Becky's Song of the Moment:
Makes Me Wonder
Click on the link and go to "Launch Audio Player". This song is fabulous. It makes me feel like wearing bellbottoms and an afro wig and groovin around my apt. I hope it gives you the same joy it gives me.
May 8, 2007
Makes Me Wonder
Click on the link and go to "Launch Audio Player". This song is fabulous. It makes me feel like wearing bellbottoms and an afro wig and groovin around my apt. I hope it gives you the same joy it gives me.
Luther Blows?
Someone is clearly not happy with my people!!! Thanks to Marie and Tim for texting me this pic all the way from good ole St. Paul, Minnesota. What do the Minnesotans have against Luther?! You maybe can't tell, but it is actually written in tar, not spray paint. Someone had some serious issues with Luther and wanted to share them with all who drove down this road. Interesting. I will admit, I have some issues with Luther too (predestination anyone?), however I wouldn't go so far as to tar my issues onto the street. Oh well. Freedom of speech is a good thing and I will not complain!
I would personally change it to say "Finals Blow" ....however I can't complain really. Two classes down, only two more to go. I can do this!! Maybe I should stop procrastinating this morning...
April 23, 2007
April in Chicago (Take 2)
Well it finally stopped snowing in Chicago (I have a feeling I'm going to kick myself tomorrow-the temperature is dropping as I write!). We had an absolutely amazing weekend of not-a-cloud-in-the-sky-sunny-days and temps reaching 80. It's awesome what a little sunshine can do for a stressed out student :)
On Sunday Richard and I went to Green Fest. Super cool. Click on the link to read about it....or else you're clearly not cool. Yesterday was EARTH DAY - and if you didn't know that - WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!! What's the easiest thing you can do to help care for our dear earth?? How about:
*Buy energy saving light bulbs - sure, they may cost a bit more, but they last forever (almost) and they will help your electric bill go down.
*Ride your bike - get off your arse, you know you need the exercise!!!
*Recycle - especially your paper. Do you realize how much paper you throw away?! There's a website you can go to to stop getting junk mail too. Don't know it off the top of my head but I'll post it another time.
That's only a few. Don't tell me you can't think of others!!!
Let's change the subject and honor my most amazing honey. Richard and I had such a fabulous day yesterday, and he (finally-sorry honey :) took me out for a celebratory dinner, for getting into the University of Chicago. We went to Chinatown. Really the entire day was perfect - and so is he.
I'm gonna come back and read this entry whenever I start complaining about life.
On Sunday Richard and I went to Green Fest. Super cool. Click on the link to read about it....or else you're clearly not cool. Yesterday was EARTH DAY - and if you didn't know that - WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!! What's the easiest thing you can do to help care for our dear earth?? How about:
*Buy energy saving light bulbs - sure, they may cost a bit more, but they last forever (almost) and they will help your electric bill go down.
*Ride your bike - get off your arse, you know you need the exercise!!!
*Recycle - especially your paper. Do you realize how much paper you throw away?! There's a website you can go to to stop getting junk mail too. Don't know it off the top of my head but I'll post it another time.
That's only a few. Don't tell me you can't think of others!!!
Let's change the subject and honor my most amazing honey. Richard and I had such a fabulous day yesterday, and he (finally-sorry honey :) took me out for a celebratory dinner, for getting into the University of Chicago. We went to Chinatown. Really the entire day was perfect - and so is he.
I'm gonna come back and read this entry whenever I start complaining about life.
April 16, 2007
A disturbing dream
Well a research project was turned in today...and I survived singing for the worship taping last week (Even got told I have a "good voice" and to "keep working on my chanting.") Impressive, eh??!
Anyway for the research project, I wrote a Bible Study exploring salvation, both in the context of the book of Romans, and the Confessions of the Lutheran church....so who gets saved, who doesn't, why not, that sort of thing.
Which led to this disturbing dream...
Richard and I are on a cruise ship and it's sinking. Just about everyone is pretty calm, seemingly accepting the fact that they are going to die. I however was not calm; I was freaking out. I didn't want to die, and I didn't want Richard to die too. I also was terribly concerned about what would happen to us when we die. A friend of mine was on the boat, and he also was calm. I was crying and said to him, you're lucky because your fiance isn't on the boat, so you must be happy to know that she will keep on living. He told me, no that's not true and that Richard and I were the lucky ones because we'd be dying together, living together in eternity. I then went to check out how far sunk the ship was, and found many people standing in the bottom, letting the water come up over them (again, apparently just letting death come, rather than fighting or going to the top and waiting for it a little longer). Then I also saw a former pastor of mine, who I haven't spoken with in a couple years, and just as the water was about to go over head, we hugged and said goodbye.
Then I woke up.
I was pretty disturbed, feeling like I wanted to cry. Poor Richard was wondering if it meant our love was sinking! But I think it's completely the result of working on that project all day yesterday and thinking about salvation.
I don't like to think about it. It makes my head hurt. Some might say that since I'm in seminary, or since I want to be a leader in the church, that I should really want to delve into these issues deeper, really hash out. But frankly, I'd rather just leave some things up to mystery that is God, the mystery that is faith...rather than spend my earthly life debating who gets saved.
Oh well, I like to be different. :)
Anyway for the research project, I wrote a Bible Study exploring salvation, both in the context of the book of Romans, and the Confessions of the Lutheran church....so who gets saved, who doesn't, why not, that sort of thing.
Which led to this disturbing dream...
Richard and I are on a cruise ship and it's sinking. Just about everyone is pretty calm, seemingly accepting the fact that they are going to die. I however was not calm; I was freaking out. I didn't want to die, and I didn't want Richard to die too. I also was terribly concerned about what would happen to us when we die. A friend of mine was on the boat, and he also was calm. I was crying and said to him, you're lucky because your fiance isn't on the boat, so you must be happy to know that she will keep on living. He told me, no that's not true and that Richard and I were the lucky ones because we'd be dying together, living together in eternity. I then went to check out how far sunk the ship was, and found many people standing in the bottom, letting the water come up over them (again, apparently just letting death come, rather than fighting or going to the top and waiting for it a little longer). Then I also saw a former pastor of mine, who I haven't spoken with in a couple years, and just as the water was about to go over head, we hugged and said goodbye.
Then I woke up.
I was pretty disturbed, feeling like I wanted to cry. Poor Richard was wondering if it meant our love was sinking! But I think it's completely the result of working on that project all day yesterday and thinking about salvation.
I don't like to think about it. It makes my head hurt. Some might say that since I'm in seminary, or since I want to be a leader in the church, that I should really want to delve into these issues deeper, really hash out. But frankly, I'd rather just leave some things up to mystery that is God, the mystery that is faith...rather than spend my earthly life debating who gets saved.
Oh well, I like to be different. :)
April 12, 2007
April 9, 2007
A busy week
It's going to be a busy week....or should I say month. April holds many exciting things for me, such as:
*a Lutheran Confessions Midterm (The day after Easter -yipes)
*Lutheran Confessions Research Project
*Lutheran Confessions Paper
*Worship Quiz
*Worship Paper to be presented to the class
*Worship taping of a whole service, in which I have to actually sing...IN FRONT OF PEOPLE
*Another paper
Did I mention I might be busy this month???
Thank goodness for all the amazing fabulous beautiful hot people in my life - you know who you are.
*a Lutheran Confessions Midterm (The day after Easter -yipes)
*Lutheran Confessions Research Project
*Lutheran Confessions Paper
*Worship Quiz
*Worship Paper to be presented to the class
*Worship taping of a whole service, in which I have to actually sing...IN FRONT OF PEOPLE
*Another paper
Did I mention I might be busy this month???
Thank goodness for all the amazing fabulous beautiful hot people in my life - you know who you are.
March 27, 2007
GREAT news!!!
Well, after much anticipation, anxiety, and the like, I finally found out today that I was accepted at the School of Social Administration at the University of Chicago!!!! Yay, I am officially $30,000 in debt!!!! :)
Not much else is new....just happy not to be living in the unknown so much anymore...should find out about my summer job soon too and then I will be super happy. Woohoo!!!
Not much else is new....just happy not to be living in the unknown so much anymore...should find out about my summer job soon too and then I will be super happy. Woohoo!!!
March 19, 2007
Here I am
I don't have anything too exciting to say at the moment...just not to worry, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!
Yes, I made it back from Switzerland and I am in the thick of the Spring semester. April is going to be a crazy month homework-wise so I'm trying to be a responsible student and prepare myself for that by starting early. :)
In other news, I'm in the Twin Cities for a couple days. Tim played with my computer and I now have Google Desktop and Picasa photo album. So now I've been playing with that rather than studying!!!
Yes, I made it back from Switzerland and I am in the thick of the Spring semester. April is going to be a crazy month homework-wise so I'm trying to be a responsible student and prepare myself for that by starting early. :)
In other news, I'm in the Twin Cities for a couple days. Tim played with my computer and I now have Google Desktop and Picasa photo album. So now I've been playing with that rather than studying!!!
January 16, 2007
Fun Weekend Happenings, and some rantings about globalization
I should update more because now there's too much to write and not enough brain power!! :)
I think I'll write more about my classes in another entry (Yes, believe it or not, I actually go to class every day here!!!). This weekend we had a couple days off so a couple friends and I took a train to Interlaken, a big ski town in central Switzerland, right in between amazing mountains and 2 gorgeous lakes. We went just to go walk around the town and admire the beautiful scenery. We also took a smaller train higher up into the mountains, to a town called Grindelwald. It was interesting to be over in the German speaking part of Switzerland, rather than the French part. None of us understood a word around us!!!
Here's a picture taken from the train, so it's not the greatest quality - but it still gives you an idea of how great the scenery was!
Many people here are expressing great anxiety about global warming. It has been unseasonably warm here in most of Switzerland, and therefore there's not nearly as much snow on the mountains as there should be. The ski resorts are really hurting for business because of this. It was quite disheartening to see how little snow there was in both Grindelwald and Interlaken. Once we got a little higher in Grindelwald we were able to experience some snow...but not very much. I hope more people in the US start to realize the reality of global warming, and how widespread its effects are. We are using way too many resources, and if we keep going on this way, we will continue to kill our Earth.
Well, I just started referring to class a bit without you even realizing it, because we've been discussing globalization, and climate change is a clear result of it. But like I said, I'll go into that at another time because I need to rest my brain.
To shift subjects, take a look at the following picture and tell me what's wrong with it...
Hmmm Latino restaurant?? With a map of Italy??? Any German speakers out there? Is Latino somehow the German word for Italian, cuz otherwise I have no clue what's taking place in this picture.
Finally, yesterday after class we had the good fortune of meeting with a Human Rights Officer of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I left the office fairly convinced that I'd be her someday....but who knows really. Tomorrow we'll be touring the United Nations as well. Something you should definitely check out when you have free time: the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights. This should be the key reason why any human, whether you're Christian or not, black or white, young or old, male or female, etc, should fight against the injustice that globalization has caused in this world. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, rather than increasing wealth for all which is what it should do. There are basic fundamental rights that we all have as humans and they need to be upheld. So check it out....and see what you can do to hold your church and/or government accountable.
Ok, I need to get off my soapbox. If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and thanks for being a part of my life! I don't know what I'd do without all my friends and family!!!
Peace for All,
Becky
I think I'll write more about my classes in another entry (Yes, believe it or not, I actually go to class every day here!!!). This weekend we had a couple days off so a couple friends and I took a train to Interlaken, a big ski town in central Switzerland, right in between amazing mountains and 2 gorgeous lakes. We went just to go walk around the town and admire the beautiful scenery. We also took a smaller train higher up into the mountains, to a town called Grindelwald. It was interesting to be over in the German speaking part of Switzerland, rather than the French part. None of us understood a word around us!!!
Here's a picture taken from the train, so it's not the greatest quality - but it still gives you an idea of how great the scenery was!
Many people here are expressing great anxiety about global warming. It has been unseasonably warm here in most of Switzerland, and therefore there's not nearly as much snow on the mountains as there should be. The ski resorts are really hurting for business because of this. It was quite disheartening to see how little snow there was in both Grindelwald and Interlaken. Once we got a little higher in Grindelwald we were able to experience some snow...but not very much. I hope more people in the US start to realize the reality of global warming, and how widespread its effects are. We are using way too many resources, and if we keep going on this way, we will continue to kill our Earth.
Well, I just started referring to class a bit without you even realizing it, because we've been discussing globalization, and climate change is a clear result of it. But like I said, I'll go into that at another time because I need to rest my brain.
To shift subjects, take a look at the following picture and tell me what's wrong with it...
Hmmm Latino restaurant?? With a map of Italy??? Any German speakers out there? Is Latino somehow the German word for Italian, cuz otherwise I have no clue what's taking place in this picture.
Finally, yesterday after class we had the good fortune of meeting with a Human Rights Officer of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I left the office fairly convinced that I'd be her someday....but who knows really. Tomorrow we'll be touring the United Nations as well. Something you should definitely check out when you have free time: the United Nations Universal Declaration for Human Rights. This should be the key reason why any human, whether you're Christian or not, black or white, young or old, male or female, etc, should fight against the injustice that globalization has caused in this world. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, rather than increasing wealth for all which is what it should do. There are basic fundamental rights that we all have as humans and they need to be upheld. So check it out....and see what you can do to hold your church and/or government accountable.
Ok, I need to get off my soapbox. If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and thanks for being a part of my life! I don't know what I'd do without all my friends and family!!!
Peace for All,
Becky
January 15, 2007
Chocolate anyone??
If any of you happen to have these following qualities:
*you're cool
*you're hot
*you're my friend
*you like chocolate
then you'd better email me (or leave a comment) in the next couple days and tell me if you have any special requests for chocolate from Switzerland! Tell me your favorite kind, tell me if you hate chocolate, etc....
I'll bring what I can fit in my suitcase....which if you are Richard or Krista you know isn't much!!! ha
*you're cool
*you're hot
*you're my friend
*you like chocolate
then you'd better email me (or leave a comment) in the next couple days and tell me if you have any special requests for chocolate from Switzerland! Tell me your favorite kind, tell me if you hate chocolate, etc....
I'll bring what I can fit in my suitcase....which if you are Richard or Krista you know isn't much!!! ha
January 10, 2007
Brain Dead
We finished up our 3rd day of classes today. So far so good, except I've been very tired because I'm still not sleeping well. :(
The set up of our classes are nice. We have chapel at 8:30 then from 9-12, with a 15 min break, we hear different lectures from really great people who work for the World Council of Churches or Lutheran World Federation, and we get an opportunity to ask questions. We eat lunch in the cafeteria (which thankfully is a pretty good deal compared to finding a restaurant in Geneva!). Then from 1ish to 3 or 4 (but today 2:30) we discuss with our small groups.
The evenings have been fun. For Monday and Tuesday night we went to France. I love saying that. :) Anyway, we're only minutes away from the border, so we go over there and go shopping, it's a bit cheaper, they have the Euro, and it's a fun adventure crossing the border and hoping they don't stop us to check our passports because we'd get fined because we don't have the appropriate ticket!!! That's me, always living on the wild side. :)
So then we go back "home" each night and eat bread and cheese for dinner. Fresh French bread, and new cheese every night. I'm hoping all the walking we're doing is helping me keep the cheese from going straight to my hips!!!! :)
Here's an assortment of the food we've collected...clementines, bananas, nutella, wine, cheese, yogurt, etc....
Tomorrow we are going to ecumenical institute in France for the whole day. Friday is a normal day here, and then we'll probably head on a train to somewhere in Switzerland or France for a day trip on Saturday. Fun fun!
The set up of our classes are nice. We have chapel at 8:30 then from 9-12, with a 15 min break, we hear different lectures from really great people who work for the World Council of Churches or Lutheran World Federation, and we get an opportunity to ask questions. We eat lunch in the cafeteria (which thankfully is a pretty good deal compared to finding a restaurant in Geneva!). Then from 1ish to 3 or 4 (but today 2:30) we discuss with our small groups.
The evenings have been fun. For Monday and Tuesday night we went to France. I love saying that. :) Anyway, we're only minutes away from the border, so we go over there and go shopping, it's a bit cheaper, they have the Euro, and it's a fun adventure crossing the border and hoping they don't stop us to check our passports because we'd get fined because we don't have the appropriate ticket!!! That's me, always living on the wild side. :)
So then we go back "home" each night and eat bread and cheese for dinner. Fresh French bread, and new cheese every night. I'm hoping all the walking we're doing is helping me keep the cheese from going straight to my hips!!!! :)
Here's an assortment of the food we've collected...clementines, bananas, nutella, wine, cheese, yogurt, etc....
Tomorrow we are going to ecumenical institute in France for the whole day. Friday is a normal day here, and then we'll probably head on a train to somewhere in Switzerland or France for a day trip on Saturday. Fun fun!
January 7, 2007
The past 2 days
The jet lag has apparently hit me. After sleeping for 14 hours the first night here (maybe NOT such a great idea?!), I've been hardly able to sleep at all the past two nights...but would be fine if I could sleep during the day :) Aaah....I think tonight is the night I'm going to get back on track.
Yesterday Krista and I did some more walking around the area we are staying and actually found what we were looking for the day before. There's this fabulous "balcony" that overlooks the lake and the beautiful mountains. Here's a pic of me and the mountains :)
We also found a fun little grocery store and bakery as well on our walk.
Last night (Saturday) almost all of the 23 in our group had arrived, so we ate dinner together and had a short meeting. Most were super tired as they had just arrived.
Today we got up and went to the worship service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva...English speaking :) It was really cool, with people from all over the world, and many languages spoken. Here's a picture of the church....looks more like a chateau, which we found out is because churches aren't allowed to look like churches in Geneva!! Why? Because John Calvin was real big back in the day of the Reformation, and the Cathedral of St. Pierre where he preached is a great big cathedral that is very noticeable in Geneva's "skyline." And apparently anything that wasn't a Reformation church wasn't allowed to look like a church at all...
Since there's so much history here with the Reformation, they have a wall that is like a monument for it. We went by that wall, plus we even got to go to the Reformation Museum :) Here's me with Martin Luther's "statue"...ie a big block with his name on it. Apparently there's some Germans in Geneva who are pushing for a "real" Luther statue - Calvin and others actually have their bodies as statues in this same park...but not Luther....oh la la
And finally near the end of the day we went up the 157 steps to the top of the tower at the St. Pierre Cathedral. As you can see below it was a pretty amazing view. We found out at the bottom that one of the guys in our group proposed to one of the girls!!! (Yes, they knew each other before today!!!) How romantic!!
Tomorrow class starts....which means I have to go do some reading to prepare! And I have to be up at 7 am tomorrow - eek. Please feel free to email me and let me know how you're doing!!!
Yesterday Krista and I did some more walking around the area we are staying and actually found what we were looking for the day before. There's this fabulous "balcony" that overlooks the lake and the beautiful mountains. Here's a pic of me and the mountains :)
We also found a fun little grocery store and bakery as well on our walk.
Last night (Saturday) almost all of the 23 in our group had arrived, so we ate dinner together and had a short meeting. Most were super tired as they had just arrived.
Today we got up and went to the worship service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Geneva...English speaking :) It was really cool, with people from all over the world, and many languages spoken. Here's a picture of the church....looks more like a chateau, which we found out is because churches aren't allowed to look like churches in Geneva!! Why? Because John Calvin was real big back in the day of the Reformation, and the Cathedral of St. Pierre where he preached is a great big cathedral that is very noticeable in Geneva's "skyline." And apparently anything that wasn't a Reformation church wasn't allowed to look like a church at all...
Since there's so much history here with the Reformation, they have a wall that is like a monument for it. We went by that wall, plus we even got to go to the Reformation Museum :) Here's me with Martin Luther's "statue"...ie a big block with his name on it. Apparently there's some Germans in Geneva who are pushing for a "real" Luther statue - Calvin and others actually have their bodies as statues in this same park...but not Luther....oh la la
And finally near the end of the day we went up the 157 steps to the top of the tower at the St. Pierre Cathedral. As you can see below it was a pretty amazing view. We found out at the bottom that one of the guys in our group proposed to one of the girls!!! (Yes, they knew each other before today!!!) How romantic!!
Tomorrow class starts....which means I have to go do some reading to prepare! And I have to be up at 7 am tomorrow - eek. Please feel free to email me and let me know how you're doing!!!
January 5, 2007
Busses, Phones, Walking and Fondu
Well we have almost made it through our first whole day in Geneva! It is about 7:30 pm here and we thought we'd check our email before heading to our room to watch a dvd on my laptop and eat Swiss chocolate :)
Several interesting things to note today:
*Bus. We waited in the rain last night for a bus that only comes once an hour. It came. We stood right outside the doors and waited for them to open. The people on the inside looked at us. The bus drove away.
So we learned the hard way that we are in control, and we must push a button to get the bus doors to open or it will drive away from you!!!
*Phone. When we finally arrived "home" last night, the phone cord was mysteriously pulled out of the wall so much that all the little wires were separated and it wouldn't work anymore - how? we don't know. And we'll never know. They fixed it while we were out exploring today.
Here's Krista trying to figure out the phone situation...
*Sleep. We went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 11 am. Aaaah.
*Walking. We decided to "hang low" today, so we took a walk around the block. Which turned into walking all the way to downtown and the lake and such.
This picture doesn't do justice to the amazing view of mountains we have right behind the place we are staying...
The famous jet d'eau in Lake Geneva.
*Fondu. We had some delicious, and expensive, cheese fondu today, with a lovely waiter who smiled at our silly American-ness. I kept blanking out and couldn't remember how to say a single French word. Also, the restaurant was pretty fancy, fancy glasses, fancy tableclothes, etc...however, there was some lovely rap music playing the whole time. And not just regular ole rap, but Shaggy and Salt N Pepa....all I can say is"very interesing."
Yep - that's me eating fondu :)
Several interesting things to note today:
*Bus. We waited in the rain last night for a bus that only comes once an hour. It came. We stood right outside the doors and waited for them to open. The people on the inside looked at us. The bus drove away.
So we learned the hard way that we are in control, and we must push a button to get the bus doors to open or it will drive away from you!!!
*Phone. When we finally arrived "home" last night, the phone cord was mysteriously pulled out of the wall so much that all the little wires were separated and it wouldn't work anymore - how? we don't know. And we'll never know. They fixed it while we were out exploring today.
Here's Krista trying to figure out the phone situation...
*Sleep. We went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 11 am. Aaaah.
*Walking. We decided to "hang low" today, so we took a walk around the block. Which turned into walking all the way to downtown and the lake and such.
This picture doesn't do justice to the amazing view of mountains we have right behind the place we are staying...
The famous jet d'eau in Lake Geneva.
*Fondu. We had some delicious, and expensive, cheese fondu today, with a lovely waiter who smiled at our silly American-ness. I kept blanking out and couldn't remember how to say a single French word. Also, the restaurant was pretty fancy, fancy glasses, fancy tableclothes, etc...however, there was some lovely rap music playing the whole time. And not just regular ole rap, but Shaggy and Salt N Pepa....all I can say is"very interesing."
Yep - that's me eating fondu :)
January 4, 2007
We made it
Hey everyone! Well, my roomie and I are safely in Geneva, Switzerland after a mostly smooth ride. Well, ok, we DID miss our connecting flight from Zurich to Geneva...but hey missing flights really isn't a new thing for me unfortunately!! ;) We got on the next one immediately after, and our luggage even made it too. Bizarre thing though - we had to go through security again at the Zurich airport...so they took my water that I saved from the earlier flight. Weird.
There was supposed to be someone picking us up at the airport in Geneva but there was no one to be found (and it turns out they just forgot or something - it WASN'T because we missed the flight...which did I mention was not our fault? We sat on the runway in Chicago for almost an hour...). Anyway, we were adventurous and took a city bus to where we are staying...the John Knox Center. What little French I have left has come in very handy so far!!
So it's almost 5 pm here, but our bodies are telling us something much different. We are 7 hours ahead of the central time zone by the way.
Roomie and I are gonna head into town for some breakfast...wait I mean dinner. What time is it again??!!!!
There was supposed to be someone picking us up at the airport in Geneva but there was no one to be found (and it turns out they just forgot or something - it WASN'T because we missed the flight...which did I mention was not our fault? We sat on the runway in Chicago for almost an hour...). Anyway, we were adventurous and took a city bus to where we are staying...the John Knox Center. What little French I have left has come in very handy so far!!
So it's almost 5 pm here, but our bodies are telling us something much different. We are 7 hours ahead of the central time zone by the way.
Roomie and I are gonna head into town for some breakfast...wait I mean dinner. What time is it again??!!!!
January 3, 2007
Happy New Year
I rang in the New Year in New Orleans this year. I was there for my 7th and final National Gathering, and this year happened to be an ecumenical event called Celebrate.
For all those who go to New Orleans and only stay in the downtown area, they may be deceived by how the city looks. The downtown area is a fun place to be, and mostly redone and making tourists happy. As soon as you head into actual residential neighborhoods, however, you can still see the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a year and a half later. Entire neighborhoods are still empty. For sale signs and construction crew ads are everywhere. Trees are down. Water still sits. You can see the flood line on many buildings that you pass. Perhaps the toughest thing to see was the markings on each building. Each building had to be marked that it had been gone through, and the number of bodies found inside was included in this marking. I suggest if you have the opportunity to go down to the Gulf Coast area and help out, do it! They still need so much done. The people of New Orleans have an amazing spirit, and were so so thankful for our presence there. I have a new hope for that city than I did before I traveled there this New Year's. Some pictures....I have more if you're interested.
Gutted out houses...
Vacant strip mall...
Torn up house...
It was hard to get a good picture of the markings on each house, but this is an example...
For all those who go to New Orleans and only stay in the downtown area, they may be deceived by how the city looks. The downtown area is a fun place to be, and mostly redone and making tourists happy. As soon as you head into actual residential neighborhoods, however, you can still see the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, a year and a half later. Entire neighborhoods are still empty. For sale signs and construction crew ads are everywhere. Trees are down. Water still sits. You can see the flood line on many buildings that you pass. Perhaps the toughest thing to see was the markings on each building. Each building had to be marked that it had been gone through, and the number of bodies found inside was included in this marking. I suggest if you have the opportunity to go down to the Gulf Coast area and help out, do it! They still need so much done. The people of New Orleans have an amazing spirit, and were so so thankful for our presence there. I have a new hope for that city than I did before I traveled there this New Year's. Some pictures....I have more if you're interested.
Gutted out houses...
Vacant strip mall...
Torn up house...
It was hard to get a good picture of the markings on each house, but this is an example...
December 27, 2006
Happy Kwanzaa
Christmas was lovely this year. On Christmas morning, according to tradition, we all had brunch at my Grandma's (although tradition changed a bit because my Grandma moved out of the house she'd been in for the past 40 years and into a senior living residence place).
Anyway, my family really missed Richard, so they even called him up to tell him so. Then during brunch, as someone is saying Merry Christmas, someone says Happy Kwanzaa...just being silly I guess since we're as white as white gets :) My lovely grandmother goes...."oh....kwanzaa? Is that Mexican for Christmas?"
OMG - I was laughing so hard.
THEN, my mother goes "No - it's for Jews!!!"
WHAT?!!! Is my family that culturally behind??? We cleared up the fact that the Jewish holiday is called Hannukah (I have no idea how to spell it...sorry). And then we cleared up the fact people don't speak Mexican, they speak Spanish. We didn't even get to explain Kwanzaa before someone changed the subject (which happens frequently and with ease in my family!!!)
Aaahhhh my lovely family.
Feliz Navidad - I think that's Spanish for something or other..... ;)
Anyway, my family really missed Richard, so they even called him up to tell him so. Then during brunch, as someone is saying Merry Christmas, someone says Happy Kwanzaa...just being silly I guess since we're as white as white gets :) My lovely grandmother goes...."oh....kwanzaa? Is that Mexican for Christmas?"
OMG - I was laughing so hard.
THEN, my mother goes "No - it's for Jews!!!"
WHAT?!!! Is my family that culturally behind??? We cleared up the fact that the Jewish holiday is called Hannukah (I have no idea how to spell it...sorry). And then we cleared up the fact people don't speak Mexican, they speak Spanish. We didn't even get to explain Kwanzaa before someone changed the subject (which happens frequently and with ease in my family!!!)
Aaahhhh my lovely family.
Feliz Navidad - I think that's Spanish for something or other..... ;)
Freak Crane Almost Accident
Picture this:
Driving down a semi-country road, minding your own business. Now picture something that looks kind of like this:
Imagine a bird like this getting up and slowwwwly trying to fly across the road that you are going 55 miles an hour on.
Yep, that's what happened to me on Christmas Eve. A crane and I almost smacked right into each other. I made eye contact with it before it realized it better fly upwards to avoid my parents Ford Escape from barreling right into it. I don't even like birds anyway. Why does something like this have to happen???!!!
Driving down a semi-country road, minding your own business. Now picture something that looks kind of like this:
Imagine a bird like this getting up and slowwwwly trying to fly across the road that you are going 55 miles an hour on.
Yep, that's what happened to me on Christmas Eve. A crane and I almost smacked right into each other. I made eye contact with it before it realized it better fly upwards to avoid my parents Ford Escape from barreling right into it. I don't even like birds anyway. Why does something like this have to happen???!!!
December 21, 2006
Tutoring
On Thursday nights Richard and I tutor at my church on the north side. Today we had our annual Christmas party instead of hitting the books. The kids were amazingly cute. They got to make penguin ornaments, and decorate cookies. We discovered some of the kids who are pretty awful at math or reading are actually incredible artists!! Norm, our leader, had the great idea of having the kids give their cookies to people they were thankful for at the end of the night. It was really cool to see the kids be excited about giving, and not just the receiving....although they did receive a lot! We had some donations from Norm's school and the kids took home bunches of stuff with them. It felt good to give. We get so caught up sometimes at Christmas - caught up in the hustle and bustle, everyone is tense wondering about what to give, how much to spend, etc...but that's not what matters you know? Let's be thankful for what we do have, and make sure those around us know we are thankful. That's probably about the best thing we can give.
Merry Everything :)
p.s. I stole that phrase from a MoveOn holiday card I just saw on the internet tonight. Check out all the cool e-cards they have on their site!
Merry Everything :)
p.s. I stole that phrase from a MoveOn holiday card I just saw on the internet tonight. Check out all the cool e-cards they have on their site!
December 19, 2006
ELCA News
Some links you may want to check out - especially if you're a crazy Lutheran like me :)
How many Lutherans are in the new Congress? I'm sure this is a question that's been keeping you up at night. Well now you have the answer. Click here.
What's Becky doing for New Year's? Another question racking your brain, I'm sure. I'll be at my 7th, that's right, 7th National Gathering. This year though, it's bigger and better, and it's in New Orleans. For the ELCA News link, click here. Be sure to check out the CELEBRATE website as well. Why? Because it's cool.
How many Lutherans are in the new Congress? I'm sure this is a question that's been keeping you up at night. Well now you have the answer. Click here.
What's Becky doing for New Year's? Another question racking your brain, I'm sure. I'll be at my 7th, that's right, 7th National Gathering. This year though, it's bigger and better, and it's in New Orleans. For the ELCA News link, click here. Be sure to check out the CELEBRATE website as well. Why? Because it's cool.
December 12, 2006
Borat
Krista and I went to go see Borat tonight. What an *interesting* movie! Most interesting was the 2 crazy-looking naked men in the hotel room fight scene. I'll stop there since I'm going to keep this blog PG-rated....
What else is new? I'm on a break from class for a little while, so rather than take a much needed rest, I'm working all week. It's good though, because I need to save up some money for my trip to Geneva in January. Today I signed Christmas cards in the Admissions Office for 6-ish hours!!!
What else is new? I'm on a break from class for a little while, so rather than take a much needed rest, I'm working all week. It's good though, because I need to save up some money for my trip to Geneva in January. Today I signed Christmas cards in the Admissions Office for 6-ish hours!!!
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