(Written by Caleb Sandy on August 1)
We are wrapping up day 3 of English camp right now, and one thing that struck me during the day’s activities was how similar the students are to me and my friends. When we first got to the Czech Republic, I thought that somehow the people here would be very different than the people back home. And they are, but not at all in the way that I originally thought. Sure, they have some different foods (most of which I have really enjoyed), and maybe they have second dinner every night (10 out of 10 would recommend), but the things that we have in common are far more numerous than the things that separate us.
They have the same kind of humor as us (including dad jokes). We have eaten foods such as chili con carne, cocoa puffs(a type of cereal), and egg soup, which are all things that you can easily get in America. During English lessons I learned about several cognates we share with Czech such as graffiti, aquarium, and vagabond. During tonight’s main event (a silent disco), the YMCA song started playing (among many other American songs) and the whole room started singing and dancing along. I never imagined that we would share so much in common.
But our similarities go deeper than these things. Through some of the conversations that I have had with the students and leaders, I have come to realize that we share many of the same experiences in terms of growing in our relationships with Jesus. It has been really encouraging for me to be able to share some of the things that I have learned with the people here. I’m looking forward to seeing God continue to grow the student’s relationships with Him as well as our relationships with the students.
Fun Dancing