Tuesday, 19 August 2014

Last Days of Rendezvous 2014


August 16th 2014, the last day of Rendez-vous! It’s happy and sad at the same time because we get to go home, but Rendez-vous is over. Same morning routine as every other morning. Though as soon as we were done breakfast we had to pack up our things and bring it to the University Center. The closing worship was a whole three hours today. There was music, stories, prayers, dancing and goodbyes. 

  Right before it was all over there was communion, and one last song before having to go get our lunch and say our final goodbyes before getting on the bus.
The way home was a lot more squished travel and time wise because we had fewer days. It was a lot of the same stuff on the bus, just hanging out.
Though something super exciting happened! We went bowling and had pizza dinner! That night we drove till about 11 pm when we arrived in Saskatoon where we slept.

We were all matching with our University of Winnipeg hoodies and Bison tank tops.
~ S

August 17th 2014, another long day of driving. We got to sleep in a little bit but not a whole lot, certainly since we were sleeping on a church floor. At this point there isn’t a whole lot to write about because most of the time we were sitting on a bus. A lot of card games were played, songs were sung, food was eaten. 


We went swimming in Lloydminster, and had a snack there because we were going to have an early dinner, 4:30, at The Spaghetti Factor. It was super nice getting out of the bus and being able to walk around, and have real nice dinner.

After dinner we had a stop and a quick game of Zap! was played just to stretch. That night we drove until about 10 when we arrived in Jasper. Once at the church we did our worship, had a snack then went to bed for another early morning.


August 18th 2014. Last day of everything! Early morning yoga was a thing in the nice crisp mountain air. We got on the bus and drove, forever, again. We stopped in Mt. Robinson to drop off Kim, Carl and Nina. We had lunch at a cute little Café and were given Freezies! We got back on the bus and our next drop off was in Kamloops, where we dropped of Kelsey and Michelle. Then it was the Langley kids, which was sad and hard because everyone else wasn’t allowed off the bus so it was squishy trying to say goodbye.

We went to the Ferries after that for the Vic City Kids (woot woot).

Last to go were the Richmond and Vancouver kids.

A sad end to a long journey where everyone got so much closer and so many new friendships were made. I will miss everyone so much!
~ S

Monday, 18 August 2014

DAY FOUR and MORE...


August 13th 2014. The day our other adventure started. We had to wake up early to get on the road to arrive on time at Rendez-vous. That meant having a bagged breakfast.
The bus trip was a lot of the same thing, hanging out, talking, listening to music, playing cards, etc. Though we had a problem along the way. We missed our pit stop. Now it doesn’t seem like that much of a problem, but with 40+ people who haven’t gone to the bathroom in a while, it becomes one. There was a bathroom on the bus, but it was only one, and it’s not the nicest facility. The line up started to grow longer too.
Lunch was nice. Instead of make your own sandwiches we got Greek food! We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch outside before having to hop back on the bus for the last little bit of the trip.
Now you see, it seems the BC bus has a hard time getting to our end destination on time. Even at Evolve we always seem to be a little late. That was exactly what happened today. The whole event started at 3 pm and we were supposed to arrive at 2, but of course we got there at 3. That meant we couldn’t go to our dorms right away because we had to attend the Opening Worship. There was music and singing and the announcements of what was expected in the days to come. After the worship, in our home groups, we brought all our stuff to our dorm.
The meals at Rendez-vous were great. We ate in a cafeteria and there were so many food choices, so meals were delicious. They even had a chocolate milk dispenser.
That night we had a keynote speaker. His name was Wab Kinew. He talked about reconciliation with the Aboriginals and how his dad “adopted” the bishop from a catholic church. He also talked about the effect residential schools had on his people. It was a really interesting talk over-all. After that we had a home group meeting to talk about the speech we had just heard from Wab Kinew. Lights out came next which was super great after. Having a bed was awesome too!
~ S


August 14th, 2014. I’m sure we all had a great sleep because we had actual beds. During the mornings you get a bit of free time because breakfast starts at 7, and the worship doesn’t start still 9. We had a singer named Coco Love perform and she was really amazing. There was also a speaker. This one was Kofie Hope and he talked about getting out in your community and just doing it, to not ask for permission first.
Workshops started today. You either had two or three. You only had two if you went on an exposure trip in the afternoon. There was a whole multitude of different workshops you could choose from. Everyone who went seemed to like what they chose. After the first workshop it was lunch and if you were going on an exposure trip you left early. A couple of the trips were French and Métis heritage or a visit to the Forks. When all was done and everyone was back at campus it was dinnertime and some free time. There was worship like there was every night, and after there were a few social events. They had a Coco Love concert and a talent show. A short home group meeting came after. Lights out/quiet time came next, and again, really beds.
~ S


August 15th, 2014. There was ANOTHER birthday today this time it was Annie’s! The morning was the same as the other two mornings. Breakfast and free time before worship and songs. This time though rEvolve performed for us! The speaker this morning was Nicole Marquez. She was a dancer who accidentally fell off the roof of a apartment building 6 stories tall. She was in the alley for 8 hours before someone found her. Though the doctors said she would be paraplegic, she learned to walk again. She talked about her story, and how she became a motivational speaker. It was really interesting and really good. Our first workshop of the day came after, then lunch and a nice free time break. You had one more “small” workshop after lunch then they had big group workshops. A few of the options were a First Nations blanket exercise, outdoor games, geocaching, and street art.
Dinner after that was delicious as usual, and then we had worship. The social events were a rEvolve concert or a Manitoba Social, which was just a dance. There was a short goodbye home group meeting before bedtime, but everyone was so awake people didn’t really go to bed.
~ S


On the last day of Rendez-Vous, August 16th, we had breakfast and then went to worship. At breakfast there was a surprise flash mob with dancing and clapping to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. Personally I wasn’t there, but I heard it was exciting, energetic and fun. At worship we listened to the music of rEvolve and Regenisis. We clapped, danced, and sang along to songs such as Malembe and Hey Mama Heya. I really enjoyed having the piano playing, but also the djembe, guitar, drums, bass, and of course the egg shaker were great to have accompanying our singing. We listened to the bible story of the Israelites journeying from Egypt and we learned that the manna they ate as food was actually plant lice poo. It puts a different perspective on the story doesn’t it? After saying goodbye to all the great people we met, we boarded the bus and started a long bus ride to Saskatoon! We said a special goodbye to Angus, Jillian, and Danielle who were flying from Winnipeg instead of travelling home with us on the bus. We drove and drove on the straight road to a town called Yorkton where we stopped for bowling and pizza. The bowling was exciting and a certain person named Samantha managed to get strike after strike. As we continued on to Saskatoon, I learned that it is actually quite easy to fall asleep listening to the Vinyl Café on my IPod. We reached Saskatoon at 10:30 that night and gratefully enjoyed the hospitality of St. Martins United Church. Whoever baked the cookies that were served as a snack that night is a cookie genius. They were so delicious! We finally went to bed looking forward to a long awaited sleep and the next morning’s sleep in to an amazing 8:00am!
Kelsey
The bus trip to Rendez-Vous 2014 and Rendez-Vous itself has been so much fun and I am so thankful I got to go again.  Everyone on the bus bonded so much and by the time we got to Rendez-Vous we were the group with the most energy always ready for singing and dancing! Although I am sad to say goodbye to everyone I have so many new memories and connections from all across the country that I will cherish for along time to come.   
-Eva

Rendez-vous was absolutely extraordinary! I’m so glad, because the bus ride home means that all the fun doesn’t have to be over yet. I must say I think my favorite part of the conference was the moment I realized they had a chocolate milk machine in the cafeteria!!! Which was closely followed by just about everything else that happened. All the speakers were AMAZING, and I really enjoyed meeting new people. Now back on the road you would think that we would all be almost dead after 8 days terribly lacking in sleep, but the energy people have is impossible and I can’t help getting caught up in it all. I think that has to be my favorite part of this entire trip, the contagious energy.
~Michelle
  
So today we wrote a story and we needed to share it…
There once was a pickle named john who had a love for Poptarts. So one day he went on an adventure to go find some but he ate an elephant, and then because the elephant was holy he went to heaven. When there he ate 100 watermelons covered in salt and pepper (because there is simply no other way to eat a watermelon). When he was finished he hopped on over to the hospital to help his parents cope with the loss of his grandmother. They were crying in McDonalds, because they ran out of BIG MACS and so they left and went to the park. When they arrived they were really hungry so they went to HFC (heavenly fried chicken) and then they toured the museum of life. Where he asked “I’m sorry to disturb you, but where is the washroom?” His companion answered with the call of a dove and ran to his lost lover, the mermaid Ariadne. She was trapped in her father’s ice palace, pleading for tomatoes to be brought. Instead potatoes were given and filled with anger the palace people left, and decided to swim in the river. However, when they got out they had forgotten everything, because they had swam in the river of forgetfulness. Without knowing who they once were they resumed their life.
~Pheadra, Justice, Kelsey and Michelle

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

DAY THREE


 August 12th 2014. Another long day of driving from St. Albert, which is North-West from Edmonton to Regina, where we are staying the night.
This morning we got a bit of a later wake-up, only having to get up at 7 o’clock. The churches we stay at are all so nice and welcoming. Breakfast was yummy, of course, why would it be anything else? We were on the road by 8 this morning.

We had many hours of driving to do. Our first stop was Lloydminster where we picked up Chris. We were finally arriving at the prairies. We passed by a park where Bison lived and we even got to see some. Oddly enough we haven’t seen that many animals, other then like, squirrels and bunnies. Some of the others were hoping to see a moose!
We had another shower break today, but this time in North Brattleford. First off we had a nice wrap lunch in the hot sun of Saskatchewan, then to the super awesome pool. It had a wave pool, a hot tub, two slides and a big pool. Fanciest one yet! We had about an hour and a half there, maybe a bit more before heading for our final destination; Regina.
Though we had one more pit stop either in or near Saskatoon. There was a giant coffee pot and mug so of course we needed to get a picture with that, and have a nice snack of watermelon and chips. There was even cage with exotic birds in it.

The bus ride from then on was the same as always. People moving around, playing cards, sleeping, even the game mafia popped up today and a little group started playing that.
We arrived in Regina at around 7 pm at the Living Spirit Centre. They were super nice and got us some pizza for dinner and another salad which is always nice. Though here we are starting to notice the bugs more. Mosquitos. It was a bit of free time after diner before our closing circle and meditation time. During the free time we even went outside to play Chuck the Chicken with Chucky. Now the leaders are rushing us to bed because we need to get an early start tomorrow!
~ S

Today alone I was killed multiple ways, and was a murderer many times in our SIX hours of playing Mafia. As well as, was tackled in mad attempt to grab a single spoon, and ran around frantically after a rubber chicken. And even though it may not suggest it I did all that with a bunch of amazing people. All the games we’ve played have been super fun, in fact this is by far the funnest bus ride I have ever been on. I think this trip was secretly created for the soul reason of making all following bus trips a disappointment, because I can’t imagine a bus trip will be this enjoyable again.
~ Michelle