The cure for anything and everything...

Ok, I admit it. I. got. sucked. in. to Pintrest!
I'm not one really to get into fads THAT much so this makes me feel so...trendy. haha - On "the in" you could say.
But in a community where you pay internet by the megabyte its not really a good addiction. I don't want to think about how much my internet bill will be now that I've got hooked. But I have to say that Pintrest is pretty much the cure all. ;)

Need some encouragement? Pintrest.

Feeling fat? Pintrest.

Need a smile? Pintrest.

Need a fun snack idea? Pintrest.

Need advice? Pintrest.

Need some new hairstyle ideas? Pintrest.

Need a laugh? Pintrest.

Bored? Pintrest.
Feeling disconnected from the "real world"? Pintrest.
Feeling blue? Pintrest.

You get the point my friends. And this is just the beginning... ;)
Happy Pintresting! :)

DIY craft/gift idea

A while ago I found this craft idea online somewhere and the idea was always in the back of my head. When my best friends 18th birthday rolled around last month, I decided it was the perfect gift. So I printed out some pictures, whipped out the glue, found some paper and went to work.
It took a little while to get it all together, but I'm pleased with how it turned out and...she loved it! :)

The idea:

Some of my favorite pages:

Lunch out!

Living on our missions center there isn't many chances to eat out. I don't know if you'd count the (suppose to be) weekly teen ran "Hamburger Night" diner thingy a restaurant and class dinners only come around 2 times a year. (and we're usually working those) Our only other chances are on vacations to the coast or going to Kainantu (town nearest us) for lunch...which we actually don't get to that often. So it's a special treat when we do get to eat out, and as a class!
Today we borrowed a hostel van and got our youth pastor to drive us into town.
After a bit of second hand shopping (which I got some really cute shorts that will be great for the summer in the states for $2) we headed up to the Hotel for lunch.
I got a giant steak and it was surprisingly delicious- not just a jaw workout.

There also at the Hotel a wedding reception going on. We sat inside and they were set up outside but we spied through the windows ;). It was very beautiful and fun to see. It's funny though how westernized it was. We've influenced them so much. The bride had a real white gown with a veil and everything! Even men decked out in tuxes and boutonnieres and a band!

The girls. (I love their slogan- 'Experience the Difference'...oh yes, there is definitely a difference! ;) )


All part of the last term bonding! :)

Do you think so?

Found this quote on Pintrest (guilty!) the other day. I'd love to hear your thoughts & opinions about it! :)

Easter Soccer Tournament

I told you I would lace up my cleats again- but did you ever expect it to be so soon?
During the long Easter weekend I got to play in a valley-wide soccer tournament with some of my friends and some ladies of this community. It was great.

We started playing bright and early Friday morning at Aiyura High School (5 min down the road outside our center). Their field would hardly pass as a field as there was patches of gravel on some parts, and other parts were covered in little "hills" or even mud holes that would consume you're entire foot! And just inches from the edge of the field was knee high kuni grass that disguised the steep hill on one side that always swallowed the ball. It made for quite the adventurous game but we ended up coming out on top.
Our afternoon game and all the Saturday games were played at our school, and we all agreed we'd never complain again about the shape of our field! :P
We ended up coming in 3rd, though we should have made it to the championship game.
Due to some faults in the organization and honestly of some teams, we were cheated our spot in the championship, but se-la-vi ("that's life). Our final game we played was one of the most intense I've seen. We were down 2 to a very strong team at half time and when we went back in our coach went in and scored two goals. We had many more shots on but wasn't quite able to pull it off. The second half was definitely a fight to the finish and I'm so proud of my team as I've never seen a team fight so hard out to the end.

I loved my team. Made up of women, some of my past soccer coaches, old team members, ladies from the community and some national ladies who are so sweet.
I hope we can find another time to play with them again. It was a great tournament.
(Our mens team also went on to win the mens tournament through a strong weekend.)

Fried Ice-Cream!

Ever heard of fried ice-cream? Seems like a crazy idea, right? Nope- I hadn't heard of it until I was introduced to it here at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, a Chinese one. I don't know why, because it doesn't seem like it would have originated in China at all and I can't for the life of me figure out how you'd eat it with chop-sticks! Well I've had it a couple times here in PNG and when they ran out before I had a chance to order one on the Senior Retreat, I made it my mission to make my own.
SO over the break my girlfriends & I mastered the recipe. It's surprisingly easy yet tastes so yummy and exotic.

All you do is scoop balls of ice-cream, and make them round (beware- your hands freeeze) and put them in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
Before you get them out you throw corn-flakes, coconut & cinnamon (email me for exact amounts if your curious) in a plastic bag and crush them all up- dump in bowl. Mix eggs and milk in another bowl.
Roll the ice-cream balls in egg then in crumbs then repeat.
Then you just freeze it for at least 3 hours, or over night.
Heat up oil and dump in for about 10-20 seconds.
Add homemade strawberry syrup and some chocolate sauce and enjoy.
It's easy to just keep the balls in the freezer and dump in hot oil whenever you want a quick snack. YUM.

The scoops to be frozen

After the batter mixture is on them. Back in the freezer.

Being fried in the hot oil. Homemade strawberry sauce on the back burner.

Decorated & ready to be devoured

Us girls enjoying the late night treat :)

And there you have it: "Fried ice-cream: A tropical vacation for you mouth."

Senior Retreat Part II: ummm...

So I realized I posted "Part 1" and then I wrote more then I expected and really don't have much to make a Part 2 out of. But we'll see what I can do...
I can tell you all the expected things, but what fun is that?
e.g.
We expected to go out to eat...and we did!
We expected to swim...and we did!
We expected to get tan burnt...and we did!
We expected to have fun, and guess what?!?!...we did!!

We spent a lot of time at Jais but also spent a day out at Rempi (a shack right next to the beautiful blue ocean w/ a big tree to jump out of) and at Malolo (a nice resort with an actual beach (just avoid the dead jelly fish on the floor of the ocean) and pool...AND delicious pizza, because the chef was surprisingly at work that day!)
One morning we went into town to shop, and I found a couple cute things.
And the last full day there we got a banana boat out to Pig Island. We had the whole island to ourselves (we think...) and just had fun swimming, exploring and relaxing on the beach. Kaela even found the world's most buoyant log that made for hours of fun. We could all stand on it with it under the water and our heads out of the water. And 7 of us could sit on it and try to paddle around. We liked spinning the log and dunking each other off it or just chilling on it. "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me!" claimed Kaela. ;)
We also played some pretty great games at Jais...including a made up photo scavenger hunt, lots of Apples to Apples and a couple games of sardines around a large section of the resort. It was just a great time of fun & relaxation. Here's a couple more pictures for you:

Eating out at The Ocean, a Chinese restaurant.

My class...(sorry it's not the best picture)

The beautiful PNG beach sunrise.

With some girls at Rempi.

Girls of 2012 before dinner.

That's us :) (means "class of 2012")