Not much new happened this week except for starting street sessions. Everyone has 2 evenings a week that they do street sessions, mine are Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday we brought the mobile cooker and bike repairs out to “monument” which is a small monument in a neighborhood not far from Kids Kabin. We made lots of pancakes and fixed some bikes. About 30 kids showed up and took part in the activities over the hour and a half we were there. On Thursday we brought the smoothie bike (a bike powered blender) and sports equipment. We were on Hexham Ave which is just a block and a half away from Kids Kabin and not as busy of an area so we only had about 15 kids show up. I really enjoyed both evenings and think that the street sessions will be highlights of my week in the next few weeks! It is so fun being outside and engaging with new kids (and some who regularly come to Kids Kabin as well)! I will try to remember my camera next week so that I can get some pictures.
Melissa and I have been helping two of staff/apprentices at Kids Kabin with their college work (we each do one day a week for one hour). In the UK college does not mean you will earn a undergraduate degree like it does in the US. There are several different options and I know they will receive a certificate when they are done but most of the work is done at home (they don’t attend classes) and an advisor comes to see how they are doing every two weeks or so. Neither enjoyed school much and did not do further education after high school. For one of guys, it is like pulling teeth to get him to even work on it for half an hour. The other has a better attention span and easier time coming up with idea but since he is in his upper 30s and doesn’t own a computer, it takes him ages to type it all up (uses hunt and peck typing). It has been an eye opening experience working with them on their school work. They are both really good at the hands on stuff they do at Kids Kabin on a daily basis but put them in a school setting and they struggle.
This past week during art sessions, lots of Mother’s Day cards and gifts were made because Mother’s Day is today, Sunday March 3rd, in the UK (or Mothering Sunday as my calendar says)! I had seen Mother’s Day gifts and cards in stores several weeks ago and I was really surprised that everything was out already until I realized UK Mother’s Day is a month before the US Mother’s Day. Happy UK Mother’s Day!!
I started volunteering at a community centre called “The Meadows” three weeks ago. I am helping in their environmental project called “Terra Nostra”. They have a rain water recovery system, wind turbine, solar panels and geothermal energy. The first week I helped look for more funding that could be used to get another more powerful wind turbine. Last week I helped with a school group that came in to work in the garden and learn about the other projects going on. On Friday I calculated water flow rates from the different water tanks and used that info to set up a timing system for the leaky hose they are going to put in the garden beds and figured out the spacing and length of the hose needed in each set of beds. I am only able to go once a week for 4-5 hours but so far it has been interesting.
I’ve been wanting to get a haircut for awhile now but kept forgetting to make an appointment at a place about a 10 minute walk from our flat that Abby went to a few months ago because she said they did a good job and it was a good price. Since I had no plans today I decided to go into town and get a haircut at a place I had seen in Eldon Square that advertised haircuts for a little cheaper that the one down the street. I went and got in pretty quit which was nice. The service was ok and the stylist wasn’t the most pleasant I’ve had but I figured for £13.95 it was ok. However when I was told the price it was £19.95 not £13.95 like I was expecting! I was shocked! Apparently they charge by length of hair and mine was pretty long so it was “level 4”! Since that bit of important information was not listed on the website or anywhere in the shop that I saw, I wrote a nice customer complaint on their website! At least the haircut itself is pretty much what I wanted and I got a nice walk into town and back from town…I even took off my jacket on the walk home because I was too warm…so nice! I am really enjoying this 50s weather and being able to walk to more places instead of always taking the bus. Below is a picture of the haircut...not a great picture but the best I could do taking it myself (see last post to compair length).
This morning I ate a “muffin” with peanut butter for breakfast….this “muffin” is what we would normally call an “English muffin”. I couldn’t help but chuckle inside when I bought them at the grocery store yesterday. I feel like there have been a couple other such occurrences but I can’t think of them right now. Two things continually annoy me about England or at least the North East of England since I'm not sure if it is true for other parts of the country or not. One is the amount people smoke! Not at Kids Kabin because none of the staff smoke but at Common Ground and The Meadows it seems like people are constantly going out for a “tab”. Also, just walking around Byker or in town you will walk through at least a couple clouds of cigarette smoke. Yuck!!! Another really annoying socially acceptable behavior is littering. There is way more trash on the ground than there should be and it is not uncommon to see someone throw a bottle or wrapper on the ground when they have finished eating or drinking the contents. Unbelievable!
I hope you are having a lovely weekend!
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