Teen Ranch

                        If Teen Ranch was a school, I bet all the students there would never want to leave. At Teen Ranch, they teach all the children about Christian living and following the footsteps of God. They also give us the opportunity to show our leadership and co-operation with our peers to become more responsible. Waking up at Teen Ranch is like starting a new year expecting to learn something new without the help of our fellow friends, the Internet. Even though this is very unlikely to happen, if I got a chance to stay longer at Teen Ranch, I would definitely take that chance.

    When your horseback ride, it didn't really matter if your horse was nice to you, as long as you can control and keep up with the line, you will enjoy the ride. When Agatha member of Teen Ranch, was teaching us about riding your horse, she taught us the basic routine on how to control your horse. She showed us how to move forward, turning left or right, and to stop. As we rode our horses like follow the leader, we got to enjoy the view of Teen Ranch from the mountains. Higher we went, the more we saw. After the ride was over, I got a chance to learn more about my horse Stiles, is related to his grandfather Secretariat. What I learned myself about Stiles is that he likes to lead him and go his own way. He doesn't really follow the other horses in the line. Stiles would move beside the line and go his own way. He is also very un-friendly to most of the horses, especially Daisy and Elvis. If Stiles hears them behind him, he would turn around so fast and get ready to charge at them. Stiles also don't like horses that go too slow. He would bite the horses butt so they would go faster. Although that my horse is easy to get mad, he was very kind to me as his rider and gave me a horse-back ride I would never forget.

    Sharing a cabin with people you don't know so much seems like a scary idea to do. But it helps your social skills to meet new people. When I bunked with some of my new friends, I didn't expect to leave Teen Ranch knowing more things about them. In cabin 4, I was in a group of 5, including myself, and 4 amazing people I learned new things about. Everyday, even if it wasn't in the cabin, I get to talk to these girls and be good friends with them. They are Ashley C., Ashley J., Danielle, and Christine. When you share a cabin with this amount of people as the days pass, our cabin became our home, sort of. All of our stuff would sometimes be found on the floor, in the washroom, on the bed racks, on each of our bed-bunks, and even of someone else's bed. It's a good thing my cabin buddies are organized so our cabin wasn't messy as it sounds. When it's time for clean up in the cabins, we would take a short amount of time, but we still did a good job. So when it's time to sleep, our cabin is ready for the next day. The first two nights were okay, but a few of us didn't get a lot of sleep. Some of us stayed up until 11:00pm and were knocking on the other cabin's walls. Some of us would wake up and take an hour to get back to sleep. On the last two nights were the best for me because it was easy for me to sleep because I got to use to sleeping on a bunk bed. All in all, bunking with friends is cool, but bunking with friends on a school trip for the whole week is completely better, no lie.

    The last night was fantastic even though the next day we would have to leave Teen Ranch, we did Predator Prey, which was exciting; our last dinner was so delicious, a movie, and a bonfire. Before we went to the bonfire, most of us were near the pond getting ready to leave their flashlights. We had to walk all the way from the entrance tot the dining hall, all the way inside to the middle of the forest. A few guys didn't know where they were going and hit a car, and all of a sudden you hear a car alarm go off. As we headed near the horse's barn, a few of us gave each other piggyback rides. I gave one to Sorena, and got one from Joshua P. and Tyler. When Tyler gave me a piggyback, we both fell and both of us got cuts. When we reached the forest, a few others and myself were walking in a group with flashlights so we wouldn't step on any horse poop. When we reached the Bonfire, the fire already started. Mr.Stamcoff and Mr.Samler were ready to give us hotdogs and marshmallows to cook ourselves. Sorena and I cooked marshmallows and they all got burned. After a few of us ate, we would sit together in groups and would just hangout and chill. For that hour at the Bonfire, I was mostly with Sorena, Marc, Tyler, Joshua P., and Katrina. When all of us were together, a few of us realized that we were surrounded by nature. We were under the stars, surrounded by trees, and close with friends in the dark. Only the fire and stars lit up the darkness, with a sense of warmth. I even forgot about Facebook.

    It has been several amounts of days after the week of Teen Ranch, and I can still remember the sound of the bell calling us to the Dining Hall. I can remember the birds chirping in the morning as you open the cabin door to see the beautiful sunrise from the tips of the trees, you would see from afar. Many of the students, including myself, still remember the fun times we have had. There were so many memories I can still remember and enjoyed there. Like, the great meals we would get everyday, and every time, we would enjoy the taste and smell as we eat with our friends. I had the great experience of getting to know more people better, and I am very grateful for that. I hope to see the view of Teen Ranch from the steep hills when we rode the horses there. It was so amazing to have more memorial memories I would treasure in my mind and remember them later on in my life. All in all, I am thankful to have the experience that is so priceless to learn more about God and gaining more special memories I will treasure forever.