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.