Last day in Birmingham....Glasgow tomorrow!!

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Hello all, today i had a very long and exciting last day here in raining Birmingham! I started the day at 9am sharp, starting with another cross-cultural lesson. We learnt all about the comfortable space for our Pakistani counter-parts and them likewise. We also made posters in partners and what we are happy to do such as share our stuff if they ask and what not to do such as borrow our toothbrushes. This sounds like it shouldn't really be have to said but we have two very different cultures!! We then went on to study a case study that happened on a past volunteer placement. Mine was all about socially going out to the pub everyday with excluding the girls, two that were muslims. We had to say what was wrong with this, how it could be prevented, what could of been arranged to make everyone feel included etc. We went on to look at Global Xchange's policies and health & safety in the work place and at our host homes. After lunch we did a role-playing exercise hich involved me, another UK volunteer and a Pakistani volunteer. We had to about what we can and cannot do in the host home bathrooms, such as take to long, always put the seat back down for others and how to use toilet roll...Pakistanis don't have toiet roll at home, they have a jug of water to wash themselves instead. This was all before dinner. After dinner we learnt where we going to stay, who with, where we were going to work and who with!!! Im going to live with Sarwad in Colin's house, which is in the East Glasgow, which is a big house that often holds BBQ's for all the other volunteers. He was described as a very happy guy, who is a poet and holds open mic nights at a local pub. He has also has been a host home for GX volunteers before and has had a fantastic time and can't get enough of VSO. Where i will be working is a local community project, which is called Fuse, they are a Youth Cafe, who offer a safe place for teens to hang out, have soft drinks and can be socail with others. I will be doing this with Kiran. This is also situated in the East Glasgow. After finding this out we played cricket for an hour with the Pakistanis. My team won..of course!!! We all then went upstairs and all joined in with tradtional pakistani dancing and singing! It was very intense and hot, but very exciting and fun to do. We have just finshed doing everything for the day now, so we are all going to play cards or watch the tv together, and all estatic about leaving for Glasgow and Manchester tomorrow morning! Next time you will hear from me, i will be in Glasgow.

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