EmilyStorey

First day of normality today and the freedom just felt amazing! I'm so glad to be back to being able to eat when I am hungry and what I want. But this challenge has definately taught me a lot about poverty and has further spurred my desire to do more about helping those in need. I hope you have learned as much this week as I have, about appreciating what you have and how poverty isn't just the lack of stuff, but also can be the lack of love, care and companionship. I hope that you have felt challenged by this blog this week - I know I have! - and that you have learned something new or thought about something that maybe you had never considered before. Overall, I hope that you now feel like you can begin to make a difference in the world, even in the smallest of ways, and that no matter how small your action, you can make a big difference to someone's life.

So what does poverty mean to me? (Sorry, I'm a bit camera shy :P)

Poverty is injustice. Poverty is the lack of something that you cannot live your life fully without, whether that be food, water, education or friendship. Poverty is those who can make a difference sitting back and doing nothing. Poverty is selfishness. Poverty is refusing to try and understand someone elses situation. Poverty is no freedom of choice. Poverty is being stuck with no way out. But poverty can be changed and we're seeing it happen in places all over the world today. So poverty to me? It's a challenge to be overcome. Something from which captives can be set free into a life which they deserve.

Thanks for reading :)

Mood?: Excited!! :)

Hungry?: Yes. :(

Tired?: Rather! :/

Inconvienced?: Not for much longer! :)

Last day of the challenge... has been pretty easy actually! Due to cold weather I didn't buy any food today as I needed to get to longton this afternoon after work, meaning I had to use my £1 for the day on petrol. Luckily, I did have one packet of pasta left from the other day which I had for tea :):

These used to be my favourites, honestly, I don't think I'll be eating any more pasta for a while!

I am very much looking forward to not having to choose between food and travel and also having choice with what I eat! However this week has taught me a lot about appreciating what I have and I will definately be trying not to take things for granted and act on my discoveries from this week. I hope that anyone who has been reading this has also found this as eye opening and interesting as I have and I would also hope it has encouraged you to go out a make a difference in whatever way possible!

I am actually too exhausted to write anything else... my last entry will be tomorrow night so I'll make sure it's a good 'un :D

Sorry I didn't write last night, I wasn't home until rather late!

Mood?: Really good actually, work was lot's of fun as was the bonfire/after party! :)

Hungry?: YES! :(

Tired?: Pretty exhausted by the time I got home, I thought my legs would collaspe underneath me! :(

Inconvienced?: You know what I'm going to say :P

Yesterday started off really well actually, after dreading getting up and having another (6th this week!) walk into town I actually enjoyed quite a leisurely stroll in the morning sunshine! I'm starting to think I'll walk rather than get the bus more often, it's really quite fun when the whether is nice :) So I took some pictures on my walk to share with you:

How pretty does the Ribble look?! Very unusual...!

I also saved my money for the evening, as after Longton Fireworks, we went back to my friend Aimee's house for a kind of after party for soup and cake. Although Nic (her mum) wouldn't accept the money off me, I will donate my 90p (remember, I went over by accident yesterday!) to OXFAM today at the bookshop :) I also saved my pasta that I bought the other day for today, since I'm not going to get chance to buy anything else before I toodle off to the bookshop.

Here's a picture of the lovely soup I had yesterday:

Yummyyyyyyyy :D

It was also nice to feel included again, since everyone else was eating the same thing as me. It's strange really, but when you have to make a seperate meal to everyone else or just have to sit and watch others eat because you can't afford that meal it makes you feel somewhat excluded and like a little bit of an outsider. You want to be enjoying what everyone else has and sharing in the experience with them. I don't know whether that is just a personal thing or not, but I would imagine that it is a feeling shared amoungst many of the poorest in the world. Although I cannot possibly imagine the feelings they must experience in comparison to mine, I have a strong sense that the longing to belong is something that every human experiences in many different ways.

Thanks for reading, todays update will be with you later!

Mood?: You don't want to know! :(

Hungry?: Surprisingly, not really! :)

Tired?: Rather! :/

Inconvienced?: Ouioui! :( (but you already knew that one was coming!)

The no travel aspect of my challenge meant that today I walked just over 6 miles extra than I usually would have done and cycled just under 10 miles! However, I've found that it is getting increasingly easier for me - this may be an aspect of my challenge I will try to keep up, I'm becoming a lot more fit than I was! On the other hand though, my poor little legs are rather tired, which I think is partly to do with the lack of food as well as the increased amount of exercise, even if my CALVES OF STEAL are returning for the first time since Lourdes two years ago (sorry - 'in' joke, a few people will get that :P).

On the food side of things, I was back down to one meal again because my squeaky bread ran out that I bought on day one. I managed to last most of the day without losing my concentration too much, I completed all my work on time and I only caught myself daydreaming once or twice - which is good for me on a normal day!! :) However, I did receive a fair few comments today on how pale/ill I looked, even if I didn't feel it! So I made sure to make my tea a whopper of a meal:

And I ate it ALL :D Chicken flavoured noodles (veggie of course!) and TWO garlic naans. Definately a candidate for the best meal of the week, it would even give th onion omelette a run for it's money!

Unfortunately today though, due to a silly maths error I did manage to go over my budget by 10p, however it was on some pasta which I did not eat today as technically I couldn't afford to eat it. So that will be saved for tomorrow and taken off that budget! Good save? - I hope you think so :)

Just one thing I wanted to discuss a little tonight is a theme that seems to be coming up quite a lot with my fellow students when I ask them what poverty means to them. A common answer is that. because we are so far removed from those living in poverty, there is almost a numbness towards it and as we have no genuine connection to the people, we can never truely relate to their situation or how they are feeling (Aimee and Laura's interviews both mention this) and therefore cannot answer the question, as we just do not know what poverty is. An interesting discussion came up in german conversation class about this when I mentioned how if I had accepted all the handouts I'd been offered this week, I would have had every meal and every bus fare paid for, so would have had a normal week with just everything for free. Sally, my teacher, made a good point about how all my friends and family offering me money would happily give it to me because we have a relationship and know one another, where as many of these people (including myself!) would walk past a person in the street begging and completely ignore them without giving them a second thought. Now I am not for one minute saying it is bad thing to give generously to those that you love, but I am suggesting that maybe it is worth considering whether the person in the street selling that copy of the big issue for £1 deserves or needs the money more than you or your friends do - this is going to be a challenge for me too, I am as guilty as th next person!

Just a thought :) Let me know what you think!

Also wanted to add this picture by Banksy, although it is a tad contradictory to what I just said, I love it!

Heute, dachte ich dass ich soll ein Blog-Spezial schreiben für alle meine deutsche Freunde :) Also, hier sind zwei DEUTSCH Interviews über 'Was bedeutet Armut für dich?' :)

Viel spaß!

Sally McCann, mein deutscher Lehrerin

Aimee Callander and Laura Higgins, meine Freunde von meiner deutschen Klasse

Und hier sind die Verbindungen (ich weiß nicht, wenn das das richtige Wort ist!) wenn man nicht die Videos sehen kann:

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view&current=IMGP0688.mp4

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/em--x/?action=view&current=IMGP0689.mp4

(For all you none german speakers, I decided to do two special interviews today with my german teacher and some friends from my german class as a treat for some of my german readers! There will be some english posts later on, I promise! :P)