so this past weekend was the national student leadership forum at the hyatt hotel (hence the police academy reference in the title of this post) in the aussie capital of canberra. for those of you who dont know i went to this forum when i 1st got to australia in august 2k6 and worked as an intern for the forum in 2k7. this year i got to return as an assistant facilitator.
the premise of the forum is to bring people together from various backgrounds, throw them together into small groups and start talking to each other in a open, honest, and trusting way and see where that leads. if you know me you know that this would be right up my alley.
i love it because these groups all start out as strangers. the talk focuses initially on self and then begins to slowly, through the telling of personal stories (fears, goals, faith, family ...), start shifting to focusing on each other, and then eventually on the group 'community'. its amazing! each individual sits there and says we are so lucky that our group works so well together or what are the chances that we would end up being so close ... when in reality those results are a given when you set a safe, trusting, inviting, loving,and warm framework for others to step outside of themselves and feel comfortable in who they are which in turn empowers the individuals to love outside of themselves. fucking love it!
other notes:
one more paper this week and then its 10 days of break - ill be reading tolstoy and sitting on lots of beaches
aunt sammy and uncle ed are in town and its so nice to have loved ones enter into my life over here
redskins are 2-1 and i love waking up at 4am to listen to games.
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