Less than 2 weeks!!
Well folks, let the countdown begin!
I can't believe that I have been in London for almost 8 months now. Wow.
May 13 will mark my return Stateside (assuming I have a plane ticket by then because I haven't bought one yet). The homesickness hasn't gone away during the past months although, as I wrap things up here in London, my feelings on leaving are quite ambivalent despite the pain in the ass that living in the Community has been o' so often.
Yesterday, as I was doing streetwork, I met a couple that I have known for about a month or so. They are from Italy and are currently living in a squat although they will probably be forced out within a couple of months (for information on this crazy British thing called "squatting" see http://www.squat.freeserve.co.uk/story/). I have had a bit of a soft spot for them since we met, but as we talked my heart really began to go out to these folks. They are former heroin users who are both on a script right now and are trying to access benefits so they can get into legitimate housing and not have to beg to make money.
Then today, I met a young couple from the States. While we didn't get much of a chance to talk, I felt so saddened by their situation. As we talked I thought to myself, "What did you do to get yourself in this situation" and "Where is your family that will fly you back home and welcome you back into their home?". It is these folks that provide the balance to all the organizational and individuals frustions. However, it is also to these folks that I want to say, "yes, come into my house, you don't need to be on the streets anymore". And we can't do that.
It has definitly been a time of learning much about people and much about myself. When I think on the time that I have been here, I think that it is this learning that has proven to be the redeeming factor.
If I were to measure my time here in terms of effectiveness, I would certainly fall short of the goals that I had set for myself. However, I think that I learned so much about how I deal (and how I should deal) with difficult personalities, how to lead, how to resolve conflict, how to make sandwiches and coffee, yadda yadda yadda, that it was not wasted time.
It is certainly time to go though and I am ready.
Graduate school will start in the fall, but I will spend the interim months at L'abri Fellowship (www.labri.org) and afterwards hopping couches for a month or so before the begining of the semester. Perhaps your comfy couch (or floor, or basement, or shed) would be willing to open up its loving arms to accomodate me for a few days.
Can't wait for reunions, I miss y'all.
Chris
I can't believe that I have been in London for almost 8 months now. Wow.
May 13 will mark my return Stateside (assuming I have a plane ticket by then because I haven't bought one yet). The homesickness hasn't gone away during the past months although, as I wrap things up here in London, my feelings on leaving are quite ambivalent despite the pain in the ass that living in the Community has been o' so often.
Yesterday, as I was doing streetwork, I met a couple that I have known for about a month or so. They are from Italy and are currently living in a squat although they will probably be forced out within a couple of months (for information on this crazy British thing called "squatting" see http://www.squat.freeserve.co.uk/story/). I have had a bit of a soft spot for them since we met, but as we talked my heart really began to go out to these folks. They are former heroin users who are both on a script right now and are trying to access benefits so they can get into legitimate housing and not have to beg to make money.
Then today, I met a young couple from the States. While we didn't get much of a chance to talk, I felt so saddened by their situation. As we talked I thought to myself, "What did you do to get yourself in this situation" and "Where is your family that will fly you back home and welcome you back into their home?". It is these folks that provide the balance to all the organizational and individuals frustions. However, it is also to these folks that I want to say, "yes, come into my house, you don't need to be on the streets anymore". And we can't do that.
It has definitly been a time of learning much about people and much about myself. When I think on the time that I have been here, I think that it is this learning that has proven to be the redeeming factor.
If I were to measure my time here in terms of effectiveness, I would certainly fall short of the goals that I had set for myself. However, I think that I learned so much about how I deal (and how I should deal) with difficult personalities, how to lead, how to resolve conflict, how to make sandwiches and coffee, yadda yadda yadda, that it was not wasted time.
It is certainly time to go though and I am ready.
Graduate school will start in the fall, but I will spend the interim months at L'abri Fellowship (www.labri.org) and afterwards hopping couches for a month or so before the begining of the semester. Perhaps your comfy couch (or floor, or basement, or shed) would be willing to open up its loving arms to accomodate me for a few days.
Can't wait for reunions, I miss y'all.
Chris
posted by Chris | 2:28 PM
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