changes in the house/community

the delegation of certain tasks in the community has been changing. a couple of the changes affect my life here quite a bit - like change in the leadership of the companions (tochtgenoten) and who is now responsible for the kitchen tasks. and when i first heard about the changes, i was a bit unsettled. how will this affect my life? and what does this mean for the responsibilities i've had in organizing the kitchen tasks? and how did i not get a say in all of these changes?

it took some time for me to process the angst i had over the changes [it helped a lot to recognize that the world did not revolve around me - what i had originally perceived as my being excluded from the changes was a misunderstanding - i had forgotten that the flexibility in the house can and should be for the good of the whole community and for the individuals involved]. two years ago, i had started taking responsibility in the kitchen because it was something i could do with limited dutch and also allowed me actively participate in the community. and then i continued last year because i was here for only part of the year and because there was a bit of a shortage of people that would generally take over some of the kitchen tasks. with the current change of responsibilities coming into the house, i was confronted (a bit uncomfortably) with questions of where i could fit best.

and the answer has nothing to do with the kitchen or taking administrative responsibilities. instead, it has to do with talking and listening. and drinking tea and coffee. i'll be most likely on the schedule for reception duties for a few hours a week. i'll lead a chapel service once every week or two. i'll help some with Bible studies. i'll get to put more time and energy into helping with the internal newspaper. and i'll still eat many meals with the community (and take my turn preparing breakfast - and i'll pick up bread as compensation to using some of it myself). but sharing meals will mean getting to build relationships without having to focus on whether things are going smoothly in the kitchen. and i will have more time for work and my own studies and learning dutch and stopping by just to chat.

so i've started becoming excited by the changes. i'm still a bit nervous still about the change in leadership of the companions. but since we companions spent the last year together we've developed certain opinions of what we'd prefer and like, and thus perhaps it is really the one taking over the leadership that should be the most nervous :)