A little adventure...

All 6 of us who live and work for 24-7 Ibiza are going on a little adventure...

Tonight we fly to England and stay just one night in Essex with friends before heading to Belfast for a long weekend. We are running a 24-7 Ibiza day on the Saturday, hosting seminars and sharing stories of what we're doing and how we're doing it. Myself and Helen are running a 'Clubbing and Prayer' seminar, and i am well excited about that. I'll blog about how that goes.

I'm speaking at a youth event on Sunday night called 'Resonate'. I'm really looking forward to this, although slightly nervous as it's been a while since I've 'preached' to a large group. Gulp! I hope that what i have to say will really impact the young people that'll be attending. At least there'll be many familiar faces in the crowd. My friend Nick told me to use humour, and if that doesn't work i should whip out my extremely short shorts that i own. I'm seriously considering having them on underneath my trousers, like a back-up plan. Hopefully it won't come to that!

We'll then have time to check out a few sights before flying back to England and staying in the Thurrock region of Essex at a 24-7 Prayer Boiler Room community. Next Wednesday we have a fundraising meal where we'll be auctioning various items to help raise money for our work out here in Ibiza. It's all going to be loads of fun and I'm happy to be enjoying this adventure with Helen and The Heasleys. Dan, Ellis and I have already chosen our top trumps for the journey: Man Utd; Fast Cars and Lord of the Rings. The only one missing is Fighter Planes, but we'll have to make do without.

Michael French - Nightclub Chaplain

This is Michael French (on the left - for those who don't know) and me partying on 'Shipwrecked', the weekly boat-trip for Ibiza's finest wreck-heads!

Michael joined 24-7 Ibiza in July and was here for over 3 months. He was such an amazing person to have around and to be on a team with. His heart and passion for God, people and music really impacted me, and i miss him thoroughly. I had only met him on a few occasions back in the UK, and i was pleased to know that he would be working with us during the summer. And i wasn't dissapointed. I have never seen anyone dance with such passion and enjoyment, and quite often people would stop and stare and ask him what drugs he had just taken. It was great seeing their faces when he told them he hadn't touched a thing. He was the ultimate dance partner, so infectious, and i am secretly hoping that he comes out again next summer, even for a holiday. It was great to DJ with him a few times too. Whenever i hear Fake Blood's choon 'Mars', i always think of Michael. He went crazy to that song, and so did i!

But he goes onto exciting things back in the UK. He has just been appointed the new nightclub chaplian in Bournemouth, a post i know that he will really serve with all his might! Having lived in the Bournemouth area i know some of the places and people, and i hope to visit him there and see what he's up to. I wish him all the best!

Check him out at http://curlylocks25.blogspot.com

Tour of Ibiza 08

Well, without wanting to rub it in, well ok, i do want to a little, Freddy, Agneta and i hired scooters for the day and toured the whole of Ibiza. After thinking hard for several minutes about the safety of renting scooters, i'm glad we did, as all i can say is that it was magical - that's probably the best word to describe it. The scooters were only basic 50cc bangers, but they were fairly zippy! We spent 8 hours making our way around the whole Island. We began in San Antonio, turning North to Santa Ines. We then headed towards San Miguel, stopping only for lunch before popping down to Benirras to take in the views. From time to time i thought to myself, 'i've never been that way, let's go and see what there is'. So quite often we'd head down some country road and find some amazing views. All along the way there were winding country roads, lovely views of awesome cliffs and secluded villas here and there. Boy i wish i owned one of them beauties - villas i mean. One day...

From San Miguel we travelled to the very North-easterly point of Ibiza called Portinatx. We didn't really spend as much time there as i would have liked as it's very beauitful round there. From there we headed down to Cala San Vicent and had a spot of 'Fika', a lovely Swedish word for 'snack'. We then motored down to Santa Eularia, past Ibiza Town and on down to the Salt Flats of Salines. We visited a gorgeous beach that we found a few months ago called Es Cavallet, only to realise that it's actually a nudist beach. Quickly leaving there, we headed out past the airport and up to San Josep, before returning to San Antonio.

The fun part of all of this was being able to drink in all the breath-taking views of this gorgeous Island, and to do it with such good friends as Freddy and Agneta. Needless to say, Freddy and I really pushed the bikes, often finding no traffic on the country roads and some very straight ones at that! It was such good fun. Having Agneta there helped us from going too crazy as we'd always have to stop and wait for her. We sometimes had to go back to see if she was ok...haha!

I think i'd do it again next year too. There's lots more to see. Hopefully Freddy will send me some photos that he took of the 'sights' of Ibiza. I'll put some up here soon.

Trip to England and Northern Ireland

On Thursday, all 6 of us will be making a trip to England and Ireland for a small break. We decided that it would be a nice way to celebrate the end of the '08 summer season here in Ibiza. But what started out as a 'little-break' has turned into a monster - but i'm not complaining one bit. It's going to be an amazing chance to meet many of our supporters, who give regularly to our work here. I've only heard about all these lovely, kind and generous people from Brian and Tracy but have yet to meet them myself. When i sit in our centre on these lovely couches, playing the Wii, i'm thinking, 'someone gave all this to us'. It'll also be an opportunity for the 6 of us to hang out, do some shopping, go see James Bond - 'Quantum of Solace' and eat lovely meals.

We'll be doing quite a bit of fund-raising and promotion whilst back in the UK. This trip is a fantastic opportunity to share all that has happened during the summer, and all that God has been doing, not only in our livs but out on the streets. I'm preaching twice, which i'm both dreading but also relishing. I'm preparing all this week for my talks and hope that they'll be inspiring.

I'm really looking forward to visiting Northern Ireland. We've had several teams from there and it's there that i'll be preaching at this youth event called 'Resonate' on Sunday night. I'm very much looking forward to hooking up with many of the folks that came out here for a few weeks on mission. It'll be happy days. I am thinking that a weekend seeing loads of ex-24-7Ibiza mission people wouldn't be the same without a reunion...in a club!!! So i hope we get to go dancing! I won't be taking my short-shorts with me though...too cold!

Sushi

Last night i prepared some Sushi, which has to be up there amongst my favourite type of food. It's such a simple, fresh and pure taste, and so delicious. I cheated by using tinned Tuna (a sin i know), and i also made it with cooked Mackeral. I hope to learn more during the Winter months here and to get much better at preparing it.

Something i did do last night, which i have wanted to do for a long time, is prepare some fresh Mackeral to use as Sushi. What i did was fillet a very fresh Mackeral and then covered it all over in Sea salt. This i left overnight, and then in the morning i cleaned off the salt and then covered it in a rice vinegar marinade that had some sugar in it. I left this for 45 mins to marinade and the result is fantastic. Here are some pictures once done:

I then had to skin the fillets. Mackeral has such beautiful coloured skin. The skin looked very wierd after i had done it.

Now, the fish is ready to eat. Fresh, Mackeral Sashimi. Ummmm!

Visit to Atlantis

This is the view from high up in the watch tower. The sea looks beautiful, and throughout the whole summer i've wanted to go down there and explore. Many times i have seen people rock-jumping down there and i've so badly wanted to visit that mysterious place known as Atlantis.

It's a marvelous place. The rocks have been cut out in such a special way. It all looks like a huge ship has turned on its side. The rocks are at such an acute angle that it makes it possible to scale them very easily, as if they are a giant stairway.

This is my friend Freddy, making his way up the side of the cliff. It's pretty steep, yet don't be fooled - it's easier than you think.

This is Agneta, adventurously making her way across the face of this giant cliff. She seemed to have alot of courage, making light of such jagged cliffs.

It was great to finally get the chance to visit this place, and i will definately be back, with my smimming trunks to do a bit of cliff-jumping. And hopefully this time we will not have our car broken into whilst exploring.

Stop! Thief!

So mine and Helen's car got broken into whilst spending time with friends at Atlantis, which is near Es Vedre. As we parked up, we noticed a few Spanish Hippies hanging around - so it might have been them. When we got back to the car, the lock had been broken and my bag was nicked, and it contained my All Saints leather jacket! I can't tell you how gutted i was. And i was looking forward to a winter with lots of chances to wear it - quite sad really. I tell you, if i see it on someone - they're dead. It is the nicest leather ever - and was well expensive.

And Helen had her bag nicked with her phone, her purse, all her cards and drivers license and they tried to withdraw money within an hour of taking it. That makes me so angry as it is so wicked and not right.

But it was only a jacket - a possesion. I can live without it...just.

Oh My Life!

Yes, i can say that again....'Oh my life!'

Once again, a blog post that might send some of you to sleep - but i make no apologies for it!!!

Space closing Fiesta was simply awesome! 18 hour closing party with soo many amazing DJs playing, it was mind-boggling. Helen and i were amongst the first 10 in the queue, slightly Roy Keane, but you know, it was the closing! We got in about 12:30pm and we hung out inon the sunset terrace till about 4:30pm, seeing Steve Aoki and Jonathan Ulyseese. Steve Aoki had soo much energy and we began to really dance and go for it, maybe spending a little bit too much energy so early on. We then headed to the outdoor stage and saw a guy called Deadmau5 play his trademark lush and grooving melodic house. We then mooched back to the sunset terrace and saw Fedde le Grande who rocked it, and by then it was getting really busy. The outside car park probably held at least 3000 people...the atmosphere was electric and the weather unbelievable! We had a quick break before making sure we saw Steve Lawler outside and he was my fave DJ by far! He definately rules Space! And the show was unreal, some amazing costumes and themes...at one point the stage was overtaken by at least 10 characters from Star Wars. Then out came all these acrobats and the sight was incredible. David Guetta came on after Mr Lawler, but apart from his first choon - this amazing remix of 'Hey Boy Hey Girl' by The Chems, we weren't that bothered with him. We managed to catch the last half hour of Tom Novy on the sunset terrace and he made us all bend down and get low whilst the remix of 'Toca's Miracle' was being played. Once the breakdown finished we all jumped up - great moment! Once he finished we managed to battle through the crowds to make our way inside to the Terraza to see the one and only Groove Armada play. Never too sure about 2 producers who try to DJ - but they were really good. They of course rinsed 'Superstylin' - twice! During their set i was beginning to think 'I've heard this choon three times already today' - when you start thinking that, it must be time to go...and at that point (2:30am) i was beginning to flake out, and was getting thoroughly pissed off with the annoying Italians (before you ask how i knew they were Italian - they just were - ok?!) And yes, before you mention, i do need to get over my annoyance with people who can't dance - or rather with people who think that elbowing you several times is fine (Sorry - rant over). We chilled out a little and thought about our options...either head home or soldier on. Although i really wanted to see Danny Tenaglia play, i must admit it was me who suggested we call it a night. And DT wasn't on till 4:30am, and i couldn't find the strength to stay till then, so we called it a night - a really good one at that!

So it's with much sadness that Space closes until next summer. I hope it comes round quickly!

Space Closing

Yes, it's finally that time of year when all the clubs begin to finish and close their doors. As the summer sun begins to get cooler and the feeling of winter starts to hit in, not as many tourists make Ibiza their destination anymore. And so the clubs begin to close one by one, leaving the final party of them all: Space closing. Space is one of the best clubs on the Island, if not the world. When it opens at the beginning of June each year it really does mark the beginning of the season for the clubs. And the line up is to die for. It's like a mini-festival for 18 hours in one huge club. They open their massive car-park and it becomes an outdoor stage. The highlights are going to be seeing DJs like: Deadmau5, Steve Lawler, Danny Tenaglia...it's going to be difficult deciding where to be and when. There's too many stages to get round. But we've got plenty of time.

It's going to be a real celebration of the season that has just gone. I think nearly everyone is going tomorrow, from the local shop owner and his dog to hardened clubbers from around the world. For me, it's going to be special as i've never been to a Space closing before, but i did go to the opening this season. It'll be a moment to remember all he good times this summer and be thankful for all the people that i have met and have an absolute blast with 2 of my best friends here in Ibiza: my house-mate Helen and Micheal French who has been here for the past 3 months. They're both awesome people and it'll be great to be dancing with them. And we're likely to bump into loads of workers during the 18 hours, and i'm looking forward to being around them and having a laugh.

I will be getting up at about 10am in the morning, which is the earliest since i've got here. Not sure i'll do it...we'll see.

Home again!

So I'm home! It's great saying that. I love Ibiza as it's definately my home.

Sometimes though, it's good to get away, and I was really lucky to be able to get out to Switzerland for my Auntie's 60th birthday celebration. It was great to see my family from back in the UK and also to see my extended family. We had alot of fun in Lausanne where they live. It was interesting trying to communicate with 3 languages...namely French, Swiss-German and English. And to think that I'll be trying to learn Spanish!!!

My mum, my sisters and i all then traveled with a great family friend to a region in Switzerland known as 'The Bernese Oberland'. It's such a beautiful part of the country and the world even. We stayed in a chalet in a town called Grindelwald, which is great for winter sports. The views of the Alps were immense! I simply love looking out over a valley and then seeing mountains towering above you. We had the best Fondue I've ever eaten; scaled some mountains; looked around the capital Bern and played 'Yassa', a Swiss card-game. We were there for about 4 days in total before we had to leave. We all wanted to stay much longer and hope to go back there. I miss snowboarding and who knows, i might just have to pay that place a visit in the winter.

My family flew home on Friday and i had to wait till Saturday till i could get home, so i was able to visit my friend Ursina who lived and worked here in Ibiza in the summer for about 7 weeks. She showed me around the city of Thun, and i got to spend some time with her and her community, who a part of 24-7 Prayer, the international movement that we are part of. They have a great big place right in the heart of the city, and they live in 'community' too. I then went back to Lausanne and then onto Geneva to catch my flight home.

I like being home!!!