27 October 2008
I’d like to start off by telling you a funny story: This past Saturday night I was getting ready to walk some kids home from Youth Club. As the kids and I were exiting the church building, the kids started screaming. I looked up and two men with long white robe-like garments and red turbans were walking by the building. Evidently, a Hindu church down the road had let out from their evening worship. I calmed the kids down, assured them that these men wouldn’t hurt them, and encouraged them to walk across the street to go home. Walking across the street, Brady (probably about 7 years old) turns to me and says “Those were Methodists.” Hehehe. Is that story just funny to me?
Speaking of different denominations – I know some of you are wondering about the Catholic and Protestant issues here. I guess all I have so say about that is that while “The Troubles” are over, sectarian divides are still a major part of people’s daily lives. Whether you are a Catholic or a Protestant can really dictate a lot about your life – where you live, what school you go to, what stores or pubs you’ll go to, who your friends are, who you marry, how you are taught to say the letter “h,” what football team you support, and (obviously) where you go to church. Just an illustration of this: A woman from the Trust that I work with in the afterschools just bought a new house. She was telling people about where it was located - a street where Catholics generally live on one end and Protestants generally live on the other. Her house is more on the Protestant side, and she is Catholic; but when looking at the house, the real estate agent assured her that there are other Catholics living in that area, and they have not had a problem. So, while the major conflict may be over, looming ever so closely is this issue between Christian denominations (although, I have heard a few Protestant people say that they don’t necessarily think Catholics are Christian…but I’m just going to let that sit where it is).
In reality, these two groups are at odds not because of religious differences. The tensions lie in one major political issue for Northern Ireland: whether Northern Ireland should be part of the United Kingdom (Protestants) or whether it should be part of the Republic of Ireland (Catholics). This divide goes back hundreds of years and the reason for the divide this was is complex – but to way over simplify it: when the United Kingdom started talking about letting Ireland be on it’s own, Protestants got nervous because they did not want to live in a Catholic dominated society, and so they imported guns from Germany and basically said to England “no, we’re staying whether you like it or not.” Catholics, on the other hand, wanted all of Ireland to be its own entity and got pretty frustrated when this did not come to fruition. Northern Ireland was a compromise between the two sides - the 6 counties in Ireland ,where Protestants were in the majority, stayed part of the United Kingdom and the other counties became part of what is now known as the Republic of Ireland. This compromise did not end the fighting though, and thus began the violence in Northern Ireland, especially Belfast. I’ll probably write more about this later, but there’s just an overview.
In other news, I played the piano in church on Sunday. It went very well – but I am glad I do not have to do that every week! Although it may be better than putting together the PowerPoint every Sunday… Anyway, Kevin and I went over to the Stewarts’ on Sunday night before youth group (called ‘The Point” for future reference). They have four kids around the same ages as my brothers and me, and remind me of my family a lot. It was nice to be part of a family meal – I mean, Kevin and I are family, but it’s different to have Mom, Dad, Granny, kids, etc. around a table talking and joking. Not to mention, the food was great!
This week is going to be pretty slow. Most schools take a mid-term break around Halloween, so most of my activities are canceled for this week. I’m using my free time to try and catch up on things and plan some of the bigger events for The Point. Friday and Saturday, we’re planning on going to Dublin. I’m pretty siked! We’ll be sure to post pictures. My goal is not to get lost in Dublin, I’ll let you know if I succeed.
19 October 2008
I’d like to open with a request: would someone be willing to send over a couple of boxes of Lucky Charms, Zebra cakes, and some twizzlers? Funny story: despite the fact that the mascot for Lucky Charms is a little Irish Leprechaun, they do not sell the cereal here. It’s a shame too, because my friends here in Northern Ireland LOVE them! Also, I have been craving Zebra cakes for some reason. Strange since I hardly ever eat Zebra cakes, but now that I can’t have them, I want them. Go figure! The Twizzlers is for a woman in the church who is pregnant and likes them – gotta keep the mommas happy ☺
Anyway, this week was really good. It’s hard to explain why – but relationships are growing and progress is being made, and it’s good. I wish I remembered to reflect on my life here more often, but when I do step back and look, it’s obvious that someone, much bigger than me, has a hand in what is going on here in Belfast. Sorry that’s so vague – like I said, I need to step back and reflect more so I can put what I’m seeing into words.
One really cool thing that happened this week was that I discovered the agency over here that provides Early Intervention services over here. The agency is called Sure Start. They’re a program sponsored by the government and they get kids hooked up with speech therapists, etc. I think they do some child protection-type work too. I’ll find out more about that when I go to the office in November. Right now, I’m volunteering with two of their parent-toddler groups – one that meets at the Trust and the other meets at the Macrory Halls. I’m excited about the prospect of maybe expanding my work with them so I can learn more about how their system works. It also feels really good to actually have a knowledge base about something.
Did I ever explain why the church we work at is called Fortwilliam and Macrory Presbyterain Church? If not, here’s the story (since this post is kind of random anyway): There were at one time two churches – Fortwilliam Park and Macrory. As we often see in city churches in the U.S., people start moving out of the city and start going to churches that are easier to get to from more rural areas. So, city churches’ congregations shrink. This is what happened at both the Fortwilliwm Park and Macrory, so they decided to combine the two congregations. This occurred a few years ago. The amalgamated congregation now meets in the Fortwilliam Park church building. They sold the Macrory church building, but kept the adjacent halls to use for both congregational and community use. The two church campuses are about a 15-20 minute walk from each other (so, maybe a mile apart?).
11 October 2008
I’ve decided to format this blog as a FAQs page. Here are some of the questions I get pretty often from people here, and I never feel like I am able to give a very thoughtful answer (primarily because I haven’t actually had the chance to think them through!). So here they are, with the answers I’d actually like to give:
Why are you here?
I guess the most basic answer to the question is that I am here because I believe this is the place where God wants me for this time. Of course, that meant applying to the YAV program, looking at the skills I have and the how they could be used at the different YAV sites, discussing these things with a bunch of different people, agreeing to go to Northern Ireland, raising support, going through the packing up and moving process, saying good-bye to family and friends, committing myself to live a simple life, and so on. So, there are really a couple other answers to that question: 1) Through a process of discernment with the YAV staff, I discovered that my interests and skills were best matched with the Northern Ireland site and 2) people at home were willing to pray for me (well, Kevin and I) and donate money towards the trip, without whom we would not be able to be here.
Sometimes a person asking this question is not asking why I am in Belfast, but rather why I am in a particular program. For example, why am I helping out in a parents and toddlers’ group when I am neither a parent or a toddler? Good question. I usually just say “because the leaders thought it would be good to have an extra set of hands,” which is true to an extent. But, I think most of the time my role in certain groups is just to build relationships, provide another space where people can vent if they want to, give an outsider prospective on a program, etc. That’s really hard to remember even for me. I often wonder why I am working with a certain program, especially when it doesn’t seem like they really need that “extra set of hands.”
What surprises you most about Northern Ireland?
I’m not really sure – I didn’t come with a whole lot of ideas about how N.I. would be. Maybe that the BBC follows the American Presidential election so closely? I’m mostly surprised at myself, and how I’m adjusting to a new culture. We talked about “culture shock” at orientation, which is a nice thing to learn about, but talking about it doesn’t prepare you for what you really go through. We got this handout with a nice little curve on it say that first you’ll really love everything about the new place that you’re in, but after a couple of months you’ll really hate it and you’ll be on this all time low, then you’ll level out a little. Unfortunately, real life isn’t that neat. I think Northern Ireland is really cool, but there are things that I don’t like about it (i.e. the dog poop, and I don’t think they way they do school is so great either…), but it’s the same with the U.S. I love the States, and am glad that I am from there, but of course there are things that could change.
I’m really surprised that I actually miss working at Early Intervention! I think about my clients pretty frequently and wonder how they’re doing – did so-and-so ever start crawling? I wonder how so-and-so’s transition to the intermediate unit went, etc. I guess it wasn’t such a horrible job after all ;-)
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
I think it has been hardest for me to change my thinking from being a “worker” or “employee” to being a “volunteer.” When I was working, I would do what I needed to ensure that I was doing my job well – even if that meant staying late for a meeting or waking up early to meet a client before they went to work. BUT, I absolutely expected to be compensated for the extra time I put in. As a volunteer, if you put in extra time, there’s no extra compensation per se, but compensation may come in less tangible forms-forging a new friendship or finishing a project that will be really helpful to someone in the future. It’s difficult to think “this extra event this week is an opportunity” rather than “this extra event this week is cutting into my time.”
I often wonder if it would have been easier to do this volunteer thing right out of college. I mean, I would have been used to not getting paid to do things. In fact, I paid to go to class. I was very devoted to going to my lectures and doing research and writing papers – why? Because I enjoyed learning. I got a lot out of doing those things. My hope is that I can see this year similarly. I want to be able to willingly put in extra time here because I truly enjoy what I am doing and. I was reading a former YAV’s blog the other day. She had volunteered right out of college, and wondered if it would have been easier to do this year of volunteering after working for a little bit because at least then she’d know what the ‘real world’ was like. It made me laugh…I guess the grass is always greener… In the end, transitions, no matter where you are transitioning from, are difficult.
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As a side note, I think next year I’d really like to go to grad school to get a master’s in social work. So those of you who are praying for us, if you could lift that up too, I’d appreciate it! I cannot tell you how much your prayers are felt here or how much they mean to me (and Kevin) – so thank you!
I can’t think of any one particular topic that I want to write about today, so I thought it might be nice to share some of the things that happened this past week. Here’s the week in review:
Sunday: We were told by the youth group that we were the best-dressed American volunteers they’ve had. I’m not sure that’s saying much for the other volunteers…but I took it as a compliment.
Monday: Trip to the Ulster Museum – AND a great lunch of lentil soup and rolls compliments of Elaine.
Tuesday: Went to nursery (school for kids 3-4 years old). Some of the kids are starting to remember my name! I went to the youth disability club (for teenagers) at night – they participants there think it’s funny that I say “oh man” and so they repeat that phrase whenever they see me.
Wednesday: I had lunch at the house of a lady who is on the management board at the Trust. It was nice to be invited, and I tried chutney for the first time in m life. In the evening I went to the kids’ disability club, which is really a lot of fun.
Thursday: I went to the doctor’s office – and again was impressed by how much time the doctor was willing to spend with me. I mean, I had to wait like 45 minutes to see a doctor – but once I got in there, she was willing to spend as much time with me as possible. The last time I went to the doctor had the same kind of experience. I like it.
Friday: Spent part of the day at church, and had dinner with a retired minister (who helps out at Fortwilliam sometimes) and his wife (who is also a retired minister). They spent some time in Jamaica doing mission work, so it was neat to talk to them.
Saturday: Kevin and I, despite the rain, went to the Belfast Botanical Gardens. It was lovely! I’ll post some pictures soon. In the evening, we went to our first Youth Club – not too many kids knew it was going on, so there were only a few there. But it was fun anyway.
Overall, not a bad week.
We also discovered this week that palm trees do grow in Northern Ireland naturally. Kinda hard to believe. It is ironic though. I love palm trees, mainly because they usually grow in places that have mild/warm weather, and I’ve always wanted to live somewhere with palm tress (mainly because the weather would be nice). But here I am, living in rainy, cold Belfast because God called me here for this year, and yet, I get to live in a place that has palm trees. Things don’t always work out the way you’d think they would, huh?
30 September 2008
Last night I was lying in bed trying to sleep (The Virgin Suicides is not the best book to read right before bed…). Anyway, I was thinking that I should have probably said a little more about the museum we visited yesterday. One of the things that I learned yesterday that really stuck out to me were these little communion tokens that I saw at the Presbyterian Church. Back in the day, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland churches had communion 2-3 times a year. Before communion Sunday, there would be a communion season where clergy (I assume) gave out these tokens made out of pliable metal (probably tin or aluminum or something like that) to people who were allowed to take communion. If someone was thought to have committed a sin or to have contributed to a scandal, they were not given a token and therefore were not able to participate in the sacrament. Doug told us a couple of weeks ago that Presbyterian churches here in Ireland often only have communion a few times a year, and that those Sundays are often the most sparsely attended. Why is that? Because people feel that they are not good enough to participate in the Lord’s Supper. It makes sense considering the history.
Well, I thought that was interesting anyway. The sun just came out (it’s been raining all day), so I’m going to go out and enjoy it while it lasts!
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