The New Times

'09

2009-01-02T00:31:00.002Z

so its 2009 - i am excited about this year to come i do feel as though it is full of promise and optimism and new hope for what is ahead, be that centred around fairly personal affairs i think that is allowed

christmas - always understated chez platings. Year on year the struggle to turn a normal day into a mementous event. once the pressure was off we were all able to enjoy ourselves. RAAAAAA

if days were people? I would feel sorry for Christmas day - always under delivering, they would have a real inadequacy complex. Like it hasn't delivered snow in forever! New Year - at least everyone seems to have given up on it and the weight of hope has been lifted. New year is rubbish, everyone knows it and so no one is dissappointed any more. Being pleasantly surprised is an option.

ambitions - learning to drive still unacheivable

crime and punishment.

work and reward - an option?

Its been a while

2008-11-19T21:31:00.002Z

So hey its been two years, but I was recently on google chat with a friend who reminded me of the beauty of blogging. I had a pretty tough time there signing in, worked it out in the end though - just as well I've had the same password for everything in my life for the past 5 years.

So I'm listening to counting crows, its actually a mix CD that the friend who encouraged me to blog again made for my 23rd birthday - wow, 3 years later still my top choice of CD.

I was at a conference the other day. A developmental psychology conference. I feel adequately developed for the money. It was great in many ways. I learned a few top tips for how to find out what people care about most within about two minutes. It is quite contrived, not like I've become telepathic, which would be cooler, but really interesting all the same. Disturbing also to find out what I care about most. Even more disturbing is how obviously it is probably written all over me. I'll not divulge, honestly that is h/ow exposing this excercise is. Its embarrasing! But you can probably take a good guess.

So yeah - a few years of marriage under my belt, a few jobs in events, a few too many - my CV is a mess. A sort of semi-owned, not really, flat, and a lot of online tesco orders later. A great church, and house group going on, and thats pretty much it.

No car and still no license - probably should be a goal for 2009.

The best thing about life right now? Hard to say - probably church and house group actually - they have the really ALIVE moments that are so exciting. Church this week was particularly exciting... I got to speak a tiny bit (2 minutes) about this book my Dad told me about - The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. And then got to help out in prayer ministry time too. Very very very exciting and incredible to be part of - actually really surprising and a real privelidge WOW.

What I would currently like new things of:
dining table - ours is rickety and embarrasing when we have people for dinner
windows - ours are rotten
newly sanded floors - ours are quite a mix of colours and textures
and LOTS more. There is a long list that circles in my mind for a few days, I get worked up about then forget about again. Its a cycle that has been going on for 18 months at least.

Still I am very grateful for the lovely little flat we have. It is really nice, especially when I think of all the other flats we looked at when we were trying to find somewhere to live.

Having some realisations about FRIENDSHIP and where I have been influenced in my life in a way that is really not helpful. Very interesting... Am excited about near future developments.

SUFJAN stevens. Am loving but definitely don't fancy him at all.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 am also loving - what a feat of production. Simply amazing. Am not totally innocent on the fancing Troy Bolton (character in the film - can only say I fancy film character as I haven't got to know the real actor) front. But am getting over it as quickly as I can.

I tried sketching yesterday - it was the first time in ages. I am looking forward to practising that more and getting back to half decent at drawing again.

2006-10-11T15:33:00.000Z

Since last time I wrote my life has taken a few turns. So I am now Lucia Hull, Lucia Platings no longer exists, that is because Conor and I got married which is ace. I really highly recommend marriage. It is so fun.

Conor and I have been living in a little village called Upper Largo in beautiful Fife since our wedding in June. Fife in summer is rolling hills leading down to sandy beaches, clear blue skies and long sunny days. It was a great summer... but now its time to move on. It feels as if I'm just on the edge of real life, we're moving to Edinburgh in two weeks time which is slightly daunting. No jobs as yet but hopefully that will be sorted out soon enough.

I have been working in a deli all summer which was brill, but now I am back in Northern Ireland doing exactly the same as I was doing last time I blogged which is kind of weird. A bit unnerving actually and definitely less than fun.

Hmm so if you have any really fun job ideas then let me know, I would LOVE to hear them, I am finding it so hard to think of something fun that I could do that I am also qualified to do.

I think degrees might be a waste of time, they qualify you for nothing!!!!!!

Still in the office

2006-05-09T10:43:00.000Z

Today is a beautiful spring day in Northern Ireland, the temperature is at about 22 degrees celcius and I can hear the birds chirping in the trees. It is all good. I have just decided that Spring is my favourite season. With all the promise of summer ahead. I am looking forward to the summer. I think it is going to be a good one. Especially because Conor and I are getting married. Yeah!

I'm in my office, which I have all to myself. Its a little room off a long corridor in porta cabins, next to the chief's office who I am secretary for. I have not really got much to do. Infact today I was given some typing to do, and that was the most I have worked in the 5 days I have been here. It was just a three paragraph long letter. After I had finished a few other people came in and gave me things to do and I got a bit flustered because when I have more than one thing at a time I get really paranoid that I am going to forget something like informing some people that they have been offered a grant for £500,000 or something. Imagine that! A grant is being offered to you but you don't know about it because of some bad secretary somewhere who doesn't care.

My new favourite hobbie is:

singing karaoke in a room with friends. Except I prefer it when they don't grade you on your singing, because then I get comptitive and then I get a bit sad because the machine tells me very bluntly that I am a not a good singer. For some reason I am in delusion a lot of the time and like to think that I have this great voice and I am an undiscovered superstar singer waiting to break out. For real, I am not that.

ho hum

2006-04-19T11:11:00.000Z

today i am at work again
i have answered the phone twice and opened the mail, there is nothing else for me to do but i am getting paid £6 an hour to sit here.

i heard once that when you type and don't use capital letters it is a sign of a lack of confidence. i must have lost my confidence somewhere along the line.

do you know of someone who has a holiday cottage somewhere in the uk/ireland?? if you do you can email me and it would make me very happy. i will not tell you why i would like to know but you can perhaps work it out depending on how much you know about my life.

i think there is another botfly growing inside me. i need to make a doctors appointment so that they can look at the new red patch growing just an inch away from where the other botfly came out. i feel a bit sick thinking about it. then the doctor can tell me it is an abcess and prescribe me more drugs. then weeks later i will meet someone and they will squeeze away and then another bug will come out of my left bum cheek.

oh gosh.

my gosh.

i will ring the doctor soon. i won't ring now because this is the first day in this office and i don't know if i am allowed to make personal phone calls. i will wait til I have a confident and carefree moment. probably after i have eaten and I feel rejuvenated and alive again.

6 hours later

I'm still at my desk with absolutely nothing to do

I have decided my career path though, it will be a teenage counsellor. possibly moving into family counselling. how interesting would that be!

Back

2006-04-14T11:01:00.000Z

So I'm back in the UKUKUKUKUK.

It is colder than a lot of places, but not colder than China. That was the coldest I have ever been in my life. I couldn't walk outside. I tried and then had to run into a shop as soon as one came into sight. It was unbearable.

This weather is bearable. Also I'm living at Conor's house and their central heating system is very good and the house is always warm. You never have to be cold for long.

The temping job I have at the moment is ace. I am getting paid as I write this. I am a personal secretary to this seemingly important guy who everyone wants to talk to. But today he isn't here, so I have nothing to do! Maybe bat off a few phone calls every now and again, and then play on the internet all day long.

This other temp who works here just came in, three hours late. The great thing about this office is that people just find it funny that she didn't come in on time. Being a secretary is stress free. You are held responsible for nothing. I even made this major mistake yesterday with some super important document but these dudes didn't get annoyed at me at all. Maybe inside their heads they are screaming at me. But from their exterior it didn't seem like it at all.

Anyway, its ok being back, but I wouldn't mind going around the world a couple more times.

Middle Earth

2006-03-28T08:04:00.000Z

That is what the Chinese world for China translates to in English.

Yeah we went there, I was there for two weeks. We stayed in a happy hostel with lots of happy backpackers. Backpackers are nice and freindly and have the same amount of direction in life as me, and I like that.

We were in Beijing the whole time, a big smoggy city, full of high rise buildings, shopping malls, crazy drivers and cyclists, and amazing restaurants. Chinese food is probably my favourite, although when we had a leg of lamb the night I got home that was pretty awesome. Also it didn't make my mouth feel like it was about to fall out which was kind of relaxing.

I have never been so cold, not even skiing, as we were one day in Beijing, we couldn't be outside at all the wind was so vicious. Thermal underwear everyday, everyday, everyday.

Most days we met up with our friend who Conor met one day on the subway while I was still in Australia. He might have been an angel. One of the advantages of being in China was that living is SO CHEAP there. And as you may know Conor and I are getting married in June, and we still have quite a lot of preparations to make. While we were in China our friend took us to all the best spots for shopping, determined that we would find the things we needed. Rings, suits, shoes, fabric for The Dress, etc. He helped us buy everything, and at a good price. In China its wierd, things have price tags, but only an idiot would pay the marked price. Ususally you should pay about a third. Also if you have a Chinese friend, you are a lot less likely to get ripped off. The shop keeper that sold us Conor's ring even said to us that we wouldn't have got it for half as cheap if our friend hadn't been with us.

I think there is something different about China, there is an openness that means that it really doesn't take long to be close to people, or maybe it was just this guy. Anyway he is a really really good friend and when we left it was really, really sad. We will go back there soon.

He organised a leaving party for us the night before we flew home, at his friends' restaurant. We ate for 3 and a half hours, they just kept bringing more and more food. Us three, a French guy who has been in China for three years and is fluent in Mandarin, a Swiss guy who is similar, a Chinese guy who also spoke French, a Chinese guy who only spoke Chinese, and Auntie, the lady who owned the restaurant who only spoke Chinese but smiled a lot and talked to me, only I never had any idea what she was saying. Its not like Spanish which you can kind of work out. No it is just wierd talk, I think it sounds really really nice to listen to. Yeah and in the restaurant, if you need to go to the bathroom, you have to go to the hotel up the road. Also there is no heating in the restaurant, just lots of people smoking.

While we were in China we went to an International Church, they were advertising an Alpha course starting the second week I was there. So we took our friend along. Most people in China don't know anything about God. It is so different. Its not like they have been to carol services and easter services at church every year for the past 24 years and have heard it all before. It is completely new to them, and so exciting. Its is so crazy that they can run Alpha in that place because prosletism is illegal. Nice work Alpha.

In conclusion China IS where its at. I had my suspicions before I went, going there has confirmed them.

I think I'm over it

2006-03-28T08:00:00.000Z

Just for the sake of continuity, an update on the botfly situation. My cheek is healing nicely. The extraction process doesn't plague my thoughts day and night anymore, or the fact that it so nearly wasn't extracted. In fact I don't think I think about it at all most days. Just when I think about my blog. Maybe I should erase my last entry. And the other day I typed 'botfly' into google, if you do that you will find more stories, some sounding worse than mine, of botfly experiences. There are pictures too.

Feeding on my flesh

2006-03-04T03:57:00.000Z

I went to the doctor on friday. I told you before about the 'abcess'. The doctor found out more.

Australian doctors are strange, I went in and the nurse asked me what I was there for. How was I supposed to know, I was just told to make an appointment. I had a vague inclination it was for a redress of my 'abcess' that hadn't dissapearedd after two course of antibiotics. For the record that is not normal behaviour for an abcess, I have done a lot of research on the web.

The nurse told me to take of my shorts and lie down on the couch. She peeled off the dressing she had applied the day before. Then the wonderful Doctor Singh arrived. He wanted to have one last poke around at my left bum cheek. I consented of course. He realised there was something inside my abcess, so he poked a bit more, and gave my bum cheek a serious massage, well more like he pressed down on one are for a long time. I felt some pain, but it was the sort of pain you wanted to endure. So I stayed silent.

Then the marvellous Doctor Singh called to the nurse. He said 'come over here, look at what just came out'. Curious, I looked around myself. On the floor, about two feet from the doctors bench, to my left there was an unspecified object, about 1.5-2cm long, by 0.5-1cm wide. I have poor eyesite, at this point it looked to me like a lump of dead flesh.

The nurse promply came over with a tissue, picked it up off the floor and took it out of my sight. I asked what it was. They said 'its a maggot!' Oh. I was happy at this point because the maggot had been removed from my left bum cheek.

They called over another one of the doctors, 'take a look at this' they said, 'look what just came out of this young lady!' The nice doctor comes over and puts his hand on his shoulder and asked 'are you ok?'

'I am fine' I say, 'I am just glad its come out'. This is perfectly true. This red lump on my left bum cheek has been causing me a lot of pain ever sice we were in Easter Island, that was in January, it is now March.

They redressed the wound, the nurse said lots of things assuming I knew what she was talking about, I didn't have a clue, but nodded and smiled as is my custom and hoped that what she was saying wasn't and still isn't crucially important to my well being.

I put my shorts back on, feeling like I knew everyone in the surgery extraordinarily well for having known them for two days. Then asked if I could have another look at the thing that came out of my left bum cheek.

The marvellous Doctor Singh was holding it in a sterile jar and showing it off to his colleagues all around the surgery. I got a closer look at the thing that had come out of my left bum cheek. It was a whitish yellow colour with little black spots on its skin I later found out are hooks to attach itself to my flesh. Its head was moving and its little antennae obvously a bit confused by the sudden change of surroundings. That thing, that living, breathing, thing had been living inside me for the last 2 months at the very least!

Dr Singh's nice colleague told me I should have a skin check as soon as possible incase the beast had laid eggs inside me. Then I would have lots more large maggots popping out of my flesh.

So I'm telling you this story in quite a sterile tone. I hope you understand this is the grossest thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. I have to keep retelling the story in the hope that I will soon recover from the shock. Not kidding. At first I was happy, now I am just disgusted and amazed and very, very grateful for the marvellous Docotr Singh who persevered and didn't just prescribe more antibiotics. If he hadn't, on the off chance, thought that there was something there, the creature would still be living under my skin now.

I later looked on the internet to find out if I could see what it was. None of the doctors at the surgery had seen anything like it before. To them it was a foreign maggot. I found out it was botfly larvae. I will post a picture of it very soon.

The flies lay their eggs on mosquitos, who then inject the larvae into you judt belopw the surface of the skin when they bite you. A bit like a conspiracy against warm blooded animals. The larvae then grows there, staying at the surface so it can come up for air when necessary. So it was a botfly larvae head I have been scratching for so long. It feeds on your flesh, that is what causes the stinging sensation that is oh so painful. Now I understand. And am entirely grossed out.

Writing this is therapy. Not kidding.

Feeling it

2006-03-02T08:44:00.000Z

I thought I'd write a little bit about what I'm actually doing here in Australia, not just about when I'm going to leave. Incidentally I am leaving in two days.
I'm staying in an unlovely town called Townsville. The street I live on is very busy, and has a train track going through it. We are surrounded by big warehouse type shops. We eat out meals on 'the deck' overlooking the main road. So I wouldn't call it picturesque or anything.

My days are spent cooking with three other people, Cecilia, Justin and Jocie. They are all Canadian. I am slowly learning to say things like 'cling wrap' instead of 'cling film', if I want to be understood at any time by any of them. We listen to good music all day long and try to discuss important things like what is going to happen at the end of the world, but these conversations often find their end very quickly, and we get on to more important matters, like which rock stars are married and why that is cool.

Last night we made this amazing meal; chicken, carrots, broccoli and really creamy mashed potato with this pineapple and coconut dessert. It was pretty amazing, especially because we had to make it for 90 people. We, the cooks, were all very proud of it. We often are. I'm learning that Americans/Canadians have different standards and show appreciation for really terrible food, like nachos, burritos, or enchilladas. Things that personally I don't find make a decent meal at all. Mostly they seem to like Mexican food. I'd just like to say, I'm not into it.

In Mexico I was completely starved of nourishment, we ate tortillas often and had to go to KFC for what we thought would be a proper meal, only to be sorely dissappointed there too. What were we thinking? We were excited about going to the States from there because we thought we would find normal food again. But as is being confirmed to me here, Americans have a terrible diet. We found a lot of steak, and a lot of fried food, and very little fruit. I am a food snob. Its true. I want to educate the world in what good food is. I feel as though these people are lost, and need to discover truly nutritious and delicious food. Its like they are in the dark, like they have been badly misguided and led astray, by America. Oh it has so much to answer for.

So this is food I consider to be worth eating:

Roast chicken, roasted vegetables and gravy.
Lasagne with salad with good dressing, not from a bottle.
Salmon cooked in butter and lemon, with potatoes and green beans.
Good sausages and mashed potato with broccoli.
Chilli prawns.
Lobster cooked in ginger and spring onion.
Anything that Amber, who I used to live with, cooks.
Chinese, Korean, Thai, Sushi.
Chicken Dhansaak, peshwari naan, popadoms and mango chutney.
Lentils because they are super healthy and help your digestive system and after you eat them your insides feel clean.
Tea and toast.
Fried breakfasts, specifically an Ulster fry, which includes fried potato bread, soda bread and pancake.
Camembert.
Anything my friend Yussanne makes. Oh, she is partially Canadian, that is irony for you.

Ok so that list doesn't sound super healthy, I don't think it is representative of things I really like. There are lots more things. I think I would think of them if I was more hungry, but I am currently full up on meatballs and spaghetti.

So after cooking all day, I generally don't have anything to do, which is pretty much the reason for this entry into my blog.

I was recently disgusted to see that after 5.5 months of travelling I have made only 7 entries on my blog. I'm sorry if its been a disappointment, I have disappointed myself. Its like I've been busy, but if you were to ask me, I wouldn't be able to tell you what I've been doing for most of the time, other than catching flights and enjoying in-flight entertainment. Actually my faviourite thing on the aeroplane TV's is the map that shows you where you are in the world and how fast you are going and how far it is to your destination. I have watched that screen for hours at a time.

My vote for the best airline goes to Lan Chile. Such friendly staff. When I asked for a second meal for Conor and myself, the nice lady, lets call her Catarin, went to get them immediately, then asked if she should come back later with more coffee. What a considerate, nice, genuinely concerned lady! I would like to imagine I would be like her if I worked as an air steward, but fear I would be the complete opposite. Last place goes to American Airlines. All the staff sat down at the first sign of turbulence and we didn't get an inflight meal at all. Don't fly with them if you have a choice. They are unfriendly and mean. Only looking out for themselves.

Back to the point: Australia; we went camping in the bush last weekend. It was fun. I got to hang out with nice people, sit by a fire and see some seriously amazing stars. You could see the milky way, which is always nice.

Today I had to go to the doctor. Since December I have had an abcess on my left bum cheek. I blame the buses in Peru, I think its an infection that has been developing since that 26 hour bus ride we took in a mad dash for Lima airport. Its kind of gross. Anyway, today, a nice little man had to gouge it out, at least in part, in the hope that this will make it disappear. I really hope it does.

I found him

2006-02-26T11:13:00.000Z

So I think I've finally found what I'm looking for. Here in the land of Oz. As I was saying, I was looking for the wizard. Yes, he is here. So now I'm going to go right ahead to China, because I've learned that the wizard is the best of all. And that is what I needed to know. PROCEED>

Land of Oz

2006-02-18T06:24:00.000Z

I've come to see the wizard, I can't find him though. I don't know where he is hiding, but I'm on the look out.

I'm here in Australia, for 18 days or 30. As my mood changes so does the length of time I want to spend in this place. Right now I want to leave asap. I am happy to have entered the world wide web, it is like a refuge for my soul. So familiar.

I'm staying in Townsville, Australia. My travelling buddies have long flown home. Its just me and all the airlines in the world now. They give me too much freedom. So I have to make all these decisions alone. Its wild. While we were travelling as a four I sometimes thought to myself, if only I could just do as I pleased. Now I'm seeing the beauty of group dynamics, discussion, compromise and other people's opinions. Its so complicated when there is noone to help set your boundaries.

I'm going to be cooking for a large group of young people, its very hot here and I sweat a lot. Bring on the hot stove! My skin will be very pretty by the time I return to the homeland. Its like I'm in a sauna as soon as I get up to when I go to bed. We are allowed to switch on the air conditioning at night time.

Yeah so that is an update here folks, its hot, there are a few nice people around, and there are nice walks to go on. I am reading a good book too. The Heavenly Man. It is reassuring to hear about people doing wierd things.

Too much to say

2006-01-24T03:04:00.000Z

So its been a long time since I've blogged, and the longer I put it off, the worse the idea of it becomes. Right now I feel like there is a lot to say, but maybe I can summarise. I'll start from where I left off. We were in Brazil, before Christmas. Christmas there was wonderful. The family we were staying with really are the most amazing people. That is Ted and Deidre Collington, their daughter Morven Santos, married to Fabio, parents of Angus (8 months) and adopted parents of Gabriel (17) and Raphael (11) . I think the thing that is really shocking about this family, is that they are always looking outwards, taking care of other people, their lives seem to be far beyond their control, and they are really relaxed. I think that is a really good combination of characteristics.

After Brazil we went to probably my now favourite place on earth. Easter Island, or Rapa Nui. In case you don't know it is in the middle of the pacific ocean, the most remote land mass on earth. And it is amazing. Its all made of volcanic rock. There are enormous craters with lakes filling them, there are enormous caves, and incredible rock formations. You can see how the lava hit the sea and cooled and hardened in really amazing and unlikely shapes. The island is really not over populated or over developed which is so relaxing. You can go for walks, see the entire island and each of the seas surrounding it, and no people. Nice.

The campsite we stayed in was run by a really relaxed, friendly couple. On the last night we were there the entire campsite sat round and ate all the fish the husband had caught in the sea the day before. This sounds really idyllic I think, in reality I wasn't too keen on the fish, I think that is mainly since Conor asked this question "what really is the difference between eating a fish and a rat". When I couldn't come up with an answer, I knew then that there must be something wrong. Still, it was definitely the best campsite I've ever been to. Also I got a tan, I'm actually tanned, I look at my legs and see that I am, maybe for the first time, genuinely a tanned person.

Ok so now we're in Santiago, Chile, and I like it. I realise I actually feel really comfortable in cities. When I walk along the streets I feel really happy. That is not to say I don't like the country, but I am sometimes surprised at how much I really enjoy being in cities. It is quite civilised here, relative to other South American places, so I feel pretty comfortable, there is hot water coming out of the taps, and I'm not worried about the power being about to go.

We have managed to stumble across the most perfect hostel in the world. Completely by accident, we came to this place and I think its because it is run by an American man so he has high standards, but it is amazing. We've set a few days of our trip aside, while Conor and I are in Chile and James and Anna, our travelling buddies, are in New Zealand, to plan a major event coming up in our lives that requires quite a lot of thought and organisation. That would be our wedding. Yes. And it is as though someone knew this, and set up the most perfect hostel in the world for us to be in at this time. So the hostel is amazing because not only is it the cheapest in town, the people really friendly and relaxed, the laundry free, there are 700 DVD's available to watch on a nice TV with a posh sound system, we are given tea and toast at breakfast, and we are encouraged to use more, not less of anything we need, but also there is free internet. I guess that doesn't sound too exciting, but it really really is, for us, right now. So we're here, in this lovely part of Santiago. And really I want to say thank you. This really is amazing.

New Destiny

2005-12-12T16:17:00.000Z

We´re in Brazil! It is different again, we were in Peru, we were in Belize, we were in Guatemala, we were in the USA, we were in Mexico, and this place is different to all of the above. We stayed for a few nights with a Brazilian family and got a bit of the Brazilian vibe. There is a big divide as far as I can tell between the Brazilian Christian lifestyle and the ´normal´Brazilian lifestyle, so it was interesting staying with this family because some people were Christians and some people weren´t. The ´normal´ side of the family; that is the younger brother, and the dad but the younger broher is more interesting. He would go out all day drinking, apparently he had a job putting up Christmas decorations around the town but that really doesn´t figure in my head, then he would come home, cry a lot because his friend had just been shot dead. If he was in during the day then he would play funk music in the middle of the house at its maximum volume on a big sound system. It was tricky to have conversations while that was happening
So the Christians, don´t listen to funk music because it is associated with crazy how do I say this, sexualised dancing, and stick in their groups because outside of their groups is a lot of drug trafficking, a lot of money grabbing and a lot of violence.
We heard a lot of stories of people getting shot, and general violence when we arrived, I was worried about falling asleep at night, I felt quite vulnerable and wondered how so many people were still alive having heard all the awful stories and all the words of warning about how to carry yourself about town. We´re all alive though, that is the main thing.
Now we are staying and working at a farm come adventure centre in the countryside where the greatest threat is mosquitoes. The adventure centre has been set up for people who live in the slums, where all the violence happens, to come away for weekends, get away from the places they live in, get some self esteem and hear a bit about God. It is pretty amazing. So this is where Christianity meets ´normal people´. Last weekend a group of nine boys/men came to stay. They look really average then you hear a bit about their lives and it is quite shocking. Again, see City of God.
Some of them had to borrow shoes to come for the weekend, they need trainers to go on the activities that are set up for them. So this one guy had his feet squeezed into these shoes that must have been his mum´s or something, they looked tiny on him, it must have been painful.
The girl Morven who dreamed this place up and her Brazilian husband who came from the slums himself, run the place. Morven´s mum and dad used to be my pastors while I was at university have retired out here and play a major role in running the place. During the week we are doing physical labour, helping to get the place more together, there is a long way to go before the place is how they want it to be. Anyway its all quite amazing, watch the film City of God and you get an idea of the place where the boys who come to the farm live. It is quite crazy.
Its really good to be here, we´ll be here for Christmas when another set of boys will be arriving, so its going to be a bit different, probably lots of fun.
Also its really nice to be with British people, we get to eat normal food again, we had cheese and biscuits the other day, what a luxury!

Guatemala is beautiful and so are the people

2005-10-29T00:21:00.000Z

We're saying in a town called San Pedro, its at the foot of an inactive volcano by the shores of an enormous lake. Today we went out on kayaks to a beach with black sand and tried to catch some fish to eat for tea. It is so beautiful here, as we were making our way back to town the light was coming down in shafts onto the volcano, it was so beautiful, also the stars are so clear here. We're staying in a hostel with a lot of pot smoking hippies who have arrived here and got stuck, they've been living in the hostel for 5 months now. It seems that happens to a lot of people who come here.

The locals wear amazing woven clothes in bright colours and have beautiful faces. The women try and sell us banana bread all day long and the men encourage us to go horse riding. We're going to go tomorrow. They bathe in the lake, its the first time I've seen that.

They rely on tourists so much that when hurricane Stan was threatenening they government airlifted all the tourists out, they really can't afford to lose their business.

Its amazing, we are being well looked after by no-one in particular.

11 Reasons why I know I'm in Mexico and not Britain

2005-09-23T15:39:00.000Z

We're at our first destination of ou world tour, so far we've visited Mexico City, where hundreds and hundreds (more live millions and millions) of people gather and all try to sell the same thing, mostly useless objects as far as I can tell. I don't know how any of them make a living. Then we went to Teoticuahan where Aztecs used to live and where we climbed the ruins of the enormous pyramids that they built to worship the sun and moon, now we're in Pachuca, a pretty town (in a run down sort of a way) set in the middle of mountains, the view is pretty. I'm just going to list a few things that indicate to me that British Airways did actually bring us across the atlantic, and we're in the place on the map called Mexico. I am so excited to have made it this far, for some reason I never believed I'd make it out of Europe.

1) I can count on my fingers the number of fair skinned people that I have seen in the last week. Everyone here has dark hair and a tan, it clearly isn't tourist season or we are totally missing what tourists are supposed to do because most people look at us like we are slightly peculiar.
2) I have just eaten an enormous breakfast of pastries and donuts and it cost me 25p.
3) We're staying in a 3* hotel, but there is no loo seat on the toilet. I don't want to ignore the fact that it costs less than 6 pounds a night to stay here and it is generally very nice.
4) The sink in the bathroom of the first hostel we stayed in fell off the wall after I had used it. Fortunately I was standing a fair distance away from the sink at the time, otherwise I might not have many toes left.
5) Every time we have been dithering and looking lost on a street corner a friendly person has appeared and walked us to the place we are looking for. I know for a fact this would never happen in Britain, cos I'm British, people would just walk by with far more important things to be getting on with. Seriously the people here are so friendly. Another example:
6) When we turned up to a road side food stall a Mexican lady got up out of her seat and insisted that we all sit down in here place and enjoy our first, crispy thing with nice potato stuff in it, I didn't catch what it was called.
7) All the houses have flat roofs. That definitely wouldn't work in Britain.
8) Everything is colourful and minimalism counts for nothing.
9) I haven't heard Keane, Coldplay or Jack Johnson being played in a shop once, only Spanish guitar music.
10) We were up on a hillside last night looking over the town we're staying in and we watched as whole areas of the towns lights completely cut out, and eventually came back on again. I guess that is a good thing about the UK, the threat of power cuts isn't too great.
11) The bus journey here took us through fields and fields of cactuses. Also they sell cactus in the markets to be eaten, wierd or what, I'm going to have to give it a go before we leave.

Its fair to say that the longer we stay in Mexico, the more I like it. People here are friendly, relaxed, helpful, and living here is cheap as.

Next stop Dallas, or is it, there could be a problem, I think we're due to fly in right about the time hurricane Rita...

Pretty soon

2005-08-28T12:18:00.000Z

Today is Sunday. I have a week and a half left at my job in London and I'm very excited about the fact that I'm (God willing) going to be embarking on a round the world trip in exactly two and a half weeks time. The idea of leaving all things British for a long time really is very exciting to me. I'll let you know more of the details as my journey progresses and maybe even post some pictures too. First stop Mexico City...

Anecdote of today

2005-06-13T23:00:00.000Z

Hey there, this was an interesting occurence that happened to me today.
I was sitting on a wall eating my lunch and starting talking to this builder man, the conversation turned to Alpha cos we were outside the church where I work and so I told him what happened inside the building (lots of people working on the Alpha course) then to God, as is natural, then after a while of explaining his theological viewpoint he was like 'I just saw something, you are beautiful', then 'I am going now because I have embarrased myself'. I don't think I'll go back to the wall for lunch anymore. It would be uncomfortable if he was there too, which is a shame because it is my favourite place to eat lunch when it is sunny. The wall is fairly crap actually, its just a low bit of wall in the sun, but its the best thing we've got, and I can kid myself that I am getting a tan when I sit there.
The thing is I think it is ok that he said that, like why can you not say stuff like that? That is the question I would like to ask today. Why did he have to be embarrassed and wierd about saying that afterwards? Really, truly, I think that potentially that is ok. Obviously potentially it is not, if he is trying to get something, but I don't know if he was, so this is the question, another question, to which I have an opinion, but would like to know what you think about it.

Holidays rock

2005-05-29T07:38:00.000Z

Hey there, its been a while since I last added a blog entry, so I thought I'd get to it after all this time. The thing is there's not much adventure in a 9-5 girl's working life. But to be fair that is not strictly true, fair enough I wouldn't want to bore you with any of the details of what happens within my four office walls, but there is plenty of time outside that for adventures and fun.
Recently I've seen the northern lights at midnight on a beach the East Coast of Scotland, I've explored some seriously beautiful and undiscovered parts of France, I've been to my favourite part of London, Hampstead Heath, which doesn't feel like London at all. And lots of other stuff in between. So hey its not all that bad. Next trip is to Finland, apparently its not actually going to get dark at all, and there is a beach there too. I've got to go and make tea and coffee now - I'm at work, helping out at the services at church, probably one of the perks of my job.
Be back soon...

learning

2005-04-11T16:46:00.000Z

Hi there, I've learned a lot in the last few weeks, it has been so exciting and freeing. I have been at some Christian conferences where I learned loads and also I have been spending time with brilliant people, and have been learning a lot through that too. I don't think I'll try to go through everything right now, but the main things I learned and things that I find really exciting are - I am already forgiven by God because Jesus has already died on the cross for me, like it happened in the past for all time so actually nothing can get in the way between me and God. That has really big implications for my life, it means I don't have to worry about pleasing God. Also confessing to God is not like pleading for forgiveness, its more like acknowledging that something you are doing or have been doing is not what you want and is not what God wants wither, and by saying that to him you are recognising that and can then move into new life with him, which is way better than life without Him. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone who is not already inside my head, but if it does make sense then cool! And if its not clear then ask.
Another great realisation is that the freedom that God wants us to have is totally on his heart too, its not as if we are striving for freedom against his will, when you work together with God then you definitely will overcome stuff that gets in your way from freedom. Ok so freedom means - not having to have rubbish thoughts in your head all the time - about yourself or about other people. How cool is that!! Yeah.
I think talking to other people about it is really helpful too, like telling them the crap thoughts you are having - that makes the fact that you don't want to be having the thougts even more real.
Yeah so give it a go, yeah!

Opinion Poll

2005-03-09T11:09:00.000Z

Please vote to agree or disagree with the following statement, give reasons if you want to too:

The shoes you wear represent your personality.

Just a few questions

2005-02-28T21:38:00.000Z

1) Do you think the phone was initially invented for business or pleasure purposes?
2) Why do we insist on talking about time the way we do, so that everyone who eats lunch when the sun is high in the sky talks about it in terms of 12-1pm? (Don't be pedantic if you are some crazy kid who eats lunch at 4pm or something, you get what I'm saying.) What would be the problem of us all having the same time, so wherever you were in the world you worked from the same clock, so some people would eat luuch at say 1am, or 9pm?
I'm sure there is a sensible answer to this, so really, does the whole time/date thing have to work the way it does?

Tolerance

2005-02-28T20:57:00.000Z

Ok so this is slightly off the general theme that seems to be developing on this blog. I don't want to talk about Northern Ireland, though no doubt my experience of it has contributed to what I am now (being forced?) to think about. I want to talk about immigration. This has been triggered particularly by an incident which occured at work today. One of my colleagues (what a horrible word by the way, wouldn't you much rather use the word friend? Sometimes it doesn't apply though) was flying back to South Africa - because of new legislation passed 3 weeks ago. She has had to fly out to South Africa (her home country) in order to apply for a visa, she can't do it from here. She found this out about 10 days ago. To me this just seems an odd situation, and possibly the result of what the media at least seems to be turning into a major issue.

I was reading yesterday inthe Sunday Times magazine about how apparently the Dutch goverment is in a bit of a panic about immigration laws and is going to make cut backs to those allowed asylum by about 75%. Apparently the younger dutch generation is outnumbered by immigrants now.

The concern is that the underlying Western values, which were once Christian but have now turned liberal, ie pro-euthansia, prostitution, casual drug use, abortion, homosexual partnership etc, are under the threat by the influx of Muslim fundamentalism, coming west via loose immigration laws and controls. The Koran, taken at its word, (so the sunday times says) encourages people to see everything in black and white, where Islam is white and the rest black. The culture it promotes is said to be intolerant of Western values, and if people who are entering the country are not integrated into the West, people fear that Islamic sub-cultures will come up against Western Society in a very damaging way. (I'm not exactly sure what that would look like, the impression I get is that it wouldn't be pretty.)

Ok so I feel like at the moment, we are being told to tolerate everything that is thrown at us, (I'm thinking particularly about homosexuality, which it is not pc to even have an open-minded opinion about) but we are not to tolerate fundamentalist Islam, we are tolerant of everything and everyone except those who are intolerant of us. Interesting situation. People say that there is a time coming in the not too distant future when Christians will be persecuted. I think this time has already begun to a minor degree. I can see how this issue of immigration and the the threat of an imposed Islam will contribute to it too. I can see how laws might develop, demanding tolerance of other cultures, I can see how in turn, this will work against any religious group which claims to be 'the way, the truth and the life', for example. Basically, logically, with the way the law seems to work at the moment, it makes sense that a time when anyone who says anything to suggest that there is a right and a wrong, will be oppressed.

Odd because this liberalism is supposedly founded on free speech, but now our free speech is limited to speech praising that which free speech initially discovered.

Fact

2005-02-18T14:27:00.000Z

Awkward silences in Northern Ireland are longer than in London.

The difference in length will vary, naturally, however there is unquestionable evidence to show that on average the length of an awkward silence is appoximately 50% longer in the love country.

Northern Ireland

2005-02-05T11:50:00.000Z

I'm in Northern Ireland, its nice. I just need to recommend a book, its called Man and Wife by Tony Parsons. Its good, but a bit sad making, there is a lot of talk about unfaithfulness and divorce. It is very real though, and that is why I like it. That is why I like Northern Ireland too, because there is a lot of time and you can be real and not just smile at everyone, say hi and walk by. Like London. Which is depressing in that way.

The First Posting

2005-01-31T21:35:00.000Z

So can you believe its already the end of January?
Its the end of the beginning, and the beginning of the end.
Whichever way you say it it sounds depressing.