"ideal as a part of a real british breakfast"

the topic of this week's english culture lesson is: black pudding.

two whole trays arrived from marks & spencers. fresh off the van, the brits called me over and asked if i had ever heard of it before.

i hadn't.

eagerly, they shifted their positions to get a good look at my face as paul (a shift coordinator at FareShare) explained that black pudding is, in fact, pork blood. 36% pork blood, to be percise. when combined with the remaining 64% of pork fat, oatmeal, and oak flakes, black pudding resembles sausage patties-fried in a skillet and served with eggs and toast.

i'll stick to my apples and yoghurt, thank you.

getting the hang of it.

hello hello hello
i hope everyone enjoyed their memorial day with a nice pool side BBQ and sunny weather. both were severely lacking over here in the UK. i did, however, have the day off thanks to 100+ years of bank holiday tradition. that's right, ladies and gents- bankers need a day off, too. way back when- before online banking and drive thru services- when banks closed, businesses closed. and because the english love tradition, everyone gets a day off for no other reason than to celebrate the end of spring. i kid you not. (the summer bank holiday isn't until august.)

let's talk about FareShare. i like it. a lot. warehouse life is interesting, to say the least. no two days are ever the same. i'm slowly assuming more responsibilities. currently, the operations manager is out on maternity leave meaning the london branch is down a team member. i'm filling her position a couple of days a week. i take inventory, call up each of the sites for food requests, allocate what we have, sort food with the volunteers, and make sure it all gets delivered. in the afternoons, i collect deliveries from sainsbury's and marks & spencer (two of the main grocery stores over here), brakes' produce, and occasionally, nestle, kraft, and unilever.

i've been out on the trucks twice now, which is quite the experience. i'm a glorified delivery man. the UPS of food. i like seeing and interacting with each of the different agencies, however brief it might be. the sites vary- soup kitchens, senior citizen hang outs, hostels for the homeless, centers for at-risk youth, drug rehab… yesterday, i helped deliver a route through the cambden borough. three of the locations were within a half a mile radius of the FSU study center. i'm a bit ashamed at how oblivious I was to all of these services throughout my study abroad experience.

i've got interviews with a couple of the national team members this week, which will add a new perspective to my work. i'm also trying to see if i can volunteer at another depot for a week- maybe head out to bristol or the midlands… we shall see.

until next time…

(ps- hi mom. please let me know if i have any spelling or grammar errors, aside from capitalization. that's asking for a miracle.)

a week in review

one week down, nine to go (in reference to FareShare. thirteen until i'm state-side.)

all i feel is relief. thirteen days ago, i arrived in london without a permanent place to stay or a solidified volunteer placement. sure, i had a lot of communications with organizations that had expressed interest [i.e: teaching ESOL classes to people who are homeless]. but, as i learned, interest doesn't always equate to placement.

in the end, it all worked out. my original proposal was for FareShare. i'm interning at FareShare. all of the stress of the unknown and late night freak out sessions can be chalked up to "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

it was worth it. i am completely enamored with FareShare as an organization, particularly their commitment to the environment. everything is recycled. everything. down to the point where i spent 20 minutes on thursday cutting open bags of swede (brit for rutabaga) that had spoiled before its expiration date just so the plastic could be recycled. crazy, yes, but admirable as well.

working at a food salvaging facility forces you to make comparisons about the type of food sold in supermarkets in the UK with that sold at home, mainly because you stare at it all day. it seems brits demand a higher standard of food. there's an emphasis on natural ingredients. for example, all of the chicken that passed through our warehouse last week was organic. my nestle's smarties box [think american m&m's] brags about containing "no artificial colours." i read the back of a label and can identify each of the ingredients; a simple "vegetable fat" instead of a seven syllable word reading something like "trimethyl didioxide." when i expressed my surprise about "no artificial colours" to jeredine [aka FareShare boss lady], she simply laughed and said "yeah, you americans will eat anything." what a horrible reputation to have.

closing note:

this is my third london adventure. i first arrived in this great city as a student through fsu's amazing international programs. the second time, as a tourist booking an impulsive last minute spring break. it is only during this third adventure, as a volunteer, that i have begun to understand london. working and studying have provided two contrasting experiences. working, however, has forced me to become fully immersed in british culture. i'm learning the lingo, the politics, the customs first hand from "the natives", each of whom are eager to show me the "true london."

at the suggestion of a fellow volunteer, i spent my sunday afternoon following the city's extensive canal system through paddington, little venice, reagent's park, camden town, and into islington, a suggestion that wasn't found in any of my tour books. i had the best time discovering new gardens, local art work, and the unique identity of each community.

i often equate learning with museums, history, iconic must-see buildings.... general tourist attractions. and yet, it's ironic that today, i learned the most when i stopped being a tourist. i look forward to more of these moments.

hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work i go.

sorry for the delay. i meant to post about my wonderful first day at FareShare, however, a little violence on oxford street got in the way. the now infamous mcdonalds is en route to an internet cafe i frequent. the mere idea of passing it brought pains to my own neck. sorry to everyone at the center if this complicates risk management.

anyways, on to happier topics.

i loved my first (and now second) day of work. my supervisor, jeredine, is amazing. she's teaching me all of the ins and outs of food redistribution in london and then some. we have an agreement: i laborously slave at whatever task she gives me in exchange for all of her knowledge. it's a pretty good system. so far, aside from being a professional food sorter, i've mastered food distribution software 101 and have moved on to bigger and better topics such as learning about each of the 67 agencies London FareShare supplies with food on a weekly basis. this is no easy feat. each organization has its own cooking limitations which influences the type and quantity of food we can offer and eventually distribute. my head wouldn't stop spinning after listening to food orders this morning. i'm excited to see what's in store for the rest of the week.

and now, i leave you with a british-english vocabulary lesson:
brilliant- great. corresponds with most affirmative sentences. ex: 'you finished? brilliant.' or 'half past two sounds brilliant.'
pulses- legumes
lorry- truck
squash- refers to diluted fruit juice [think along the lines of american capri-suns or juicy juice] also known as a cordial [unlike the american cordial, which generally refers to a sweet liquor]. the brits enjoyed a good laugh when i asked if squash [the vegetable] flavored water was popular in the UK... oops.

i'm officially a temporary "working" legal alien.

hunger and homelessness is a social issue that could have taken me anywhere. why london? when writing my proposal, i thought about the US. how can we better care for our hungry and homeless? perhaps we needed some new ideas. thus began a search for a "developed nation" with similar causes of hunger and/or homelessness along with comparable rules and regulations for addressing social welfare. (no use in using malawi as a case study when 90% of its population relies on agriculture.) tada! london.

ironically, the same hoops i knew i'd have to jump through have served as my primary source of frustration. the brits certainly don't make it easy. but, after a two and a half hour orientation, i'm cleared to work in the UK. except as an entertainer, professional sportsman, or an entrepreneur. even though i only wanted to volunteer.

so, when will hilary finally get her hands dirty and get to work? glad you asked. i have a meeting with the project manager at FareShare tomorrow at "half past one."

in the mean time, i now have a mailing address and a cell phone number, both of which are available through facebook or my mother.

a quick post to let you know i'm alive

i've arrived. (yay!)
london is experiencing spring. mid 70s, blooming gardens and overall greenness, allergies....

to give everyone a mild heart attack, here was my monday morning:
12:05PM begin packing for a 14 week adventure
12:30 PM head to airport
12:55 PM say goodbye to dad
1 PM check in at delta
1:48 PM battle security, arrive at JAX terminal A4 just in time for final boarding call.

items i know i forgot: deoderant, toothbrush, allergy medicine, towel. lesson learned.

positive: i remembered all important documents:(passport, work visa, flight and hostel info)

thank God for english and stores.

a pre-departure geography lesson

london's comprised of 33 local authorities (including the city of london) neatly displayed in this map:



most tourist destinations are found in central london:
the rosetta stone and magna carta in southern camden; st. paul’s and the financial district in #7, the city of london; soho, the theater district, and the area generally termed as the ‘west end’ refer to westminister; notting hill/portabello market in kensington and chelsea (#2); and the globe theater and tate modern in southwark, along the thames.

compare those quintessential postcard images with the east end, home of a personal favorite, spitalfield’s. although its precise GPS coordinates shift each year, this locale generally includes the boroughs of tower hamlets and the southern part of hackney, both synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, disease and criminality (no worries, mom- guns are illegal.). X marks the spot where crisis, one of the organizations I’ll be working for, is located.

in december, england’s communities and local government (CLS) ranked the living conditions of all 354 local authorities based on seven standards: income, employment, health deprivation and disability, education, skills and training, barriers to housing and services, crime, and living environment. the CLS published its findings in the Index of Deprivation 2007. Although the winner of the most deprived borough went to a local authority in liverpool, london clenched a few runner up positions: hackney placed second; tower hamlet, third; newham, sixth; and islington, eighth. all of these boroughs are conveniently circled for you in green.

[for comparisons, sutton ranked 234; bromley, 228; and richmond upon thames, home to hampton court palace and kew gardens, 309]

because i just spent the past semester staring at these maps in URP3000, here’s a more sophisticated visual display of deprivation:

blue represents the most deprived neighborhoods; white, desirable living areas. you can double click on the image for a larger view. like many cities in the good ol’ USA, divestiture is most prevalent in city centers.

these areas are dominated by rates of high unemployment and low education, both influenced by a large concentration of immigrants. the 2001 census for tower hamlets revealed that 58% of the population is from non-white british ethnic groups. a third is bangladeshi, half of whom are under 20 years old. 36% reported speaking a language other than english at home, 12% reported speaking no english. if all goes to plan, part of my serviceship will include ESOL classes.

i can’t imagine traveling to england for remittances. the cost of living in london is outrageous, a concern i’ve worried about a couple of times since initiating this trip. it’ll be interesting to hear their stories. i’m excited. t-minus 6 days, folks. i’m ready for another adventure…