Where to begin...

Warning: thinking aloud. (If this bores you, you can skip down to the bit about college a few paragraphs down)

I am stuck.

I wanted to post about all the fun adventures that I was having on the weekends, the friends I was spending time with, the joys I was experiencing, the things I was learning and seeing and doing... The problem is that since starting college, my life has just become one big ball of fun. College is still exciting, it doesn't have the same vibe as working full time does, and I'm loving every minute of it. But I can't write about every minute of college (it will be just too much to read!).

So I'm just thinking out loud about my 52 Weekends project for this year... I think it will need to change to 52 weeks! I want to record the highlights of the year and share what being at bible college is like this year.

So hey, if you're interested then stick around.

Now to mentally jump back and summarize what's happened in February since I started college!

The Beginning of Bible College

I can't believe it has been 5 or 6 weeks since I first started college. I arrived and I wasn't even sure if I had learned all the Greek I was meant to learn in the summer holidays. I soon discovered that feeling never really goes away, and you're never quite sure if you've really learned enough Greek! But we really did jump in the deep end. The start of college was like the start of school or uni, lots of new things to learn, lots of enthusiasm for study and homework, lots of people and relationships to form, working out what life looks like...

A typical day for me these days usually involves catching the train and walking to college, sitting around under the grapevine and studying Greek, going to class, eating a pear for morning tea, eating lunch, sitting under the grapevine in the afternoon with other people and studying or getting involved in college life and meetings. I've joined the social media team, put my hand up to help organise first year weekend away, and a Greek study group. Being at college was overwhelming in my first two weeks, there were so many names and so many introductions - it was like a Christian camp on steroids! But things have settled down, there are many lovely people who I am enjoying getting to know better, and there are just so many more fun adventures to have! Also, assignments have started...

Things I am really enjoying about college:
- Meeting people and making friends
- My first year group
- Learning Greek, it's so fun to see the New Testament in the original language
- Learning how to understand the Bible better and already being able to apply this to how I preach and teach at church
- The grapevine (it's really pretty and it's a nice place to study)
- Travelling to college with Isobel on Thurs/Fri and still getting car-time with Soong on Mon-Wed

Things that surprised me about college:
- How cool my year group is (I wasn't really sure what to expect!)
- How much the staff love the students and want to support them. It's very different to uni
- How much the students want to help and support each other
- How many people are actually in similar life situations to me, living off campus and travelling while spouse works and supports them

Things I am looking forward to:
- Mission in a few weeks
- Holidays (who doesn't love holidays hehe)
- Weekend away
- Introducing Soong to all my fun new friends
- Learning more

College is fun. I'm very thankful to God for the opportunity to go!

20 Completed January Jobs

 

20 tasks in January. What was I thinking? I must have been deluded into thinking I had a lot more free time than what I actually would. In between catering for Sweatcon, learning Greek, and working long days in the office, here's how I went with my month of organising:

1. PANTRY: Completed January 13th

The pantry is tidy. I have thrown out all open and out of date products. I have tried to use up what I can so that I am not storing products for the sake of storing things. My bigger goal was to try and rearrange the pantry into another kitchen cupboard, but I have not had much luck with this as of yet. Hoping to find some solutions soon, but regardless, it is nice to know that everything in my pantry is there for a reason.

2. SPICE CUPBOARD:

3. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS: Completed 14th January

Soong is wonderful and took care of these for me. Christmas decorations have been packed away for another year. It's sad to be in my house without the tree, but it feels more spacious which is nice.

4. CLOTHES DRAWERS: Completed 22nd January

As I was putting away my washing I decided to toss a lot of the clothes in these drawers that I didn't wear but was keeping for the sake of it.

5. WARDROBE HANGERS:

6. MUSIC ROOM CUPBOARD:

7. BOOKSHELF: Completed 26th January

We are holding off on buying a new bookshelf until we have to. Our other one is bulky and a bit of an eye-sore, but that's no reason to toss it yet. So I tidied up the shelf, sorted out my folders and added them in, and it's looking a lot better!

8. CARS:

9. DVDs and CDs:

10. KITCHEN GADGETS:

11. LAUNDRY:

12. FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS: Completed 18th January

I sat down with my pile of financial documents and sorted them out, filed them away and paid what needed paying. Feels good to have this all stored away!

13. PERSONAL EMAIL INBOX: Completed 14th January

This was a hard one. Considering that I have never emptied out this inbox, and so found myself wading through almost 10 years worth of emails, it was very tiresome. I had a lot of emotional attachment to some emails as well, and so did my best to file and store the emails from when I first dated Soong, or long interactions with good friends. Feeling very accomplished to see it so clean and sorted though. I hope this lasts.

14. WORK EMAIL INBOX: Completed 13th January

I found this one pretty easy to sort though, as I really only use this email address for job hunting, freelance corrospondance and the occasional formal email (like to my accountant). So if I hadn't opened it or looked at it in the last three months, nor did I need it because it was to do with a finished project, I deleted it! I feel somewhat guilty that I deleted so many emails (close to 400), but what's the point in filing away things that I'm never going to open or look at? This was much easier than my personal email inbox due to lack of emotional attachment. 

15. NOTEBOOKS BOX:

16. PAINT BATHROOMS: Completed 17th January

A full on day of painting and work. We washed the walls, did three coats of paint, and then had very sore arms the following day!

17. SPARE BEDROOM:

18. MEDICINE BOX:

19. LINEN CUPBOARD: Completed 26th January

Sorted out the towels and refolded those, and then checked everything else. It's holding a nice collection of travel bags, which I may need to clear out at a future time.

20: GARAGE SHELF: 

So not only did I not complete these jobs... I also didn't get a chance to post anything until March! Let that bear witness to how full the start to my college year has been!