It isn't always black and white

OnFire: the young united methodist justice movement: It isn't always black and white: As the events of the past week remind us, discrimination based upon race, ethnicity and religion remains present and alive in the United States and in our world. From the heartbreaking execution of Troy Davis to the continued occupation in the Middle East, the headlines are full of stories that threaten to overwhelm our hope and our faith in a grace-filled and loving God...

Nails, English, and Boondoggle

In reflecting on the past two weeks here, these three words seem to cover the essence of my newly established life here in Berlin – or at least the first two weeks of it!

Nails: Many evenings last week were spent carrying furniture up and down the steps of my apartment building, pondering how to put things together, and, yes, eventually nailing and screwing everything together. I had been able to buy a lofted bed from the girl who previously lived in my room, so there was no need to worry about a bed. When I arrived, I already had a bed to sleep in (which was most important to me!) as well as bookcase – an overall good start on a completed room. Now, after three evenings of bringing furniture in and out and an additional trip to Ikea with my pastor, a trip to the basement with my roommate, and an additional weekend of assembling furniture, my room is now complete with bed, bed-lamp, bookcase, chair, dresser, armoire, desk, desk chair, floor lamp, mirror and even two little plants that were kindly given to me by my pastor’s daughter. In the words of my Arabic tutor, “If you continue to acquire furniture at this rate, in two weeks your room will be overflowing.” Luckily, the plan is not to continue acquiring furniture – instead, I now have a complete room!

English: In the past two weeks I have become the clear favorite among the kids for all homework directly or indirectly related with English. Beyond homework, certain kids will now greet me in English or ask me to again help them remember the names of the different colors, the days of the week, and other foundational English vocabulary. What fun it is!

Many of the kids who come to the Kindertreff attend the same school, and many are in the same class. There is a large group of children in the same 5^th grade class who regularly come to the Kindertreff, which means that they also all have the same homework. So, from Monday, September 5th until Tuesday of this past week, I spent a good portion of my time at work helping these eight or so children memorize a paragraph about London which they had to recite this week. By the second day, I had also successfully memorized the paragraph, and am certain that I could have said it backwards, forwards, and in my sleep:

“London is the capital of G.B. and the United Kingdom. About 8 million

people live there. London is on the river Thames. There are many sights:

The London Eye, London Zoo, The Tower. The Tower is over 800 years

old. Most Londoners go by tube. There are 33 London boroughs.

Greenwich is a part of London. Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales,

and England belong to the United Kingdom.”

By the middle of last week, not only the repetition of ‘London….London….London,’ but also the poor structure of the given paragraph and the disjointed facts, which the children were required to memorize had started to get to me. I off-handedly mentioned it to my supervisor on Thursday and when the first child came in on Friday and she overheard him begin to say ‘London is…’ she gave me a sympathetic look and burst out laughing. The poor boy thought that he had made a mistake or mispronounced something and we had to assure him that everything was just fine. Luckily, all that practice and insanity paid off – the kids proudly reported their grades to me after they completed their recitations – most were As and Bs, grades which many of these children seldom receive.

Overall, the kids are really excited to learn and improve their English. Thanks to those who have sent English children’s books to me, the kids now have the opportunity to begin reading actual books in English. And next week, I will begin a weekly English club with some of the older kids. It is hard to say if they are more excited or if I am for the start of the English club, but we can’t wait. The club is something that I very much wanted to begin, and as of Wednesday we will have an hour once a week when we can gather together, speak together in English, role play, clarify grammatical questions, build vocabulary, and work on having fun in the meantime. I am anxious to see how the club turns out!

And boondoggle: Yes, it seems that the classic art of tying plastic bands into various braids and knots is not only a favorite past time of American children, but also that of the kids here in Berlin. For those of you unfamiliar with boondoggle, think of the long plastic bands that you may have seen functioning as key chains, attached to zippers of bookbags, etc. The translation of ‘boondoggle’ into German is an equally meaningless word, and here they are called ‘Scoobidoo bands.’ My supervisor had mentioned the kid’s new adoration for ‘Scoobidoo bands’ to me in July and I was completely mind-boggled by what these ‘bands’ could be. At first I thought they must have something to do with Scooby Doo, the cartoon character, but I was completely lost on what exactly the kids could be doing with Scooby Doo, a character who is known, but not especially popular here.

So. It came as a relief to me to discover that ‘Scoobidoo bands’ were something that I did in fact know, learned at the YMCA after school program as a kid, and am still able to do. What a relief! And so, the last two weeks have been spent either teaching kids how to boondoggle, being in charge of distributing and allocating the bands themselves, or working to make my own. In two weeks, with little effort, I have accomplished a key chain, a bookbag zipper boondoggle, and have started at least two others – today, I even learned how to make a chain with six strands, rather than the classic four. At this rate, perhaps my room will just fill up with boondoggle projects even if I stop collecting furniture!

Reflections on Labor Day

For most Americans, Labor Day is the popular day off of classes and of work, the marker of the ‘end’ of the summer. For many, it is a vital day to remember our workers in the U.S., to protect and celebrate labor, and to promote better conditions in our workplaces and living wages for our workers.

For me this year, Labor Day took on a whole new meaning as I celebrated the holiday with my first official day of work at the Kindertreff Delbrücke here in Berlin. As some of you already know, the Kindertreff is an afterschool program for underprivileged children in one of Berlin’s most impoverished districts. The children, many of whom are themselves or have parents who immigrated to Germany, often fall behind in school, since many enter school without a secure basic understanding of the German language, are often cast aside as children who will never amount to anything and their schools have many of the city’s most disengaged teachers.

Although my first ‘official’ day of work was yesterday on Labor Day, I had the opportunity to see some of the kids on Sunday at Berlin’s United Methodist district gathering. I attended worship in the morning and was able to reconnect with many of my friends from the church that I had been attending here last winter. After a lovely picnic lunch together, the gathering reconvened for an additional hour, during which time different groups sang, performed skits, etc. I was ‘interviewed’ in front of everyone, and afterwards six of the children from the Kindertreff performed a Turkish song by Tarkan for the gathered audience. Then, we played in the park where the event had been held for another hour or so. After a kid’s wading pool was discovered, only three of us returned home dry!

So after an eventful Sunday, Monday’s ‘labor’ was of a more traditional sense. Together with my supervisor, I went to one of the nearby schools and helped teach a German class for seven children who have recently immigrated here and/or have no to limited German comprehension and speaking skills. Afterwards, we had regular homework help and free play time at the church where the Kindertreff is housed from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m..

Both days, I have been overwhelmed by the greetings from all of the children and youth whom I have been able to see. Most are thrilled that I have returned and I have been plagued with hugs and questions; they are so excited that I will be able to stay here for such a long period of time – seventeen months! It is wonderful to have returned to a place where I am so appreciated and feel so welcome, not only from the children and my supervisor, but also from my flat mates, friends and church communities throughout Berlin.

I am so thankful! Even if, yes, it does mean that I have to work U.S. holidays and ‘labor’ on Labor Day!

Eid Mubarak!!!

I remember waking to the bang of drums resonating the walls and windowpanes of my bedroom. It was still the middle of the night, but the excitement on the small ally outside of the apartment and the waft of spices drifting from the downstairs apartment indicated the contrary. It was the first night of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.

As an American Christian living in Turkey last summer, this was my first night to hear the drums on the street waking me to indicate the beginnings of Ramadan. I was excited to partake in the suhur, the meal before dawn, before the beginning of the daily fast. Together, my host brother and sister and I wearily got up and sleepily stumbled down the stairs to break bread together with my host brother’s parents. The night before I had shared with my host family my intent to also fast for the few days of Ramadan I was still in Turkey. The expressions and comments of disbelief, awe and respect with which they had responded would become common to me during the three days I spent in Turkey during Ramadan.

Teachers and staff at our language institute and vendors on the street were shocked and confused when my friends would share with them that I, an American Christian, would be tolerant and open to fasting in solidarity with my Muslim host family and my Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.

Applying my own Christian tradition of fasting to also fast during the Muslim holy month required me to learn more about my own Christian traditions, my Muslim brothers and sisters’ traditions, and how all of these traditions, beliefs, and practices interweave and diverge from one another.

During Ramadan this year, I was not in Turkey, but was in the United States. During a month marked with Young Adult Missionary Training, Commissioning as a Mission Intern of the United Methodist Church, vacation with my family in New York City, reunions with friends in Washington, DC, and the celebration of Singing a New Song at a United Methodist gathering in Huron, Ohio (see photos in the previous post), the craziness of the month made it difficult to hold a constant fast in solidarity with my Muslim friends. As a result I instead only fasted on Fridays, the Muslim holy day, when I was not traveling. Although this resulted in only fasting three days during the month of Ramadan, the dialogue into which I delved with others as a result of my fasting made the effort nonetheless worthwhile.

Now that the month of fasting has concluded, today marks the third and final day of celebrations, or of the Ramadan holiday (Şeker Bayramı in Turkish and Eid al-Fitr in Arabic), for Muslims across the world. As they conclude their celebrations and as I begin a new journey with my departure to Berlin tomorrow, I celebrate the time I have had the past few months with my family and friends in Germany, Turkey and the U.S., the opportunity to spend time with my loved ones, and the adventure that this new stage of my voyage will bring!

Ramazan bayramınız kutlu olsun!!! Eid Mubarak!!! Happy Ramadan!!!

American Trails

Since Coming 'Home' to the United States on July 26th, I have been on the road a great deal and have lacked the time to compose a complete blog entry. I apologize and hope that these photos of the past five weeks might provide you with an overview of my U.S. adventures!

From July 28th to August 18th, I attended Young Adult Missionary (affectionately known as YAMs) training in Stony Point, NY. Three of my favorite photos from the three weeks:

The YAMs with our prayer blankets:
An average afternoon at work:

And a photo with the General Secretary of Global Ministries towards the end of our training:
On August 18th, I was commissioned as a Mission Intern of the United Methodist Church in New York City. I was then able to spend a few days hanging out with my parents, Liz, Dan, and William in the city:
After a few more days back in Washington, DC to visit my college and church friends, I celebrated one final reunion at Sing a New Song, a conference of the United Methodist Reconciling Ministries Network and the Methodist Federation for Social Action, in Huron, Ohio. There, in addition to seeing many of my Dumbarton church family and its diaspora, I was able to spend time with my friends Elise, Alissa, and Rachel from American University - it was great to see them!
And now, my bags are packed; tomorrow morning I depart for Berlin!!!