Hi everyone and welcome to week four! Can you believe it is already week 4???

한 주가 한 시간 같았던 일주일이었어요! 다들 우리의 4주 차 OTG 블로그를 재미있게 읽어주세요~!! Wir hoffen ihr vermisst uns nicht zu sehr!

(One week feels like one hour, please have fun reading our fourth blog! We hope you don’t miss us too much!)

This week started off a littler quieter than usual with a lot of thinking, praying and reading the Bible. We did a lot of self-reflecting and took time to listen to what God wanted to tell us. But then, we quickly started off on a new adventure in a different part of God’s creation: THE OCEAN!

On Wednesday we started our kayaking trip with Peter and Franko, our OTG guides for the next three days. It was a special time to all of us and we enjoyed it a lot!

We split up into teams of two and had a Swiss team represented by Rinatya and Salome, a German team represented by Emelie and Leonie and an international kayak with Andy and Katy. Then there was Peter in the single kayak, in case someone had to save us from danger at sea, and Franko in the third double kayak with….Oh, you might be wondering: Where is Yejin?

Well, immediately as Yejin sat down in the kayak she felt a suspicious feeling in her body. Her seasickness got so bad that Franko had to paddle all by himself to get them to shore.

While the rest of us continued our voyage toward our destination where we got to see a stingray and a bunch of seals, Franko and Yejin (in her flip flops!) walked to our campsite instead. It felt humbling and amazing to be in a small boat in the big ocean and experience a new sense of freedom. When we met up with them at camp we were all relieved to see Yejin feel a lot better than before!!!

During our daily team meeting, we discussed how the day’s experience brought us closer together as a team and what it means to support and encourage each other in tough times. We could also learn how to find solutions in an unexpected situation.

At our campsite, we got to meet a group of school kids from a Christian school on the North Island and got the chance to pray together. Afterward we spent time in conversation and laughed and sang together. It was a great opportunity for us to share more about us and our faith and to get to know new cultures and people.

Apart from the school group, Yejin, Andy, Leonie and Emelie met at least one other person from their home country, which was a surprise for Yejin and Andy but for the Germans not so much.

Day two of our trip was “like real vacation” - we spent the afternoon at the beach! Some of us learned how to swim, enjoyed the sun or played the frisbee. A few of us even dug a sand tunnel. In our Bible studies we got to hear some very inspiring testimonies from our leaders on how the Holy Spirit has comforted and counselled them in their life. Later in the afternoon, we prayed together as we focused on the theme of our Bible study.

It was a great day to enjoy the warm weather. The day was so good that nobody could think of an actual lowlight for that day. The ”worst” part of the day we could think of was getting up out of our tents at 7 o’clock. However, the late night at the beach watching the stars was totally worth it!

One of the greatest highlights of our trip was the paddle (or walk, if your name is Yejin) up to Cleopatras pool. It is a natural rock water slide with a lot of algae that makes it really easy to slide down. But do not underestimate the speed of the slide! A few of us suffered tiny bruises during the landing but it was a bunch of fun!!

We were in luck when we paddled out of the estuary as 15 minutes later the tide would not have been high enough to paddle out. The consequence would have been dragging out the kayaks back into the ocean. Meanwhile, Franko and Yejin walked the track in one hour. And they enjoyed talking and walking without a backpack and waited for the kayakers to arrive.

On the way home, the wind was at our backs and our technique and rhythm was perfected to the best of our abilities, which made the trip very enjoyable. Who knew kayaking was as much of a skill as it is a fun activity? ( By the way, Yejin, totally healthy, got back on her own luxurious water taxi :=) )

To remember our trip, we got weird sunburns e.g. Leonie in the shape of her watch and Katy in the shape of a square box. After kayaking, we stopped the van on our way home to get some real fruit ice cream, a treat that made all of us really happy!

To end the week, we had some holiday fun and decorated the OTG Christmas tree at Basecamp!