Greetings from Sri Lanka! If I was more on the ball, that would be in the local languages, but I'm not, and it isn't. The point though, which should not be lost in the language, is that I am here in Sri Lanka. I arrived yesterday, around 1:00 local time, and was met by a former assistant to the Bishop, who gave me a ride to my digs for the summer. I am staying at St. Margaret's Convent, an Anglican order of nuns who run a guest house on the side. My room is quite nice, I have my own bathroom and more importantly, my own fan. Yes, folks, it's hot here. It's like being in a sauna all day. I hope that I can get used to it!
The flight from London was ok - the woman in front of my reclined her seat really far, which put a crimp in my leg room for the flight, but there was no one behind me, so I could recline as well. The flight was about 10 hours long.
Once I got here yesterday the nuns fed me (rice and curry) and then I basically spent the afternoon sleeping. It was glorious! I emerged from room for supper, and was able to meet some of the nuns, who are all very sweet. There are a couple other guests at the convent right now, including a woman from Ottawa (who was born in Colombo).
This morning was matins and then Eucharist, and I meet my supervisor in just a few minutes, to find out what I will be doing the rest of my time here in Sri Lanka!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Heathrow
Well, this is entry 1 of the actual travel blog! Yes, I've left Canada, and am currently on a long, long lay over in Heathrow Airport in London. The flight here was ok, but we should back up a couple days...
Turns out that getting ready to leave the country is a bit of work. I keep forgetting this, and it gets worse when you have to move out at the same time! I spent the last week or so (since I finished the paper) cleaning and packing, neither of which are my favorite things to do. I also had to figure out what to take with me, which was no easy task. The nice thing is that my room at school was not all that big, and so the dust had a limited number of surfaces to adhere to.
On Friday my good friend and erstwhile roommate James came over to Vancouver in a big old VW camper van to move my stuff. I certainly thought that I had a whole lot of boxes, but it took us less than an hour to move it all out! We were working as fast as possible, and managed to make the 6:00 ferry, which meant that we were able to watch the start of the Canucks game on the ferry. We were back at James' place by the start of the second period, and so decided to hold off on unpacking, and instead ordered pizza, and watched the Canucks trounce the Kings. It was just like old times- hockey and Law and Order and then James fell asleep on the couch and started snoring!
Saturday morning I was not up bright and early, but still managed to get my stuff moved into the house in under an hour. That was me working on my own, since James was doing my taxes for the last two years. We both finished at the same time, and he drove me into Victoria. I had a couple hours to kill before meeting Jeff and Kirsten, who I was staying with the next night, and I managed to do a bit more shopping for my trip, most importantly buying more books. I always think that you can never have enough books for a long trip.
Sunday morning was the Cathedral, (much close to Jeff and Kirsten's place) and then a meeting, and the 5:00 ferry home. Yesterday (Monday) was a whirlwind of last minute packing, before the airport at 2, and a flight at 5 (delayed to 5:30).
And that's where I am now! It's currently about 2:00 here in London, my flight is at 9:45 this evening, and gets in around 1:00 pm Colombo time. Hopefully I can sleep some on the second flight!
Turns out that getting ready to leave the country is a bit of work. I keep forgetting this, and it gets worse when you have to move out at the same time! I spent the last week or so (since I finished the paper) cleaning and packing, neither of which are my favorite things to do. I also had to figure out what to take with me, which was no easy task. The nice thing is that my room at school was not all that big, and so the dust had a limited number of surfaces to adhere to.
On Friday my good friend and erstwhile roommate James came over to Vancouver in a big old VW camper van to move my stuff. I certainly thought that I had a whole lot of boxes, but it took us less than an hour to move it all out! We were working as fast as possible, and managed to make the 6:00 ferry, which meant that we were able to watch the start of the Canucks game on the ferry. We were back at James' place by the start of the second period, and so decided to hold off on unpacking, and instead ordered pizza, and watched the Canucks trounce the Kings. It was just like old times- hockey and Law and Order and then James fell asleep on the couch and started snoring!
Saturday morning I was not up bright and early, but still managed to get my stuff moved into the house in under an hour. That was me working on my own, since James was doing my taxes for the last two years. We both finished at the same time, and he drove me into Victoria. I had a couple hours to kill before meeting Jeff and Kirsten, who I was staying with the next night, and I managed to do a bit more shopping for my trip, most importantly buying more books. I always think that you can never have enough books for a long trip.
Sunday morning was the Cathedral, (much close to Jeff and Kirsten's place) and then a meeting, and the 5:00 ferry home. Yesterday (Monday) was a whirlwind of last minute packing, before the airport at 2, and a flight at 5 (delayed to 5:30).
And that's where I am now! It's currently about 2:00 here in London, my flight is at 9:45 this evening, and gets in around 1:00 pm Colombo time. Hopefully I can sleep some on the second flight!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Final Paper
I've hardly had time to think about my trip over the past week, although it is coming up very quickly. I've been hard at work finishing up the last of the school work for the term. There are any number of scholastic requirements before one is allowed to graduate from VST with a Masters of Divinity, but none loomed larger in my mind than the Major Exegetical Paper. This behemoth of a work is widely seen as one of the hardest requirements, at least in the school end of things. This is a 8500 word(30 or so pages)paper, in extreme detail on a very short section of the Bible. You can do it in Hebrew Bible or New Testament, and since I was taking John anyway, though that it might be fun to look closer at the prologue (Chapter 1:1-18). Now, the first thing I found out is that 18 verses is widely considered to be too long- so I took the first 5 verses.
Theoretically I had not only the entire term (with the two week reading break) but extra time after the term to May 6 to finish this paper. I hobbled myself doubly, first by virtually ignoring the paper until everything else was finished, and then by booking my departure for April 26. If there was any question about pressure being a motivator for me, I think I found the answer.
And so, this past Monday, I checked a stack of books I couldn't see over out of the library, and got to work.
When I was a kid, my family was well known at school for how much we read. I mean, we didn't just like books, we lived off them. All my childhood memories are, if not centered around books, certainly shaped by them. Our language was littered with English terms from the 1950s (thanks to Enid Blyton), on car trip Mom would read to us, even when playing video games, or with lego or anything, it was in the downstairs library. We jokingly called it that, the "Downstairs Library", but it really was a library of children's books. What's more, that was only the downstairs portion. The house was (and is, come to think of it) lined with books. Books on every flat surface. Books migrating around the house as different people read them. Books that were read over and over and over again. The greatest crime in our household was to steal someones book while they were still reading it (actually, that still is the greatest crime). I've gotten into violent altercations with most of my siblings over them reading my book or vice versa- and we never felt that we were in the wrong!
Anyway, all that immersion in literature has made me a good reader. I mean, the thinking portion of the paper takes a little longer, but I can go through a stack of books like other people go through a stack of pancakes. It's a useful trait in seminary.
So I spent the week reading, taking notes, and arranging the information in my head. Then I spat it all back up (properly footnoted) into this massive paper. It's mostly done now, and the writing of has almost used me up. I still have to go through and edit the stupid thing, and add a couple original thoughts to the end, but in essence, it's done. I make no claims about grades, or getting it approved, mind you. The goal for this week was to finish it. We'll let next week worry about how good it actually is!
And now that it is done, I can finally turn my thoughts to Sri Lanka. Lots to do before I go- pack, move and store my worldly goods, say good-bye. I'll hardly have any time to read!
Theoretically I had not only the entire term (with the two week reading break) but extra time after the term to May 6 to finish this paper. I hobbled myself doubly, first by virtually ignoring the paper until everything else was finished, and then by booking my departure for April 26. If there was any question about pressure being a motivator for me, I think I found the answer.
And so, this past Monday, I checked a stack of books I couldn't see over out of the library, and got to work.
When I was a kid, my family was well known at school for how much we read. I mean, we didn't just like books, we lived off them. All my childhood memories are, if not centered around books, certainly shaped by them. Our language was littered with English terms from the 1950s (thanks to Enid Blyton), on car trip Mom would read to us, even when playing video games, or with lego or anything, it was in the downstairs library. We jokingly called it that, the "Downstairs Library", but it really was a library of children's books. What's more, that was only the downstairs portion. The house was (and is, come to think of it) lined with books. Books on every flat surface. Books migrating around the house as different people read them. Books that were read over and over and over again. The greatest crime in our household was to steal someones book while they were still reading it (actually, that still is the greatest crime). I've gotten into violent altercations with most of my siblings over them reading my book or vice versa- and we never felt that we were in the wrong!
Anyway, all that immersion in literature has made me a good reader. I mean, the thinking portion of the paper takes a little longer, but I can go through a stack of books like other people go through a stack of pancakes. It's a useful trait in seminary.
So I spent the week reading, taking notes, and arranging the information in my head. Then I spat it all back up (properly footnoted) into this massive paper. It's mostly done now, and the writing of has almost used me up. I still have to go through and edit the stupid thing, and add a couple original thoughts to the end, but in essence, it's done. I make no claims about grades, or getting it approved, mind you. The goal for this week was to finish it. We'll let next week worry about how good it actually is!
And now that it is done, I can finally turn my thoughts to Sri Lanka. Lots to do before I go- pack, move and store my worldly goods, say good-bye. I'll hardly have any time to read!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Well, this blog has been pretty lone and level for the last while! I've not posted since the Olympics, but don't be too hard on me - I was pretty wrapped up in school. Still am, to tell the truth. Classes finished on Maundy Thursday, and I've spent the last week frantically writing papers and doing research. I handed in two papers yesterday, and I'm now in the very brief downtime between papers. Later today I have to start my major exegesis paper, which is a 30 page paper on (in my case) the first five verses of the Gospel of John. But that's for later, and in the meantime, the getting ready for the trip has been progressing nicely!
I have a departure date - April 26. My flight is routed through London, which seems odd to me (surely it's shorter from Vancovuer to go the other way?) but I'm not the one booking it, so no complaints. The amazing upside to going through London is that on the way home (at the end of July) I also go through London, and have arranged for a three day stop over. Westminster Abbey, here I come (again!). I'm also going to see the Tower of London. Yes, I have my time in London all planned out. I can't wait.
I've also spent the last couple weeks getting all the medical tests done. The Anglican Chuch of Canada has a big form for you to fill out, and then you have to go see a doctor. I was not looking forward to this - I don't trust doctors. If you ask me they are always looking for something new (and expensive) to be wrong with you, so they can prescribe new (and expensive!) drugs. However, my distaste for the inside of a doctor's office was not a good reason to bail on this amazing opportunity, so I reluctantly wandered over to the student health center on campus. It was ok - the doctor was quite nice, and did a minimum of poking and prodding. I had to get a blood test and chest x-ray done, as well as a tb skin test. Hopefully that will be it for the doctor.
I've also heard from my buddy Len, who was in Sri Lanka a couple summers ago. He told me that when he was there he preached all the time, and everything was pretty laid back and casual. I think that sounds pretty good to me. He also said that he arrived on a Saturday and was asked to preach on a Sunday. That would be....an interesting challenge... well, we'll see.
I have a departure date - April 26. My flight is routed through London, which seems odd to me (surely it's shorter from Vancovuer to go the other way?) but I'm not the one booking it, so no complaints. The amazing upside to going through London is that on the way home (at the end of July) I also go through London, and have arranged for a three day stop over. Westminster Abbey, here I come (again!). I'm also going to see the Tower of London. Yes, I have my time in London all planned out. I can't wait.
I've also spent the last couple weeks getting all the medical tests done. The Anglican Chuch of Canada has a big form for you to fill out, and then you have to go see a doctor. I was not looking forward to this - I don't trust doctors. If you ask me they are always looking for something new (and expensive) to be wrong with you, so they can prescribe new (and expensive!) drugs. However, my distaste for the inside of a doctor's office was not a good reason to bail on this amazing opportunity, so I reluctantly wandered over to the student health center on campus. It was ok - the doctor was quite nice, and did a minimum of poking and prodding. I had to get a blood test and chest x-ray done, as well as a tb skin test. Hopefully that will be it for the doctor.
I've also heard from my buddy Len, who was in Sri Lanka a couple summers ago. He told me that when he was there he preached all the time, and everything was pretty laid back and casual. I think that sounds pretty good to me. He also said that he arrived on a Saturday and was asked to preach on a Sunday. That would be....an interesting challenge... well, we'll see.
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