A Special Saturday

One of my least favorite things about working at Charis House is the weekend shifts. I work two Saturdays a month for an 8 hour shift. It's long with few tasks to pass the time. But one of the tasks available is to clean--yuck!

But last Saturday was special. One of the residents was celebrating her birthday. Maia, a member of staff made soup and home-made bread for a special birthday lunch for Beryl. Another one of the residents bought soda for all of us as well as desserts. Charmaine and Rosie (2 other residents) made a birthday cake for Beryl. It was so lovely that we could have such a nice celebration in a family-like setting.

The best end to a week

Each Friday has been the highlight of my weeks in England. Around 5:30pm, I go home with Chriss and her eldest son, Thom to their home in Furness Vale—about a 30 minute drive. Chriss is a staff member at Charis House and also one of the youth leaders at the church Charis House is associated with in Whaley Bridge. It’s wonderful having the opportunity to have a home-cooked meal with a family. Chriss' family consists of Nigel, Chriss, Thom, Lizi, and Alex.

I'm not quite sure what Nigel does, but I know that he is also a volunteer fire-fighter. As I mentioned earlier, Chriss works at Charis House. She is on the community support team, which works with clients in the community. Thom is 22 and teaches music technology at the University of Derby- Buxton. Lizi is 20 and is studying art at the University of Stafford in Stoke-en-Trent. She comes home occasionally on weekends, but we keep in touch on Facebook while she's away! Alex is 18 and finishing up his last year at "college" (high school). He hopes to study marine engineering next year.

Last Friday Thom and I had a competition naming all 50 states in the US. He won; but only because 1) I helped him quite a bit and 2) I forgot to write down some that I named out loud! We have a great time comparing cultures and learning from each other. Thom and Lizi spent a few weeks in the US a few years ago and we have a great time talking about our observations of our foreign lands and experiences.

After dinner we get ready for youth group at Good News Family Church in Whaley Bridge. Chriss, Nigel, and Thom are all leaders for the youth group and Alex is still a member of the group. But since he is one of the oldest members, he has also taken on a leader-type role.

I am so thankful that they have been kind enough to adopt me into their family--even for one night of the week. Dinner with their family and youth group is the best way I could end the week.

21+2

So Thursday was my first birthday away from home. Although I had to spend most of the day traveling from Wales back home to Buxton, it was a great day.

The morning started with everyone at the TFG conference singing happy birthday to me and another volunteer from Sweden. I'm definitely not a fan of being sung too, but I guess it really wasn't that bad. Then we all said good-byes since we were split on two different buses.

After a two hour bus ride from Mid-Wales to the Birmingham train station we had several hours to kill before our trains back to our various placements departed. Amy and I returned to Buxton around 4:30pm. Tammy and Lisa bought all the fixings for a Mexican feast. We made tacos, fajitas, and burritos. I made fresh guacamole with some green chile and salsa from home. But the best finishing touch was Jo and Lisa bought a piñata for me!!! I've named him Juan.

Tammy, Amy, Jo, Lisa, Naomi, and Matt were all there for the fiesta. It was the best birthday I could have had away from home. I was able to spend it with my American buddies, new friends from England, and food from home.

The Land of the Christmas Cards

I've never really been one for cards. Usually cause I forget. Presents are usually given without a card. I pretend it's because I'm being environmentally conscious...but I'm not. Just forgetful.

But this year I am spending Christmas in the land of the Christmas cards. I've never in my life seen such a big deal over Christmas cards. It's truly amazing! With 4 more days until Christmas I have already received about 15 cards.

This year the Royal Mail has had 7 million Christmas cards go through the postal system.

A Brief History:
"Official" Christmas cards began with Queen Victoria in the 1840s. The British royal family's cards are generally portraits reflecting significant personal events of the year. (www.wikipedia.com--Christmas Card)

And not wanting to miss out on the card mania, I too have started spreading the love through greeting cards. I can't help but think that it is slightly wasteful since most these cards will be thrown away come the new year. So I've tried my best to buy charity Christmas cards. One set was from GFNC the other from the British Heart Foundation. If I'm gong to contribute to the killing of trees, at least the money should go to a good cause, right?

But while searching for the perfect pack of cards to buy and send and reading cards given to me, I can't help but notice that the real greeting of this time of year is missing from a majority of the cards. Where did the Christ from Christmas go? All the greetings say "Happy Christmas", "Merry Christmas", or "Best Wishes for the Christmas Holidays".

I'm all for being multi-cultural and PC, but I thought the point was to be open-minded to all religions. I feel that the whole movement towards being more multi-cultural or PC has just given people an excuse to bash Christianity, rather than embracing our differences and moving on with life.

So in this season of Christmas cards remember that in fact the holiday started with a miracle baby in a manger.

The Cost of Globalization

This probably isn't exactly the lesson about globalization that I'm supposed to learn, but hey!

Subway club+Coke Cola+potato chips from Subway...$8
Grande Gingerbread Chai Tea Latte...$7
Book from Wal-Mart (Asda)...$7
Single serving of Lucky Charms...$3
Globalization...PRICELESS

Sometimes you just need a good American culture fix to handle the English culture.

***Please note the ridiculous price of these items that you would pay half the price for back home.The "American Section" at Selfridge's in Manchester

Rogan Josh

Tonight Amy and I made our first curry dish. Curry is now the most popular dish in England surpassing meat and potatoes or fish and chips. It was also my first lesson teaching Amy how to cook.
It was very simple since we bought the rogan josh sauce from the store as well as the pappadums. We cooked up the chicken first then added the curry sauce and let it simmer for 30 minutes. While that was cooking we started the rice. It was a very simple meal to prepare, and very yummy to eat!!!

It can be made with either chicken, lamb (traditional), shrimp, or veggies.

Here's a recipe for a rogan josh sauce. But I don't know how good it is, since I obviously did the cheater version!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/simplelambroganjosh_67784.shtml

Charis House Open Day

This Saturday was the Open House Day and anniversary celebration for Good News Family Care. We sold cookies and other goodies along with products from the woodworking project at the farm in hopes of raising a little money for GNFC.
There were displays of each section of GNFC and their purpose in the organization.
At 11am we had a service including a speech by a resident, singing, a presentation from a member of the board of trustees, a speech from one of the directors and other musical contributions. This was followed by a sandwich and soup lunch for everyone.