Two weekends

Disclaimer: No deep philosophical truths will be expounded or explored in this post. I just want to write about awesome stuff that I do on weekends.

This weekend is a long weekend. This doesn't really affect me, because I don't work Mondays anyway, but it did mean that I was able to go camping with a bunch of friends. I don't particularly like packing for camping, or cleaning up afterwards, but it was all worthwhile on a weekend like this. Six of us went, all mates from church, and part of the group that I refer to as the "old young people" - that is, those of us who feel a bit awkward going to youth group, because we finished high school a long time ago, but we still get invited because we're not married yet. (Is that an issue in other churches? Or do I just have a massive chip on my shoulder that I should get rid of?)

We went to an inlet about half an hour out of town. There was a lovely calm river for kayaking, a decent surf break, and plenty of fishing opportunities in both river and sea. And everybody had a fantastic time. My 'role' was food coordinator, because although I hate fulfiling stereotypes, I really enjoy cooking when I'm camping. Probably because I really like eating. We ate delicious sausages, fried potatoes, onions, lamb chops, salad, pancakes, fish that we'd caught, biscuits, lolly snakes (which I taught my friend how to tie in a knot in her mouth), bacon, eggs, fried tomatoes and mushrooms (although not all at the same time). We weren't allowed to have a camp fire, so instead of toasting the marshmallows, we ended up playing chubby bunnies, which I haven't done since primary school. One morning, I woke up a couple of hours before everyone else, and went for a long walk on the beach by myself and watched the sunrise. That was amazing, seeing a long stretch of beach with no other people within sight or earshot. The 4WD tracks on the beach and the windfarm in the distance were the only evidence that other people existed. I turned off my phone and didn't wind my watch, because half the fun of camping is having no idea what time it is, but eating when you're hungry, going to bed when you're tired and stopping fishing when it gets dark and cold.

Now please don't take this the wrong way, but one of the things I enjoyed best about this trip was spending time with the men who came with us. (I feel like I have to justify this statement by saying that I'm a single woman, I live with another woman, I work with mainly women, my students are mainly teenage girls and I need some testosterone in my life to balance this out!) At my church, it sometimes seems that there isn't much socialising between the sexes, which is a real shame because everybody is unique and special, and has something to offer, and we shouldn't immediately dismiss people simly by their gender. Plus,I don't think it's cool to walk into church and see a row of guys and a row of girls (and never the twain shall meet). So the moral of the story is that I enjoyed getting to know some of the men from my church a bit better (and there's nothing quite like convincing not one man but two to cook pancakes for me :P).

This weekend contrasted a lot with last weekend. I spent a little bit too much time on a couch at my friend's place, eating junk food and staring at a screen while all three Lord of the Rings extended editions played. That was great too, in a very different way. It was so much fun quoting our way through the movies (that I hadn't seen for a very long time, but still remembered really well).

So at the moment, now that I've had a post-camping shower (hello, my friendly hot water tap!) I'm just feeling incredibly satisfied, and grateful to God for his creation, for living in a town that has such beauty on its doorstep, and for wonderful friends that could share all this with me.