Friday, November 25, 2005
Gee...
It's very quiet around here today. Everyone out shopping, I take it?
Thanksgiving dinner last night was WONDERFUL. They had turkey and REAL mashed potatoes and green beans in some really nice mushroom cream sauce and REAL cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and corn and mimosas and these little pork sausages wrapped in bacon and tons of other stuff. Really, someone should tell them that we're all middle-class and they didn't need bother with the gourmet food: a traditional American Thanksgiving involves canned cranberry sauce and green bean casserole and pre-made rolls.
Afterwards, it was either study or watch Friends with Emily et al. I really don't like Friends, but in the end I decided being sociable was bound to be more fun than reading history textbooks.
Today I'm wearing my salawar suit for the first time. I'll have to show you pictures because it's SO pretty.
After I check in here, I'm heading home to eat dinner. Then it's on to Christian Union. I was thinking of going to Nottingham and taking the Robin Hood tour tomorrow, just because, but I hear the ISA is going to Bath for the day, so I might have to tag along with them.
Later!
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Thanksgiving dinner last night was WONDERFUL. They had turkey and REAL mashed potatoes and green beans in some really nice mushroom cream sauce and REAL cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and corn and mimosas and these little pork sausages wrapped in bacon and tons of other stuff. Really, someone should tell them that we're all middle-class and they didn't need bother with the gourmet food: a traditional American Thanksgiving involves canned cranberry sauce and green bean casserole and pre-made rolls.
Afterwards, it was either study or watch Friends with Emily et al. I really don't like Friends, but in the end I decided being sociable was bound to be more fun than reading history textbooks.
Today I'm wearing my salawar suit for the first time. I'll have to show you pictures because it's SO pretty.
After I check in here, I'm heading home to eat dinner. Then it's on to Christian Union. I was thinking of going to Nottingham and taking the Robin Hood tour tomorrow, just because, but I hear the ISA is going to Bath for the day, so I might have to tag along with them.
Later!
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving!
I can't stay long because I'm about to head out. Apparently the accomodations office is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for American students, so I won't be sitting at home alone studying on Thanksgiving day.
The weather's been very cooperative today, too. This morning it was pretty warm--I didn't even need my heavy coat. There was a sudden torrential downpour this afternoon, but it only lasted about 30 minutes or so and afterwards the sky was perfectly clear for the first time in days. I hear a cold front's moving in, though, and if you never hear from me again e-mail the university and have them make sure I haven't frozen into a little Kaciecicle.
Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you did for Thanksgiving.
Love you all!
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The weather's been very cooperative today, too. This morning it was pretty warm--I didn't even need my heavy coat. There was a sudden torrential downpour this afternoon, but it only lasted about 30 minutes or so and afterwards the sky was perfectly clear for the first time in days. I hear a cold front's moving in, though, and if you never hear from me again e-mail the university and have them make sure I haven't frozen into a little Kaciecicle.
Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you did for Thanksgiving.
Love you all!
|
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
So, Harry Potter
... rocks. Go see it, it's great!
The fourth book was always my favorite, anyway, and the movie really captures much of its intensity. The final scene in the cemetary was so creepy Emily and I huddled together. I actually started crying at the end, when [spoiler] died. Oh, they did leave out a lot of stuff: Winky and Hermione's house elf liberation project, the veela, the explanation of Hagrid's parentage, and so on. But what it did include, it handled very well. The movie didn't suffer from pacing problems like the first two--I felt like I barely sat down before it was over. The special effects were wonderful, too.
Dinner afterwards caused something of a panic. I went to the grocery store earlier that afternoon to buy everything, and just barely remembered at the last moment that Jamal was Muslim and I probably shouldn't buy bacon to put in the green beans. Then THREE buses drove right past me because they were too full to take any new passengers, so I had to walk home, carrying all my groceries. By that point I was so late I had to throw everything into the oven, ask my roommate to take it out in an hour, and run out the door, and I still barely made it to the theater in time. I didn't have time to wipe the mess off the kitchen table or even make sure there were enough dishes clean for everyone to eat.
But besides these setbacks I think it went well. I served the Sleath's baked chicken (thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Sleath!) and green beans and garlic bread, with chocolate fudge cake for dessert. And, of course, tea. Everyone made appreciative noises, and they all had seconds, so it couldn't have tasted THAT bad. So I guess the evening could be called a success.
Get back to you later!
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The fourth book was always my favorite, anyway, and the movie really captures much of its intensity. The final scene in the cemetary was so creepy Emily and I huddled together. I actually started crying at the end, when [spoiler] died. Oh, they did leave out a lot of stuff: Winky and Hermione's house elf liberation project, the veela, the explanation of Hagrid's parentage, and so on. But what it did include, it handled very well. The movie didn't suffer from pacing problems like the first two--I felt like I barely sat down before it was over. The special effects were wonderful, too.
Dinner afterwards caused something of a panic. I went to the grocery store earlier that afternoon to buy everything, and just barely remembered at the last moment that Jamal was Muslim and I probably shouldn't buy bacon to put in the green beans. Then THREE buses drove right past me because they were too full to take any new passengers, so I had to walk home, carrying all my groceries. By that point I was so late I had to throw everything into the oven, ask my roommate to take it out in an hour, and run out the door, and I still barely made it to the theater in time. I didn't have time to wipe the mess off the kitchen table or even make sure there were enough dishes clean for everyone to eat.
But besides these setbacks I think it went well. I served the Sleath's baked chicken (thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Sleath!) and green beans and garlic bread, with chocolate fudge cake for dessert. And, of course, tea. Everyone made appreciative noises, and they all had seconds, so it couldn't have tasted THAT bad. So I guess the evening could be called a success.
Get back to you later!
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Monday, November 21, 2005
Ciao!
This weekend was unbelievable! I didn't want to come back and resume my work.
Norfolk itself was very pretty. We were out in the countryside in a gorgeous manor house built in the 18th century. I have lots of pictures of rolling fields and sheep to share. Every morning at 8 we'd have a 'prayer walk', just strolling around outside and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.
We studied the book of Malachi, talking about how to persevere in our faith even when it doesn't appear like God's paying attention. Another major themes of the talks was robbing God: in what ways are we giving grudgingly or half-heartedly? He demands all of our hearts, our souls, and our minds; in what ways are we trying to hold on to them? God would rather have no sacrifice at all than a half-hearted one, Malachi says.
We also had small seminars Saturday afternoon. I went to cultural evangelism, which was all about how to be sensitive to other cultures when witnessing to international students--we want to teach them about Christianity, not spread Western culture. Moreover, you must always be careful to speak the same language: the word 'sin', for example, has different meanings to different people. In particular we talked about Islam, and highlighted several of the key differences between Islam and Christianity.
I met lots of wonderful people. Firstly, the girls I shared a room with are absolute darlings, and it was wonderful to discuss the lessons with them. I also discovered several Stargate fans, and on the bus back we had a huge discussion of our favorite parts of the series. There's been talk of a weekend-long Stargate marathon, because one guy has the entire series on DVD.
So, we woke up in the mornings and ate breakfast with tea. Then about noon we had more tea. Lunch was at 1:30 and was blissfully tea-free. Then about 10:00 we had a quick supper and, you've guessed it!, more tea. And of course the tea table was open all day, so you'd see people wandering around with cups of tea between meals. Everything you've ever heard about British people and their caffeinated beverages is true. I'm going to end up such a tea addict by the time I get home. It's started already--I made tea with breakfast this morning. It's just SO GOOD with a lot of milk and sugar, and little custard creams to dip in it...
I finished the Aeneid, which was excellent. Now I've moved on to the latest Terry Pratchett book, Thud!, which a friend from anime club lent me. It's hilarious! Let me excerpt a small section:
'The main office included not only the duty officer's desk but also half a dozen smaller ones, where watchmen sat when they had to do the really tricky parts of police work, like punctuating a sentence correctly. A lot of rooms and corridors opened on to it. A useful result of all this was that any action there attracted a lot of attention very quickly.
If the two trolls very conspicuously in the middle of the room had intended trouble, they'd picked a bad time. It was between shifts. Currently, they were trying without success to swagger whilst standing still, watched with deep suspicion by seven or eight officers of various shapes.
They'd brought it on themselves. They were baaaad trolls. At least, they'd like everyone to think so. But they'd got it wrong. Vimes had seen bad trolls, and these didn't come close. They'd tried. Oh, they'd tried. Lichen covered their heads and shoulders. Clan graffiti adorned their bodies; one of them had even had his arm carved, which must have hurt, for that stone cool troll look. Since wearing the traditional belt of human or dwarf skulls would have resulted in the wearer's heels leaving a groove all the way to the nearest nick, and monkey skulls left the wearer liable to ambush by dwarfs with no grounding in forensic anthropology, these trolls--Vimes grinned. These boys had done the best they could with, oh dear, sheep and goat skulls. Well done, boys, that's really scary.
It was depressing. The old-time bad trolls didn't bother with all that stuff. They just beat you over the head with your own arm until you got the message.'
Tonight I'm going with a group of people from Christian Union see Harry Potter! Woo-hoo! After that, everyone's coming over for dinner followed, naturally, by tea. Which reminds me: I'm out of custard creams...
Later!
|
Norfolk itself was very pretty. We were out in the countryside in a gorgeous manor house built in the 18th century. I have lots of pictures of rolling fields and sheep to share. Every morning at 8 we'd have a 'prayer walk', just strolling around outside and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.
We studied the book of Malachi, talking about how to persevere in our faith even when it doesn't appear like God's paying attention. Another major themes of the talks was robbing God: in what ways are we giving grudgingly or half-heartedly? He demands all of our hearts, our souls, and our minds; in what ways are we trying to hold on to them? God would rather have no sacrifice at all than a half-hearted one, Malachi says.
We also had small seminars Saturday afternoon. I went to cultural evangelism, which was all about how to be sensitive to other cultures when witnessing to international students--we want to teach them about Christianity, not spread Western culture. Moreover, you must always be careful to speak the same language: the word 'sin', for example, has different meanings to different people. In particular we talked about Islam, and highlighted several of the key differences between Islam and Christianity.
I met lots of wonderful people. Firstly, the girls I shared a room with are absolute darlings, and it was wonderful to discuss the lessons with them. I also discovered several Stargate fans, and on the bus back we had a huge discussion of our favorite parts of the series. There's been talk of a weekend-long Stargate marathon, because one guy has the entire series on DVD.
So, we woke up in the mornings and ate breakfast with tea. Then about noon we had more tea. Lunch was at 1:30 and was blissfully tea-free. Then about 10:00 we had a quick supper and, you've guessed it!, more tea. And of course the tea table was open all day, so you'd see people wandering around with cups of tea between meals. Everything you've ever heard about British people and their caffeinated beverages is true. I'm going to end up such a tea addict by the time I get home. It's started already--I made tea with breakfast this morning. It's just SO GOOD with a lot of milk and sugar, and little custard creams to dip in it...
I finished the Aeneid, which was excellent. Now I've moved on to the latest Terry Pratchett book, Thud!, which a friend from anime club lent me. It's hilarious! Let me excerpt a small section:
'The main office included not only the duty officer's desk but also half a dozen smaller ones, where watchmen sat when they had to do the really tricky parts of police work, like punctuating a sentence correctly. A lot of rooms and corridors opened on to it. A useful result of all this was that any action there attracted a lot of attention very quickly.
If the two trolls very conspicuously in the middle of the room had intended trouble, they'd picked a bad time. It was between shifts. Currently, they were trying without success to swagger whilst standing still, watched with deep suspicion by seven or eight officers of various shapes.
They'd brought it on themselves. They were baaaad trolls. At least, they'd like everyone to think so. But they'd got it wrong. Vimes had seen bad trolls, and these didn't come close. They'd tried. Oh, they'd tried. Lichen covered their heads and shoulders. Clan graffiti adorned their bodies; one of them had even had his arm carved, which must have hurt, for that stone cool troll look. Since wearing the traditional belt of human or dwarf skulls would have resulted in the wearer's heels leaving a groove all the way to the nearest nick, and monkey skulls left the wearer liable to ambush by dwarfs with no grounding in forensic anthropology, these trolls--Vimes grinned. These boys had done the best they could with, oh dear, sheep and goat skulls. Well done, boys, that's really scary.
It was depressing. The old-time bad trolls didn't bother with all that stuff. They just beat you over the head with your own arm until you got the message.'
Tonight I'm going with a group of people from Christian Union see Harry Potter! Woo-hoo! After that, everyone's coming over for dinner followed, naturally, by tea. Which reminds me: I'm out of custard creams...
Later!
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