those last few weeks...

Hej hej everyone!
Can you believe that we'll be back together so soon?! I can't wait to see all of you again!
I've been keeping busy with work and some minor traveling. I spent a week in Trade, Tennessee which is about half an hour from Boone (where my younger sister will be going to school in two weeks) for ASP. We had a good group and our largest yet, with four more than full teams. Two teams from a church in New York joined us at the center. None of their youth had participated with ASP before, so it was definitely a learning experience for them.
My team, which consisted of 8 people, worked on installing insulation, underpinning, and floors in a bathroom, as well as installing the vanity and fixing up the plumbing for the sink and toilet, and seal coating the roof. We took on the additional task of replacing the steps on the back porch, since they were rotting away and a safety risk to the children. Our family had two kids, one was nine and one was 18 months. The nine year old boy was mean and kept hitting and kicking us, but by the end of the week he learned that the only way to get our attention was through positive behavior.
I came back from ASP and spent the next week working at Caribou in Chapel Hill. That week left me completely exhausted, since I live about an hour away. That Friday, my family picked me up from work and we spent 11 hours in traffic trying to get to Elizabeth, Pennsylvania to visit my dad's parents. That week was great. We spent time with my grandparents and my uncle's family, we went to the Phipps Conservatory, Steelers training camp, ate at the original Primanti Bros in the Strip District, found a Caribou to get drinks at, and went to a Pirates game. I also managed to get a little bit of back-to-school shopping done and we went to IKEA and H&M (my two favorite Swedish stores). I now have possession of some hard bread. I'm trying not to open it until next week, so I can share some with all of you - it was one of my staple foods last semester.
My grandparents are so adorable. We found out that their neighbors have wifi, so now my grandparents' computer has internet connection. After they set my grandpa up with email they kept asking me which email they should use to get in touch with me. I was hesitant to give them my school email because I was afraid he would send me a bunch of spam, so I told my grandpa to get at me on facebook. He said that he could only handle email, but about five minutes later he asked me how to get a "spacebook". So now he's on facebook and seems to really enjoy it.
I'm back to work this week until Saturday, when I'm moving in.
I am now at the point where I am more than ready to move out of my parents' house, but I haven't started packing yet. In any case, I can't wait to get back to the hill for good and to see you all!
-Krysta

August already?!

Greetings from sunny Florida! I can't believe summer is almost over! About three weeks ago, I chaperoned my church's middle school mission trip. We did the trip through YouthWorks, at their Raleigh-Durham site to give the kids an opportunity to do mission work in their own backyard. I think it was a really good experience for the middle-schoolers and a lot of them were asking if we could do YouthWorks again next year. There were three other church groups there that same week: one from Tennessee, one from New Jersey, and one from New York City. I was an adult leader in a work crew with four of our kids and four kids from the NY church (along with one of their adult leaders) and we spent the week working at the Boys and Girls Club in Durham. We also had some fun evening activities: Monday we went to a rodeo at a farm in Raleigh, Wednesday we went to a church service, and Thursday we had a cook-out at Beaver Dam State Park in Raleigh. I was really glad I went on the mission trip because I was able to get to know our middle schoolers a little better.  Now, I'm down in Florida visiting my family. I flew down with my grandma July 23 to visit my cousin Lili and stay the week at their timeshare at Ft. Myers Beach. My grandma kept Lili's mom company (they're cousins) and I hung out with Lili and Veronica (her sister) and Lili's friend Aurora. I also got to see some of my family in Miami who I haven't seen in a while. Saturday, Lili, Veronica and I went to my tio Pablito's house to see my baby cousins who I've never met, as well as my cousins Gabi and Julian. Andy turned two in April and Agustin was born in March. Last night Lili and I spent the night at their house so we could baby sit this morning because their dad was on a business trip and their mom works. The little kids are so cute! After the nanny came, Lili's mom picked up Lili, Gabi, and me. Lili had to work, but the rest of us went to drop my grandma off at my tia Ceres's house and we hung around there and drove around the farm in one of the golf carts, like old times. Tomorrow I fly back up to North Carolina around 4:15. Now, we're going out to dinner. Less than 2 weeks til move-in at Wesley! I can't wait for the year to start :)

WesHo Summer in Germany [cont'd]

So I'm up again, eh? Well 2 weeks left and Germany and things are winding down. We're in the big crunch of end-of-the-semester stuff and finals. I had a theater performance stuff (just from a workshop class for exchange stuff, not marvelous formal tony winning stuff like Kelsey does ; ) but it was fun and went rather well - that was last night. Also had a final yesterday, and today a project and studying for a final tomorrow that I take bright and early before going to Berlin tomorrow afternoon for the weekend to see the U2 concert there on Saturday night. I'm fully prepared to arrive at whatever ungodly hour before the gates open and sit out in the rain in order to get prime placement for my small figure. At times like this it would be handy to have a gentleman-friend tall and strong enough to hold me on his shoulders through it all, but you have to make do with what you got. so very unusually busy crazy week here for me. next week should be a bit calmer with one more final the day before I leave (the 28th) and then a quick detour to sweden (maybe denmark - well see) to check out that U2 concert (I know it's crazy, and I'm crazy, but they are my all time favorite band and they only go on concert every 4 years and how often do you get to see your favorite band while you happen to be in europe?) So I will catch them again on my way out, back home as i go up and around toward direct from Sweden to London Heathrow, where I will catch my flight through Dallas and to St. Louis for a couple days just long enough to get all my doctors appointments in maybe see a bit of family. Then my family and I pack up the car and head east to the Outer Banks, where we will stay a week. From there, my parents will head back, dropping me off at UNC where I will get to see all of you and we can get ready and excited for another awesome year!. I must admit it's bitter sweet to be leaving. I realized as I sat in a bar/restaurant with my roommates who came to my show last night telling stories and bringing up old jokes and reflecting on the year, I will miss the good stuff, the people, and some of the fun we had. But i look forward to seeing everyone back home and having just as much if not more fun with you all starting in August!


Love and peace from Germany. Can't wait to see you all!

Stephanie

hello july!!!

Ahh! So how can I describe what I've been up to this summer? Well, my summer started about two weeks before I left Sweden for the States. I was able to go to Krakow, Poland for a few days and then ended up missing a flight and having to spend the night on a 4 hour train and the day in the Warsaw airport. Let's just say that was an adventure. I also had a chance to visit Visby on the island of Gotland (it's Swedish and Jan has ancestors from there), which was my FAVORITE relaxation spot.


For those of you who went to New York in January - my luggage made the round trip adventure. It is definitely time to throw it out (the large piece has a smashed wheel, no more extendable handle, and a hole in the bottom, the smaller large piece has multiple small burn? holes and a smashed wheel, but the rolling duffle only has a small tear that I will be able to fix).


I arrived in NC on the 11th of June and went home for a wonderful meal of pot roast with carrots and potatoes. I definitely missed having access to a crock pot while I was gone. Then I went out for ice cream in celebration of a friend's birthday. That weekend was crazy with my sister's baccalaureate and graduation and lunch with some friends (including Daniela!!).


The next weekend was even crazier, as it was my sister's graduation party. She didn't want anything to do with the party and the ladies on my dad's side of the family are kind of crazy, so my mom and I had our hands full. Overall, it was a great time and I really enjoyed seeing my grandparents, my grandmother was my best pen pal while I was overseas.


The weekend after that was also very busy (I'm finding most of my free time is during the week) with another fundraiser for our ASP mission trip to Johnson County, Tennessee. We had a yard sale and pancake breakfast and managed to raise over $3,000. I made brownies and cookies (the cookies were from scratch and I'll make them next year, so everyone can experience my mom's delicious recipe) and worked at the yard sale.


Preparing for ASP has kept me busy in other ways, too. I designed our t-shirts and have been trying to use my experience to help the first year volunteers (I've been participating since 2003 and 5/8 of our 4 teams are new this year).


This week has been great, since I've been to Chapel Hill twice! I went yesterday with Emilyn (she's a rising first year and you'll see her around a lot next year) and Daniela. We had lunch at [B]Skis and managed to score free coffee at the Health Sciences Library café. Today Daniela and I went back to Chapel Hill (so I could pay my deposit and just to chill) and it was nice. Thankfully it hasn't been super humid, so I have enjoyed being outdoors.


That's basically my recent life in a nutshell. I'll be working on the 15th in Chapel Hill and then go on ASP the next week. My dad finally has a week vacation at the very beginning of August, so we'll hopefully be going to Pittsburgh to visit my grandparents. After that I'll be working at Caribou more frequently and moving in ASAP!!

I absolutely cannot wait for the semester to start (once it does, I know I'll be bummed about papers and studying), but mostly I just want to get back to Chapel Hill and dive right into the Wesley events. People, it's going to be a great year!


-Krysta


Peace.

Updates from Apex

Hey everyone!

Hope your summers are going well. My summer's been going well, though I haven't been up too much, mainly relaxing at home, going for walks, driving, and watching lots of NCIS. I'm helping with the morning VBS at my church, which started this week. I was going to have 3 year olds again (which is really stressful), but luckily I got switched to rising first and second graders today. I really love helping out with VBS; plus, the kids are adorable. I'm also helping with VBS at Apex United Methodist Church. My dad knows their pastor of Hispanic ministries and I want to help with their Hispanic Ministries when I can. I'm helping with Apex's nighttime VBS, which started yesterday. Should be a fun and busy week, but I'm already exhausted. I'm also helping to chaperone my church's middle school mission trip in July. The trip is through Youthworks! and we're going to be working in Durham. Then, the last week of July, I'm going to visit my cousin Lili in Miami. We'll, we're technically going to be in Ft. Meyers (I believe) at the beach where her family has a timeshare. But my friend Ben is also going to be in Miami that week, and we're hoping to meet up at some point. That's really all for now. Can't wait to hear more about your summers and looking forward to being back in Chapel Hill.

WesHo weekly update 2, 2009 Germany Edition

hi guys, it's stephanie, coming to you from Germany. What's up? Sorry if this is a bit long - I will be posting it on the blog and email just,.... because.

Second semester marches on, we had just started it at the end of April, and it won't be ending until end of July, in case you're wondering. But it's very relaxed; a. b/c i'm an exchange student, that can German-as-a-second-language classes, with much hand-holding and help from the teachers, and only have to take a limited amount of harder classes (for real students) b. because this time of year there's a new holiday every week almost. This week we have the whole week off for pentacost, even though like everyone here is seemingly agnostic. But it's great and i'm learning a lot. I only have met one onther Chapel hill student here, but thats alright, plenty of others.

I hosted a small get together yesterday of american exchange students and a couple Germans and we taught them how to make s'mores and play apples to apples (found an english version here). Like so many of our various culinary delights, they reacted with surprise at the immense sweetness, too sweet in fact, they say, which we're a bit infamous over here for. There are no graham crackers, so we subsituted a similar looking thin butter cookies that worked well.

Saturday i took a trip to Basel, Switzerland (like 3 hrs SW of where I am) and that was cool. it was with the international exchange student group at the university and I met someone from my home state Missouri who goes to Mizzou and served as a kind of a mirror picture of my experience - "how it would be" if I had gone there instead of UNC or any other out-of-state school. This program seems to be the big one for them, so in that respect it wouldn't have been different. But I am still happy and glad I chose UNC.

I actually ended up having to go grocery shopping there because it would've been too late by the time we got back, and (yesterday and today) are Sunday/holiday, which essentially means EVERYTHING is closed except for restaurants. So i picked up a few groceries in switzerland and underway, a little old crazy lady carrying a stick, told me off in swiss-nonsenese and poked me with it. Very funny and startling at the same time. but it was fun. Tried to walk to the French border but was farer away than we thought, and turned around (Basel sits in a corner of switzerland bordering Germany and France. But we took a tour and ferried across the Rhein, it was a lovely, beautiful day.

other than that, not a whole lot else going on at the moment. Gonna try to get some work done with homework, maybe watch some "House" episodes in German, (I volunteer at an an American library here which gives me acess to many books, magazines, and DVDs both in English and German.) Back when The UNC-Duke games were on even, one of the American magazines in the library had a big article on it, which I proudly displayed and explained to the Germans working around me. They find the sports culture so weird here because there's nothing like that her, what we have in America with college sports.

But hope you guys are all doing great, and enjoying summer. I'm super psyched to be living with you next year, and I miss you guys!----Stephanie

summer is upon us again

So, last year, instead of using email the WesHos kept in touch over the summer using this wonderful blog created by Kristin. Kara is going to send out a schedule for updates (I think). If it's easier for you, you can just email everyone during your week, but if you'd like you can update the blog as well as/instead of sending an email. Whatever works for you. I guess you can send out an email during your week, but you can update the blog anytime you want. That way, if you haven't really done anything yet when it's your turn to email everyone, you can later write in the blog if you want to share something. Can't wait to hear from everyone and I hope you all are having great summers, whatever you're doing!

BWL,
Daniela