A day in the life...

I thought I'd take the time to share about a typical day in my life at the base.

Most mornings we have to be at lecture/worship/chapel time at 8:30am, the exception is Monday mornings when we have Basewide cleaning and we have to meet at 8am. I rarely get up in time to have the cereal they put out for "breakfast"... it's really not worth it, so sometimes I eat my own cereal with yogurt and other times I just wait for morning tea(i will elaborate on this in a minute). The actual time I wake up is about 30mins before class, whether or not I choose to shower that day. Although, I am often "awakened" by everyone else starting at 6am... I still cannot figure out who needs to be up at that hour, but to each his own! Those people would be the ones who are in bed before lights out which is 10:00.

Depending on the week and the lecturer we usually have some kind of worship time before our lectures start, but this is not always the case. I really enjoy the worship times here, they are so free and open to express in whatever way works for you. Sometimes the worship "leader" will just play guitar and "free-style" and everyone just breaks into their own song to the Lord, those times have become one of my favorite.

At mid morning, usually around 10:30am/11am, we have Morning Tea... this is an Aussie/New Zealand(i think NZ) custom to have tea and an assortment of sweet and savory pastries. It's pretty much the coolest thing, and I believe attributes to the rumor that the Australian YWAM bases make you gain weight. Another thing that attributes this is because there is always a supply of fresh bread out in the dining room AND peanut butter and jelly. So, if you are a picky eater, this is the base for you! :) I love Morning Tea...

After the break we go back into lectures for another hour and a half until lunch at 12:30... lunch is pretty self explanatory. This is where the day changes drastically depending on the day of the week.
On Mondays I have the rest of the afternoon free and then a bit after dinner, we have "MAD Mondays" at 7:30.. which is a time when a professional in the arts from the surrounding community or nation/world comes in to our class and speaks about what they do... in essesnce a time to cultivate dreams, etc...(implied that they are christians).
On Tuesday nights we've had lectures sometimes, but lately we just have a free night, woo hoo! On Wed. nights we have small groups at 7:30... I love this night because our sm. grp is the coolest, we always have some yum yums of some kind and just good conversation.
I forgot to tell about the afternoons on Tuesdays... so, after lunch I have some free time, but usually I head to the art studio early and work on the paintings I have started. It officially starts at 2:30 and ends around 5ish so we can get back for dinner at 5:30.
Also, on Wed. afternoons we have "sports" at 4:00... this consists of going to the park down the street, setting up nets for volleyball and cones for soccer and then playing. The idea was originally to get the community to join in our games, but there really isn't many people around to join, anyways.
On Thursday afternoons, I have my design work duty from 1:00 to 2:15, and then I head to the art studio with the other artists and work on paintings again. I really like tues./thurs. the best! Then, Thurs. evenings are totally free... I've gone to the local mall for coffee because it's the only night they are open past 5:30pm... ridiculous, right?! It's so annoying.
Friday afternoons are the longest because I have the work duty for 4.5hours... 1:00 to 5:30... I know it's needed for the type of work duty I have, but sometimes I just don't look forward to it at all. But, then when I get into it, it's really not that bad.

So, to end my "typical" day... I'm usually up until atleast 11pm, if not later. The "lights out" at 10pm just means that the dorm lights are off at that time... it's annoying sometimes, especially when I forget to clean off my bed while I've been in there with the lights on knowing I won't be back until after they're shut off.

Adjusting to this different and rigid schedule took some getting used to, since I've lived on my own and had a job that didn't require me to be in at a specific time. It's not so rigid, just a major adjustment... but all in all... it hasn't been as bad as I thought it could be.

The end....