Well I am now officially living and working in the United States of America and today made me really feel like I belonged here.
In Paul Simon's classic You Can Call me Al he sings the lines;
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Well I have of late been feeling like this at times.
until today I had been really struggling with expressing myself to my US brothers and sisters added to the fact I’ve been waiting for the last 4 weeks for my bank account to open I have really felt like the lyrics in some ways summed up my thoughts and at time my feelings.
The joys of my accent and my means of expression have at time left me feeling very foreign and the sounds of the cattle in the market place is at time all around me in my life both at school and in my community.
But things I hope may have taken a turn for the better; at least I think they will. I along with Diana and Sarah went to the mall this afternoon/ evening to taste and see the joys of all things Americana all topped off with a helping of Chinese American food served in a Japanese food concession in the food hall of Freehold Raceway Mall.
This experience served to make me realize more why I like living here despite the difficulties that differences can sometimes bring.
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Thursday 17 September 2009
A communal outing
Tonight we finished our first communal blog for the Good Shepherd Volunteer Blog, it details a little of what we have been up to over the recent weeks.
It’s odd reading it as some of the events seem to have been years ago but are only a week ago.
You can check out the blog here;
http://www.justlovegsv.blogspot.com/
It’s odd reading it as some of the events seem to have been years ago but are only a week ago.
You can check out the blog here;
http://www.justlovegsv.blogspot.com/
Tuesday 15 September 2009
Pax Christi and Pancakes
Well today saw a further development in the world of wonder that is Collier high school.
I along with my fellow volunteers was asked to cook breakfast for a number of young people in periods 2, 3, 5 and 6.
Now ok, periods 2 and 3 are in the a.m. but periods 5 and 6 are after lunch. Some of you reading this may already know how much of a stickler for the rules when it comes to the miss appropriation of meal names but i got over this.
So Miss Dodgson and I went to period 6 to make breakfast for the science student in the class, we made pancakes and bacon- it was a delight and delightful. I obviously don’t need to highlight the scientific importance of making bacon in the classroom as a informative and nutritional means of highlighting the everyday importance of chemistry and chemical bonds in all aspects of life not least at breakfast.
A lot of pancake mix and bacon was left over- this is good news in the life of a volunteer as it can mean one of two things-
1. We get left overs
2. we get left overs
So we got left overs, and had breakfast for dinner-YEAH
After dinner we went to a Pax Christi prayer Vigil for Immigrants with Sr Debbie and Sr Carol and Meg who works at the school and was a former volunteer. It was really good and brought to mind a lot of the reasons why I am here: to serve people who are on the fringes of society , and to bring Christ to all who I meet especially those who don’t get a chance at doing the things that I can do and take for granted.
http://paxsummit.blogspot.com/
It also reminded me of lots of my friends in the Olde Country who I miss and have learnt so much from over the last few years and longer.
I along with my fellow volunteers was asked to cook breakfast for a number of young people in periods 2, 3, 5 and 6.
Now ok, periods 2 and 3 are in the a.m. but periods 5 and 6 are after lunch. Some of you reading this may already know how much of a stickler for the rules when it comes to the miss appropriation of meal names but i got over this.
So Miss Dodgson and I went to period 6 to make breakfast for the science student in the class, we made pancakes and bacon- it was a delight and delightful. I obviously don’t need to highlight the scientific importance of making bacon in the classroom as a informative and nutritional means of highlighting the everyday importance of chemistry and chemical bonds in all aspects of life not least at breakfast.
A lot of pancake mix and bacon was left over- this is good news in the life of a volunteer as it can mean one of two things-
1. We get left overs
2. we get left overs
So we got left overs, and had breakfast for dinner-YEAH
After dinner we went to a Pax Christi prayer Vigil for Immigrants with Sr Debbie and Sr Carol and Meg who works at the school and was a former volunteer. It was really good and brought to mind a lot of the reasons why I am here: to serve people who are on the fringes of society , and to bring Christ to all who I meet especially those who don’t get a chance at doing the things that I can do and take for granted.
http://paxsummit.blogspot.com/
It also reminded me of lots of my friends in the Olde Country who I miss and have learnt so much from over the last few years and longer.
Sunday 13 September 2009
A wickatunk weekend
Well this weekend has been a rather interesting means of primarily getting to know my community, the local area and how scared I can be or not as the case may be.
So on Saturday we decided that our apartment needed a clean so we cleaned for a large part of the day, I managed to reorganize the shelves in the kitchen and organize our rather vast tea, infusion and coffee collection, not what I had really got in mind for a Saturday in NJ but it was raining and I do live in the middle of nowhere so I wasn’t that bothered.
After cleaning for some time it was decided that we were going to visit a NJ diner which are apparently very famous- just quite famous and only really famous if your get a good one and you’re from NJ.
So we decided to go to the one nearest to us but it was closed so then we ended up pretty much in the middle of nowhere in a place called Manalapan at the Manalapan Diner
Now the Manalapan diner isn’t just any diner it’s a diner restaurant offering a range of delights that are spread over a 12 page menu plus specials. My review wouldn’t do it justice, however, http://www.yelp.com/biz/manalapan-diner-englishtown
Does in part but doesn’t truly express the atmosphere of the place which was to say the least Bizarre! The women who served us told Diana she didn’t want to have the Matzo ball soup, Diana did order the soup and when the waitress cleared our table she told Diana that she was a good girl.
I should also say at this stage that when ordering the soup we were asked what bread we wanted the options being as follows
Cheese Plain or Cinnamon? – yes Cinnamon!
We ordered cheese and some kind of sweet Danish pastry type of thing came, it was really sweet and added to the experience and left Saran Diana and myself with the question if that was the cheese then what would the cinnamon have been like!
The experience was made all the more enjoyable by our fellow dinners that varied in age from about 104 all the way to babies.
So there we are!
Sunday brought a trip to Six Flags Adventure Park
http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/index.aspx
‘twas bloody scary, I say that but also enjoyable I went on a few rides and now have sore knees from pressing them on to the sides of the carts that I sat in whilst hurtling around.
I don’t think Sarah and Diana realized just how much of a chicken I am when it comes to things rides but I soon dispelled any illusions by coming off http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/The_Great_American_Scream_Machine.aspx with a look of death, I then told them that this was a normal thing for me and that when I said I really don’t like roller coasters I meant it.
It was a good day though with highlights including the conquering of the runaway mine train and other favourites that were rated as family favorites.
I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to six flags but it was good to see the collective masses enjoying a very very hot day in mid September
So on Saturday we decided that our apartment needed a clean so we cleaned for a large part of the day, I managed to reorganize the shelves in the kitchen and organize our rather vast tea, infusion and coffee collection, not what I had really got in mind for a Saturday in NJ but it was raining and I do live in the middle of nowhere so I wasn’t that bothered.
After cleaning for some time it was decided that we were going to visit a NJ diner which are apparently very famous- just quite famous and only really famous if your get a good one and you’re from NJ.
So we decided to go to the one nearest to us but it was closed so then we ended up pretty much in the middle of nowhere in a place called Manalapan at the Manalapan Diner
Now the Manalapan diner isn’t just any diner it’s a diner restaurant offering a range of delights that are spread over a 12 page menu plus specials. My review wouldn’t do it justice, however, http://www.yelp.com/biz/manalapan-diner-englishtown
Does in part but doesn’t truly express the atmosphere of the place which was to say the least Bizarre! The women who served us told Diana she didn’t want to have the Matzo ball soup, Diana did order the soup and when the waitress cleared our table she told Diana that she was a good girl.
I should also say at this stage that when ordering the soup we were asked what bread we wanted the options being as follows
Cheese Plain or Cinnamon? – yes Cinnamon!
We ordered cheese and some kind of sweet Danish pastry type of thing came, it was really sweet and added to the experience and left Saran Diana and myself with the question if that was the cheese then what would the cinnamon have been like!
The experience was made all the more enjoyable by our fellow dinners that varied in age from about 104 all the way to babies.
So there we are!
Sunday brought a trip to Six Flags Adventure Park
http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/index.aspx
‘twas bloody scary, I say that but also enjoyable I went on a few rides and now have sore knees from pressing them on to the sides of the carts that I sat in whilst hurtling around.
I don’t think Sarah and Diana realized just how much of a chicken I am when it comes to things rides but I soon dispelled any illusions by coming off http://www.sixflags.com/greatAdventure/rides/The_Great_American_Scream_Machine.aspx with a look of death, I then told them that this was a normal thing for me and that when I said I really don’t like roller coasters I meant it.
It was a good day though with highlights including the conquering of the runaway mine train and other favourites that were rated as family favorites.
I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to six flags but it was good to see the collective masses enjoying a very very hot day in mid September
Life so far
September
So a run down of the last few days for you all:
This week I’ve been mostly embracing all things American, with my inaugural basketball game- I got beaten by my housemate Sarah!
Went bicycle riding along a canal it was a bit like being at home with the canals of the Black Country, with the additions of water snakes, turtles and a canal that seemed to have very little in the way of rubbish in it.
So a run down of the last few days for you all:
This week I’ve been mostly embracing all things American, with my inaugural basketball game- I got beaten by my housemate Sarah!
Went bicycle riding along a canal it was a bit like being at home with the canals of the Black Country, with the additions of water snakes, turtles and a canal that seemed to have very little in the way of rubbish in it.
Check out http://www.dandrcanal.com/
And http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=ie7&q=d%20and%20r%20canal&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7TSHB_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl
Then on Friday Sarah, Diana and I along with our principle Ray his dad Ray Senior and John who is a cool science teacher at the school, went to
!
to do a little; net crabbing, which basically involved a net and walking in crab grass and losts of it, all in all fun
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