The art of speaking too soon....

The view of the Oasis Centre from Waterloo station....




Its a great city to look at.....







This is the new office which will be deocrated

This is me being interiewed at at my team's welcome service by boss Jill Rowe. The balloons are for the birthday party that followed this service

You don't quite get an idea of how busy it was from this view..... but there were a lot of people there!!

So, just as i posted (that's the arty word for writing in your blog) yesterday that nothing funny had happened to me yet i spoke too soon. I've just managed to get a job working four hours a week as an outreach youthworker. This job basically entails me going out into the community of vauxhall and playing football with the young people. However, at this point in time there are little or no established links with any young people and so it will be a very challenging job.... but also very exciting that i have a blank canvas on which to work.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon i spent my first morning in the community with Tim (flat-mate, friend, colleague) whom i'm taking the job over from. His approach to the work has been taking a football down to the local park and either joining in with a game already being played or asking kids if they want to play.... This has had some success and some failure mainly becuase different kids turn up every week. On other occasions when no kids turn up at all, Tim would just spend his time kicking the football around (in the hope that some kids might turn up)..... Yesterday there didn't seem to be any kids around and so we decided to play one on one: "Two players each trying to score into the other person's goal". It's fun, fast paced and when played between an englishman and a scotsman, highly competetive. I quickly took the lead, lobbing the ball over Tim's head into his goal twice to make it 2 - 0. Gaining in confidence i began to kick the ball harder until i kicked it high over a fence and into someone's garden. As a boy of thirteen this wouldn't have phased me (clambering up the wall to collect the ball). Now 22 and local youth worker i was a little more hesitant to scramble up what seemed a very high wall. I tried the gate....locked! i looked for another way in but there wasn't one.... It seemed that the only way to get the ball back was to climb. And so, rolling back the years i pulled myself up this brick wall and over into the garden. I felt so bad! Once over i had a quick look around to check no one was watching and quickly i picked up the ball, throwing it back over the wall. Phew, i thought... i'd mangaed to retrieve the ball with no problems. I then made my way back over the wall where once down i could relax and begin learning from my over zealous shooting. However, once at the top of the fence I heard a loud banging noise. I turned round to see that a girl and her mum were at the window giving me the most evil looks..."what do you think you are doing?".... instead of just jumping straight over the wall and away from the scenario i paused (still sitting on the fence that belonged to these people). Through the years i've learned that most situations of conflict can be aided with a vulnerable looking smile. And so using my well mastered smile i attempted to change their looks of anger into looks of understanding. Actually, i'm pleased to say it worked and the mother began to chuckle the daughter beginning to smile quickly after. Now most people at this point would clamber back down the wall feeling a little better about what had just happened. Not me.... After building some kind of rappor with the two people i thought that it might have been better for me ask if i should not use the over the wall exit but instead come through the house...... Tim looking on realised what i was doing and shouted "just get back over the wall!!!!" and so after a bit more hesitation i clambered down the wall. Man, we laughed so hard as everything i had just done became clear!

After that some kids began to appear and we got a game of football going (i was so scared to shoot though!). So, quickly i've learned some valuable lessons about community behaviour.....

Internet non-access

Things have been hectic this first week. i have met so many new people both in the community and working with Oasis. It's good but at times tiring mainly becuase i'm trying to develop some of those meetings into frienships. Internet access has also been something i've lacked so it's not been easy to write up my Blog. However, this will change as time goes on and our office goes from a large unused space to a buzzing,thriving, internet blogging, working environment. Currently we're doing the prep work to paint our office (i've mastered the skill of polyfilla). I've had a few requests for my address and so i thought i would post it here.

Mr Andrew M Nelson
1a Kennington Road
Lambeth
London
SE1 7QP

I'm glad to report that up until now nothing funny has happened to me. However, I realise that this doesn't make for good blog reading. Well, i think my grammar must be quite humerous at times (this is rushed you know).....

It's all happening

And so it begin's... I've been thrust straight into the Oasis Network. Missed my train on Friday morning to London (becuase of a delayed train not becuase of my error) and it all seemed to be going badly. I was anxious enough already and missing my train brought me to the brink of quitting before i'd even left the country (joke). The introduction of some very helpful train conductors got me on another train....and on my way to London.

Arrived safe and tired at around 5pm.... got a cab to the church and walked inside. The place was buzzing with activity (in anticipation of Oasis 21st Birthday Party the next day). I had a cup of tea, met lot's of people and was shown round the corner to my accommodation. I'm living in an old health centre, my bedroom is an old treatment room. It's noisy but nice and as time goes on i'll become more and more accustomed to it. That night i played football with young people from the local community and i'm glad to say they were impressed. This has helped me break down barriers very quickly and earn some respect. As i know, gaining young people's respect is the first step to building constructive relationships. I was tired after football and so retired to my room....slept like a log, despite the constant roar of vans and police car's (very different to Craigie Road).

Saturday i helped out at the birthday party.... i have photo's which i'll post when i can. I met simon thomas ex blue peter presenter (and christian) and also Diane Louise Jordan. There were about 400 people in total at the church. Prior to the Birthday party me and my team had, had our official introduction to the church and i was asked to be interviewed. This came as a shock but also a nice opportunity to overcome any fears about speaking in front of my new congreagation.

Today i have just finished my first day of work, we had training in the morning looking at our impressions of Jesus'. Who is he to us.....? It was nice to get some of those thoughts out there. For example, Was jesus good looking? And did jesus have a home? In a relaxed atmosphere we laughed and debated such issues. The work is going to be slow in taking off, manily becuase we're going to have to come up with the work ourselves. But the potential for work in the community is already exciting. Discussion has already considered a advocacy service and a home help service.

Overall, arrival here has been smooth. At times i feel a little unsure and a little lost but i've made so many friends. To get me through the year that's all i really need.

O Team

This is the team (plus a few hangers on) to be set free in Waterloo.... the tall guy at the back called Nick (big nickers) is the group joker. Famous for his Steve Chalke (founder of Oasis) impersonation. The girl with the hat (named Kat) is the group photographer. Steve, furthest right is straight out of a rap group and no doubt will keep us entertained with his gospel take on life.... The strange one with the birdsnest on top of his head is me. I've collected the name grandad becuase of my age (oldest by a few months) and my grandparent like warmth.

Fully trained in Community Restoration

The term community restoration (The Oasis Vision) has proven totally inspiring over the last week and I imagine that it will continue to guide me over the next year. When Steve Chalke arrived on Monday to speak to all the trainees he brought with him a three hour long introduction to what Oasis was, is and aims to be….. He speaks with vision and passion about the state of the world and how effectively we can support vulnerable people. This first week has proven a success

I’ve met my team (hopefully I’ll be able to access a photo soon) who are all like minded individuals. I was surprised to find that I’m the only Scottish person working with Oasis this year, so i’m considered a minority (This could also be phrased to say unique). After a long first day where I left Perth at 4am to arrive in Leicester at 12noon I was glad to get to bed. It had been very hot in England and I had drunk a large amount of Water which resulted in a number of runs (notice, not walks) to the toilet. At 11pm I had hoped that this would be the last trip and I could sleep with my bladder relieved…. Everything went fine in the toilet and I sleepily flushed and opened the door to leave. To my absolute surprise a girl was standing waiting which gave me a fright… I screamed and then she screamed! I said “you’re a girl” and she said “yes, I know”. I replied “but you shouldn’t be here, this is a boys dorm!” she said “is it?”. After this we both laughed. As a male your toilet hygiene standards slip when your living with six other guys. I think I got a fright because I wasn’t expecting anyone to be waiting outside the toilet let alone a girl (thoughts flew through my head… did i put the seat down, did I even lift the seat in the first place….?) The girl turned out to be called Megan and along with the other guys in our dorm we all got on well. On the final night all the guys agreed that our toilet habits had improved as a result of Megan living with us…..

I promise that will be my last toilet story, please let me know if in anyway this was too much information. It’s my first ever blog and I need to be clear about the line between good content and too much content. Training as a whole was a success, and I’m excited about working for Oasis… They talk so radically about community engagement and resurrecting Church at the centre of communities….where it always was, and where it should be.

Not started quite yet

I was really keen to get this Blog up and running before i left for London. So now it's working i'm well pleased. I don't enter London until the 22nd September therefore there won't be much to read until around the end of the month when the work/fun/disco has commenced. On the 11th of September i will carry out some basic training at Leicester University. The training will involve aquiring some of the basic skills neccessary to exist in London e.g. black belt kung fu, how to boil and egg in 1min and 30 seconds and how to eat healthily in the wild. This training will last five days. I am returning to Perth on the 15th September and will leave for London on the 22nd. I hope that over the coming year this Blog will offer an insight into my work but also at times be a source of entertainment. I have no problem talking about the funny things that happen to me. So watch out for many blog entries featuring 'the funny things that happened to Andrew'.