TFG Orientation Conference

This week was my Time for God Orientation conference. It was held at Cliffs College near Sheffield, about 30 minutes away from Buxton. In past years they have done these orientation sessions almost immediately upon arrival and then the volunteers are sent to their placements. This year they decided to change this process since we come from America with a week on orientation to a week in England for orientation. They both have their advantages. At this point I was able to have a better understanding of what I’m doing, and not doing, and can talk to my TFG field officer about specific concerns. But on the other hand some information that I learned this week would have been more beneficial a month ago rather than now.

Time for God is a British charity that helps young Christians from around the world find a placement for a year of volunteering. At my conference there were volunteers from Germany, Hungary, Uganda, Sweden, Belgium, South Korea, and four of the YAGMs. It was nice to be re-united with some of the YAGMs but it was even better to meet people from around the world.

It also helped to talk about culture shock, even though it isn’t as significant for the Americans as it might be for the Africans or Asians, it still is culture shock. It was good to learn the signs of culture shock and I began to realize that my difficult week last week could easily be attributed to culture shock.

One thing I noticed at the conference was the age of the volunteers. Most were 20 and younger doing this “gap” year before starting university. I find it very interesting that in Europe it is more common to do this at the post-high school age and in the US it is more common to do it at the post-college age.

Oddly enough it was comforting being around the Germans. When they learned that I spoke German many asked why I didn’t want to serve in Germany. I explained to them that I felt it wouldn’t be as challenging for me since I have spent a significant amount of time there. It wouldn’t feel new and exciting. After realizing what a comfort it was to be around them I realized that Germany would have been relatively easy for me. I know the language, the culture, the history, the people. It made me very happy with my decision. I also met the very first German to not like Germany. He hopes to never return to Germany. I would say it’s safe to say that most Germans love their country and think it to be the greatest on the planet. I was so intrigued with Tom who hopes to live either in London or San Francisco after his year in Scotland.

Another aspect of week that excited me was getting money!!! They are having difficulties setting up our bank accounts and so most of us haven’t received our stipend for this month that we should have received on the 20th. They gave us half our stipend in cash and hopefully the other half will be put in our accounts in about 2 weeks. It was also helpful to get budgeting tips for the year. They had a lot of suggestions that seem now like common sense that I’d never even considered before.

Overall it was a nice getaway from Buxton and was good to see old YAGM friends and make new TFG friends. It was slightly frustrating to be getting orientation information almost a month after our arrival in England, since the information I had already mostly figured out already. But I’m now looking forward to our mid-year retreat in Wales in January!!!