Ghana is so close now - its getting exciting! I have got my Malarone (malaria tablets) and they only cost £7.20! Hurray for Lewisham council, they have saved me £50 :D
Im getting my jabs done for sure early this week.
Thankyou to all who have already sponsored the Ghana trip - your donations are most appreciated. I am doing a duet with Ruth for her fundraising concert next saturday, which im really looking forward to. If yall back home want to sponsor this worthy cause, please talk to my dad aka Mr Simon Bramwell. I still have to raise £400 towards it. if you peeps over london way wanna sponsor me, please do - ill bring a jar to The Barn, YMAD and church next week :)
Thursday in the office was rather good, and we went to Hazel Grove after to play some football and get the kids involved in a filming project we are doing. XLP beat Hazel Grove 15 - 12 at footy! yay! We froze our digits off XD
Rupert (the guy in charge of worship) said he'd slot me into the rota on tuesday, so i should know by the end of the week when im gonna be on the team :)
Friday this week was good - there were far fewer fights, and we got talking with some of our regulars - they want to do work experience at XLP! It was so encouraging to hear that they liked what we were doing in their school enough to want to work for us for a time.
We have started a cooking class thing at Milford Towers, so we went there straight from Northbrook to clean the community flat (im not sure how much they pay those caretakers, but they sure dont pay em enough ;) ), then we cooked them a meal - pasta and veg sauce with flan for pudding. It was great to see them wolfing it down. Its great to do stuff for other people, and it was even more special to me knowing that this might have been their one meal of the evening, or the only healthy thing they would eat all day.
YMAD was also good - Steveie did the talk on Forgiveness, and Calum got voted in for the Leader's Challenge. Its my turn to think of one - any ideas ppl? I was thinking something involving toothpaste ;)
On saturday i went to Southwark Team's Ghana fundraiser, showcasing lots of local talent, and it was a really fun evening. There was everything from emcees and dance acts to rock bands, and a few acts from the Greenwich Arts Showcase.
Today was interesting - Calum was ill (:( ) So YMAD was kinda done off the hoof - luckily i had a talk prepared that i could expand on. I talked about my trip to Uganda and why mission is important to christians, and read them the classic faith and works passage from James. I love James - so inspiring. Martin Luther didnt know what he was looking at ;)
We did some new games and did loads of running around on the astro turf pitch - definitely doing thattun again~
Hopefully i should be getting a phone this week - ill let you all know what my number is asap :)
peace out~
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Well well well
Im feeling quite organised - averaging one or more post a week here, would you look at that :)
On monday we had a lovely lady come to talk to us about issues in africa in preparation for the Ghana trip ( if you would like to sponsor me, please get in touch via email and well sort summat out), including things like climate change, AIDS, politics, healthcare and sanitation etc. It was very interesting. After that Les Isaacs who heads up Street Pastors came in to give us a talk on Culture and reaching people from different cultures, then he took us out onto the street to talk to people, and we talked to some Indian guys selling foriegn sim cards about how it was hard to get a job in the UK and how he wanted to go back home, oh, and remember Allah. I wave every time i walk past now :)
Tuesday went fantastically well, and i think it has been one of the best days I've had at XLP so far - it was my turn to do the talk at the lunch club, and the kids were in raptures, and they spent a good 10 mins on the discussion questions. I think ive caught the public speaking bug :) Live Lounge was also really good, we had some good discussions with the young people over dinner. We found out from one of them that they often get money from their parents and have to feed themselves. One guy got £3.50 a day to spend on lunch and dinner, and told us he mostly got fish and chips, pizza,or chicken and chips. Im not sure what they do for weekends but its sad that they are growing lads and not getting the diets they need. We are drafting up a session where we take them to a supermarket and teach them how to eat healthily on £2 :)
We had some interviewees for next year's gap year course, and they came along to Live Lounge and got involved with our huge table tennis games, and it was generally a wonderful buzzing atmosphere :D
Today I woke up to my new alarm clock (yusss), and we had in class support. One of my students is continuously absent so that got looked into today, and hopefully that will clear up. Lunch club in Addey was good... Barn was good - we had the first of our sessions answering the burning questions we got them to ask last week - this week was on Church and Christian Life, and there were some good discussions going.
So yah, my week so far :)
keep you posted ;)
On monday we had a lovely lady come to talk to us about issues in africa in preparation for the Ghana trip ( if you would like to sponsor me, please get in touch via email and well sort summat out), including things like climate change, AIDS, politics, healthcare and sanitation etc. It was very interesting. After that Les Isaacs who heads up Street Pastors came in to give us a talk on Culture and reaching people from different cultures, then he took us out onto the street to talk to people, and we talked to some Indian guys selling foriegn sim cards about how it was hard to get a job in the UK and how he wanted to go back home, oh, and remember Allah. I wave every time i walk past now :)
Tuesday went fantastically well, and i think it has been one of the best days I've had at XLP so far - it was my turn to do the talk at the lunch club, and the kids were in raptures, and they spent a good 10 mins on the discussion questions. I think ive caught the public speaking bug :) Live Lounge was also really good, we had some good discussions with the young people over dinner. We found out from one of them that they often get money from their parents and have to feed themselves. One guy got £3.50 a day to spend on lunch and dinner, and told us he mostly got fish and chips, pizza,or chicken and chips. Im not sure what they do for weekends but its sad that they are growing lads and not getting the diets they need. We are drafting up a session where we take them to a supermarket and teach them how to eat healthily on £2 :)
We had some interviewees for next year's gap year course, and they came along to Live Lounge and got involved with our huge table tennis games, and it was generally a wonderful buzzing atmosphere :D
Today I woke up to my new alarm clock (yusss), and we had in class support. One of my students is continuously absent so that got looked into today, and hopefully that will clear up. Lunch club in Addey was good... Barn was good - we had the first of our sessions answering the burning questions we got them to ask last week - this week was on Church and Christian Life, and there were some good discussions going.
So yah, my week so far :)
keep you posted ;)
Sunday, 17 January 2010
First food shop, new friends, fun times
Well, another week has passed since I last posted, and it has been a Good One :)
Last Sunday i went sledging in Crystal Palace park with some of the youth at church, and it was great fun, and it was really good to get to know them better. The more I get to know the youth the more at home I feel :D
This week's training session was on Islam, which was fascinating, and shows just how little you get from the media about Islam. For example, the different "denominations" of Islam, different interpretations of the Koran, and how culture affects Islam in different countries. The afternoon's session was on how to approach teaching students who dont have english as a first language, and how the teaching techniques have changed.
We had our first "proper" day back at Northbrook, and it was great to see them all again, and to have our first Live Lounge of the year. We also had our first full week of youth groups because the snow had all melted by Monday afternoon :)
We had a bit more snow on Wednesday, but it was the wet kinda snow that makes good snowballs but doesnt stick around for long. In the afternoon we had mentoring with Sarah, and we gave each other the prophecies we felt god was saying to us, and wrote what positive qualities each person had on a bit of paper. It was interesting to see what people put! I was pleased to see that people think i am quietly determined.
wootage~
At the Barn we had a last minute change of plan for how to do the next term, and we got all the youth to annonymously write their most burning questions on post it notes and we aim to answer them during the term. There were some very interesting and profound questions in there - I look forward to hearing the answers :)
Still no Bus- the reason its out of action is because XLP had to make changes to it to meet the Low Emissions standard, but somewhere along the line the paperwork went missing and we got saddled with a large fine, and will do every time we take the bus out. Please pray that itll all get sorted and we can take the bus out to the estates again :)
Friday was nuts. Sean from last year's team turned up to do playground pastoring with us, and they were all happy to see him. After that it went downhill, and in the second playground it started kicking off, but luckily it only went as far as playfights and facing off. But in the first playground two girls proper went for each other and it got pretty ugly. One of the students said to us it would probably continue after school, and we were lucky to hear it because we were able to tip the school off. Kerry was very emphatic that we pass information like that on "because its information like that that stops someone getting stabbed." Hearing it like that put it into perspective.
Saturday me and a bunch of church youth went to Bromley to see Avatar, but unluckily it was booked out, so saw Sherlock Holmes instead. Its a very good film - clever plot and clever filming. Go see it. I had my first ever trip to A&E when one of them passed out on the bus - luckily she was alright.
Me and Elaine have agreed that I'm gonna do my own meals, so i did my first food shop today. Its exciting - ill be well set up for uni at the end of the year :D
I have lost my phone :(
Speckle says over and out till next time ;)
Last Sunday i went sledging in Crystal Palace park with some of the youth at church, and it was great fun, and it was really good to get to know them better. The more I get to know the youth the more at home I feel :D
This week's training session was on Islam, which was fascinating, and shows just how little you get from the media about Islam. For example, the different "denominations" of Islam, different interpretations of the Koran, and how culture affects Islam in different countries. The afternoon's session was on how to approach teaching students who dont have english as a first language, and how the teaching techniques have changed.
We had our first "proper" day back at Northbrook, and it was great to see them all again, and to have our first Live Lounge of the year. We also had our first full week of youth groups because the snow had all melted by Monday afternoon :)
We had a bit more snow on Wednesday, but it was the wet kinda snow that makes good snowballs but doesnt stick around for long. In the afternoon we had mentoring with Sarah, and we gave each other the prophecies we felt god was saying to us, and wrote what positive qualities each person had on a bit of paper. It was interesting to see what people put! I was pleased to see that people think i am quietly determined.
wootage~
At the Barn we had a last minute change of plan for how to do the next term, and we got all the youth to annonymously write their most burning questions on post it notes and we aim to answer them during the term. There were some very interesting and profound questions in there - I look forward to hearing the answers :)
Still no Bus- the reason its out of action is because XLP had to make changes to it to meet the Low Emissions standard, but somewhere along the line the paperwork went missing and we got saddled with a large fine, and will do every time we take the bus out. Please pray that itll all get sorted and we can take the bus out to the estates again :)
Friday was nuts. Sean from last year's team turned up to do playground pastoring with us, and they were all happy to see him. After that it went downhill, and in the second playground it started kicking off, but luckily it only went as far as playfights and facing off. But in the first playground two girls proper went for each other and it got pretty ugly. One of the students said to us it would probably continue after school, and we were lucky to hear it because we were able to tip the school off. Kerry was very emphatic that we pass information like that on "because its information like that that stops someone getting stabbed." Hearing it like that put it into perspective.
Saturday me and a bunch of church youth went to Bromley to see Avatar, but unluckily it was booked out, so saw Sherlock Holmes instead. Its a very good film - clever plot and clever filming. Go see it. I had my first ever trip to A&E when one of them passed out on the bus - luckily she was alright.
Me and Elaine have agreed that I'm gonna do my own meals, so i did my first food shop today. Its exciting - ill be well set up for uni at the end of the year :D
I have lost my phone :(
Speckle says over and out till next time ;)
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Moar snow~
There is still snow on the ground, and there has been more tonight, so thinks look to still be a bit slowgoing this next week (even more so if the national grit shortage gets worse).
On thursday we had Church Day and went through the topics and rota for this term. If you want me to come round for a weekend, please buzz me by the end of this week coz i need to book time off and after that the rota is not flexible. Because the bus was out of action due to the sheet ice, we did home visits at Hazel Grove, and we ended up at Hannah and Anisha's house, where we were very kindly offered a cup of tea and we talked about Jamaica, which was fascinating. It was good to get to know the girls a bit better, as its hard to talk much on the bus really - its very noisy.
On friday we went to Northbrook for playground pastoring and caught up with all the students and asked how their christmases were. They were largly good :)
Youthgroup was cancelled because of the snow, so we had a little while longer to get ready for out XLP Night Out in London Town. Which was just as well because i forgot my ID and had to go back to get it. We ended up at this great little bar called Sosho, which had really friendly bar staff and some indie-electronica background music.
Me and Davina tried to get the night bus back to Brockley, and after some friendly drunk people tried directing us back (involving 3 buses and a ten minute walk), we decided to crash at the travelodge with the rest of the guys. Lesson learned: always plan ahead with transport.
Sledging with Forest Hill youth at crystal palace tomorrow! Wahay!
Here are some songs Im obsessed with atm. Check them out on spotify. If you havent got Spotify, thats a darn shame~
http://open.spotify.com/track/0Ct2XTT4UBt9Y196i0Ido2
http://open.spotify.com/track/0YiReIeCQKpsxD0p1ANcgk
http://open.spotify.com/track/4WcZgEIcXnZ5A71XKvgN41
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Jm1ZaOPZcVb2UGvYqR7W0
http://open.spotify.com/track/420Bp7QeWpYYh6ZikNdZ2X
On thursday we had Church Day and went through the topics and rota for this term. If you want me to come round for a weekend, please buzz me by the end of this week coz i need to book time off and after that the rota is not flexible. Because the bus was out of action due to the sheet ice, we did home visits at Hazel Grove, and we ended up at Hannah and Anisha's house, where we were very kindly offered a cup of tea and we talked about Jamaica, which was fascinating. It was good to get to know the girls a bit better, as its hard to talk much on the bus really - its very noisy.
On friday we went to Northbrook for playground pastoring and caught up with all the students and asked how their christmases were. They were largly good :)
Youthgroup was cancelled because of the snow, so we had a little while longer to get ready for out XLP Night Out in London Town. Which was just as well because i forgot my ID and had to go back to get it. We ended up at this great little bar called Sosho, which had really friendly bar staff and some indie-electronica background music.
Me and Davina tried to get the night bus back to Brockley, and after some friendly drunk people tried directing us back (involving 3 buses and a ten minute walk), we decided to crash at the travelodge with the rest of the guys. Lesson learned: always plan ahead with transport.
Sledging with Forest Hill youth at crystal palace tomorrow! Wahay!
Here are some songs Im obsessed with atm. Check them out on spotify. If you havent got Spotify, thats a darn shame~
http://open.spotify.com/track/0Ct2XTT4UBt9Y196i0Ido2
http://open.spotify.com/track/0YiReIeCQKpsxD0p1ANcgk
http://open.spotify.com/track/4WcZgEIcXnZ5A71XKvgN41
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Jm1ZaOPZcVb2UGvYqR7W0
http://open.spotify.com/track/420Bp7QeWpYYh6ZikNdZ2X
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Back to XLP :)
Its been an eventful few days back already!
It was great to have a late start on monday, and me and dad had a wee roadtrip up to london and dropped me off at the office. It was great to catch up with everyone again and hear how their holidays went. Ali came and talked to us about the Ghana trip - lil tips about public speaking etc, because when we are there we will be teaching, doing street drama, and also sharing our testimonies.
Tuesday was a wee bit odd because Northbrook school go back later in the week, so instead we had a prayer/planning meeting, then chilled over lunch and went to Kerry's house to watch Freedom Writers (which we planned to watch in Induction Week but didnt). It's about a teacher who teaches a class in a rough school (LA i think) and how she built relationships and taught them, and got them to publish a book about their stories and background. Go grab it from a rental shop. Now, its a gud wun~
Today we had classroom support, although neither of my students turned up (due to snow), so i helped their friends instead. Davina had a great maths lesson, where the teacher got her to tell the class about XLP - quite exciting :)
We had a wee bible study in the afternoon, and then IT SNOWED. heavy snow arrived bang on 3, like the weatherman promised, and me Davina and Heather went to a park in Honor Oak Park and had a whale of a time.
Awesome. I'll keep you posted :)
It was great to have a late start on monday, and me and dad had a wee roadtrip up to london and dropped me off at the office. It was great to catch up with everyone again and hear how their holidays went. Ali came and talked to us about the Ghana trip - lil tips about public speaking etc, because when we are there we will be teaching, doing street drama, and also sharing our testimonies.
Tuesday was a wee bit odd because Northbrook school go back later in the week, so instead we had a prayer/planning meeting, then chilled over lunch and went to Kerry's house to watch Freedom Writers (which we planned to watch in Induction Week but didnt). It's about a teacher who teaches a class in a rough school (LA i think) and how she built relationships and taught them, and got them to publish a book about their stories and background. Go grab it from a rental shop. Now, its a gud wun~
Today we had classroom support, although neither of my students turned up (due to snow), so i helped their friends instead. Davina had a great maths lesson, where the teacher got her to tell the class about XLP - quite exciting :)
We had a wee bible study in the afternoon, and then IT SNOWED. heavy snow arrived bang on 3, like the weatherman promised, and me Davina and Heather went to a park in Honor Oak Park and had a whale of a time.
Awesome. I'll keep you posted :)
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