The artist formerly known as Chris
So in Boston it was "Sully" and in London it did not take long before I obtained the moniker of "Chip". I think that it might stick because about half of my housemates use it interchangibly with Chris. Before long I suspect that the use of "Chip" will obtain critical mass and I will forever be a british french fry.
While I would like to think my new pseudonyme is a reflection of my generally good-natured attitude, in reality, Bruce (my Scottish housemate that dubbed me) just thought that it sounded like a good American Marine name. And as we all know, when you think Marine, you think Chris, er uh, Chip. Semper fi.....
It could be worse though and I actually don't mind because I think it is somewhat a term of endearment. When Bruce asked me if he could call me that, I did make it a point to ask if "Chip" had other conotations that might be less flattering, but he assured me that there were no hidden meanings.
I guess that is a good segue into an introduction of my housemates. On the volunteer side there are three guys and two girls, Steve, Bruce and me share a pretty big room and Isabell and Gilly have their own rooms for now.
Steve is a native of England and has just recently returned to the Community a few months ago after traveling and volunteering for a while and most recently having a real job as an outreach worker with one of London's major homelessness organizations. A few years ago when the Community was still a completely volunteer run organization, he was the community leader so I think that he has a wealth of knowledge and I am looking forward to picking his brain a bit.
Bruce is from Edinburugh, Scotland and has been with the community for almost a year and a half. Unfortunatly, he just recently got a full-time job with the homelessness organization that Steve used to work for so he will be moving on in the next couple of weeks.
Isabell is from Singapore and has been with us since February. She is one of those folks that is just such a kind and gentle person so although her english isn't the best in the world I am sure that she is an incredible asset to the household.
Gilly is from the Isle of Man and started along with me this past Monday. She has been my translator for the past week and has informed me of so many coloquialisms that I can't even recall many of them right now. It is amazing the differences between speaking American and speaking English, but I am catching on.
I have decided that in the interest of confidentiality, and so as to not to compromise the trust of the folks that are living here, I am not going to divulge anything too specific about their circumstances. However, I do want to give ya'll a profile.
There are three homeless guys that are currently living in the house, well, I say guys quite loosely because on of those fellas is a very large Latvian transvestite named Viola. I must admit that I was a bit taken aback when I first met her, um, him....hmmm, well, Viola anyways. Viola doesn't really speak english very good so you really have to listen closely to pick out certain words and reconstruct a sentance that may or may not be what Viola is actually trying to say. It makes me laugh...quite heartily sometimes. Viola plays the piano very well from what I hear (although there is another resident who has discouraged him from doing so, so I have not had to the chance to hear) and dreams of becoming a go-go dancer to finance his sex-change operation.
Ok, so then there is Robert, he hails from South Africa and is quite a strong-minded fella. We hit it off very well though due in large part to my willingness to play chess with him. Although the score currently rests at at about 0-50 in Robert's favor, I am getting much better and soon is the day when victory will be mine.
Michael is the last resident in the house and is originally from Scotland. He tends to enjoy being by himself but is not too incredibly socialy awkward. I really like Michael and we seem to get along pretty well. Unfortunatly, he will probably not be around for too long because in three weeks he will be 60 and become eligible to recieve benefits. These benefits will allow him to get his own flat and he had already voiced his desire to get out of the house as soon as possible. In fact, he left the house for a few days right after I arrived, apparently initiated by a drinking binge. He is back safely for the time being.
Many different personalities but somehow we seem to get along pretty well. I am looking forward to having more homeless residents move in.
Friday marked my one week aniversary in London and to celebrate I decided to get quite ill on Thursday and sleep for 14 hours. Not only did this mean that I was laid up in bed but I also missed my first chance to do a soup run as well as the two big meetings that we have as a community every Friday. It is quite amazing what 2 consecutive days of 10 + hours of sleep can do to restore an immune system though, so by yesterday I was feeling much better. In celebration of my recovery, and because it was my day off, I decided to go hunting around London and get my bearings a bit more. A few other folks that were off went "on the piss" but I decided that in light of the fact that I am really not much of a drinker, I don't have any money, and my stomach was still a bit flip-floppy it would be best to abstain.
Below this entry, you can see a few of the pictures that I took last night in the Victoria section of town. They enlarge when you click on them and some make quite good desktop backgrounds.
On Wednsday night, me and Bruce had gone down to Victoria to do outreach so I though it would also be a good idea to get a feel for how to get around that part of the city, also there are a lot of touristy things to see in a small circumfrence so I thought that it would be time well spent.
I believe that this will be a stopping point for today because I have already spent much too much time writing. The smell of banggers and mash is floating about and I have a special birthday Coca-cola awaiting me downstairs.
As I enter into this first non-training week, please be in prayer that I would be able to integrate quickly into the community, that I would be granted favor with community members, and that I would have wisdom and discernment as I begin to take on responsibility and participate in the regular activies of the community that I mentioned in my previous post. Thanks so much guys!
Grace and peace, Chris
While I would like to think my new pseudonyme is a reflection of my generally good-natured attitude, in reality, Bruce (my Scottish housemate that dubbed me) just thought that it sounded like a good American Marine name. And as we all know, when you think Marine, you think Chris, er uh, Chip. Semper fi.....
It could be worse though and I actually don't mind because I think it is somewhat a term of endearment. When Bruce asked me if he could call me that, I did make it a point to ask if "Chip" had other conotations that might be less flattering, but he assured me that there were no hidden meanings.
I guess that is a good segue into an introduction of my housemates. On the volunteer side there are three guys and two girls, Steve, Bruce and me share a pretty big room and Isabell and Gilly have their own rooms for now.
Steve is a native of England and has just recently returned to the Community a few months ago after traveling and volunteering for a while and most recently having a real job as an outreach worker with one of London's major homelessness organizations. A few years ago when the Community was still a completely volunteer run organization, he was the community leader so I think that he has a wealth of knowledge and I am looking forward to picking his brain a bit.
Bruce is from Edinburugh, Scotland and has been with the community for almost a year and a half. Unfortunatly, he just recently got a full-time job with the homelessness organization that Steve used to work for so he will be moving on in the next couple of weeks.
Isabell is from Singapore and has been with us since February. She is one of those folks that is just such a kind and gentle person so although her english isn't the best in the world I am sure that she is an incredible asset to the household.
Gilly is from the Isle of Man and started along with me this past Monday. She has been my translator for the past week and has informed me of so many coloquialisms that I can't even recall many of them right now. It is amazing the differences between speaking American and speaking English, but I am catching on.
I have decided that in the interest of confidentiality, and so as to not to compromise the trust of the folks that are living here, I am not going to divulge anything too specific about their circumstances. However, I do want to give ya'll a profile.
There are three homeless guys that are currently living in the house, well, I say guys quite loosely because on of those fellas is a very large Latvian transvestite named Viola. I must admit that I was a bit taken aback when I first met her, um, him....hmmm, well, Viola anyways. Viola doesn't really speak english very good so you really have to listen closely to pick out certain words and reconstruct a sentance that may or may not be what Viola is actually trying to say. It makes me laugh...quite heartily sometimes. Viola plays the piano very well from what I hear (although there is another resident who has discouraged him from doing so, so I have not had to the chance to hear) and dreams of becoming a go-go dancer to finance his sex-change operation.
Ok, so then there is Robert, he hails from South Africa and is quite a strong-minded fella. We hit it off very well though due in large part to my willingness to play chess with him. Although the score currently rests at at about 0-50 in Robert's favor, I am getting much better and soon is the day when victory will be mine.
Michael is the last resident in the house and is originally from Scotland. He tends to enjoy being by himself but is not too incredibly socialy awkward. I really like Michael and we seem to get along pretty well. Unfortunatly, he will probably not be around for too long because in three weeks he will be 60 and become eligible to recieve benefits. These benefits will allow him to get his own flat and he had already voiced his desire to get out of the house as soon as possible. In fact, he left the house for a few days right after I arrived, apparently initiated by a drinking binge. He is back safely for the time being.
Many different personalities but somehow we seem to get along pretty well. I am looking forward to having more homeless residents move in.
Friday marked my one week aniversary in London and to celebrate I decided to get quite ill on Thursday and sleep for 14 hours. Not only did this mean that I was laid up in bed but I also missed my first chance to do a soup run as well as the two big meetings that we have as a community every Friday. It is quite amazing what 2 consecutive days of 10 + hours of sleep can do to restore an immune system though, so by yesterday I was feeling much better. In celebration of my recovery, and because it was my day off, I decided to go hunting around London and get my bearings a bit more. A few other folks that were off went "on the piss" but I decided that in light of the fact that I am really not much of a drinker, I don't have any money, and my stomach was still a bit flip-floppy it would be best to abstain.
Below this entry, you can see a few of the pictures that I took last night in the Victoria section of town. They enlarge when you click on them and some make quite good desktop backgrounds.
On Wednsday night, me and Bruce had gone down to Victoria to do outreach so I though it would also be a good idea to get a feel for how to get around that part of the city, also there are a lot of touristy things to see in a small circumfrence so I thought that it would be time well spent.
I believe that this will be a stopping point for today because I have already spent much too much time writing. The smell of banggers and mash is floating about and I have a special birthday Coca-cola awaiting me downstairs.
As I enter into this first non-training week, please be in prayer that I would be able to integrate quickly into the community, that I would be granted favor with community members, and that I would have wisdom and discernment as I begin to take on responsibility and participate in the regular activies of the community that I mentioned in my previous post. Thanks so much guys!
Grace and peace, Chris
posted by Chris | 11:38 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Chris, er uh..."Chip." Fascinating layout of your current lifestyle...this should be an interesting one. Love you man and we miss you here. I'm praying for you!
Tim
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