It’s been quite the week! Since returning from Snowdonia, I am well on my way to becoming a certified archery leader – along with 11 others from the team. We have learned about safety, shooting, safety, teaching, safety, how to make an arrow, and more safety… you get the idea J
Here is a picture of Sara K. from Sweden and me holding our recurve bows! We take our 4 hour assessment tomorrow – wish us luck!
Monday we went through an intense child protection session, where we learned a lot about what child abuse is and how to deal with it if a young person approaches us with a situation. The rules on child abuse are much stricter here than in the states – I would guess due to the US’s emphasis on freedom. For instance, the most physical harm a child can legally experience is something that leaves a small, temporary red mark. I know that the laws vary across the US, but England has definitely become quite strict, especially in the last few years.
The day became more enjoyable, though, when a number of us headed off to the TFG conference in London! Time for God (TFG) is the UK volunteer organization that the ELCA works with to find placements for the UK volunteers. There have been 3 or 4 conferences during September – ours was 27 volunteers from around the world. It was really nice to be in a group of all international people and have a chance to discuss the issues specific to the international perspective. We talked about ways to budget on a volunteer stipend, some travel tips, and culture shock – what it is and how to deal with it. It was very refreshing to talk to someone who really had a good understanding of what culture shock is and how it can affect people. I have been experiencing some homesickness, some tiredness, and some generally weird emotions. After chatting with my field officer, it became quite apparent that culture shock has hit early for me (usually it comes somewhere 3 or 4 months into the volunteer year). We chatted about it, and I am feeling much better – though prayers would be lovely.
We also got a chance to head into central London! I finally got a chance to see some proper sights! Not only that, I figured out how to navigate the bus system (sort of) and the tube – which was surprisingly easy! We took a leisurely walk around and saw Big Ben, The houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, and Buckingham Palace.
Here is a picture of Sara K. from Sweden and me holding our recurve bows! We take our 4 hour assessment tomorrow – wish us luck!
Monday we went through an intense child protection session, where we learned a lot about what child abuse is and how to deal with it if a young person approaches us with a situation. The rules on child abuse are much stricter here than in the states – I would guess due to the US’s emphasis on freedom. For instance, the most physical harm a child can legally experience is something that leaves a small, temporary red mark. I know that the laws vary across the US, but England has definitely become quite strict, especially in the last few years.
The day became more enjoyable, though, when a number of us headed off to the TFG conference in London! Time for God (TFG) is the UK volunteer organization that the ELCA works with to find placements for the UK volunteers. There have been 3 or 4 conferences during September – ours was 27 volunteers from around the world. It was really nice to be in a group of all international people and have a chance to discuss the issues specific to the international perspective. We talked about ways to budget on a volunteer stipend, some travel tips, and culture shock – what it is and how to deal with it. It was very refreshing to talk to someone who really had a good understanding of what culture shock is and how it can affect people. I have been experiencing some homesickness, some tiredness, and some generally weird emotions. After chatting with my field officer, it became quite apparent that culture shock has hit early for me (usually it comes somewhere 3 or 4 months into the volunteer year). We chatted about it, and I am feeling much better – though prayers would be lovely.
We also got a chance to head into central London! I finally got a chance to see some proper sights! Not only that, I figured out how to navigate the bus system (sort of) and the tube – which was surprisingly easy! We took a leisurely walk around and saw Big Ben, The houses of parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, and Buckingham Palace.
Here is a picture of me outside of Westminster Abbey. (I plan to go to church here soon!) An interesting note about Westminster Abbey – there was a chapel to the side of the Abbey that was open for free viewing. It had lots of graves and memorials – including one of a woman who had been married to an ‘Edward Sutton’! Maybe Cousin Ann can trace back the genealogy :)
The other highlight of the conference was the TFG West End! We were split into 3 groups and assigned a performance genre. There was a drama group, a dance group, and the song group, which was the group I was in. We were given a CD of ABBA’s greatest hits and sent off on our own. Well, we had some ambitious people in our group and ended up writing a whole script to tie our 5 favorite songs together. Myself, Sara J. from Sweden, and Judith from Germany were the 3 singers – The International Song Birds was our title I believe. I’m quite sure Sara has experience in performing ABBA songs – she knew the songs, the classic ABBA moves, and exactly how to make quick ABBA costumes! Here’s a picture to show you what I mean…
In other news – I have taught the Hippo song to my fellow volunteers, and it is the new favorite, and when I introduced the game ‘Boppity Bop Bop Bop’ and we played for probably half an hour! I find that the silly times have been my favorite. The loft team had a talent show/show and tell event the other night, and I absolutely loved learning the silly songs and games, watching a magic show, and participating in some Swedish and Hungarian folk dancing. What a night!
My other couple favorite moments of the week both occurred yesterday during my day off. I went in to St. Albans by myself, ran a few errands, and then needed somewhere to sit and eat my sandwich. This is the precise moment that I saw an arrow pointing towards ‘Cathedral’. I strolled through the little shopping areas and out a brick path to this beautiful Cathedral that was built from Roman ruins! Then it got better – as I rounded the corner of the building, I found a large grassy park with a few benches and trees. The sun was shining and I ended up sitting, eating my sandwich and reading my book for a couple hours. It was so peaceful watching people walk by and hearing the bells ring every 15 minutes.
Later that day during community time, we worshiped outside around the large cross in the middle of a field. The sun was still shining, and I felt so refreshed and fulfilled. I hadn’t realized how much I missed outdoor worship! It was a wonderful day!
Oh! And I have my first retreat on Monday! I am paired up with a veteran retreat leader, Luke, who is just full of energy and a great guy overall. I am so excited to work with him and learn from his experience. The two pieces I am actually leading with people are an evening prayer and football! It will be a blast – but definitely a challenge, so prayers for that would be wonderful!
Well, I’m going to sign off for now – that’s a lot for one post! I have really enjoyed hearing from all of you – thank you for your emails and thoughts and prayers. Much love to you all!
In other news – I have taught the Hippo song to my fellow volunteers, and it is the new favorite, and when I introduced the game ‘Boppity Bop Bop Bop’ and we played for probably half an hour! I find that the silly times have been my favorite. The loft team had a talent show/show and tell event the other night, and I absolutely loved learning the silly songs and games, watching a magic show, and participating in some Swedish and Hungarian folk dancing. What a night!
My other couple favorite moments of the week both occurred yesterday during my day off. I went in to St. Albans by myself, ran a few errands, and then needed somewhere to sit and eat my sandwich. This is the precise moment that I saw an arrow pointing towards ‘Cathedral’. I strolled through the little shopping areas and out a brick path to this beautiful Cathedral that was built from Roman ruins! Then it got better – as I rounded the corner of the building, I found a large grassy park with a few benches and trees. The sun was shining and I ended up sitting, eating my sandwich and reading my book for a couple hours. It was so peaceful watching people walk by and hearing the bells ring every 15 minutes.
Later that day during community time, we worshiped outside around the large cross in the middle of a field. The sun was still shining, and I felt so refreshed and fulfilled. I hadn’t realized how much I missed outdoor worship! It was a wonderful day!
Oh! And I have my first retreat on Monday! I am paired up with a veteran retreat leader, Luke, who is just full of energy and a great guy overall. I am so excited to work with him and learn from his experience. The two pieces I am actually leading with people are an evening prayer and football! It will be a blast – but definitely a challenge, so prayers for that would be wonderful!
Well, I’m going to sign off for now – that’s a lot for one post! I have really enjoyed hearing from all of you – thank you for your emails and thoughts and prayers. Much love to you all!
And as usual - pictures for your enjoyment!
More Pictures of TFG and London, Click Here
More Pictures of TFG West End, Click Here
1 comment:
My Little Allison! My My you have been busy!! I am so thankful to be invited into your journey! I am so excited that you are doing something so grand! I'll send you a link to our blog so you can see how big the kids have gotten!
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