So what's going on?

Greetings from sunny London! It's summer here and it's lovely -- this coming from someone who hates summer!

I have already started my volunteer work after a week of "shadowing" other members of the charity. My job is to pretty much hang out with people who have learning disabilities -- some of them have mild disabilities and some of them have severe disabilities. So my job involves taking them out to a museum or a church, doing touristy stuff and whatnot. I'll briefly describe the people I work with:

Cris: He's my roomate and even though he's got cerebral palsy and epilepsy, he's very independent. He does his own cleaning, cooking, shopping, etc. He's planning on moving into an apartment of his own soon. I spend about a couple of hours a day with him talking and hanging out. He was the main person I was gonna work with but it turns out he doesn't really need that much help. So I mainly support the other service users in the area.

Gary: Gary is 25 and a lot of fun. He's got dislexia and stutters a lot. He loves playing pool and going bowling. He just got a CD mixer and he's getting into beat-boxing.

Hymie: He's an older Jewish man who has difficulty communicating. He's a painter and has sold lots of his paintings -- and he makes quite some money!

Peter: Peter has cerebral palsy as well. He's also quite independent but pretty forgetful. He loves museums and he enjoys a boat ride on the Thames.

Sylvia: She's so sweet and loves to talk and visit churches. I'm not sure what her disability is but I have noticed she always repeats what other people say.

All of these folks are great people and they're very aware of who they are, where they are and what's going on around them. HILT (the charity) aims at helping them live on their own, making their own choices with as little help as possible. Your prayers for these people will be eternally appreciated!

I haven't had a major attack of culture shock yet. Things are so different here but I think I'm still in that stage where everything is fun and games. I'm glad I can communicate just fine in English, though. That sure helps a lot! Impressions:

- London is so diverse. More than 200 languages are spoken in this city and there seems to be people from every single country. My neibourhood has lots of Vietanmese and Turkish immigrants, but there are also lots of Polish, Brazilian, Spanish, you name it. There's a wide variety of food also.

- The public transportation system is excellent. Both the buses and the underground/overground are simply fantastic. Everything is very well-organized.

- There is a lot of history here and lots of very old and pretty buildings and churches. London is deft a hot spot for tourism.

I will continue updating as much as I can. Cheers!