A Week in the Life

My friend and fellow YAV Deanna Drake who is serving in Kenya, recently updated her blog (which I highly suggest you read) to give us all an inside look at her average day. It was great to just get an inside glimpse of the more ‘mundane’ things that go on. So often I think we only talk about the highlights and ‘mountain tops’ that we experience and don’t focus on the day to day, which is where, I believe, most of the learning happens in our lives. It’s in the everyday, simple schedule that many of life’s lessons are taught. And it’s also the everyday, simple schedule that most people can relate to. That said, I realized that even though these are great concepts, I haven’t actually acted on them. I spent a lot of time talking about one or two things out of my schedule, but I’ve never given you an overarching sense of what my schedule actually is. So here it is, with only 4 and a half weeks left to go, I give you A Week in the Life. (I can’t really do ‘a day in the life’ because what I do depends on what day it is, so you get a whole week!) Most mornings I wake up about 8.30 or 9.00 and start the day with a short devotion. From there it goes as follows; nothing profound or new or exciting, just the everyday, simple.

Monday:

Mondays are office days. I’m usually in the church or working from home for most of the day; usually about 10.00-5.00 or 6.00. Typing up announcements, planning youth and young adult activities, making phone calls, etc.; all that office-y type work.

Tuesday:

10.30am-1.30pm: Work at Newington Day Centre, the pensioners’ centre in Holy Family Parish, to serve tea and toast, and then lunch (aka, dinner.)

1.30pm-3.00pm: Lunch with Chris, my supervisor, the Youth and Community Development Worker. This is our meeting time to touch base on the week, work on new things, iron out old things and just generally get on the same page as to what we’re doing. It also serves as my time to pick Chris's brain and learn about all things Norn Irish from football to paramilitaries to government to pop culture. Just a note, don’t ever play against Chris in Trivial Pursuit—you will lose!

3.00pm: Afternoon tea. Since I’m with Chris, it’s usually afternoon coffee.

3.30pm-whenever,pm: Visits. Not really pastoral visits, per se, but we try to ‘nip round’ to people who are sick or who we haven’t seen in a while. Some days we hang out in Tiger’s Bay and just visit with the kids there.

7.30pm-9.30pm: Beautiful Feet, the homeless ministry in City Centre.

Wednesday:

11.00am-4.00pm: At the WAVE Centre to help with the Men’s Group. Martine and I make the lunches and organize the programs. We made bog oak carvings last ‘semester’ and then built model airplanes. Next week is actually our last official meeting time, so we’re going out to dinner. After that I’ll be working on an evaluation project with the group to get ideas for next year. 3.00pm: Afternoon tea with the men.

7.30pm-9.00pm Bible study at FMPC.

Thursday:

10.00am: Head to Tesco to do the shopping for the lunch for the Women’s Group at WAVE.

11.00am-1.00pm: Cook the lunch for the Women’s Group at WAVE.

1.00pm-4.00pm: Hang out with the Women’s Group at WAVE (and serve the 3.00pm afternoon tea. I’ve gotten very good at making and serving tea; so I’ve been told by the women who are very picky about their tea! I consider it a rite of passage.)

Friday:

Fridays are open. Sometimes I do office work, sometimes I hang out with the youth, sometimes I visit other YAVs, sometimes I allow my weekend to start early. It all depends on what I’ve got going on.

Saturday:

11.00am: St. George’s Market. Most Saturday s start with a trip to St. George’s Market in City Centre. Here they have crafts, food and entertainment, all locally sourced. From there the day is open.

(From September to April we ran Youth Club on Saturday nights in Macrory Hall from 7.00-9.00pm, but that ended at Easter due to the time change and the school exam schedules.)

Sunday:

9.30am: Head to the church to finalize the announcements and make sure everything’s in order for the service.

10.00am: Prayer meeting

11.00am: Service

During the school year—up until exams, anyway—our YF (Youth Fellowship) named ‘the POINT’ meets on Sunday nights from 7.00-9.00pm.

So there you have it; my week. Like I said, nothing profound, but it works for me. Also in there I find time for running, sleeping, reading, random YF activities, taking pictures, hanging out with the other YAVs, watching more football than I ever thought possible, facebooking (I like how that's a verb, now, like 'googleing,') prepping to come home, watching the longest running tennis match in the recorded history of anything, and writing blog posts.