Sunday evening, our religion class attended an Anglican church service. It was in a small building that had previously been a pub, and still smelled somewhat like one. ;) The congregation was small and the service very informal. The priest at the church does not lead the services each Sunday; instead members of the congregation take turns organising and leading worship. The service was simple, and did not really evoke much feeling in me. Definitely different from the Holy Cross Church we visited a week ago, with its formal Catholic-style services that are the same every week. This was the distinction our professor wanted us to see; how while the Church of England is the largest denomination in the UK, each church within it can be strikingly different.
Monday, I went to yoga, then headed down to Brixton to go to Iceland, a UK supermarket chain, to buy some cheap groceries. After lunch, I met with two other girls to plan a weekend trip to Paris. After that, I got a haircut to try and liven my curls a bit. I worked on more homework that night as well.
Tuesday, I spent the morning at my internship playing with 3 young girls (about 1-2 years old) who were there while their mothers took adult learning classes at the centre. I then went to a primary school with Lily, to watch her do her activities. The kids were full of energy today which made it difficult for Lily to get through the session in the already short amount of time. This session, they created a fictional person, named Alex (notice how this name could be used for a girl or a boy), who is 10 years old (same as the students) and dealing with various problems, such as bullying. The kids talk about Alex's problems and how he/she could solve them such as who to go to for help. This school was in the middle of Soho, in a building that looked like it used to be flats. The kids were more knowledgeable than I expected; I don't think 10 and 11 year-old kids in Iowa schools would know what dyslexia or Asperger's syndrome were unless they knew someone who had it. They also seemed to have a larger vocabulary than I remember having at that age! I wonder if it is the UK, or London, or just being in the middle of a multicultural city that this is.
Today, I spent the morning at the Bayswater Children's Centre (not family centre, where my internship is) to help with reception as they were overly busy with clients coming in. When I returned after lunch, the Family Centre was the busiest I have seen it thus far; the phone would not stop ringing and the door would not stop buzzing. I spent the first part of the afternoon helping Lily with the report for her project evaluations, working quickly so I could finish before I assisted another advisor with a meeting with a 12-year-old client with a physical disability applying for disability assistance. My heart broke by the sadness and anger that was so clearly visible on the boy's face. He has a healthy twin and wants to know why he has to live in a wheelchair and be in pain while his brother can run and play like a normal child. His mother is hurting because her son blames her when he lies awake at night crying from the pain and having to be treated like a baby. Anyway, I helped by taking notes and filling out a long form that will need to be finished the next time they come to the centre. The meeting went quite slow, my co-worker going off subject often and not asking the questions that were needed to complete the long form that the family came for. I was also unsure how much I help in a way that was appropriate, I will try to talk to my co-worker more beforehand next time I go in a meeting with him.
Well, classes in the morning, I need to get some sleep! Tomorrow night we get to attend the London Philharmonic and Friday we are spending the day in Greenwich! :)
Cheers!
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