Yes, this is #34, because technically, I was supposed to do a journal entry for last Friday, but I actually spaced doing it while I was in Las Vegas over the weekend. All that sun and dry air just makes me extra forgetful I guess.
In other things, I was able to do a lot of reading for my History of England since 1689 class. I love the section we're on now, because it's the 20th century, and involves a lot more of the recent history that I have become somewhat acquainted with as I've been preparing to go to London, and the events in the last fifty years have a lot more to do with the current state of England than anything else I have read about in the class.
I am particularly interested in the effect of the welfare state on the people in England. I wonder if it has anything to do with how religious they are. Did the "swinging sixties" throw the populace into a state of moral and religious disinterest that they've never really come out of it. That wouldn't seem to be the case, because the loss of religiousness that I have researched has been since 1983, which was the year that Margaret Thatcher won her second election as Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher was said to have brought back an emphasis on Victorian Era values of home, family, and respectability, that seem in my mind to be connected to traditional religion. Hmm, I guess I should try to find more information from the UK census or other polls about the levels of religiosity in the 1960s and 1970s. I really haven't been paying much attention. I do know from a book about religion in the UK that religiosity took a serious hit in the 1960s. Perhaps it was the attendance that took the hit then, and more recently the loss has simply been in open affiliation. Perhaps the loss of open affiliation, too, is just a more open acceptance of the true lack of religiosity that already existed in the 1980s, but that the British were simply less willing to admit.
Looks like there's more reading for me to do...
Monday, April 9, 2012
Journal Entry #33 - 4/6/12 ...Saying Goodbye...and Hello
So I've been finishing up my Proposal. Doing my presentation last week was good for firming some things out in my mind. I think I do better when I'm presenting something than when I'm writing, just because a visual medium gives you so much more freedom.
These last couple of days I've been doing so more research on little things that I'll be encountering in London. I think I spent about an hour on this blog, London Is Cool, and although this funny Irish guy that has written it since 2009 is as quirky as they come, he sure loves London, and has countless short, readable articles about different places to go in London and just enough pictures to give you taste of what it's like to be there. He's really not very sophisticated, and he repeats himself - a lot - but I actually appreciated that, because the truth is, not every city is just like the guide and travel books paint it. Not every sunset is picture perfect, and not every restaurant has that vintage flair that you're supposed to be looking for when you're abroad. Some parks are fun to go to, but some aren't, and the author of this blog is honest enough to say when it is and when it isn't.
However, I cannot believe how incredible the British Museum looks in these photos. The Great Court is literally the largest enclosed room in all of Europe! And the Reading Room inside it looks absolutely gorgeous. That is one place I'll definitely have to go and see.
But enough tourism, I've been thinking about the interviews that I'll be doing. Sitting here from the comfort of my apartment, with two of my roommates who I've known since my sophomore year of high school, two of my brothers living just around the corner from me, and my Provo city home where I've spent four semesters going to BYU, there's just no sense of insecurity at all. But once I'm in London, with the foreign, unfamiliar streets, and millions of people who I don't know, it's going to be quite different. I imagine going out each day and looking for ways to meet new people who will be useful to my research is going to be extremely difficult. It's not an easy job. But, I'm looking forward to reviewing what I've learned in the Prep class, and especially the readings about interviewing and gaining access to a location. Those two will be especially key to my project, and although it will be a challenge, I fully expect it to be a challenge worth facing. I know that if I can work hard to build connections in the first weeks that I'm in London, the rest of the project will come together. It's just 15 interviews...that's all. And the right gatekeepers to help me get those surveys completed. After the lecture today in PL SC 200 about surveys and the influence of the interviewer, I know that I'll have make myself quite "bland" to the people being interviewed, or I will affect their answers too much. That will be interesting. Maybe I'll bring back that comb-over from 7th grade :) hehe...okay, maybe I won't go that far.
These last couple of days I've been doing so more research on little things that I'll be encountering in London. I think I spent about an hour on this blog, London Is Cool, and although this funny Irish guy that has written it since 2009 is as quirky as they come, he sure loves London, and has countless short, readable articles about different places to go in London and just enough pictures to give you taste of what it's like to be there. He's really not very sophisticated, and he repeats himself - a lot - but I actually appreciated that, because the truth is, not every city is just like the guide and travel books paint it. Not every sunset is picture perfect, and not every restaurant has that vintage flair that you're supposed to be looking for when you're abroad. Some parks are fun to go to, but some aren't, and the author of this blog is honest enough to say when it is and when it isn't.
However, I cannot believe how incredible the British Museum looks in these photos. The Great Court is literally the largest enclosed room in all of Europe! And the Reading Room inside it looks absolutely gorgeous. That is one place I'll definitely have to go and see.
But enough tourism, I've been thinking about the interviews that I'll be doing. Sitting here from the comfort of my apartment, with two of my roommates who I've known since my sophomore year of high school, two of my brothers living just around the corner from me, and my Provo city home where I've spent four semesters going to BYU, there's just no sense of insecurity at all. But once I'm in London, with the foreign, unfamiliar streets, and millions of people who I don't know, it's going to be quite different. I imagine going out each day and looking for ways to meet new people who will be useful to my research is going to be extremely difficult. It's not an easy job. But, I'm looking forward to reviewing what I've learned in the Prep class, and especially the readings about interviewing and gaining access to a location. Those two will be especially key to my project, and although it will be a challenge, I fully expect it to be a challenge worth facing. I know that if I can work hard to build connections in the first weeks that I'm in London, the rest of the project will come together. It's just 15 interviews...that's all. And the right gatekeepers to help me get those surveys completed. After the lecture today in PL SC 200 about surveys and the influence of the interviewer, I know that I'll have make myself quite "bland" to the people being interviewed, or I will affect their answers too much. That will be interesting. Maybe I'll bring back that comb-over from 7th grade :) hehe...okay, maybe I won't go that far.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Journal Entry #32 - 4/4/12
So I've been thinking of a few more questions to ask people. I've been contemplating the extremely private nature of many people in Great Britain. I happened upon this website the other day, and I was thinking about how I need to do better about being punctual. It's less of a "deciding to be late" problem as much as a "I have too much to do, therefore I can't justify being early" problem. In any case, being in London may raise the marginal benefit of being early a bit for me, and perhaps help me overcome my bad habit.
About the slower decision-making process than in the United States, I think that's an interesting one. I'm trying to decide if Brazilians are faster or slower than Americans. Maybe I haven't been around Americans enough since I've been back to know. However, I think Brazilians are pretty slow at making decisions too. I think they're better at faking that they've made a decision than actually making the decision. I've had a lot of people in Brazil tell that they were going to do something and I was dead certain when they said it that they didn't mean it. In America, I think people are a little more prone to tell you straight out if they're going to do something or not. And I think Brazilians like to put of decision making. Maybe that's what this man means when he says that "Decision-making is slower in England than in the United States." In terms of my interviews, I'll have to keep that fact in mind. I may not find anyone in London who will be willing to do an interview with me after only knowing me for a short time. It may take individuals I meet a while to decide that they want to help me.
I was thinking about ways that I might go about just getting the pulse of the population when it comes to religion. If I did succeed in starting up a conversation with someone, either at a museum or at a park (which isn't likely, given how private the British are said to be), how would I turn the conversation to the topic of religion? Undoubtably, they will ask what I'm doing in England. If I tell them I'm studying religion, they may not want to talk about it, since it's not exactly one of those topics you speak about in casual conversation. But if I was to ask something like "You know, the UK isn't near as religious as it used to be," maybe some people will just open up about what they think about it. The essential part here will be holding their attention on the topic for enough time to make it interesting to them too. If they like me and find my conversation amusing or entertaining, there's a chance they might just let me call on them again to do an interview. Just a chance though.
About the slower decision-making process than in the United States, I think that's an interesting one. I'm trying to decide if Brazilians are faster or slower than Americans. Maybe I haven't been around Americans enough since I've been back to know. However, I think Brazilians are pretty slow at making decisions too. I think they're better at faking that they've made a decision than actually making the decision. I've had a lot of people in Brazil tell that they were going to do something and I was dead certain when they said it that they didn't mean it. In America, I think people are a little more prone to tell you straight out if they're going to do something or not. And I think Brazilians like to put of decision making. Maybe that's what this man means when he says that "Decision-making is slower in England than in the United States." In terms of my interviews, I'll have to keep that fact in mind. I may not find anyone in London who will be willing to do an interview with me after only knowing me for a short time. It may take individuals I meet a while to decide that they want to help me.
I was thinking about ways that I might go about just getting the pulse of the population when it comes to religion. If I did succeed in starting up a conversation with someone, either at a museum or at a park (which isn't likely, given how private the British are said to be), how would I turn the conversation to the topic of religion? Undoubtably, they will ask what I'm doing in England. If I tell them I'm studying religion, they may not want to talk about it, since it's not exactly one of those topics you speak about in casual conversation. But if I was to ask something like "You know, the UK isn't near as religious as it used to be," maybe some people will just open up about what they think about it. The essential part here will be holding their attention on the topic for enough time to make it interesting to them too. If they like me and find my conversation amusing or entertaining, there's a chance they might just let me call on them again to do an interview. Just a chance though.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Journal Entry #31 - 4/2/12
So, even before today, I've been thinking a lot about culture shock, and how I'm going to respond to being in London after I get there and the Honeymoon stage wears off. I remember arriving in Brasil - the honeymoon stage lasted about 3 hours, and after that I was just overwhelmed, haha. After we got off the plane and started walking around, not understanding a thing people were saying, and then that crazy ride in the van through Sao Paulo until we got to the Brazilian MTC...about the time we were out of the van and through to the first MTC meeting, my patience was starting to wear thin.
My feeling is, however, that having already gone to Brasil will make adjusting to London a lot easier. London is a big city, just like Sao Paulo. The largest differences will be the quality of living conditions - London will be much, much better than Sao Paulo. However, Sao Paulo is a placed where I have lived for nearly two years - minus a few months down on the beach - and London is untried territory. I've walked up and down the city of Sao Paulo and I know almost all of the stations on the blue line on the Sao Paulo Metro without even looking at the signs. I know the bus routes, the names of neighborhoods, the names of local soccer teams, and the local jargon. In London, I pretty much only know what I've read and seen in the prep class and what I've seen in the movies. And what Kate Fox has told me. Most of all, I don't know any people in London. For that reason alone, London will be a lonely place for the first few weeks. Sao Paulo is full of people I know - people whose houses I've been in, living rooms I've sat in, kitchens I've had lunches in. My list of contacts will have to start from ground zero in London, and that is going to take some doing. I forget that the networks that I created in Sao Paulo took months and months to develop. The fastest that I ever got to know a ward was in my last area, and there my bishop provided me with a Google map that had all the members of the ward council labeled with their home and cell phones. I'm not going to have any such list when I get to London, but I'll certainly have to start compiling one. It'll be an adventure. But, I think the faster I get started once I'm there, the faster I'll get over the culture shock. It'll be an adventure.
My feeling is, however, that having already gone to Brasil will make adjusting to London a lot easier. London is a big city, just like Sao Paulo. The largest differences will be the quality of living conditions - London will be much, much better than Sao Paulo. However, Sao Paulo is a placed where I have lived for nearly two years - minus a few months down on the beach - and London is untried territory. I've walked up and down the city of Sao Paulo and I know almost all of the stations on the blue line on the Sao Paulo Metro without even looking at the signs. I know the bus routes, the names of neighborhoods, the names of local soccer teams, and the local jargon. In London, I pretty much only know what I've read and seen in the prep class and what I've seen in the movies. And what Kate Fox has told me. Most of all, I don't know any people in London. For that reason alone, London will be a lonely place for the first few weeks. Sao Paulo is full of people I know - people whose houses I've been in, living rooms I've sat in, kitchens I've had lunches in. My list of contacts will have to start from ground zero in London, and that is going to take some doing. I forget that the networks that I created in Sao Paulo took months and months to develop. The fastest that I ever got to know a ward was in my last area, and there my bishop provided me with a Google map that had all the members of the ward council labeled with their home and cell phones. I'm not going to have any such list when I get to London, but I'll certainly have to start compiling one. It'll be an adventure. But, I think the faster I get started once I'm there, the faster I'll get over the culture shock. It'll be an adventure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)