True To Form?!

I was sent a 'blonde' joke that I found very very funny. I read it aloud to the office and a blonde colleage who had also recieved the same email said that she didnt get it...highly ironic!

WHAT IS A 710?

A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage. A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten.

We all looked at each other and another customer asked, 'What is a seven-hundred-ten?'

She replied, 'You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one

She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there.

The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like.

She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its bonnet up and asked 'is there a 710 on this car?

She pointed and said, 'Of course, it's right there.'

If you're not sure what a 710 is Click Here

When I revealed the joke part, 'said colleague' still did not understand why it was so funny! I had to turn the image 180 degrees to reveal 'the funny'. We feel that she let her side down on proving these jokes wrong!!

Retaliation

I was just sent a link on facebook to something that Pioneer Church are doing in response to 'that' bus campaign. The flyer below can be downloaded here in PDF form. The group on Facebook is called 'There Probably is a God.'

Film Review

I cannot believe how long it has been since I have been to the cinema! (for my standards!) My list of films to see is getting ever longer!

My knowledge of the history of this film is that it is obviously the second world war! That's where it ends, if I'm totally honest I thought Valkyrie was the name of the main character!! Pretty soon on I learnt otherwise!

The cast was brilliant, lots of my favourites. There were also actors which made you do the 'what was he in?' head scan!

I enjoyed this film a lot, and not just because it broadened my small knowledge of this time in history. I know nothing of the accuracy against original events, but I felt it was portrayed well. There was a lot of tension throughtout the film. I tried not to jump out of my seat! There was very minimal swearing and gore during the film, which is always a plus for me!

Tom Cruise was on Jonathan Ross on Friday evening, his interview about the film was very good. He can talk about it much better than I could!

And So It Begins...

Its seems that 2009 is the start of all of the 30th birthdays! Its still two years away for me, but I already have many weekends and parties in the diary as these milestone for my friends occur!

This weekend was the turn of one of my best friend Kathryn. I was part of a cunning team who threw her a surprise party on Thursday, and for someone who is known for being very loud, I have never seen her so speechless! She is also quick to pick up on things, but did not guess that we were plotting this gathering! She had a small party for close friends and family last night and I had a great time. One of the major things I miss about working in central London is seeing my close friends regularly. So I got to spend some quality time with two of my best friends, Kathryn and Caroline.

Sharing Surreal Experiences

This advert has been showing on television for a short while now. It really makes me smile and I wish that everyone on the station concourse broke out dancing when I was a London commuter!!

In Palmers Green High on Friday Sammy and I were talking around the subject of 'Passing On Faith'. The Alpha content suggested talking about who we share something with when we receive exciting news or see something amazing. As I watched this advert yet again today I really appreciated the point of it, people are taking pictures and filming the surreal occurrence, and calling up people to share the experience.

What do we choose to share with people each day, and how much of it is stuff God is doing in our lives?

A Prayerful 'Experiement'

After going to Germany last month I was introduced to a 'magic' toy. The 'Grow Your Own Frog Prince' is genius! Tabea was given one for Christmas and I decided that I should buy one and make it a symbolic thing to grow ourselves some princes at the same time. Seeing as we are both looking for our own 'real life prince'!!

Maybe soon he can come out of his pot of water!?!

Amendment

Thanks to Sarah for sending me the link to a 'make your own Bart blackboard page'! With a bit of screen capturing and cropping, I am able to share it with everyone.

A Pledge...

I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more I must write on my blog more

Sad Goodbyes

I've not blogged for a bit due to life just being so busy in all areas as usual!

Tonight I said goodbye to a good friend and needed to blog about it. Over the past year I have got to know Jess very well and tomorrow she has to return to Australia. I had a lovely Christmas and new year with her joining my family festivites.

Here is a picture of us in a very cold Wales during our mini Christmas roadtrip around the South West.

Youth Weekend Away

With Amanda going on maternity leave soon, a youth weekend away was squeezed in to the schedule. None of us could believe how quickly it had come round. I drove the big blue bus down to Kent with our small group of 11 and 12 year olds. There was some frost on the ground on Friday night, but none of us expected to wake up to frost like this!

(yes that is the high ropes course you can see among the trees, we opted out of this activity!!) It looked like snow. However the extreme cold caused our pipes to freeze, and a change of location on the site. It was the beginning of a very cold weekend. The theme of the weekend was Love. Three sessions on loving God, ourselves and others; led by Amanda Steve and myself. There was only eight youth, a nice number I think and discussions were always productive as they all wanted to learn more about God.

There was also an afternoon of archery in at least minus 3 conditions!! But all in all it was a good weekend. As Amanda often says it is nice to create memories for them to look back on as we do from trips away we had when we were younger.

(faces obviously blurred out due to their age!)

Temporary Look

A very rare thing happened this week...I had my hair straightened!!!

Happy Christmas

The Christmas Story
Originally uploaded by Roothie

I have not got round to Christmas cards this year and the review of 2008 is still to come! So this is my chance to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a blessed 2009.

Mystery...

Back in the summer I opened my mail box to find a copy of 'Just Walk With Me' and today I come home to find a copy of 'The Barbarian Way'. I have a mystery book donator! Not got round to reading the first book yet, but I've just looked up the second book and the reviews are far from positive...!!!

Germany - Day 4

Our intentions of getting up early today did not happen! Once we were all awake we headed into Breman. We took a detour via Breast for Joel to take some photos!! We looked round more christmas markets and shops. It is a pretty little town and I really enjoyed the 'christmassey' feel to it all. I have got used to being in Germany and I will be sad to leave tomorrow.

Words we learnt...
alles gute = all good/best wishes
alles klar = all clear/understand

Germany - Day 3

Today was a relaxing day. Tabea had to work so Joel and I chilled out a lot. It was nice to sleep in for a while! Joel and I ventured to the local playground and supermarket. Many funny pictures taken in both!!

We then went to join Tabea and her older youth group. We sat in on the end of a young kids group where tabea was doing a game that involved passing matches around! There is not the same level of health and safety here in Germany!! The phrase translated was 'I see a light, i have a light, i pass it on'. Joel and I had small testimonies translated that we shared with the group. I spoke about the move to n:flame and the gap year.

We then hung out with the group socially. It was fun trying to communicate across the language barrier.

• Words we taught Tabea and the youth...innuendo, thank-you-please, brap (!), mammories (!),'on me head son', 'you're havin a laugh'
  
• Words we learnt...heisse Schnitte = hot slice, heisse liebe = hot love
  

Germany - Day 2

Far too tired this morning from all of the walking we did yesterday! Today Tabea had the morning off so we went to a town called Stade. More beautiful shops and Christmas markets. Purchased myself a few little treats. The most exciting thing was the camembert stall. My once a month purchase from Tesco was freely (in exchange for euros!) available on a market stall. Happy days!!

Still no snow today, I do feel cheated. That or the BBC website lied! Maybe I should write a strongly worded email to the met office!

This afternoon involved some chill time followed by a visit to Tabea´s church. We got to sit in on her hour of youth club. It was different to what I would call a youth club as it was everyone sat round a table for the whole time. Language is not my strong point and I felt so ignorant not being able to communicate with these young people, their English was definately better than my German. All Joel and I could mainly do was sit and listen! The church out here is different, people will attend but not actually base their lives on it. Tabea shared a story involving Mary & Joseph, but then told us that many of the young people will not actually know who they are! The session ended by singing some songs in English, including `What If God Was One Of Us`by Joan Osborne!

We then went to a big supermarket and stocked up on a few treats for the rest of our time here, we couldn´t get too much as our hand luggage is limited, mine especially!! The rest of the evening was relaxing and I got the chance to meet with a guy who would like to follow Jan´s example of doing an n:flame gap year, but in 2010/11!

Words we learnt today....
arschkarte = loser!
tschuess = goodbye/see you

(Found out that Andy who was here previously had taught the youthgroup 'cow tipping' and 'skinny dipping'!!)

Germany - (full) Day 1

So Joel and I arrived safely in Germany last night. We are staying with Tabea in Ahlerstedt, North Germany. To save on costs we decided to take just hand luggage, and I some how coped with this!! The size of my case for 5 days is amazing!!

Tabea took us round Hamburg today. As it is my first trip to Germany everything was exciting for me. We saw lots of Christmas markets and wandered round lots of shops. The signs and langauge make for some amusement at times. I have taken quite a few photos, but sadly only brought my compact camera with me! (link to photos to follow, once I have uploaded them back in the UK!) We walked miles and miles around the city and it was so good to sit down in a bar at the end of the day and have a banana beer! We saw the harbour, the red light district, the football stadium, went up St Michael`s church tower, ate crepes and much much more.

It was supposed to snow today, but did not. We were quite sad about this! It has been so good to see Tabea again. I wish I had got to know her more when she lived in North London! She is being an awesome translator and tour guide.

Words we learnt today....
ausfarhrt = exit
weihnachts markt = christmas market

Loving the Asbo

I am a fan of the Asbo Jesus cartoons, this one especially inspired me.

Festive Gathering

Here a shot of me and everyone who is either on the GAP year in a full or part time capacity. I've really enjoyed working with them so far this year and look forward to all that 2009 has in store.

Film Review

Firstly I had to look up what Changeling meant, as there was no reference to it in the film. This is what Wikipedia had to say, and it makes sense! I did not read anything about this film, had only seen the trailer, so did not know what to expect really. The production of the film with the 1920s-30s setting was good, (I found Angelina Jolie's costumes amazing!). There was a gory element to the film that was totally unexpected, so I give a warning now. It seemed a very long film, and I kept expecting it to end on a few occasions and it didn't. As this film was based on a true story, I found it amazing how corrupt the LAPD was then. I would reccomend going to see this film if you have a spare 141 minutes!