Jan 31
Time to leave this lovely country. We boarded buses and planes for the last time in Spain... and then I filled the entire plane trip with movies! Never done that before!

Jan 30
As we tied up loose ends, the world bazaar also closed. This is the first time I've ever won anything from a silent auction, woohoo! Also the first time I've ever seen peanut butter and sour patch kids sell for hundreds of dollars. Clearly these Christians have big hearts for donating.. or they REEAALLY missed their comfort foods... ;)

Jan 29
Who knew that Canada was sending its own newcomers out again to spread the Gospel? I discovered that we have Korean interns serving in the Middle East, and even long term staff in the UK, I never knew! Had a great lunch date today with all the Canadian ladies :)

Jan 28
Today is our free day! A great bunch of us boarded buses and journeyed up to Granada, toured the city a bit and then visited the Alhambra! Wow, I've never LIVED a board game before! This is such a neat piece of history. Later that night, the World Bazaar opened, and I viewed neat items from all around the world!

Jan 27
Today I got to know a few more interns serving all around the world. Gained some new knowledge about other places, but was reminded of the "same old" solution. It's so neat that everyone has different highs and different lows, different cultures, and different obstacles, but that Christ is solution to every single one of them!

Jan 26
Today I learned a new word.. though.. not an english one. "Jantar" is the polish word for "dine". We learned about the ludicrous love of God and had an extended time of Jantar with Him: dining without distractions, full attention on the Lover across the table! 

Then proceeded not to "dine" with the teammates, but rather to explore foods... we had ten different kinds of slow roast meats for lunch. Wow. Certainly no conversation here, everyone was to focused!

Jan 25
First day of the conference. Wow, I've heard about MidYear conferences before, but never actually partaken in one! Also, today was the first time ever that I'd received a special shipment of marshmallows from Canada! Little taste of home :)

Jan 24
Went over one town in the opposite direction today and checked out a lot of neat things!! Almunecar, Spain has a bonsai museum (never been to one of those before!), a bird park (with lemurs..!), and a castle! A full day of fun new things, concluding with live music and Spanish paella for dinner.

Jan 23
I've been meaning to check out the one in Guelph, but never did, thus, something new for today is visiting the Donkey Sanctuary in Nerja, Spain! We proceeded to explore some really fascinating caves too! SNE!

Jan 22
Continued the journey and arrived in La Herradura, for the first time ever, meeting up with friends of my aunt and touring this quaint little Spanish town!

Jan 21
I was supposed to have a day of horseback riding today, but the snow prevented that. Nonetheless, I got a lovely photo shoot up in the mountains with the horses! And... due to the lack of afternoon plans, I spontaneously jumped on a bus and decided to go down a few towns and visit that very British chap I'd met the day before.. in his castle! We toured the grounds and made dinner together (white asparagus is not tasty!) Never done that before!

Jan 20
Became instant friends with an old British chap on the train today. He showed me the way to bus and proceeded to chat me up for the entire bus ride to Granada :) I wandered the streets of Granada and had shwarma for the first time! Caught the next bus up to Capileira and had a lovely snow-filled night walk under the stars (I've done that bit before, but it's been a while!)

Jan 19
SNE. Today I got a private lesson on how to make cheesecake! Then later on, I got to taste test it, while joining friends of friends for lunch and a social afternoon. For the first time ever, I picked avacadoes, and had an afternoon of mixed languages, 50/50 Spanish and English, which means I understand about 54% of what was said ;)

Jan 18
Another first, arrived in Spain for the first time ever! Joined a couchsurfer and his family, spent the evening at their friends' house and strained my ears to pick out Spanish words that I once knew. Retired for the night at their cozy abode in the hills of Coin.

Jan 17
Left the country once more and arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. For the first time ever, I got out of the airport and explored Turkey with some Turkish friends! We visited popular sights, including Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar, then returned to sleep in the airport.

Lateness is the new thing again! Today we visited our friends on the far side of town again and for the first time ever drove back through Kampala after midnight. This resulted in a few firsts: first time making the usual hour-long trip in under 20 minutes, first time the lack of traffic and smog actually allowed us to smell the trees, and of course (the reason for the trip) the first time having a splendid dinner date with 8 wonderful YWAM ladies!

Monday January 6
The newness is lateness! Procrastinated eating for far too long, and while normally I just skip and go to bed, I was hungry enough to cook Indonesian fried rice after 8pm. Eating like a European, SNE!

This is just something small, but I finally gave up trying to stay clean going the gate. Our guard put oil on the locks a week ago and I try so hard to avoid getting slimy, to no avail. Now, I'm not much of a quitter, but this particular situation is a lost cause, so I give up! Dirt and oil, let's be friends.

Saturday Jan 4, 2014
I love networking! I'm trying to sort out plans for traveling in Spain later this month, but I don't know anyone in Spain. Tried a friend's aunt, but no response, and then an aunt's friend, and sure enough, plans are being made! Where couchsurfing falls short, being Dutch picks up the slack! Never made travel plans like this before!

I know last year around this time I said I helped make olliebollen for the first time, well today I made it all by myself for the first time! Though technically I sort of cheated because I used a mix and didn't make it from scratch, but hey, I don't even know if all the ingredients exist in this country! anywho, SNE.

Something New Everyday. Traversed to the far side of town to welcome some lovely missionary ladies to the country. Had a little culture shock talk and toured the city a bit. Oodles of fun! Also posted a photo upside down on facebook.. never done that before :S

Aaand true to my word, the first SNE of this month is the creation of a new blog!

It's called "These are the things". Check it out at http://theeverydaynotsoordinarythings.blogspot.com/

#blogsadvertisingblogs #blogmania

The SOMETHINGS NEW
Wooee, in 2013 I did a tonne of things I'd never done before, ranging from learning words and trying new recipes to traveling to new places and meeting new people. I learned some new languages, tried new food, and even learned some new things about myself.


The inspiration to start this blog came from the discovery of the scripture verse where Jesus says "I am making everything new!" (Revelation 21:5) as well as from a desire to explore and seek joy in the day-to-day, and I can certainly say I did that!


Some days I actively sought to try new things, and some days new things just happened. Some days I looked back at the end and put on a new perspective to see what was special and unique about a day I would have otherwise considered normal. I learned to make the ordinary exciting, I got a little bolder and I got a taste of what the world has to offer.

Due to the small amount of slackage this year, I will be continuing this journey for one more month, so stay tuned!


Tuesday December 31 2014.
Got a gift of potatoes from a student who went home to the village for Christmas, cool! Never had that before!

Then I brought in the new year with some fantastic American ladies and Ugandan dudes. Board games and snacks, then the best view of fireworks from 4 different locations across town. Followed by my first overnight at a friend's place here.. though technically that was on Jan 1...


Monday December 30
Something New Everyday. Felt the urge of the green thumb today and trimmed the hedges and transplanted a rose bush! I've been meaning to move that bush for ages, but now, for the first time (obviously) I did!

Sunday December 29
I cooked up a new soup recipe from the cookbook I got for Christmas, it was good! And then later on we watched the live stream of morning session of the P2C+ conference back home. Never done winter conference via the internet before! Also discovered a new restaurant today. We pass by it all the time, but today our American pals invited us in! It was nice to catch up again after the holidays. Afterwards we made even more discoveries: found a movie store and game shop and purchased our very own Monopoly game which we proceeded to play for the rest of the day.


Saturday December 28 For the first time ever, I was the one to get a thousand piece puzzle for Christmas. I pulled it out today and got to work, continuing a long-standing family tradition, but taking on a new role of puzzle initiator!

Friday December 27
Something New Everyday: First Ugandan couchsurfing outing! Thanks David and Jude!


Thursday December 26, Boxing Day
Hmm, I'm sure I did something new this day... just can't remember at the moment. I'll get back to you!

Wednesday December 25, Christmas Day
Wow, it's Christmas already! This is my first ever Christmas away from home, my first without snow, and my first without family. But it's also the first Christmas that I've had an awesome African church service, made brunch for my team, played scrabble with Bim and done family visits via skype. I broke out the Indonesian spices to make Bahmi Goreng for dinner too, never done that before!


Tuesday December 24, Christmas Eve
Something New Everyday. Crossed one item off my Africa bucket list, that's right, despite apparent cultural taboo I climbed a tree!! (mind you, it was in my backyard and no one who would be offended saw me.. but still) best Christmas eve ever, lol! Also (not new) played board games and watched Muppet Christmas a grand ol' tradition!