasn't an easy process, as I had to do the written test to get a class 7 (learners), surrender both my SA and international licences and apply to have my SA driving history credited, so I don't have to have a graduated licence (like our P's system) for 2 years. I found out last week that they will credit my driving history, so now i have to take a road test next tuesday, and if i pass they will give me a full licence! I also got a social insurance number, like a tax file number, and opened a bank account, all of which made for a couple of exciting weeks of getting some actual Canadian mail!
The end of August and beginning of September also saw some staff, who had become wonderful friends, leave. My room mate, Mary, went home to Switzerland, Josh went home to Minnesota, Spoon went home to Germany, Matt moved to Vancouver Island and Ros and Marlies- fellow Aussies, went travelling. This place won't quite be the same without them. On the other hand, I have a new room mate- Hanna from Germany (i'm noticing a theme here.....) has come for a year to work in the kitchen. At the end of the month, 2 more German guys will arrive to do their civil service year. With so many Germans around (5 soon) hopefully I will be able to get my German back again!
What now I hear you ask? September remains busy with school groups, and then it quietens down alot. Mid October i am leaving camp for a month and a half. I will fly to Ontario and meet up with Ros and Marlies and travel with them for a couple of weeks. At the beginning of November, Julia- from Saskatchewan, is going to fly out and meet me, and then we are going to drive back to Alberta through the US. Then its back to camp, -30°C, ice climbing and all other new wintery experiences!
jealous.....
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