ALL SCHOOL RETREAT

All school retreat was last weekend at Camp Yamhill. I had never been there before so I had no idea of what I should expect. It was great though, so great in fact that I will share some details with you!

Before I go into any detail about the weekend, I must first share with you our drive out there. ……. A few of us couldn’t leave when the majority left, so around 10:30 we were finally off. Brandy (if you’ve seen Witness, she’s the red head) and Danelle were in the front seat and Erica and I in back. It was all great, until we got to the dirt road, the only way to get to the camp. It was pitch black and the greatest amount of fog that I’ve ever seen settled around the camp. We couldn’t see ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING. I think Brandy was driving 2 mph. Anyway, it was SUPER scary and we all ALMOST wet our pants. Oh, and then about 7 rams, out of nowhere ran in front of us.

Past that, the weekend was a lot of fun. It was nice to hang out with different people that you may not interact with on a day-to-day basis. There were a few devotional type sessions, led by Mr. Scottie Christianson (SPELL HIS NAME RIGHT RONKNEE), but other than that it was pretty chill, very relaxing. The coolest game in the world was there, Carpet Ball, it consumed much of our time there. One night we had a gigantic marshmallow fight, Roni and I dominated that.

Anyway it was really fun, a great escape from the ordinary. Look at the pictures, I think all these goofy kids had fun!



This camp was cool. They had really big mugs.



And really big spoons.(Heather)



Alisha and Jacki, they are intense wrestlers.



The one on the right is Megan, she just joined the Peace Corp. She will be in Africa for the next 2 years.

RELAX

I know that we all want to save the world, or at least I do, and we often run ourselves into the ground trying to do so. The important thing to remember is that although you want to be involved all these extracurricular activities, you are only one person and can only do so much. So while you try to do all of this remember to take time for yourself. I can’t stress how important this is. Whether taking time for yourself means taking a walk or playing guitar or even just sitting in your dorm, be sure to take a little time for yourself.
My friend Susan and I realized that we needed this escape, so we went on a little adventure.
I won’t tell you the exact location of our refreshing spot, but it’s a beautiful spot that over looks the great city of Portland. (If you are from Portland, you probably know where it is…sshhh.)
Just look at how beautiful it is. Oh, and we ate Subway up there.

“KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD”…..

…that’s not too hard
Tonight has been a rather interesting night. It all started when Erica, Brittany, and I went to Quizno’s to get Erica some dinner. It was all fine and dandy, until we got back to the dorms. Erica proceeded to eat her sandwich and asked if I wanted a bite. I said yes and then it all went downhill. I was expecting to bite into this amazing sandwich, but was surprised when there was nothing amazing to it. Apparently Erica had gotten some crazy sandwich; it was super spicy and DISGUSTING! So as you can tell, biting into a sandwich expecting to taste a piece of heaven, but then eating a piece of poo, can ruin a night.

If that isn’t enough, it gets better. I then went over to the Lambda’s “Refreshment Night” (complete with: facials, foot massages, regular messages, hot chocolate, tea, hand massages, manicures, and coloring… it was wonderful!). After I was finished, I went back to my room and I saw my friend Brittany as she was leaving to go to the emergency room. I went with her because she was going alone and it’s not all that safe to go alone. So that brings to where I am now, in the emergency waiting room. Within these 3 hours that we have been waiting 2 interesting things have gone on. I say interesting, but one was actually more sad than interesting and the other was kind of scary.
Interesting/sad/depressing thing #1:
While we have been sitting here one lady was in the restroom for like 45 minutes and then came out and started to yell at her father about something crazy. They then walked to the front of the ER and about 2 minutes later 4 EMT’s, a few nurses, and the night police all came sprinting down the hallway out the doors. This same lady that was in the restroom had tried to OD while she was in the restroom and when she went outside she tried to kill her father. It was all a huge commotion and as you can judge for yourself, although interesting, it shouldn’t be. I actually feel guilty for finding any interest in this whatsoever. It’s really a heart-breaking story. I can only wonder about the story she has and the various pain she must have inside.
Story #2:
This one scared Brittany and I both. I can’t give specific details because there are too many, so it might seem a bit scattered. The gist of the story is that this man was wheeled into the ER and the EMT who was attending him left the room. As soon as he left this man started to talk to us along with a few other girls who I assume were around our same age. I don’t exactly remember what all he was talking about, but he wanted us to wheel him out of the hospital. Then he switched subjects to a wreck that he had been in last February. He then started talking about how he had $400,000 and this hospital had stolen it from him. He told us that we needed to get out while we had the chance. He switched stories back to all the money he had, but then how he owed the hospital $460,000 that they had illegally charged him and then he told us how he owed the IRS thousands of dollars. This all went on for quite some time and then the EMT came back. The man started yelling at the EMT and then shouting profanities. It was all insane and I’m pretty sure all of us were in shock. While the EMT was wheeling the man out, the dude stopped him and turned around and started yelling to us again.

I know this all may seem a little stupid.. so if you feel that way…I guess you just had to be there.