Discovery.

Week before last, I spent three consecutive days working in Loft Towers with 7th graders. On Wednesday and Thursday two classes came together and on Friday one class came by themselves.  I'm just going to be honest and say that it was probably the most challenging, yet most rewarding, week I have had yet this year.  

Let me start by saying that when I saw on the rota (schedule) that I had three days of working with 7th graders, I was not so excited.  For some reason, the Junior High-age group is the one I have struggled with the most, it always has been.  I guess I never felt very comfortable with them because I couldn't quite figure out how to handle the kind of attitude that seems to come along with those years. I knew I needed to patient with them(and with myself) but it still wasn't easy for me.

So Wednesday morning came and Ange (our program leader, from Manchester!) said she wanted to be upfront with us and tell us they were expecting the group to be one of the most challenging ones yet (great).  The school has been undergoing transition in administration over the past few years and it without much strong leadership, the students seem to have gotten rather out of hand.  A few months ago I worked with a different year group from the same school and as Ange was talking, I was remembering how difficult they had been.  So we did what we could to prepare ourselves for the day.

     I'm going to be completely honest and say that Wednesday was one of the toughest days we'd ever seen in Loft Towers. I was stunned by how much disrespect I felt and couldn't believe the way some of the young people treated us. Even more shocking was that they acted the same way, if not worse, towards their teachers!  That was very odd to me because what I had observed in teacher-student relationships up until that point showed me that teachers in England absolutely demand respect and most of the time they are given it.  The young people learn early on there are serious consequences if they choose to act out.  It was startling to see so many students rebelling. 

   I was leading the "Magazine Game" which focuses on stereotypes and judgments that we place on people and that people place on us.  The "Magazine Game" has become one of my favorite sessions because it has such a powerful message, especially for young ones at that age, and if it goes successfully, it can really help to change perspectives for so many young people.  Needless to say, after leading the session 4 times that day, it would've been very easy to want to give up altogether.  However, the group I had for the third session saved me from such agony. That group got it. They listened attentively, they understood the message I was trying to get across, and they even contributed some thoughts so we could have an actual discussion.  It was that group of nine 12-year-olds that brushed away all my frustrations, doubts and anxieties and reminded me why I'm truly here. 

  After we waved goodbye to the bus that day, I could tell I was in a completely different place than I had been 5 hours earlier.  Even though most of the day was pretty rough, I felt so at peace. In the past few months, at the end of a Loft Towers day I always felt worn out, fully challenged and fully exhausted. But that day was different. I felt fully energized, uplifted, and empowered.  I couldn't wait to go back the next day.

I'm very happy to report that the next two days were 300 times better. The young people were the same age, from the same school, but their attitudes and personalities were completely different.  They were remarkable.  I continued to lead the "Magazine Game"(I don’t think people usually can stand more than one day of leading that one, but I had a strong feeling inside me saying I needed to stay with it) and I'm pretty sure I learned more from the discussions that day than the whole class combined.  The Chaplain was so impressed with them and so proud of them that he called up their Headmaster and got permission to reward them for their outstanding behavior with a movie and popcorn day the following week (not just an American tradition).

That Friday, as we watched the coach drive away with the group, I said something I never expected I’d hear myself say.  I looked at Ange and smiled and said, “I can’t wait to do Loft Towers again!”  

Most powerful statement from the Magazine Game that I couldn't get out of my head:

If you judge people, you leave no time to love them.

     ~ Mother Teresa

Volunteers Conference

Youth Retreat Center Volunteers of England~ 2011

   The day we all arrived back from Christmas break, we quickly packed up our bags and jumped in the minibus and headed north about 2 1/2 hours to Swanick for the Volunteers Conference.  There are 11 Catholic Retreat Centers around England and every year all the volunteers from these centers get together for this three-day Conference.  The theme this year focused on the theme of the Papal Visit back in October, "Heart Speaks Unto Heart." So we spent time exploring what it means for us to speak "heart unto heart", with each other and with the young people we're serving.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet so many other people that do the same kind of work as we do here at SPEC.  It was really interesting to hear about all the different experiences that people have at the other sites and compare work schedules and programs and such. We had been told before we went that SPEC has largest team, as well as the most international team, of volunteers.  As one of the "foreigners," I was asked lots of different questions. "So, how are you finding the terrible winters of England? (To which I'd smile and say, "You have no idea.") Why come here?! America is such a great place!  Do you like English young people more than American young people?  You don't look 22 years old at all!  What is Lutheran? Do you feel left out at Mass when you can't take Communion?"  So many of the questions just made me smile.
   To give you a sense of how it felt, just imagine this: 150 enthusiastic Bible Camp counselors from 11 different camps who have come together for 3 days and are all overwhelmed with excitement in wanting to tell everyone how great their retreats are and how much they love young people. There are guitars everywhere, a continuous hum of upbeat worship songs being sung, silly camp games and traditions being shared, and some of the coolest, youthful and youth-loving priests you'll ever meet.  I'm sure you can imagine the outrageous amount of energy that was present.  And to top it off, the second night they brought in a Celtic band for a Keilidh! Just like in Edinburgh, but on a much smaller level. Well, the size of the crowd may have been smaller but the level of spirit and intensity definitely surpassed Scotland by a long shot.  Everyone joined in and everyone loved it!  We were even doing some square dancing at one point!  I did meet a volunteer name Conor McCarthy, yes, from Ireland(he was one of the only other "foreigners" in the whole crowd) who was by far the best dance partner to have...he knew all the moves and all the songs!  Let's just say, we had our fair share of tearin' up that dance floor. We had a blast!

  It was sad the three days went so fast; we were all hoping they'd just decide to extend it a couple more days because everyone was having so much fun.  But of course, our directors insisted we had to get back to our sites and back to work instead.  It was such a great way to spend the first days back from Christmas Break. Both nights we stayed up pretty late playing guitar and talking and learning about all the different programs in the country.  I even had a chat with one of the program leaders from up north about the Lutheran faith and how it compares to the Catholic tradition....it lasted for almost 3 hours. It was a fantastic three days full of mingling, sharing, exploring, learning, questioning, praying, laughing, singing, brainstorming, discerning, helping, and of course, dancing.  Needless to say, it was pretty quiet in the minibus on the drive back to SPEC.

Aye, The Land of the Scots

(Apologies for the delay of this post)
I've decided that if I'm going to move anywhere over here again, it might as well be Scotland. I was only there 4 days but it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the place.  Jess (fellow SPEC volunteer from New Zealand) and I hopped on the bus at 11 pm on Tuesday night, the 28th of December.  After about 10 hours of rather disrupted sleep(that's what happens when you get the front 2 seats and every time the door opens for the driver to get out for a break, the freezing cold air rushes in) we arrived in Edinburgh early Wednesday morning. We were so excited and couldn't believe we'd actually made it! We found our way to Biz's flat (Biz is a classmate from Concordia and a YAGM placed in Edinburgh this year), sat and had a wonderful chat over a cup of tea then decided to clean up and head out exploring.  Biz's flat is perfectly situated right where it's easy to walk everywhere, but it's not right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. So we walked up to St. Peter's Street (which is one of the main streets with lots of shopping and such) and then up to the Edinburgh Castle.  After exploring some of the little shops (and one AMAZING fudge shoppe) and taking lots of pictures along the way, we set out in search of some live traditional Scottish music. We were quite surprised how far we had to walk to find any sort of live music but we finally found a pub where a group called "Bleeker" was playing, it wasn't quite traditional music but we were open to anything at that point.  As we stood and listened to them play, between songs the guy leaned over and asked where we were from(we were standing pretty close to the band, I'm sure he could overhear our accents) but I shouted "Montana!" Right then he started playing their last song "Sweet Home, Alabama" but he changed the words to "Sweet Home, Montana!" I couldn't stop laughing.  A classic rock band, playing in Scotland, singing about Montana. Never thought I'd get to see that.

Viking Ship Bonfire!

   The next day Biz's mom and sister arrived(they were coming to stay for 8 days) but Jess took off up to Glasgow for a friend's wedding. After Biz's mom and sister slept for a few hours, we went out and ate at a fish'n'chips place (I ate a hamburger) and then headed up to the Calton Hill. Every year on December 30 there is a Torchlight Procession and a Bonfire that marks the beginning of the 4-day Hogmanay New Year's celebration. We didn't take part in the process from the Cathedral but we made it to the top of the Hill with the other 20,000+ people just in time for the beginning of the bonfire.  It was like no bonfire I'd ever seen before.  They set a big viking ship alight! We had seen the big ship being set up on the Hill the night before, but little did we know they'd be torching it 24 hours later!  The Bonfire was accompanied by a performance of the best young pipe band(bagpipe)in the country and then it ended with the BEST fireworks show I've ever seen in my life! (the video is posted on my Facebook page) 
   New Year's Eve day we slept in, grabbed some lunch and headed to the Edinburgh Castle for a tour.  What an incredible place! We spent quite a few hours exploring the whole place then we made our way to a pub for some good Scottish grub. Those Scots sure know how to make a mean hamburger. We then headed back to the flat to rest up a little bit before heading to the Keilidh at 9 pm. The Keilidh is one of the main events of Hogmanay and is very well known throughout the UK as THE  best place to be on New Year's Eve.  A Kelidih is a traditional Scottish/Irish dance that I found rather (surprisingly) similar to a square dance! They had a huge dance floor set out(that was packed full, of course) and 3 or 4 different Scottish bands got up on stage and played some songs while they called out the moves to those of us on the dance floor.  It was chilly out but it was such a workout with all the skipping and twirling that happens in Irish/ Scottish dance, we were so hot we were steaming, literally, just standing there.  We had such a blast!  We were in the perfect spot to watch the big fireworks at midnight as they shot them off the Castle.  Following the fireworks, everyone sang the traditional "Auld Lang Syne" to welcome in the New Year.  By that time, we had fully exhausted ourselves so we stopped at the German market on the way out and Biz and I got some crepes.  That was one of the best tasting crepes I'd ever had-chocolate sauce, banana, marshmallows and whipped cream-what a perfect way to celebrate the New Year!

This is why I love Scotland!

  The walk back to Biz's flat was quite entertaining as we had to make our way through the huge Street Party to get to her place.  Let's just say, by the looks of it, the Scots really know how to have fun when they have something big to celebrate.
  The next day, we slept in again and just relaxed for the morning and I had to make my way to the train station around noon.  We had taken the bus up to Edinburgh because it was cheaper but I found train tickets for the same price going back, and since the train took 4 hours and the bus took over 9, I decided to take the easier route.  The train ride back was beautiful, it was just in time for the sun to set. I loved getting to see so much countryside through Scotland and most of England.
  I would definitely love to go back and spend more time in Scotland.  The food is great, the people are so wonderful(at least when you can understand what the heck they're sayin) and I have to admit, I love listening to bagpipes! And I also loved that everyone wore kilts-not even kidding. Biz said that men often will wear them when they go out on dates, or for any kind of celebration.  Gotta love the tarten (red plaid).  I think I could definitely get used to the Scottish way of life.

Check out more pictures on http://oneearth.shutterfly.com! There's lots!

Here's another site that has a pretty good video about the Procession that you might enjoy http://www.hogmanay.net/events/edinburgh/torchlightprocession

Christmas in London

   After returning from Paris, Erin and I found ourselves quite overjoyed at the idea of spending a whole day in our pajamas, sitting, watching tv, knitting, and relaxing. So we did just that...and it was glorious. Nathaniel (a fellow YAGM who is working north of London, in Reading, at a rehabilitation center) and his sister Anastasia (a senior in high school who just finished a semester in Germany as an exchange student and stayed with us for Christmas before going home) came and joined us for the holidays. It was so wonderful to have such fun people to celebrate Christmas with. 
   On Christmas Eve, after a scrumptious home-cooked meal (compliments of Erin, our in-house southern chef) we headed to St. Anne's Lutheran Church for the 6:30 service.  It was called "Carols and Nine Readings" and it was just lovely. I will admit I got a bit confused on a few of them because they were the same words as the ones we sing at home, but some of them are put to different melodies.  I'm sure the people in the pew in front of us were wondering what the heck we were doing when we started singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" completely wrong.  Also, we found it rather interesting when each of the readers went up to read the scripture...all of them had American accents! Most of them even sounded Mid-western, except one(we think she was from New York)-but how crazy is that?!  Made us smile.

YAGMs Unite! (Erin, Nathaniel & I at St. Anne's)

   After that service was over, we walked around for a little bit, trying to kill some time before the Midnight Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral.  After about a 1/2 hour of walking, we were all practically frozen to icicles so we found a pub that was open and sat down for awhile to warm up and wait for midnight to come around.
   Mass at St. Paul's was phenomenal! We were a bit worried when we showed up and saw the huge line so we asked one of the guards how many people were there (he had a clicker-counter)and how many the Cathedral could seat. We were number 746 but there were 2,400 seats, so he said we'd definitely get a seat.  The service lasted about an hour and a half and was one of the coolest experiences I've had yet this year.  I have always wanted to hear a boys choir singing in a cathedral so I was SO excited when I saw them processing up the aisle, singing with about 20 adult men who all sounded like they were Italian opera singers as they walked by us.  There was also a big brass band that played with them too which sounded amazing in the big Cathedral. I couldn't see much from where we were sitting, 3/4 of the way back, but I could definitely hear everything.  I was blown away by the sound of the boys choir. They sounded as angelic as I ever imagined.  St. Paul's was so massive compared to Zion Lutheran, my home church in Lewistown. It was pretty cool getting to experience something so largely different that what I'm used to.  However, I had a hard time making it through "Silent Night" because it was the first time in 15 years that I wasn't singing it with the Senior Choir and lighting candles. I didn't realize how much that has been an important part of my Christmas until I found myself without a candle to light.
    Christmas Day was also pretty memorable.  Erin decided to bring out her own family's tradition and made us beignets (they're French, think fluffy doughnut, no frosting, but powdered sugar on top) and we watched some Christmas movies.  We had decided, again, that there was no need to change out of our pajamas, so we spent the day very comfortably.  I called my parents and both of my brothers to wish them a Merry Christmas and by the time I got back downstairs, Erin had already finished making dinner!  (I actually felt quite guilty for not helping at all)
We tried our best at a traditional English Christmas dinner so we had turkey, parsnips, mashed potatoes, stuffing, red wine, and we substituted the brussel sprouts for green bean casserole.  It was quite delectable, to say the least.
   I do have to admit, it was the most relaxing Christmas I ever remember having. I have always loved going home at Christmas time and getting to help my parents out at the art gallery, visiting family, and hangin' out with friends but this year, having so much time to just sit and relax was just what I needed. 
     Now, if I could just figure out how to squeeze that in about once a month for the rest of the year, I'd be set. =)