2010

So it is now the year 2010.  I ended up spending my Holiday relaxing quite a bit and just enjoying the peace of not "having to do anything."  Quite enjoyable, but not as much to report.

The pictures below are from my trip to Cambridge at King's College to see 'Nine lessons and Carols' on x-mas eve.  In short, wonderful experience, LONG wait (queued at 6:20 am to be let in at 1:30 pm for a 3 pm service - no tickets issued, your ticket is waiting in line).  Not sure I would do it again, but great to have had the experience.  The train up to Cambridge was one of the really fast ones...smooth as ever, wish we had trains like it in the States running east/west (I think there is a bullet train DC/NYC).

A cool clock where the grasshopper on top moved as well as the lights (hour/minute/second)...

Proof BBC was there to broadcast it live.

Just a couple smart people on that banner.

Part of the choir which came out early to sing for us.

The amazing fan ceiling.  Largest in the world.

The next set of pictures are from the New Year's Day parade in London... it was a little cold out so I didn't stay for the whole thing (got next to the road, but couldn't really move much to stay warm so my feet got cold.  H.S. bands from all around the States (and one from Japan too) played it it, as well as a float from each borough, and some other randomish groups.  A seeing eye dog training group walked through, but got held up for a little while.  I felt bad for them.  I helped walk some dogs from the Humane Society in a x-mas parade in Boulder last year and know how hard it is to keep 20+ dogs semi-calm in that environment.  Some were in better stages of training than others!!  I also interestingly saw TWO groups from Colorado.  One from Colorado Springs and the other from Broomfield of all places.

Some sort of Donkey society...no kidding!

One dog is very well behaved

Some pictures of the snow we've had after the Holidays...stuck to the trees like nothing else.

Since the new year I've been back to work with Bridge Builders.  We are getting ready to run a course (the foundation course) in early February, followed by another for Senior Church Leaders (meaning Archdeacon/Bishop, etc... not 'old' church leaders :-) ) in March, and another in April.  Between the busyness of courses and life I'm feeling like the next couple of months will fly by.  We are loosing our current host couple, Ed & Phyllis Shirk on 6 February when their three-year assignment ends and they head back to Colorado.  Taking their place will be Darrell and Barbara Jantz (from Oklahoma).  The Jantz's arrive next Wednesday and will overlap with Ed & Phyllis for about a week and a half.  It will be sad to see Ed & Phyllis leave, but that's the nature of living at the LMC, people are always leaving/arriving throughout everyone's time.

We just had a network day yesterday (one off workshop for people who have taken Bridge Builders' courses as a sort of review/expansion of information from courses) on Mediation.  It was focused on the 'healing strategies' part of interpersonal mediation.  Makes me look forward to taking the Mediating Interpersonal Conflicts course Bridge Builders' offers in July.

Another activity I have started helping with is a local night shelter up in Muswell Hill (north of where I live - where I typically shop for groceries).  The shelter is run at local churches in Muswell Hill during 12 weeks in the winter where their main shelter apparently can't take everyone.  The church I am helping with, St James, offered for an initial 6 weeks and then picked up another 6 weeks when the need was expressed again.  I helped with a night shift the night before last.  It consisted of arriving at around 9:45 pm, staying up with one other person while people slept until around 3 am when another set of people would stay awake while we slept until 6:30/7.  Interestingly the majority of the homeless in this area are black immigrants.  In another area of London (south east of where I am), the homeless population is mostly from eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria.  Differs dramatically from homeless populations which I have interacted with in the States where many are war veterans.

Last night I was up past 3 am again because I went to see the movie Avatar in 3-D at the IMAX theatre.  The only showing I could get a decent seat for was at 12:20 am...Tomorrow I am heading to the British Museum for a tour with the topic 'British Museum and the Bible'  Should be interesting, but it won't let me sleep in :(.

LMC Christmas Lunch & Holiday Plans

A little update of what I've been up to and my Holiday plans.

The London Mennonite Centre pays for all of the staff of the centre (and Wayne & Lois) to go and have lunch shortly before Christmas.  So we had a nice 3 course meal at a local place & enjoy good fellowship.  The only downside was that Ed & Phyllis Shirk, the host couple of the LMC, were not present because they left the day prior to fly to the States because Phyllis' mother was close to dying.  Instead it was Alastair, Colin, myself (the three members of the Bridge Builders' team), Will (Metanoia manager/IT person/Misc), Kim (Accountant), Jane (part time volunteer), and Wayne & Lois (MMN care workers).  As a part of the meal we brought crackers, which in the UK are basically a toilet paper cardboard roll wrapped with wrapping paper and filled with a paper hat/toy/poor joke.  Two people pull on either end and it explodes hence the "crack" with a bang.  Hadn't experienced it before, but it's quite common for x-mas events here.

Over the weekend I went to a Messiah performance that was held at Albert Royal Hall because Will was singing in the choir.  Fun event, large building, very impressive organ, good singing and orchestra.  I also went ice skating for the first time in about 12 or so years.  I was impressed with how much I enjoyed it.  Might be something I will try again soon and possibly more often if I enjoy it again.  I will plan to skate with Will at some point (he skates regularly) sometime in mid-to-late January once the Holiday time has cooled down a bit.

I saw a Carol service at a local church in Muswell Hill on Sunday evening called St James.  I have been attending their evening services and found their Carol service very enjoyable.  VERY large crowd...from what the ministry assistant told me their carol services and Christmas Eve services are the most people they have in the entire year.  It had multiple "traditional" Christmas carols with a choir and orchestra playing (and congregation joining in as well), although a couple of the songs were "British" versions that I had not heard before.  For example, the tune to "O Little Town of Bethlehem" was a little different than I recognised, but still easy to pick up.  A short sketch and a short sermon also accompanied the service.  Felt almost like a Christmas Eve service, but I'll experience one of those later in the week so perhaps they are slightly different or just more of the same.  I don't know where I will go for that yet, but perhaps St Martin-in-the-Field in central London.

We had a bit of snow in London on Monday evening.  Something to the tune of 3-4 inches of slushy snow.  I think it started as snow, changed to rain, and then finished as snow.  Basically shut down a lot of the tube system, virtually all of the bus system for the evening commute.  I helped numerous people push their car's out after they got stuck on our street.  When I went grocery shopping I counted 22 buses parked along a 9/10ths of a mile stretch of road.  Almost seemed like I was downtown with all the people walking on the sidewalks.  I also proceeded to make a couple of snowmen.  I figured how often will I get enough snow in London to do it.  As you can see from my pictures the snowmen fell over :-( by morning.  Still fun to do.

Snowman fell over

LMC w/3-4 inches of slushy snow (morning after so a lot melted)

The green spot is where I rolled my snowman...

Backyard of LMC morning after

Tomorrow (23 December) I am travelling up to Cambridge to see "a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" at King's College Chapel.  It is actually held on Christmas Eve, but tickets are not sold in advance so we (Lois, Wayne, their daughter, another member from Wood Green Mennonite Church, and I) are going to get in line at 7:30 am when it opens and wait in the queue until they let us in at 1:30 pm for the 3 pm service.  It is aired on BBC in the UK and around the world at various times.  Lois and Wayne have always listened to it when in the States so they wanted to go and see it live.  We will take the train up tomorrow afternoon, sightsee Cambridge in the evening, bunker down in a hostel, and then get up early.

Christmas day I will be making egg's benedict for everyone who is at the LMC (7 or 8 of us) as a mid-morning brunch.  At 11 we will be having a Christmas Service for Wood Green Mennonite Church (WGMC) members followed by a "bring and share" at 2pm.  Later I plan to also talk with my parents and Aunt Mary/Uncle Allen via skype after they are done with their Christmas meal in Vermont.

On Boxing Day (day after Christmas), I will be going to Sue & Peter's (Sue is the "Paid Elder" from WGMC & Peter is her husband) to play some games with Peter.  Peter is a resident board game enthusiast whom I have enjoyed playing games with already.  Although we often play with a few more people, it will just be the two of us since others are away over the Holidays.  Never-the-less I look forward to an afternoon/evening of strategy board/card gaming.

The rest of my Holiday break is rather up in the air.  I plan to see Phantom of the Opera or another major show sometime between Boxing Day and New Years.  I will try to get cheaper tickets by showing up on the day of the performance when the box office for the theatre opens (usually 10 am) and ask for tickets for the afternoon/evening shows.  Apparently it's the way to get cheap seats in London, so I'll it and see. If I can't get tickets over the Holiday period I will just get real nose bleed seats sometime later in January.

I also plan on visiting some more of the major museums and Cathedrals while I have the free time.  Westminster Abbey and St Paul's seem to be "calling me" to attend one of their services as opposed to paying the 10 or more pounds it costs to enter as a tourist.

My New Years plans are not set up yet, but if nothing comes up (got an invite to go to Dorset for New Year's Eve. but haven't decided on it yet) I'll head down to the Thames to watch fireworks with Will and his girlfriend.

If anything else exciting happens I'll try to remember to post it.  I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!  Here's to 2010!!!  


  

The Wave

So at least 20,000 people (according to the BBC) BBC Article, but that was the police estimates, so it could be higher than that.  Some people around here have said maybe 50,000 or more.  So what was "the wave"???  Well I'll just post the link to the website to make it easier for people to understand The Wave Website, basically it was a march to push for more aggressive action regarding climate change.  People were encouraged to wear blue in any shape or fashion.  I had a blue sweatshirt, blue jeans, and ended up getting some blue paint on my face as well. 

It hit the climax by encircling parliament at 3pm where everyone waved at parliament.  Very kid friendly, lots of parents & children marched along, lots of banners from multiple types of organisations.  I went with other members of Wood Green Mennonite Church.  I took out most of my blurry photo, but I left a photo of the Wood Green banner in, even though it isn't great.  Peter is in full motion!


Neat experience to have & makes me hopeful for the future regarding issues surrounding the climate.  Checked for news in the US if there were any similar marches, but sadly there were none...

Photos from the march.  (and the dragon at the end was actually in a news article, so I managed to get near something that got on the news, but I wasn't near it when they got in)...the picture of me is just proof that I was there.

 

Thanksgiving in London (on Saturday not Thursday...)

So since the UK doesn't celebrate US Thanksgiving we had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday instead of Thursday.  The Radical Journey unit from Bradford came down from Wednesday until Sunday and joined us for the meal.  All in all we had more than enough food.  Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn casserole, salad, cranberry sauce, sweet potato salad, spicy olives, poppy seed bread, banana bread, and apple pie.  The only thing that was missing was seeing a game of American football after I am fully stuffed of food and wanting to relax a little.  Instead we took a walk down to Crouch End (neighbourhood just down the road) and back looping around.

Pictures are of the food and mealtime.

 

 

Others were taking pictures as well...Lois on the left & Ed on the right

Everyone but me (I had the empty chair on the right)