6/27 - Party Time

What I did:

I didn’t know what time graduation stuff started today for Cliff, but I woke up just in time for some breakfast and found out that the service would start at 10:30. So I went and got last things packed up and got ready.

I knew I would be leaving with Matt at around 12, and didn’t really know what all the graduation ceremony entailed, but I wanted to support my new friends (plus I didn’t really have anything else to do). It started with some worship and we sang some songs and prayed. The students had an opportunity to share some testimonies and then right as a lady was about to begin a sermon type of thing, me and Matt had to go.

So I went back into Sheffield and arrived at Matt’s house where they were preparing for their street party. I helped out a little, then went with Matt to pick up some sound equipment. We arrived to find a lot more stuff than we expected and Matt displayed his superior Tetris/puzzle solving skills by trying to fit as much of it as he could in his small car. It took two trips, but soon we had everything over to the street and got some music going. There was one resident of the street who was a real DJ, and had some good music going on for most of the time (plus it is always really cool to watch that stuff in action). There was also a really good duo (guitar and keys) that came to perform for us.

Other than that, there was a lot of food (an overflowing cooler of meat) and a lot of friendly neighbors. We sat around for a long time talking and hanging out, listening to the music. After a while, one guy who is some sort of fitness instructor, organized some silly group games for us. It worked out nicely because everyone could participate. There were a lot of young adults and families, so there were also a lot of young kids. There was a whole section for the kids and their games, but we got to join in with stuff like three-legged race, a game of French cricket, and a game of real street cricket (which involved a trashcan as the wickets and one batsman).

All that was a lot of fun and people stayed out from about 2-10 by the time we finished cleaning up. I got to meet a lot of great people and got to eat a lot of tasty hamburgers. I could tell a good amount of work had to go into preparing it, but it is definitely something I will tuck back into my mind for a possible future event if I ever live in a neighborhood where something like that is possible (which should be any, I guess).

What I learned:

In one sense only staying in one place for a max of a week makes it easier to leave and move on (no really deep relationships), but I definitely don’t like it and would trade this moving around for staying in one place for eight weeks any day.

I should go into politics (according to one guy at the party). Haha.

Jumping Jacks have a somewhat similar equivalent here called star jumps. I have never heard that term before, so either it is something new or a UK thing. Either way, I find the new term (especially compared to jumping jacks) excellent.