TI Life — The ups and the downs
This week’s blog post comes to us from the lovely Anna-Lena, one of the two German students on the course this year who has lived all over the world!
One year ago I had never paddled down a white water river, climbed up rock faces, skied or gone down mountains on a bike full speed. Though I am an outdoors enthusiast and like a good adrenaline rush I never thought of making it a career.
For years I wanted to become a teacher, but I thought a classroom would not be the right place for me and I mean, how many teachers are actually loved by their students, right? (I know there are many exceptions out there!) Now I get to become a fun teacher in the best classroom of the world; the outdoors. Now to many of you a year of outdoor activities sounds like a walk in a park, like an extended holiday, but I can assure you that as much fun this course is, it’s also really hard work: Imagine having to go outside no matter what the weather is like, in rain, wind, hail, snow you’ll be on the bike, in a canoe or kayak, or walking on a mountain for a whole day. Thankfully there is no wrong weather you just have to dress right but it does play with your mind and motivation (Scotland does have a way of looking absolutely stunning in rain).
And then there are also good days, when you’re on a lake with blue sky, only in a T-shirt while seals pop up only a few metres out to greet you. Or you’re out for a hill walk and the views take your breath away and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. Those days make me completely forget about the days I’ve been wet, cold and miserable I call it sunshine amnesia :)
So what’s the TI course about? It’s all about growth; you’re growing in your knowledge and every day you get to improve your skills in the activities, but you also grow personally; Living in a small community with people you’ve never met before brings out all sorts of new sides of you (sides you thought you never had, I for example have discovered how much of an extrovert I am and that I hate being alone, or sitting in a room in absolute silence), soon you will also discover some strange quirks of the other TI’s: Harry for example eats cereal only out of one bowl and you better not dare to take it, Jon puts milk in his tea before he adds hot water and Paul’s favourite challenge is to see how little water he can get away with drinking in a day (Just to name a few). And before you know it the people who once were strangers have become your family and you couldn’t imagine life without them.
One of my biggest personal challenges has been to continuously grow in my faith. Having worked for a large, charismatic Church before I came to Abernethy made it easy to live out what I believe as I had people around me who thought alike and challenged and supported me continuously. Moving into a rural area with a church congregation of 30 people is quite a change, but God has taught me so much about honour and obedience as well as rediscovering the beauty of a personal relationship with Jesus in the quiet place. We are now about to hit the half way mark of the course and I have no idea where the time has gone, but I am really excited for what’s to come; we will finish our time here in Switzerland, hopefully with our BASI 1 qualification in our pockets, then head back to Ardgour to continue training before we start our placements at the other centres. I can’t wait to finally try out what we have learned and introduce kids and adults to the amazing adventures you can have in the outdoors, and be part of their memories that will last for a life-time.
