First of all a big thankyou to everyone who's made the visit back home so enjoyable, it was great to see you again, and to take a pause from the busyness of london life. I hadn't realised the pace I was going at until the train got out of the buildings and into the green space and I took a huge breath I hadn't realised I was holding.
It is amazing what being in a different place for a while does to your perspective of familiar places - Romsey suddenly seemed small and cosy, and really slow.
So, its been a while since my last post, what has happened? *thinks*
...We are really starting to get to know the young people, and a few of us had a breakthrough moment last week in In Class Support - Byron who started acting like a bit of a terror is now behaving really well, and we were even talking a bit. So often support teachers are just in and out, and the students never really get to know them - they are just another adult who isnt there for them, and i think it is really good to have in class support that is constant throughout the year. Now that Byron is beginning to realise I'm going to be there every week he is engaging more, which is really fantastic to see, coz i know he'll get more out of school if hes concentrating, and also coz i get to know him and it makes my job easier!
mkay, running out of ideas right now, i will update this post when i'm back in london~
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Getting Established
Morning peeps! It’s the weekend! Yay!
Today I got up at the wonderful time of Quite-Late. So I shall spend what’s left of the morning telling you wonderful people what the average week at XLP is like (so far):
On Mondays all us eXperience students spend a day at the office in training. We have covered all sorts of interesting topics like community, what the point of youthwork is, modern values and Christian values, youthwork do’s and don’ts, and addressing fear. It’s a really nice time to catch up with all the other teams and find out what they’ve been up to in the week, and to plan going out. We have a regular group going up to Hillsong on Sunday evenings, I think I’ll go along tomorrow~
Tuesdays we start the day with a prayer time, and then walk to Northbrook school to do a lunch club. We are due to do some reading support there according to my timetable, but we haven’t started that yet. After school from 3pm we do an after school club called Live Lounge, which is held in the community wing of Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, and they have a PS2 and a pool table, table tennis, lots of comfy chairs and a tuck shop. It’s a nice place just to chill with the kids that come along and get to know them more. There was a really positive atmosphere and the kids really enjoyed it. At about half 4 we have a meal which we take in turns to cook, and we all get to sit round the table and have a discussion. This week it was about whether video games and music affect out behaviour. It’s really interesting to hear their views on things.
I am learning as much from the kids as I am teaching them. A girl at Northbrook was telling me yesterday about how she sees the eXperience students start the year all quiet then they grow in confidence. It reminds me that age is no barrier to wisdom, and that you can’t have high opinions of yourself!
On Wednesdays we start earlier (at ten :O We don’t have early starts at XLP which I am glad :D), and do some in class support in Addey and Stanhope school which is a bit more challenging. We have to sit in lessons with a specific pupil and help them with their school work. I have one lovely student and one challenging student, so it will be a case of sticking at it. Please pray for perseverance. After we do classroom support we do a lunch club there which was packed out and really good fun.
We then have time at the office for lunch and for a team meeting – this term we use this time to plan our video project – we have to make a 3 minute film for TrueTube (like youtube but with a social action / theological focus) on the topic of our boroughs, which we will be filming in the second half of half term.
After that me and Ruth zip off to The Barn, the 15-17 youth group at our church, and help out there. At the moment the church youth groups are the highlight of my week I get back quite late from that and get to see the shining lights of the big city from the railway line on the way back from the bus stop. Here is a piccy:
Thursdays me and Ruth spend the day at the office doing church stuff – we have prayer sessions and mentoring in the morning and spend the afternoon doing office work and planning our groups, then we do the XLP Bus at Hazel Grove estate. I will tell you more about the Bus in another post~
On Fridays we get a lie-in (yussssss) and go to Northbrook school for lunchtime pastoring, which is walking around the playground and getting to know the kids and being a friendly face for them to talk to. After lunch we then do the Bus at Milford Towers, the estate that’s built on top of a Tescos, then me and Ruth go to Ymad, the 11-14 youth group at church.
And that is my average week, although each day is never the same! There is always something interesting going on. Please email me and facebook me, coz I don’t have uber amounts of time to spend on msn atm.
Today I got up at the wonderful time of Quite-Late. So I shall spend what’s left of the morning telling you wonderful people what the average week at XLP is like (so far):
On Mondays all us eXperience students spend a day at the office in training. We have covered all sorts of interesting topics like community, what the point of youthwork is, modern values and Christian values, youthwork do’s and don’ts, and addressing fear. It’s a really nice time to catch up with all the other teams and find out what they’ve been up to in the week, and to plan going out. We have a regular group going up to Hillsong on Sunday evenings, I think I’ll go along tomorrow~
Tuesdays we start the day with a prayer time, and then walk to Northbrook school to do a lunch club. We are due to do some reading support there according to my timetable, but we haven’t started that yet. After school from 3pm we do an after school club called Live Lounge, which is held in the community wing of Emmanuel Pentecostal Church, and they have a PS2 and a pool table, table tennis, lots of comfy chairs and a tuck shop. It’s a nice place just to chill with the kids that come along and get to know them more. There was a really positive atmosphere and the kids really enjoyed it. At about half 4 we have a meal which we take in turns to cook, and we all get to sit round the table and have a discussion. This week it was about whether video games and music affect out behaviour. It’s really interesting to hear their views on things.
I am learning as much from the kids as I am teaching them. A girl at Northbrook was telling me yesterday about how she sees the eXperience students start the year all quiet then they grow in confidence. It reminds me that age is no barrier to wisdom, and that you can’t have high opinions of yourself!
On Wednesdays we start earlier (at ten :O We don’t have early starts at XLP which I am glad :D), and do some in class support in Addey and Stanhope school which is a bit more challenging. We have to sit in lessons with a specific pupil and help them with their school work. I have one lovely student and one challenging student, so it will be a case of sticking at it. Please pray for perseverance. After we do classroom support we do a lunch club there which was packed out and really good fun.
We then have time at the office for lunch and for a team meeting – this term we use this time to plan our video project – we have to make a 3 minute film for TrueTube (like youtube but with a social action / theological focus) on the topic of our boroughs, which we will be filming in the second half of half term.
After that me and Ruth zip off to The Barn, the 15-17 youth group at our church, and help out there. At the moment the church youth groups are the highlight of my week I get back quite late from that and get to see the shining lights of the big city from the railway line on the way back from the bus stop. Here is a piccy:
Thursdays me and Ruth spend the day at the office doing church stuff – we have prayer sessions and mentoring in the morning and spend the afternoon doing office work and planning our groups, then we do the XLP Bus at Hazel Grove estate. I will tell you more about the Bus in another post~
On Fridays we get a lie-in (yussssss) and go to Northbrook school for lunchtime pastoring, which is walking around the playground and getting to know the kids and being a friendly face for them to talk to. After lunch we then do the Bus at Milford Towers, the estate that’s built on top of a Tescos, then me and Ruth go to Ymad, the 11-14 youth group at church.
And that is my average week, although each day is never the same! There is always something interesting going on. Please email me and facebook me, coz I don’t have uber amounts of time to spend on msn atm.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Induction Week
Induction week was fantastic. We had a welcome service at St Paul’s Shadwell, and got to meet the team and the other students on the course before heading off to the Latimer Centre for our induction week.
It was really great to hang out with everyone before we got stuck into doing our work, and we got to do loads of cool things, like a mini arts showcase (our team did a rap/dance and won!), a lunch club, going for curry on brick lane, a BBQ at the offices, and seeing the boroughs we’ll be working in on the borough day. I am in Lewisham team, with Ruth (from Sheffield), Andy (from Coventry), Davina (from Knowle near Birmingham), Zoe (from Derby) and Heather (from Gloucester). With so many northerners around I’m starting to lose my posh Winchester accent (yusssssssssssss).
My team is amazing, and I’m really happy to be working with such an awesome bunch of people. I am so pleased we are getting along so well, and already we have our running jokes ... Lewisham finger!!
London is amazing on many levels – there is always so much going on, from art to drama, to wacky and totally random things. Walking near the globe theatre we found a group of students running around the streets wearing cardboard boxes playing “human Tetris”, and in St James' Park there was a guy playing a drumkit attached to a bike frame.
On the other hand, slightly illegal and shocking stuff happens and no one bats an eyelid – if you did you’d just be stressed out I guess. We saw a guy hotwiring a car and another running away from the police all in one evening. Mike Coates explained that stuff was kicking off that night because it was the end of Ramadan and everyone was partying. We were also walking through the estate late at night, which we won’t be doing when we start work, so he was keen to stress we wouldn’t have to see that stuff on a regular basis. Its funny how much I’ve changed – a year ago that would’ve stressed me out, but I found it hilarious. Part of knowing that God has called me here takes away the stress of being in the city and adjusting to a new way of life. Because I know God put me here for a job, he won’t let me come to harm while the job is still to be done. And when this job is finished, I’ll go onto the next one. God is more than capable of looking after me.
I have fallen in love with the DLR, which is a train that travels at roof height round the city – I love going on it at night through the city centre, amongst the huge glittering skyscrapers; it’s a magical sight.
If you have any more questions about induction week, just ask and I’ll update this post. More to come soon!
Friday, 2 October 2009
I was lost in city lights...
Not really, i just like that tune~
Here are some pretty lights pictures. Sorry for the short blog post, i thought i better post summat but i dont know where to start, so much has happened! I will probably post more at the weekend when i have some time on my hands, my days are packed atm.
Here are some pretty lights pictures. Sorry for the short blog post, i thought i better post summat but i dont know where to start, so much has happened! I will probably post more at the weekend when i have some time on my hands, my days are packed atm.
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