thoughts on the kids and so on

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

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!!!

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...

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

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

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

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.