Community Life
A few friends have asked me about community life here, so I'll share a few thoughts. Life in any community brings people together in a variety of ways and sometimes this is not easy. This is especially the case when several people live in the same building, share meals together, work together, and play and laugh together. We have a diverse group of people and there are many differences, but I find it is easy to be in the community here and I think the diversity is a big part of this. Conversations are easy and people care for each other. While there are many opportunities to do things together, there is a good appreciation of the need for personal space and time. I would say the balance is good.Sometimes, a few people will head into downtown Ballycastle as a part of achieving balance and, while there are options for an evening out, one of the favourite places is O'Connor's Bar. It's a quiet place, where it is easy to sit and have a conversation without having to talk extra loud. There are other pubs in town, so there are opportunities to achieve a good balance!
What do I miss from home?
Another question I have been asked a few times by some folks here as well as a few people back home is "What do you miss?" Without a doubt what I miss most is not seeing my daughter (Anna) and close friends on a regular basis. I miss my son (Ben) too, but he has been living in Seoul for more than five years so I'm used to not having him around on an ongoing basis. My time here is only for three months, however, and one month has already passed. In just a couple of days, I will have been here for five weeks!
There are some things I miss from home, but nothing that I'd consider as a big deal. I miss being able to pick up the Globe & Mail on Saturday mornings and spend time reading it while I sip coffee at one of the Starbucks close to my house. I have found a couple of good places in Ballycastle to have a decent coffee, but the selection of places obviously is much less than at home. The Guardian is a good second choice for a newspaper, but not always available in Ballycastle. One good thing has been a reduction in my caffeine consumption. I also miss sampling varieties of single malt with my friend Paul and regaling ourselves with tales from our two hiking trips in Scotland.
I guess there are a few comforts I miss, but frankly these are limited. I do miss the flexibility of not having a car, but again the positive side is that I walk into town and get to enjoy the sights and sounds of the waves on the beach! It's not the same when driving past in a vehicle.
Kitchen Duty
As mentioned in an earlier post, volunteers are assigned to various duties on a rotation basis. I have done a mix of things and I had my first kitchen rotation last week. This was the cooking and food preparation side of things, not washing dishes and clean-up (have done these on several occasions). I feel comfortable in a kitchen and, while I don't know the details of how things operate at Corrymeela, I had a great time working with the kitchen staff - slicing, dicing, mixing, etc. One of the highlights of working in the kitchen at Corrymeela is the eclectic range of music that is playing much of the time. There is quite a lot of rock music, but the individual of each one of the kitchen staff is unique. I think pretty much every genre of music is covered, including country.
Last Weekend's Group
After working in the kitchen for the best part of four days, I helped support a group from Friday evening through mid-morning on Sunday. The group was comprised of around 20 males (about 16-17 years of age) about equally split from adjacent Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods in Belfast. For reasons of confidentiality, I don't want to identify the areas they were from. While these young men live in close proximity, they did not know each other prior to the bus trip to Corrymeela.
The basic goal of the weekend was to achieve some connection among the young men and to also give them some appreciation of their similarities and interests. A variety of techniques were used - ice breakers, outdoor team building via experiential learning, personal reflection and identification activities, discussions, walking to the beach as a whole group, eating meals together and socializing.
While volunteers supported the session in various ways, we also were active participants. At the outset, there was a lot of testosterone evident in the room, most likely for the benefit of people from their own community more than for the others. While this didn't completely disappear over the weekend, it did decline and the session was successful. The outside team building activities were especially useful in mixing the groups together in various ways. Some of the discussions were challenging, but the level of engagement was good.
The agenda was appropriately flexible to allow lots of time for the volunteer-facilitator team to mingle with the teens on an individual basis. These is an important part of the process as they are able to share their thoughts and perspectives in a safe environment, which often is not possible where they live or even within their own families. The one-on-one connection was a highlight for me.
Probably the biggest challenge for me was understanding the local accents and jargon as well as listening to people who talk very quickly. I am pleased to say that I was not alone in this regard.
Hope you enjoyed reading! Stay tuned for the next post.
It all sounds fascinating Ernie.
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