Who are you?

Warning: This one's long and very stream of conscious-ish

So in these first few days I have met so many people. All of them have been absolutely wonderful, welcoming, interesting, and just about any other positive word that you can think of! Almost everyone that I've met has some type of connection to the previous person I met and it's getting a little complicated and confusing to sort out. But I'm working on it.

Tonight is the end of my first weekend in Buxton. Amy and I are referred to as either "the girls" or "the Americans". And oddly enough I kinda enjoy that.

Friday was supposed to be my first "real" day at work. First Tammy took us to get registered at the doctor which really only entailed getting forms for us to fill out. Then Tammy and I walked to the Charis house. Since most people have been on "holiday" the house has been very quiet. Tammy showed me how to do a few procedural type stuff in the office. While in the office someone asked me my "surname". It makes me giggle when they say my name because it sounds like there's an "r" at the end. Brian then said "Well that's a posh name isn't it". I have a posh name, haha!

Then she needed to run some errands for her boyfriends birthday and Brian (staff at the Charis House) sent me along with Tammy and Naomi. They showed me some more things downtown, like where the "posh" shops are and then we had Subway for lunch. Definitely not the same!!! When we returned to the Charis House, Tammy sent me home since there wasn't much else for me to do that day. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing on my computer and watching British television.

Saturday, Amy and I went to the market that's held in front of the city hall every Tuesday and Saturday. It was fun but very small.
Then we headed to the Cavendish Arcade (where the posh shops are). We wandered around there for a while. Afterwards we walked through the Pavilion Gardens again. I think they're so beautiful and I think I'll end up spending a lot of time there--at least before it gets too cold!

Last night Binod (turns out I misunderstood his name) made Amy and dinner. He made rice, lentil soup with curry and chicken curry. It was delicious. Tammy invited us to go out with her and her friends. We met up with Lisa (who also works at the Charis house), her friend, and Naomi along with Tammy and Matt and Binod. I went to my first British pub and had Strongbow--which is basically alcoholic apple cider. While we were there a man that Lisa knew came to sit down with us. After learning that Amy and I were Americans he said, "I don't like Americans." My response was, "Geez, thanks!" He tried to take his foot out of his mouth by replying, "Well not Americans individually, but the government." One of the guys we were with tried to help buy saying he doesn't like the way their government plays puppet to George Bush, Tony Blair specifically. In an attempt to stop any further political talk in a pub, I said no government was perfect. After a long pause of silence the big goon asked if anyone smoked, I said I was a non-smoker. He responded "Said with that American accent". It was at this point the whole group left.

This morning we went to church. It's held at the Charis House and is one of the churches that I'll eventually be working with. It's made up of staff from the Charis house, residents of the Charis House, and others that have some type of connection to either one of those groups. Beryl had Amy and I come up to the front to introduce us and encourage the congregation to take us to do things with them. We had several people excited to met us and talk with us. People ask us so many questions--but hey! who doesn't love talking about themselves!!!

Tonight we went to Matt's parents house for his birthday party. It was all people from church. When I first walked in a girl about 13 said "Hey, you're the person from church". Later, Abby, Matt's 5 year-old half sister asked me a question. When I answered her, her next question was, "Who are you?" I'm assuming my "strange" accent was the clue that I was a stranger. I told her who I was and asked who she was. She's absolutely precious and I could tell she just found me odd. One girl (who's 15) was asking me if New Mexico was near New York, Florida, or Alabama. She was disappointed that it wasn't near any of those places.

Although all week I've been the "new volunteer", "the American" or just a stranger in general, it's all been very fun. I've loved sharing about where I come from while learning about this "strange" and new culture!!!