Thursday, August 31, 2017

Cat Trails and Cooking Clubs

On Monday, I spent time with one of my favorite people in York following my favorite animal ever...CATS. OK, to be fair, I know very few people in York so far (yesterday brought it to a grand total of 6 acquaintances/friends), but Isobel is one of the coolest ladies I've met. She is the wife of Derek, our church secretary (who is also very cool).

She and Derek have been married for 40-some years. She moved to England from Barbados, where her family had been living for several generations, when she was just 17. She was a nurse for a few years in  London until she and Derek had children. Among many other things that she's done, when she and Derek lived in Israel, she learned Arabic and served as the receptionist at the hospital that Derek ran. She's just super nice and a calming presence to be around.

So we met up and followed the York Cat Trail! It was so much fun. Basically, in the 1970s, this architect guy who liked cats worked with a sculptor to place 16 cat statues around the city. Then a map and trail were made to follow the cats around the city. It involves following directions and knowing landmarks, so I'm happy Isobel knows her way around.



Look closely and you'll spot the cat!



Me and Isobel! This shop, The Cat Gallery, was one of the non-cat sculpture stops along the route. It was a shop with lots of cat paraphernalia. Gina, you'd love it! 



Made me think of my kitty cat, whom I miss very much, and the dad that's taking good care of her. This cat is her doppleganger. 

It was refreshing to see the city in a new way, and luckily the sun shined for most of the day - it even got hot (CRAZY). Afterwards, we had tea and biscuits (cookies) at Derek and Isobel's flat. I was exhausted. Isobel wore me out - she is a super fast walker! I was impressed. 

Yesterday, Wednesday, was finally my first day of work! I was really ready, because I knew I needed some structure in my life that doesn't involve scheduling when to wash my underwear in the sink.  

The morning started with a meeting with Alison, the minister at St. Columba's to discuss my role, aims of the job, and starting tasks. I will work on growing the presence of young adults and families in the congregation, help Alison with her tasks, and also grow the relationship with our church to our mission partners (two independent nonprofits, which in England are called charities) and the St. Columba's Foundation (charitable organization started by the church). After chatting, we headed downstairs to meet with said mission partners, which are housed in the building. I met the director of The Besom and staff from The Island. I'm going to spend some time each week working with these two organizations so I can better understand what they do and help connect the church community to their work. I'm very excited because they are great organizations and there is so much potential for collaboration and growth. 

It just so happened that The Island, which is a youth mentoring program, was hosting a cooking club that afternoon to make snacks for a day-trip they were hosting for families! I was delighted. My afternoon was open and a huge part of my last job at Paul's Place was running the cooking classes for our Kids in the Kitchen program. I LOVED this, because I love kids, cooking, and teaching. I think cooking + kids must follow me everywhere, because I keep coming back to that theme. 

So I came back to the church after lunch, around 2:30 pm, and helped out until a little after 5 pm. We made sausage rolls, cheese straws, and cookies. It was so fun and a perfect start to my role there. Meeting the kids was great and I learned a lot from the staff about The Island. I won't include pictures from any kids I spend time with through The Island because it's against British law to post pictures of children online without parental permission, but here's their website: http://www.theislandyork.org/



Shout outs:
To my awesome sister and bro-in-law, who are decorating their classrooms and headed back to school soon! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my cousin Erin! You rock and I love you! <3 Also, prayers for the victims of natural disasters around the world in Mumbai, Houston, and other parts of Southeast Asia. I pray that we can set aside differences to work more intensely on the issues around climate change that are causing such devastation, and that we can get aid to those who need it. 

I'll be sending out my first newsletter soon, so if you'd like to receive it (6x throughout the year), shoot me an email: kaitlyngolden1@gmail.com. 


Saturday, August 26, 2017

The First 36 Hours in York

How in the world did I get up here?

That was my thought last night at around midnight. I was sitting on top of a spiked seven-foot-tall gate, staring down at my new roommate Katherine. On the other side of the gate were two slightly tipsy British men who had just hoisted me up to my perch. Really, how in the world did we end up like this?

Let me start from the beginning....

After several hours in O'Hare, my YAGM friends and I boarded our flights to London. In London, I said goodbye to my friends as they met their host families and set off for York. I was most anxious about this leg of my journey - being by myself and hauling 75 pounds of luggage across the city. But it was really fine, and although my forearms got a good workout, pretty uneventful. The train ride up to York found me gazing at the beautiful British countryside.


At my first stop, a man, his wife, and their teenaged daughter got on the train. The man took the aisle seat next to me, and the wife and daughter took the two in front. We exchanged a hello smile and I returned to my window-gazing. I fell asleep without realizing it at some point, and when I woke up my first thought was, "I've just been asleep with my mouth hanging wide open in front a stranger." Then I heard the man say something to his wife, and my second thought was, "I have no idea what this guy is saying." In my jet-lagged stupor, the British accent was far too much for me to comprehend.

At the train station, Katherine, my new roommate, and Derek, our church secretary, came to meet me. It was such a relief to be with people who knew where to go and what to do. We went to the University of York, where Katherine and I were staying for one night before our sublet started. After settling in, we walked and bussed our way into the city of York. It was a chilly night (it feels like October here) and I was in awe of my new city's beauty. We had dinner at the Golden Fleece, which is a historic restaurant here in York.



At the counter of the pub, I went up to order my olive and goat cheese tart. 

"Weryebesignnnnn," said the bartender.

"Um." I said.

"Oh. Sorry. Where are you sitting?" she asked, enunciating each word carefully.

After a few more misunderstandings (thank goodness Katherine came up behind me at this point and rescued me) on how to open a tab and what to drink, we settled in for a good meal. We made our way to the bus stop, and after a short journey, found ourselves by the University of York and headed straight back to our dorms, ready to fall into bed. 

It was at this point we had our first adventure as roommates (but not the last). After an hour of walking around the university, Katherine and I had to admit to ourselves that we were thoroughly lost. Katherine's phone was dead, and all we could figure out is that we had passed by the same plum tree we had seen earlier. Finally, after asking about 5 different people, we made our way back to our dorms. 

The next day started out much better. Derek picked us up to take us to our new sublet and we explored the city and visited the church where I'll be working (and Katherine too). The building is beautiful. About half of it is in use for the charities that are part of the Foundation, and it was so cool to see the physical space of organizations I had researched online. The other half is the church space; the sanctuary is a large, sunlit space, and I learned about the many activities hosted there. I am both excited and nervous for the year to come - the church space seems so full of life and possibilities but I realized when I got there that I really have no idea what I'm doing. It will be interesting. 

After a day of napping and walks, Katherine and I walked over to Derek's house for a wonderful dinner with he and his wife Isobel. Derek is a retired hospital director. He has had many adventures, and he and Isobel lived for ten years in Israel, serving at the only hospital in Nazareth. Their stories and take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was extremely edifying, and I look forward to hearing more from them this year.

Katherine and I went home (uneventfully this time). I had been feeling homesick all day, on and off, but the only moments I wasn't were when I was outside walking. I sat on my bed for almost an hour, looking at Facebook, reading text messages, and responding to Groupme, and I wanted to read my book and curl up. Maybe I'd call my dad or Shantonu. But then I realized, NO! I did not come to the UK to do the same things I do at home. If I wanted to read a book or sit on Facebook, I could have stayed at home in Baltimore. So I grabbed our house keys and let Katherine know I was going out. I made my way into the city, only a short walk from our house, and wandered around the narrow cobblestone streets. I stood in awe in front of the lit-up York Minster, and enjoyed the misty light rain. There were lots of drunken revelers out and I was enjoying myself a good deal when I took a series of turns and realized I had no idea where I was.


I wasn't worried but I was getting tired after being lost for almost 30 minutes, so I finally asked for directions from a series of helpful (and some not-so-helpful) Yorkians. Turns out I was on the complete opposite side of the city. After what felt like an eternity, I finally triumphantly made it onto my street. "Not so bad," I crowed to myself. "And now I can go to bed!"

I slid my key into the lock and turned. The door didn't budge. I turned it the other direction. It didn't budge. I turned it the other way again, and lifted the handle. I tried all the combinations of unlocking the door that I could. In a state of near panic, I frantically started rapping loudly at the door, praying Katherine was a light sleeper. 

Thank goodness, she heard me, and came down the stairs. I was momentarily relieved. I passed the keys to the inside of the house through the mail slot and she tried from the inside. The door still wouldn't open. We both tried fruitlessly for almost five more minutes to unlock the door from both sides (she was locked in and me out), and then we decided we'd use the series of back door keys so I could come through the alley. The back of the house has a series of small locked rooms jutting off the kitchen - a little sunroom and then an enclosed patio, and then a locked gate that leads to an alleyway. We agreed to meet in the back alley instead - of course that would work, right? I made my way to the back, and to my horror, noticed that the alley itself has a gate with a padlock that requires a passcode. 

"This is ridiculous!" Katherine exclaimed. She went back inside to look for the passcode, but it wasn't in our welcome book. After calling our landlord and the other emergency number with no response, we both had to admit this was going nowhere.

"I could jump the fence?" I suggested when she returned. Katherine surveyed the situation.

"I'll get a dining room chair." Katherine said, and left to get the chair, which would serve as something for me to land on when I made it to the other side.  

I surveyed my options. The gate is, as  I said, about seven feet tall, in some places a bit more, with black spikes at the top. There are two sections that are clear on the top without spikes: where the hinges are that meet the wall, and where the gate opens. If I could just get up there, I could perch myself on those clear spots - and then what? Jump seven feet down? 

Trying not to think of that, I dragged a heavy, tall trashcan over so I could get higher up. Katherine met me with a chair on the other side. As I started to climb, I noticed light flickering from a nearby yard and heard voices. Some people in a house on the alley were having a party! We asked them for help, and a genial man promised over his fence that he'd get us the gate code.

At this time, two middle-aged men walked by on the outside street, and Katherine bravely called out, "Sir, can you help us?" They came over to us and I looked down at them from my trashcan perch. 

"We got locked out," Katherine explained. She didn't have to explain further, because I think the men were excited to give a display of chivalry. They quickly began offering suggestions for how I could make it to the top of the fence, which met my waist height (so I couldn't get my leg that high). Using their hands as a boost, I clambered up to the top of the fence. 

As a side note, I have intense acrophobia - I don't do ferris wheels, diving boards, tall escalators, or even piggy-back rides very well. I was petrified at the Grand Canyon and I despise tall sets of stairs that have gaps between the steps. I hadn't been fearful up until the moment when I was suddenly staring seven feet down while sitting on a narrow gate in the middle of a dark alley. The men behind me were getting excited, sensing success.

"Now just drop down, just like that!"

"Just drop your feet down!" 

"Are you crazy?!" I yelled.  "This is so high!" Luckily the men didn't seem to notice my rudeness after just having come to save me and Katherine. 

At that moment, the genial man from the garden party leaned over his fence and shouted an incomprehensible series of numbers. Katherine plugged it into the gate pad while I shrieked "OH MY GOD IF THAT WORKS I'M NOT JUMPING FROM HERE!"  

It didn't work. Instead Katherine level-headedly dragged a large trashcan over and made a series of steps with the dining room chair so I could climb my way down. On the ground, the men cheered. "Woohoo! Have a drink for us!" they said, and headed off. 

Katherine and I felt as though we had just run a marathon or won a battle. It took us almost a half hour of laughing over the craziness of our first 36 hours as roommates to calm down. We certainly weren't going for a drink, but we did share some cookies we had in the house. 

This morning before I had even woken up, Katherine called the landlord (how's that for a responsible roommate?). He called a locksmith who said the lock had gotten messed up because the door was a new one. Thank goodness, we agreed, that it was only me who had gone out!

We're cautiously going to leave the house later today for groceries and an evensong worship at York Minster, but we're DEFINITELY going to check if we can re-enter before we leave for good. Fingers crossed we make it through today without any other wild mishaps! 

In other news, congratulations to Willy and Marlena for the birth of their new baby boy, William Kauko Ewald! He was born on August 25th at 10:16 pm!!! 


Sunday, August 20, 2017

At Orientation

How is it Sunday?! I feel like Tuesday was years ago and just a few seconds ago. That's when my dad took me to the airport and I flew (with Christie, my friend going to Mexico, and a few other YAGMs from the East Coast) to Chicago to start our YAGM experience.

Meeting everyone has been exciting, terrifying, comforting, and exhausting. I LOVE many of the YAGMs I've gotten to know, especially the YAGMs in my country group. That means the people I am going to spend the next year with are are interesting, thoughtful, and kind people. I'm glad they are people who can be goofy and fun, and serious and considerate too. But I am an introvert, so I'm a bit exhausted and overwhelmed by the tons of social interaction required of me.

The first night of Orientation, when we were all still exhausted and didn't know each other yet, we had our Opening Worship. It was the most beautiful multicultural service. The space was a worship space in the Lutheran Theological Seminary, with light blonde wood and big soaring ceiling, stained glass windows and huge panes of glass that makes the room feel like an extension of the outdoors. It started with a Gathering Song from Ghana, a prayer, and opening song from  England. After the readings and a reflection by Julie Rossate, the program director, we sang the hymn of the day, which is a Scottish traditional song. It's one of my two favorite hymns.

Then we did the most amazing ceremony. The room was softly lit. The cantor sang a list of countries - she has an angelic voice. After each list, she sang, "Peace be yours," and we responded with, "For the healing of the nations, we pray to you, O God." Laid in front of the altar was a huge map with larger pillar candles and smaller tealights. As our countries were called, each group went up. When the UK was sung, my group filed up and we lit our tealights from the larger candle. We placed our candles on the map near our soon-to-be-home. The map was awash in flickering light. It was such a beautiful sight. Other staff members who had ties to different countries - Nicaragua, for example - had light their candles and placed them there.

After Sharing of the Peace, we started Communion. We sang a Puerto Rican hymn and then sang the Lord's Prayer - but this version was a Cambodian folktune. Every Lutheran knows Lamb of God, but this version was Palestinian. And the Communion hymn was a French Carol. I may have to expand my list of favorite hymns and make it three, to include this hymn.


We sang another Communion Hymn - an African American spiritual - and prayed. We finished with a South African traditional. I loved the global music and the fact that the theme of accompaniment, serving others, and global peace permeated everything we did. It set a wonderful tone for the start of our 8 days together here in Chicago.

We've had a ton of sessions, on everything from policy and logistics to learning about race, power, and privilege. We've spent time in small groups and with our country groups. Last night was a definite highlight. As a complete surprise, the ELCA staff gave each country group a scavenger hunt! It led us to a restaurant themed with our country's food. We went to the cutest British pub. One of the UK YAGM, Sarah, celebrated a birthday, so we had a brownie sundae. Afterwards we went to the Bean, a Chicago landmark, and met up with the other country groups, and then out to a karaoke bar.

I'm feeling very excited to go to York and meet my future friends there, especially as I already feel so warmly welcomed by them. But it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to all the wonderful people here - including UK YAGMs, because we're scattered across the country. I'll be in touch again after I hop across the pond!

Happy Sunday to everyone!



Monday, August 14, 2017

On Charlottesville

I expected my second post on this blog (about moving to York, England) to be about why I'm doing YAGM and what led me here. But I'm feeling very reflective and sad about the events happening in Charlottesville. It merits some YAGM-worthy reflection.

Just yesterday, I was thinking about my year spent as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Paul's Place. I was thinking how I learned so much about race in Baltimore and in the United States. I learned what it is to be actively anti-racist, how racial prejudice is disguised by systemic injustices perpetrated by corporations, governments, and even nonprofits, and how being black affects every aspect of a person's life in a way that I, a white woman, can never fully understand.

In January, I read Ta-Nehisi Coates' excellent book, The Beautiful Struggle, which is a letter to his son about growing up black in America. And for the first time, my empathy wasn't just a vast feeling of sadness about the problems in our country. It was a very pointed grief. As I read, I thought distinctly of the faces of the black children I worked with every day at Paul's Place; worked with and came to love. They aren't any different than the white children I babysit who grew up in Towson, but their futures are indelibly marked because of the societal significance we place on the color of their skin. I thought of the harm that could befall them because of their skin color and how terribly sad that is for them and for those who love them, myself included. It took racism from the realm of my head to the realm of my heart.

It struck me very deeply that despite my efforts to eradicate poverty (the buzzwords of AmeriCorps), to be actively anti-racist, and to be a generally kind and thoughtful person, I am still a woman of privilege who benefits every day from societal systems that oppress people of color. And those people of color aren't just nameless people, they are my friends, the students I teach, and my coworkers. It is a terribly uncomfortable feeling that has dogged me all year.

When I became co-workers, and then friends, with Geon, who does very valuable community outreach in Pigtown, I learned even more from his personal and academic perspective on race. Talking with Geon taught me a lot about race, and while I reveled in our conversations, it deepened my feelings of sadness and discomfort. As I became better friends with Geon, I realized I had started to think more about his personal safety and that of all my black friends, which in Baltimore is constantly in danger. How terrible, to live in a world where the color of your skin affects your physical well-being; that was my head thought. Will my friends come to harm because of their color?; I began to worry - that was my heart thought.

Yesterday, I spent time thinking about all this. I've already begun to miss Geon and the rest of my coworkers at Paul's Place, and the work that I felt so attuned to. I realized that despite my constant feeling of discomfort with the way the world operates now, I'd so much rather live with this feeling than be without. I am blessed to have learned these things - I hope my mind and heart stay open to continue being discomfited.

Pastor Nancy (my pastor at Ascension) gave a sermon today that spoke about the bravery it takes to step out of one's boat. For Paul, in the Bible, this is a literal stepping out of a boat, to be lifted to walk on water by Jesus. For others, this is a feeling of stepping out of one's comfort zone. I think this is what racist skinheads and neo-Nazis lack. They are not able to step out of their comfort zones to think the uncomfortable thoughts that would make them better people. Staying in their boat means they fear a world where all people are equal. They fear the unequivocal truth where we might acknowledge that we as individuals and we as community members have done horrible thing to our neighbors who look different than us. These feelings are uncomfortable and neo-Nazis can't leave their sheltered boats to confront their own evil and inadequacies.

I hope I live in a world where my boat is constantly being rocked and being left. And I hope the same for all my friends and family, all of your reading this. Only in leaving our boats can we truly make the world a better place.

I'll end with this Franciscan blessing that I keep posted in my bedroom. It sums up the prayers we need in a time like this.

May God bless you with a restless discomfort 
about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people, so that you may work for
justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer
from pain, rejection, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may
reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that
you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able 

to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God be with you
and remain with you, this day and forevermore.




Wednesday, August 9, 2017

From York Road to York, England

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog. This is where I'll be sharing about my year in York, England, with the Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)!

In this first post, I wanted to share the general gist of what I'll be doing with YAGM! This year, I will depart on August 15th for Orientation in Chicago with representatives of the ELCA and other fellow YAGMs. From there, all 95 of us will go to the airport and leave for 11 different countries across the globe. I'll take a plane to London and a train to York, England!

There I'll spend the next 11-12 months working with St. Columba's United Reform Church. This is an amazing church in the Micklegate area (no idea what that means yet) that has a Foundation. This Foundation houses five social services nonprofits on the church premises. I'll be working to do some church capacity building and creating improved partnerships with the church + the nonprofits. I'll also get to work some with the nonprofits themselves, which I'm thrilled about - they all do super cool things. The church family and the Reverend seem like lovely, warm people and have already been so welcoming. I feel so grateful!

I am so excited about my year abroad. One thing that makes me chuckle (I bet you didn't even know people still chuckled - what a good word that is) is that I will be living in York! My home church, Ascension Lutheran, which is very close to my heart, is located on York Road. Hence, the title of this blog!



I'll be back soon to share more about what led me to YAGM and what I'm looking forward to this year! For now, I'll share a few things I'm doing to prepare this week for next Tuesday:

1. Finances/Technology: ordering/activating a new no-fee international credit card and figuring out money matters for a year abroad, getting a new phone, figuring out my kindle, etc.

2. Packing: or lack thereof (I have a pile of jeans sitting on my dresser and a huge empty suitcase... that's how far I've gotten)

3. Paperwork: so much of it! There are tons of documents to sign, send-in, read, share, etc, from both YAGM and Time for God (TFG) who is YAGM's UK partner organization that places us across the region. I feel like I'm drowning in random sheets of paperwork lately - my visa, my health documents, my legal stuff. Ah!

4. Fundraising: As mentioned above, I recently shared my new adventure on Facebook with a link to my fundraising page. YAGMs have to fundraise for their service year, so I made this pretty page to offer folks the opportunity to support me financially. YAGM asks us to raise $5,000 for this program. I hate asking for money, but I want to make a good faith effort to raise all $5,000 because I think the ELCA does good things with their money and I don't want to be a leech on the program. Here's my page: http://support.elca.org/site/TR/Events/General?px=1048950&pg=personal&fr_id=1181

5. Family and friends: Trying to enjoy lots of time with my loved ones before leaving! While I love excuses to see people, this can get quite stressful if you know it's the last time you're seeing someone for a whole year. I've learned that the last doesn't necessarily mean best and emphasis shouldn't be given to the final waning days before someone departs... it makes things too stressful. So I'm just trying to hang out with people in a non-stressful way.

Send me some good energy/well wishes/prayers/nice thoughts as I prepare to depart, if you have a moment!