Life

Other than our little adventures in the North East of England, I haven't posted an update on life in a while. So here is goes! First and foremost: rugby. As part of my birthday present, Richard bought tickets to see a game in Newcastle. Although it was raining (thankfully Richard had gotten tickets under the awning, smart move in a rainy country), we had such a good time! The Newcastle Falcons won against Exeter, in a tight match-up. I now understand the rules of the game so much better (and have stopped calling <trys>, <goals> hehe) and I was able to follow quite well! The stadium was much smaller than I expected but hosted nearly 3000 people. I always forget how comparatively minor other games in England are compared to soccer, which is a shame because I find rugby is a much better game. Yesterday Richard, Norman and I went to a local pub to watch England destroy Italy 59-13 in the Six Nations tournament (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy). I am really exited about the upcoming Rugby World Cup in September. Canada actually has a team!

Our view of the game. 

Travel update! In the next 2 months I will be travelling 6 times to different training sessions for work. They are all located outside Newcastle, as I work for a large organization that is spread across the UK. I am going to Manchester once (tomorrow), London once and York on four occasions! Thankfully York is close, only 1 hour away. Also, Richard and I are heading to London and Brighton next weekend (25th-28th) to visit the cities and some friends. I am really looking forward to it as it will only be my second time in London and my first time to Brighton (a lovely coastal town south of London).

Job! I'm going into my third week. Basically: We offer a 24 hour supported housing service. We work from an office jointed to a big house, divided into 9 flats, that houses service users, all of whom have mental health difficulties. They live there for 2 years. During this time they are assigned to a support worker who completes a recovery plan with them. As it is a 24 hour operation, there is always someone there to help out with tasks (groceries, appointments, etc if needed) or just to chat. Other than that, it's like a normal flat, they can obviously come and go as they please (although they cannot sleep away from home for more than 3 nights per week and they must check into the office everyday so we know they are okay). There are different groups in which the service users can participate (gardening, cooking, music, etc). I will be co-running two group (with the other part-time worker) and I will eventually be assigned to a resident as their support worker. In the meantime, I am reading policies, chatting with residents and co-workers and completing tasks as they come! All the residents and staff are very friendly and I think I'll really enjoy my job!

Volunteering! Still really enjoying it (Teaching Assistant and Support Worker roles). I am receiving loads of training for the Support Worker one and it's all very interesting. I am starting to have a better grasp of the UK asylum seeker process and the difficulties faced by refugees. Did you know that they detain children?? Let's say you have a child and you are refused asylum. The government can place you in detention (for obscene amounts of time, the record is 8 years!) and your child comes with you. This is detrimental to a child's development and I'm almost certain it is against Human Rights. The liberal-democrats, who form part of the coalition government, had promised to eliminate this in their electoral platform but have failed to do so. I'm not sure if Canada does the same (I'm more up to date with the UK system) but apparently Canada has a better record of how it treats it's asylum seekers (an employee of one of the organizations I volunteer with actually traveled to Toronto to learn more about our system). Anyways, I shall have to read up more about this! It's just awful to treat people who are victims like criminals.

I know it's far away but I just wanted to mention that Richard and I will be travelling to Canada for Christmas and my birthday next year. I'll keep you posted!

Looove