Musical mannequins

Hello hello hello!

I can't believe it's been coming up to two weeks since I last posted on here. Time has sped by and so I feel I should give a quick rundown of what's been happening lately. And there's been a lot.....

Following my last brutally honest post about how I was feeling about my placement, things have certainly changed! And it's all down to meeting Ann, the lady chairing the organising committee of the Stortford Music Festival. We met her just over a week ago, on the Monday. Her enthusiasm for the festival bubbles over and I'm now feeling much more positive about helping out. How busy we are has still varied between uber-busy (today) and relative quiet (latter part of last week), but I have a feeling it's going to speed up between now and the festival. So much to do, so little time.

Ann immediately gave us a nice long list of tasks to do and ideas to consider. So, since then, we've been brainstorming about ways to get the festival known throughout the town, and ways to make the festival site look quirky and interesting. This led us one day to walk round all the clothes shops in Bishop's Stortford to ask if they would lend us some mannequins, or give us some old ones, the idea being that we're going to have mannequins dressed in eighteenth century revolutionary costume, spiced up with some modern styles mixed in. The theme is "Let's Start a Creative Revolution" so we're hoping this will come across. Needless to say, it wasn't easy acquiring mannequins. We discovered that they cost about £500 each and so are like precious gold to shopkeepers.

Other tasks we've been working on include distributing posters, working out ways to get flyers through every door in Bishop's Stortford (thank goodness for a team of 18!), and writing Power Point presentations. We have our first one to give at an English language school next Monday morning. Hopefully this will get the message out to some of the ethnic minority groups but I'm just a little nervous!!!!

Ooh, before I forget, take a look at this link: Stortford Music Festival 2009 (thanks Kirsty!). It'll give you an idea of how exciting the event will be. Please do come along if you can! :)

I guess my only fear at this point is that post-festival our placement will revert back to uncertainty but at least we've still about 3 weeks until that point. Something might come up in the meantime, who knows.

Other stuff to report. We've certainly been kept very busy outside of our work placements. Organised social activities seem to come up often and it's great to relax with the team. So we have.....been to Harlow Town Park lots to play football and ball games and picnic (a birthday picnic for Kate on Easter Monday!), been to an impressive amateur production of The Nutcracker ballet, seen 'The Boat That Rocked' (bit of a laugh but not the best film on the planet) and patronised a Bishop's Stortford football match (alas, a 0-0 draw - I don't think it particularly impressed the Kazakhstanis). However, I think one my favourite activities so far has been the stroll we took in Epping Forest back the weekend before last. A couple of the guys on the team are staying in a host home in Theydon Bois, and their host parents took us to the Forest. We couldn't have wished for more beautiful weather. It was thoroughly refreshing to get out of Harlow and Bishop's Stortford and see a bit of countryside. Lovely. :)

I think that's one thing I have noticed about the programme. It's very intense living and working in one community. It has really made me appreciate how much independence I had back in Norwich when I could travel to see friends all over the country whenever I wished (well, work permitting). Sadly, I also miss my bicycle. Relying on public buses and on your own two feet does limite you somewhat! It's not a complaint, just a realisation of some of the things I take for granted back home and which I never realised I would be missing when on the programme. I suppose that's what this UK phase is all about. A definite learning experience.

OK doke. I think that's about all I'll say for now. I always remember stuff I meant to include after I put up a post but I think the pressure of restricted time on library computers has an adverse effect on my memory! Ah, the other thing is that I can't put photos online whilst in the library but hopefully I'll be able to do so soon when at work.

Anyway, signing off now, so toodle pip.

Take care, and with a lot of love to all,
Beth x :)

Praise points:
- That we now have more of a sense of purpose and an idea of what we are doing at our volunteering placement.
- For St Mary's Church, Old Harlow, and all who worship there. I have attended for the last two Sundays and have been made to feel very welcome.

Prayer points:
- I think I will probably end up asking this quite often, but please continue to pray for team relations. I think a couple of minor differences in personality have come up so far between some counterpart pairs. Everything is fine most of the time but please pray that any differences within the team will be dealt with and not disrupt the good team dynamic we have going.
- That the organising of the festival will come together well and that Kassym and I will be able to make a real contribution in this.
- For the organisation of the team's Mid-Phase Review. This will be the weekend of 9th and 10th May, but accommodation and transport has yet to be booked. Please pray that we will be able to sort this out very soon.