Logging at the Ranch

Hey, there you are again! 😃

Here's a little update from the past week. There will only be a small blog post. 🙌🏻

Last Tuesday, we had our first Grading Day. On this day, we submitted our projects to our advisory families, and in the evening, we had another big dinner with the staff families. After that, we had time to share what we learned in the past month or what has become important to us. ☺️ Then, we discussed the new projects and usually played some games in the gym, like volleyball, Canadian Dodgeball, or whatever we felt like playing. :D

Last week, we also had some Amish people here who helped out with logging at the ranch. It was really exciting to see how they work with their horses. There were two Brabanters (Belgian cold bloods).

I also had the opportunity to talk to these people! Since Amish people speak a mixture of English and German (also known as Pennsylvania Dutch), I knew some of the terms. For example, they call a horse 'Gaul' or 'Pferdi'.

That's something I definitely wanted to do while I'm here before I fly back home next year: Talk to Amish people. Well, I can check that off now. 🙃

In case you're not sure what Amish people are, here's a description from the internet: Old Order Amish live a life deeply rooted in agriculture and are known for rejecting certain modern techniques and adopting new ones only after carefully considering the implications. They place great importance on a family with clearly defined gender roles, community, and seclusion from the outside world. Like other Anabaptist churches, the Amish exclusively practice confession baptism and, in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount, reject violence and swearing oaths.

The Amish are predominantly descended from Southwestern Germans or German-speaking Swiss and mostly speak Pennsylvania German among themselves, although smaller subgroups speak an Alsatian or Bernese German dialect instead.

Anyway, it's not something you see very often in the world anymore. It creates a completely different feeling. More like how things used to be in the past, not as mobile as it is today. 😄

On Saturday, we had the Harvest Party at the ranch. 🎃🍁 Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, but there were plenty of indoor activities. I already mentioned some of them in the last blog, so I'll show you some pictures. You could paint pumpkins, participate in the pie contest, pet animals in the barn, join the tractor pulling competition, or simply have fun eating donuts quickly. 🍩 Outside, there were trail rides and the climbing wall was open. Pony rides for the children were moved indoors. There were definitely plenty of games to play in the gym, like the can toss or other small activities. 🏌️‍♀️🤽‍♀️

Well, it's getting late, and once again I couldn't keep it short. 😂

I'm still enjoying the last few days at 19, and then I'll have another update next weekend. 😎

See ya! ✌️

________________________________

Hey, there you are again! 😃

Here's a little update from the past week. There will only be a small blog post. 🙌🏻

Last Tuesday, we had our first Grading Day. On this day, we submitted our projects to our advisory families, and in the evening, we had another big dinner with the staff families. After that, we had time to share what we learned in the past month or what has become important to us. ☺️ Then, we discussed the new projects and usually played some games in the gym, like volleyball, Canadian Dodgeball, or whatever we felt like playing. :D

Last week, we also had some Amish people here to help out the ranch with logging. It was really exciting to see how these people work with their horses. There were two Brabanters (Belgian cold bloods).

I also had the opportunity to talk to these people! Because Amish people speak a mixture of English and German (also known as Pennsylvania Dutch), I knew some of the terms. For example, they call a horse 'Gaul' or 'Pferdi'.

That's something I definitely wanted to do while I'm here before I fly back home next year: Talk to Amish people. Well, I can check that off now. 🙃

In case you're not sure what Amish people are, here's a description from the internet: Old Order Amish lead a life strongly rooted in agriculture and are known to reject certain modern techniques and adopt innovations only after careful consideration of the implications. The Amish place great emphasis on a family with clearly defined gender roles, community, and seclusion from the outside world. Like other Anabaptist churches, the Amish practice confessional baptism exclusively and, in keeping with the Sermon on the Mount, reject violence and the swearing of oaths.

The Amish are predominantly descended from southwestern Germans or German-speaking Swiss and speak mostly Pennsylvanian German among themselves, with smaller subgroups speaking an Alsatian or a Bernese German dialect instead.

Anyway, you don't see that kind of thing too often in the world anymore. This has created a completely different feeling. More like it was in the past and not as mobilized as it is today. 😄

On Saturday, we had the Harvest party at the ranch. 🎃🍁 Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great. But there were also a lot of activities inside. I already mentioned some of them in the last blog, so I'll show you a few pictures. You could paint pumpkins, participate in the pie contest, pet animals in the barn, participate in the tractor pulling contest, or just have fun eating donuts quickly. 🍩 Outside, there were trail rides and the climbing wall was open. Pony rides for the children were moved indoors. There were definitely plenty of game options in the gym, such as can throwing or other small activities. 🏌️‍♀️🤽‍♀️

Well, it's getting late, and once again I couldn't manage to keep it short. 😂

I'm still enjoying the last few days as a 19-year-old, and then there will be another update next weekend. 😎

See ya! ✌️