Glamorous: Adjective

1. full of glamour; charmingly or fascinatingly attractive, esp. in a mysterious or magical way.
2. full of excitement, adventure, and unusual activity

I don't know what thoughts or images come to mind when you think of what I'm doing with my life for this year, and maybe the reality is many of you have no idea what I'm doing and have been doing for almost two months now. I'm here to not only give you the scoop about my day to day goings, but both dispell and confirm thoughts that I'm living the glamorous life.

The palace:
The flat that Amy and I share is an older example of public housing in and around Belfast. It technically has three bedrooms upstairs but it's more like two and a closet. For those who are familiar with The Greyhouse, the third bedroom is something akin to the room Laurie used to live in/ Julia now lives in, only without the dining room part. There is also a bathroom upstairs with a tub and shower and fancy dolphins etched into the shower glass. Downstairs is a living room/dining area and a kitchen. The kitchen also serves as the laundry room and when it's too wet to hang our clothes outside, it serves as the drying room. (Driers are rare here and most clothes are line-dried. Bad news for a country that rains as much as this one does.) So, no, our place isn't glamorous by the first definition of the word. We do, however, have spiders the size of saucers- yes people, I said SAUCERS. As in the flatware that goes under your tea cup. I'm living Ron Weasley's nightmare, so I am. I believe spiders the size of small sedans qualify as unusual activity, if not adventuresome and exciting in a terrifying kind of way.

The work:
I've been placed at Dundonald Methodist Church and Dundonald Family and Community Initiative. It's about a five minute walk from the door of the flat to the church/community center which I make everyday except Friday and Saturday. Mondays and Thursdays DFCI runs an afterschools youth club called PAKT for kids in primary school. The club offers the chance to play games, do arts and crafts, and have some time in the kitchen for cookery. (Cookery is my favorite because sometimes the kids will share the wee biscuits or scones they've made!) Monday evenings DFCI runs PAKT+ which is a program for 12-15 year olds. It's evolving from a drop-in center to a club that offers programs such as girl's night and hip hop lessons. The boys go and spend hours playing football, having little interest in either girl's night or hip hop.

Tuesdays bring about Friendship Circle which is hosted by DMC. It's a social club for people aged 50+, and I go to help set up tea and biscuits and talk. It's a little like having 40 grandmothers and grandfathers all in one room, and everyone wants to know how I'm "settling in" and "getting on." There's a program for about an hour, and one day I'm going to have to put on a program about me. I'm thinking of doing it on Southern food and making Southern biscuits and grits and such. Tuesday evenings I work with the Brownies which are a part of Girl Guides (aka Girl Scouts). The girls- 8-11 years old- are really cute and sweet and I've very much enjoyed getting to know them.

Wednesday mornings are precious and a joy. DFCI puts on Sticky Fingers, a Mom and tots group for local women and their kids naught to school age. Every Wednesday morning I'm surrounded by the cutest Irish babies. This program is particularly needed in an estate that has the highest rate of single-parent families in the area. DFCI runs Kidz Club on Wednesday afternoons. Kidz Club is a Bible-based afterschools club for primary age kids. We have praise and dance (one guess who leads the dance portion of the program...), puppets, crafts, and a quiz at the end, all based on a Bible story. It's during the quiz when we get pies to the face if the team we're representing gets the answer wrong. Here's the exciting news about Kidz Club: ever since we introduced the idea of a Biblically based club, our numbers have grown. We now have about 40 kids at the club every Wednesday. Wednesday afternoons really encourage me and energize me.

Thursdays is PAKT afterschools again and also a monthly family tea. Thursday nights I help out with the Beavers- the younger boys in the Scouts program. I even have a Beaver scarf that I have to wear to our meetings. These boys are insane and full of so much energy and I love them.

My weekly work probably doesn't strike anyone as glamorous in any sort of charming or magical sense, but it does have it's moments of adventure and excitement. It was with my work with DFCI that I played in my first ever football (soccer) match, and if you don't think that playing football against Irish men isn't an adventure, you're wrong. I think this also qualifies as unusual activity for me. On Wednesdays I lead 40 kids in maybe the silliest dance ever, and you better believe it's exciting to watch 9 and 10 year old boys dance with you- especially when they just laughed at you the first two weeks. (For those who know the Shryocks, it's a bit like how it would feel if Nick ever actually danced along at Vacation Bible School...)

Fridays and Saturdays I have off to explore Dundonald and Belfast. It's during these days when I realize how great it would be to have the freedom of a car. I've never been one for planning or preparation and so to have to plan my explorations based on the bus schedules and routes is a challenge for me. I must admit, I've slept in more on Fridays than I have taken advantage of the day to get out and have adventures. I'm going to have to change that. I have a bike now thanks to Sally, my lovely boss at DFCI (Hi, Sally!). Saturday mornings are all about relaxing and enjoying the company of the other YAVs. Our group has adopted the tradition of going to St. George's market during the morning and enjoying a late breakfast and live music. It's good craic for sure.

There you have it! It may not be exotic (except for the spiders), but it is fulfilling and challenging. I get to enjoy the sound of my name being called out by kids in the estate who recognize me from one of the clubs. I get to hear stories from people who have lived through much more than I will ever know, and I get to share and experience their love and strength. I'm challenged to rethink the way I imagined the church interacting and growing with the community. I'm given the challenge of being an example of God's love to kids who are being brought up in a sectarian society where the word "church" comes with a lot of baggage. I'm challenged to relate to kids and youth who are being raised in a world I struggle to see in relation to Davidson or Raleigh.

So it isn't romantic or the stuff movies are made of, but it's the stuff my life is made of and my life will be better because of it. My prayer is that I'm able to stay out of the way enough for God to continue to work in small moments like the hellos along the street.