Well worth a read

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209

This is a link I came across on facebook about Christianity.

Would love to know what you think.

I don't understand

I have to say I've never understood Homophobia within the Church. I just don't get it. I personally don't believe that it's a sin. Even if I did I would have no right to judge anyone who is Gay. Why do people get riled by this one "sin"? The Church is made up of flawed humans. There are so many other "sins" that I see committed by Christians continuously yet nothing much is said about it, one in particular that I can think of but I won't mention it as I don't want to offend anyone. What happened to "He who is without sin cast the first stone" (John 8:7) ? I have seen a few comments about the place about Christians who have come out as being Gay stating "they are going to hell". Only God knows who is/isn't going to hell. Not up to us to make that call.

I survived

Placement No 1 is done. The last 5 weeks have gone so fast. I had a great time, learnt lots and I have a lot more to learn but I'll get there. I have a tiny bit of breathing space before I get stuck into a large assignment. And get the last of the Christmas shopping done.

On another note I went to the optician on Sunday to see about getting contact lenses. I know need to wear my glasses all the time and was not convinced the prescription I had was correct. I'm sick of looking out the side of my glasses esp when teaching and seeing the frame. But because I'm neither long sighted nor short sighted (my long sight is better than short but is not great), have different prescription for each eye and have odd shaped eye balls I can't wear glasses...I might consider laser eye surgery in the futures, esp if my eye sight gets worse but for now it's glasses. I just have to wait about 2 weeks for my new set which is annoying as my current ones are no longer doing the trick. Oh well at least I get the chance to go to an optician and get my eyes taken care of. I can't imagine what it must be like to have bad vision and not be able to get glasses.

World AIDS day

[photo from here]

Club Lemon, how I've missed thee

Along with Tayto and greenery and of course all my friends and family I one of things I miss the most about home is Club Lemon. I can get N.Irish Tayto here, Club Orange, Club Rockshandy and Galtee Irish sausages but no club Lemon. This weekend a friend is over with her mum, they brought me over some club lemon. Yummm...... We went out for tasty Lebanese food last night and tomorrow I'm bringing them to my favorite Indian.

Now I understand

Before I could never understand why when people migrate they stick to people from their home communities. I'm not talking about the people who mix with people from their new community and their home communities but people who stick purely to home communities. For example all the Irish sticking together when living in London and not mixing with anyone that isn't Irish. In fact it used to irritate me a lot.

One of the reasons I choose not to live on campus and not to live with other students, so that I would have a chance to mix with people from all walks of life.

What I was not expecting was the culture shock. I mean Dublin and London are not that far apart, only 287 miles (462 km). How different could it be? A lot. I knew that moving to East London that it was going to be culturally diverse. That I would be in the minority being white and a native English speaker. I'm used to that from traveling and it's not an issue for me. It's the cultural differences between the Londoners whose family have been here for a few generations and the Irish that I was not expecting.

What are these shocks? People here seem to be a lot more forward. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just not used to it. Most people seem to look out for themselves here, I can understand this considering the level of knife crime. If you're in trouble in a public place you can't rely on others to help you as they are afraid that they will also get attacked.

Then there are things like people not giving up their seats on the tube/bus for people who need it more. I know we're not the best with it at home but we are slightly better.

Or walking down the street, you'll be trying to ask someone for directions and they'll ignore you and just walk right past. While at home if you're seen with a map someone will often approach you and offer help before you ask for it.

Also it's hard to meet people here. Thankfully I'm at uni and meeting lot of people that way, but if I wasn't I don't know how I'd meet people. It's strange, despite the fact that I'm surrounded by people in such a large city I often feel lonely. Especially now on placement, I don't see the uni gang that often. Last night 3 of them called over, I hadn't seen 1 in about four weeks and the other two only briefly. As much as I'm enjoying placement I'm looking forward to being back at uni and seeing everyone again.

I'm not trying to be critical of Londeners, I have meet some of the nicest people here (who aren't Irish) I'm just trying to explain some of the differences that I was not expecting. And I've only mentioned a few.

Now I understand why people stick to their own communities when abroad. It's that feeling of knowing how things are done, what is acceptable and what isn't. It's a feeling of comfort when you're in a strange land and strange environment.

Having said all that, I am trying to get to know more people here in London that aren't Irish but it's nice to know that I have some very good Irish (actual or honoury) here.

FM104 - The Thierry Henry Song

How I miss Dublin's FM104 Strawberry Alarmclock. For some silly reason my pc won't let me stream it live