Barcelona

My trip to Barcelona was interesting

Perhaps I should start with the lowlights
I couldn’t really afford the trip and have stuck the cost of flight and accommodation onto my credit card. The only good thing is that I stuck to my spending budget of less than £100
I’d learnt that a group of guys from church would be in Barcelona at about the same time as me and we had agreed to meet up for dinner. However this did not happen for various reasons… I must admit I feel some slight rejection… but I’ll get over it
My friend from LA, Delan has been living in Barcelona for the last 4 months and was very enthusiastic about my visit. He took us to his friend’s restaurant, Dos Trece, which is also a cocktail and music bar. I was grateful for the non-smoking zone. Following the smoking ban in England in public places, I’ve become accustomed to the pleasant smoke free atmosphere. The smell of smoke in Spain can be quite overwhelming. After our meal, at the invitation of one of the girls I’d met in the loo, we went downstairs to the lounge where a live band was playing. I met such a variety of interesting (English speaking) people. There was the middle aged Indian couple visiting their son who works as a teacher in Barcelona. The wife showed us photos they’d taken with a drag queen in another restaurant, “I hadn’t realised it was a man!” There was also an intense German guy who was into Eastern stuff like Feng Shui etc. When he was talking to Yati I noticed her eyes glazing over… We finished off the evening at Jamboree jazz and dance club on Plaza Reial. Downstairs is the hip-hop/ R&B room and upstairs cheesy 80’s style music. I attracted the attention of an overly amorous Nigerian guy. It was okay when we were dancing together – winding, grinding, *snogging*… but when the club closed and the crowd moved towards the beach to watch the sun rise, I was surprised that he latched on to me. Apparently, I am so beautiful… he wants to hold me, kiss me, squeeze me, make love to me. He said he'd pay for me to come back to Barcelona to spend time with him! (Sigh) He wasn’t bad looking, but for me there was just no chemistry. Plus his idea of ‘getting to know me better’ was purely physical and I am just not on that ‘page’ at the moment.

Barcelonians attitude to naked people is quite interesting. That morning at the beach there was a naked guy running about. Okay… it’s 6.30am… not many people around so that’s alright? But then again in the middle afternoon, we spotted ANOTHER naked guy, walking down the busy main street, Passeig de Gracia, seemingly oblivious to the open mouthed stares he was drawing from the tourists! Delan assured us that this was commonplace and not against the law. He’d have been arrested for indecent exposure in London!

Boredom

If it seems pretty much like posting overload, that’s probably because it is

I volunteered to move to a different team at the beginning of August and now think this was a terrible mistake. It made a lot of sense at the time - an opportunity to do something different. Also the new office is closer to home, so instead of one and half hours it only takes 20 minutes to get to work. I’ve even cycled in a couple of times.

Geographical location is about the only positive thing about the job so far! 2 weeks in and I’m sitting at my desk, watching the clock, twiddling my thumbs and blogging. On Monday I could not bring myself to come in and took a ‘sickie’. Today I almost cried as I left the house. Some friends have said that I should enjoy the fact that I’m getting paid for doing nothing. But that’s just not me! I’m going slowly insane from inactivity!
I’ve tried to find something to do… honestly. I’ve been badgering my new manager but he’s gone off on leave; I keep sending emails to my old manager- who has now absolved himself of all responsibility. I’ve volunteered for a project in another team that was desperate for help, but no one has got back to me. I have a mentor in the new team, who is fond of planning meetings, but not very good at implementation. I gave myself a pep talk at lunchtime

“Change your attitude! Look for something to do. Get creative”

I’m bored and there’s still one more day to go to the weekend! What will I do tomorrow?

Listening

Despite the Great Commission and my 'call' to evangelism, I'm not much of an evangelist. I think I've only shared the gospel with ONE person at work in the whole 9 years that I've been working there. I'd like to say that I've distinguished myself as a Christian, with 'this little light of mine' shining bright, but alas my attitude to and quality of work has been more of less the same, if not worse than my fellow 'unbelieving' colleagues; I often join in with the office gossip, laugh at the crude jokes (some of them can be quite funny) and my language at times, can be colourful.
So I'm not evangelising in word or deed. Occasionally I DO pray for my 'unsaved' friends, family and colleagues, but that's about it.

Yesterday I went out for lunch with a work colleague. She's been having a really rough few months with health, family, (our) dead end job etc and it became quite clear into the lunch that all she really wanted was someone to listen. So I did.
This particular person is a devout Catholic, but at the same time dabbles in occult practices such as tarot cards, palm reading, consulting mediums. As she was talking, I silently prayed to the Holy Spirit for guidance. Should I hit her HARD with the gospel?
No answer was forthcoming
As the lunch hour was drawing to a close, before I could think it over, I blurted out
"Okay, shall we pray about this? Do you mind?"
"You mean pray now?"...
"Mmhmm"...
"No, no I don't mind"
I prayed a simple prayer and my last words to her as we parted were

"God will turn this situation around. I don't know how, but He will"

Afterwards I got a text from her thanking me for listening, her spirits had been lifted her and she thought I was a true daughter of God.

I felt a bit pleased about that. Even though it isn't proper evangelising, I pray that I have sown the seed of God's hope into her life
Now Father please do something about her situation...In Jesus name I pray!

Missing In Action

I haven't seen Jonathan for the last 2 weeks... wonder where he's disappeared to. Was going to ask his flatmate last Sunday, but decided against it at the last minute
hmm...

Reasons for joining a church?

“So how come you go to an ‘all white’ church… is it because you like white guys?”

I was a bit puzzled with this line of reasoning. I’ve been mulling over that one all day.

First of all, I am attracted to handsome men with good physique, charm, self-confidence, an outgoing personality, creative bla bla bla. I relate easier to guys from a similar background… educated, middle class. and would only think of ‘Race’ in terms of stereotypical behaviour normally associated with it e.g. I’m more inclined towards Italians and Poles because all the ones I’ve met have been warm, funny and direct, Germans -tortured neurotic souls, American (men) – shallow, English- tight-assed until you put a bit of alcohol into them!!

I was offended that she would even suggest that the only reason I came to St B’s was such a superficial one. Joining a church is akin to entering into a marriage - the start of a (hopefully) life long relationship with God’s people, with Him at its centre. A place where you will invest your time, money, emotions… I can’t put a finger on why I decided to become a member of St B’s. I’d been ‘churchless’ for a few months and was captivated by the first service I attended there. It was Advent Sunday- a Family service (where kids don’t go to Sunday school but stay in the main service). I loved the interactive games, worship; the fact that a woman, Helen, was preaching the sermon; the tea, coffee and biscuits served throughout the service; the humility of the church leaders, the simplicity… the whole informality of it all… THE FREEDOM. The verse 2 Corinthians 3:17 ‘…where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom’ springs to mind. It just felt… right.

Race didn’t feature at all in this decision.

St B’s isn’t a perfect church. It’s taken a while to make friends, I still feel slightly isolated because of my age – too old to interact socially with the Singles- too young in attitude to interact with my (mostly all married) age group. There’s the behind-the-scenes church politics going on, a few disgruntled people, gossip, and the very humanness of people that can be pretty hurtful. But I love my ‘St B’s family’ all the same.

The person who asked the question is American; where Race is a BIG issue. She is also completely obsessed with guys, marriage, and babies - a mindset that I am gradually getting over (I mean the guys and marriage bit). Until she mentioned it, I wasn’t even particularly bothered by the ‘white churchiness’ apart from maybe the ‘Indie’ worship music, and people’s inability to harmonise!!! There are very few of us blacks in St B’s, along with the Japanese, Indians, and a couple of Polish. I’d say our 3% ethnic minority demographic is representative of most of the UK.
All I want to do now is concentrate on living a productive Single life – not one where I am on hold waiting for a guy to come along and complete me.

Edinburgh

I discovered many things about myself – aside from the neurosis

Firstly – I don’t like damp weather… and Scotland has plenty of it

Secondly – I crave for ‘belonging’. Let me explain

My friend Sheila shares a flat with 2 Polish guys. Because she was busy with her dissertation, I spent most of my time with them. It was quite a full house as there were a couple of other guests staying over too, and in the evenings, other friends would drop by. They were almost like a close knit family– but not insular or cliquey at all
The first day, as they congregated in one of the rooms I hovered awkwardly in the kitchen. They called out to me to join them were careful to speak only English around me (a courtesy my Ugandan relatives should note) but I also urged them to teach me a few more Polish words and now my vocabulary has extended to

Djienkuye - Thank you
A prosha – You’re welcome
Ala chad – That’s cool
Zaiye bische- That is great
Nie- No
Tak – Yes
Gen Dobre – good day
Dobre Nos – good night

The spelling is way out but doesn’t matter as long as I can say them correctly!

In turn, they were genuinely interested in me, asking questions about my life, interests, religion. We had a long discussion about Buddhism and Christianity.
Before I knew it, a beer was pressed into my hands; we were laughing; out came the guitar, ukulele and harmonica; we composed a silly song and recorded ourselves singing it – collapsing into hysterical laughter at the end of it.
IT WAS FANTASTIC!!
That set the trend for the rest of my stay- hanging out and really bonding with them. On my last evening, we went out on the town together, joined by a Scotsman and Spaniard. These guys aren’t exactly earning a lot of money- I earn more - but they insisted on paying for all my drinks and generally looked after me.
It made me realise how I miss being part of a community. In London, we just don’t take the time. There is a distinct lack of spontaneity which is necessary to forge close friendships. I’ve only ever felt this kind of community with non-Christian friends – why is that I wonder?
So now, I’m on a mission to discover more Polish friends because I admire their way.

Quick one

Still feeling a bit sleep deprived after Poland trip. It was way too short, got there on Friday night, Saturday was taken up with Mark and Ewelina's wedding, and then thanks to Ryanair changing their schedule, an early morning flight back to London. I didn't really do anything touristy. My lingering impression though is that the Poles are very generous, warm people. On Saturday morning I helped pick rose petals from Kryscik's (my host) family allotment. As we were leaving his parents bombarded me with home grown apples and gherkins . The latter, I subseqently learnt, are a Polish delicacy. I look forward to going again next year for Izabela and Kryscik's wedding
Off now to Edinburgh for the Fringe festival. Overwhelmed by amount of choice - a search on the website brought up 2000+ items! Kind of hard to narrow it down because I don't know what is good... what sucks... I'll see