She’s a Mil

Like David I am very much enjoying been 26 but I don’t think my blog is so much as it has been very much neglected. Sorry blog, just have not been able to think up a post. Anyway I’ll try and do a bit of a catch up for the last 11 days of been 26.

The last two weekends I have had training for work. I really enjoy training, it would definitely be one of the best parts of my work but it sure is tiring working from 7.30am to 4.30pm two Saturdays in a row.
I also did some fill in work for Jo at GAPP last Monday. I love going to GAPP and sitting in the garden with people and having a cup of tea and a chat. It has such a lovely community feel about it and it is nice laid back spot. I don’t however usually enjoy actually working there but it was a bit better this time. I felt I made some genunie coneections with people beyond them just asking me for some food or money and me saying yes or no.
I had a picnic with some friends from church last Sunday in the park at the end of Glebe Point Road. It was a beautiful sunny day and really relaxing just sitting around chatting on the water and watching other people do the same.
Martin was sick for three days last week. I don’t think I am very good nurse really but I tried. I made some healthy soup for him to eat and bought him lots of cups of water.
I went for a run yesterday. It was the first intentional exercise I have done since winter started. It felt good.
Martin and I have a new house guest. A guy Martin works with from Peru. He will be returning to Peru in September but needed a place to stay until then so Martin said he could stay with us. He is very friendly and it has been good for my Spanish which is pretty rusty these days.
It has inspired me to even start reading in Spanish again. I am reading El Zahir by Paulo Coelho.
On Saturday night we walked into Newtown to see a movie at the Dendy. It was a good walk and being in Newtown made me feel nicely nostalgic. The movie we wanted to see was full though so we had some dinner and walked back to Broadway and saw Hancock instead. I thought it was pretty crap but I guess I knew it would be.
The Saturday before that we had dinner at the local pub and played some pool there.
I also went to the Toxteth for the first time since living here last Thursday. I went to hear some people, including Geoff, talk about crime in Glebe. It was interesting and good to hear Geoff speak again. People seemed very open to creative and compassionate ways of addressing the issue which was exciting. I had a good chat with a lady from one of the Housing Dept.

It has been good to be doing local things, getting to know Glebe and the people here a bit better. I continue to enjoy living here and feel like this is where I want to be in my life right now. In fact in almost every facet of my life I feel I am where I want to be, where I am meant to be. It is good.

Yesterday I baked a banana cake. It was really good actually, brown and fluffy and had a good flavour. Makes such a difference having a good gas oven, the electric one at Simmons Street was just awful. I don’t think I ever made anything good in that.

After I made it I cut off a couple of slices and knocked on one of my neighbours doors and offered her the cake. This is the neighbour I have not seen much of (she has three very young children so obviously socialising is hard) so it was good to have a reason to drop by. She asked me in and we played with her babies for a bit, it wasn’t much but really nice.

Then I cut off another couple of slices to give to my other neighbours. They were not home but I have a key to their house which I use to put on and collect my washing which I was doing so I left theirs on their table with a little note.

It all felt so good.

As I don’t work on Mondays this was an extra long weekend for me and a super fun one, spent mostly in and with the Glebe community. Friday, I cleaned my house and did the washing. As we don’t have a washing machine I take it to Jo and Jeremy’s, next door. It is a bit annoying but good for community cause when I was there Jo asked if I wanted to have a cuppa with her and of course I did and we chatted for a whole wash. It is also better environmently and for our budget. In the afternoon Martin and I went for a run. I have a great run around here. I go up to the end of Glebe Point Road and then run along the harbour for a bit and then across Wentworth Park and wind around the streets back home. In the evening we decided to see a movie. Martin said we should also ask our other neighbour if she wanted to come. She is a single lady in her sixties so she was quite suprised when we asked but said yes. We went for dinner before hand and it was really nice hearing a bit of her story.

Saturday again at home, pottering around the house. Did some work on the liturgies for church and for the nominators. At this stage I am really ejoying being a nominator, it is actually quite interesting. It really is a strange thing the Anglican church and its process for finding a new minister but I think I agree with it. In the evening we had dinner with our friend’s Mal and Nadine who also go to our church and live on Glebe Point Road. They are very fun people.

Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then after a big group of us went and had coffee in a cafe down the road. One of the many nice thigns about going to that church is there is never a shortage of places to go for after church coffee. We sat in a lovely courtyard and enjoyed the absolutely perfect weather. Such a nice change from the 13 days of straight rain. Someone said it was the most days of rain consecutively in 70 years. I guess we have needed but boy o boy was I over it. I continued to enjoy the weather into the afternoon by sitting on my front balcony and reading. I just finished Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. Now I have finished Harry I am back into her again. Sitting on the front is also very community-ish as people walk by and smile and say hi and comment on the weather. After a day of sitting around i though I should get some exercise so I wandered down to the pool had a swim and then back to church to pray. A group of us meet each Sunday to pray for the church, especially the nominating process. This week there was just two of us and we decided to sit in the front yard. As we were sitting there two older ladies came up to enquire if there was a service. We said there wasn’t but they could join us to pray. One of them was a Christian from out of town and was very pleased to. The other was a local but wasn’t a Christian, she was just showing her friend where the chuch was. Anyway she said she wouldn’t pray but would sit with us, however in the middle of the prayer she said, “well if there is a God I would like to pray for the poor people living in Glebe”. At the end she asked if we would say the Lord’s prayer. So we held hands and prayed. It was very moving really.

And finally today I met with my friend Jenny, who I have known since birth and we went and saw the Archibald. It was very good really although absolutely packed. Afterwards she came back to Glebe to see my house and we had lunch and coffee. I walked her back to the bus stop and walking down I saw 4 people that I knew. How local is that!!!

I joined Glebe library today. I was mainly joining cause I am now up to the 7th Harry Potter and I just had to get my hands on it but it made me so happy. I was happy cause joining the library reminded me of when I was a child and my mum used to take Gemma and I there most months to borrow books. It was always hard to choose which one I wanted to borrow but fun. It also made me feel really local. I never realised how communityish libraries were. I mean all over the notice boards they had ads for local groups you could join or volunteer work you could do and everyone is welcome. The place seemed filled with people from all classes, language backgrounds etc. And finally I think libraries are cool cause they really fit with the whole compacting thing. I mean I am not officially doing it but I am always trying to not buy new things and so it is good to think one could read their whole life without ever having to buy something. And all this coolness comes at the grand cost of nothing. Yep totally free with a cool card that has my name on it. So yay to libraries I say. I reckon everyone should join one.

We are in for a few more changes this month. As I wrote on February 01st our lease at Simmons Street was terminated in January and so we started looking for a new house. We were struggling to find a house that fit us all and that we liked. In the midst of that someone from our church let us know that they would be leaving the two bedroom house that they rent and would Martin and I like to take it. At first we said no but then after some thought and some discussion with the boys (Ryan, Tom and Matt) we decided that we would take it. We had thought about moving out just the two of us late last year but decided not to, the time just did not feel right. Now however it does feel right so that is what we are doing. We also thought that it might be easier for the boys to find something. That thought turned out to be fantastically wrong but by the time we realised that we had made our decision.

The house we will be moving into is in Glebe, just down from Glebe Point Road. It is one of four owned by our church and in the others live couples or families from the church with whom there will hopefully be some community feel. It has two bedrooms so Jem will live in the other for the two days per week that she is not at L’Arche and I am hoping the rest of the time it will be well occupied by family and friends needing places to stay. It has a pretty nice feel to it though it is very small. We certainly won’t be having the big dinners that we are used to. The other drawback is that it has an out door toilet. Although it is not too far away so we should be okay. I guess I will just have to drink less at night.

I am looking forward to living with just Martin. After five years together it is the first time so it will be a new adventure. I also really like Glebe and will enjoy being closer to the church and community there. Having a spare room to offer people is also very exciting. I am on the other hand feeling pretty sad right now. I am going to miss Enmore and the constant activity of that house. I think most of all though I will very much miss living with Ryan, Tom and Matt. It is especially sad that Tom is moving to Turramurra and so will be very far away. I am sure I haven’t always being completely positive about living with four boys but they really are wonderfully fantastic and would reccommend living with them to anyone. That goes for Jem, Jo and Jon who also lived in the house over the years.

I remember when we were all moving in together some people told me to be careful as it could really ruin the friendships. I am very grateful that, that is not the case with us at all. In fact I think it only made the friendships stronger so that is a good thing to finish on.

Last week we fed our neighbours cat while they were on holidays. As a thank you present they gave us a whole case of wine. It seemed it a bit excessive for what we did but they insisted and it is vey nice wine. When Amber dropped the wine around we were looking at the garden which at this stage is incredibly overgrown but full of veges. We have chilli, basil, pumpkin, corn, tomatoes. I am not really that into gardening as most people would know but it is very exciting. Anyway, I told her if she ever felt like taking anything she would be most welcome. So the other night when Martin and I were cooking we heard someone in the garden. We looked out and there was Amber taking some of our basil. Her husband was making bruschetta. It all felt very neighbourly. Makes me sad to be leaving.

The last couple of days have been pretty full farewelling Jo. On Saturday Jo had her farewell party. I couldn’t make it as I had to work. This was very disappointing for me but I did get to go to Coogee beach with her in the evening. This is a bit of a tradition for Jo and I who have on a few occasions, when one of us had to work/study on a Saturday, gone there for a swim. It was my first beach swim of the season and it was beautiful. Matt, Louisa, Martin, Ryan, Tom and Jessica also joined us so that was fun too and we had a BBQ.

On Sunday I went to Jo’s church to pray with the community there for her and on Monday we had our last house dinner. We went to China town for noodles and beer. Tuesday was Jo’s last day so we had out last swim and pancakes and went to the car wash to wash our cars. Another tradition. The day before Jem left we did this and the day Jon left Tom got his car washed too. In the evening we went to communuity dinner and we prayed again for Jo and then finally yesterday we dropped at the airport.

It has been a pretty sad time for me. I am going to miss Jo a lot. Her constant and gentle presence in our home, her ability to listen and reflect compassionately, her committment to people, her energy and her sense of fun. I am going to miss talking to her, praying with her, eating with her and watching seachange with her.

On the other hand, I know this is something she has wanted to do for a long time and so I am excited about what she is doing. Well, like Tom said, I am excited about what God is doing through her and that even though it is a long way away we will all be able to support her different ways.

I am inspired by the fact that I am surrounded by people, my friends and family, who do not aspire to live easy, comfortable, risk free lives. I am inspired by the fact they are people who do not seek money, privelege or power. Instead they seek to live serving others and God in the pursuit of justice. For many that will be here in Sydney but for others it will be in other states or countries and so while this means that we as a community will often be farewelling someone I am grateful as it inspires me too. And I am excited about the adventures God will lead people on and I hope that we continue to do this together no matter where we are.

I have had some really nice community moments in the last week. It has made me feel good about living in Newtown. I had been feeling a bit unsure about where I wanted to be but the last week has me thinking that maybe I am in the right place for me right now.

Firstly, on Sunday Martin and I went to church at St John’s Glebe. It may be too soon to say this as we have only been once but I think that we may try to make it our church. The people were so open and welcoming and I had some really interesting conversations. It seemed like a diverse group of people young and old with different cultural backgrounds and when I asked one of the ladies I chatted to why she liked it so much she said that it was because of the diversity of rich and poor. She also said that she as a single mother never felt judged there at all and I think that is very important. There was also good liturgy and Geoff is the minister so I am pretty sure that I will be comfortable with the teaching but that it will also challenge me.

On Monday we had our community dinner which was great. I was very anxious that there wasn’t going to be enough food but in the end there was and it was delicious. It was another diverse group of people from the local area and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Yesterday when I got home from work I went and delivered pamphlets for the Greens. A whole bunch got left on our door for someone who used to live there to deliver and I thought it would be a shame for them not to get delivered as I am a bit of a fan of the Greens so I did it. It was good exercise and it made me feel communityish. There is nothing like walking around your neighbourhood and really looking at it that makes you feel part of it.

Later on Jo, Martin and I actually remembered to pray for the community together which I found helpful and then even later on our next door neighbour Amber popped around with some of their very good wine and shortbread in a cute red tin. She stayed for a little while and chatted which was nice. She is very different to us but funny and open and I guess community is about relating to people who are different and don’t necessarily share the same views as you.