Tuesday 23 February 2010

The weekend away and my first day @ my new school placement!


Well, the past few days have made my mind feel blah! but now I feel ready to share :) Last friday I packed up my things in my lovely eeyore travel bag and set off in Jenny and Mark Gladman's car with my great boyfriend Ramone. The destination was Carrotty Wood in Kent and the reason for going was to have a weekend away with the older youth to have fun and hopefully deepen our relationships with God. I certainly did that! The weekend contained two altogether meetings involving worship and talks, my group was the second group where we taught everyone Guvna B's dance the 'kingdom skank' (which everyone got excited about learning something new,especially the adults lol)and I was very proud of Ramone who delivered a powerful talk. From both meetings we came to the conclusion that God is going to set the youth alight for him which makes me want to burst with happiness and fear at the thought. There was also three activities of team building where we had to play games involving team skills, swimming which was so nice to be back in the pool as it feels like it had been forever and finally, low ropes which was a series of ropes,logs and tyres which we had to cross. The night before the low ropes it had been raining therefore when we did the low ropes it was so muddy. I think I took home most of Carrotty Wood with me! lol Me and Ramone won first prize for getting the most covered apparently. When we wasn't doing outdoor activties, we were playing games like bananagrams and watching movies. One of the movies we watched was 'cool runnings' and three people in my youth, Ramone being one of them, especially became fascinated with it which meant we heard Jamaican accents throughout the whole weekend. So overall, it was a very beneficial trip for my relationship with God and really enjoyable to be with all the lovely people in my youth. One negative however was the complete flatness of my pillow..not great!


The monday back was my first day link visit in the school my placement is in. I will be going there every monday doing alot of first hand experience and observation. Unfortunately this means I've lost my day off now..doh! My school placement is in one of the year one classes in Chapel End Infants School in Walthamstow. I had never heard of this school before and as I am a natural worrier, it was very nerve-racking but I was excited at the same time. God has blessed me with a teacher who has only been teaching for three years therefore remembers what it is like being in my position so she is very willing to help. The class seems like a good class with not too many difficuly children which is a good sign as I will have to manage this class soon which I do my block placement of teaching them. I tried to get a feel for the school by getting involved in helping the children write about their holiday news, paint the towers they had made and assist them in the exploration of websites in ICT. It was very unusual to eat my lunch in the staff room because for many years the staff room was out of bounds for me and the teachers probably thought who is this alien?! Hopefully, the will begin to feel comfortable around me to talk to me. Also, I went to the staff meeting after school which I found quite boring as the information didn't apply to me right now but I knew it would eventually so I will still go to the next meeting. I am looking forward to the events that will happen next monday!

Wednesday 17 February 2010

A rose says...


James Morrison wrote in his song called 'You Give Me Something' : 'I can say I've never bought you flowers, I can't work out what they mean'. Well, in my opinion every flower can say something different depending on the person. To some people a rose may simply be something that is nice to look at but to others it may have more meaning. Valentine's day has passed just recently and alot of flowers would have probably been sold, including one single red rose which was given to me. There is a chance that some people would have just bought the flowers for their valentine because it is the routine thing. From my perspective a rose means so much more than something that is pretty to look at, even though it is that too :).. (which I why I've taken quite a few photos of it on my phone)

A rose says you're special
A rose says I thought of you
A rose says you're beautiful
A rose says thankyou
A rose says I appreciate you
A rose says you're important
A rose says God is good
A rose says you mean the world to me
A rose says I care about you
A rose says life is better with you here
A rose says sorry for when I've been annoying
A rose says remember me
A rose says the world is full of good too
A rose says cheer up
A rose says you're unique
A rose says I haven't forgotten what's important
A rose says I Love You
A rose says...things that are just too hard to explain

Thursday 11 February 2010

My sponser :)

Today when I returned home from uni I found a letter on my kitchen table. I don't know what it is about letters but whenever I recieve one I always feel that bit more special, unless they are from the bank giving me my statement on how much money I've spent! I use to have an Austrian pen friend who I met when I was on holiday in Kent when I was 7 and we wrote to each other for years, which would always be exciting to hear more about her and her antics. Sadly this gradually fell to a hault. This particular letter I couldn't tell who it was from so I eagarly opened it in seconds. To my joy, it was a letter from the child from Uganda who I sponser through the charity 'Compassion'. I had already written a brief letter to Kedi last month asking him questions about what his hobbies are and if there was any prayer requests but I thought that it would be months and months if I would ever hear back from him. However, he replied very quickly and it definately put a smile on my face after a tiring day. He drew pictures, thanked me for sponsering him and told me about his interests. He is 7 years old, his favourite game is football, he would like to visit England to see how it looks and he wants to be a pilot in the future. I plan on replying to his letter and sending some photos of England for him with it. After recieving that letter, it really brought it home to me how such a little thing can make a impact somewhere far away and is very encouraging! Also, I've been told through church sermons how being a Christian makes places around the world a responsibility to us therefore I am pleased to be starting to except this responsibility even though sometimes it seems too difficult.

Monday 8 February 2010

But then it landed on my nose!


Today I wanted to write a post but I couldn't think what to write about. I had a fantastic weekend of celebration as my dad had his 53rd birthday on Saturday and yesterday my cousin Katie got baptised but today was just work, work and yet more assignment work! and so there wasn't much to say as I already wrote a blog about my storytelling research antics. However,I tried Rosemary Shrager's chicken and chive Philadelphia recipe tonight which was simply delish and my boyfriend was after some but I didn't think there was enough but in the end there was. This led me to wrap it up in tin foil, put on my coat and make my way to my boyfriend's house to give him he's treat. I stepped outside and to my surprise a small frosty sparkle landed on my nose! :D It's snowing again! Anyone who knows me well knows that I absolutely adore the snow and God gave me my white Christmas period last year that I had been shaking my snow globe all the time hoping for. Just when I thought all the sleet would be over,it shivered into my life again. Although the snow results in ice causing so much havoc because this is England lol, it just makes life seem more magical to me. Perhaps it's because of all the romantic movies I've watched but it just adds something special to the day. Also, it reminds me of how AMAZING God is because of all he created, all the little details. It's the same feeling I got when I was climbing the Great Wall of China(apart from the tiredness lol) as I saw all the picturesque scenery..just WOW,you can just see God's image in it and I feel all the more of his magnificent presence. So instead of just rushing round to my boyfriend's house, I walked slowly, enjoying every minute of the snow falling down perfectly and thinking to myself what a wonderful world.

Monday 1 February 2010

Storytelling



As part of my spring term assignments for my primary teaching degree I have been researching storytelling, the history of it, what makes a good tale to tell and what make a fabdabbydozy storyteller. Today I came across this gorgeous quote that took my attention and thought I should share it before I forget it.





'The Storyteller's Creed I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death. '- Robert Fulghum





Even though by the end of these assignments I will probably feel sick of anything to do with storytelling for a while, from what I have been reading already I can honestlly say that I didn't realise how important storytelling is. Especially when I saw that many historians,anthropologists and psycholoists suggest that storytelling is one of the many things that defines humanity.

Now I have to find a story to tell myself (Any ideas people?!)and because I love acting, hopefully this will have a positive effect on my storytelling technique!

See, I've been getting so lost in the world of storytelling that I have forgotten about my gammon knuckle cooking away downstairs!!