The best of 2 completely different worlds...

...skiing in Switzerland and community water and sanitation work in Yei area of Southern Sudan...

Well, they really are quite different worlds I guess, but it is the world we live in (or at least the one that I do!) and I LOVE it! It really is colourful and full of adventure.

So in late February, I went skiing for the first time ever (one of the things of my long list of adventure sports to do). I went with my friend Nancy and we went on an Oakhall holiday in the Lauterbrunnen area of Switzerland. Oakhall is a Christian holiday and for all those cynics out there, it really was an amazing holiday. I got to meet loads of great people, had loads of fun, tried something new and had great support from people especially when the skiing all got a bit scary for me. Plus the times in the evening to share and to let worshipping God be the most important thing was so refreshing. At the beginning of the week I found the whole "Christian" aspect really hard, but when I admitted to God that I had allowed the frustrations of the work that I do to let me get cynical and hard and that I hadn't been putting Him first and then realised that all of that had taken away something of the person that I know that I am deep down, I was able to let go and let God work on all of that hardness. It was very freeing. :)

The skiing itself was really good fun. I was scared and in fact I was scared a lot of the time, probably not best helped by a wave of adrenaline after lunch on my first day and me acting on that and going down my first ski run (even if it was only blue)! Having pretty much snowploughed all the way to the bottom, I was really knackered and on the last bit of the run I took off my skis and walked down...to the nice bar at the moment for a hot chocolate with lovely friends.

The second day was lovely and sunny and I built up my confidence practicing on the baby slopes...

The third day we went to a different location and we went on our first blue run. We learnt "shooshing" which it apparently a technical skiing term, but since our instructor was kiwi, who really knows! It was exhilirating...every time, especially on the corner with some ice on it, but we made it! :)

The fourth day we went skiing through Narnia to a cafe with the best apple fritters in the world. It was a nice long blue run (an extention of what we had done the previous day) and through the woods. The best thing though was that it was a train at the end to take us back up rather than a chair lift. (My nemesis - by the end of the week I think I had about a 50% success rate in getting off the chair lift - in fact, I fell so often that the girls in my class in the chair in front of me stopped to "take a photo of Claire as she falls off the chair lift")

The 5th day saw another change in venue and LOTS of snow. I couldn't see the ski slopes for most of the day and the view from the rotating cafe where James Bond 'Her Majesty's secret service' was filmed was just, well, white.

Coming down the blue run on the last day, I was saying to myself pretty much all the way down "pizza, chips, oh, poles! pizza, poles, chips" in my best kiwi accent trying to practice snowplough turn to parallel.

By the last day I had learnt enough to really start enjoying myself and not being quite so scared. I think I would have loved to had had a weekend off and then another week of ski lessons and possibly even see if I could get up to a red run.

And the last night we went curling! Great fun! also pretty much sustaining my biggest injury of the trip by falling hard on my knee on the ice thanks to a friend's broom position! Of course, it was all worth it 'cos we won! :)

I had a couple of days in the UK before skiing and one after and managed to see parents, grandparents and wander around the shops with a dumbfounded look on my face and the order, the development, the cleanliness and the fact that things were so nicely finished off...lovely.

Back to Southern Sudan and I have just come back to Juba from a lovely week in Yei visiting a partner project there. Yei is further south and is very green and reminds me of Indonesia and Ecuador in terms of plants and temperatures and things so I felt very at home. The team there were great. I was also staying in a lovely room with ensuite facilities and running water which is just such a treat. :)

We went and visited the rural communities that the project is working on and they were just so lovely. They really welcomed us and discussed with us and were keen to learn and they were working voluntarily in their communities to bring change and they even shared food with us. I was really touched and it helped me to realise again just how hard hearted I had been with the people here that I am working with or trying to help. It was great to get some space in Southern Sudan, but apart from my normal work to really reflect on that. One of the communities we visited was only about 10 minutes drive from the DRC border and had quite a different feel to it. We also got to go into a school and celebrate World Water Day and we played some games with the children and did a drama and a quiz and it was really fun to do that - I love being with children. Even all the training I was doing with the partner team went well. :)

So very different experiences perhaps, but both very enjoyable and adventurous in their own ways. And both really REAL.