Blog of KBH

The end is near...!

2008-07-20T08:40:00.000-07:00

Less than 4 weeks now and I'll be jetting back---wow! School finally let out for summer holidays this past Friday. True to elementary school form, the class watched a movie, played games and had a party--going out with a bang. That was a really nice day, but also a sad one. Saying goodbye to kids for what will likely be forever, wow. Clearly much harder for me than for them. They don't really understand not seeing someone again. sigh... I've been saying all year that I'm only here for one year, but just the other day, one of my students came up to me and casually asked if I was going to work with their class the next year. And I had to explain that no, I was going back to America. She then asked when I would be back, as if I was just going to America on holiday for a month or so. That was a painful conversation for sure. I have really gotten to be quite fond of some of the kids I work with, and some of the staff. But I also am a bit glad to be done; there have been some really awful problems with some of the boys in my class, being incredibly naughty, getting violent with property and teachers. yikes. The teachers have been upset about how it was handled...it's not been a very happy work place for the past few weeks. So it goes, I guess.
Another youth work thing came to an end today; Matt and I did our last round leading the children's service at Great Horton Methodist. It went pretty well. It was a young and small crowd, so we sang some songs like "This Little Light of Mine", did a skit about the parable of the wheat and the weeds growing up together, had a little chat about how God is still there even when times are tough--like it no doubt was for the wheat, and colored some worksheets. A nice one to go out on really.
I will carry on seeing some of the kids I've gotten closest with because the two community partnership run kids clubs will continue through the summer, with trips and so on. There are also about 5 kids that come and visit us, our "waifs and strays" as I like to call them. This has been going on for a couple of months now, at least. One little girl comes over quite frequently, to talk, bake chocolate cake, help me in my garden, play on Matt's guitars, draw pictures, play "gold"fish (go fish) or hide and seek. She's got a pretty sad home life; we suspect she comes over for a bit of caring. I have raised concern about her at school to the learning mentors, and they are considering contacting social services on her behalf. I hope things will get better for her. The rest of the kids are relatively well looked after, and you really can tell. It can be very fun having our little guest, but also very draining. Matt and I are getting a lot better at setting time limits and being firm about when it's OK to visit.
Other things filling up the last few weeks here include, for me, a couple of trips with Sara, my Canadian university student friend. We hope to do some serious walking and hiking on the Isle of Man and also in the Highland region in Scotland. Also "Fiddler on the Roof" is coming to town, so we'll get cheep tickets and watch from the nosebleed section. My little garden is still a'growing and I've been doing more art work lately as well--book making. Reading and baking and going on walks as always. I'm starting to prepare for one last African Women's Circle, which I'll be leading solo, at the beginning of August. Hopefully I'll stay busy up to the last.
Speaking of last; I suspect this will be my last blog update. I don't think I'll carry on when I move to Denver. I hope it's been informative and not too painful to read, or skim... Take care all, and God bless.

where did May even go?

2008-06-13T07:13:00.001-07:00

Hello all,
Unbelievably, I've now been here in England for about 10 months. In another 2 I'll be back in the States, sending off my brother to college and moving to Denver. It's hard not to think about this all the time. I'm both happy to go home and also a bit down about it. On the whole, I feel like I've carved out my life here. I have my friends at school and the churches, connect with the kids pretty well I'd say. It's all feeling very right. Good thing there is still plenty to do here, so there's not too much time to dwell. With the sunnier and warmer (supposedly) turn of the weather, there have been field trips galore. Also, my family came to visit for a fortnight, which was really lovely. I've also been doing some gardening, mostly herbs and a few vegetables; it's just so cool to be able to eat something you grew yourself. And I've been cooking a lot, as always. I'll just comment on the pictures then.

Here are some of my class ( the ones in the lighter blue jumpers) on a field trip to Bolling Hall, a historic house in Bradford, wearing silly helmets. They are on a joint field trip with another primary school with a linking schools project. This is the group I was in charge of; we had to make up a play at one point, and that was really a good time.

Here are my parents and brother in an oddly very empty Bradford street in the nicer old pedestrianized area down town. And the sky was actually blue for them some days! amazing.

So while my family was here, we did some traveling. We went to the Lake district, stayed in Keswick, nearby which is a stone circle. Yup, just hanging out in a field of sheep, your run of the mill neolithic monument! It is apparently very American of me to get so excited about old things, castles, stone circles, etc. Whatever, they are just so cool!

And true to form, here is a picture of a wildflower. In the background is Durent Waters, our nearest lake. Lots of good walking, and lovely cafes.

We made our way up to Edinburgh and stayed a few nights there. This is the castle. It rained on us a lot this day.

We also took some day trips. We went to York--a medieval walled city. Here is the Cathedral: the York Minster.

And here we are in the Bilton's driveway.

It's April!

2008-04-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

Many things have come and gone in the space between this post and the last. Valentine's Day and related crafts, all of Lent, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, a visit from my Goshen room-mate and pal Emily, a trip to London, visiting the London Mennonite Centre, two weeks of Easter Break from working in the primary school, a day out with the African Women's Circle to Hull and the aquarium there in, a trip to an indoor water park with the kids from the after school club, another meeting of the African Women's Circle, completely planned and led by yours truly, a retreat to Corrymela in Northern Ireland with some of the other Mennonite Mission Network workers in the UK, a terrible bout of stomach flu, and attending the Diocesan Day of Bradford, Matthew's 21st birthday, and being burgled, just to list a few stand out points. There would have been pictures from some of these with comments, but, as they were only saved on the unit computer, which was one of the things stolen, that's got to be canceled. While we were eating out for Matt's birthday just yesterday with the Biltons, his flat was broken into. We're both fine, and we are insured, so we can get replacements of everything that was taken, except, of course the photos and other personal files on the computer. That's really the worst of it. We are getting better locks put on the flats tomorrow, so hopefully, this won't happen again. Sure, it's a bit jarring, a bit depressing, but I don't feel like spending the rest of this blog entry dwelling on it. One thing I have thought about is that these guys who took the stuff (I'm not making gender stereotypes there, as we are basically 100 percent sure who did it) were once primary school kids, sat in someone's classroom. I wonder where the kids I work with are heading, and I suspect that unless there is serious intervention, several of the lads will get to the point where they don't see what's wrong with breaking into someone's house and ripping their stuff off. There, that's my rant. Now, what I'd like to spend a bit of concentration on is this last African Women's Circle meeting, and leading children's worship last week with Matthew.
I was in charge of running the most recent African Women's Circle by myself, deciding what we'd make for lunch, doing the finance stuff, making sure everything ran smoothly. This had not happened before, generally I'm more of an assistant. So, naturally I was rather nervous about this, knowing that I would need to really be top form in terms of being conversational, in French as well as English, which in and of it self can be pressure enough. Also, I'm younger than all of these women, and that feels odd, especially knowing that most African societies put much more value on age. Well, I decided to make Kusherie, an Egyptian lentil dish in More with Less, something I've made quite a few times. I wanted to do a vegetarian meal with protein, red lentils cooked in with the rice, and also pretty easy and cheap to make. It was a good choice, as it turned out; many of them had not heard of lentils or known how to prepare them, and seemed quite keen on them afterwards. Anyway, that went really well. I was able to be really conversational when needed, welcoming, and I think the cooking went well, people all helping out with the chopping and stuff, and clean up. It felt like being a real sort of teacher, conducting a cooking course. I was amazed at how confident I felt once we actually got going. It's nice when you can rise to the occasion, and have fun doing so.
The same sort of thing happened with children's worship. I'm not sure if I've explained how it works at Great Horton Methodist. You see, there is no Sunday school time like I'm accustomed to in the States. So what happens is that everyone starts the service together, and after opening hymns, a corporate prayer or two, and the reading, the children and the teachers go upstairs to the classrooms/playrooms upstairs where we split off into the crèche and the class, the dividing line seeming to be at around 4 years old. Matthew and I are part of a rotation that leads the class part about once a month. It's a bit crazy to plan for because you never know if you'll get two or twelve, middle school aged or early elementary. This time we had the full gamut, about ten all together ages 4 to 18. And it went really well. We're both learning how to be in front of kids confidently and effectively and enjoy it. We were looking at some text about the early church in Acts, and there is mention of the people eating together, every meal was a celebration, pooling resources to support eachother. We started off all sitting around a table with our table cloth from home, a few candles, and some cinnamon orange bread I made the other day. We asked what the kids do when they're going to eat a meal with their families, do they thank God in any way? A few said that their families say a blessing, but none of them sang their prayers. So Matt and I sang them a few songs, Johnny Appleseed, Hands Hands Hands, and God is Great. They were spell bound. I don't think they are at all accustomed to being sang to like that. We all sang Hands Hands Hands together with the motions, and ate the bread. Then we made a collage poster of little drawings of our "resources," some of my favorites that showed up were a whole gang of red stick figures, a kid climbing a tree, and bubble letters saying "Fashion for LIFE." It's just really good to see that we can do this, that they enjoy it, and just possibly get something out of it. And it's reassuring that even though I get a bit nervous about leading, I really do okay.
I would have to say, then, that I'm feeling really positive about the work here right now. I'm certainly learning, and building some good relationships. It's been 8 months now, incredibly; time has really flown since Christmas. I don't know if I've said on the blog, but I'm moving to Denver next year with some friends from Goshen. So thinking about that is become more necessary. Right then, take care everyone. Peace

thoughts on the kids and so on

2008-01-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

The halfway point in this year of service is nearly upon us, so it seemed proper to do a bit more reflecting. On top of which, two Americans from Mennonite Mission Network have just visited this far flung unit and a lot of conversation about the project as a whole has taken place. So here I am, living in Bradford. Most of the time, that fact doesn't strike me as anything amazing--I've gotten used to it and formed my routines; it feels normal. Just the other day though, while I was walking to the local store, I was a bit overwhelmed by how many differences there are! So many terms and phrases, the whole way people talk and what they talk about--driving on the wrong side--the way houses are set up, thinking in pounds (there is no quarter equivalent--I occasionally give 20 pence pieces thinking that they are really 25 p--oops!), the demographics, the shops, tea, public transport, the way the government works. By the way, watching the Brits watch American politics is really interesting! But, like I said, for the most part, these things don't pop out at me. They slip by in the flow of life.
I'm more focused on the behaviour of the kids I work with on a regular basis--the ones that live in my neighbourhood, are in my class, and go to the after school clubs at which I work. As probably all of you who would read this know, I have never worked with kids before this year. Thus the learning curve has been steep indeed. How was I to know that I would become so personally involved? There are a few kids in particular, with really convoluted home structures that sometimes behave pretty well--are smart and creative, and other times just are terrors. I am so proud of them when they do well! but on the reverse, so down when they don't live up to their potential. If I were ever to become a teacher, I'm sure it would be necessary to not take the bad behaviour personally. Sigh... I had a chat with the two learning mentors at the primary school the other week (they work one on one with the kids with behavioural problems and home issues, and also run the breakfast club and arts club after school that I help out with regularly--I've gotten to know them pretty well). Many of the kids with whom I'm the closest meet with these two women at school--meaning they really do have some serious issues. These two women are doing some really good work, and it was good to talk with them about it. One thing they made clear was how important it is for them not to get their hopes too high for "fixing" these children. Rather, they need to celebrate all of the small things--even that one of their pupils didn't get expelled that year. What sobering goals! Before that chat, I had been despairing at the lack of effect that we seem to be making in our work here. I mean, what does having two extra adults care about them really do? Will they still get into crime like some of their older brothers? Will they become abusive boyfriends and fathers like they have been exposed to? The whole scope of this project is to make a small difference over the long run, and it wasn't until that conversation that I realized how worthy that is. This MVS stuff is really so far from the glamorous "saving the world" ideal. So much of it just seems to be about being a decent and caring person--trying to be aware of issues and doing what you can.
The other night, Matt and I gave a bit of a talk about what we're doing here to a church organization in a nearby, very white town. They wanted to know what is going on in multi-cultural Bradford. One woman asked us what we are enjoying--what we are going to take back. The question was a bit more than I could nicely answer at the moment--said whatever came to mind the quickest, but later I got to thinking more about it. Something I've realized I really enjoy is having fun with the kids, entertaining them, making funny faces to make them smile. Several weeks ago, one of my little boys at the after school club was crying because one of the bigger lads had hit him. After asking him whether he was actually hurt, or just upset, and ascertaining that it was the latter, I thought it best to try to cheer him up by distraction. So I made up a wild story about a little boy who loved to skip (true of the crying boy of course), but he had lost his skipping rope! He tries to find a good substitute in a muffin, a rubber band and a scissors (gasp!). After healing up in the hospital, he finally gets another rope and all is well. It was so cool to watch this boy go from crying to laughing and smiling and suggesting silly twists in the story. That was possibly one of my favourite things that has happened since being here--one of my most positive interactions with children--though I am still loving helping with this after school arts club. I need to bring my camera along to all of these things and share a bit more.
I've gotten back to the fair trade cafe again this last week, and that made me really happy too. It's a good connection; I like working with food and the people there--though I find running the cash register stressful. I've noticed that they do story telling for children, and offer training for story tellers--I think that would probably fit me really well. I need to get on it and really look into it.
One other good thing in my life here is my friendship with a Canadian student named Sara. She is a fellow Jane Austen fan in a big way, and we both love walking in the countryside and baking. So just about every Saturday we get together to do something nice, be that going on an organized walk, or visiting a town nearby and exploring, or baking muffins and watching a Jane Austen (or similar time period---We just watched Jane Eyre) adapted film. And knitting! We are both very ambitiously trying to make sweaters at the moment--ha!
There is so much more going on in my life here. I'll have to really be good and update again soon.
Now some pictures*:

Sara is in front of Bolling Hall--the oldest house in Bradford--dating back to I think the 1400s.

Within which was the creepiest room I have ever seen! It was just so red and shiny!

Here I am in front of Bradford Town Hall.

So Sara and I took the train to Hebdon Bridge (this lovely little town in a valley) on a miraculously snowy Saturday, and walked up a hill to Hebdonstall. Our wanders brought us to this gorgeous old church ruin.This is the "new church"

Spin off of a Victoria Sponge Cake, a very popular cake here. This cake has for alternating layers of white and chocolate sponge, each with spreading of a sour cream frosting and raspberry preserves, with icing sugar and dollops of each on top.
a tea party!

*Don't trust my pictures to give you an accurate portrayal of the weather here. It's only snowed twice in Bradford--neither time amounting to more than an inch and staying less than a day. I also only seem apt to take out my camera when it's sunny out. Really, it is quite gray and rainy here

tying up a few loose ends--those Britishisms

2008-01-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

It was brought to my attention that i never did give the answers to my little Britishisms quiz.
enjoy

jacket potato: a baked potato
cotton on: to catch on, to understand, to start doing something (cotton on to recycling!)
in nick: in prison
cling film: Saran wrap
pudding: desert of every kind. what we call pudding is custard. who knew?
oh sod off: go away/cut it out/knock it off
cheers: thanks/there you go/pardon me/nice talking to you/have a good day/bye
ta: a word to follow cheers--or on it's own to mean pretty much exactly the same thing as cheers
alright? what's up?/how are you doing? (to which the general reply is "yeah. you?")
some bonus words:
brill: cool
ace: really cool
burk--a foolish jerk. naive, gullible meanie.
buddy--a sandwich

done and done.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

2007-12-20T14:14:00.001-08:00

Yup--I'm still alive. Sorry about the total lack of updates for the last month or so. I've gotten so overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to catch up that I kept putting it off, thus living in a terrible self perpetuating vicious cycle. So, as catching up at this point seems more than futile, I thought best to just jump in again. Hit the ground running as it were. By the way, the bloke in the first two pictures is Matthew, my fellow MVSer.
Christmas events have dominated my life in Bradford of late--in a lovely way. Full Christmas dinner with the staff at the elementary school--complete with Christmas pudding--molassesy and full of fruits. Went with the after school club to the pantomime (very boisterous, audience involving, slapstick plays always put on for the holiday season) Peter Pan. That was a really good time! We sat at the very top of a beautiful old theater with about 15 7-10 year-olds in tow. Unfortunately, not bathrooms up that high--so we made lots of mad dashes up and down the stairs during the event. And all of the breaking of the forth wall was brilliant. Lots of yelling "He's behind you!" and booing Captain Hook whenever he came in sight. At one point they handed out dozens of foam cubes that represented rocks that we were all to chuck at Captain Hook. I clearly had just as much fun as the kiddos--several of whom I saw the next day at school. One boy stated his enthusiasm in typical Bradfordian "It were well good, were last night!" Other Christmas meetings and ge-togethers, two concerts with that women's choir I'm in.
Pretty much all of our jobs have stopped off for Christmas--schools out, thus is after school club, even the organic cafe is closed. So I'm looking forward to a nice couple of weeks of non conformity to the routine that I've developed here. There are some treats to look forward to: carolling and midnight mass with the Methodists on Christmas Eve--Christmas morning service with the Anglicans and the rest of the day spent with the Biltons' (Paul and Ruth and family--Anglican) with various characters stopping during the day. And who can say what adventures my first true Boxing Day (the 26th) will bring. Hopefully I'll let you all know in a more timely fashion than last time. Love to you all; Merry Christmas; plenty of good will and Holiday cheer!

no pictures this time...

2007-10-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Thought I should start off by letting people know that the little girl who went for surgery came out and is doing fine as far as I know. Making cards for her has been a popular activity in both the school and the after school club.
I've started working (volunteering) at a fair trade cafe adjacent to the university campus a couple times a week. I really had to work up to calling to ask about it, but I am so glad I did! On the basic level of filling up more of my free time, it's been very helpful. It's amazing how much better I feel as a human being when I'm a bit busier. It has also been nice to be around people my own age. I feel like I'm finally starting to make some friends. Just in time, because I had realized about a week ago that I was starting to feel more comfortable around small children and middle aged folks than my peer group--frightening how adaptable we humans are. So sometimes I do the washing up (the dishes), sometimes I get to cook (today I made chili and a cous cous salad), sometimes I work the til and make drinks. I definitely can work with pounds and pence now--but the first day was a bit sketchy--I'm still not sure if I gave everyone the correct change...
Another new involvement is the art club at school--which meets after school on Tuesdays for an hour. It makes me really happy. Last week I taught them about tessellations--interlocking and repeating shapes, and showed them how to make their own. One kid made an Elvis shape, there was also a ghost, a cowboy, and a rhinoceros/mouse, among other things.
A few weeks back, the women's singing group gave a concert for the 20th anniversary of Network--a Methodist women's organization that works with tough issues like the sex trade and battered women and children. That was a wonderful event. I was easily the youngest woman in the packed out room--quite a sea of permed white hair. All of these elderly women, a bit proper, but definitely not prim. I kept thinking that these are the daughters of the original suffragettes; they know how to get things done. They were so appreciative of our singing too, which was probably mediocre at best, and they kept refering to us as girls. I'm still pretty used to that, but most of the women in the group are in their 40s and got a kick out of that. All in all, it was a life giving evening.
In other news, I'm reading Harry Potter again, British version--just the same but with all the lovely British slang and common phrases I've come to know and love. I admit--it makes me feel pretty cool knowing what they mean. Try your hand at these: jacket potato; cotton on; in nick; cling film; pudding; oh sod off; cheers; ta; alright?. Look for translations in the next post--I welcome any guesses.
Some people have asked about how world news differs here. Well, at least where I am, so close to the university and connected to socially aware people, it seems that people are quite informed on issues. I've asked some family/friends in the States what they've heard about the Burma atrocities, and it seems so minimal compared to here. There are a lot of protests and stuff in the newspapers. I checked NPR's website, and their coverage didn't even seem comparable to the Guardian's--the liberal news here. If anyone wants a good alternative to American news coverage--I think the Guardian's website is quite good. It's http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Guess that's it for now. Take care all.

the emergence of pattern

2007-09-17T03:45:00.000-07:00

So I've been an inhabitant of England for long enough now that an entire month has managed to sneak away, and I'm sure its siblings will not be long kept from following the leader. I'm not sure if I thought ahead enough about this adventure to have specific expectations about how things would be going by this time. Even so, I think it is safe to say that I am pretty happy with how things are. I'm starting to feel solidly settled in. I realize that I haven't yet told you what I do here, so here's a stab at it:

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I wake up in time to have a cup of tea and a bowl of muesli, put on teacher clothes and walk through the expansive cemetery to the primary school on the other side, Lidget Green Primary School. I try to get there for at least half of Breakfast Club--during which I walk around for a while and listen to whatever the little 'uns wish to tell me and then I sit myself down with the group of girls who choose to spend their time drawing and draw whatever they ask for and chat with them about their pictures and whatever else they want to talk about. We usually swap pictures at the end of the hour. Then I make my way into one of the two year 5 classrooms (American 4th grade), both, oddly enough, are run by teachers named Vicky. I spend the day switching between these two classes, working with small groups--teaching kids how to tell time and about story structure, and answering random questions like how i got to have such a good American accent and how one spells pilgrimage. I'm beginning to know some of the teachers, and have people to chat with during the mid morning coffee break and lunchtime. I also do a lot of laminating and copying etc. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Matt and I work at and after school club. Quite a few kids at the club go to Lidget Green and also live in our neighborhood. One of the nicest things is seeing the kids around and how happy they are to see us. By the way, one of my favorite little girls--Kirsty, who is in my class and goes to the after school club and lives in the neighborhood, is going in for heart surgery on Monday. She's such a sweet little girl and quite well liked. That's going to be on my mind and in my prayers for the next while. This last week, on Thursday as well, during the morning, I helped out with an African Womens/Asylum Seekers circle. That seems like a really neat thing to be involved with. Many of them are stuck home a lot and don't have many venues to be social, many of them really value the time to come and visit with each other. They are also learning some skills. This last week, we did a bit of baking--many of them come from places where ovens are not particularly used. I had a good time hanging out with them--some of them are not really English speakers, but French speakers--so it was fun to put that to use again. I have enough for basic conversations, at least enough to be welcoming and friendly. I did spend quite a bit of that time being a babysitter --I understand that it is important for them to have time away from their kids, but wow--my life seems to have been completely flooded with small children of late! Oh, also on Tuesdays, I've started going to "Just Church" which is a group that meets close the University and is mainly comprised of students doing their Masters in Peace Studies. They are very involved with social and environmental issues around Bradford and beyond...quite a good group to be involved with. They feel like Little Goshen. Friday and Saturday are not rigidly scheduled, but tend to get filled up somehow. Sunday, Matt and I either wander up to St. Wilfred's Anglican church or over to Great Horton Methodist for the service and generally wind up with a lunch invite. Sunday evenings then we meet with the Methodist youth group and generally go around to the leader's house for a light supper of tea, biscuits and cheese. On Mondays, I practice with a women's singing group from the Methodist Church in the evenings. Add in a few dinner invitations, lots of rambling walks around the city or the countryside, a bit of cooking, a lot of reading, and the random excursion to somewhere cool--like Leeds or Saltaire and you'd have quite a good idea of my life here. And now for the pictures.

View of a highly typical Bradford Street from the window of the second level of a city bus.

display of old buses in the town center

On a trip to Saltaire, as soon as we got off the train, we followed the flow of people and the sound of bells (attached to shoes) to the canal where there was a group of Morris Dancers--the Rainbow troop, putting on a performance. Jolly good.

I wandered up the hill via foot paths through residential areas and pasture to the Moor above the town--saw some delightfully pastoral scenes.

Picturesque English Countryside. Hello Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters.

a public foot path--these are the coolest things--they run between houses and through fields. what beautiful respect for the walker!

One lone sheep and the lay of the land.

so nice

Where it is that I live

2007-09-01T09:46:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell, this is another massive post of pictures. If you click on them, they should enlarge, but I warn you, some of them are quite blurry--sorry. We're pretty much moved in at this point. Hope this helps you visualize. Other than moving in, we've been keeping somewhat busy. I think I better save that for another post though. I don't know about you, but I am slightly exausted by getting these pictures all sorted. By the way, I'd love to hear from people, what you are all up to. Please drop me an email sometime and I'll give you a personal reply. Enjoy the photos:

So here is Matthew, making rice in the kitchen of 19

Some more of 19's kitchen

The view from that window

more of 19's kitchen

the sitting room in 19

opposite view of sitting room

View of 23 from entry hallway-- and yes, those are manikin legs--apparently the guys last year found them and now they make the place look quite artistic...or something at least

Kitchen in 23--mine I guess, there is a washing machine in there too--don't you like our minimalist light fixture?

my little fridge, from a dynamic angle

So, we do most of the cooking in Matthew's flat--my kitchen is pretty much a shrine to tea parties. Observe: tea set one.

tea set two.

some of the other tea cups.

tea or coffee cups and two tea pots. and this is just a representative sample. and there are more in 19.

Found objects exhibited on the window sill of the kitchen.

My chamber from the doorway.

scarf hanger

bedside table--I have a candle now for reading at night.

the pirate that guards my mirror.

Dangley earring hanger.

Found object display on the radiator near my bed.

view from my bed of the desk and my beautiful backlit Senegalese cloth (and slightly psychadelic other curtain that was there before)

a good sight.

well...here I am

2007-08-29T02:05:00.000-07:00

After about 14 hours of being in transit, Matthew and I arrived in Bradford. So far, I've met one of the two Reverend Pauls who are to be our local contact people. This Paul, the very Reverend Paul Bilton, is an Anglican Cannon, serving the parish of St. Wilfreds and lives in the adjoining parsonage with his marvelous wife Ruth, who is a caterer. They keep bees and chickens. We also met Tim in the flesh for the first time. He's sort of the mediator between the Pauls and MVS. He lives in Northern Ireland and just hopped over to give us a proper welcome. We live in two flats on Walker Av, which is right off of Necropolis Road--and shockingly the home to the oldest public cemeteries in the city. Glen, one of the MVSers from this unit last year, is still around and has been showing us around via long walks. I've had several spots of tea, gone for two curries, but no crumpets to speak of. I've visited the A&E(our ER--auspicious beginning, no? not to worry, nothing serious) and also the public library. Rode one double decker bus and have almost got the knack of looking the right way when crossing the street. I have tried Marmite. We played with a bunch of British children at community run "after-school" (school hasn't started yet) programme. I possibly remember about 5 names, but I'm glad they aren't here to test me. I have learned that "paper towels" are referred to as "the kitchen roll," and the kitchen counter is the work surface.
With everyday that goes trotting past, my outlook brightens. Things are starting to feel more comfortable. We haven't yet moved in properly; I'm really looking forward to that--decorating, restocking the kitchens--not living out of a suitcase. That being the case, I haven't taken many photos of the flats yet (sorry Mom)--just wait to they are a bit more livable. I also didn't want to go around Bradford with a camera and be labeled a tourist on my first week here--I'll shatter my reputation on a later day. Here are a few pics just to tide you over:

a cuppa

fancy a cuppa your Majesty?

pinky out!

tea or coffee?

Honey from Paul Bilton's bees and, you guessed it, Marmite--the popular yeast spread.

scrambing to catch up before the next big thing

2007-08-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

My wonderful summer at Wilderness Wind is behind me and I'm about to jet over the pond to England. Before I go into that though, there is some ground to cover, quite a lot actually. Where I left you, I had just finished my first trip leading. That was an amazing learning experience--some random advice: don't try to go up a tiny river when there is a portage trail available--it's there for a reason, surprisingly enough; don't go in with specific expectations--in the end the weather is always boss. We were forced to take a layover day because of very strong winds and whitecaps--but amazingly, complaints were at a minimum. A cool thing we did that day instead of paddling was to all go exploring by ourselves for 20 minutes, then meet back and lead each other on a tour of our discoveries.
After that, I was off the water for a day and the next group came--a family reunion of 11. Too big for entry to the Boundary Waters, we (Aubrey and I co-led this group) plotted a rout in other beautiful but not quite so protected waters. This family was comprised of 2 grand parents--in their 70s and certainly held their own in terms of physical activity, their daughter and her husband and their 4 kids (an 11 year old girl, 10 year old boy, and 8 year old twins--one girl one boy), another middle generation son with his 8 year old son ( his wife and very small children at home) and one more middle generation son. This was such a different week-- the weather was always with us, which made a huge difference. They were a beautiful family, i loved watching the way they interacted and interacting with them myself. The kids were so well mannered, cute and smart that it made me think--hey, i could maybe do this someday. The set up each day was to have two adults in a canoe and one or two kids in the middle--and they actually paddled! I could totally notice a difference when they would take a break. by the end of the week, Aubs and I felt like part of their family--I appreciated things about each of them, valued our time together and mourned the fact that I won't be a part of their lives. That's been a tough theme this summer--or at least something I'm more keyed into: while meeting and caring about new people is enriching, the short term nature of most of these relationships is really lousy. Is it worth it? Can I even help it? probably not.
After that week, I came back to camp--tired but energized. I love being out on the water. Time just works differently; each day full but not scheduled--no place for watches. I wouldn't go out for a trip again the rest of the summer--that was really hard. For the rest of the summer, i was either doing whatever needed to be done or being the head cook. That week--did a lot of physical hard work--scraping paint, digging trenches, cleaning stuff up--it was tough, but fun to be with all the staff for a week again.
Then came the group of Mennonites with Disabilities-- 6 men ranging in age from 20s to 50s. They staid at our lakeside cabins, and all of us staff got to spend time with them--going on fieldtrips of sorts. We went to the bear center--very informative, bears are much less scary than the media makes them out to be. We visited a dog sledding outfitters--72 dogs--this was my favorite outing. They all howled to greet us-- what a sound, and then stopped in unison only to start back up again. We got to walk around and pet them --I think one of the guys may have petted all 72. The dogs were so good with them; it was beautiful. I want a dog. We took one small canoing endeavor, but mostly we just hung out--played cards, chatted, roasted marshmallows. I really liked hanging out with them; they all so genuinely wanted to be friends. they were such characters--i enjoyed learning some of their idiosyncrasies.
The rest of the summer was filled with cooking--diner for staff during the weekdays, cooking ahead for the groups that are there on the weekends, re-stocking the trip foods, baking bread for the lakeside cabins. This was more stressful than being on the water for me, but i think i managed to shine in it as well. I discovered that i love making elaborate foods--with time built into them--like baking bread that needs to rise several times, or things with lots of steps. I cooked a lot from Simply in Season and from a variety of Moosewood cookbooks. I can vouch that there are some good ones there to be found. I tended to go for things that had names i couldn't pronounce and that went well. I had a lot of fun and gained a lot of cooking confidence.
the rest of staff came and went on trips--back on the weekends-- a few weekend excursions--hiked part of the Superior Hiking trail (that was cool, but I find it difficult to see the point of hiking without a summit. spoilt, I'm sure. ) Then I said goodbye to camp and rather abruptly I was home in Colorado. I was there for a week--resting, trying to pull things together for the next year--doctor's and dentist's appointments, teacher clothes shopping, and i took my brother's senior pictures. I went on a hike with my dad up at Rocky Mountain Mennonite Camp--Old Baldy. All along the way I noticed the wildlife in a new way--there were some of the same plants as in MN. I was thrilled to identify them, even to see them. I took in so much more from my surroundings because i was just a bit more informed. Then at the top, the same old spectacular view, accompanied by the full sound of wind through thousands of pine trees and the rushing stream far below. it was wonderful to combine my love of the big dramatic views with all the details.
Jumped over to Indiana--lost my luggage in Chicago, and reunited with some of my dear college friends. Then I went to MVS (Mennonite Voluntary Service) orientation with some Goshen people; my luggage made its grand appearance the day after i left--so i had to do some serious mooching for that week. Some of it was really helpful, but much of it was a repeat of what i'd learned for SST (Study Service Term--I spent a semester in Senegal), or by just living communally--like i have for the past two years at school. What with Goshen College's emphasis on "culture for service" many of us Goshen kids felt over prepared. We tried to be glad about this rather than annoyed--but it was hard to not be bored sometimes. Met many cool people, was a bit tempted to just hang out with people i already know, but couldn't do it. I met Matthew from Iowa, with whom I'll be living this next year in England--sharing a flat we will be. I left with most of my fears of being lonely and friendless allayed and my excitement significantly up.
I then went back to Goshen for a week, went to a beautiful wedding, became aware of even more of my friends becoming engaged (up to five now--and the first wave of weddings is over--crazy that my peers are some of them at a different stage of life), spent time with some of my former housemates, had a wonderful time. I felt truly myself with these people that have known me for so long, free to be completely myself. It was a week that seemed stolen from some other time--there was a strange shadow on it for me because I had to keep remembering that i wasn't staying like they were. Though they may seem rather the same this week--really, things are not and will never be again. How much can we really be in each others lives? transitions, what downers.
Now I'm back in Colorado. Just celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday with a bunch of family--good fun--wild times with balloons--I got to make the cake: tres leches cake--yummy. I fly on Friday evening and get there Saturday afternoon. wow--still not real; maybe on the plane it will hit me--or maybe it won't hit me at all--probably not, asking too much.

PICTURES!

walking the canoe up rapids on one of those tiny little steams with a portage trail close by--we gave up half way through and portaged the rest. yup, learning experience.

First group by a waterfall--i've never been more scared for everyone's safety ever!

Grandparents and kids of group two--spunky characters the lot of them.

Goods time with torillas--group two.

Aubrey being so hard core--ha.

Me being so hard core...and pensive...look out world!

Some of the Mennonites with Disabilities group members watching Dave--our maintenance wonder man--clean up the garage. better than a reality show i'd bet.

Roasting marshmallows with the guys.

Me and Phil with a sled dog.

This lovely white viney flower we never figured out. but maybe my favorite.

Wild Blueberries. so good...

Wild Iris.

Moss! so beautiful...sigh...

Hare Bells. tres belle.

Wild Columbine.

Fragrant white lily.

View of Lake Superior.

phew! all caught up! Ha!

those long awaited photos

2007-07-03T05:58:00.001-07:00

So this will be a post of mostly pictures. I've fallen behind--these are all from two weeks ago, but bear with me. Here are some canoes and ceder trees (ceders are my current favorite trees) at our first campsite.

This is Aryn with whom I co-lead this trip, and a lovely eerie sunset.

To the left, brooding storm clouds.

Directly below, a pleasant evening on Boot Lake is featured.

And a glassy dusk.

Now for my love of the very small. I've been very drawn to tiny detail of late. From the overwhelming hugeness of those good old Colorado vistas, the theory is that I'm just balancing myself out. I hope you like them too. Still working on learning all the names, so look for them later. What a great place to learn botany. Biodiversity is just the best.

Starting her up

2007-06-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

After graduating in a whirlwind from Goshen College at the end of April, I went on an amazing Anabaptist History tour in Europe with my college for three weeks, visiting France, Germany, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. I then traveled with my roommate of the past three years, th enchanting Emily "Muffinpants" Stuckey, for two weeks in the Republic of Ireland. Upon arriving back in the States, i spent a day repacking and then flew up to Minnisota, where i am currently, to work at Wilderness Wind, a camp in Ely that takes groups canoeing in the Boundary waters. After a week of orientation on the water with the 8 other wonderful members of staff, the first three groups arrived. I co-lead a group with Aryn; she and I made a smashing duo, dealing with new routes, unexpected rapids, inclement weather and a new system of bear bags and coming out on top. also discovered a love for botany, i'm working on memorizing tree names and tiny flowers and lichens and fungi and having a ball. look for pictures soon.