The latest…
I’ve kind of disappeared from blogland for a wee while owing to having the flu for 2 weeks, moving house in the middle of having the flu, trying to do work stuff and having just started a masters course in Community Education! Can life get more stressful? …well I think it probably can, but I never want to go through all this ever again! And I never want to marry a Methodist minister!

Information overload!
Oh my word! I’m currently in Leicester for the start of the MA which I’m doing via distance-learning. My head is about to explode. Yesterday we were doing stuff on anti-oppressive practice which I’d never heard of before until I found out about the course. It’s basically the idea that as community educators we’re working towards social justice, equality of opportunity etc and that we’re seeking to empower the people with whom we work so that they are free from oppression and discrimination. Yesterday morning we had a major discussion on “can blacks be racist?” which was fascinating! The main issue came down to our definition of racism and the ideas of those in the classroom varied quite a lot! For many racism = prejudice + power, which was a totally new concept for me, I just felt it was rooted in basic prejudice. So our tutor felt that blacks couldn’t be racist based on the fact that blacks are not in a position of power in today’s world which produced heavy discussion. Another of the tutors on Wednesday had been telling us about how he would have days of study where his head would hurt so much from thinking and we were looking at him wondering which planet he came from, but actually after yesterday morning I could really identify with what he was saying!

Anyway I’m really enjoying it all: the crack is good with the other students, met some really great people (4 of us originate from Norn Iron, but I’m the only one actually living there), there’s a real breadth of experience and people are involved in a variety of types of community development/youthwork etc, it’s nice having evenings off to go for a drink, grab food together (though sore on the pocket!), and there are quite a few Christians on the course, but it’s really exhausting and the workload is pretty scary. Basically I’m going to become a hermit for the next 2 years! But hey, it’ll be worth it!

Housemates
I finally got moved into my house last week, slept in the house for the first last Thursday night – quite a bizarre experience in itself given that it’s absolute chaos – all my stuff is more or less in one of the bedrooms, which will ultimately become the spare bedroom, in loads of boxes and I hadn’t quite got round to getting a duvet so I’ve been sleeping in my sleeping bag – I feel like a squatter or something! Anyway last Friday evening I was hunting for something…again (I lost 2 pillowcases for a whole week but recovered them last Saturday!), when in one of my boxes I found the remains of one of my chocolate bars and the realisation struck…MOUSE in the house!!!!!!!! I nearly flipped my lid, I really did, I thought I was going to lose it! So I was out with the anti-bacterial handwash (didn’t have any dettol!) cleaning things in the box. Please note this box was situated in the room I was sleeping in and had been there for a week! So anyway later on I bought a mousetrap, a friend came round and set it & 2 others for me with galaxy chocolate and then I spent the rest of the evening downstairs waiting for my furry friend(s) to come out and play. 10.30pm and I hear a big “Snap!” It took me 5 minutes to actually psych myself up to go upstairs and check the trap, in fact I crept up with a saucepan in my hand (what the heck is a mouse going to do to me anyway? What a wuss!) There in the trap was the mouse, almost decapitated! I did a version of Riverdance on the spot then ran downstairs to figure out a way of removing it. This took a further 10 minutes, with some more riverdancing in the kitchen because I really had the heebie-jeebies. So I got on a pair of rubber gloves (having just bought them that evening!), grabbed a cardboard box and took my courage in both hands (I have to admit I did think of ringing a friend to do it for me, but then told myself to wise up, now that I own a house, I need to be a big girl!) and went up the stairs again. I managed to grab the mousetrap complete with dead mouse, fling it into the box, then run down the stairs, out the house and threw the whole lot in the bin! Then I rang my sister to tell her of my victory (I just had to share it with someone!) and then drove round to my old housemate’s house to sleep there for the night! That’s one way to spend your first weekend in your new home! I don’t think there are anymore mice as the other traps haven’t been disturbed (although who knows what I’ll find when I get back from Leicester!) so hopefully I can sleep in peace.

Anyway life is definitely not dull these days!