Internship in San Francisco 2013: maj 2013

(for english, scroll down)
Nu har jeg endelig tid til at opdatere min blog, da jeg har haft paent travlt de sidste par uger. Jeg beklager der er gået så længe siden sidste opdatering. Det er allerede lidt svært at huske det hele, som jeg vil skrive om, men jeg prøver så godt jeg kan. For to weekender siden havde jeg Julie og Natasja på besøg - mine medstuderende fra København, der er i praktik i San Diego. Det var fantastisk at se dem igen og vise dem rundt i byen. Vi så nogle af mine foretrukne steder i SF og gik i byen om aftenen med mine house mates. Jeg forsøgte at give dem et godt indtryk af byen på kun 2 ½ dage og se turist stederne.
To dage efter de tog tilbage kom Stefan, min ven fra Danmark på besøg. Han var her i 5 dage og jeg havde fri fra arbejde et par dage, så jeg kunne tilbringe tid sammen med ham. Han ankom onsdag aften, og torsdag tog vi lidt rundt i byen og derefter til Men in Progress på Glide. Han blev hilst velkommen af deltagerne og tvunget til at lære de 8 change agreements - en del af MiP pensum. Efter det var det min tur til at blive udfordret, da de bad mig om at oversætte de 8 til dansk og sige det foran alle. Det var sværere end jeg troede, fordi jeg aldrig havde tænkt over, hvordan man ville oversætte det, da jeg har lært det på engelsk fra starten.
De efterfølgende par dage tog vi på stranden og til fester med mine house mates. Om søndagen klædte vi os alle ud og tog til Bay to Breakers (et 12km løb gennem SF hvor folk klæder sig ud) men da vi ankom var de igang med at lukke. Det startede kl 7 om morgenen og endte ved middag men vi forventede at der ville være afterparties resten af dagen. (jeg forstår ikke hvorfor events starter og slutter så tidligt i USA - ingen ville stå op kl 7 en søndag morgen og begynde at feste i Europa, det er normalt tidspunktet man begynder at tage hjem efter en bytur.)
På Stefans sidste dag i byen begyndte vi at se turist steder, da det ikke lige var øverst på vores prioriteringsliste. Han tog til Hawaii for at besøge sin kæreste og kommer tilbage til SF i et par dage i slutningen af juni, som også er Gay pride weekend.
På Glide har jeg lavet research om vold i hjemmet og forberedt spørgsmål til interviews af Men in Progress deltagerne. Jeg håber jeg kan starte interviews i det næste par uger. I tirsdags havde vi en gæst i MiP, en kvinde fra New Zealand som arbejder med Manalive/Men in Progress der. Hendes deltagere er psykisk syge kriminelle, så det var interessant at høre hvordan hun kører programmet anderledes for at tage hensyn til dette, og også at høre hendes syn på hvordan vi gør det her.
Jeg har været med til et par personalemøder om latter og hvordan det kan føre til forskellige slags undertrykkende følelser når en person bliver grinet ad. Jeg har også været til møder udenfor Glide, ét var ved Shelter monitoring committee på rådhuset, som arbejder for at forbedre og udvikle herberg i byen. De 13 medlemmer af udvalget er valgt af borgmesteren, board of supervisors og en local homeless coordinating board (her kører det ikke så godt med at oversætte ting til dansk!). Alle møder er åbne for offentligheden (sunshine ordinance) så nogle gange ser man brugere som bliver frustrerede og råber ad udvalget, men der var desværre ikke nogen med denne gang.
For et par uger siden blev jeg inviteret med til et seminar af min vejleder efter arbejde. Jeg besluttede mig for at deltage, især fordi emnet fangede min interesse: post traumatic slave syndrome. Seminaret var af Dr. Joy DeGruy som har undersøgt hvordan afroamerikanere stadig viderefører syndromer fra slaveriet. Jeg blev meget rørt af hendes seminar, især pga. hvor lidt jeg vidste om dette i forvejen. Men også af at høre hvor mange mennesker der stadig bærer disse syndromer uden at vide det selv. Det var også godt at se, at flere hundrede mennesker var mødt op - folk af alle racer. Der var rigtig god stemning i kirken som det blev holdt i. En anden ting der rørte mig, var hvordan hun forklarede at systemet prøver at skjule alt dette, ganske enkelt fordi det er for ubehageligt at tale om - kognitiv dissonans. Dog nævnte hun, at man ikke skal gøre dette derhjemme, prøve at sætte andre ind i hendes ideer, så i stedet vil jeg anbefale folk selv at læse mere om hende: http://joydegruy.com/Sidste uge på Glide var jeg med til et opfølgningsmøde for os som havde været med til hendes seminar. Alle fik delt deres reaktioner og følelser om seminaret, og det var godt at høre andres oplevelser af det. Så mange tanker var gået gennem mit hoved, som jeg ikke kunne sætte ord på, men nogle af mine kolleger formåede at sætte ord på dem for mig ved at fortælle om deres tanker.
I fredags havde vi endnu en bålfest i haven, og lørdag tog jeg til carneval i SF. Lige efter tog jeg til San Diego for at besøge pigerne fra min årgang som er i praktik der. Det var rigtig hyggeligt, og de gav mig et godt indtryk af byen. Vi brugte den første aften i selskab med nogle af deres kolleger, søndag tog vi på stranden og til SD Old Town, og mandag var der Memorial Day - SD er en udpræget militærby så det kunne man især mærke denne dag. Jeg ankom tilbage til SF i morges (tirsdag). Søren, min kammerat fra DK har lige købt billet til SF så han kommer i midten af juli lige efter jeg er færdig med praktikken, så vi kan begynde vores eventyr og rejse rundt sammen. Glæder mig så meget!
Det var det hele for nu, håber alle har det fantastisk! (se billeder af div udskejelser nedenfor)

Niels

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Now I finally got time to update my blog as I’ve been quite busy over the past weeks. I apologize it's been so long since last update. I already have a little trouble remembering all I wanted to write, but I'll do my best. Two weekends ago I had Julie and Natasja visiting me – my co-students from Copenhagen who are doing internships in San Diego. It was great seeing them again and showing them around town. We went to some of my favorite spots in SF and went out at night with my house mates. I tried to give them a good impression of the city in only 2½ days and also doing touristy stuff.
Two days after they left Stefan, my friend from Denmark came out to visit me. He stayed 5 days and I had some days off work so I was able to spend time with him. He arrived Wednesday night, and Thursday we went to a few places in town and then to Men in Progress class at Glide. He was welcomed by the participants and forced to learn the 8 change agreements – part of the MiP curriculum. After that it was my turn to being challenged as they asked me to translate the 8 to Danish and say it in front of everybody. It was harder than I thought cause I’d never thought about how to translate it as I learned it in English in the first place.
The following few days we went to beaches and parties with house mates. On Sunday we all dressed up and headed towards Bay to Breakers (a 12km run through SF at which people dress up in costumes) but by the time we got there everything was closing down. It started at 7am and finished at noon but we expected after parties throughout the afternoon. (I don’t get this thing why events start and end so early in the US – no one would get up and start partying at 7am on a Sunday in Europe which is usually the time you start heading home after going out).
On Stefan’s last day in town we started seeing the tourist stuff as it wasn’t high on our priority. He went to Hawaii to see his girlfriend and will return to SF for a few days in the end of June which is also the weekend of Gay pride.
At Glide I’ve been busy researching on domestic violence and preparing questions for interviews for Men in Progress participants. I hope I can start doing interviews in the next few weeks. On Tuesday we had a guest in MiP, a woman from New Zealand who works with Manalive/Men in Progress there. Her clients are mentally ill people, so it was interesting to hear how she does the program differently to accommodate that, and also to hear her opinion on how we do it here.
I’ve attended a couple staff meetings about laughter and how it leads to different kinds of oppressing emotions when an individual is being laughed at. I’ve also attended more meetings outside of Glide, one was a shelter monitoring committee at city hall that is working to improve and develop shelters in the city. The 13 members of the committee are appointed by the mayor’s office, board of supervisors, and local homeless coordinating board. All these meetings are open to the public (sunshine ordinance) so sometimes you’ll see clients being frustrated and yelling at the committee but sadly this time there was no clients present.
A few weeks back I was invited to a seminar by my supervisor after work. I decided to go, especially because the topic sounded interesting to me: post traumatic slave syndrome. The seminar was by Dr. Joy DeGruy who has been researching on how African Americans still carry on syndromes from slavery. I was very touched by her seminar, mostly by the fact of how little I knew about this. But also by hearing how many people still have these syndromes without realizing it themselves. It was great to see that hundreds of people showed up to this seminar – people of every race. There was a great atmosphere in the church it was being held at. Another thing that scared me was how the society tries to hide all this, simply because it’s too uncomfortable to talk about – cognitive dissonance. However, she kept reminding people to not do this at home, not to pass on her ideas, so instead I recommend people to read more about her yourself: http://joydegruy.com/Last week at Glide we had a follow-up session for those of us who attended her seminar. Everybody got to share their emotions and reactions on the seminar, and it was good to hear others’ disclosure. So many thoughts had been running through my head that I couldn’t put a name on, and some of the other staff managed to put words on them by sharing their thoughts.
Last friday we had another back yard bonfire party, and saturday I went to a carneval in SF. Right after that I went to San Diego to visit the girls from my school who are doing internships there. It was so nice, and they gave me a good impression of the city. We spent the first night in some of their coworkers' company, sunday we went to the beach and SD Old Town, and monday was Memorial Day - SD is a big military city so that was quite significant on this day. I arrived in SF this morning (tuesday).Søren, my friend from Denmark just bought his ticket to SF so he will come out in mid-July right after I’m done with my internship so we can start our travel adventure together. So excited!
That’s all for now, hope everybody is doing great! (see pics below)

Niels