Instructions for Day 2 of the Exchange

Hello again,

I hope that by now you should have sent your writing to have received writing from the two people you are exchanging places with as part of this project. This evening or tomorrow morning is the time for the main part of the exchange.

Upon having exchanged writing with at least one person in the group, you can start organising this part of the exchange. When you have both sent and received your writing please schedule a phone call. You will need to arrange a single and separate phone call with each of the people you exchanged writing with.

During these phone calls, I’d like you to read each other’s writing back to each other. Taking time to read their words with consideration for the place and their connection to it, imagining the place for yourself and trying to place yourself within the description too. Though, most importantly, please make sure to read it word for word, even if they have used pronouns like ‘I’ or ‘my’.

Once you have each read the writing please check in with each other, for some this could be quite an emotional experience, what you have shared might be quite intimate or you might like to hear about the place they wrote about or to simply discuss the experience of writing about a place and hearing those words being spoken by another. How you choose to do this section of the call is up to you both, just please be gracious and open in this moment of care.

As I said before, you will do this twice, once with each member of the group you are exchanging places with. By the end of the second call, you

will have heard the place you miss described in your own words twice but each time in a different voice neither of which is your own. You will have also read aloud a description of two places which you might not have ever visited using another’s words but your own voice. I hope you will have enjoyed this exchange and the gift you have been able to give to the two people you connected with. I also hope you might feel a little closer to the place you miss despite the distance or find strength in the common feelings you find.

Thank you again for taking part.

With care, Georgina