Tuesday, May 22, 2012

New Growth

From the beginning of our year here in Belfast, one of our neighbors kindly brought our rubbish bin back to our back yard every Monday morning without even being asked.  At first, we weren't sure how to feel - we really appreciated it, but we were a little embarrassed, like a mixture of... maybe we should be doing this ourselves or something...is he just doing this to be nice...is he trying to give us a not-so-suBtle (capital B intended) hint...? ? ?  Well, a few months ago, I finally got the courage to make them cookies - I know that sounds odd - courage to make cookies... but, I was embarrassed that we hadn't said thank you more formally sooner.  We would only see them occasionally in passing, and someone else had told us that he was hearing impaired, so we weren't sure how well he could hear us when we said "thank you," anyway, or if he could hear us when we said hello on the sidewalk, etc.

Well, today I learned my lesson.

Earlier this afternoon, I had tried to tell him that I loved his garden, that his beautiful flowers inspired me to plant my own small pots, and I tried to thank him for letting me use his trowel.  He kind of stuttered and grunted and managed a few words back.  Then, he pointed to our garden, and said, "weeds, weeds."  I said, "yes, I'm going to pull those up at some point, but do you have a weed killer you'd recommend?"  After that, our conversation unravelled, so I tried to let it go as I hurried to work, but later this afternoon, I got a text.

It was from Christina - she said, "Zoe, what is our neighbor doing in our yard?"  

I said, "he's probably weeding, but I'll feel awful if he felt obligated to do so, or if he thought I was asking him to do that."  When I got home, our front garden was completely weed-free, and he had even tilled the soil in some places.  This evening, as I was watching Modern Family, I noticed our neighbor in our garden again.  I ran outside, and I said, "hi" (maybe that's dumb, but it was the first thing I could think of - I didn't want him to think I was cross - he was, after all, the inspiration for the garden in the first place...).  He told me that as the weather gets hotter and dryer, the flowers need more water (I knew this, but I said, "okay..."), and he proceeded to douse them as I imagine an evangelical preacher would baptize an adult in a baby pool - joyfully pouring on the water so that they feel drenched in the love of every drop.  

Then, I asked if I could speak with his wife, Donna.  When she came outside, I asked her how well Ian could hear me, and told her that I wanted to make sure that he didn't feel obligated to do our gardening.  She said that he could hear me just fine, but that he'd had a stroke and major brain surgery, so the words didn't always come to him quickly, and his mind worked a little slower than it used to.  She said that he loves to garden, that he wouldn't do it if he didn't want to, and that he'd done it for all the YAVs in the past.  Wow.  Then, Ian went inside and came back out with a bamboo stick and some rubber bands to try to prop up our Lupin, and I just stood there and said "thank you," struck simultaneously by Ian's green thumb and generous heart.  


The top photo: my shadow, white Geranium, purple-blue Delphinium, chandelier-colored Lupin
Bottom photo: baby plants and a mystery orange / ochre flowering plant...

Thanks for reading,

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Taking Stock

Who are you trying to beat?
A few weeks ago, a guest preacher spoke about being a Christian Olympian (citing 1 Corinthians 9:24, I believe).  Inwardly, I groaned, because I have never, ever been a fan of the Christian-as-athletic-competitor metaphor.  But, I listened closely anyway, trying to practice acceptance rather than just tolerance (because tolerance just isn't good enough, but that's a topic for another blog post...).  As a response to this sermon, I have a series of questions and statements...


First of all, what does it say about us as Christians if we use a model that puts us on a competitive fast-track to Heaven?  That we have to hurry through the world, never pausing to appreciate all the beauty God created?  Who are we running against or trying to beat?  What message does this send to our children?


What does that preacher's message say to participants in the Special Olympics, in which, Competitors will stop running, even if they are in the lead, to help a fellow competitor if they have fallen?  To these athletes, it is not about winning, but about supporting one another on the journey.


Overall Lessons Learned:
In any relationship or organization, communication is paramount, as are planning and follow through.  By communication, I mean listening and then talking.  At YAV Camp (my current nickname for YAV Orientation), someone used the elephant vs. hippo metaphor.  You want to be an elephant, because they have big ears and little mouths, rather than a hippo who has a big mouth and little ears.  Capiche?  This year, I have really taken the whole elephant impersonation thing to heart - maybe too much - there have been a number of times when I didn't jump into a conversation when, now, I wish I would have.


Second, What I think, hope to accomplish, or want isn't always useful or helpful to the group or organization.  It is important to know when to step back gracefully and go with the current ebb and flow.  Additionally, any change that happens has to come from the inside.  Change pushed too strongly by an outsider, often on the outsider's time frame, might make things worse in the long run.  (Don't worry - I haven't done this third one - just an observation.)


 Lastly, I have learned about openness and acceptance.  I have become more accepting of the beliefs of people who think differently from myself - rather than just tolerant of the differences - and while I am not perfect, I have certainly gotten a lot better.


People:
Billy: Have I mentioned Billy yet?  He is wonderful!  He is the crossing guard who stands at the end of our street.  He knows everyone, and greets everyone by name, with the extreme joy of someone who absolutely loves his job.  On drab days, when I'm not especially looking forward to the 2.0 mile walk to the Vine or the 10 minute meander up to the bus to Glengormley, I look for his neon yellow uniform at the end of our street and know that I'm in for a very warm hello, with arms extended as if he'd be glad to give me a giant hug.  I can't wait to surprise him with a scone some morning!  (shhh!) 


FOG: Last night at FOG, Hazel announced that we only have a few weeks left together (FOG and myself), and that on our last night, we'd be going bowling to celebrate.  At this point, one of the wee boys, piped up and said, "ZOE! DON'T LEAVE US!!!!!!!!"  My heart may have melted a bit.  One of the older girls in the group that I lead came up to me later on and said that I was her second favorite leader.  When I asked why, she said that its because Peter lets her annoy him and doesn't get cross with her.  I thought this was hilarious!


Friends: I just want to take a minute to thank all my friends in the States for being so wonderfully loving and supportive throughout the past almost-year.  


What I'm reading...Sing You Home by Jodi Piccoult - fabulous so far
What I'm looking forward to reading: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer) and I Could Tell You Stories (Patricia Hampl)


Peace,
Z
       

Friday, February 10, 2012

Being Salt

During our last worship service together at YAV orientation, each of us took a pinch of salt after receiving Communion - to remind us to be salt - flavor - wherever we were headed.  Over the past week, I have been reminded of that commissioning service, and more specifically, the moment I licked the salt off my fingertips, on several occasions.

This month basically marks the halfway point of our time here in Northern Ireland, so, with that in mind, I asked Doug if we could have a one-to-one meeting to chat about some projects that I thought Glengormley and the Vine might enjoy and from which they might benefit (Please note: I don't want to be or come across as the awful outsider who comes in with all the solutions... I think most people could do with a good social justice shake up from time to time, myself included, and I certainly don't have all the answers).  Doug took this opportunity to remind me about being salt to each of the organizations in which I'm involved like one would salt a good piece of meat; however, he quickly added the caveat that I might be the worst person with whom to use a meat-related metaphor (I was a vegetarian for five years before moving to Northern Ireland).  We laughed.

-Salt in Church-
The very next day during our staff meeting, our congregational visitor prayed that we would remember to be salt and light to the people of Glengormley PC - how wonderfully fitting.  A brief aside, our congregational visitor also teaches the youth Bible class on Sunday mornings, and he always loves to say that he teaches "the creme de la creme" or the best of the best each year.  He frequently gives me lifts from the church to the community centre, and he loves to give little pep talks as he drives - sometimes we talk about poetry, but my favorite talk thus far was when he told me that he always tells the youth never to let anyone tell them that they're not good enough.  A very important message for us all to hear every so often.    

On that note, I coordinated the discussion for Youth Fellowship last Sunday on acceptance.  I modified a powerpoint from Youth Link called "Not in My School" in which the youth have to rank eight kids in order to decide whether or not they want to let the kids attend their school.  They rank the kids first by photo only, re-rank them after learning one fact about each kid, and then again after learning a second, final fact about each kid.  I was tremendously proud of the YF kids for their mostly mature responses and the thought they put into the process - overall, it was a solid discussion and, I hope, a fruitful jumping off point for further conversations.

In my meeting with David on Tuesday, I suggested a series of Sunday afternoon speakers on local social justice issues (the Simon Community, Women's Aid, etc.), the possibility of discussing inclusive language in a small group Bible study setting, doing local service projects with the youth, and engaging in a take-off on Empty Bowls.  Of all the projects I suggested, David seemed to really like the idea of Empty Bowls - basically, you ask local ceramicists to donate bowls (or pick them up from a charity shop on the cheap) feed people  soup, bread, and tray bakes / bars, and the money raised at $5/person goes to a local charity.  I thought it would also be great to get the youth involved in some of the cooking, if possible.  So, I'll keep you posted, but I hope that this event will happen at some point in the coming months...    

-Salt in Community-
In my conversation with Doug about the Vine Centre, I suggested that I could start doing smaller projects like make Valentines for the pensioners lunch club simply because it would mean a lot to them, and help them create a memory / story book about the Shankill area and their lives, because for many of them, the lunch club is a large part of their social interaction for the week.  They really appreciated the Valentines, many of them said that they made them feel loved again - very touching.  Geoff, one of the pensioners, proceeded to ask me if I worked out and what I did - I said that I like to jog, but that I'm a horrible runner, and then, of course, they had to ask if I was going to run the marathon.  Nope.  But, I told them that I might run the 5k fun run, and Geoff said that he'd be outside his door with a video camera that morning because their house is on the run route!

On a heavier note, two women committed suicide this past week - one by ingesting too many pills and another by hanging herself - many people at the Vine knew these two women, had known them as children and watched them grow up - so the centre as a whole had a very sober feeling about it this past week.  Suicide is all too common in North Belfast, so people were not grieving outright in the hallways or anything, but there was a palpable sense of pain.

-Salt for Each Other-
While on facebook this evening, I saw an image on the page of a popular athletic wear company called Lululemon Athletica (405613_10150500133932732_33693527731_8787639_647071342_n.jpg)  The caption reads: "It's your job to uplift those around you."  Well, that's how I've been feeling for the past six months, that its my job to uplift the people with whom I work over here each day, and also people at home who may or may not read these blog posts, but I don't always feel very uplifting.  Much of this work is difficult and trying on numerous levels, so instead of blogging and connecting with people about the challenges (and rewards) of mission work, I just didn't blog, because I felt like I needed to be uplifting all. the. time.  Not true, and frankly an unhealthy expectation.

So, if you know Patrick, you can thank him for inspiring me.  In one of his recent posts, he talks about how the work that we do isn't always easy or fulfilling, how he has been writing a lot for himself lately, and how Henri Nouwen writes that even in the difficult moments people can experience joy.  Nouwen writes that joy is deeper than happiness, and that joy can occur right along with and underneath frustration, anger, resentment, sorrow, and a myriad of other emotions.  That being said, while I've experienced many of the aforementioned emotions over the past few months, I also have experienced joy.  Joy in the hospitality of so many families from the church on Sunday afternoons, joy in conversations in the church kitchen over cups of tea, joy in disagreeing with open ears and hearts, joy in sharing a crisp, cool pint at the end of a long day with a friend, joy in being able to walk to and from numerous places in Belfast, and joy in health regained.

As my yoga teacher and friend, Marcia, has said, "Your deepest joy and your greatest sorrow are always holding hands inside of you."

This coming week, the YAVs will be going on a short retreat, and I am so looking forward to getting away.  It will be such a blessing to be able to have time together, time to relax, reflect, rejuvenate in order to better serve those around us.

With that, I challenge you to go out into the world and be salt.  Find the people or places who / that could use some flavor, and help them spice it up - but not too much!! ;-)  Or, if you find yourself needing some salt, do something new for a change - something just for you - to make yourself smile.

Blessings on your journeys, friends!


Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Cold, Grey, and Soupy

Well, I'm sitting here in the Vine Centre, and Lily has been nagging me about updating my blog for the past few weeks, so I thought I might as well write something.  She claimed that she would add commentary to make it funnier, but we shall see...

It is a very typical January day...cold, grey, depressing...the news is typical, too, a primary school in West Belfast was evacuated as were its immediate neighbors because the Police Service found a bomb that they had to desensitize...Apparently two men, one 20 year-old and one 21 year-old, came forward to acknowledge that they were responsible, if I heard the news correctly. 

I'm sick, again, something chesty, its really lovely coupled with asthma.  I get sick like every two weeks, you'd think I would either be used to being sick or that my body would've adapted by now... I also managed to spill my soup all over myself as I was trying to carry a tray and open the office door simultaneously -- then I went down to the local bakery and picked up some lentil soup and a raspberry muffin, about which I was teased relentlessly during lunch hour, because apparently large, fruity muffins are to be eaten with custard or cream after a meal, rather than with soup (I was NOT dipping my raspberry muffin into my lentil soup...gross).

I'm going to start doing a little bit of pastoral visiting through the church, so I hope that I can be of service to the people I visit, otherwise not much has changed there.  I wrote an article for the winter news letter, helped coordinate various holiday parties around Christmastime, and spent Christmas Day with a family from the church.  They are very sweet, and we had a nice day - a traditional Irish Christmas dinner- ham, turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, potatoes...prawn cocktail...annnd pavlova for dessert, I believe.  I was also able to do some traveling over the holidays - we went to Cork before Christmas and Dublin after.  New Years was low key, which was kind of nice.

That's all from Belfast -    

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Two Quick Somewhat Funny Stories

So, about two weeks ago, I was in the shower, and my housemate Christina ran up the stairs, and pounded on the bathroom door.  She shouted, "Turn the shower off!  Turn off the water!"  So, I did, but as you can imagine, I was quite confused (and thankful that I hadn't put shampoo in my hair yet).  When I asked what was going on, she said that our shower was leaking down through our kitchen light fixture - what?!  Since when does that kind of thing happen?!  I mean, kitchen ceiling, okay, that's understandable - but the light fixture?  Thankfully, we were able to get ahold of Christina's minister, who called the plumber.  The next morning, the plumber came to assess the damage and fix our shower, shower seal, kitchen ceiling, and light fixture.  This was my day off, and as I sat comfortably in the dining room munching on bananas/peanut butter on toast, I heard a drill - and realized that in order to fix our plumbing issue the plumber had to drill down through our shower, through our kitchen ceiling in order to fix the seal.  It only took him a few hours, but I realized later that he never touched the light fixture... Don't worry, we haven't seen any sparks, and no one has been electrocuted in the process of turning on or off our kitchen light; however, I'm still quite perplexed as to how the water running through our light fixture just sorted itself out... (I just considered re-writing this in the form of a sonnet - The Sonnet of the Leaky Shower...maybe some other day...too complicated for midnight...)  

Last Wednesday in JAFFA (Jesus A Friend For All) Club, we were talking about the story of David and Jonathan's friendship, and how, when King Saul wanted to kill one of the boys, the other boy promised to tell his friend whether he needed to run away or whether he would be safe to come back to the city.  As a starter activity, we told the kiddos to draw a picture of them having fun with their friends.  So, two boys at my table - I think we've learned, as leaders, that it works well if one of us takes each table - drew faces on their papers.  To be clear, they each drew one face on their page - and the face was clearly making a funny face.  I asked them what these faces meant, and they joyfully explained that they have a handshake that they do...they fist bump, and then they put their faces close together, stick out their tongues, and go "ahhhhhhhh" a la Haka warrior (Humor me... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=376xryqSgn8&feature=related).  It was hilarious!  Maybe you had to be there, but our table burst out laughing.  Soon, we were all doing the handshake, and then I taught them the jellyfish and the rocket ship.  Everybody loved the rocket ship, and my little table of eight drew little rocket ships on the backs of their pieces of paper.  It was very cute.  I think we bonded... :-)

More later...

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Good Craic

So, if I've counted correctly, I believe today marks the beginning of my third week here in Belfast, and its high time for a blog update.

The eight of us spent our first week becoming acquainted with each other (and Doug and Elaine, our site coordinators), the City of Belfast, and each other's site placements.  Basically, this means that we spent TONS of time together as a group of 9 or 10, roaming around the city centre on foot (figuring out the bus system and running small errands), traveling by minibus to learn more about each other's jobs, and eating lunch and dinner together every day.  So, we bonded a whole lot, went on long walks in the hills, learned more about the complex history of Northern Ireland, and had a great time overall!  Its also important note that over the past couple of weeks we've been learning a lot of new, wee vocabulary words (everything here is "wee" - a "wee" cup of tea, a "wee" walk, not a short walk...ahahaha).  Some other examples include "CRAIC" and "SKINT."  Craic is easiest to understand in context, so someone might say "What's the craic?"  Like, "what's up?" Or, "What's good?"  Or, I just came for the craic, like the good times.  Craic is pronounced "crack."  Skint means broke.

My roommate and I get along really well, and we have a lot of fun trying to come up with meals with what we have in the house - always an adventure.  Our first night here, we couldn't figure out how to lock our door, so we barricaded ourselves in.  We used a potato masher to hold up the door handle in the locked position, some twine to secure the masher to some coat hooks, pushed a dresser in front of the door, and placed 3 glasses on top of the dresser, because we were sure that we'd wake up if they shattered.  If nothing else, we're creative; however, its a good thing that I woke up early the next morning because the plumber had to get in in order to finish installing the rest of our bathroom appliances.  (Side note: when we first got here, we had a toilet in our bathroom.  Our shower was sealed on the second day, and usable on the third, and then later that week a sink was installed, and we have a mirror, but are having some difficulty figuring out how to apply the double-sided tape...)  In any case, the poor plumber was having a terrible time trying to open our door with his key because it wasn't locked in the conventional way, luckily we were able to move the dresser before he got REALLY frustrated.  hahaha.  And clearly, our bathroom is in wonderful working condition (sans mirror).

Other mishaps might include the time when the blow dryer shot sparks at me - one baby-sized spark, and one GIANT spark while it was in my hands...that was a little scary...  Oh, and the time when the vacuum started smoking randomly when I was in the middle of the upstairs hallway.  The question still remains: Are these appliances on the fritz?  Or should I not be allowed to do housework?  ;-)  No worries, my room is very clean, and we're working on getting into a cleaning and cooking routine.

More later...

Friday, July 1, 2011

First Post!

Wow.  It is hard to believe that all the Young Adult Volunteers leave for orientation in Stony Point, NY, in just 52 days.  Along with 7 other volunteers, I'll be serving through the PC (U.S.A.) in Belfast from 29 August 2011 until the summer of 2012.  Each of us has received a church placement and a community center placement from our site coordinator Doug Baker.  I am so excited to get to know and serve with the other volunteers and Doug.   

Specifically, I will be serving with the Glengormley Presbyterian Church (www.glengormleypresbyterianchurch.org) working with youth from the congregation and the community in a mixed area of North Belfast and assisting with a parents and pre-school group, art club, and other programs.  In terms of my community center placement, I will be working with The Vine Community and Advice Centre,  which is located in a low-income area in North Belfast.  The Vine provides a comprehensive range of community services to all age groups including after school tutoring, youth clubs, women’s groups, a senior citizen’s lunch club, an advice center for those needing help filling in forms, and JAFFA (Jesus A Friend For All) a Christian education outreach for children (www.vinecentre.org).  So, I'm eager to learn from and serve with the people of North Belfast.

On a more personal note, in preparation for the year in Belfast, I have become a recovering vegetarian.  I started slowly with turkey and bacon (Surprise, right?  Apparently, bacon is a gateway meat...meaning that vegetarians are lured back to the meat-eating world by its salty goodness), and I've worked up to chicken and other kinds of pork.  I have yet to tackle lamb and beef, but I'm sure that will happen soon (maybe even over the upcoming holiday weekend?!?!).  We shall see!  More soon.

Peace be with you!