I love it, when I am driving and am able to let someone out in front of me.
They give me the thumbs up!!! .... rather than a wave.
Recently, I let a few young boys cross the road in front of me.
One of these little guys gave me TWO THUMBS UP!!!!
Made my day.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
OH the motherland....
Just some funny English - isms I've been thinking about sharing with y'all.
THE WORDS: For some reason the English pronounce 3 MAJOR athletic company names super strange.
1. Nike (said in British English like Mike)
2. Puma (said in British English like pewma)
3. Adidas (said in British English like addy-das)
THE PEOPLE: Not to over stereotype the English or anything, but they don't talk to you and they don't look at you. It is kinda miserable. Walking through the grocery store, everyone looks at the ground and if you just happen to make eye contact with someone, they look away very quickly. booo....
THE WIND: It causes everyday to be back funny hair day for me. Most of the time it all gets blown straight up and swirls around all over the place. The wind is so rough that every time I drive down the motorway, I think my car is going to blow into the car next to me.
THE SHEEP: I do believe that every sheep in the country had a hair cut this past weekend. They don't look like cuddly cotton balls anymore.....more like sad goats.
THE POLICE: They stand on the side of the road and videotape you speeding by them and then send you a ticket in the mail. This adds to my theory that the British don't like confrontation.
Okay...that's all on the inside scoop for today! :)
THE WORDS: For some reason the English pronounce 3 MAJOR athletic company names super strange.
1. Nike (said in British English like Mike)
2. Puma (said in British English like pewma)
3. Adidas (said in British English like addy-das)
THE PEOPLE: Not to over stereotype the English or anything, but they don't talk to you and they don't look at you. It is kinda miserable. Walking through the grocery store, everyone looks at the ground and if you just happen to make eye contact with someone, they look away very quickly. booo....
THE WIND: It causes everyday to be back funny hair day for me. Most of the time it all gets blown straight up and swirls around all over the place. The wind is so rough that every time I drive down the motorway, I think my car is going to blow into the car next to me.
THE SHEEP: I do believe that every sheep in the country had a hair cut this past weekend. They don't look like cuddly cotton balls anymore.....more like sad goats.
THE POLICE: They stand on the side of the road and videotape you speeding by them and then send you a ticket in the mail. This adds to my theory that the British don't like confrontation.
Okay...that's all on the inside scoop for today! :)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Have I told you yet about my new case?
.....young person who has been trafficked into the country.
The details are sad and obviously I can't share them on a public blog (DUH!), but I am so grateful to work this case. And, I totally see the Lord's sovereignty in the assignment of this case.
I meet my new client tomorrow and I get to speak using an interpreter! :)
That's whats up! :)
The details are sad and obviously I can't share them on a public blog (DUH!), but I am so grateful to work this case. And, I totally see the Lord's sovereignty in the assignment of this case.
I meet my new client tomorrow and I get to speak using an interpreter! :)
That's whats up! :)
Sunday, May 30, 2010
coffee shop Sunday
I am currently sitting a coffee shop in Canterbury catching up on blogs and listening to music that stirs my soul.
I thought I heard an American accent, so I just took off my headphones. Yep an American!
This American girl (probably my age) is chatting about the gospel with her male, English friend that just described himself as an atheist. The best part is that she is being SO HONEST and talking about all the "Christian" stuff she doesn't really understand or know if she agrees with. It is cool to hear how interested he is and how honest and confused she is.
I wonder if they think I am ease dropping.... :/
I may go talk to them soon. :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I waited until the guy went downstairs to get more coffee, then asked the girl about her accent! :)
Sadly my ears deceived me....she is NOT American. She is Swedish, BUT has a fabulous American accent. She went to an American school growing up and her British father lived in the states for awhile and returned speaking American English. I was so intrigued at how American she sounded...accent, words she used, slang, etc. She said that most people think she is American. But, she's not. So weird to me. I know two Swedish guys that live here, but neither of them sound American. And, she said that there weren't many Americans in her American school. hmmm....
I spent about an hour talking to the girl and guy. It was so NICE to talk to people!!! They did comment on how American I was to walk up to a stranger in a coffee shop and start talking. The guy said the British definitely don't do that because then people think you want something from them. All I want is to talk to people DANG IT! Okay...and maybe I want some friends too. :)
The girl and I exchanged contact information upon my initiation, so I will give it a few days and then email her. I would hate to overwhelm her with my American forwardness too soon....HAHA!
I thought I heard an American accent, so I just took off my headphones. Yep an American!
This American girl (probably my age) is chatting about the gospel with her male, English friend that just described himself as an atheist. The best part is that she is being SO HONEST and talking about all the "Christian" stuff she doesn't really understand or know if she agrees with. It is cool to hear how interested he is and how honest and confused she is.
I wonder if they think I am ease dropping.... :/
I may go talk to them soon. :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I waited until the guy went downstairs to get more coffee, then asked the girl about her accent! :)
Sadly my ears deceived me....she is NOT American. She is Swedish, BUT has a fabulous American accent. She went to an American school growing up and her British father lived in the states for awhile and returned speaking American English. I was so intrigued at how American she sounded...accent, words she used, slang, etc. She said that most people think she is American. But, she's not. So weird to me. I know two Swedish guys that live here, but neither of them sound American. And, she said that there weren't many Americans in her American school. hmmm....
I spent about an hour talking to the girl and guy. It was so NICE to talk to people!!! They did comment on how American I was to walk up to a stranger in a coffee shop and start talking. The guy said the British definitely don't do that because then people think you want something from them. All I want is to talk to people DANG IT! Okay...and maybe I want some friends too. :)
The girl and I exchanged contact information upon my initiation, so I will give it a few days and then email her. I would hate to overwhelm her with my American forwardness too soon....HAHA!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
what a blessing
By now, I may have mentioned the ridiculousness of our "car park" situation at work. We have like 50 permit spaces for a building of about 200 employees. Just like desks, parking spots are a hot commodity around these parts. Its typical to A: see someone racing through the car park to beat another car to the spot or B: employees waiting around stalking workers as they come out of the building to pounce on their spot. (I reminds me of both TCU and UT parking at times.)
The sad part is there are hundreds of spots in the lot that surrounds our building, but only 50 are for permit holders and the rest are metered spots. So, a few days a week, I find myself scrummaging for 50 now 60 p to put in the silly meter to park in the close lot for 2 hours. A few times, I have had to borrow change from a coworker or write an IOU to the office fund since I rarely carry cash.
Anyways, this morning I parked in the pay lot, but forgot to move my car at 10:45 when my two hours were up. Sadly, there are two meter patrols that swarm our car parks writing tickets to anyone that have over stayed what they paid for.
Some how, at 11:15 my heart went into panic mode when I realized I was 45 minutes late to move my car. I jumped up from my desk, yelled DANG IT, grabbed my keys, and ran down stairs.
To my glorious surprise, there was NOT a ticket on my car! PTL!!!!!
This was such a blessing to my day. The meter patrols are always walking up and down the lot, but by the grace of God, my expired parking ticket was not caught! :)
The sad part is there are hundreds of spots in the lot that surrounds our building, but only 50 are for permit holders and the rest are metered spots. So, a few days a week, I find myself scrummaging for 50 now 60 p to put in the silly meter to park in the close lot for 2 hours. A few times, I have had to borrow change from a coworker or write an IOU to the office fund since I rarely carry cash.
Anyways, this morning I parked in the pay lot, but forgot to move my car at 10:45 when my two hours were up. Sadly, there are two meter patrols that swarm our car parks writing tickets to anyone that have over stayed what they paid for.
Some how, at 11:15 my heart went into panic mode when I realized I was 45 minutes late to move my car. I jumped up from my desk, yelled DANG IT, grabbed my keys, and ran down stairs.
To my glorious surprise, there was NOT a ticket on my car! PTL!!!!!
This was such a blessing to my day. The meter patrols are always walking up and down the lot, but by the grace of God, my expired parking ticket was not caught! :)
Monday, May 24, 2010
duty SUCKS!!!
Today, was my very first day as the "duty social worker." Put simply, it means that I don't work on any of my own cases that I am super behind on, but instead, complete tasks regarding the unallocated cases and cases of coworkers on vacation or out of the office. CRAP!
To start out the day, I had the privilege of CHAIRING a meeting. Personally, I have only attended two other meetings like this one, and I have NOT chaired any yet. SO, I spent about two hours stumbling through the meeting with a major problem being mom's moving to America and lucky them, America (that's me!) came to help fix their problem! I thought that part was pretty funny!
Upon returning to the office, I received two duty phone calls with yelling/extremely irritated people on the other line. One a parent and one a professional. Sadly, many people forget their manners when they call our office.
Next, I met a lad in reception, who wanted me to find him a new Bed and Breakfast, because he was receiving threats at his current B&B. I spent the next three hours calling 20 B&B in one town, 5 in another, and 4 in another all to tell me A: they do not accept young people on benefits or B: they do accept young people on benefits, but they are full because this is a bank holiday weekend. I called two other social services offices, and three other professionals offices as well to help me assist this kid. By the time I had to leave for my next assignment, I called the kid back to tell him I had no luck and tomorrow's duty social worker would try again.
During my final assignment of the day, I met two ADORABLE little girls and a less than polite parent. We talked in circles for about an hour, and at one point he told me to leave, but then asked me to stay, and then showed me his baseball bat he would use a protection if ever need be (not threatening me or anything).
On my 30 minute journey back to the office, I again wondered why I am doing this ridiculous job.
When I returned at 5:30, I called one of my morning yellers to tell him I had not accomplished his request, but his social worker would be in tomorrow. Surprisingly, he said okay and was really kind to me! :)
I then spent the next hour clearing the mound of files off my desk and documenting all the exciting events of the day. I was officially the last person to leave my office and parking lot at 7 pm. I even met the lovely cleaning lady way on my way through to the kitchen to grab my lunch that I did not have time to eat.
What a freaking RIDICULOUS day!
I have decided that "duty" work is ineffective and way less than best practice. We just bandaid big issues and wait for the next problem to flair up to add another bandaid. But, what else do you do if you have more cases than social workers?
However, just for once in the next year and a half I am here, I would like for ONE parent, young person, or professional I work with to take responsibility for ONE issue they are experiencing and STOP blaming social services. Because, dear families, if we are involved with you, it must mean you are doing at least one thing wrong! I promise we don't come out and visit for fun!
Okay...that's the end of my soap box!
Thanks for reading! :)
To start out the day, I had the privilege of CHAIRING a meeting. Personally, I have only attended two other meetings like this one, and I have NOT chaired any yet. SO, I spent about two hours stumbling through the meeting with a major problem being mom's moving to America and lucky them, America (that's me!) came to help fix their problem! I thought that part was pretty funny!
Upon returning to the office, I received two duty phone calls with yelling/extremely irritated people on the other line. One a parent and one a professional. Sadly, many people forget their manners when they call our office.
Next, I met a lad in reception, who wanted me to find him a new Bed and Breakfast, because he was receiving threats at his current B&B. I spent the next three hours calling 20 B&B in one town, 5 in another, and 4 in another all to tell me A: they do not accept young people on benefits or B: they do accept young people on benefits, but they are full because this is a bank holiday weekend. I called two other social services offices, and three other professionals offices as well to help me assist this kid. By the time I had to leave for my next assignment, I called the kid back to tell him I had no luck and tomorrow's duty social worker would try again.
During my final assignment of the day, I met two ADORABLE little girls and a less than polite parent. We talked in circles for about an hour, and at one point he told me to leave, but then asked me to stay, and then showed me his baseball bat he would use a protection if ever need be (not threatening me or anything).
On my 30 minute journey back to the office, I again wondered why I am doing this ridiculous job.
When I returned at 5:30, I called one of my morning yellers to tell him I had not accomplished his request, but his social worker would be in tomorrow. Surprisingly, he said okay and was really kind to me! :)
I then spent the next hour clearing the mound of files off my desk and documenting all the exciting events of the day. I was officially the last person to leave my office and parking lot at 7 pm. I even met the lovely cleaning lady way on my way through to the kitchen to grab my lunch that I did not have time to eat.
What a freaking RIDICULOUS day!
I have decided that "duty" work is ineffective and way less than best practice. We just bandaid big issues and wait for the next problem to flair up to add another bandaid. But, what else do you do if you have more cases than social workers?
However, just for once in the next year and a half I am here, I would like for ONE parent, young person, or professional I work with to take responsibility for ONE issue they are experiencing and STOP blaming social services. Because, dear families, if we are involved with you, it must mean you are doing at least one thing wrong! I promise we don't come out and visit for fun!
Okay...that's the end of my soap box!
Thanks for reading! :)
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Happy Graduation sweet friends!
Today, is graduation day for my two sweet friends, Rachael and Abby. They both will graduation with their Masters in Social Work from the University of Texas.
These two girls were so influential during my time in Austin. At points, I lived with both of them, and was able to share life with them on a daily basis. I was able to see the passion they had and what brought joy to their hearts.
Both are about to embark on two year commitments using their social work degree and their love of Jesus to impact the world around them.
Abby will shortly begin working for Child Protection Services in Williamson County Texas, where she will work to safeguard children and families. Even though she may not be sooo excited about her upcoming job, she is grateful for the benefits she received during grad school and the opportunity to use her degree for good. I pray she remains confident in God's purpose for her few years in CPS and leans into Christ when the going gets tough. LOVE YOU AB!
Rachael will be moving to Ethiopia in July to work for two years as the volunteer coordinator for a non-profit house that she volunteered through for two summers in the past. Rachael has such a big heart for Ethiopia and I am excited that she is walking in this calling and leaving certain hopes and dreams in the Lord's hand and timing. She is so excited for this journey. I pray that she develops a strong community in Ethiopia and feels love and connectedness with her friends and family at home and her new community in Ethiopia. I LOVE YOU SWEET RACHAEL!
The Lord has blessed me with such great friends to walk alongside with. I am grateful these girls are choosing to follow Christ in His plans for their lives. I so hope to be in a similar location as them again at some point in the future, but I know that we will remain connected no matter how distant we are.
CONGRATULATIONS Rachael and Abby! Enjoy your day of celebration! I am celebrating with you from England! :)
These two girls were so influential during my time in Austin. At points, I lived with both of them, and was able to share life with them on a daily basis. I was able to see the passion they had and what brought joy to their hearts.
Both are about to embark on two year commitments using their social work degree and their love of Jesus to impact the world around them.
Abby will shortly begin working for Child Protection Services in Williamson County Texas, where she will work to safeguard children and families. Even though she may not be sooo excited about her upcoming job, she is grateful for the benefits she received during grad school and the opportunity to use her degree for good. I pray she remains confident in God's purpose for her few years in CPS and leans into Christ when the going gets tough. LOVE YOU AB!
Rachael will be moving to Ethiopia in July to work for two years as the volunteer coordinator for a non-profit house that she volunteered through for two summers in the past. Rachael has such a big heart for Ethiopia and I am excited that she is walking in this calling and leaving certain hopes and dreams in the Lord's hand and timing. She is so excited for this journey. I pray that she develops a strong community in Ethiopia and feels love and connectedness with her friends and family at home and her new community in Ethiopia. I LOVE YOU SWEET RACHAEL!
The Lord has blessed me with such great friends to walk alongside with. I am grateful these girls are choosing to follow Christ in His plans for their lives. I so hope to be in a similar location as them again at some point in the future, but I know that we will remain connected no matter how distant we are.
CONGRATULATIONS Rachael and Abby! Enjoy your day of celebration! I am celebrating with you from England! :)
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