Day 23 The Power of WOW & My Bucket List

Today's lecture was about the Power of WOW and how "if it's not wow, its not worth doing"! We read an article about how to obtain WOW and discussed our own personal definitions of WOW. Wow can be obtained if you 1. care more than others think is wise, 2. risk more than others think is safe, 3. dream more than others think is practical, and 4. expect more than others think is possible. It was an emotion session again today as many people shared stories about family, friends, and teachers who they believe exude WOW. Then we watched a video clip from a Harvard Graduation speech given by Will Ferrell in 2003. It was hilarious and was an interesting example of WOW. The conference room where we have class is part of a huge resort down the street from our villas. The pool has an amazing view of the ocean so Garrett gave us an activity and told us to go sit and think about it outside. We were told to write our Bucket List with at least 50 things we want to do before we die. I plan to add to it and cross things off as I go....

My Bucket List

1. Fall in love and stay in love

2. Marry my best friend and stay married

3. Be a mommy (maybe adopt)

4. Work from home or be a stay at home mother

5. Go back to Japan and climb Mt. Fuji

6. Visit every state

7. Travel to every continent

8. Be an expert at something

9. Help a random stranger

10. Road trip with my best friends

11. Go sky diving

12. Design and build my own house

13. Drive a fast car

14. Have my own garden

15. Teach someone how to ride a bike and how to swim

16. Teach someone how to read

17. Cook Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner all by myself

18. Read the entire Bible

19. Work at Chick-fil-A Headquarters and meet Truett Cathy

20. Find a cause that I’m passionate about and volunteer my time and money

21. Learn how to surf

22. Develop and maintain a stronger bond between me and my brother

23. Savor every single bite of food I taste

24. Eat too much and care less about weight

25. Ride an elephant

26. Be in or attend as many weddings as possible

27. Be open and honest with my children about life and my mistakes

28. Go to more concerts

29. Take better care of my skin

30. Learn how to make my own wine

31. Lead a bible study, be a Sunday School teacher, be a faithful church member

32. Build my dream tree house

33. Read more books for pleasure

34. Learn how to change a tire

35. Decorate my house with fresh flowers

36. Attend an Alvin Ailey performance in NYC

37. See the Lion King and more musicals on Broadway

38. Go to as many UGA football games as I can & continue to support UGA athletics after graduation

39. Go Out West

40. See the Redwood Forest and hug a tree

41. Zip line in Costa Rica

42. Cliff Jumping

43. Get to know and explore Athens more

44. Ski in Colorado

45. Be a great grandmother and spoil all my grandchildren

46. Shark Cage-Dive in South Africa

47. See the sun rise or set in a hot air balloon

48. Raise my kids to be generous, polite, intelligent, open-minded, and cultured

49. Sleep on the beach

50. Capture as many moments as possible in photos that I can look back on and cherish one day

WOW! Thats a lot of living to do before I die! I better get started now!

Today Rachel went to the doctor because she has been sick for the past few days. I went with her so she wouldn't be alone. I took my computer to work on my Bucket List assignment. When we got there they gave her an IV because she was dehydrated. Like me, Rachel doesn't like needles so I put on some music from my iTunes to get her mind off everything. We laughed a lot and got hit on by Greek doctors. After 1000 mL of fluids full of electrolytes, I think she feels a little better. But I couldn't help but get a picture.

Today I got my BlackBerry back! I was impressed at how well I did without it. I mostly missed knowing the time and having BBM to get in touch with Beth Ann or Robbie. I promised Dustin that I would use it less and maybe even leave it in the room during the day. I'm glad he challenged me with this and I get a free piña colada because I won the bet!

Crete is beautiful! I haven't taken many pictures yet but I will! I can't believe the trip is half way over. It's been great and the best is yet to come! We have some awesome speakers coming in the next two weeks and already the curriculum is amazing!

xoxo,

Jenna

Day 22 The Power of Living & My Dash Project

Today was Day 1 of Education Week on the beautiful island of Crete. I was excited to refocus and get in the right mindset for the learning portion of our trip. Our lecture this morning was given by Garrett who spoke about the Power of Living. First we split into community groups to discuss what it really means to live. My group had so many great ideas and I enjoyed listening to each person’s opinion about what was important to them. Afterwards we read a powerful article about a man named James Shepherd whose horrible surfing accident and tough recovery inspired him to open The Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital in Atlanta. One of the takeaway points of the story was persistence even in difficult situations and it helped illustrate a theory that Garrett presented: it either takes an incident or a tragedy to truly live life; sometimes called tragic optimism which leads to reevaluating one’s life. Robbie gave us three things that he strives for in travel and life in general: be intentional, be aware, be grateful. After sharing personal stories about this topic, we watched the film Darius Goes West. Even though I have seen it multiple times it still makes me laugh and cry every time. After the movie, we walked to a local cemetery. It really was one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen. It was small and surrounded an adorable little church. I loved how it was set up. All the graves were above ground and made of white marble. Each one was different and most of them were decorated with flowers, pictures, and letters. Some had glass keepsake boxes with various personal things inside. This is where we ended the lecture with an activity call the Dash Project. Basically this was a way to examine our lives by writing about what we plan to do with “the Dash in the Middle” which represents our live from birth to death. Visually it is the – between the two dates on our tombstone. It was a powerful activity that really made us think hard about what matters most in life. Today was very emotional and I believe everyone was a little shaken by the reflection, atmosphere, and location within the cemetery. This kind of activity is very thought-provoking and deep, many people were in tears. But its good to stop and think about these things. I really enjoyed writing and reading mine out loud.

My Dash Project: No Dotted Lines

I hope and pray that the Dash in the Middle of my life is a long and healthy one. I expect a few spikes and dips along the way- life isn’t perfect. But I do want my dash to have purpose and meaning. I’m promised that I’m on this earth for a reason. I want everyday to be a journey and pursuit of that goal. I want to love despite the fact that I’ve had my heart broken before. I want to travel and learn about myself, I want to be somewhat independent but I also want to be taken care of and have someone to depend on. I want to look people in the eye. I want to be real and transparent and vulnerable. I want people to see a difference in my life because of my faith. I want to hold babies and cry at funerals, no because of a loss but because of joy and hope for the future. I want to be a good friend. I want to laugh until I cry. I want to find my passion and live and work it every day. I want to always be touched by a story and to never grow cold or hard-hearted. I want to fall in love and get married. I want to have a family and love and give like money isn’t an issue. I want to be happy and joyful with/in my career. I want to point people to Christ. I want to motivate others towards their goals. I want to do one thing every day that makes me smile. I want to look at everything I have and all that surrounds me and always be thankful. I want to be content but never settle. I want to say cheesy things and think profound thoughts. I want people to like me for me and if not, I never want to change myself for anyone. I want to eat too much. I want to learn how to cook. I want to maintain old friendships and nurture new ones I want to have deep conversation. I want to use the whole dash- no dotted lines. I want my life to be made up of moments and memories that I’ll never forget until the day that my Dash in the Middle comes to an end.

xoxo,

Jenna

Day 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21: Off Week

I hope I haven't completely lost my audience. I'm sorry that I haven't updated in over a week. Last week was a little crazy and all over the place! We had Off-Week so we were open to plan our own side trips. It was nice to get out of Glyfada for a few days. Part of the time I didn't have my computer and the other half we were traveling. So this will be a catch-all blog entry for last week. Enjoy and thanks for still reading!

Day 15: Monday was basically just packing and doing laundry by hand in our hotel room sink. There aren't really any places to do laundry at all in Glyfada and the hotel charges 1€ per item which is ridiculous. This was an interesting experience.

Day 16: Tuesday a group of about 16 girls & 1 (out of 2) guy traveled by bus and by ferry to the island of Andros. We woke up extremely early and took a taxi to the port. When we got to the island we got off the ferry and realized we didn't have everyone. We tried to stop the men from raising the platform but the boat took off with 3 of our girls still on it. It was going to Mykonos and wouldn't be back for hours. We stood there in disbelief. "Did that really just happen?" We were shocked but couldn't help but laugh!

The blue and white villa we stayed in was so adorable and had an amazing view of the bay and the charming little town of Batsi! We went out to explore and find the best places to eat and lay out. A few of us found this area of rocks that was sort of secluded. I really liked this spot more than the beach and it became my favorite place on the whole island. We laid out on the rocks and played in the water. It was so peaceful and the water was so clear and blue! That night we went to dinner as a group and watched the sunset behind us from our rooftop restaurant. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I had an amazing piece of swordfish which was a treat because (oddly) a menu with fish isn't common in Greece and is usually very expensive. Then of course, I had gelato for dessert! I think this was the day that I began to really fall in love with Greece!

Day 17: Wednesday we just laid out, played on the rocks, had PB&J for lunch, swam in the cold water, and then for dinner had pizza and one of the best caesar salads I have ever had! It was so nice just to relax, hang out with the girls, and reflect on Service Week!

Day 18: Thursday was our last day on Andros. We bought some goggles and snorkeled in the water around our rocks. We saw a few fish but the water was too cold to really dive down or go out any further. Then we ate lunch at the same place as last night's dinner. That salad was just too good so I had to have it one last time. We took a ferry back to Athens and this time we made sure we had everyone!

Day 19: Friday was the tour of Ancient Corinth and Bungee Jumping into the Corinth Canal! It was an emotional day. I tried to stay calm and keep my mind off my fear. I made a special "relax" playlist on my iPod and tried to sleep on the bus ride there. Despite the fact that we had a crazy tour guide lady, I really enjoyed Corinth. It was cool to see the agora where Paul walked thousands of years ago. We saw the place where he was accused of subversive teaching against the Mosaic law and brought to the Bema by the elders of the synagogue. It wasn't exactly the best planning to have the tour of the ruins before jumping because most people were so nervous that they couldn't really enjoy Ancient Corinth. To be honest I wasn't really that nervous. I expected my stomach to be in knots all morning and to be worried about the jump. When we got to the bridge, it wasn't a high as I had imagined. I was really excited while I was getting my gear on. We had to pay first and tell them if we wanted a video of our jump. Then we got out on the bridge- all 24 of us that were planning to jump. I have to admit I was a little teary when the first girl jumped. It looked fun but the falling part scared me. I don't ride roller coasters and free-fall is just not my thing. But I calmed myself down and tried to stay focused. The only problem was that I had to stand there for almost two hours watching everyone in front of me go.

When it was my turn, I started freaking out. My legs were shaking and I couldn't stop crying. I wanted to jump soooo badly! And not for anyone else, I wanted to jump for me. I knew that it would have been an adrenaline rush. But standing there with my toes hanging over the edge, I panicked! I could feel the weight bag tugging on my foot and I leaned back, fighting the pull. It wasn't the height, that part didn't really scare me. And I knew it was perfectly safe, so I wasn't worried about getting hurt. Everyone said the hardest part was the actual jumping off of the platform. I just couldn't make myself jump. I was so afraid of falling. I couldn't let go of the guy's arm. I didn't even make it to the count down (everyone yells your name and counts down from 5 before you jump). Everyone was so supportive and encouraging, saying "you can do it" and "you got this". I covered my face and just cried. The bungee staff realized I was too far gone. I was thinking too hard and there wasn't anything I could do to get my focus back. So I didn't jump. I wasn't embarrassed or upset that I couldn't get my 60 euro back. I was mad at myself for letting my fear control me. But I just couldn't do it. The bungee staff were so sweet and helpful. They weren't rude and didn't pressure me at all. It felt like I was standing there forever. They finally unhooked me and all I could do was cry. Robbie, who was standing near, was so supportive and gave each person a pep talk before. But I was the first person not to jump. I hugged him and soaked his t-shirt with my tears. I kept saying "I wanted to jump so bad. But I couldn't. I'm so mad at myself." I wasn't worried about disappointing anyone but myself. I was relieved that I didn't jump and I know I can live with the decision not to. I would like to say that if given the opportunity again I would try, but I'm not sure if I could. I hate that my fear has such power over me and I hope that one day I will overcome and crush it. It was still an amazing experience in which I learned a lot about myself. One of the lady bungee staff talked to me after and told me it was okay and that it was a good learning experience. I still had tons of fun watching 23 amazing Global LEADers jump off a crazy bridge into the Corinth Canal! It was totally worth it!

After bungee, we took a boat ride down the canal. It was cool looking up at the bridge and seeing it from a different perspective. The boat dropped us off for lunch in a little town. Then it was back to Glyfada.

Day 20: Saturday we spent the day relaxing and packing for Crete. On the way to dinner, Dustin (one of the other CGLs) challenged me to turn off my BlackBerry for 72 hours. I was a little hesitant but I knew it would be good for me. So I handed it over to him until Tuesday after class. I was excited to see what it would be like without my phone. We had ate with our community groups and discussed our feelings about the trip so far. It was great to get to know the girls in my group a little better. Then we checked out of our hotel in Glyfada and took our bus to a port in Athens. Our ferry ride to Crete was 8 hours long overnight. It was amazing to see all the Athens lights at night from the top deck of the boat.

Day 21: Sunday we arrived in Crete at 6:00am. On our bus ride to the hotel, we got to see our first sunrise on the island! It was gorgeous bright orange and red. The villas we are staying in are so adorable and we have an amazing view of the ocean from our balcony! But it was so early and we didn't really get much sleep so as soon as I got everything moved into our villa, I went right back to sleep. I woke up to eat breakfast and then went right back to sleep. For lunch, I split a margarita pizza from the hotel with Rachel. It was so delicious! One of my bucket list goals for the trip is to write in my journal every day from now on (because I've been slacking). The last time I wrote in my journal was Day 3 which is sad. But at least my blog has been almost like a journal. Tonight we had a group dinner on a rooftop of a restaurant. I sat with one of our professors Craig and his wife Abby. It was great to get to know them a little better since they have to leave in a few days. I'm excited to be in Crete and for a change of scenery. I'm also ready to get down to business and start class tomorrow. Only 3 weeks left and I want to make the most of every minute!

Day 14 Cape Sounion

Today my alarm went off at 6:00am. "Wake up & write my paper? Or sleep, miss out on the Cape Sounion day trip, and stay at the hotel to finish the paper?" I fought the urge to keep sleeping and decided I wasn't gonna procrastinate any longer. Then I feel back asleep. "No Jenna, wake up and just write the essay! You can't miss the Temple of Poseidon and the beach!" Finally around 8:00 after fighting with my alarm and myself for 2 hours, I sat up and opened my laptop. I had to remind myself this isn't just a cool vacation- this is school and all the fun also requires some homework. Tummy growled right around the time the roomies woke up so off to breakfast we went, paper still unfinished. Estimated time of departure was 10am and there was still the tasks of getting ready & packing a bag with swim suit, towel, camera, snacks. Time to go. Well good thing I have a BlackBerry with Word To Go and email access. Proud to say I finished my essay waiting at a bus stop before even leaving Glyfada. Only the editing process was left to complete on the ride there. Standing room only. Smelly men. Twisting roads. Scary cliffs. Car sickness. Beautiful views of the clear blue water hitting the continuous walls of rocks. And a finished paper! Yay!

The Temple of Poseidon was awesome! But I totally missed the story about Lord Byron's etch in the column. Glad other people got pics of that. Afraid of falling off the side of the mountain while taking pics. Was such a mother telling everybody to "be careful! don't get too close to the edge sweetie!" Amazing views. Got some awesome photos. Climbed down the mountain to the beach. Layed out. Forgot iPod and book. Got more freckles. Sunglasses tan line. Cheap 2€ Coca-Cola. Great view of the big rock island, boats, and gorgeous blue water. Thigh-deep in the cold water. Fish that scared Kelsey. Nice little nap. Hitch-hiking. "BUNS" graffiti. Waiting for a bus we wern't sure was actually coming. Sacrificing someone to flag down the Sunset-colored-rainbow-stripped bus. Sharing iPod headphones. Good music. More great views.

Back in Home Sweet Glyfada. Out of €. Oops! Everybody's hungry. New Deli aka "Waffle House" for an early dinner- toasted wheat turkey & cheese sandwich and another white chocolate & strawberry crepe (my 3rd one on the trip). Roomie Kesley tried a waffle w/ milk chocolate & strawberries. Stop at the ATM on the way back to the hotel for more €. Back at the hotel- another wedding! Hot & Cold shower (my new favorite). Then watched wedding activities from balcony- creeper. Resting and trying to find some movies to watch tonight! Going to bed early- so sleepy! Fun and tiring day at Cape Sounion!

Poseidon's Temple

gorgeous

beautiful

roomies

interesting choice of colors for a bus

sunset-rainbow

Day 13 Athens Adventure Alone

Don't worry! I didn't venture out all by myself into Athens, Greece. But 8 of us girls did travel from Glyfada to the city without the assistance of Robbie, Beth Ann, or a tour guide. Ok so RR and BA did help us out a little by telling us how to take the tram and making sure we had a map. But we did a great job getting there, finding the Hard Rock cafe, not getting lost in the Plaka, and making it back safely.

I planned to get all my shopping done today. I even had a list. But I only bought a few postcards and maybe two or three other gifts. I realized how much I dislike shopping. I mean I love to give people presents but I'm terrible at finding something that I think they would like or use. And I'm not so great at bargaining either. At the end of the day while we were waiting for the tram, I made a comment about my awful shopping skills- this is great news for my future husband! I hate to shop, I'm bad at it, just buy me food & dessert and I'm a happy wife.

Today was a fun adventure! I'm glad we didn't get ourselves lost. And most everyone was successful in shopping. I really enjoyed exploring Athens and walking around the Plaka one last time. It was a long and tiring day- you could tell on the way back to Glyfada because everyone was very quiet and some people actually slept on the bumpy tram ride.

When we got back to Glyfada, me and the roomies watched How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (we borrowed a DVD from Meredith)! We also attempted to hand-wash some of our dirty clothes in the sink. It was an interesting experience...

I love Athens and Glyfada but I'm so excited for Off-Week and our trip to Andros!

Thanks for reading yall!

xoxo,

Jenna

Here are some pictures from today:


Jordan, Rachel, Katie, Amrutha

Kaitlin, Hannah, Meredith, & Me

the only bottle of Heinz Ketchup in Greece

chicken fingers & french fries

painting of Hadrian's Gate

graffiti

My "Life in 3 Words" for LEAD Greece blog

Day 12 Painting and Pizza Party

This morning (Friday) I woke up early, excited for today's Service project! We would be painting the apartments that Praksis provides for refugees and their families. I was just ready to do something really hands-on. When we finally made it to the houses after stopping for paint, I was glad to get to work. I was so excited to learn the other two groups were working at Peter’s house and our two groups would be painting at Samira’s apartment. I asked Maria (one of the Praksis workers) how to say "you are beautiful" in Greek. I probably murdered the pronunciation and I have no idea how much Greek she actually knows, but I wanted so badly to tell Samira how special she is. She looked up at me and just smiled. I hope she understood.

Her family's apartment was bigger than I expected with a living room, one bedroom, one bathroom, and good size kitchen. But it wasn't in the best shape- there was mold on some of the walls and other things that we couldn't fix. This made our job difficult because we aren't professionals, just volunteers who were eager to help. But we did what we could. I was in the bedroom. First we had to strip the walls of the old paint. Oh did I mention our limited tool selection? We had almost nothing to work with but our hand. Thankfully the man of the house found a scraper that we used to chip and peel the paint off. But that was only 1 tool to go around a room of about 8 workers. So I just used my finger nails. Then I realized I could use the other paint chips to push up underneath the paint on the walls to lift it up so I could peel it off. We got through this step pretty quickly by passing around the tool for the hard-to-reach places. Then we started to mix the paint. This was definitely a trial-and-error process until we found the best consistency. I started at the bottom and just worked my way around one and a half walls. People have commented several times at the lack of height on this trip- we are pretty much all short. And the wall were pretty high. So we improvised since we didn't have ladders and put people on top of other people's shoulders. It was actually fun since I got to be one of the ones painting from up on Kaitlin's shoulders! But the painting itself was actually very difficult. Some of the old paint wasn't completely off. So every now and then, old paint would come off onto the paintbrush while putting new paint on the walls. It was frustrating but not as bad as the situation in the kitchen where mold was all over one wall, ceiling paint was chipping and falling, new paint was peeling and falling off the walls. It was a disaster. The other two groups were at an apartment down the street. They finished a couple hours before us. One of our problems was too little and too tight a space as well as too many people. All the furniture was in the middle of the room, so we had to maneuver around each other and all the stuff in the room. I tried to stay positive but everyone's attitude slowly turned to frustrated and helpless. We felt like we had just made everything worse. I'm sure the family was just happy to have a fresh coat of paint but it looked awful in our eyes. Everyone was just defeated. Everyone was covered in paint and dust. We tried our best to get to a stopping point so we could clean up our mess. The other group had been waiting a long while for us to finish. By the time we were done, everyone was exhausted and upset with ourselves. The pizza party wasn't much of a party. The other group had gone ahead and eaten because they didn't want the pizza to get cold. So when we got there, our group just ate in silence, reflected on our work at the apartment.

I did my best not to complain or feel defeated. I know the family was thankful for our help. We just wished there was more we could do. The best part of the day though was seeing little Samira one last time as we were leaving. She was on the first floor balcony of another apartment. So I reached up and grabbed her little hand. I was sad knowing that this time was actually the last time I would get to see her because it was our last day working with Praksis. But surprisingly I didn't cry. I just smiled and said goodbye. While walking away, I kept turning around waving and blowing her kisses. All of the frustration with painting didn't even matter to me any more. I tried to remember what Maria had taught me to say. But all I could do was smile. I think, at least I hope, that was enough.

Although it was a long, hard day it was a good conclusion to Service Week. It is so important to reflect on everything we have learned and experienced this week from lectures, discussions, and field work. I haven't been keeping up with my journal like I wanted to, but my blog is helping me remember everything. We have our first journal essay due on Sunday. This will be a great way to gather all my thoughts and feelings.

Me & Kaitlin make a good team

Earlier this week during the our Power of Giving lecture, we made our Bucket List. One of the things I listed was "jump". At that time I didn't know what this applied to because I had already put myself down as a NO for bungee jumping. But I guessed it would maybe apply to other things like cliff jumping or even a metaphor for something else. Today on the ride to Athens, Robbie went around the bus with the final list for the Corinth Canal bungee jump. Twice he passed me and I gave him my same answer- NO! Every time the subject came up in conversation I would get a sick feeling in my stomach and I would start sweating. I watched a YouTube video on my phone- bad idea. Almost everyone else was signed up and excited and nervous to go. I thought to myself, "I can totally live with myself knowing I didn't do it. I don't even like roller coasters. Free falling scares me. I will be fun to just watch." Robbie came by me one last time. Kaitlin could see the internal struggle and uncertainty in my face. She yelled "Jenna wants to jump! Sign her up!" Robbie looked at me and told me this was my last chance to put my name down. I couldn't believe it, but I said okay. A few people around me clapped and cheered. I felt sick to my stomach. Tears were welling up in my eyes. "What have I gotten myself into?" On Friday May 28th, 2010 I will be throwing myself off a bridge 260 feet tall into a canal! Talk about stepping outside (or off) of my comfort zone. Ahhhh!

AHHHHHHHHH!