Queensbridge School.

Azam collected Miguel, Jose Luis and Nieves from Fircroft and delivered them to Queensbridge School. Shirley was present to act as intermediary.

The three volunteers had a presentation ready to present but due to problems at school the Head teacher was unable to provide students for them especially as examinations were in progress. Instead a Spanish speaking member of staff took the volunteers on a guided tour of the school, explaining the rewards and punishments system and showing the volunteers all parts of the school.

They were then taken to the local free school known as “Reach” which only takes a maximum of 60 students all of whom were failing in main stream education. The students come from a cooperative of 14 local schools. Each week they do three days of curriculum education, one day of work based activity and one day of “fun” doing things they would never have chance to such as sailing, climbing, skate boarding etc.

Miguel, Jose Luis and Nieves were very interested in this as they spend a lot of time dealing with disaffected young people in Logrono.

Following this we all retired to a local café for coffee and discussion on how the morning had gone before Azam took them into BVSC to meet up with Priti for their trip to the Brasshouse Centre.

Out and About.

I met with Spanish Volunteers at BVSC at 12 noon after their return from Queensbridge School. I accompanied them to a supermarket and then to the fresh fruit and vegetable market to buy the ingredients for the tortillas, which for 15 people were 40eggs, 2 litres of olive oil, jarred pimento, 2kg onions, 5 kg potatoes and a garlic bulb!!, We walked back to the BVSC to store the ingredients there until 17/6/14, the day they cook.

Next, we walked to the train station to collect their tickets to travel to London on Sunday. I explained that the tickets were for off peak hours, but on Sunday they can travel anytime of the day. However, I warned that the ticket was for Birmingham Midland from Birmingham New Street to London Euston, and Virgin trains also travel the same route, so not to get on the wrong company’s train otherwise they would be charged again on the train. I hope they understood me well. We will find out when they return. 

After lunch, we walked along the Birmingham Canals, see photos. The day was hot. By the time I took them to the Blue Velvet Rooms, they were exhausted. After their treat of a double scoop vanilla and Bourbon ice creams, both Jose Luis and Miguel fell asleep on the Chesterfield sofas,see photos of the snoozing duo. An hour later, we headed for the Brasshouse Language Centre where we met June. We had a short talk from various Spanish speaking staff members about the Centre, all of it being in Spanish, so I did not understand it all.

Then, we took part in an information session on the school to promote the project "Si Senior!". Nieves was in her element, sparkling, making profound conversation with native English speakers, because she had the chance to talk in Spanish!, see photos

We had an interesting chat about Spain and India. It was refreshing to discover a Spanish person as interested in Indian culture as she was. She loves the sweet Prashad at the Gurudwara, has already been in the Dome hall of the Gurudwara that I visited for the first time this week, even though I have been married to a Sikh for 30 years now, she adores saris for all the vibrant colours, embroidery, materials and is keenly waiting for one of her Indian friends to marry so she can wear it too one day. Not only that, soon she is planning to go to India, probably Punjab, to teach. I felt great admiration for this apparently young and free spirited person who reminded me very much of my daughter.

We had dinner at the Revolution Vodka Bar, see photos. It was unusually noisy for a Thursday night. I ordered some sweet potatoes as my side dish to allow the volunteers who were not familiar with these to try something new. Then, my husband, Bali and I dropped them off to Fircroft, and phew, were we all glad to get back home by 10.30 pm after another long, hot and tiring day.

The experience continues...

Written by Miguel:

The first week of our stay has finished and, fortunately, during the last three days we have not had new fire simulations in the accommodation. We hope that with the three previous ones we have covered all of them.

Everything goes on the same way or better in terms of hospitality of our hosts and, as it is natural, in our aim to leave the best impression on them. The work on BVSC is hard enough to enjoy it and we are learning a lot about their systems and how they work.

About this days, to highlight our visit, picnic and walk to the hills located on the hearth of the West Midlands (Clent Hills): an uneven day full of mud slips and a fast runaway under the risk of a sudden storm (typical from the English countryside) that at the end did not appear… it was also very interesting and educative the visit to the Black Country area and especially its wonderful museum “Black Country Living Museum”: an overview of a key way of living in the British history and example of a past with lights and darkness quite similar to some areas of Spain. Several zones of Asturias and Vizcaya could be also reflected on this museum.

 

Following a previous compromise, we visited a school for fewer opportunities students. Maybe our visit to St Paul’s school has been the most impressive one that the students have received since a long time. Our presentation showed them some things about us and our culture. From different points of view, we three have developed this presentation (most of it in English and almost without external help) and were informed about the high satisfaction of the students and staff of the institution. We hope that we can transfer also this satisfaction to future groups that we are going to meet.

To be continued….

Cooking up a storm.

I went to BVSC to support the Spanish volunteers with their planning towards cooking a traditional Spanish dish for clients at Sifa Fireside, an activity to put them out the computers of the office. They had already decided to demonstrate cooking a typical La Riojan tortilla so all we had to work out was the ingredients and quantities for 15 people. Jose Luis was also keen to make a sauce from pimiento to accompany the tortilla.

I took them to walk around Birmingham’s Chinatown, see photo, and Jose Luis bought some chillies from one of the shops there. After lunch, we walked back to BVSC to see Donna as arranged. She instructed us on how to get to Sifa by foot and who to meet there. Unfortunately, Mary, the person who was supposed to show us around was not there, but we were able to check the equipment and utensils available. No frying pans, the most essential utensils for tortillas!! On the way back, I showed the volunteers around the Custard Factory, Birmingham's Creative Quarterwhich was an escape from the very hot sun that day, see photo and personal photo to follow. Back at BVSC, I reported the lack of frying pans to Donna to arrange for Sifa to provide.

The Spanish volunteers had earlier in the day expressed their wish to me to go to London on Sunday and stay overnight to meet up with Azam and June. 

Working in the stadium and the Gurudwara

Written by Nieves:

6th of June. The alarm of our residence wakes us up at 5:15 a.m.. All the guests go to the garden as it is required. We are tired, cold but having some fun with the situation. At 5:30 a.m. we are told to come back to our rooms, but I did not go to bed as I preferred to work on the presentation that we will show during the next days.

At 9:00 a.m. we meet with Donna in BVSC in order to go together to a local football stadium in Birmigham to cooperate together with other 15 local volunteers on its renovation as part of BVSC programme "BVSC Team Challenge". We work on painting the changing rooms and we start as good painters: protecting the benches, shelves and switches. After that, we move the clothes racks and clean the dust of the walls. The walls looked like totally different than the ones that we have found!!!

At 17:50 p.m. we arrive to Fircroft College with time enough to have a rest and change our clothes. At 19:00 p.m. we meet Priti and her friends to have dinner out and, what a surprise! The building alarm rings again at 18:15 p.m.! Fortunately our date is delayed till 20:00 p.m..

 

 

7th of June. Visit with Priti to the Gurudwara and community of GNNSJ Gurundwara and Nishkam Centre. We are explained about their religion and rituals. Afterwards, we climb to the cupola and we have dinner on their center (what seems to be for us as the “cocina económica” that we have in La Rioja).

After this, Priti picks us with her car (it is raining cats and dogs) to discover a little bit more Birmingham. And work a little bit more on the offices of BVSC. Around midday, we go with Donna to the church of St. Michael (Catholic) where we help to clean the inside (Donna and me) meanwhile Miguel and José Luis remove the leaves from the garden. On the afternoon, we are lucky to attend a music concert that me and my colleagues enjoyed a lot. At the end of the day, Priti meets with us again and takes us to the jewellery museum (very interesting).

This can be the summary of our last days. For sure I forget a lot of details to tell you, but the most important thing of all is that all the people we are meeting are wonderful and they are very friendly with us, making a great effort to make us feel comfortable, especially on the offices of BVSC and during our work there. Today finishes our first week here (time runs so fast!) but even if all passes very fast, it will for sure leave a trace in us that we will never forget.

 

 

ISKCON and Chanting meditiation

Nieves wanted to experience chanting meditation, so I offered to meet her and the others after their work at the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) centre in Stanmore Rd, Edgbaston, where they could also experience a typically Gujarati vegetarian meal. Unfortunately, they were not able to join me because Azam could not get into his phone to find the address which I had messaged to him. After several failed attempts to make contact with Azam and June, by the time I finally managed to call Jose Luis on his phone, they were already being dropped off to Fircroft College.

I later discovered that Azam had run the battery down on his phone by using the phone for photos and video, so unable to gain access to the address, the weather/something else was playing havoc on connections and messages dropped into my inbox hours after they had been sent. This was a clear example of things going wrong for relying too much on technology.

Anyway, this was my first visit to any ISKCON Centre. I benefited from partaking in some chanting in between trying to make contact with the volunteers, met some very nice people and the smell of the food being cooked for the feast reminded me of my mother’s Gujarati cooking, but I felt too tired to stay to enjoy that. However, I will certainly return for the full experience.

A week later, Nieves was in the midst of a spectacular Hare Rama Hare Krishna Ratha Yatra at Trafalgar Square and with members of ISCKON chanting in the street, all by chance- see photos - how odd!!

Priti x

Visit to the Gurudwara.

As part of the free time programme of the project, I met with the Spanish volunteers at GNNSJ Gurudwara. First Kiran gave us a short talk about the Sikh Faith.

• Guru is a teacher and dwara is a home;
• Gurudwara is the home of a teacher. Sikh means a learner. The Sikhs had 10 living Gurus, and after the Tenth, the Sikh scriptures called the Guru Granth Sahib became their eternal Guru. This is kept in the Darbars, the prayer halls. I learnt the significance of the 5 Ks for Sikhs: 
• kesh - unshorn hair symbolizing respect for God’s will; covered at all times with a keski or dastar (turban) 
• kangha - a wooden comb representing self-discipline; worn in the hair it reminds the wearer to rid oneself of what is morally undesirable; 
• kara - an iron or steel bracelet worn on the wrist; the circle signifies the oneness and eternity of God and to use one’s hands to benefit humanity; 
• kachhera - cotton undergarments representing high moral character and fidelity; 
• kirpan - a stylized representation of a sword, which must be worn sheathed, wrapped in a cloth belt, and worn next to the body; the kirpan signifies the duty of a Sikh to stand up against injustice. 

Next we went into the main prayer hall, bowed down to the Guru Granth Sahib by choice, and sat on the floor to listen to the scriptures being read, see photos. We were given Prashad, blessed sweet made from wheat flour, butter, milk and sugar. After that, we climbed to the top of the building to the Dome hall. It was my first time in the Dome Hall. It has a spectacular interior, the artwork for which was done by a Muslim volunteer, and the view from the terrace was amazing,see photos

Then we were guided to the Langar Hall where we evidenced the selfless volunteering by men and women. Some cleaning, some cooking and others serving food and clearing up. I noted that with this system in place, there should be no need for a Sikh to go to a food bank. Like me, Jose Luis accepted all the food that was offered – Maize flat bread, spinach curry, yoghurt, onion bhajees, sweet rice, and milky tea. Miguel and Nieves found the food a little hot, but respected that they had to finish what they had in their plate, see photos

We finished at the Gurudwara. It was still raining. I therefore took the volunteers for a ride in my car to see Aston Hall and Aston Villa FC, see photos. Miguel had sat on his bottle of water that burst and wet his pants, see SPECIAL photo. After a quick drink at my home, I dropped them off to St Michael’s Church where they were booked for another activity.

Once they were ready with other activities, I met them again afterwards to take them to Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. There, we were lucky to have free entry to the Jewellery Quarter Museum, again my first visit here also. The history of the place was fascinating for me, but unfortunately, despite my request to the tour guide, she spoke very fast so our Spanish friends were not able to understand everything. At least they were able to view the jewellery, the tools used, how they were used and get some sample souvenirs, and later I explained as much as I could remember of what the tour guide had told us, see photos

By the time we came out from the museum, all shops had closed for the day, as well as the Pen Museum. The sun was shining hot, which made it pleasant for a walk but made me very thirsty.We wandered around Jewellery Quarter area of St Pauls Church headed for a watering hole called the Rope Walk for drinks and then food. After this, we returned to St Michael’s Church for an evening of music, see photos. The volunteers had had a long and tiring day so we stayed until the interval and then left. I saw them off on the bus into town and returned home exhausted too!