Pancakes, Spoons, and Hills

Highlights from my first full week of work:

 The Link Family and Community Centre

Three days a week, I get to hang out with youth for a few hours during the afternoon drop-in sessions at The Link.  Local teenagers have the chance to shoot some pool, play some video games, check their Facebook, or chat with friends (maybe while chowing down on a pile of chips (fries) from the Chippy around the corner).
To be perfectly honest, I was really nervous to start this work placement. But little by little, I've grown to know the guys in drop-in a wee bit more each day.
My favorite part of drop-in BY FAR is when I lead a "Cookery" session.  I love messing around in the kitchen, and Cookery is an excellent way to teach some basic cooking/baking skills, have positive interactions with a few of the kids at a time, and then share our creation with the rest of drop-in!  So far, we've made chocolate-chip pancakes, toasties (grilled sandwiches), and spaghetti bolognese (fancy-talk for spaghetti and meatballs)! Mmmmm! It's a fun give-and-take: they teach me about words and types of food that I've never heard of before, and I tell them about the similar American version.

Another part of my role at The Link is helping with the Young women's group that meets once a week in the evening.  These girls are a HOOT!  The first night I was hanging out with them, I taught them a classic (also slightly violent and rowdy) card game that I learned when I was their age: SPOONS!

It's a fast-paced race to avoid being the lone player left without a precious spoon.  They love it and keep requesting that we play! I'm all spooned-out by the end of the night.
We also started our Zumba sessions this week!  Tons of fun, and lots of making up your own moves when you can't follow the instructor.
Looking forward to getting to know everyone more as the weeks go on at The Link!


Regent Street Presbyterian Church

My main job at Regent Street Presbyterian so far has been learning names and trying to remember them! But I'm catching on fairly quickly and this congregation reminds me a lot of my church home in Florida.  Everyone I've met, staff and lay person alike, has been so encouraging and supportive.
I've already had the opportunity to help coordinate a candle-lighting reflection time during one of the evening praise services, meet lots of youth during Sunday morning Bible Class, and tag along on some pastoral visits.  In the future, I'll become even more involved in the Youth Fellowship team, and even lead some of the Children's Moments at the front of the church on Sundays!  I feel so blessed to be welcomed so warmly into the life of this congregation.

Climbing Cave Hill

 Nature! Exercise! Getting our fingers in some clay and grass! Yeah! Woo!

The view from the top -- awesome!

~

Despite the similarities in the Northern Irish and U.S. cultures, I'm regularly reminded that the life experiences of those around me has been totally different than my own.  Sometimes, while hiking a giant hill or worshiping in a church or watching Gilmore Girls on T.V., it's easy to forget about the deeply embedded divisiveness in the country I now live in. 
Many lives and perspectives are still broken from the past, and there is a generation growing up now who is inheriting the burden of their parent's conflict.  A conflict they don't fully understand yet.  And yet many young people take up their parent's "cause" as their own, even if they've never had any personal interaction or conversation with "the other side" (i.e. Catholics -- in Ireland, a term having less to do with religion and more to do with political persuasion).  I am filled with grief when I think that this is the reality kids in this country are dealing with.  Maybe all we can do is challenge the prejudices we encounter, and hope that the challenge makes at least one or two stop and think about what they're participating in.

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.  -- Galatians 3:28