Mind of Strine

Pondering....

2010-03-31T10:35:00.004-04:00

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.....the meaning of life at the library. In the children's section. I asked the CBL (Crazy Blonde Lady) to bring me to the philosophy section, and this is where she took me. How am I supposed to be the smartest baby in Oxford if she only brings me books with pictures?? Petulant cow.

A Transitional State of Mind

2010-03-05T10:23:00.005-05:00

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I've been thinking a lot lately about transitions. Probably because, in a way, it feels like the last 5.5 years have been nothing but one transition after another for us. We've moved 3 times to 2 different states, and to another country; we've held a myriad of jobs and roles - everything from Starbucks barista to pastor to executive assistant; we've gone from being a wild married couple (HA HA) to the laid back parents we never exactly saw ourselves being. I like to think that transitions represent new seasons in our lives; that they mean to give us the chance to grow as individuals and to look at life in a completely different way than we would if we had stayed in the same place or situation. Each transition, either through heartache or laughter, has brought us to a new place emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

I write this as I am beginning to transition back to work. Of course, I still have three more weeks, but it doesn't seem long enough, and I find myself dreading this upcoming change in our lives. I knew this day was coming, and I've tried to prepare for it, but it makes me sad to look at my little guy and know that I can't be the one to put him down for naps, that someone else will comfort him when he cries, and that he will learn new songs at toddler group that I won't know, because I didn't take him there. I have a more than capable nanny to care for Jack, but my heart struggles with the change part. As I lamented my heart sadness to a friend of mine recently, she responded, "You can find anyone to care for Jack....but there's only one person that can mother him." I loved that. This transition won't be easy, and I know that. But, I have faith that I will learn something from this new season I'm about to enter - whether it is trusting someone with my child, or learning that I can't be everything to and for Jack, as much as I want to. (More than likely the latter than the former!)

We're also entering what I refer to as the "Light at the End of the Tunnel" phase. There may be a dissertation finished in September, which would be the culmination of 6 years of amazing hard work by my unbelievably talented husband. But, it also means another transition - Casey will go from being a student to just another guy with a doctorate. We don't know where we'll go, where we'll be living, where he'll be teaching, etc. and the questions start all over again.

Oxford itself is very much a transitional city. When we moved, we knew we'd probably only be here 3 maybe 4 years, as most of our friends here. Unfortunately, when you move to a place and know you're only going to be there for a certain amount to time, it becomes difficult to develop deep, lasting relationships that you long for. The impending transition looms, and the attitude often becomes, "why bother?" I've tried (and failed many times) to reign in that attitude because the bottom line is: I don't know if we'll be here only 3 or 4 years. We may be here longer. Or not. It makes me miss the friends (already) who are leaving, or who have left this little city of spires to live their own transitions.

I don't really know where I'm going with this particular blog - I'm thinking out loud. (And going back to read it, I sound a bit like Donald Miller's schizo writing - which I love.)

Do any of you struggle with transitions? I know I do...but on the other hand, I am thankful God allows them, because without transition there is no growth...right?

Wellies and Raincoats

2009-12-04T16:17:00.003-05:00

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The Strines have been living in Oxford for 26.5 months now. It's hard to believe it's been that long...where does the time go?

Anyway, the entire time we've lived here, I've lived without 2 very necessary items that NO ONE in England lives without: a pair of wellies and a raincoat.

You ask yourself, "Seriously?"

Yes, people, I own neither....at least until a week ago.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Casey was traveling outside this damp little island we live on. I, on the other hand, was here in the rain. Pushing a stroller. While trying to hold a golf umbrella. Oh, did I mention my feet were soaked??

I had had enough.

I have managed to get by without those 2 very important items for the past 2 years, because I WAS INSIDE DURING THE DAY. Now that I have a child, and am away from an office, suddenly I'm outside at random times during the day, and it always seems like it's raining; and it's impossible to hold an umbrella and push a stroller. So, last week, I began the hunt for some inexpensive rain gear.

Oh, by the way, rain gear is NEVER inexpensive.

I hit up two of our local mountain stores, looking for a North Face raincoat. Of course, the one I REALLY wanted was £250. Even though I desperately needed a raincoat, I couldn't justify spending £250 on an article of clothing. I left both stores very disappointed, then had a bright idea.............EBAY!

I ran home and found a North Face raincoat on ebay and placed a bid. No one had bid up to this point, and I had to wait a whole day to find out if my bid would take....and it did!! WOO HOO! I was now the proud owner of a brand new North Face puffy raincoat - for a fraction of the cost in the store. It arrived in the post 2 days later. Of course, for the next week, the sun shone brightly and I didn't get a chance to try it out. Typical.

But, as luck would have it, since we live on a damp little island, I ended up getting caught out in the rain earlier this week. I'm happy to report the coat worked beautifully.

Purchasing wellies, on the other hand, is an event. You can buy plain wellies, printed wellies, crazy color wellies....really any kind you like. There are so many choices! Since I always tend to be fairly practical and have, what I consider, a very safe, but boring wardrobe, I decided to get a pair of crazy wellies. But, now that I had made that decision, what kind should I buy?

I FINALLY found a worthy pair. Of course, as luck would have it, they didn't have my size, and weren't getting any more in that size. I contacted the manufacturer, and they didn't have my size either!! AHHH!!! They did, however, give me the name of a store in Henley, and wished me luck.
I phoned them up, and lo and behold....they had my wellies! I made a quick purchase (Merry Christmas to me from the Chieftain and Viv), and HOORAY! new wellies arrived in the post 2 days later.

Here's what they look like:

I love them. And my raincoat.

Blenheim Palace Battle Proms

2009-11-22T15:44:00.005-05:00

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For the last two years we've lived in Oxford, we've attended the annual battle proms at Blenheim Palace. For those of you who are history buffs, Blenheim Palace (www.blenheimpalace.com) is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. It's located in Woodstock, a small, quaint village about 20 miles from Oxford. The Palace truly IS a palace, and sits on the most beautiful piece of land - acres and acres of rolling gardens, full of history.

Okay, enough about the landscaping - back to battle proms.

When we were first invited to attend this grand event, I asked someone what exactly is a battle prom? The English weren't exactly great at explaining, so I did some research. In short, the battle proms are a bit like an American version of the 4th of July - with a tad bit more pomp and circumstance. Actually, a tad doesn't even cut it. It's way more than a tad; it's enormous pomp and circumstance. They have a reenactment of the Napoleonic infantry and Calvary; an orchestra that plays William Tell's 1812 overture which is enhanced by the firing of 200 cannons; a spitfire that flies overhead; and roughly the ONLY time you'll ever see a Brit get the slightest bit patriotic by waving a Union Jack flag.

Now, you have to ask...What does one wear to this event? The answer: anything. You'll literally see people in 17th century period dress, evening gowns, overcoats and wellies, ascots...you get the picture.

This event takes place in a field that overlooks the Palace. There's usually about 2,000 people there. They typically have small venues to get food, etc, but everyone usually brings their own picnics. This is where it can get interesting. Every group is different. Some will bring tents, and full dining room furniture capped off with candelabras and a fancy catered meal; others (like my group), just brought a basic picnic, and sat on the ground (or in tailgaiting chairs) to listen to the music.

It is one of my favorite things we've done since we've lived here!

And the pic below is proof: 3 crazy blonde Americans. 2 crazy Englishmen. 1 ridiculous fishing hat.

You Have Stolen My Heart

2009-09-15T09:12:00.009-04:00

Dear Jack,

Happy 7 week birthday! It's hard to believe you've only been in our lives for 7 weeks; we can't imagine our lives before you now - except for the fact that we did get a lot more sleep!

We are so privileged and blessed to be your parents. Sometimes I'm not quite sure what God was thinking entrusting you to us. But, we're so honored to have that responsibility, even though it feels overwhelming at times. We want so badly for you to grow up and be a terrific citizen of the world, to further God's kingdom with the gifts and talents he's given to you. We promise to help you, with God's help, identify those gifts and talents so you can live life with balance and purpose. There will only be one Jack Emerson Strine; and we truly want you to achieve all that God has for you.

All that to say, we will fail you along the way. A LOT. We're human, just like you, full of flaws and imperfections. We will often get it wrong. We may always get it wrong. But, I can honestly say that we will love you unconditionally, and I pray that you will always feel that our home is place you can rest.

We have so many dreams for you (Daddy's main dream is to be your caddie someday!), but those are for another blog post. We just want you to know that we love you so much.

You have stolen our hearts.

Love,
Your Mom

And then after a year...

2009-08-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

So, it seems our blog has been dormant for a year. Wow is that bad. No apologies. Life, as they say, got in the way.

Anyhow, with the imminent arrival of our child (let's hope sooner rather than later), I figure we'd better get this thing running again as we'll need a place to post photos of the newest Strine and a place to tell all the adorable stories about her or him.

Noticing that our last post, courtesy of my wonderful wife, was about the Addebury Half-Marathon, I thought I'd inform everyone, a month later, that this year I was in England and did run the race. 1:50:28... not that I'm counting or anything. Great race, great day. Anyhow... here I am in full stride.

As my favorite blogger on Runners' World says, waddle on.

The Adderbury Half Marathon

2008-11-10T15:39:00.003-05:00

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Whilst Casey was away this summer, paying someone so he could dig up dirt, I had the opportunity to go stay with Mr & Mrs S in Adderbury for a weekend. The Adderbury Running Club was to host its first marathon to coincide with their village's annual Party in the Park. It was to be an exciting weekend, and I didn't want to miss it.

Mr S and I left work on Thursday evening and drove out to their village. We had a meeting with the 2 other ARC masterminds - T & J - at their local pub, named The Bell. I found out that I was given the title of 'Race Coordinator' which meant I was to help organize things....and so much more, it turned out.

Day before the race day: Mr S went happily off to work, and I stayed behind 'working from the Adderbury office,' putting together spreadsheet after spreadsheet of information. There was to be 5 races in all: half marathon, 10K, half marathon walk, kids fun run, and the circle walk. We had over 150 people register for them, which for a first time, had exceeded everyone's expectations.

Half way through the day, J came over to Mr S' house to let me know he would be setting out the mile markers for the half marathon. Mr S & I were to put out the markers for the 10K. (Before I go any further, I must reflect that to say these races were cross country is to make an understatement. You were running through fields, jumping over fences, and in some cases, wide streams due to recent flooding.) Around 4p, Mr S came home, and we loaded up our mile markers, stakes, etc. jumped on our bikes, and headed out to mark the course. I figured, 2 hours tops, right? We were on bikes, and how long does it take to ride a 10k?

I literally had no idea what I was about to get myself into.

Even in July, the weather was relatively cool. Before we left, Mrs S loaned me a jacket, and later on, I was extremely thankful that she did. The first mile marker wasn't so bad - we had mainly stayed on roads, and then veered off down a path through a gate. At the end of the path, I swung the gate open and I was standing in a field. It was the picturesque English countryside. Horses galloped, cows grazed, geese and ducks flew overhead; I thought, "What a lucky girl I am to be able to experience this." I looked at Mr S and asked him where we were headed - he politely pointed to the other side of the field.

We rode our bikes and came to a fence with a gate that was clearly locked. My brain started to turn.

"Umm...do you have a key for this gate?" I politely asked Mr S.

"No, you have to jump over," was his reply. "The farmers keep them locked, but we have permission to run the race through the fields."

I watched his pick up his bike and throw it over the fence. WOW. Guess that means I'll have to do that as well! Of course, I'm not as strong as Mr S, so I only get one tire over. He does the rest.

At this point, as much as I'm enjoying the beautiful countryside, I am beginning to feel:
a) out of shape
b) a complete weakling for not being able to pick up a bike and throw it over a fence
c) we were going to be out here A LOT longer than 2 hours

As I'm giving myself the 'suck it up' speech in my head, I looked off in the distance and saw dark clouds. We had been experiencing rain off/on all day, but the sun had been out when we left the house. I silently pray - Lord, no rain! It's been raining for days! I'm out here laying mile markers down, riding a bike (that's not made for cross country) across a field! I'm in jeans! Please please please don't let it rain!!

And then the Heavens opened. And it rained.

If it weren't for Mrs S' jacket and a hat that I had grabbed before we left, I would have been absolutely soaked. And everyone knows what happens when jeans get wet - they seem to grow 3 feet and just hang from you. Awesome.

We laid the third mile marker out and came to a locked gate. Mr S' blackberry buzzed, and he decided to take the call. In his defense, he did need to speak to the other person on the other end of the line, but the call went on and on and on - I was watching the water drip off the bill of my hat.

We probably only stood there for 5 minutes, but when he finally hung up, I looked at him and said, "Right. Unless it's God (or Mrs S) calling you next time, you don't answer your phone. Deal?"

And off we went - more fields, more bike tossing, more mud.

We came to one of the last fields we would go through, and Mr S started hammering in the stake for the marker. A herd of cows on the other side of the field started sauntering towards us. Normally, I'm not afraid of cows, or other big animals, but I must admit the closer these cows got the more frightened I became. They were curious animals; they wanted to see what we were hammering in the ground. I'm sure they were hungry, and maybe they planned to eat the neon green sign as soon as we left. I just did not want them to eat us! They got closer and closer until they were a mere 10 feet from us. I looked at Mr S, and said, "Yeah...I want to leave now." He looked at me and pointed across the field and said, "Yep! It's time to go!" A very large bull was heading over to the herd. (Funny thing I noted - American cows would not have bothered you, but it was interesting to me that the English cows were very curious. I found it to be quite opposite of our cultures.)

He jumped on his bike and raced away, and I tried to keep up. It suddenly occurred to me that I was a moving target - as my jacket was bright red!! GREAT.

Over the next 3 hours, we kept up our fence jumping, bike tossing and stream crossing. Luckily, in the English summer, the sun doesn't set until almost 11pm, so after the rain let up, we had some light to guide us back to the house. We arrived back around 9:30pm, where a sweet Mrs S had made a lovely dinner for us!

I must say, it was by far one of my most favorite days in England. Even though I wasn't running a race, it was fun to do something physically demanding and be part of a race community.

Race day was equally as fun! There was loads to learn from running this event the first time, and I think the Adderbury Running Club did a great job the first year. The winner of the half marathon ran it in a hour and a half, which isn't a bad time; but, unfortunately for him and a few others behind them, one of the farmers did not put a bridge down, and it forced them to run an additional 3.5 miles. So, the winner actually ran 16 MILES. He and the others were great sports about it, which was good.

I ended up running the kids portion with all the children. Given how badly injured my knee was at that point, I couldn't keep up with the little ones, so I ran behind them with Mr & Mrs S, eldest daughter, Isobel. She and I will have great memories from that day for a long time. Well, maybe just me. :)

Party in the park followed the race, with plenty to eat, drink and people watch. They had several bands play, which was great as well!

I went home Sunday night absolutely exhausted, but oh my! What a fun weekend. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thanks to Mr & Mrs S for hosting me all weekend for the festivities. It was really so much fun! I would do it all again in a second.

Cheers!
Mandy

Confessions of A Diet Coke Addict

2008-10-26T17:29:00.003-04:00

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I can't stop.

I love Diet Coke. The taste, the smell, the wonderful sound the can makes when opened - a slight hiss, then a pop! Oh, it's music to my ears! I think I can live without the bubbly stuff, but can I? Really?

But tell me, what constitutes being an addict? How many times can you fall off the wagon, and get back on before you realize there may be a problem? I can walk through the soda aisle of our local grocery store without purchasing a 6 pack, but sadly, I can barely walk past the refrigerated section of the grocery store without hearing the Diet Coke section call my name - Drink me! I'm only £.42! I guess when the cans start speaking to you, that's when there may be a problem.

After two bouts of kidney stones, doctor after doctor telling me to lay off the caffeine, I've finally decided maybe it's time to heed the warnings. Obviously my body doesn't like the stuff (especially since I do know there are numerous stones lurking in my right kidney), so why drink it? I've managed to go off it before, for months......but, I like it. I like it. I like it!

However, I am committed to my health, so I am going to make a pledge on our blog: I will not drink diet coke for 2 months. I know I can do it.

You are allowed to check up on me.

Please!

Mandy

John Wesley Walter, February 10, 1947-September 11, 2008

2008-10-09T15:02:00.003-04:00

My sweet Uncle John.

Casey and I have been grieving the last month over John's unexpected death, and I suspect we'll grieve for a long time. We were very close to my Uncle - as we are to my Aunt Jan, and cousins Alex, Christian and Lily. One blog about John's life will never do him justice; he was 'just John' to us - as my dad so poignantly stated at the memorial service. He was an amazing man who loved his life, his family, his profession, and people in general.

We just recently returned from a trip to Martha's Vineyard, where 225 people gathered to remember him. It was held on the beach, under a white tent, followed by his favorite meal: fried chicken, potato salad, sweet tea, and pie. People from every part of his short life stood up and honored him by telling stories of funny things he said and did, times he showed his love to people, his very bad driving (he undoubtedly was the WORST driver in history), and his love of bad food, bad diners. It was healing to be back with our family to hug, cry and share the wonderful memories of him.

My Aunt Jan, who is also a writer, penned his obituary. I truly hope it gives you a glimpse into the 61 years God gave him on earth.

John Walter, a well known editor and journalist both on and off Martha’s Vineyard, died Thursday, Sept. 11, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MA, from complications of surgery. He was 61.

Mr. Walter had lived on the Vineyard for six years and was the owner, with his wife, Jan Pogue, of the custom book publishing company, Vineyard Stories. Together they have produced nearly a dozen books and assisted in the production of several more, on subjects ranging from art to history, from ornithology to cooking. Prior to starting that venture in 2005, he had been editor and publisher of the Vineyard Gazette, managing editor and executive editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and one of the founding editors of the first national newspaper, USA Today.

For Mr. Walter, words were a tangible commodity. He published his first newspaper for his family at age six. He attended the Medill Journalism School at Northwestern University, where he became the editor of The Daily Northwestern, widely considered one of the best college newspapers in the country. After college, he began a long career of outstanding journalism at newspapers around the country. His career path took him from newspapers as disparate as the Pacific Daily News in Guam – where he learned to love pie served up by two local ladies of the night who refused to sell whole pies because their regular customers might then have to go without a slice – to the now defunct Baltimore News-American, where he fell in love with his wife when they climbed over a construction fence to spy on the then new, now famous, Harborplace shopping and eating waterfront mall.

A Challenging Career

His career was filled with challenges, serious issues, and lots of humor. One of his many tests of his journalistic skills in Atlanta was gearing up the Journal Constitution’s staff for sports coverage as the city hosted the 1996 Olympics. "We're going to be the hometown newspaper for the Games," he told The New York Times in 1992, as those preparations began, adding: “We're going to have to widen the beats. We'll have to develop expertise in water polo, for example."
Under his leadership the Journal Constitution won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 1993 for a series of stories about organisms and their resistance to antibiotics and pesticides. The newspaper also undertook ground-breaking investigations into the dynamics of poverty in Georgia, at one point going to court to force the state division of child services to open its records. The newspaper’s final report featured a compelling graphic: a pile of 844 children's shoes, one for each of the neglected and abused children who had died after coming to the state’s attention between 1993 and 1998.

The project grew to become a six-month series of 19 stories which, in the words of the Columbia Journalism Review, “revealed a horrifying tableau of the children's battered lives and exposed the state's indifference to its mandate to protect them.” Mr. Walter told CJR that the challenge in this series was not just in the reporting, but also in the presentation: "We wanted tears in readers' eyes,” he said, “but we didn't want them to stop short and say `that is not for me,' and turn the page.”
Through the years he had worked with an amazing array of innovative editors and journalists and helped launch the careers of hundreds more. Young journalists whom he mentored now teach the craft as college professors and lead or work on newspapers from coast to coast. His abiding belief in serious journalism as a public duty, and the sanctity of that work, led him to eschew voting in national and local elections while he was active as a newspaper editor because he wanted to be completely non-partisan in his editorial judgments.

He served as a Pulitzer Prize juror in 1999-2000 and spoke around the world on where he hoped modern journalism would move.

Said Mary Anne Dolan, former editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “I feel I have lost one of the very, very few who truly understand the era of journalism and how hard some of us fought to prevent its end.” Richard Curtis, managing editor of design at USA Today and another founding editor of the paper, said, “He was one of the most dynamic editors. He was infused with energy. He was dedicated to the paper, and his family as well.”

Family and Community

Mr. Walter had an enduring fascination not only with newspapers and their history, but with American history and culture generally – which he eagerly shared with his children. His youngest son, Christian, then six, and he listened each morning on the way to school to a tape of Stephen Ambrose’s book “Undaunted Courage,” the saga of the explorers Lewis and Clark.
A summer later, in response to what had grown to be an obsession with that story by his son, Mr. Walter organized a family odyssey, following the route of the explorers into the American West. He packed the car with his wife, three children and young niece, Nancy – who announced she just hated anything to do with history – and filled them each day with the words of the adventure as recorded in Lewis’ diary. (He read these diaries while his wife did the driving; anyone who rode with Mr. Walter knew his attention was more focused on the conversation than the road, leading to terrifying trips.) More recently, he undertook an extended summer road trip with Christian, taking in baseball games at major league ballparks across the country.

Back home on Martha’s Vineyard, he took on the challenge of following in the footsteps of Arthur Railton as editor of The Dukes County Intelligencer, quarterly journal of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. In the winter of 2006-7, he assisted with production of a special edition, The Arthur Railton Reader, which presented a broad sample of work by the retiring editor. In the subsequent seven editions he presented stories on a vast array of subjects, from the Civil Rights activism of Vineyard women to the history of the Rice Playhouse to the culture of Island lobster fishing.

On the day before his death he submitted a detailed story budget and rough texts for Volume 50, No. 2, the November edition of the Intelligencer. In a note accompanying that material, he described it as “a tentative version of the issue, just in case I don’t feel like working at all when I get back.”

Mr. Walter was active in the Island community, as a parishioner and member of committees at the Federated Church in Edgartown, and as an Edgartown representative to the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council.

He had met his wife, also a journalist, pretty much in the middle of his life, and thought about courting her for seven years before he got around to asking for a date. Their marriage of more than two decades produced their three children – Alexander Pogue, who lives in Boston; Lily Walter, who lives in northern California; and Christian Pogue Walter, a senior at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

For all of his many avid interests, Mr. Walter’s wife and children were the constant center of his busy and happy life. Upon his death, one of his sons summed up his father’s impact on the world by saying, “Daddy was the kindest man I’ve ever known. I sure was lucky.” As he was being wheeled into surgery last week, Mr. Walter told his wife, “I love you, and I love our family.” They were the last words his wife heard from him, but a sentiment that he expressed constantly and one that is seared into his family’s hearts.

His death followed surgery for a rare disorder of facial nerves called trigeminal neuralgia that had caused him episodes of severe pain. He told few people about the extent of that pain, choosing instead to greet each day with the words, “Today is going to be a good day.”

He leaves his immediate family, his sister, Rosemary Giesser and her two children, Nancy and Rosemary Giesser, all of N. Olmstead, Ohio; his step-mother, Betty Walter, of Broadview Heights, Ohio; his brother-in-law and sister- in-law, Michael and Vicky Pogue of Lynchburg, Va., and their children, Amanda Strine, and her husband, Casey, of Oxford, England; and Mitchell Pogue and his wife, Melissa, also of Lynchburg. Mr. Walter was lucky enough to have provided a home for Amanda and Mitchell during short periods of his life. He also leaves hundreds of dear friends, including two Vineyard buddies, Nis Kildegaard and Joe Pitt. Joe was with him at his death, and Nis was in his heart, always.

Gifts in John Walter’s memory may be made to a fund established in his name at the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, Box 1069, Edgartown, MA 02539; the gifts will be used to support enrichment opportunities for creative arts students (including the journalism department) at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

A joyful memorial service, followed by lunch, will be held for him at 1 p.m. on Oct. 4 under a tent at the Wasque Swimming Beach on Chappy. The public is welcome; transportation will be provided from the On Time dock to Wasque.

It will be a good day.

You will be and already are missed, John. We love you and always will. We are eternally thankful we were part of your life.

Mandy and Casey

PS - For those of you who would like to read some great stories about 'Just John' - go to www.vineyardstories.com and click on Memories of John.

They're Creepy and They're Kooky....

2008-09-09T15:37:00.003-04:00

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No, I'm not talking about the Adams Family. I'm talking about spiders.

I hate spiders. Small, medium, large, round, skinny legs, hairy legs....anyway you name them. I HATE THEM. Nothing gives me the heebie jeebies more than spiders (except maybe for flying roaches, but luckily there aren't any of those here). I think my fear of spiders goes back to my childhood. My parents purchased a one hundred year old house and renovated it. It was beautiful, but it had a bit of a spider infestation. You could turn the faucet in the tub on, and yes, instead of water, spiders. They were everywhere. I used to have nightmares about them, and occasionally still do.

As long as we've lived in Oxford, I've only seen spiders at work, and maybe one in our flat. Until this weekend......when we moved into college accommodation.

I should interject here that when I've seen a spider at work, my lovely English colleagues just want to catch them and throw them back outside. WHAT?! What person in their right mind would do that??

It appears that the tenants before us were...how shall I say this politely?.....filthy. I mean really filthy. Casey and I aren't sure they cleaned the entire time they were here. And, to top it off, did the college bother to have the place cleaned before we moved in??? NO. So, the first 2 days we had access to it, all we did was tidy up before we moved our stuff in. Last Friday evening, we finally got everything moved over, and started unpacking. I had seen a couple of spiders while we were cleaning, and promptly worked up the courage to kill them, but had hoped that was the end. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

I walked into the laundry room, and saw a spider, rather medium sized, on the ground. My immediate reaction was, "I'm NEVER going barefoot around here." I started to kill it, and then looked up.......

OH MY GOD...the most massive spider I have ever seen was sleeping soundly in the corner of the laundry room. He was almost the size of a softball, all crinkled up. I shudder to think what size he was all stretched out. I called for Casey, my voice quivering...

Me: Case? (I was afraid if I yelled to loudly, it would wake up and promptly stab me with its fangs)
~Silence~
Me: Casey? (A little louder this time, still afraid of waking the beast)
Casey: YEAH, DID YOU WANT SOMETHING??? (He was screaming..or it sounded like screaming...)
Me: Would you like to see the most massive spider ever?
Casey: Sure. (He sounded skeptical, simply because I might have a tendency to over exaggerate the size of spiders sometimes.)

Casey walked back into our laundry room and I motioned to the beast.

Casey: WOW. That is a big spider. Are you going to kill it?
Me: I don't really want to. He's scary.

Suddenly, I mustered up the courage to kill them. The spiders would have to know that I live here now, and they are not welcome. I killed the first spider on the floor, and then went after the beast. I hit it with the back of the dustpan, and it fell to the floor in a heap. Then I promptly did my 'I'm so completely grossed out' dance and handed the broom and dustpan to Casey to sweep it up. Even though it was dead, I wasn't going near it. He reached down to sweep it up, and IT WAS ALIVE!!! My husband, my hero, killed the spider, then did what all good spider killing husbands do - swept it up and threw it away.

PS. There were spiders killed during the writing of this blog.

Cheers,
Mandy

When 51lbs is too much

2008-09-07T16:40:00.003-04:00

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Dear Chaps & Chappettes,

Apologies for our being MIA as of late. We're finally BACK! We traveled for most of August, thus making it very difficult to sit down to blog. I know, we suck. But hey, if we saw you while we were home, we were much happier spending time with you vs. writing about spending time with you. 'Nough said. We have many funny stories from our time abroad, but will save them for later posts.

Casey and I consider ourselves to be expert travelers now - we know how to pack correctly, and what (and how many) suitcases will fill the trunks of a Lexus, Tahoe, mini-van, and Honda Accord. Still, we do make mistakes from time to time - enter our flight back from the USA on 31 August.

Our good friends, the Ragsdales, after a wonderful lunch at a cafe in a green house (yes, a green house - it was very cool!), took us to the airport to catch our flight. When we checked in, madness ensued.

Delta: How many bags are you checking?
Me: 4. 2 for me, 2 for Casey.
Delta: Let's weigh them.

I should interject here to tell you that when flying overseas, you're not allowed to have bags that weigh more than 50lbs. If you do, you are charged a baggage fee. I did not know how much the fee was, but I was about to find out.

Delta: Your 1st bag weighs 39lbs, so that's fine. (As she picks it up, tossing it behind her.)

Casey and I pick up his golf bag, and put it on the scale - 60lbs. Oh no.

We take that bag off - and put my duffel bag on - 55lbs. Great.

We throw the last bag on there - 54lbs. I sigh.

I look at Casey - we are mentally, emotionally & physically exhausted from 16 days of travel. I say, "Let's just pay the fee. How much could it be?"

Delta: That will be $240.
Me. WHAT??? Isn't the baggage fee $25 over 50lbs?
Delta: Honey, that was last year. Now it's $80.

I nearly choked.

Casey and I decided it was time to put our expert packing into place. We pulled all our bags out and moved over to an area where we could repack. It was hilarious. We were pulling things out of bags, adding things to our carry-ons, and placing bags back on the scale to weigh them.

I must say, we won.

Bag 1: 49.5 lbs.
Bag 2: 50.0 lbs.
Bag 3: 49.0 lbs.
Bag 4: 50.0 lbs.

Don't ask me how we did it; I'm still not sure. The Delta Agent was trying to figure it out as well.

Cheers,
Mandy

Arrivals

2008-08-01T11:25:00.005-04:00

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I love the arrivals at the airport.

Today, I surprised Casey by meeting him at the airport upon his return from Israel. Whilst I was ecstatic to have him back, I must say I enjoyed standing for an hour in the arrivals section at the airport, watching people come through the security doors. I watched people, pacing, waiting apprehensively for their loved ones to come strolling through the doors. I saw 2 young children run whilst screaming, "DAD!!!!!" through security until they reached his loving arms. I saw young teenage girls back from a sport camp abroad attack their mothers with hugs and kisses. Friends reuniting after time apart. Call me sentimental, but it did make me a bit misty eyed.

I thought a lot about the love that could be felt in that very small space.

Then, my love walked through the security doors.

Like everyone else in the past hour running to their loved ones, I ran to him, burying my head in his chest, hugging him so tight, I wasn't sure I would ever breathe again.

Hiking in the Lake District

2008-07-27T10:08:00.005-04:00

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Everyone has been very curious as to what I've been doing while Casey has been in Israel. Well, it hasn't been easy, but I've definitely had a very busy month. I do owe you all 2 other posts on 2 very exciting English events that I participated in, but for now, I'm just going to talk about hiking.

Earlier this month, I was invited to go hiking in the Lake District with some work colleagues. It was a client event with the University lawyers, so to be a guest instead of putting the event together (as would be in the past) was quite a treat for me. Mr S and I took the train to Manchester on Tuesday, met up with one of the lawyers, then proceeded to drive 2.5 hours to our hotel. We drove on windy roads, arriving at our hotel around 7:30p.

The Lake District is an interesting place - it's unbelievably beautiful - sheep dotting the landscape, waterfalls down the mountains, and small English farmhouses. It wasn't unusual to be sitting in a restaurant, then suddenly have a herd of cows or sheep go by outside.

On Wednesday morning, we got up early, had breakfast, and met the group we would be hiking with. There were a total of 17 of us. I was a bit apprehensive about the hike - the summit we were to climb was roughly 2800 feet, and the hike was to be about 9 miles. I consider myself to be in relatively good shape, but still.....I wasn't sure about it. Everyone else in the group appeared to be in fairly good shape, so I figured I would be able to keep up.

Starting from our hotel in Buttemere, we ascended the lower open slopes of the village to reach Low Bank and Whiteless. Once we reached the Summit of Whiteless Pike, the views were extensive...truly unbelievable. We then continued on hiking towards the main summit - Grasmoor. Once we reached the summit, we had lunch and a rest, then headed back down. On a clear day, you can literally see across the east portion of the Lake District, right over to the Isle of Man and the Scottish borders.

The last 2 hours of our hike, we moved along a magnificent little stream back down towards the Lake, then back around to our hotel. Everyone headed straight to the pub for a couple of pints - hey, after hiking 9 miles, they deserved it!

I kept up very well throughout the hike. I was pretty proud of myself to be honest. I don't think of myself as an outdoorsy person, so it was fun to explore another part of England doing something I wouldn't normally do. I told Casey that I had forgotten how much I enjoy hiking. I'm hoping to go back!

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:
And last but not least, my favorite thing I saw on our trip - obviously, hooked on phonics hasn't made it over the pond yet!!

With anything in my life, there is always something memorable and funny that happens on a trip. There was a guy on the trip who sort of walked around with this strange look on his face - mouth slightly open, headed tilted to one side. He was very nice, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had met him somewhere before. Later that night, we were sitting at dinner, and it hit me.
I leaned over to Mr S and said,

Me: Hey, have you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite?
Mr S: Yes, but I didn't really care for it, it was..
Me: (Interrupting) Yeah, I am not looking for a movie review. I was just going to tell you that you're sitting across from Napole0n.
Mr S: AMANDA!! SHHHHHHH...

The guy seriously looked like him....or at least a stockier version of him. Every time I would look up at him, I would lean over to Mr S and quote a line from the movie. Needless to say, I think Mr S was on the verge of strangling me by the time dessert came!

So FUN!

Cheers,
Mandy

dirt camp, week 2

2008-07-17T09:59:00.006-04:00

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well, it's thursday afternoon and my life is calming down for at least a few hours. in the megiddo expedition world where the week runs from sunday to thursday, this afternoon is the beginning of the weekend. it has been a good, but most certainly tiring week.

in my area of the dig, it seems that we are finally making some measurable progress. our area supervisor has determined we've started to uncover pottery and mud brick walls from stratum VIa, which will be our level h-11. what does that mean? well, the easiest explanation is we're moving from the oldest historical remnants of the iron age in our area (10th century BCE) into the youngest historical remains from the late bronze age (11th-13th centuries BCE). most exciting, we know the late bronze age in our area is located about 20 meters from the palace of that era and could be where a huge cache of ivory carvings were made. it could also be where the archives from the palace were, and might just yield some ancient tablets with economic, political or literary records. for an ancient near eastern dork like me, that's enough to make your heart twitter and dream of doing cartwheels after uncovering something.

i've posted below a couple of pictures from my area so you can get an idea of where i spend my days... if you can call 5:15am - 1pm a day!

This is area H from above:

here is my square (F7) at the end of my first week:

you can see on the right hand side the basin which was on the floor of level h-9, and a mud brick "bench" which was there when i started the dig. now, here is where we left square F7 today:

as you can see, we've excavated quite a bit. we took out the mub brick "bench" and the remnant stones, probably from some sort of wall collapse. underneath, we found these 4 stones - 3 you see running vertically through the square - which we think were pillar bases. you also see in the top right hand corner of the square part of a collapsed wall... we think. we'll know more after we start going deeper next week.

lastly for those of you who aren't as gripped by the archaeological information, here is a view of the sunrise we get to see every morning on the tel. frankly, it's the only thing which makes getting up at 4:15am not certifiably insane:

tomorrow we're going on a tour of tel hazor and tel kinrot. should be very interesting, and tel kinrot is on the shores of the sea of galillee, which ought to be beautiful. hoping to get some good photos to share with you from both places.

alright, that's the update from megiddo this week. looking forward to a restful weekend before week 3 of digging up the holy land.

hope you are all doing well and enjoying summer in your respective locales.

shalom, casey

the heart of the world...

2008-07-11T11:09:00.002-04:00

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shalom me-yerushalyim / peace from jerusalem!!! yeah, it is pretty cool to write that.

as the title indicates, i'm writing from the heart of the world. that is what they call jerusalem: lev ha-arets. just being here is an amazing experience, which is a good things for two reasons. first, being friday afternoon, most things are closing for shabbat and there isn't a great deal to do. second, i'm so exhausted from digging all week that i'm moving at about half speed. but, half speed in jerusalem is still pretty awesome.

we arrived around 7pm last night, checked into our hostel and had dinner on the roof of a neigboring restaurant which overlooks the temple mount and faces the mount of olives. the weather is fantastic here in the evenings: low 70's and always a nice breeze. so, the view and the weather were perfect. the food was pretty good also. however, nothing compares to the experience of simply being in jerusalem and reflecting on all which has and will happen here. needless to say, it is an evening i will never forget.

today we went to the church of the holy sepulchre (the traditional site of jesus' crucifixion and burial) the western wall of the temple and the mount of olives. you can't appreciate the size of the temple mount, or the steepness of the hills around jerusalem, until you see them and walk them. the only thing i can say is think san francisco when you read things like "who can ascend your holy HILL, o lord."

we're planning to walk the old city walls of jerusalem tonight at sunset to get another view of things and to enjoy the evening. some dinner afterwards, and we'll probably all collapse into bed again tonight!

oh yeah, about that arhcaeology thing i'm doing, it is also going well. i'm really enjoying learning about how field work is done, and how it feeds into the process of reconstructing the history of a site. i'm not enojying the aching in every muscle i have quite so much. but, learning the first is worth the trouble of the second.

we haven't found anything terribly interesting in my area yet. lots of pottery and flint, and some small artifacts. we're fairly certain it is some sort of residential area, but we've uncovered a basin of some sort and two tabuns (ancient cooking ovens) very close to one another. so, some think it might have been an "industrial" area which operated as some sort of kitchen. we won't know unless we uncover more ovens, or more of something else. but, frankly, that's the way archaeology goes. you often end up with a lot more questions about what you have before you get any answers.

hoping to post some pictures in the next few days. stay tuned for those, and for more blogs about my time in israel.

shalom, casey

new exodus...

2008-07-04T06:26:00.002-04:00

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i leave tonight for israel. typing those words feels a little odd. i've been planning this trip to megiddo for over 6 months now. frankly, it was beginning to seem more like a daydream than an actual trip. that has all changed in the last week, and especially this morning as i was packing for a month at what mandy has affectionately termed "dirt camp."

having never been to israel, i wondered what it would feel like to be travelling to the "holy land" for the first time. exciting; frightening; nostalgic; i considered all of these and more. the reality is, it seems, they are all part of my mindset. however, more than anything, i feel like i'm traveling home.

how can a place you've never been to before feel like home? well, i think it mostly stems from the amount of time i spend reading and thinking about israel. as a biblical scholar, nearly everything i do for my "job" relates to the palestinian levant in which israel is situated. i learn its languages, i read about its history, i study maps of its areas, i read the letters and stories left behind by those who lived there. it is, in a very true sense, my "workplace." so, if you add up 3 years of seminary and 1 year of doctoral studies, and multiply by 40+ hours a week of work.... well, let's just say it is a big number of hours i've spent thinking about israel.

my exodus begins this evening. bus from oxford to heathrow; british airways to ben gurion airport; bus from airport to tel aviv; bus from tel aviv to megiddo. yet another wonderful adventure in public transportation to cherish! hopefully it will all come off relatively smoothly.

on sunday, when most of you are sleeping in or going to church, i'll be at my first day of "dirt camp." that means up at 4:30am, on the bus at 5:00 and on site at 5:30. israel is 2 hours ahead of oxford and 7 ahead of the east coast of the usa. so, actually, if you live on the east coast and stay out late, i'll be playing in the dirt before you even go to bed on saturday!

i hope to have lots of stories and pictures to share with everyone here in the coming weeks.
i should have access to e-mail and internet almost the whole time i'm gone, so i'd love to hear from you...

but, i better get going: i've got an new exodus to start...

shalom, casey

Friday Funny...on Tuesday

2008-07-01T16:16:00.002-04:00

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I am going to preface this blog post by saying that I really love my job and where I work. But, after receiving the below all staff email at work, from a divisional head at the University of Oxford, I had to shake my head in utter amazement at the sheer ludicrousness of it all, partly while being completely grossed out....and, to note, I haven't changed one word of the email.

Subject: SECRET BOOGIE SCULPTOR

To All Male Staff/Consultants

It has been brought to my attention that we have a secret male boogie sculptor in this office. A male member of staff is sitting on the toilet in the first floor mens' left hand end toilet picking his nose and then scraping the contents onto the wall. Nice. For a professional office this type of behaviour is quite frankly disgusting. This is not the first time that this has occurred. The cleaners have in the recent past been requested to scrub the wall and it has been repainted. If this happens again we will have to consider mounting some kind of surveillance in the male toilets.

Seriously, how great is it that I get to work in a place where they can send an email out entitled, "Secret Boogie Sculptor?"

Mandy

Christ Church Ball

2008-06-21T05:49:00.004-04:00

Casey and I had the opportunity to attend the Christ Church Ball last Saturday night. We weren't sure what to expect, as neither of us had ever attended a ball, but it turned out to be quite a fun night, albeit a little strange.

In my mind, a ball constitutes orchestras, dancing, women in gorgeous gowns and men in white-ties and tails. Instead, this is what it reminded us of: a county fair. There were different tents set up - we had several bands there, including the Wombats, who were the main act. However, the bands were all punk rock, so unless you like that music, then off to another tent!

In another tent, they had a 6ft chocolate fountain, an oxygen bar, caricature artist, hot chocolate/coffee bar, palm reader, and a place to get your hair/make-up touched up.

The last tent was a hodge/podge of different things: You could learn new dance moves with professional dancers, watch a few students give their best Shakespeare performances, listen to a jazz band, or participate in the silent disco - yes, silent disco. People had headphones on, and were rocking out to music.....

They also had a ferris wheel, merry-go-round, horse & carriage rides, cotton candy (or the English refer to it as 'candy floss'), carnival games, food, drinks, bumper cars (or the English refer to them as Dodge 'ems) and your basic milling around in the dark looking for friends that you lost in another tent.

I'm sad to report that Casey and I didn't make it to breakfast. We ended up leaving at 3:00a....

Cheers ~ and wish all of you could have been there!

A Day in the Life of Laundry

2008-06-19T16:36:00.005-04:00

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Before we moved to England, one of my 'non-negotiables' for moving here was that I had to have a dryer. I told Casey I was willing to do a lot of things - include move across the ocean for him to attend Oxford, but I would NOT be without a dryer.

Most people do not own dryers here, and consider them to be enormous energy wasters. I don't quite fall into that camp, simply because I like my towels fluffy, not crunchy; and I don't like to iron. The dryer in our flat is a condensation dryer, which means it basically sucks all the water out of your clothes and pulls it into this the tray below that you have to empty. It works okay, but it can take up to 2 hours to dry clothes. During the winter, I didn't mind so much, because the dryer would heat up our whole flat....which made me very happy because I was always so cold. But now that it's warm, it seems crazy to want to heat the whole place up just to dry our clothes.

I decided back in March to start only drying our towels, then hanging the rest of our wash on drying racks in our living room. I wanted to see if it really made a difference in our electrical usage, and the length of time it would take to dry our clothes on the racks. When we got our first bill after my little experiment, and I couldn't believe the reduction in cost! I was shocked! And, our clothes dry in less than a day. So, I just decided to start doing this all the time.

Well, 2 weeks ago, our dryer broke. I didn't think anything was wrong with it, and promptly left a load of towels in (which tumbled for 5 hours because I forgot about them), and when I finally pulled them out they were still soaking wet. I thought, "Can I live without a dryer?" or better yet, "Can I live with crunchy towels?" The answer is yes...and yes.

I don't particularly like the crunchy towels. I've actually started ironing them before we use them, and while they aren't perfect, it's completely manageable.

I thought I would post this picture of what our living room looks like on laundry day. Sometimes I feel a little bit like Ma on "Little House on the Prairie" but at least I don't have to hand wash everything! And, I'm very thankful I have been given the ability to adapt to new things - even my 'non-negotiables.'

If I could take a picture of our neighborhood, you would see everyone's laundry hung over their balconies, drying in the English sun.

Seriously, though, should we move back to the States, this is the dryer I'm buying:

Reality versus dreams....

Mandy

TH3: My summer vacation...

2008-06-19T15:08:00.003-04:00

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hello world. ok, had to get that out of my system since i've had tiger woods on the brain lately. seriously? 91 holes on a torn acl and not one but TWO stress fractures. if he wouldn't have won i would be the first to call him an idiot. but, seriously, who can argue with him now? not me. ridiculous.

well, this week's th3 isn't really a theological thought at all. actually, i thought i'd let everyone know what i'm doing for my summer vacation. you know, us students, we still get a "summer vacation." well, calling it vacation is a little aggressive, but we'll get there.

the school year is just ending here in oxford. trinity term (that's what we call spring term here; everything has a weird name at oxford) is officially over tomorrow. so, i can say i've completed one year at oxford. sort of scary since i don't even have the first chapter of my thesis finished yet... but they say you pick up a lot of speed after your first year (yes, i'm writing this as part of an ongoing effort to convince myself; please contribute where you can!).

now that it is summer the days in oxford are unbelievably long (sunrise about 4:30am and dusk around 11pm) and warm (if you call 70F warm). on the other hand, after three years in the tropics of orlando, fl, it is about all i could ask for. however, i'll get my dose of real summer soon.

on 4 july i leave for israel to spend a month working on an active archaeological excavation at megiddo. it should be great fun: up at 4:30 am to be on the site at 5:30; dig in the desert heat until 1pm; eat lunch; spend two hours washing and cataloging pottery; listen to a lecture; eat dinner; listen to another lecture; go to bed at 9:30pm. and, yes, wait for it.... i'm actually paying for the privilege to do this! i will now light myself on fire....

anyhow, in case you're interested in learning more about megiddo, the dig, and what is happening from day to day, there are two websites i wanted to pass along. first, this is the official megiddo dig website:
http://megiddo.tau.ac.il/

there is lots of information on here about the history of megiddo, the areas we'll be digging, who is running the dig, etc... to keep up with what is happening from day to day on the dig, there is a blog which you can read here:
http://digmegiddo.wordpress.com/

i probably won't be blogging there; i'll just use this site to post my thoughts, experiences, etc... however, since the dig has already started (there is a 3 week session which precedes the 4 week session i'm working), you might want to start checking this to get a feel for what i'll be doing. i'm reading it every day.

everything is good here in oxford. i'm in the process of writing up my latest research. if anyone's interested in reading about oaths and authenticating elements in hittite and ugaritic culture let me know, i'll be happy to let you proofread a draft! otherwise, we're enjoying the english summer. i played in the addebury village golf outing last week with my friend gareth (no, we didn't win anything). over the weekend mandy and i went to the christ church commemoration ball; i'll let her tell you all about that. we've also been to a picnic in the park on a perfect english afternoon and learned about the wonderful english drink pimms and lemonade. basically, we're soaking up all the english culture we can and enjoying the heck out of it.

hope everyone out there is doing well. drop me a note with the latest in your corner of the world when you get a chance.

cheers, casey

Friday Funnies

2008-06-07T15:15:00.005-04:00

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We recently received the below information at work -direct from Oxford University, and since it is rather ironic, I thought it might deserve a post. It has been discussed at length in my office. Most places in Europe do not have air conditioning, but since it never gets extremely hot in England, it's manageable. Since Spring has started, there has been one week - just one - where the temperature climbed into the high 70's. I quickly packed away all my winter clothes, excited about the warm weather, only to have Mother Nature turn on me the following week. The temps dipped back in the low 50's! The Brits in my office said:

"Silly American, you'll learn! Welcome to English weather."

It's now June, and the highs are still only getting in the mid-high 60's. It's been lovely, but odd that I'm still wearing a jacket in the early morning and night. I've yet to wear short sleeves outside in 2008.

This is why the following email is seems so...I don't know...silly. My comments are in italics.

Working During a Heatwave

University Occupational Health Service

The UK summer weather may provide special opportunities for home and leisure activities (bbq, boating, punting anyone?), but heatwave conditions can make working environments uncomfortable (Hmmm...only if it's really warm). Although temperatures are not necessarily high in comparison to those routinely experienced in other parts of the world (Obviously the author of this email has never been to Orlando in the middle of the summer), the problem is that the body and its organ systems may have inadequate time to acclimatise to the heat (I find myself acclimating just fine, especially if I'm at the beach). Arbitrarily, a heatwave in a temperate climate can be defined as at least three consecutive days with temperatures of 30˚C or more – but it is best not to be prescriptive (I wish they had been prescriptive). There is no legal maximum temperature above which employees should not have to work (there should be...I mean, wouldn't you like it if you weren't allowed to work if the temp was 75 and above?), but there should be a flexibility by departments in approach to work, particularly where it is strenuous during periods of high temperature. For most, this workplace discomfort is of nuisance value and does not result in heat exhaustion (anotherwords, it would be nice if everyone in your office wore deodorant during the 'heatwave').

For those working indoors, departments may consider, within the bounds of practicability, a selection of simple steps in the workplace to provide some relief and minimise the risk of heat exhaustion. For example:

Opening windows (Right - but it might let in bugs - do you have any idea what to do about that?)

Shading windows from direct sunlight (e.g. blinds, curtains or reflective film) (Hard to do if your building faces west in the afternoon when the sun starts to set. I guess I could ask God to change that for me.)

Moving workstations away from direct sunlight and objects that radiate heat (Does this include people?)

Ensuring an adequate supply of desk and pedestal fans (Men in togas too, please. And I'd like chilled grapes.)

Installing ceiling fans (I already asked for these and was politely turned down).

Installing air conditioning and regularly maintaining it (Please see 'installing ceiling fans').

Renting mobile air conditioning or air cooling units (Who knew you could rent an a/c unit?)

Ensuring that a plentiful supply of drinking water or other drinks is available (Margaritas? Chips & Salsa? Diet Coke? Pints of Guinness?)

Encouraging individuals to drink plenty of water (Everyone will be forced to give up their tea! Horrors!)

Avoiding caffeine or very sweet drinks (That might be too much).

Temporarily relaxing any formal dress code for all staff (both male and female) – for example, by permitting smart, casual or light, loose fitting clothes to be worn rather than suits and ties. Note: personal protective equipment should still be provided and used if required (Hmm...do swimsuits count - or as a gent in my office said - Everyone should just go naked).

Permitting more rest breaks during the working day to get drinks or to cool down (I've been begging for a siesta.....)

Introducing a flexitime system, so that individuals can come in earlier or work later to avoid the rush hour commute in sweltering temperatures; or (Mr. S - I'd like my new working hours to be from 9a-9:30a)

Limiting the amount of physical work during hot spells. (I will not carry hot tea for anyone)

For outdoor staff, direct exposure to the sunlight is an additional consideration (e.g. an increased risk of sun cancer). Staff can avoid unnecessary exposure by:

Modifying work routines so that high exposure, or heavy physical work, is undertaken outside of the intense sunlight hours of the day
Wearing long sleeves and trousers and/or loose clothing with a close weave (I've always wanted a shirt with a close weave).
Wearing hats with a wide brim or flap that protects the ears and neck (Hats are all the rage here...why not?)
Taking breaks in the shade (If by shade, you mean the Christ Church meadow, then I will work there in the afternoon.)
Using creams with a high protection factor (SPF 15 or above) on exposed skin. (Since I get burned from sunlight streaming through windows - do you think that everyone will mind having to reapply my sunscreen for me?)

The symptoms of the onset of heat exhaustion, such as headache, loss of concentration, giddiness and nausea may be subtle, with later symptoms and signs possibly, but not necessarily, including a heavy thirst, vomiting, muscle cramps and spasms, pale or moist skin, weak pulse and a high temperature (So that's why I'm pale! I have chronic heat exhaustion!) . The early identification and management of heat exhaustion (removal from the hot environment if possible and instituting procedures for medical emergencies http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/uohs/emergencies/medicaleme.shtml ) is important if heat stroke, which can have disabling or fatal consequences, is to be avoided. Some people, particularly those with certain medical conditions, or who are pregnant, are more vulnerable to heat exhaustion. If there are any known health concerns about vulnerability or how to manage it (I can stay home, right?), individuals should contact their general practitioner and/or be referred to the Occupational Health Service so that their departments can be advised. Others may be more at risk because of their occupation. For example, those who undertake heavy manual work, who work in areas that are intrinsically hot and/or who are required to wear protective clothing. Where there is concern for occupational risk, a risk assessment should be undertaken by the individual’s department and appropriate measures put in place. Further information on heat stress and workplace risk assessment is available on the HSE website.

Next time we'll get an email on 'Working During Rain,' and the first point will be: "Carry an umbrella." We might find that a bit more useful.

English Mustard

2008-06-02T16:01:00.003-04:00

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I love mustard. I will pretty much put it on anything. Casey will tell you that one of my favorite meals is cheese/crackers/mustard. Probably grosses out the majority of the general population, but hey, I like it.

This is why I must tell you about my love/hate relationship with English mustard.

There is this adorable french sandwich shop in the covered market where I like to get my chicken/mozzarella panini. The bread is fresh, the chicken is roasted, and the mozzarella just oozes out the sides. Not long ago, I decided to have them add mustard to it. I thought, "This will be spectacular."

The gentlemen behind the counter looked at me and said, "Mustard? Really?" I think it was more of a statement than a question, but I didn't care. I shook my head answering his question/statement, giving him the go ahead to pile the mustard on.

Before he squeezed the yellow bottle of goodness, he asked, "English mustard?"

Now, I must tell you. I had no idea what English mustard was. Mustard is mustard. Right? You can't screw it up.

I shook my head again. Yes, I'll have the English mustard.

He directed me to other side of the counter, where I was supposed to wait until my panini was ready. I watched him pull it off the press, wrap it up and hand it gingerly to me. Woo hoo!

I walked slowly out of the covered market, excited for my lunch creation. I unwrapped it, and took an enormous bite....hmmmm......it was so good!

I felt a tickle in my throat, that quickly turned into fire. It spread up into my nose and eyes, to the point that tears poured out onto my face. I started coughing and couldn't stop. Seriously, I think the passing Brits must have thought I was a nutter.

Turns out, English mustard is loaded with horseradish, which I didn't know. I don't particularly like horseradish, because of the reaction (see above) that one gets when you eat it. As I coughed, hacked, cried through eating my sandwich, I learned a valuable lesson: don't assume that mustard can't be screwed up. It can.

So now, when I visit my favorite little sandwich shop, I tell them to go easy on the mustard. As I am not fond of crying in public.

Friday Funnies

2008-05-31T12:04:00.002-04:00

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I could not stop laughing. And I apologize in advance for the language of this Friday Funny.

But, seriously, I could not stop laughing.

Mr. S came in on the train one morning from work, and handed me a copy of The Independent. He said, "You might want to put this one on your blog." He knows I'm always looking for something great for Friday Funnies. Good guy.

So, without further adieu, please see below 2 articles posted in The Independent. These are real articles, and yes, those are real places in Great Britain. I love the UK!

Shitterton: The village that dare not speak its name

For centuries, this pretty Dorset village has enjoyed a special place in the Gazetteer of Britain. But now, there’s a stirring behind the hedgerows, and some of its residents are (whisper it) rebranding their community. Things may never be quite the same... in Shitterton. Rhodri Marsden reports

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

Alamy

"The only annoying thing is that the Shitterton sign is always being stolen. Three have gone so far this year"

I think I'm in Shitterton. But I'm not sure. Satellite navigation technology, while adept at guiding me round complex urban one-way systems, is less than helpful in locating one of the rudest place names in the country; it offered me a choice of going either to Shillington in Bedfordshire, or Shutta in Cornwall. But no sign of Shitterton.

After going back to basics and consulting a map, I head into the Dorset village of Bere Regis, emerge at the other side and arrive at a cul-de-sac with a wooden signpost bereft of its nameplate. If this is indeed Shitterton, someone either loved the name so much that they felt the need to swipe a memento, or they were so concerned about its power to corrupt innocent minds that they prised it off and slung it into a nearby hedge.

I wind down the window and call out to a passer-by: "Is this place called, er...?" My enquiry feels impertinent, mainly because I was brought up never to say "shit" to strangers. But they're clearly used to timid visitors, here. "Yes, yes, this is Shitterton," comes the boisterous reply.

****

Goadsby's, an estate agent, currently has a wonderful four-bedroomed barn conversion in Dorset on its books. It boasts a tranquil, rural setting, hefty beams and gorgeous communal gardens. Even prospective buyers who might be worried about the state of the property market would be keen on viewing it.

But what the particulars don't mention is the exact location. Goadsby's manager coyly admits that they don't reveal this initially, before hastily adding that they "haven't found the name an issue". Oh, but it is an issue – and one, apparently, that's being batted backwards and forwards by its residents. Is it Shitterton? Or Sitterton? Dorset's civic leaders would prefer the latter, to be sure, and elements in the village are said to be all for a spot of 21st-century rebranding. But for now, Shitterton it shall remain.

This isn't the only place in Britain proudly to wear the Shit– prefix – an unholy trinity is formed with Shittlehope and Shitlington Crags, both in the North-east of England – but Shitterton is the only one of the three actually to be named after excrement. According to the mathematician Keith Briggs, who keeps an informative website on this burning topic, the name is probably derived from a river called Shiter, "a brook used as a privy".

As I pass over Shitterton Bridge, I note that the stream that bisects the village – and was once presumably a cascading torrent of shit – is in fact a picturesque little waterway. The absence of any shit in the immediate vicinity is reflected in the distinctly unshitty names of the surrounding houses: Honeycomb Cottage, Rose Cottage, Sunnyside, Merrydown.

But there has been an attempt to rewrite history. There is a row of ex-council houses on a road defiantly labelled Sitterton Close; Sitterton House has eradicated any whiff of ordure by dropping that all-important "h"; and even Wessex Water's local sewage pump, situated slap bang in the middle of the village, is labelled as being located in Sitterton. Is this really a village that dare not speak its own name?

Not according to Diana Ventham, who, with her husband, owns Shitterton Farmhouse and the internet domain name shitterton.com. Until they recently wound down the business, they rented out the cottages adjoining their home to eager hordes of tourists who came to visit Monkey World (a local ape sanctuary), explore Thomas Hardy country and send postcards back to their families wishing that they, too, could have come along on an away-break to Shitterton. "The name attracted a lot of people, there's no doubt about that," Ventham says, "and we love it. My mother, who lives with us, is in her nineties; she used to tell people that she lived in Sitterton Farmhouse, but even she has come around. She's definitely a Shitterton person now."

Ventham's half of the village contrasts markedly with the prudish Sitterton Close; numerous references to Shitterton are dotted around, and there's a house that's mischievously called Pooh Corner. "There are people who call it Sitterton," she says, "but I really don't know why it bothers them. As far as I'm concerned, the only annoying thing about it is that the Shitterton sign keeps being stolen."

I point out that it wasn't there when I arrived a few minutes earlier. "Really? That's three gone this year, already. We're trying to get planning permission for one that's engraved into a huge lump of Purbeck stone. They won't be able to get that into the boot of their car."

While there is no evidence that having an address that alludes to sewage, genitals, prostitution, bottoms, murder or masturbation makes your house any less pleasant to live in, Shitterton isn't the only place in the UK where residents have turned against their addresses, in spite of having decided to move there in the first place. Ed Hurst, who co-wrote three books (including Rude Britain) that look at the origins of rude place-names, recalls visiting a street in Lincolnshire called Fanny Hands Lane and knocking on a few doors to uncover some history. "I wasn't prepared for the sheer hostility that I encountered," he says. "They were sick of having their road sign pinched, they were sick of pizza not being delivered because the restaurant thought it was a hoax call. As it turned out, it was just named after a woman called Fanny Hands."

Campaigns by residents to effect name-changes that might give the area a bit more class are, by and large, destined to fail, according to Hurst. "There's a Slutshole Lane in Norfolk that is still called Slutshole Lane, despite residents' best efforts," he recalls. "And there's a Butthole Road, which they're trying to change to – wait for it – Buttonhole Road.

"Thing is, nearly all of these names have perfectly innocent origins. Butthole Road is just named after a borehole, a water source." Not someone's arse, then? "Well, exactly."

Shitterton probably started a slow metamorphosis towards Sitterton during the Victorian era, at the same time as towns and villages on the river Piddle were being renamed to Tolpuddle, Affpuddle and Puddletown – presumably in order not to cause embarrassment to travellers asking for directions.

****

John Hyde, who is 90 years old next month and has lived nearly all his life in Shitterton, certainly remembers what he called the place as a child. "Shitterton," he says, emphatically. "Definitely Shitterton."

There's something about the Dorset accent that makes the word "Shitterton" sound particularly rich and unctuous, and Hyde certainly makes the most of it. "As an infant, I went to Shitterton Girls School – that's Shitterton – before going to the boys school down the road," he says. "But when they built these houses in the 1930s for people who worked on the local watercress fields, they named the road Sitterton Close. It's strange."

As our discussion continues, Hyde starts diplomatically to refer to the village as "Shitterton-or-Sitterton" – a name that could be a compromise to suit all parties. "But the strange thing is," he continues, "that those 1930s houses aren't even in Shitterton-or-Sitterton. When I was a boy, if I was meeting someone round there, I'd say, 'See you up Podges.'" Podges? "Yes. But I've no idea why," he laughs.

Despite the notion of a vicious rivalry between residents who rejoice in living in Shitterton and those who'd rather die than admit living there, I'm having trouble finding any staunch Sitterton supporters (which is a great tongue-twister, if you're ever on the lookout for one). A couple who identify themselves as "the Butterfields" are taking the shopping out of their car; neither has the slightest problem with Shitterton. "It is what it is. We don't really take any notice of it," they say. Down the road, however, Marianne Turner displays an almost romantic fervour for the old name. "It's just so precious, isn't it?" she says. "But I am always queried about it when I give my address on the phone, and I still receive mail sent to Sitterton.

"I even ordered some notepaper from a local printer, carefully spelled out the name of the village as Shitterton – and it all came back with Sitterton on it. I'm glad the Ordnance Survey have changed it back to Shitterton on their maps, though." Maybe, after few letters to the major satnav companies, the whole cartography industry will finally be sitting on the Shitterton side of the fence.

Just when I thought I would never get to hear the other side of the story, and that this supposed crusade against Shitterton had been cooked up by Dorset Council to get people to visit Monkey World, I approached a woman walking her dog at the bottom of Sitterton Close. By this point, everyone had been so proud of their village's name that my opening gambit, I must confess, had become a little over-friendly, some might say downright rude.

"Hello – I just wanted to ask you, are you a Sitter, or a Shitter?" A cold, steely glance. "I'm walking my dog, thank you very much," came the reply. Hmm. I reckon she's a Sitter, no question.

It seemed wrong that Shitterton should be deprived of its identity by puerile thieves, so I nipped into the nearest store in Bere Regis, bought some paper, crayons and drawing pins, and sat down to create a temporary sign. According to Diana Ventham, the council's replacements have been getting flimsier and flimsier as more and more of them have disappeared into the ether; and nothing could be flimsier than the scrawled SHITT I now attached to the wooden signpost. But at least the village now proudly announced itself to anyone leaving Bere Regis.

A review of Rude Britain on amazon.co.uk ponders how different Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca might have been if it had begun: "Last night I dreamt I went to Shitterton again..." Well, at least if anyone tries to pay Shitterton a visit now, they'll have better luck finding it than I did.

What's in a name? Britain's rudest places

By Jonathan Christie

Cockington

Just a mile from Torbay's seafront lies the thatched village of Cockington, whose pretty houses are steeped in history. Nelson dined at Cockington Court, and Lutyens designed the local pub, where sniggering over the village name is kept to a minimum. Quiet and quaint, Cockington is a pricey place to live and its proximity to the "English Riviera" makes it a honeypot for holidaymakers.

Lickey End

In spite of large-scale development in the 1990s, Lickey End is a local beauty spot that makes up one part of the Lickeys, a collection of villages near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. It draws walkers looking to explore the Lickey Hills, and there's a good local school, making it popular with families. Residents ignore the wisecracks about their village's name, maintaining a dignified air in the face of ridicule.

Nob End

Nob End, near Bolton, Lancashire, is a 21-acre site that includes the southern half of the village of Little Lever. It was formed by the dumping of toxic alkali waste during the 19th century, which resulted in an unusual landscape of chalk-loving vegetation. This rare site of special scientific interest is offset by the distant industrial landscape of Greater Manchester and the quaint cottages that line the nearby waterways and weirs.

Thong

Thong is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it hamlet, south-east of Gravesend in Kent. It has absolutely no connection with skimpy undergarments. Travel links, however, are good – it's just 500 yards or so from the A2 (almost too close) and five miles from Ebbsfleet International station. The few shops that are there wouldn't see many people through the week. Luckily, the giant Bluewater centre is close at hand.

Ugley

Ugley in Essex is anything but; it sits between Saffron Walden and Bishop's Stortford, in prime commuterland. The name probably means "Woodland clearing of a man named Ugga". The Ugley Women's Institute grew so tired of the juvenile jibes that they changed its name to the Women's Institute of Ugley, a rebranding exercise not yet repeated by the Ugley Farmers' Market.

Pratts Bottom

Located just within the M25 motorway, to the south of Orpington in Kent, Pratts Bottom was first recorded as Spratts Bottom in 1773, but it quickly changed to its present form, meaning "valley of a family called Pratt". Very expensive and very desirable, its moniker seems to make no difference to people seeking rural bliss in close proximity to London. The village website admits that it is "often the butt of jokes".

Lower Swell

Fans of the puerile will love Lower Swell in Gloucestershire. Not only does its name raise eyebrows, but the river Dikler and the Golden Ball pub rarely fail to raise a smile, too. That said, it has some of England's finest countryside, a tranquil village green and plenty of mellow stone cottages – and the quintessential Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold is just up the road.

Wetwang

Wetwang is a Yorkshire Wolds village that sits on a busy main road along the coast. Debate surrounds the origins of its name; it means either "field for the trial of a legal action" or just "wet field". Whatever the meaning, the name attracts so many sniggers that the late Richard Whiteley was bizarrely made the honorary Mayor of Wetwang, a title now held by the BBC Look North weatherman Paul Hudson.

Twatt

Fifteen minutes' drive north of Stromness in Orkney lies the hamlet of Twatt. The name comes from ancient Norse, meaning "small parcel of land" – and there's not a lot there apart from a clutch of unexciting buildings and the A967. The beauty of Twatt, though, lies in its wild setting, breathtaking views and a sense of total isolation. Houses here are decidedly affordable.

Balls Green

Sounding more like a reason to visit the doctor than a dot on the map, Balls Green is a tiny hamlet between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead, close to the borders of Surrey, Kent and Sussex. It has pretty peg-tile cottages and detached, oversized houses clustered along its one quiet lane. Too small even for a pub, drinkers need to look a few miles up the road to the Dorset Arms in Withyham to slake their thirst.

Penistone

Penistone is a thriving market town west of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, in the foothills of the Pennines. Its name derives from the Old English "tun", meaning farm or village; Penstun and Penstone are early versions of the name. The Domesday Book simply refers to it as "wasted". It has all the amenities you'd expect in a rural town of 8,500 residents, including a cinema, farmers' market and, er, morris dancers.

Bitchfield

Five miles south of Grantham, Lincolnshire, is the delightfully named village of Bitchfield. But the name's definitely its main attraction; there's nothing to see, just two groups of buildings connected by Dark Lane, and a small chapel. Beware: avoiding Bitchfield because of its name may land you up in nearby Bulby, Aslackby, Sproxton or Burton Coggles. Not much of an improvement.

Tosside

Tosside in Lancashire is considered by residents to be the smallest place in the world. Its origins stretch back to the Vikings, with its name derived from "tod", meaning fox, and "saetr", meaning high summer pasture. Located between the villages of Slaidburn and Wigglesworth, within the Forest of Bowland, it's a designated area of outstanding natural beauty that can be explored on foot or bike. It may be tiny, but Tosside does have a pub – the Dog and Partridge.

Prickwillow

Prickwillow is set on the banks of the river Lark, four miles east of Ely in Cambridgeshire. The "Prick" in Prickwillow is said to be a reference to the "prickets" of willow – long, thin skewers used to make thatch – that grew in the nearby marshes. The village lies below sea level and a series of pumping engines were installed to ensure that the land remained arable. Some of them can be enjoyed at Prickwillow's Museum of Fenland Drainage.

Crapstone

Crapstone in Devon is to be found on the western edge of Dartmoor, one mile away from Yelverton. The locals are fiercely defensive of their village, even starting a campaign on Facebook complaining about a television advert that claimed to be set in Crapstone but was actually filmed near "the Pimple" in Tavistock. It has been noted that Crapstone's industrial hub is the Crapstone Business Park, while its financial district is the counter of the local post office.

Bell End

Five miles up the road from Lickey End is the minuscule hamlet of Bell End. Set on the busy A491, between the M5 and Stourbridge, in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire, it consists largely of the Bell Inn pub and a couple of houses. So there are very few residents to suffer the shame of living in Bell End.

Cockermouth

Cockermouth in Cumbria sits at the confluence of the rivers Cocker and Derwent. It's an ancient town, with Roman, Viking and Norman influences, which has grown over the centuries to a population of nearly 8,000 people. It's the birthplace of William Wordsworth and Fletcher Christian. In spite of its proximity to the Lake District, it suffers much less from summer tourists than close neighbour Keswick (that means Cockermouth is not as popular or pretty). It's also home to the Belfagan all-female morris dancers.

Spital in the Street

Boasting just a few buildings and a public phone-box, Spital in the Street joins a long list of Lincolnshire places with a hint of unsavouriness. It's on the busy intersection of the A15 and A631, north of Lincoln, and has the equally daft Owmby-by-Spital and Normanby-by-Spital as near neighbours. Not as remote as it seems, Spital in the Street is half a mile west of Hemswell Cliff, which has a school, museum, pub and hotel.

Titlington

The cheekily named Titlington is six miles west of Alnwick in Northumberland and 10 miles from the coast. The population has dwindled over the years, and it now consists of a few houses and the spectacular Titlington Mount, a country pile used for corporate functions and weddings.

Upper Dicker

Originally the site of a medieval trade centre ("dicker" means barter), Upper Dicker sits within sight of the South Downs near Polegate. Not the prettiest village (or name) in the area, the housing stock is a mixture of Downland vernacular and modern boxes, slightly blighted by a fast through-road. There's a smattering of shops along the main road and the posh St Bede's senior school is in the village. Lower Dicker is just down the road.

Muff

Muff – from the Irish word "magh" – is a village in County Donegal, on the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland. Over the last decade, Muff has seen a huge growth in population, with people from Northern Ireland moving across the border. The first week in August sees the Muff Festival – and there's a diving club in the village called, yes, the Muff Diving Club.

Brilliant!

Mandy

TH3: 29 May 2008

2008-05-29T12:40:00.004-04:00

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hello again; yep, i'm alive. i know some of you were beginning to wonder if i'd been enlisted in some sort of british witness protection program. nope, just busy with travels and research. but, in hopes of redressing the egregious treatment of my readers i've exhibited, a quick and - i hope - informative th3 for the end of may.

really, just want to pass along one link the ny times (i know: big surprise). i found this david brooks op-ed piece really great. i don't entirely agree with his assertion that people of faith won't face arguments on the "god is dead" front, but i most definitely concur with his point about how these new challenges from science will affect "religious discourse." you should read this piece and you should really think about how you would answer the type of questions brooks lays out. if you don't have any answers... well, then you can e-mail me and i can recommend some things to read.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13brooks.html?ex=1211342400&en=f1709d5171f59b95&ei=5070&emc=eta1

most of you know mandy and i have been travelling quite a bit lately. we spent the first weekend of may in rome (absolutely amazing!!!), the second touring london, oxford and windsor with my mom and her friend, emily, and the third in paris (always a great time) with my grandparents. yeah, the life of a doctoral student is tough, isn't it? anyhow, just one photo for your viewing pleasure now. mandy gets the privilege of writing all the good stories in her upcoming posts.

hope everyone had a really enjoyable memorial day weekend and is enjoying the early part of summer. here in england we're doing our best to remember what the sun looks like!

cheers, casey

Morris Dancing at The Old White Hart

2008-04-28T15:38:00.004-04:00

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Well my friends...the Strines experienced a weekend of English Culture.

My boss, Mr. S, invited Casey and I up to their home to watch the Morris Dancers. I should note that they live in the small village of Adderbury, and that their home was a village pub for 250 years, formerly known as The Old White Hart. We love to visit their home; we love the kids, and we love to hang out there. Good times.

Anyway, when the invitation was given, Casey and I wondered what the heck Morris Dancers were. So I got on Wikipedia, and found the definition:

Morris Dancers is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two men, steps are performed near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid across each other on the floor.

There are claims that English records of the morris dance dating back to 1448 exist, but these are open to dispute. There is no mention of "morris" dancing earlier than the late 15th century, although early records such as Bishops' "Visitation Articles" mention sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities as well as mumming plays. Furthermore, the earliest records invariably mention "Morys" in a court setting, and both men and women are mentioned as dancing, and a little later in the Lord Mayors' Processions in London. It is only later that it begins to be mentioned as something performed in the parishes. There is certainly no evidence that it is a pre-Christian ritual, as is often claimed.

In the modern day, it is commonly thought of as a uniquely English activity, although there are around 150 morris sides (or teams) in the United States. British expatriates form a larger part of the morris tradition in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Hong Kong, and there are isolated groups in other countries, for example that in Utrecht, Netherlands, and Alsace, France.^[1]

We had no idea what to expect. What can you expect from middle-aged men who wear white jumpsuits, while singing and dancing? We weren't sure about it, but we sure weren't going to miss it.

What we got was an amazing afternoon of fun! There were two sets of Morris Dancers that came by, and between pints of brew, they entertained us. Be sure and check out the link below for the Adderbury Village Morrismen. We're already looking forward to next year!

http://www.adderburyvillagemorrismen.co.uk/

TH3: 24 April 2008

2008-04-24T03:27:00.003-04:00

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just a few quick things to share with everyone this week.

first, in case you weren't aware, this week is passover. passover is one of the traditional 3 jewish feasts which mark the portions of the year and celebrate the mighty acts of god in history. obviously, passover celebrates the release from slavery in egypt and the ensuing exodus to canaan. if you're interested in the biblical background, read exodus 1-15; that will give you the main points of the story.

anyhow, mandy and i hosted a passover seder at our flat on saturday night. the seder meal is the annual ritual which begins the passover holiday and is meant to re-create the final evening spent in egypt by the israelites. the entire meal is scripted from what is called a haggadah (hebrew for "making told; declare"), and centers around the drinking of 4 cups of wine and the eating of several symbolic foods such as matzoh (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs (usually horseradish), along with several others. it is a really magnificent way to reflect on the exodus and god's salvific acts in history. it is also a stunning way to connect with the long history of people who have celebrated the passover, which we know has been done for over 2500 years. if you've never attended a passover seder, get out your calendars and mark the date down for next year (wed., 8 april 2009). you should either find someone who is hosting a seder you can attend or host one yourself. as mandy and i can attest, hosting isn't terribly difficult and is totally worth the effort; we had a great experience and fantastic time with friends.

second, i've just begun working my way through the gospel of luke. long story why, but mostly for two reasons. one, i've got a buddy at oxford writing his thesis on luke and reading it again will help me not seem like and idiot when we talk about his research! two, i've got some books on order to help me read through acts. they'll be here in a few weeks and, since acts builds off of luke's gospel, it seemed the logical way to prep for that endeavor. anyhow, look for some thoughts on luke's gospel in this space over the next month.

third, mandy and i will be traveling to rome next weekend. it is an early 5 year anniversary trip with our friends from cambridge (also celebrating their 5 year anniversary this year). so, i'm certain to have some interesting theological nuggets from our time at the vatican, forum, etc... if there are any rome veterans out there, we'd love to hear about your favorite part of rome so we can get it on our still unplanned itinerary!

fourth, and finally, i wanted to provide a link to the text of a talk given recently by bishop tom wright. i've mentioned wright several times in this space before, and linked to some of his work. this talk is really interesting for two reasons. one, it provides an excellent critique of some of the larger issues causing conflict in our culture and how they are essentially the same issues facing the anglican communion (similar in character to his response to archbishop williams talk on sharia law... if you remember i linked to it awhile back).

this summer, the anglican communion has its lambeth conference. this is a meeting of all the archbishops and bishops in the worldwide communion which happens once every 10 years. realistically, while other things will get talked about at this meeting, the issue which will dominate is the episcopal church (usa) and its stance on same-sex marriage and the ordination of homosexual priests and bishops who are in active relationships. wright gives a really great statement of the underlying theological question about what should and should not guide the discussion and provide direction through its more controversial parts. at any rate, i submit it for your reading enjoyment...
http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=297

ok, back to the hittites, canaanites and ugarites for me! everyone hold back your jealousy.

cheers, casey

Ye auld grey toon....

2008-04-17T14:53:00.003-04:00

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sorry to disappoint all those rabid th3 fans, but this week we'll be taking a detour from theology to talk about something important. that's right: it is time for a golf blog.

we moved to england just under 6 months ago. in that time, i've learned to love many things about this country. i've also learned not to love some things. but the one thing i knew i'd love even before i got here was something i hadn't had the opportunity to experience yet: golf in the old country.

this past weekend, at the kind invitation of mandy's boss, i got out for my first round since emigrating. nothing fancy; just the local club in the town of banbury. it's called tadmarton heath. for those of you who are golfers, you know there's just something magical about english/scottish golf club names. doesn't really matter what they call them, it just rings in your ear with a certain sense of authority and majesty. tadmarton heath.... say it again with just a slight english accent... hear it? yeah you do.

what made this invitation even better is it constituted part one of a two part golf bonanza. you see, it was masters weekend. now, in england, because of the time change, the masters is prime time television, coming on at 7:30 and running until around midnight. so, it was golf in the afternoon, a quick shower, a good dinner and then sitting in front of the tele listening to brits talk about the masters. seriously good stuff.

tadmarton lived up to its billing. it is nothing fancy. in fact, in the states we'd think it was a really quirky layout. par 69 and 5,936 yds from the back tees. one par 5 and a bunch of reasonable par 4's. very little rough, but many of those famous pot bunkers. greens definitely had some slope, but weren't too quick. lots of places you could miss and still make par, and many holes which were birdie chances.

we set out on a beautiful, sunny, sunday afternoon about half 3 when the first tee cleared from the scots vs. sassonachs (apparently a scottish term for the english... but for all i know a vulgarity!) challenge match which was on the course. bogey, par, par, bogey and i was into the round having forgotten to lower my expectations since i'm playing with borrowed clubs on a course i've never seen after a 6 month lay off. of course, this is england, and you know what that means. yep, the wind picked up. i don't know how hard, but it was gusting and swirling and generally making itself a nuisance. bogey; bogey; bogey;

then we walk onto the seventh tee. tadmarton heath has two things which make it really special: a cotswold stone clubhouse which is a 200 year old converted farmhouse and a breathtaking location on a plateau overlooking the valleys and rolling hills of oxfordshire. the seventh has the best of them both. it is a par 3 of 137 yds which plays slightly uphill and directly back towards the classic cotswold stone clubhouse. the tee shot is struck through a corridor of trees about 10 yds wide and over a stream called "the holy well" (whose water is rumored to cure rheumatism... no, i'm not making that up) to a small green surrounded by deep faced bunkers and a stone wall which marked the original edge of the farm property. after casually dumping my tee ball in the front bunker, from the bottom of which i could not even see the green, we walked over the aging wooden bridge and ascended the hill to the green. after blasting onto the green (my bunker skills aren't too bad), i lagged my putt to about a foot.

walking up to tap in for bogey, i overheard my host telling our 3rd - his 8 year old son - to check out the rainbow to which he was pointing behind me. so, i turned too. stretching out before me were miles of rolling english farmland and countryside, bathed in a late afternoon sun which was pouring through the sieve of thick, white, cumulus clouds hanging low in the sky. just to the left of a classic, stone farmhouse, cradling the hill beside it, was a perfect rainbow. ahhh, england.

as i was soaking in the view, apparently the first game of the scots v. sassonachs match finished. i say this because in the background, quietly but distinctly, the bagpipes began to play. apparently, as each match ends, a lone bagpiper leads the participants from their last hole back to the clubhouse. so, standing in the shadow of the clubhouse, admiring the evening and the rainbow, i was treated to a swelling bagpipe soundtrack for my english golf experience.

when the pipes stopped, i tapped in and promptly told my host he could charge upwards of £100 for this experience.

being as this was england, the experience continued. by that, of course, i mean we managed to get 3 more holes in before the rain started. at that point, with the masters only an hour from television coverage, we packed it in and headed home.

that also was, as you might imagine, a treat as well. nothing like british golf announcers. more so listening to them talk about all the peculiarities of the masters. if only the finish had been a little more suspenseful...

ok, one more thing before i wrap this up. the official funniest conversation of the day. walking off the second green i say to my host: "maybe you can answer a question i've always wondered about. why are the flagsticks so short in england?" my host looked at me, clearly confused, and responded, "what do you mean 'short?'" i say, "short. like 18 inches or 2 feet shorter than all the flagsticks in the states." he looks at me, completely blank, hesitates for a moment, and says, "don't know, must buy them from different places." so, there you have it. the great mystery of the short flagstick in the old country is really just an international supply chain quirk.

for my golf buddies out there, here are the details you want. yes, i hit it pretty well, and drove it straight off the tee (yes, i know, big surprise). decent iron play, but nothing great. putted poorly; but, considering it was a borrowed putter and slightly bumpy early in the year greens, not bad. no idea what i shot; didn't write down any numbers the whole day.

six months was a long layoff. tadmarton heath - with a heavy assist from the great creator god - was worth the wait.

hope everyone out there is doing well. be back soon with more theology and stories.

cheers,
casey

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes.....

2008-04-07T14:57:00.004-04:00

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Casey and I awoke to a world of white splendor on Sunday morning. Yes, sometime in the early hours of the new day, a heavy snow begin to fall. It snowed furiously for a couple of hours, dropping 4 inches of snow on the ground. Oxford is a beautiful city, I must say....but when you add 4 inches of snow on the ground, it becomes magical. I seriously felt like a small child. I couldn't wait to get outside!

We spent the majority of the morning walking about, taking pictures and hoping the snow would last for the rest of the day. Students were out building snowmen and having snowball fights; professional photographers were out snapping photos, and even the ducks were out with their wee ones playing in the snow. It was all too romantic to be honest.....and for those of you who know I'm not a romantic, you know it had to be good to get that kind reaction out of me!

Below is our slideshow...enjoy!

P.S. The snow was gone by 3p later that day!

TH3: 3 April 2008

2008-04-03T16:12:00.002-04:00

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hello all, and a happy thursday to you. things are well here on the outskirts of egypt.... errr, i mean in the heartland of england. sorry for that confusion, but i've been researching egyptian parallels to my oath formulae for the last few weeks and i half expect to see a pharaoh giving a political speech at this point. but, first draft of this section is done and now i'm on to the next task. so, hopefully my geographical bearings will even out soon.

just a couple of quick links to share this week. first, a really fascinating article on the economist's website about the real and perceived commonality between the u.s.a. and u.k. lots of talk here in england about how close the alliance between the two countries is, and really should be. this economist article gives some really interesting background as to why. quick read, lots of data to think about, good analysis: everything you could hope for in a th3 link. here it is:
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10926321

second link is to an op-ed piece on the new york times about willpower. i'll only say this about the article: when i got done reading it i wondered aloud if they had been spying on me for the last six months without me knowing it. really, it was frightening how many of the things they mention in this piece are either true about me or habits i've picked up in the last 5 years. totally weird. anyhow, another quick and excellent read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02aamodt.html?ex=1364875200&en=f5df03cfd6225f41&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

ok, one last thought to make this whole thing theological, on at least some level. i just finished reading through the book of ruth recently. really a challenging story to read and reflect on how you would react in the same situation. if you're looking for something to read, it's only four chapters, and with a decent study bible there isn't anything in there which is hard to understand. read it with these two questions in mind: how and why do i try and control circumstances which i know are out of my control?; what happens and how do i feel when i control what i know i can control and trust god with the rest?

in case you didn't know, next week is masters week. i have absolutely no idea how the greatest golf tournament on earth has anything to do with theology. but, if there is even the smallest connection in any way, you can bet you'll see the two linked in my next post.

until then, hope everyone has a great weekend... and enjoy watching the final four... since i can't get it here in england (have i mentioned i was there the last time it was played in san antonio? i will now proceed to bang my head against the wall....)!!!

cheers, casey

27 Dresses and The Blessing of Friendship

2008-03-31T18:06:00.004-04:00

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Hi, it's me again. I started to write a really great theological piece, but it seems Casey may already may be covering that. The only theological advice I can give is - Read your Bible. Love Jesus.

I've been very neglectful of our readers...all two of you. :) It seems that life is moving at warp speed, and one month blends into the next, and then....the first quarter of 2008 has vanished.

Tonight I went to see the movie, "27 Dresses." I've been dying to see this movie because a) I've been a bridesmaid multiple times, and b) I have a closet full of dresses that .. "You could definitely wear again..." which is my favorite quote of every bride. Heck, even I said it!

As I was watching the movie, I started thinking about every wedding I've been in. What struck me was not the amount of weddings that I've stood up and worn the matching dress for (and seriously, it could rival the number of weddings this woman was in), but more the friendships of those women in my life: high school friends, college friends, future in-laws, friends post-college. Every season of my life has been colorfully represented in some way by the dresses I've worn in weddings. It made me realize how unbelievably blessed I am to call so many women 'friends.' I love that I have the type of friends that if I picked up the phone to call them, they'd ask me the hard questions, and love me for whatever my response would be. These women have been in the trenches with me, loved me at my worst and my best, been my biggest cheerleaders and biggest critics, and still stand beside me even when I don't think I deserve it.

I find the act of friendship itself mysterious, but am so thankful that God created us to be in community to truly love one another. I'll never be able to answer why you may click well with one person, and not so well with another, but I do know that there is always a reason why your cross paths with someone. Our journeys are always connected.

So here's your challenge (or application, depending on how you look at things!): Email, phone, grab a cup of coffee, or write a letter to a friend this week and tell them how much they mean to you. Life is too precious and short for them not to know that their friendship matters to you.

On a side note completely unrelated to anything to do with bridesmaids dresses, I will write later this week to tell you a bit about - Ashley and Mandy's big adventure in London....and maybe bring back a Friday Funny. I can feel the anticipation rising!

Or is it anxiety?

I need to go to bed.

Mandy

TH3: 20 March 2008

2008-03-20T02:36:00.004-04:00

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here at th3, we wanted to put on an easter egg hunt for everyone for easter. unfortunately, i can only hide the eggs around oxford, and none of you can get here to find them. so, take that idea off the board. next?

how about a very brief theology of death? ok, it doesn't sound nearly as warm and fuzzy as an easter egg hunt, and certainly involves less chocolate. on the other hand, it has the benefit of actually being related to the easter story and containing far less calories. that settles it: let's go with the death thing.

easter is about death. yes, of course, it is about resurrection also, but the main plot line of easter is death. i don't want to minimize the importance of resurrection, but resurrection only has meaning when understood in the context of death's meaning. conquering a foe (1co 15:54) with which you have no familiarity is a most hollow victory. this is why we like great rivalries in sports: beating the opponent you know best always feels the sweetest. since i'm a big believer in the "1 out of everyone 1 person dies" theory, there isn't an opponent we should know better than death. thus understanding what it means to die is the only way to truly appreciate resurrection. but, how often do you think about death? and at those few times, how quickly do you try and change the topic or simply think of something else? i suspect quite quickly. so, today, let's change our habit and actually think about death.

the bible tells us that death entered the world because of sin (gen 3, rom 5). when god created the world he took a chaotic void and formed it into an ordered cosmos (gen 1), which we call paradise (gen 2). then he created humanity, and they dwelled in paradise for a time. but, when humanity disobeyed god, chaos began to creep back into the world. we have a nice, neat name for the chaos: sin. i know, sounds like an awfully odd way to describe sin, but it is true. order is defined by god's intent for the world; thus, behaving according to god's intent is being orderly. we often give this the big theological term "righteousness." on the other hand, when we act in an "disorderly" way, defying god's intent, we're injecting chaos into the order. we simply call it sin.

well, god chose not to let chaos (think sin) run rampant in the good and ordered world he had created. so in comes death. as paul so succinctly stated: "the wages of sin is death" (rom 6:23). god never wanted there to be death, but god had to deal with the chaos which broke back into the creation. ergo, death.

now, death is a mystery every culture in the world has tried to answer. trust me, i know this better than ever because of this really crazy research i've been doing on mesopotamia and egypt. christians are certainly not the first to have a theology of death. and, more importantly, they are not the first to have a theology of the afterlife. what is distinct, as far as i can tell, is what christianity believes the afterlife is like and what it means.

in the bible, death is said to have a sting. for most of us, we assume that means one of two things. either, (1) death is really a painful experience and the best we can hope for is a minimization of any physical pain related with the process; or, (2) the sting is a metaphorical way of describing the separation from all the people and things in life we love which comes with death. at this point, we basically trust in our doctors to deal with #1, and we try and get all our family and friends the same things as us so we can at least hope we'll all end up in the same place after death, thus placating #2. whatever the case, neither of these is biblical.

the sting of death, in biblical terms, means two things. first, death stings because it is a punishment for sin, and we all know punishment doesn't feel good. second, death stings because it separates us from our true home. ok, that one needs some explanation.

see, the image everyone has of christianity is when you die you go to heaven. ok, true enough. but, heaven isn't the end of the world. heaven isn't where we were created to live. don't believe me, read the book of revelation and see what the saints (=dead christians in heaven) are doing: they are crying out in anguish for the full coming of god's kingdom. now, the coming of the kingdom is described in chapter 20ff and involves the heavenly city coming DOWN to earth... not everyone going UP to heaven. heaven - as good as it is... and it is a very good place - is only a waiting area. to use a travel metaphor, it is baggage claim. it is an important step on the way to your final destination (as anyone who has lost luggage knows well), but it isn't the final destination. you don't fly to europe for vacation and hang out at baggage claim for 10 days. you hang out there just as long as necessary to get your stuff so you can move on to the real sights.

see, earth is where we were designed to live. and thus, it is where we instinctively want to be. part of the sting of death is being torn away from where we're supposed to be: living on earth. uhhhh.... if earth is where we really belong, doesn't this explain why people so deeply, but inexplicably, resist death and try to lengthen their life on earth as long as possible. i'm just saying, think about it for a few minutes.

and so, back to easter. you see, jesus' death and resurrection explains how christians are to view death. when jesus dies god doesn't just send a prophet or angel to tell the disciples, "its ok. jesus is in heaven now where he belongs. he'll come back some day and get you too!" that is not the message because that wouldn't be all that great, at least not by biblical categories. no, a physical jesus gets up and comes out of the grave and walks around on earth for 40 days (yes 40, not just one or two [acts 1]). we think jesus walking around with a resurrected body is really weird; in biblical terms, what is really weird is the idea he belongs in heaven and not on earth. jesus resurrected body constitutes the first fruits of god's restored creation where chaos has been eliminated and order reigns (read that again and think chaos = sin and order = god's kingdom... does it sound familiar now?) jesus' resurrection is a demonstration to us that god will make good on all his promises to restore this world to the paradise he created it to be. that includes our bodies.

see, when jesus says he is coming back at the end of all the gospels it isn't some schwarzenegger like action-hero threat to people. no, it is confirmation that he will rule with order and benevolence on this earth personally. jesus, as a full human, experienced the sting of death in all its dimensions. and, as a full human, one of those dimensions is being taken away from the place he is supposed to dwell: the restored and ordered creation. paradise.

the message of jesus' resurrection is to assure us of his power and desire to make this happen. through the church he will bring order back to all the places on this earth where chaos has crept in. and, when the chaos has been eliminated, the earth will once again be the paradise god designed it to be where humanity can live in their perfected, resurrected state.

ok, so what does this mean? it means christians should live without fear of death, but without ignoring death either. someday, every one of us will die. we can either face that fact, allowing it to guide our choices, or we can ignore it and attempt to outrun something which simply can't be dodged. because christians live with the joyous knowledge that the sting of death is gone (1co 15:55), all the wasted energy of trying to cover up death, or make it go away, can be channeled into an effort to do god's work on earth. now. tangibly. bringing order where there is currently chaos. sound better than worrying about something you can't change? i think so.

now, think again about what it means that jesus' conquered death. it means, among many things, our hopes and dreams for living on earth in order and peace aren't futile or foolish. rather, they are an insight into the way god created humanity. christianity allows us to grab on to those dreams with more strength and enthusiasm, not hold them loosely in order to prevent the pain of losing them.

death is a grim reality. but it is a reality. however, when we understand what makes it grim, we understand - maybe for the first time - what great joy and hope there is in a message that death has been conquered. and maybe, just maybe, we understand why it is so important jesus walked out of the grave....

he is risen. he is risen indeed.

happy easter... till kingdom come.
casey

(p.s., i am indebted to my former teacher richard pratt and to bishop n.t. wright for many of the ideas in this article. you can find more of pratt's writing at http://www.thirdmill.org/ and wright's at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/. especially good for easter is this article by wright: http://ship-of-fools.com/Features/frameit.htm?0403/wright_wrong.html.)

TH3: 13 March 2008

2008-03-13T17:06:00.003-04:00

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alright, back in the th3 saddle for the second week in a row. not terribly much to say this week, just a couple more links to pass along and a few comments to add.

first, if you haven't heard about some of the interesting debate on science curriculum coming out of florida recently, you might want to tune in going forward. always interesting to see what they're cooking up down there when they're not busy counting votes... ok, mostly counting... which ought to make everyone nervous about the prospects for a mail in vote democratic primary.

anyhow, back to the issue at hand. ben stein (yes, that ben stein from ferris bueller's day off, who in a previous life was a speech writer for nixon and ford; see, sometimes you learn pop-culture stuff in th3) is stumping his new movie and supporting a very interesting bill on science education in florida. here is a link to an article with the particulars (http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080312/BLOG29/197589992); here is a link to a supporting perspective from a think-tank (http://www.discovery.org/a/4510) you won't get in the news.

look, there are lots of different perspectives on the whole evolution education debate, but the simple question you have to ask is this: if darwinist's are so confident in the evidence for evolution why would they be worried about people calling some of that scientific evidence into question with other scientific views? that's what the florida bill seems to support (i say seem because i've not read the bill and you never know with lawyers and lawmakers...). anyhow, something for everyone to read and think about.

second, i read a really great editorial in the new york times this morning. it's on global fair trade practices and the impact they're having in africa. especially relevant given current circumstances, the story relates to kenya, which is dealing with the after effects of a crumbling government and civil unrest. anyhow, here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/opinion/13cohen.html?ref=opinion
read the editorial if you get a chance... and buy a fair trade rose if you can spare a few bucks for global economic progress.

well, that's all i've got for now. next week th3 comes on maundy thursday so we'll have some passion week themed issues to discuss.

cheers, casey

TH3: 6 March 2008

2008-03-06T15:00:00.004-05:00

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so, it has been a month since i posted anything on the blog. seriously. one month. you can all cry out in a resounding chorus of "your blog is terrible." a one month hiatus is awful. guess i inadvertently gave up blogging for lent. oops.

frankly, i've been lacking good ideas of what to write about. this term has been filled with lectures, seminar paper writing and thesis revision. hopefully, the lack of ideas for the blog means all my creative juices have been directed towards those academic tasks. more likely, it's a product of three seasons worth of "house m.d." episodes on dvd and an almost endless list of special lectures and social events to attend. this international scholar gig is hard to keep up.

thinking back over the past month, there are two things worth mentioning. first, you probably heard about the stir archbishop of canterbury rowan williams caused with his comments on islamic sharia law and its role in the uk courts. i won't delve into the details, both because the time has passed and because rowan is almost totally incomprehensible at times (really, the man is so smart he's downright confusing. i'm an oxford doctoral student and the first time i read his paper i was befuddled. no wonder the press misunderstood his point!). however, n.t. wright wrote an excellent response to the whole issue, with which i largely agree (you can read it here: http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/nicholas_t_wright/2008/02/a_serious_issue_that_requires.html. he also has a link to the full text if you're brave enough to read it). the important thing to know is abc williams was challenging people to think about how religion and law overlap and intersect. in our increasingly multicultural western world it is not just enough to ask people to assimilate to some secular ideal. we have to think about how we can both maintain a unified rule of law which defines a society as a nation and allows people from all religious backgrounds to live by their own moral and legal codes where possible. in doing so, we create a truly diverse citizenry and not a falsely diverse citizenry. in the first, people maintain their religious and ethnic identity while living as part of a peaceful and law abiding community which seeks to find space for their culture. in the second, we pay lip-service to differences by allowing people to maintain their identity in name only while expecting them to subvert all their religious beliefs and ethnic distinctions to some secular ideal. that is not diversity; that is intellectual hegemony based upon a divide and conquer strategy. i won't rant on anymore now.... anyhow, think about it. send me any questions or comments you've got; i'd love to hear others thoughts on this topic.

second, and less politically inclined, i have to say i've been reading through isaiah 40-49 this term. true, i started because i've been attending a lecture on isa 40-45 (which was excellent by the way), but then kept on reading (yes, in hebrew... with lots of dictionary help). beyond being some of the most beautiful poetry in the hebrew bible, this portion of the book is notable for two types of literary forms: idol polemics and trial speeches. in the midst of these genres, the message is quite clear: "i am the lord, and there is no other." it is a really great section to read and on which to meditate. it forced me to consider all those things which i place beside or above god. more importantly, it required me to consider that while i'm often quite happy with this situation, the lord is repulsed by the idea and will actively move to overthrow the false idols i worship. if you're looking for a good place to dive in and read the bible right now, i'd suggest this as a great place to go. read it specifically to understand just how committed god is to being worshiped alone and to consider what "false idols" you have placed beside or above the lord.

ok, quick poll: is anyone taking my suggestion and reading through the gospel of john during lent? if so, i'd love to hear from you and know how it is going. reply to this post with a comment, or drop me an e-mail with an update.

alright, that is all i have for now. hope you are all doing well. until next week.... not next month!

cheers, casey

Learning to Speak British

2008-02-04T16:35:00.000-05:00

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While Casey and I were living in Orlando, we had a British hair stylist named Leigh. We loved Leigh - he did a fantastic job cutting our hair. Beyond that, Casey and I couldn't understand a word he said. He had such a thick British accent, we could only decipher about every 5th word that came out of his mouth. We found ourselves smiling and nodding a lot. God only knows what we were smiling and nodding to!

Fast forward to the present: Leigh has moved back to the UK, much to our happiness. I rang him up the other day to find out where he lives and if we could meet up, etc. As I was speaking with him, it occurred to me that I could understand every word he said. I was a bit shocked to be honest. My ears have acclimated themselves to British speak, I believe.

Being completely immersed in the business culture day after day, I am starting to discern different British accents, and can almost pinpoint what part of the country they hail from. I can tell the Aussies from the Brits, a posh Londoner, a country bumpkin - all the pseudonyms you would expect someone would use to describe an American.

It's difficult to not pick up an accent after you have lived in a new place. I find myself adapting in ways I don't even realize. Often times I find myself using their voice inflections, curling the end of my sentences up, instead of the way I would normally talk. However, I don't want to be one of those Americans who has a fake British accent and everyone knows it's fake. I want to sound like Gwyneth Paltrow, not Madonna.

But, I think I pulled a Madonna the other day. I went to the covered market to my favorite little panini shop, and offered to pick lunch up for my boss. He requested a 'Ham and cheese, plain, toasted, please.' When I got to the counter to order, I ordered my panini, then said the following:

"I'd like a Hom and cheese, plain, toasted, please." The guy behind the counter stared at me curiously, then went off to make the sandwiches. Suddenly, I realized what I had done. I said the word Ham like a Brit does - Hom - then polished off the rest of the sentence in my normal American accent. I waited for the floor to open up and sweep me away from my embarrassment, but it didn't.

One thing is for certain: you can take the girl out of America, but you can't take America out of the girl.

TH3: 31 Jan 2008

2008-01-31T07:42:00.000-05:00

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hello all, hope this message finds you doing well. thought i'd get something up for th3 since it probably seems i've abandoned the idea altogether. actually, i just have three lectures on thursday this term - after two long ones on wednesday - meaning i don't really get anything accomplished on those days. but, i digress.

today i wanted to refer you to one article i found interesting and give a heads up on the next important date on the liturgical calendar.

first, this link is to an op-ed piece from the new york times earlier this week written by two past directors of the white house office for faith based initiatives. with everything else seemingly being sucked into the presidential election this year, why fight the urge at th3?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/opinion/29kuo.html?ref=opinion

anyhow, thought this was interesting information which i've not heard reported or analyzed anywhere else. just a couple of pages, so a nice quick read. however, i was particularly interested in the quote from senator clinton they used at the end:

“But I ask you, who is more likely to go out onto a street to save some poor, at-risk child than someone from the community, someone who believes in the divinity of every person, who sees God at work in the lives of even the most hopeless and left-behind of our children? And that’s why we need to not have a false division or debate about the role of faith-based institutions, we need to just do it and provide the support that is needed on an ongoing basis.”

uhhhh, most if this seems sensible, but the divinity of every person? not sure if they got the quote right, or if hillary was speaking from the cuff, or what, but that is an interesting statement. however, if it is accurate, it makes hillary a pantheist (god is in everything... we all share one soul, etc... a buddhist, confucian, eastern concept). this is very different from what christian's believe, which is every person is made in the image of god. god is unique, and we are separate beings from him, acquiring our value from being created by god in order to reflect god's character into this world, not to be a part of his corporeal existence. anyhow, an interesting, and important, distinction to make.

second, the litugrical calendar heads up: lent begins on wednesday, 6 feb. for those of you interested in knowing more about lent, here is a brief write up i found on the bbc:

Lent

Lent is the period of forty days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the forty days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for forty days. Lent is marked by fasting, both from food and festivities.

Whereas Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross, Lent recalls the events leading up to and including Jesus' crucifixion by Rome. This is believed to have taken place in Roman occupied Jerusalem.

The Christian churches that observe Lent in the 21st century (and not all do significantly) use it as a time for prayer and penance. Only a small number of people today fast for the whole of Lent, although some maintain the practice on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. It is more common these days for believers to surrender a particular vice such as favourite foods or smoking. Whatever the sacrifice it is a reflection of Jesus' deprivation in the wilderness and a test of self-discipline.

Why 40 days?

40 is a significant number in Jewish-Christian scripture: In Genesis, the flood which destroyed the earth was brought about by 40 days and nights of rain. The Hebrews spent 40 years in the wilderness before reaching the land promised to them by God. Moses fasted for 40 days before receiving the ten commandments on Mount Sinai. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry. Most Christians regard Jesus' time in the wilderness as the key event for the duration of Lent.

Why is it called Lent?

Lent is an old English word meaning 'lengthen'. Lent is observed in spring, when the days begin to get longer.

The colour purple

Purple is the symbolic colour used in some churches throughout Lent, for drapes and altar frontals. Purple is used for two reasons: firstly because it is associated with mourning and so anticipates the pain and suffering of the crucifixion, and secondly because purple is the colour associated with royalty, and celebrates Christ's resurrection and sovereignty.

now, in case you're wondering, this is not a reminder so you can think of something to give up for lent (an ancient christian tradition associated with the season), although it wouldn't be a bad idea. no, i'd really rather motivate you to be thinking about the liturgical calendar moving towards easter and the celebration of jesus' resurrection on that day. it is really hard to celebrate something which comes out of the blue and for which we haven't done any preparation. if we all spend time over the next 45 days reflecting on what jesus' life and ministry were about, we'll all be more prepared to mourn his crucifixion and celebrate his resurrection during holy week at the end of march.

if you'd like an idea of how to do this reflection, the next 5 weeks might be a great time to read through the gospel of john. it is 21 very manageable chapters, written in a sort of diary form, tracking jesus' ministry. it is filled with familiar and famous stories, and it is geared to lead us to jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. it is great to read at any time, but also connects especially well with the season of lent.

well, that is all i have for now. it's back into the cold, english winter for me. off to german class to learn more about modal verbs and extended adjectives. that's right, ich lerne die deutsch!

cheers, casey

Friday Funnies

2008-01-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

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In my last job, I had a corner office. Not a bad gig for me. Our offices were neat, clean and everything had a place, thanks to our OCD receptionist. She truly kept the place immaculate.

Our London office is a big open space full of clutter. All desks are connected, and there is no privacy whatsoever. If you need to have a private conversation, you have to take your mobile and go outside to have any chance of your conversation not being overheard. It's claustrophobic and nearly impossible for me to concentrate amid all the papers, people, etc. I really have a difficult time working in that environment. It's a good thing I work at our Oxford office.

In our London office, there works a guy named Toddy. Well, that's not his real name, but a great nickname, nonetheless. I spoke to him on Friday and here's a small snippet of our conversation:

Toddy: Amanda, you are not going to believe what I did.
A: Do I want to know?
Toddy: I was sitting at my desk earlier this week, and had to phone an architect to discuss contractual possession. I must tell you that this architect is very attractive.
A: Okay?!
Toddy: Anyway, when I phoned her, instead of saying, "I need to speak with you about contractual possession.." you are not going to believe what I said.
A: What did you say?
Toddy: I said, "I need to speak with you about Sexual Possession."

I started to ask him what he was thinking about, then figured that wasn't an appropriate question. Toddy turned 14 shades of red telling me that story, and unfortunately for him, because of the way our offices are set up, everyone heard what he said. Our colleagues confirmed the story, all laughing.

I told Mr. S that's why we should have offices. With doors.

Back to school...

2008-01-20T10:39:00.000-05:00

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it seems mandy has very capably updated everyone on the latest in oxford gossip; truly never a dull moment around the city of dreaming spires. so, i get to handle the far more gripping question: "what on earth, casey, are you doing with all your time?" well, glad you asked (or more appropriately, glad my mind imagined you being actually interested enough to ask). sure, i suppose i can give a brief update on my current schedule and the progress of my research.

BOREDOM WARNING: if you're trying to stay awake, the next few paragraphs might be hazardous to your health!!!!

last week was 1st week of hilary term (yes, each term has its own fancy, artistocratic name at oxford; the three terms are michaelmas, hilary, and trinity). i'm doing five lectures during hilary in addition to my research. the heavy hitters in the line-up are my language classes: a twice weekly lecture on isaiah 40-45; a twice weekly intensive german reading course; and a once weekly ugaritic lecture. for those scoring at home, that is two dead languages and one living language so far. on the side, i'm teaching myself some rudimentary akkadian for my research (that's a third dead language, and our first on the board without an alphabet!). it sound a little like a united nations dinner reception in my brain right now.

outside of language work, i'm attending introduction to biblical archaeology and an overview of religions & myths of the ancient near east (mostly egyptian and assyrian/babylonian stuff). the highlight of these two classes in week one was the discussion of radio carbon 14 dating in the archaeology lecture. i was the only one who had any idea what the professor meant when she talked about 1 and 2 sigma confidence levels (yeah baby, really putting my industrial engineering degree to work now!).

added up, the lectures account for 7.5 hours/week of my time. outside of lectures, and when i'm not trying to learn new alphabets and keep the hebrew vocab separate from the german vocab, i'm continuing my research for the first full chapter of my thesis. presently, i'm working through the assyrian/babylonian parallels to the oath formulae i'm investigating in ezekiel (hence akkadian, the language of the ancient assyrians and babylonians). when complete, this section will amount to 1/4 of the first chapter. lastly, on the side, i'm working on a seminar paper about the similarities and differences between moses and ezekiel as they're represented in oracles of judgment to be presented at the end of february.

so, to summarize, for those scoring at home, my schedule: 1 living language, 3 dead languages, introduction to playing in the dirt, fun with flood stories and divine skirmishes from societies most people can't spell, and a brief comparison of two guys prone to wacky visions who've been dead for over 2500 years. have i mentioned yet that what i do would make 99% of the world want to stick hot pokers in their eyes?

all joking aside, it really is a packed term with lots of great things happening. each one of those lectures is given by a world-class scholar in their field. the languages are hard, and often frustrating, but they're opening up whole new areas of knowledge to me. frankly, i get to do things i love on a daily basis. some days they are more frustrating than encouraging, but on the whole, i feel like i'm making progress. besides, since it rains every day and gets dark at 4:30, what else am i going to do with myself?

hope everyone reading this is well and finding 2008 getting off to a great start. drop mandy and i a note and update us on the latest with you; we really loving hearing what's happening with our loved ones across the globe.

cheers,
casey

Friday Funnies - On Saturday

2008-01-19T11:44:00.000-05:00

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I might be the biggest idiot known to man.

My boss (Mr. S) and I were recently tapped to help out with a meeting for the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University. It required us running all over the Radcliffe Infirmary site, looking for a projector screen, or anything to display a power point presentation to 20 individual donors. Needless to say, it was a very big deal.

Before we left our office, Mr. S says to me, "Amanda, I think we need to take my car to the RI site...there's no way we're going to be able to carry everything." Fine by me! I hadn't ridden in a car (minus 2 taxi rides) since we'd been to Oxford. It was nice to not worry about the rain or carrying everything for a change.

We dashed downstairs, and started loading everything in the back seat of the car. Since Mr. S has 4 kids, we cleared a bit of the clutter out first making way for every thing. We got everything loaded, and I walked over to the passenger side of the car, waiting for it to be unlocked.

Silence.

I glanced up, and Mr. S has a very puzzled look on his face. He said, "Amanda, are you planning on driving?"

I glanced down, and realized I was standing on the driver's side - which in the USA is the passenger side. I mumbled something about being a stupid American, and that I never learned to drive a stick shift - and proceeded to walk back over to the passenger side of the car and got in. I could feel my face turning more and more red by the minute.

Mr. S was still laughing 10 minutes later.

Cheers!
Mandy

Men In Trees (and a Pakastani Assassination)

2008-01-17T14:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not going to lie to you. There are some really strange people that live in Oxford. Most of them are okay, but there are those few odd balls that would fit into my Grandmother's favorite saying, "It takes all kinds to make a world."

Enter oddball in the tree.

The Oxford City Council recently decided to renovate Bonn Square. I like Bonn Square, but it is a bit shabby. It's the kind of place that when you sit down to eat lunch, you're not sure who'll you be sitting next to - a drunk, a homeless guy with 3 dogs, an academic, a student; or if you do happen to sit down, wondering if you won't be shat on by a bird perching high above in the tree. Still, the place has it charm.

Part of the renovation process included cutting down several trees in the square. They were to be replaced by several mature trees, so it wasn't as if they were raping the land, leaving it barren. When people begin to find out about this, there started a small backlash. The backlash was mainly homeless people, upset because many of them called Bonn Square home. The council managed to get all the trees down but one. Then the madness began. The protestors did what anyone would do if their home was being threatened - they began a siege upon Bonn Square, promptly climbing the lone tree. The ringleader of the group - a convicted felon I might add - built a tree house, and decorated the tree with bits of cloth and tarp. The tree man stayed up there for days, only coming down for food, water and to use the loo. This went on for several days until the council had had enough. They decided to send the bobbies (police) in to get the guy out of the tree. Problem is, he was out of the tree when they were headed to the Square and he heard them coming - so he managed to climb back up in it before they caught him. The bobbies proceeded to throw everyone out of the square, including all the people who were his food and water runners. (I should note that the bobbies here do not carry guns. I commented to a co-worker that if this was America, someone would have shot the guy out of the tree.) The tree man decided he would wait them out - he had enough food to last, but no water. This went on for several days. In the meantime, every environmental protestor known to Oxford began yelling "SAVE THE TREE!" The entire square became a horrendous spectacle. I went down there on Monday, and there were literally 30 bobbies around the square, guarding it. Later that day, I went back by, and the tree house was gone - and so was the tree! The tree man gave up, climbed down, and was promptly arrested. After spending the night in the hospital, he was taken to jail. It was quite the talk of the town. I have attached a picture, although it's a bit blurry!

I'm sure you all know by now that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan over Christmas. She was a graduate of Oxford, so Casey and I found ourselves engrossed with the story. What we then found out was that her 19 year old son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was tapped to run his mother's political party, also attends Oxford, and is a member of Christ Church - Casey's college. When we returned, we fully expected guards and such to be posted around the college.
However, it has remained very, very calm. We do know from the newspapers that the British equivalent to our US secret service has been called in for possible ideas on how to protect him. The college has asked all the students to not reveal his schedule to anyone. Evidently they've thrown several journalists out of Christ Church in the last 2 weeks who were poking around. All very interesting stuff! Bilawal has asked for his privacy and a chance to live a semi-normal life at school.

Never a dull moment around here!

TH3: 1 Jan 2008

2008-01-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

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welcome 2008.... uhhh, when exactly did you get here?

as i write this post i am sitting in our flat in oxford. it took me 18 hours, door-to-door, to get here from my in-laws in lynchburg, va. for those scoring at home those hours include the following modes of transportation: 4 hours in a chevy suv, a dulles people mover, 7.5 hours in a boeing 777, lots of walking through heathrow airport, and 2 hours on a bus. any chance there is a bonus for most modes of travel used in an 18 hour period?

all evidence indicates it is 2008, but i'm a little fuzzy on the matter right now. first, i traveled all night, making time of day an absolute mystery (especially since it gets dark at 4:30 in oxford). second, airplane sleep does not, under any circumstances, count as real sleep. thus, i really haven't gone to bed since i woke up on the 31st. third, and finally, as best i can tell i never actually experienced midnight last night. my calculation shows i passed through 5 times zones, and it doesn't appear it was midnight in any one of them when i was actually in it.

nonetheless, my trusty mac laptop tells me its almost 6pm on tuesday, 1 jan 2008. so, happy new year to everyone. i hope you had a fantastic time celebrating last night. more importantly, i hope and pray you'll have a year full of god's blessings. i hope we'll all see more of god's shalom in this world.

yes, that is a shameless plug to make this into a th3 by explaining what shalom means. cornelius plantinga defines shalom as, "the webbing together of god, humanity and all creation in justice, fulfillment and delight" (not the way it's supposed to be: a breviary of sin, eerdmans 1995). in other words, its life as god created it to be lived and experienced. its the experience of creation working together and not against itself. its the term i use for those moments when things are just right and you know it. i pray we'll all be showered with god's shalom this year; not because it will make life more enjoyable, but because it was what this world and each of us as individuals was created to experience.

so, as your setting your goals for 2008, or making your resolutions, i hope you'll ponder the idea of shalom for a few minutes. maybe the mere activity of pondering what experiencing shalom might be like will make us all more prepared to experience it this year.

stay tuned for updates on our time in the states (great, by the way) and for the latest with us as we begin a new year and new term in oxford.

cheers, casey

To London, To London

2007-12-09T12:22:00.001-05:00

I love London. It reminds me a bit of New York City, especially at this time of year. It's cold, people are huddled in their coats and scarves, desperately avoiding the chilly air and rain. Still, there's an electricity in the air - everyone has a quickness to their step - Christmas is almost here!

I spent most of Friday working at our offices in London. My return journey wasn't so bad, but my train ride into London was something. I haven't had much experience riding the train, as we haven't ridden a train into London since we were here this summer. I was a little nervous doing it all by myself (why, I don't know). I left our flat at 7a, arrived at the Oxford train station at 7:05a to catch the 7:30a train. I stood in line to buy my ticket, and a ticket agent came up to me with a hand held credit card machine, and told me I could buy a ticket from him. I purchased my ticket, and then he said my debit card was declined. He said, "You need to call your bank." I started to panic, then remembered I had my American Express on me. I handed it to him, cringing at the exchange rate when Great Britain Pounds turn into United States Dollars. Yikes. He handed my ticket to me.

I reached for my cell phone to call Casey, and realized my cell phone was lying on my night stand in our bedroom. Crap. At this point, it was 7:15a, and I thought I could make it home and back to the station and still make the train. I frantically ran home, and ran back to the train station - making it back by 7:25a. I walked out to the platform to wait for the train, and suddenly an announcement was made: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: THE 7:31A TRAIN INTO LONDON HAS BEEN CANCELED. I sat there for a moment processing that information. I was supposed to be at work by 9a. And, the next fast train into London wasn't until 8:00a. So, I had no choice but to wait. I jumped on the 8a train to Paddington Station in London and arrived 9:00a. (A side note: commuters in the US are no different from the ones in Europe. The woman I sat beside put her makeup on the entire hour we commuted. I guess we should be so lucky that she wasn't driving.) I still had at least a 30 minute tube ride. I navigated the tube and finally arrived at the street my office is on at 9:30a.

Now, I wish I could tell you I walked directly out of the tube station, and down Blackfriars Road to our office, but I can't. I have a terrible sense of direction. I can't keep my north, south, east, west straight, and since my lovely man is much better at all that, I tend to depend on him. So when it's just me, I tend to work best when given landmarks. Since my map obviously didn't have landmarks, I walked down 3 streets before I sorted out where I was. I walked into our office at 9:50a.

It ended up being a great day, because I got a promotion. The company itself is very small, so I'll be heading up various projects and all their marketing. I am excited about the opportunity of my expanding responsibilities. Exciting day!

On Saturday, Casey and I met our friends, Charlotte and Ryan, in London to do some Christmas shopping. The weather ended up being pretty dreadful, so we spent most of the day in Harrod's department store. I must say, it was quite an experience. We had Krispy Kreme donuts, ate pizza at an Italian place that had an opera singing chef, and meandered about for 4 hours among the designer clothes, shoes, handbags, electronic equipment, etc. The store literally had everything - including a memorial to Princess Di and Dodi Fayed - as Dodi's father owns Harrod's. We completed our day by going down to Trafalgar Square to see the 70 foot Christmas tree they had just put up the week before. It was a spectacular day - full of good friends, good food and good shopping. I posted a picture of us from our day. Enjoy!

We get to go back to London tomorrow, to my office Christmas party!

TH3: 6 Dec 2007

2007-12-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

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hello again everyone... in case you hadn't noticed, i took last week off. sorry about leaving you hanging, but the assyrians and babylonians have been attacking with great alacrity (yes, an excuse for you to look up a word i had to learn for the gre). i'm hoping to polish of a first draft of one-quarter of the first chapter of my thesis this week, which is on oaths in mesopotamian literature. thus, i'm cobbling together the notes i've been making for the last month as i've read nearly everything still existing from 2300 b.c. to 500 b.c. in sumerian, assyrian, and babylonian literature. makes everyone want to sign up for a ph.d. doesn't it?

so, although i'm back on the th3 train this week, it will be just a few quick hits. in fact, this post is mostly links, but some pretty good ones.

first, there was an excellent article titled "taking science on faith" in the new york times around thanksgiving. i didn't post it then because i was working on other stuff, but it is still a worthwhile read. paul davies, a pretty good scientist, lays out in clear terms how much "faith" is really involved in science. basically, science is as much a worldview as any religion, with its own commitments and assumptions on what answers are possible and not possible. davies ends up going in a direction i differ with at the end of the article (his ideas about science proving its theories), but the article is a good read with an important point for everyone to understand, especially given the current debates on evolution, etc... in america. anyhow, here it is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/24/opinion/24davies.html?ex=1196744400&en=95a9a096ae42d9a2&ei=5070&emc=eta1

second is another article from the new york times (any guesses which paper i read in the morning?). for those of you who remember all the buzz around the "gospel of judas" from last year, this article revisits the issue. april deconick, a biblical scholar, goes back and lists all the stuff the team who translated judas got wrong. let me tell you, it isn't a few minor things. in fact, if i turned in this kind of work at seminary i'd still be trying to pass my last greek class. nonetheless, as deconick points out, since the original publication got all the advertisement and news coverage, everyone assumes it was authoritative. problem is, the "product" they marketed was faulty. now, when the text is available to lots of scholars and the translation can be confirmed, no one wants to put it on the cover of national geographic again. nope, that party has already been thrown. moreover, since deconick debuncks the flashy idea that judas was actually some sort of hero to jesus, her version of the story isn't quite so much like a tabloid article... making it less interesting, i guess. anyhow, here is the link to the article; again, well worth the 5 minutes to read it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/01/opinion/01deconink.html?ex=1197176400&en=bc41efaf3478f916&ei=5070&emc=eta1

finally, i want to pass along a link to a series of three talks bishop n.t. wright gave at asbury theological seminary recently. if you've been reading along in this feature, you know i think wright has some really important things to say about the bible. i don't agree with everything he says, but 95% of the time his interpretation is excellent. moreover, he's one of the most dynamic speakers in biblical studies, and thus it is always entertaining to listen to him. there are three talks here: (1) god in public, (2) the bible in political discourse, and (3) an overview of the book of acts. all three are good, but the one on acts (titled colloquium on the ats website) is simply gripping. wright just makes the book come alive and drives home some of the most important points it has to make with stunning clarity. it's one hour long, but totally worth the time. it's an mp3 - put it on your ipod and listen to it on your next flight/car trip/boring wait at the doctors office/etc... anyhow, here it is:

http://www.asburyseminary.edu/online-chapel/kentucky
(by the way, you have to scroll down a little to find wright's talks)

on a non-theological note, oxford has gotten a lot quieter this week. michaelmas term (yes, that is what they call it, i can't make this stuff up) ended on 1 dec. all the undergrads - and i mean all of them - leave campus for the break. about 30% of the grad students stay around, so the libraries are empty and quiet. actually, it is kind of nice. however, almost all our friends have already headed stateside, so it is a little hard to find things to do.

i hope everyone on the other side of this post is doing well and enjoying the holiday season. in case you didn't know, chanukah started tuesday evening and this sunday is the second sunday of advent. both are important events on the liturgical calendar... something i'm certain to write about in the near future... so, i hope you take a moment to reflect on them and enjoy them.

14 days till we fly back to the states. consider yourselves warned...

cheers, casey

In the words of Forest Gump... "I was runnin and runnin"

2007-12-03T16:15:00.000-05:00

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Introduction:
Once upon a time, there lived a 22 year old girl who loved to run. She ran in Virginia and Georgia, and had many running friends who also loved to run. In fact, at one time, there was a group of them who ran together, calling themselves the Barbies. It was good fun. When the girl started training for her second 1/2 marathon, a neurotoxin called Ciguatera Fish Poisoning introduced himself to her, and they didn't get along so well. In fact, they fought for a year. Then, Mr. Orthoscopic knee surgery came to visit, and the running ceased. The girl was sad about that, because she really liked to run.

Her friend, Complacency, came to take up residence in her life, and she spent time at the gym, bored out of her mind, wishing she could have a workout where she felt like she did after a run....nothing but pure exhilaration, and the feeling of a major accomplishment.

The girl grew up, left her 20's behind her, and still she did not run.

Chapter 1
The girl moved to England with her wicked smart husband, and discovered it was really expensive to join a gym. She desired to run again, but wasn't sure exactly if her knee would hold up. She decided to try it. A half mile turned into one mile. One mile turned into two. Her knee held up, and now she knew she needed a goal in order to keep it up.

The End.

Yes, my friends....I am running again. Honestly, I never thought I would do it, but hey, here I am, and I can comfortably run two miles now without keeling over. This past weekend, I started looking for races to train for, so I'd have a goal. There is a 1/2 Marathon in Prague in March that is up for consideration, and maybe still is. Today, I received an email from my boss, letting me know that he and 2 other gentlemen were setting up a 1/2 Marathon in their village, and he was expecting me to run it. I started to ask if I was going to be paid for it - I mean, can your boss force you to run anywhere? Evidently, he can. I suspect that it will be held in April, so I think that will end up being my race, as long as my knee will hold up. Fingers crossed, many prayers.

I'm letting you all know this, because I will blog about it to keep you up to date, and to also make sure I don't get frustrated and quit!

Mandy

Comments Section

2007-11-30T16:32:00.001-05:00

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Our comments section has been a bit screwy since we started this blog, but I think we've repaired it. If you feel like leaving a comment, try it now to see if it works - if it doesn't, let us know.

Thinking Outloud

2007-11-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

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We were having dinner with some friends the other night, and one of the ladies there was asking me about our journey to Oxford, Casey's dissertation topic, etc. I told her our story of getting here. She then looked at me and said, "What are your dreams?"

She is the second person in the last 2 weeks that has asked me that question. I don't think the answer I gave her was anything spectacular, as I have been grappling with that particular question for the last 3 years, but it sure has made me pause to think lately. What was I exactly created to do? Or better yet, am I already doing it?

Sometimes, especially for women who are in more of a supporting role for their spouses, I think that question is more difficult to answer. You become lost in becoming your children's personal assistant, laundry, housework, etc. until you have no idea who you are or even how you got there. I know she's in there somewhere...but where is she? What happened to her desires, goals, dreams?

2 years ago, while in Orlando, I joined a group called Legacy Principles. I spent the better part of that time going through some intense life coaching, and learning about myself. It was an incredibly painful, yet joyous time as I began to uncover who Mandy really is. What I found was a woman whose identity had somehow gotten lost when life was turned upside down after the move to Orlando, and that woman was NOT happy.

As I began to dig deeper, I began to find me again. I think this part is sort of a process; if you stop seeking to learn more, you'll eventually stop growing. I don't ever want to be so afraid of something that I don't try it. I often think our faith is a lot like this - if you become comfortable with where you are, then more than likely, you're stagnant. Trust me, God is always in the wings ready to challenge us to trust Him on a completely different level than what we've experienced.

So what did I tell the woman? I told her that I am a nuturer by nature. I love helping people. I want people to know that I love them, but that God loves them even more. Having a life long career does not interest me. I want children. I want to continue to support my husband in this incredible journey he's on - no, that we're both on, and more than anything, I want him to be a success at it. I know he could do it without me, but I like to think that because I'm here to help, he's better at it.

It was probably more of an answer than she was looking for, but nonetheless, MY answer. As I was walking home, I was thinking about our conversation, and suddenly I realized that I am living my dreams, and the dreams I believe God has for me. Yes, there are still portions of them that are unanswered, and lie quietly on the side, and I'm okay with that. For now. Because if my mission statement in life is to encourage, nuture and support others so they know that they are loved by me and by God, then I am doing that every day. Some days better than others, but nevertheless, I am living it.

So, maybe I'll issue a challenge today - What are YOUR dreams? Are you living them? To know your dreams is to know yourself. You can't have one without the other.

Much love to you all,
Mandy

A Thanksgiving to Remember....And a Weekend to Forget

2007-11-27T14:57:00.000-05:00

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It was the best of times....it was the worst of times.

Our Thanksgiving was rather interesting this year. Casey and I were both homesick, missing American football, family, and our friends. We knew there would be no turkey comas, left-over turkey sandwiches, Viv's stuffing.......... It was just another normal day in Oxford. I had to tell my co-workers twice that the reason they couldn't reach their American architects was due to our national holiday....Emphasis on "our!" One guy I work with actually had several American friends coming into visit, and they were preparing Thanksgiving on Saturday. This guy complained the whole week about the money he had to spend to prepare Thanksgiving for the 'bloody Yanks' coming to visit. I laughed every time he said it.

In early November, we received an invitation from the Dean of Casey's college, inviting all the Americans over for a traditional Thanksgiving feast on Thanksgiving night. We went, not really knowing what to expect - but fully expecting it to be very British, and not American. Well, we were wrong. It turned out to be one of the loveliest evenings we've had in Oxford thus far. About 30 American students were there, and the food was very traditional, down to Casey's favorite - sweet potato casserole. The Dean and his wife were so nice to have us all there. The Dean's wife, took time explaining the different paintings in their home (and yes, they have a painting of King Henry VIII), until she stopped in front of this gorgeous painting of this woman. Turns out it was her great-grandmother, who was born and lived in New York. Such a wonderful evening.

Then, Saturday came.

I'll spare you the gory details, but basically Casey and I came down with the worst case of stomach flu you can imagine. Neither one of us could remember the last time we were that sick. It was so bad, Casey passed out in our hallway, and I was in such a daze I thought he was having a seizure. He wasn't, but it was still really scary. We had nothing to drink to rehydrate our poor bodies - and I mustered up the strength to jump on facebook (which I pause to say, I love), and email two of our friends in Oxford to come rescue us. Rachel and Olivia came to our rescue, bringing gatorade, and rice cakes.....they really were our angels that day! Casey and I have been blessed by their friendship in so many ways, and to have friends willing to help out in times of need - well, you will not meet two nicer people in the world. We are doing much better now, almost back to normal.

Guess I'll have a turkey sandwich at Christmas!

Cheers!
Mandy

TH3: 22 Nov 2007

2007-11-22T05:35:00.000-05:00

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Today is a special TH3: Thanksgiving's Theological Thought. Without further ado, a Thanksgiving prayer:

I am thankful for so much, it is hard to know where to begin. But begin I must, and trust the Lord to know my heart about things which I fail to mention.

I am thankful for England; for accents and rain; for sweaters and scarves; for tea and shortbread; for 400 year old libraries and eccentric professors; for pomp and circumstance; for walking the streets where the great minds of the past walked; for royalty and liturgy; for experiences you can’t get in America.

I am thankful for my wife; for her love and support even when I’m frustrated and cranky; for her perseverance in the face of a new culture and a new job; for her ability to make friends, who decide I’m not so bad to hang out with either; for her ability to navigate the most confusing and frustrating grocery store I’ve ever seen with grace; for letting me cook her egg for breakfast, because it makes me feel like I am doing something no one else in the world gets to do; for the chance to say “I love you” to her softly in the morning when she doesn’t want to get up and when anyone else would get punched for talking to her; for listening even when I’m rambling about Ezekiel or Assyria or oaths or who knows what; for forgiving me when I’m brain dead and don’t hear anything she says; for convincing me to apply to Oxford.

I am thankful for my family; for watching my grandparents through 65 years of marriage... well, at least part of those 65 years; for watching my brother-in-law coach football, which means mentoring and yelling at high school kids; for job transitions and new homes; for days on the golf course with my dad, and father-in-law, and brother-in-law; for the quirks I inherited, and for those I’m still picking up without knowing it; for people who will always know I’m not really “that smart” or “that dumb”, no matter where I go to school and what I say.

I am thankful for my friends; this year, I am particularly thankful for all the new lives they are bringing into this world and the young ones they are shaping; for Ian and Trevor; for Adam and Tyler; for Owen and Kate; for Ty and Lucy; for Halle; for Arden; for Trip and Jacob; for the Hudgins’, who are in serious need of having this baby so I can quit trying to find ways to refer to him/her without knowing if “it” is a boy or a girl; I am thankful my friends get to know what it is to be called father; I am thankful God will use them to raise these children wisely and direct them in his ways; I am thankful this generation will rise up, in favor with God and humanity, and bring more of God’s kingdom to this earth; Mostly, I am thankful for such a wonderful group of people who knew me “when” and won’t let me forget about it now.

I am thankful for my friends serving God around the world; in Uganda; in Tanzania; in Rwanda; in Slovakia; in South Africa; in Malawi; in Florida; in Georgia; in California; in New Jersey; in New York; in Virginia; I am thankful because I know God is using them to change lives.

I am thankful for Jesus Christ; I am thankful you were born; I am thankful you lived in human flesh, with human desires and troubles, and with faith; I am thankful for your death, but I am more thankful for your resurrection and the new creation it brought; I am thankful for the confession you left us: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again;” I am thankful you chose me to serve you; I am thankful for the most benevolent King and Lord imaginable.

So much more for which to be thankful than I can mention here. Such a shame I don’t sit down and do this more often. I know it is so cliche to encourage others to do this on Thanksgiving, but consider it. Those pilgrims who got the whole Thanksgiving train rolling were religious fugitives looking for a place where they could worship God freely. On top of trying to duplicate their menu, wouldn’t it be great if we could duplicate their sentiment?

I am a little homesick today. Thanksgiving is a special day for me, and I guess I really never knew that until today. It is uniquely American. It is, in some strange way, the beginning of Christmas, and yet so strong in its own right not to be overshadowed by that fact. Mostly, I miss the sense that something is happening. Life will go on as normal here today: work, classes, shopping, traffic, church, and studies. In a sense, nothing special will happen. Today in America will be a special day in every home for some reason: food, family, football, a day off from work, military like strategizing for tomorrow’s shopping. Something will make it unique. That, in itself, is worthy of thanks. So many days go by without anything to make them stand out. So many times we wonder where life disappeared. Thanksgiving, by nature of its special status, is a marker on the journey. Notice it; I am.

Finally, I am thankful we have a holiday almost entirely about a banquet. When the Bible describes the arrival of God’s kingdom we read that it begins with a banquet. For Americans, in a sense, Thanksgiving is realized eschatology. In other words, it brings into the present something which will only be fully experienced in God’s kingdom. Our banquets, for which we often travel hundreds of miles, struggle through many obstacles, spend an inordinate amounts of time preparing and cooking, and do everything within our powers to recreate the idyllic, Rockwellian scene of Thanksgiving are a mere shadow of the glorious banquet we will share with the Lord in the kingdom. When you’re enjoying Thanksgiving dinner today, just for a moment I hope you’ll remember the chance we will have to do this again, on a far grander scale, in celebration of whole new type of religious freedom, in the kingdom of God.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone,
Casey

TH3: 17 Nov 2007

2007-11-17T15:18:00.000-05:00

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it's 5 days till thanksgiving. that is really hard to believe for me. seems like the year has really gone by quickly. it's harder to believe i now live in a country which doesn't even recognize thanksgiving. in fact, one of the funnier things i've seen in england has thanksgiving overtones. when mandy and i toured the houses of parliament there was a large painting depicting the departure of the mayflower for the new world. nothing odd there... except the painting showed about 10 people pushing a rowboat into the ocean. seriously, i'm not creative enough to make this stuff up. right there, clearly painted on the back of the rowboat: mayflower. nice. guess when you rule the entire world you can be a little underwhelmed by a few religious fanatics sailing off for a banquet with some random people who live in tents.

on to the theology. this week i want to address love. actually, i want to deal with one of the central ideas of both the old and new testaments: the command to love. now, when was the last time you commanded someone to feel something? do something, yes. say something, yes. stop something, yes. but, feel something? it is a little absurd if you think about it. what if i said, "i command you to be angry the georgia tech basketball team is terrible" (which i read is unfortunately a real, and not a hypothetical, scenario). ok, even if you wanted to obey my audacious command, the best you could do is fake it. there wouldn't be any real rage in your heart or mind, only a few external actions often associated with rage. see, commanding an emotion just doesn't make sense.

and yet, it didn't cause jesus any hesitation. recall one of his encounters with the pharisees:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Mt. 22:34-39

first, you have to know jesus isn't being smart here. he is really and genuinely answering the pharisees question, even though he gives two answers (that explanation is a whole column by itself). second, you need to know jesus is quoting here, not making these things up on his own. the first command - love the lord you god - comes from deuteronomy 5; the second command - to love your neighbor - comes from leviticus 19. jesus is expressing an answer about god's commands that runs right through the whole bible. but, even so, jesus still commands us to "feel" something, not once but twice.

so, what's the deal? many of you won't be amazed by this answer. the reality is that love - in its deepest and realest sense - isn't a feeling alone. love is never less than the warm, fuzzy, tingly feeling with which we all associate it; but love is far more than those things. love is a choice; love is something you covenant to do. you choose to love people on a daily basis, even when the emotional drive to do so might wane.

a few weeks ago we visited my grandparents in france. next weekend they'll celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. bet they can think of a day they didn't "feel" like they loved one another? based on the agreed experience of mandy and i - who've been married roughly 1/16th as long as them - i'm guessing so. but, neither one has ever wavered from the choice they made to love one another.

a lot of people shy away from christianity because they can't imagine they would "feel" like loving god in the hard times. but, no one "feels" like they love god when something tragic happens. just like no one "feels" like loving their spouse when they say something antagonizing. but, at some point, prior to that moment, the warm fuzzies were there. and, in light of that experience, you've covenanted in a loving relationship. in those cases, your actions are determined by a choice, made long before the particular situation, and not a present "feeling". loving the lord your god is about "expressing your affection for the covenant lord in loyal service" when you do, and don't, "feel" like it (d. hillers, covenant: the history of a biblical idea). it isn't any different than loving your spouse or parents or siblings or children when you don't "feel" like it.

there are lots of days i don't "feel" like i love god; and there are lots of times i don't "feel" like i love the people around me. frankly, i'm a man and a bookworm, so i don't "feel" much of anything most of the time. i suspect for those reading it might be similar. our feelings often diverge from the ideal. but everyday, in thousands of ways, we act according to our predetermined commitments and not our "feelings". seriously, who among us hasn't gone to work on a day when we didn't "feel" like doing our job?

one of the hardest - and most encouraging - things i learned about my faith in the last 5 years is how important it is to act according to our predetermined commitments even when we don't "feel" like we should. in many ways, marriage has taught me this lesson. i've seen how much of a difference acting lovingly can make when i'd rather be selfish or rude or oblivious. in some ways, what we do when we don't "feel" like loving someone makes more of a difference than what we do when emotion directs us. it's in those moments the depth of our commitment to the relationship is revealed.

so, if you've ever been afraid of christianity because of what you know about your emotions, don't be. i'm still battle my emotions regularly. but i'm more convinced of the importance of predetermining my commitments and being loyal to them no matter how i "feel" today than ever before.

and, if you're struggling in your faith to do what's right when you don't "feel" like being obedient, stick with it. your choices matter more than you know. more so, i've found acting with loyalty in the hardest moments increases the number of times my "feelings" align with my commitments and make the whole process easier.

well, it's getting late here in the old country. and church comes early in the morning... so maybe if i knock off now i'll "feel" like getting out of bed walking in the cold, dreary weather to church... we'll see.

thanks for reading. i miss all of you and wish you a very happy thanksgiving. have some turkey and stuffing for me.

cheers, casey

Friday Funnies

2007-11-16T15:27:00.000-05:00

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United States of America and Great Britain - two countries that share the same language. But, as I found out this week at work, just because we speak English on both sides of the pond, doesn't mean that we're saying the same things.

Here are some of the things I learned:

One of the gentlemen I work with kept referring to something called quid. He'd say, "I'm going to have to spend 20 quid on that." I surmised after hearing him repeat it several times that he must be referring to the Great Britain Pound. I mustered up enough courage to ask one of my colleagues if I was correct. Turns out, I was! Quid is slang for pound.

They book meetings into a diary. A calendar is something you check. Right. I still don't understand it.

Wine does not make Mums clever.

In the States, we would figure something out. Over here, they sort it out.

They don't make decisions, they take them. "Right, I'll take that decision." Every time I hear someone say that, I want to say, "Where are you going to take it?"

It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman - your voice will go up 10 octaves when you say the word, "Bye." I've been doing this at home lately, and it's been annoying Casey to no end.

The word 'gorgeous' can be used to describe ham hocks and black bean soup.

When you leave your desk to head to the kitchen, you have to ask all your co-workers if they would like tea. It's considered rude if you don't.

The word 'Cheers' can be used in any form - can be thank you and good bye!

As my tea drinking capacity has been greatly diminished (due to my last bout of kidney stones), when normally asked if I want tea, I've been replying, "No, thank you! I'm good!" It took them awhile to realize I wasn't saying I was good, just merely didn't need any tea. One of my co-workers thinks it's the funniest thing she's ever heard, and gets mad at me if I don't say at least once a day.

If you say someone is 'mad' over here, you are insinuating that they are crazy. I actually heard this sentence this week - "We've been using this American architect, and he's literally the maddest man I've ever met."

And last but not least:

If one of your co-workers says to you, "Hey, what's the next letter after S?" Do not answer.
Because you'll fall for the oldest British trick in the book. If you reply, "T!" they'll say, "Yes, I'd love some..." and you'll have to end up getting tea for the whole office.

Cheers!
Mandy

The Wheels on the Bike Go Round and Round...

2007-11-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

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Oxford is virtually a green city. The city was designed with the pedestrian in mind. Yes, there are a few cars, a lot of buses, but for the most part, people walk everywhere.

Then, there are the cyclists.

These people are what I consider a rare and brave breed. The perform death defying acts on a daily basis - cutting in front of buses, riding within 6 inches of buses, and missing pedestrians as they comb the streets. I'm continually amazed at the speed and agility that most people have while riding. The good thing is, for the most part, you avoid them, and they avoid you. (I would like to point out that I would not describe Casey nor myself as big risk takers, (although, if you would have looked at our lives from the last 5 years, you might have a differing opinion), so we opted out of purchasing bikes when we moved here simply because neither one of us could think of the other riding and getting smashed by a bus. And we like to walk.)

Then, there was Saturday.

I was in a mood on a Saturday, as we were having people over for dinner and I had 1,000 things to do before they got there. Being the creative person I am, I opted to try a recipe that I hadn't made before. Half way through it, I realized I needed a food processor. I tried the blender, but that didn't work, and the more I tried, the more frustrated I became. I decided that if this was to be a success, I would have to walk into the city center to buy a food processor. It put a major damper on my day, and I was fuming as I walked. I came to the busy intersection near Bonn Square, glanced to my left and right, to make sure a bus wasn't coming, and stepped off the curb. There was a loud "crack" and I realized I had just collided with a cyclist. He literally came out of nowhere. Luckily, neither one of us were hurt, but I was incredibly shook up for the rest of the afternoon.

I stopped to count my blessings, and to thank God for teaching me that blenders and food processors aren't really what's important. Dinner doesn't have to be perfect.....sometimes it's just about spending time and sharing lives with new friends!

And for those of you who are curious for the rest of the story...yes, I purchased my food processor, and the recipe was great!

Be sure and count your blessings today,
Mandy

Friday Funnies - Extended Version

2007-11-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

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A friend of ours sent us this article, and we found it so humorous, we thought we'd share it with you.

Die and you're under arrest! Britain's most stupid laws

Tue Nov 6, 2:19 PM ET

Queen Elizabeth II's speech in the British parliament Tuesday may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death. That would have been against the law.

Dying in parliament is an offence and is also by far the most absurd law in Britain, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 people by a television channel showing a legal drama series.

And though the lords were clad in their red and white ermine cloaks and ambassadors from around the world wore colourful national costumes, at least nobody turned up in a suit of armour. Illegal.

Other rules deemed utterly stupid included one that permits a pregnant woman to urinate in a policeman's hat and murdering bow-and-arrow-carrying Scotsmen within the city walls of York, northern England.

A law stating that in Liverpool, only a clerk in a tropical fish store is allowed to be publicly topless, was also ridiculous, said a poll of 3,931 people for UKTV Gold television out Tuesday.

Nearly half of those surveyed admitted to breaking the ban on eating mince pies on Christmas Day, which dates back to the 17th century and was originally designed to outlaw gluttony during the rule of the Puritan Oliver Crowmell.

The laws and other regulations were culled from published research into ancient legislation that has never been repealed although subsequent statutes have rendered them obsolete.

Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.

Most ridiculous British law:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (seven percent)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (five percent)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)

6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 percent)

8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (three percent)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (three percent)

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (two percent)

Cheers,
Mandy

Friday Funnies & Update

2007-11-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

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It's literally been a whirlwind of a week.

Last Friday, we left for Paris to visit Casey's grandparents. Casey's grandfather turned 88 years old on Friday! It was a great weekend, good to visit with his grandparents & Aurora (a family friend), and of course, mosey around the 'city of lights'! We have decided that Paris may be our favorite city in the world. We went to the Louvre Museum, Luxembourg Gardens, and our favorite part of the city, Monmartre. It's pretty neat to sit in a cafe, drink coffee or tea, and eat a crepe. I'm a big fan.

We took the train back to London on Monday night, walked 45 minutes to the bus station, took a 1.5 hour bus ride back to Oxford, and then walked home. Gotta love public transportation!

On Tuesday morning, I started work! So far, I am enjoying it. I love being able to come home for lunch, and being so close to the city center! I am getting used to the fact that I am the only American in the building. On Wednesday, I was summoned out with another assistant in the office to get lunch for a meeting. On the way to town, she starts to rant on how unpopular it was to have an American accent in the UK. After going on and on about her former boss, an American living in the UK, and how loud and ghastly he was, she just sort of stopped and looked at me. Usually, I am not short of opinions, but I was so taken aback by her tirade that I was speechless. I know she didn't mean it to be insulting, but I could feel the color rising in my face due to the anger I was suppressing. I think I mustered a response of, " Well, I'm sure it's unpopular, but I like living here." She went on to the next thing, talking a mile a minute, and has been very nice to me ever since. Score: American, 1. Brit, 0.

It seems like all our Friday Funnies have revolved around animals. I'm really not obsessed; although Casey might disagree, since while we were in Ireland this summer, I tried to take home a lamb and a swan. Talk about souvenirs!

So, here are some funny things that have happened in the last week:

1. We have this little stream that flows by our flat, and of course, it's full of ducks. Every morning, while we are making breakfast, we hear this duck quacking. His quack sounds more like a laugh - which is very odd. We have nicknamed the duck, Mitch, after my brother. I know that's pretty random, but since he happens to be the "Duck Whisperer" in our family, we thought it was appropriate.
2. The Indians were back in the center of town, this time with bull horns on their heads. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
3. I went to the meadow to have a picnic with my friend, Michelle, and her 3 year old son, Judah. We found a great bench to sit on, spread our blankets, then started to unload our lunch packs. I glanced up, and there were about 30 ducks and geese in front of us. There was one lone white duck, who when fully standing, was taller than Judah. He slowly sauntered over to our bench, and the closer he got, the weirder it became. He was so close I could see that his eyes were blue, and he almost had the appearance of salivating. Yep, it was freaky. This very nice woman came over and told us that the white duck was very aggressive, and would bite if he decided he wanted our food bad enough. Judah and I got a really big stick and chased some of them off. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to eat my lunch, and chasing the big white duck back into the river. Another meadow regular stopped and told us that he was really the meanest duck that every lived, and that his name was Henry. He immediately started cracking up, asking if I got it.....I'm sure he was referring to King Henry VIII, but not sure what relevance that had to a duck. He was still laughing as he walked away. More weird times in the UK.

XOXO,
Mandy

TH3: 1 Nov 2007

2007-10-31T17:13:00.000-04:00

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disclaimer ---- the post below was mostly written last wednesday night, with every intention of being posted on thursday. well, clearly that didn't happen. first there was german, and then assyrian and babylonian treaties, and then a bus that left for london at 6:15am, and a train to paris, and... well, you get the idea.

let's just say that thursday is a fluid concept in my world right now. sort of like the prophetic 'day of the lord'. its a certainty that 'the day of the lord' is coming, but there are lots of contingencies as to when it will arrive. now, if those last two sentences made you say, "what the heck is he talking about..." then just remember, the moral of the story: i'm a dork.

without further adieu, thursday's theological thought, tuesday style.

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i can't believe i just wrote that it is 1 nov. it seems absolutely impossible time has gone by this quickly. i feel like just a few days ago i was playing golf in virginia in the august heat and humidity. last night, i drank warm cider and wished i had gloves on while walking home. life comes at you fast... and this isn't even a car insurance commercial!

on to the theology. today i want to spend a few moments reflecting on one of the most important events in ecclesiastic and theological history: the reformation. well, ok, not the whole reformation, just the part where everyone says the party got started. that would be our german friend martin luther.

on 31 oct 1517, luther posted his famous 95 theses on the doors of castle church in wittenberg. many think luther's actions were declaring, in effect, his break from the roman catholic church. however, when you actually read the theses, you see that luther held a deep hope the pope and the rest of the roman catholic hierarchy would engage in a debate leading to the reform of the church. luther opened writing:

Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place. Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us, may do so by letter."

the 95 theses were an invitation to debate the current practices of the roman catholic church, particularly as it related to the sale of indulgences (a practice, whereby, you 'bought' a pardon from sins you had committed). luther disdained this practice, and rightfully so. it is unbiblical, and far more akin to selling junk bonds than spiritual guidance.

nonetheless, luther's theses were far less than a decisive break from rome. begin with this point: luther was an obscure university professor in a small, backwater town in rural germany. wittenberg was far from a major intellectual or ecclesial center. frankly, very few people outside of the university would have known about luther's actions for quite some time. luther's invitation wasn't rolling on the fox news bottom line ticker for the world to see; it was hanging on the door of a church that maybe a few hundred people attended.

moreover, luther was inviting people into a discussion (in person or by letter, you'll notice above) about current practice. sure, he had some genuine objections to the current practices and felt change was necessary, but it isn't like he was leading thousands of devout roman catholics out the doors of the church. luther's idea was a lot more like taking the issue onto oprah (let's all talk, get the issues out, have a good cry, and then get dr. phil to tell us how to move ahead) than the jerry springer show (tell a few lies, bring out a suprise guest, curse at each other, and then fist-fight until the commercial break).

well, having provided everyone a history lesson they really didn't want, let me mention just one of luther's points. he writes:

7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same time, humble in all things and bring into subjection to His vicar, the priest.
i really appreciate luther's thought here (and just ask some of my friends, i often take umbrage with luther, so this is not trivial). true repentance involves two steps for luther: humbling yourself before god and placing yourself under the authority of the lord's earthly represntative(s). i think this is sharp insight.

having come to realize one's own sin, the first step is to humble yourself before the lord. this means both admitting the sin and god's role as the only holy and righteous judge. this is so important because, if you're anything like me, you often find yourself willing to admit your sin, but unwilling to concede that anyone (especially the lord) is a proper judge of that sin. it's easy to admit guilt when you suppose you are the judge and jury for said crime. but the bible is clear that is not the way it works. furthermore, ask anyone who has experienced real forgiveness of sin; until you concede you are not the authority in the situation you can never truly receive remission and be forgiven.

but, then, luther calls us into submission to the lord's earthly representative in our life. most times, that is your local pastor, or priest, or bishop. in other cases, that is your parents or spouse. but, there is always an earthly representative of god to whom we must submit. now, i know submit is a dirty word and i'm probably offending people at this point, but hear me out. the beauty of christianity is that this earthly authority is called to do two things: (1) make explicit god's forgiveness of your sin, and (2) help you to assess how you might best put right your actions. the earthly authority isn't there to punish you, increase your guilt, or play holier than thou. no, the earthly authority is meant to give flesh and bone, touch and voice, to the eternal and spiritual reality of god's forgiveness. but, yes, that person is also meant to help you determine how to deal with the consequences of your sin and the possibility of making retribution for them. all our actions - sinful and righteous - have consequences in this life. none of those actions, separate from confessing jesus as lord, determines your eternal relationship with the lord.

luther was wrong a lot of the time. he was also stubborn, and probably somewhat of a hothead. but, in between those moments, he was one of the greatest theologians in history. in fact, luther might have grasped the dynamics of sin, guilt, forgiveness and freedom better than any theologian in history other than the apostle paul. we would all do well to reflect on his ideas. we would all do well to follow his twofold path to forgiveness which brings joy and peace from god.

shalom, casey

Friday Funnies & Update

2007-10-26T15:36:00.000-04:00

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There is covered market in Oxford, full of all kinds of shops: restaurants, specialty stores, and my least favorite, the butcher shop. When you've grown up in the USA, the butcher shop sort of seems like an anomaly. I know they exist, but can't say that I've actually ever visited one. In this covered market, there are several organic butcher shops, and also a fish market. I tend to avoid that end of the market, simply because the smells overwhelm at times. But, then the vegetable stand is down that way, and I like to shop there, so usually I have to walk past it. Yesterday, I agreed to meet Casey there for lunch. As we were walking, Casey turned to me and said, "Is that a deer?" I turned to look, and sure enough, there was a deer hanging by his back legs, head missing. They hadn't even skinned the poor thing yet. I, completely grossed out at this point, turned to Casey and indicated that it looked like a deer. This was the conversation:

CAS: That's cool that you can buy deer in the covered market.
AS: Well, it is deer season.
CAS: Hmmmm....Venison.
AS: I think I just threw up in my mouth.

A bit later, we passed the fish market, and I heard a woman ask for a certain kind of fish, then add, "Could you leave the head, but remove the eyes?"

I might become a vegetarian.

I can't believe we've been here almost one month. It still seems a bit like vacation, but then again, not really. It's been a week of victories, and a week of still trying to figure things out. There are days that I grow weary of trying to learn new things, figuring out a culture that is very different from the one I grew up in, and often one that I don't feel like I belong. I fight the urge to keep from standing in the middle of Oxford's center to yell, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?" But, in their own British way, the Brits would look at me, politely move on, knowing they wouldn't want to interfere with the crazy blonde yelling on the street. (more on this later - you might want to get the book, "Watching the English" by Kate Fox. It's a sociological view on English society written by a Brit.)

Victories this week:
1. Casey had a great meeting with his advisor, and appears to be moving in the right direction with his dissertation.
2. I FINALLY found the central public library. I spent nearly 2 weeks looking for it, and found that I passed it everyday. I felt like a complete idiot when I figured out where it was, but then felt better when a local Brit explained to me that she spent 2 years looking for it. And, by the way, I practically had to sign over my first born child to get a library card.
3. Our last box arrived! We were pretty sure it was lost, then thanks to a friend of mine here in Oxford giving me a website and phone number to a company that she thought might have it, we were able to track it down. Of course, we found out that it got stuck in customs, and they wanted us to pay $200 to get it out. After spending some time on the phone with Her Royal Majesty's Customs, I convinced them that yes, those were our personal belonging, and no, I was not going to resell my ipod alarm clock or my bathrobe. Jeez. Of course, we still had to pay the ransom, but it was promised there would be a reimbursement....as long as I send a very lengthy letter, again promising to turn over our first born child.
4. I got a job! I'm due to begin on November 12. It's a contract position, but a one minute walk from our flat. I still have one more interview with another company for a permanent position, (with a nasty commute on the evil bus), so depending how that goes will then determine where I land.

Casey and I went to Cambridge last weekend to visit our Orlando friends, Ryan and Charlotte Reeves. It was great to see old friends and not have to play 25 questions. Cambridge is a beautiful little city, and we enjoyed walking around there very much. Our favorite part of the trip was eating at The Orchard for brunch. We left Char and Ry's place, walked to the outskirts of Cambridge, through a huge field to another village, made a left by the stone wall, and there was The Orchard. Since it was a perfect fall morning, we decided to sit outside. They have these green reclining chairs at each table, so you could dine with friends, then kick back and enjoy the sun if you wanted. The food was great as well!

The weather has been perfectly autumn since we've been here. The highs only get in the 50s, and the lows in the 30s each day. Hard to get used to after living in Florida for 3 years, but welcome nevertheless. One thing is for sure: I do not own enough sweaters!

XOXO,
Mandy

TH3: 25 Oct 2007

2007-10-25T12:14:00.000-04:00

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well, it's that time of the week again. yes, the newest installment of th3. i have to admit, what follows is not what i had been planning on writing today. but, life often gets in the way of our plans and presents better options. so, here is my thought for the week.

as i mentioned previously, i'm working through paul's two letters to the church at corinth. they are fantastic, and i think extraordinarily relevant. here's a portion of the passage i read this morning from 2co 12:

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. (2Co 12:7-10)

i want to focus in on paul's last idea: "for whenever i am weak, then i am strong." in the past few days, one of my closest friends has been dealing with a frightening and potentially tragic medical issue in his family. i won't mention the details here, but the life of a loved one has been hanging in the balance. the doctors are working hard, and things are looking better, but it has been a trying period.

when i read paul's words this morning - words that i've heard many times - they struck me in a new way. how is it true for christians that when we feel weak that there is actually strength? i came to this passage today very conscious that every person, regardless of their background, status, age, etc... faces times when they are weak. frankly, frailty (physical and emotional) is part of being human. the main difference is how people think and act in those moments.

every worldview has its own way of handling these situations. i say worldview, because even those who are atheists or agnostics have constructed some way of dealing with this issue. buddhism says we have these moments because we have unspiritual desires; eliminate the desires and eliminate the problem. atheists very often tie these moments to evolution; these moments of weakness are the product of motion, matter, and chance; realize that and you realize there is nothing to do but to fight for survival. i could go on and on citing other examples.

but the point is paul explains how christianity is different: when we are weak - and frankly, that is pretty much all the time if we're honest - that is when god's power and mercy shines through the brightest. the weakness makes us want to break down. the weakness makes us want to escape. the weakness makes us doubt. the weakness reveals just how little we are capable of achieving on our own. but, in that moment, it is a deep seated faith that knows god can and does show up in those instances. that knowledge allows christians to respond with more resilience and strength than they ever thought possible. and that strength is the strength of the messiah, jesus.

our weakness shows god's strength not because those moments are somehow unique; it is always the strength of the messiah working through us that accomplishes things. no, our weakness shows god's strength because it strips away all the other 'creative' explanations we might manufacture for what happens. weakness changes our perspective, not god's. when we are weak, the veil is lifted and we see clearly how god is already working in and through us.

i pray for everyone who is struggling this week that you might know the surpassing power of jesus in your weakness. i will be praying we all see it too.

best, casey

TH3: 18 Oct 2007

2007-10-21T14:13:00.000-04:00

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ok, clearly it isn't actually the 18th of october... or a thursday... and i'm not certain this will be terribly theological. i had my first real 'assignment' at oxford due on friday. it was a redraft of some earlier research i'd done that my advisor wanted to read and talk through. so, th3 got pushed off and became, by default, a sunday event. just imagine that i was cloistered away in deep thought and prayer for 72 hours before i could write something befitting my audience. then, get someone to fix your shoulder from patting your own back!

this week's thought has to do with tradition and our faith. in america, we tend to be somewhat void of longstanding traditions and ancient connections. for us, anything predating our grandparents seems ancient. england, and oxford... well, it's a little different.

thursday i attended evensong at christ church cathedral. it happened to be st. frideswide's day and the bishop was there to celebrate eucharist (that's a big deal in england). frideswide, who mandy mentioned in her post, is the patron saint of oxford and her relics are in the cathedral (for more info on frideswide, follow this link: http://www.britannia.com/history/legend/berks/frideswide01.html) by best guesses, frideswide live about 1300 years ago. yes, one thousand three hundred. now that, my friends, is heritage.

an ever more interesting link with christ church to consider is this one: prior to becoming the chapel of the college, and then the diocese cathedral, those buildings were an augustinian monastery (read the brief history of the site here: http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=149). now for you reformed types out there, you know that luther, and especially calvin, trace their theological heritage back to augustine (4th century, bishop of hippo). so, that means, in the 1100's there were people on this site with essentially similar theological views to mine serving god's people.

moreover, if you ever get a chance to see the christ church cathedral, you'll find a tile in the floor noting that this is the place where john and charles wesley were ordained (they are, if you're not familiar with them, the founders of what we know as the methodist church. and, they were both junior members at christ church). so, in the 1700's, the holiness club started in the same place and gave birth to the methodist church.

now, in the early part of the 21st century, i get to walk, eat, read, study, and ponder the nature of all things theological literally in their footsteps. and those are just the connections at christ church, not even the university as a whole.

theology is not the kind of thing that gets 'done' in a lifetime; god is far too big and multifaceted for that. no, in my opinion, theology gets done over many lifetimes as thoughts pass down from one person and one era to the next. theology is, in those famous words, done through standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before you. if you think you can figure out god and the bible on your own in one lifetime... well, more power to you. but i've resolved to know that i'm far more limited and finite than that. i'm proud, and humbled, to walk in the footsteps of saints like frideswide, my theological ancestors like the augustians', and churchmen like the wesley's. they remind me of the massive project that thinking and writing about god is; more so, they remind me that god often chooses to accomplish great things through generations of people who are humble enough to follow his call and his departed saints. that gives me hope that some actually 'theology' might get done in my lifetime, even if i'm not the one who does it.

hope everyone has an amazing week. i'll be back on thursday... this time, the real thursday.

cheers, casey

Friday Funnies

2007-10-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

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Victory for the Strines today - we now have internet access at our flat!

Today's blog is a bit more on the strange side, than funny. Still worth mentioning.

Last Sunday, Casey and I signed up to take a tour of Christ Church Cathedral. Both of us have toured it before, but without a guide. This time, we had a wonderful Brit to lead us around, who was very clever and humorous, telling us all the wonderful nuances of the Cathedral. The tour lasted roughly 2 hours, and included us laying on the Cathedral floor (at one point) to get a true view of the intricate artwork of the ceiling. It was quite fascinating.

Perhaps my favorite portion was the story of Oxford's Patron Saint Frideswide. I have included the link from Christ Church if you wish to read the story, but for the most part, I'm just going to focus on what I thought was the most strange thing about it. (www.chch.ox.ac.uk/cathedral) In the Cathedral, there is a stained glass window in Frideswide's honor. It covers different phases of her life, including her death. In the lower right hand corner of the stained glass, there is a depiction of her last hours, lying on a bed, surrounded by other women attending to her. The guide at the Cathedral stopped and asked if we saw anything unusual in the glass. He smiled, and said, "Please glance in the upper right-hand corner." There, in the glass, was a toilet! An actual flushing toilet! Frideswide was said to have lived sometime during the 7th-8th century, long before flushing toilets were invented. So when this stained glass was put up in the 19th century, there was quite a lot of chatter about the flushing toilet.

Our guide was quick to point out that when visitors come to the Cathedral and ask to see the toilet, they have to quickly verify if they're looking for actual toilets, or Frideswide's toilet. He noted that it would be terrible if someone peed on the stone below the glass, especially since that particular glass is very close the Cathedral shrine (which is a whole other story!) We found it humorous that he felt compelled to tell us that.

Have I mentioned that we love it here?

Matriculation

2007-10-13T08:36:00.000-04:00

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in the unfolding experience that is life in england at the university of oxford, today ranks on the top of the scale for 'different academic experiences'. this morning at 10AM GMT, i attended matriculation. this is a ceremony they've been conducting for hundreds of years as a rite of passage formally admitting you as a junior (undergrad) or senior (grad) member of the university.

matriculation, now a formality, was once a critical part of the educational curriculum. originally, matriculation consisted of a viva voce in latin... that's an oral exam for those of you who don't speak caesar's language either. really, they gave you an oral test in latin and if you didn't pass, you couldn't attend the university. now, one of the professor's stands up and answers on our behalf - still in latin - that we should be admitted. have i mentioned i'm a fan of covenant headship?

moreover, matriculation is one of the events where you have to dress in sub fusc (see the photos on the side for visuals....). apparently, there used to be a full fusc, which included armor and sword. but sub fusc - black suit, white bow tie, and academic gown - became enough sometime after east india trading company stopped ruling the world economy.

anyhow, it was really a pretty cool experience. all the students had lots of fun with it, and without any doubt, we got a new glimpse into english academic culture.

hope you americans are enjoying the baseball playoffs and college football. tonight we're off to watch the england v. france semifinal of the rugby world cup.

cheers, casey

Friday Funnies

2007-10-12T05:39:00.001-04:00

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On the Thames River in Oxford, there are many ducks & swans. All of them are rather tame, and think they deserve to be fed every time they see humans. It almost appears they are begging at times. It's practically shameful.

Last Sunday, while we were walking through Christ Church Meadows along the river, we stopped to watch some rowers and a few punting boats glide by. The rowers flew past us, while the punters rather sauntered along. In one of the punting boats, there was a couple who looked as if they might be on a date. The gentlemen had his arm around the lady, and his other hand gripped the side of the boat. They were staring into each other's eyes and giggling. The ducks and swans slid peacefully by...it was extraordinarily picturesque.

However, the more scene I viewed....the more I knew disaster was about to strike.

A beautiful swan moseyed up to side of their boat, and the couple both did the 'ooohhh & ahhh' speak. While they were distracted by the swan's beauty, the swan promptly bit the crap out of the man's hand. He jerked his hand back, surprised! shocked! all while I, standing on the bank, almost had to pick myself up off the ground because I was laughing so hard.

Maybe you had to be there. (Or, maybe my Father is right, and I really do have a warped sense of humor.)

Cheers!
Mandy

TH3: 11 Oct 2007

2007-10-11T11:48:00.000-04:00

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to all you fans of th3 - and yes, i can confirm there are actually fans of this feature - i apologize for the one week lapse. last week was, by any standards, a blur. i went to more inductions (what they call orientation sessions at oxford) than i can ever remember attending. bombarded by information, i don't think i even realized that thursday passed... let alone that i had committed myself to write something on that day.

this week th3 will be brief as i have only a book recommendation to share.

for the last couple of months, i've been working through paul's two letters to the church at corinth. they are fascinating pieces of writing, filled with personal application, and if read in a sustained fashion, an excellent exposition of paul's theological views. typically, the book of romans is viewed as paul's most complete theological statement; some even think it was paul's attempt at a systematic theology (with which i would disagree, but i digress). however, romans' 16 chapters are roughly half the combined 29 chapters of 1 & 2 corinthians. thus, when taken as a whole, paul addresses a dizzying array of issues and theological topics.

now, even with seminary degree in hand and oxford as my home, i'm not courageous enough to do this all on my own. no, i've been working through this with a trusty guide: the anglican bishop of durham, the very revd. n.t. wright. wright is a world-renown new testament scholar (oh yeah, and an oxford man) who has published a tremendously good series of commentaries on the new testament. they all fall in a series titled "for everyone", and the two books i'm using are 1 corinthians for everyone and 2.... uhh, you get the point. they are both excellent expositions of the text. and, as wright takes the books in 6-10 verse bites, they are perfect as a daily reading plan. the books are available from almost any major bookstore online and lots of brick and mortar stores.

if you like wright's stuff on corinthians you can find more of his writing/speaking here:
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/

on a final note, i should say that i'm writing from the bodelian library, oxford's main library. according to their website, they provide access to over 8 million books. yes, million is correct. not to mention that the building i'm in right now has been a library for around 500 years or more. pretty cool.

back to the books....

casey

Home, Sweet Home

2007-10-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

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We have left the dorm, and we're in our flat!!!

We moved last Saturday. It was no fun dragging luggage for almost a mile to our letting agency, then dragging it the rest of the way to the flat. The second trip, we decided the bags were too heavy to carry, so we took a taxi. Duh. Should have done that the first time.

We love our flat. It's roomy, modern, and in a great part of Oxford. I'll post some pictures soon. (I still have no idea how Casey and I have managed to get all our clothes into the closet, but we've somehow accomplished it.) We're about a 7 minute walk from the center of town, so it's pretty accessible to everything. We are trying to settle into a routine, but until I have a job, that's probably not going to really work....at least for me.

Casey has started school. He's studying in about 10 libraries, and I believe is in his own version of theological heaven. The libraries here are massive, as you can imagine, but I'll let him tell you all about "The Stacks" if he ever decides to blog again.

We are awaiting internet at our flat. We more than likely won't have it until next Friday (10/19), which is a bit annoying for me, as I have to head to an internet cafe to check email, job sites, etc. But, also good for me to realize that Europe tends to run on a much different time schedule that the USA, and customer service tends to not be their forte. Maybe the patience will be good for me. Right.

Friends - yes, we've started making some. We had a picnic in the Christ Church Meadows on Sunday with two couples that are from the US, and both husbands are doing D.Phils in New Testament. They were very nice, and it felt good to make some friends. One of the couples has a 3 year old son, and I spent the afternoon teaching him how to sword fight while saying, "ARRRR Matey. I'll slash ye with me sword." I had a blast...not sure what his parents thought!

The Christ Church Meadows might be my favorite quiet place in Oxford. The Meadows back up to the Thames River which is full of swans, ducks, and punting boats. And there is a great trail that runs through the meadow and along the river. While I was running yesterday, I found it to be incredibly tranquil.

While it has been somewhat of an adjustment, we are really enjoying it here. I think we're both trying to take it day by day, realizing that this transition won't happen over night. I find myself missing weird things - like Target, for instance. And Chipotle, Chick-fil-A....... :) Unfortunately, the great chicken does not live over here! They do have a store that's similar to Walmart or Target, but you go in, place your order, and it's pulled from a warehouse and brought to the store. Then you go pick it up. Not a bad way to do business, but very inconvenient...especially in my American mind. Patience.

Thanks so much for all your emails and prayers....we've definitely needed them.

Miss everyone!
Mandy

Friday Funnies

2007-10-05T08:33:00.000-04:00

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Every town has its idiosyncrasies. In Lynchburg, VA, there is a huge 'LU' carved into the side of the mountain. In Cincinnati, OH, they have a bridge that's painted purple. In Atlanta, GA, there is enough traffic to cause a person to go crazy. And, I'm not even touching on the differences in people.

Oxford, although quite charming, is no different.

Since most of the traffic around here is foot traffic, you tend to see anything and everything. In Oxford, there is a rather large homeless population. These street performers paint the sidewalks with chalk, play very strange renditions of 'Knocking on Heaven's door' (complete with a guitar and drum set strapped to their backs), and sell magazines. It often breaks my heart to see them, as a lot of them are extraordinarily talented.

However, this is supposed to be a funny post, so I'll move on.

In the center of Oxford, there is street where these performers gather. They tend to be out in large numbers on the weekend. On one particular corner every weekend, there always stands our favorite performers: The Native American Indians. I know you're thinking...how is that funny? Well, let me describe it to you. These gentlemen are dressed in head-to-toe native American gear, including the face paint. They stand behind two microphones and play these instruments, and to be honest, I'm not sure exactly what kind of instruments they actually were. The first time Casey and I saw them, we couldn't understand a word they were saying, but we knew the songs...ALL of them were John Denver songs. So imagine with me for a moment...you see street performers dressed as Indians singing John Denver songs. AND, they sell cds. Classic.

Casey and I will post a picture of them on the blog a bit later.

One week in....

2007-10-04T06:57:00.000-04:00

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We survived our first week, and living in the dorm! (Although, I must admit for this 30 year old, I am over it, and ready to move into our flat....2 more days! )

We have had an exciting week, acclimating to school, meeting people from all over the world, and trying to understand how Oxford works. It has been great and frustrating at times, but we are really starting to like it here.

On Monday I met with a recruiter. It was a great meeting, but my trip there was a bit torturous. I ended up getting off at the wrong bus stop, got back on the bus, and the driver said he knew where I needed to get off the bus. He lied. He yelled at me when we got to the stop, and said, "HEY! LADY IN BLACK!" then muttered some very unintelligible directions. What I didn't know was that he dropped me off 2 miles from where my meeting was. And, because it was an interview, I was in heels and a suit. And it was pouring rain. Needless to say, I was not happy. By the time I got back to the city center, I really just wanted to give up and go home. (It was so bad, that I had to give myself my dad's 'suck it up' speech. You know you're an adult when you start repeating your parent's lectures to yourself.) Casey had a horrible day as well, and I think we were both just overwhelmed with the amount of details we had taken in that day. But, we celebrated our victories -- I learned to navigate the bus system, and we opened a bank account.

On Tuesday, Casey had a few meetings, and his first formal dinner in the Christ Church Great Hall (for all you Harry Potter fans, this is the same hall where the students of Hogwarts meet for dinner. parts of the movie were filmed in Christ Church.) We also had tea with Casey's advisor at St. Peter's college. He was a wonderful man, answered our many questions, and gave us a glimpse of life in Oxford. We really appreciated his time. Later that night, all the graduate students gathered outside the gates of Christ Church to do their annual pub crawl. Casey and I went, met a lot of really interesting people from all over the world: Australians, Germans, Norwegians, and a few Americans. It was incredibly fun.

One of the Australians we met is a woman studying law. She seemed to already know everyone, know her way around Oxford, so I assumed she was a second year student. Not so....she had only been here a week. She was full of information AND hilarious....I liked her immediately. She also studied abroad in the USA her senior year of high school and somehow ended up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We had a lot to talk about.

Today, I located a wonderful little farmer's market in Oxford. It had a variety of things -- all kinds of food; fresh cheese, organic meats; jewelry and other odds and ends of things. I rather enjoyed walking around taking in the sights and sounds.

Oh, and I'm horribly obsessed with the french bakery next to where we're staying. Pain au chocolat, anyone?

XOXO,
Mandy

The Comedy of Errors that is moving to Oxford

2007-10-01T10:52:00.000-04:00

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'Ello.... (when is England, Hello becomes 'ello)

We are sitting in a little covered market in Oxford having tea, avoiding the rain and cold, and catching up on email. We have arrived, as you know from our previous blog. It has been rather interesting, but fun so far....I will fill in the details that Casey didn't from 2 days ago. We keep laughing at everything that has happened to us....seriously, a comedy of errors.

We left last Wednesday, and I managed to not cry until we were in the security line, when this sweet lady in front us started crying as her daughter and grandchildren were leaving, which caused the security officer looking at her ticket to start crying, and it was all down hill from there. I started crying, then Casey started crying....it was a big mess....but funny now.

When we booked our tickets, we decided to fly Air Canada, which had a layover in Toronto before traveling on to Heathrow. Our plane from DC ended up sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours, causing us to miss our connection in Toronto. No problem. We knew we could catch a later flight. When we landed, they decided to tell us that because we were flying United into Toronto, it would force us to deplane, pick up all our luggage (10 BAGS--2 of them weighed 70lbs each), recheck everything, THEN go through customs. AGAIN. We only located 3 bags, which worried us, but we managed to navigate the airport, then barely made our 10:55p flight. The flight over was great, and we landed at 11:00am. Deep breath.

At baggage claim, of course, only the 3 bags we checked in Toronto made it. No one seemed to know where our other 3 checked bags were....other than we would probably get them the following day. We said GREAT! We found our driver, left the airport, and made it to the hotel.
After showering, we decided to do some sightseeing, and Casey started looking for his cell phone to call his parents. No cellphone. He had left it in the car we rode in from the airport! He called the driver, and he had found it. They would deliver it the following day.

We left the hotel to head out, and dumb American...what did I do? Traffic obviously flows the opposite way in London. I stepped off the curb, after looking right (when I should have looked left), and if Casey hadn't grabbed me, I would have been horrifically smashed by a fast driving blonde in a sports car. We crossed the street, and these 2 nuns were heading towards us (one nun was seriously tall -- probably 6'1"....I swear she was 7') and the tall one almost ran over me. GREAT! I was almost killed by a blonde and a nun in the same day. You can't make this stuff up.

So by Friday, I'm pretty much in the same clothes I was in from Wednesday, had no toiletries (makeup, anything), and I'm thinking, what in the heck are we doing here? Luckily, we got everything on Friday, did a quick tour of Parliament, St. Paul's cathedral, and the British Museum of Art, navigated the tube like normal Brits. It was actually quite a lovely day.

On Saturday morning, we collected our 10 bags, and took a taxi to the bus station, where we took a bus to Oxford. We took a taxi to Christ Church, then had him drop us (with all our stuff) on the sidewalk. That was a sight...I wish everyone could have seen me standing on the side of the road, surrounded by bags, and watching people everywhere watching me. It was enough to make us both laugh out loud. We went to check in to our room, and Casey met me outside the door with this horrified look on his face. The conversation was as followed:

CAS: Hey, well, there may be a problem...
AS: What's wrong? (Meanwhile, I'm thinking that I just survived wearing the same clothes for almost 2.5 days...nothing could be a problem.)
CAS: Well, our 'room' is a dorm room, and there's no bathroom. It's down the hall.

SWEET! We really are back in college now, and yes, we have separate beds, and the bathroom is not down the hall, it's upstairs! How funny is that?

Right now, we are staying in the city center, which has been fantastic. We are close to everything, have had no problems setting up cell phones, er mobiles, and bank accounts. We visited an Anglican church yesterday morning, which was really interesting. It's nice to be able to walk mostly everywhere -- church, grocery store, bank, mall, etc. I could get really spoiled.

Our flat is only about 1/2 mile from the city center. We went by there on Saturday to see the outside of it, and we were both pleased. We have an appointment in the morning to actually see it. I'll be glad to leave the dorm and move in!

The weather has been great, except for today. I actually put a coat and scarf on today. It's cold and rainy, everything you'd imagine a perfect English day to look like.

We are excited to be here....just adjusting to all the changes. And realizing that we're really here....not on vacation. I'm so glad that God works to pull us out of our comfort zones....when he does, life is NEVER boring!

XOXO,
Mandy

now broadcasting from england...

2007-09-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

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we just wanted to let everyone know that we've made it to england safely and soundly. we arrived on thursday morning - later than expected, but fine - and spent a day and a half in london. this morning we took the bus to oxford and settled into our cozily small guest room for the week (by the way, cozily small guest room is british for 'dorm room').

so far, so good. we've both had our moments when we've wondered exactly what the heck we'd gotten into over here. but, all in all, we are both very excited to be here and to begin the adventure.

more of the crazy details from our trip to follow. if you're scoring at home: two hours on the tarmac, one missed flight, 3 lost bags, and a rain soaked day in london. but, all is in order now.

hope everyone is well. cheers.

casey and mandy

Friday Funnies

2007-09-24T22:32:00.000-04:00

It is difficult to follow my articulate husband's Th3 blog, especially since it's my maiden blog. However, I have decided that since most of his Th3 writings will bend towards the serious side, I might need to follow up with something lighter. Thus, Friday Funnies is born. This may be something we've seen that's funny; something someone said to us that's funny, or something we think is funny. You get the picture. I will not guarantee that it will be funny, since we often have a very strange sense of humor. But, I'll try. Since we will be in London this Friday, you will excuse the fact that Friday Funnies is making its debut on a very late Tuesday evening.

This past weekend, my mother and I attended a women's conference here in Lynchburg, VA. At these conferences, they always have wonderful little vendors to take our cash for jewelry, books, cds, etc. I found a necklace I couldn't live without, so I whipped out my debit card to pay for it. The nice lady made an impression of my card (they had a VERY OLD credit card machine), and asked for my phone number. I quickly rattled off my cell phone number, but then explained to her that it would no longer work as of Wednesday, but she was free to call until then. This is the dialogue that ensued:

Lady: Okay, that is the weirdest thing I've ever heard. Why will your cell phone only work until Wednesday?

MS: Because I am moving to England, and I'll be getting a new cell phone.

Lady: OH MY! England...that's far away. What will you doing there? Teaching English?

MS: (Trying to keep a straight face, when in fact, I was almost doubled over with laughter and probably on the verge of crying) No, I'm not teaching English. My husband is doing graduate work there.

Lady: Oh, that's nice. I hope you have fun. Here's your receipt.

So, it seems that my new profession in England will be teaching English to the English. I wonder how the Brits will take it?

mandy

thursday's theological thought...

2007-09-19T16:08:00.000-04:00

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this post is meant to be the first of a weekly feature: thursday's theological thought (hereafter, th3). since i'll be spending the majority of my time at oxford learning languages nobody speaks anymore and reading books by dead theologians, this ought to be a good outlet for me to keep people posted on what i'm reading, writing, thinking, etc... on the other hand, it might just be the least read blog feature anywhere on the world wide web. frankly, it could be both simultaneously.

this week, i have two articles that i want to share in th3.

first, a really intriguing post by dr. stanley fish in his new york times blog on the association between liberalism (as an ideological commitment) and secularism. fascinating stuff; best of all is his analysis of the underlying commitments that 'liberals' and secularists adhere to and how these differ from what 'religion' espouses. let me warn you: many of you are thinking you don't fall into fish's 'liberal' category. read the article before you make any judgments. here is the link to his post: http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/?8qa. as a summary, this excerpt is what i found most insightful:

"That’s right. The liberal order does not extinguish religions; it just eviscerates them, unless they are the religions that display the same respect for the public-private distinction that liberalism depends on and enforces. A religion that accepts the partitioning of the secular and the sacred and puts at its center the private transaction between the individual and his God fits the liberal bill perfectly. John Locke and his followers, of whom Starr is one, would bar civic authorities from imposing religious beliefs and would also bar religious establishments from meddling in the civic sphere. Everyone stays in place; no one gets out of line."
"... In saying this, I am not criticizing liberalism, just explaining what it is. It is a form of political organization that is militantly secular and incapable, by definition, of seeing the strong claim of religion – the claim to be in possession of a truth all should acknowledge – as anything but an expression of unreasonableness and irrationality. Berlinerblau and Krattenmaker hold out the hope that secularists and strong religionists might come to an accommodation if they would listen to each other rather than just condemn each other. That hope is illusory, for each is defined by what it sees as the other’s errors."

as an american, i have known nothing other than the concept of church-state separation. now, i'm moving to a country with a 500 year old state sponsored church. the underlying commitments by which almost all 'industrialized' nations are governed come from liberalism; but those principles aren't necessarily congruent with my faith, and the faith of many others. understanding these fundamental differences will help explain the symptomatic conflicts we read about in newspaper headlines daily. determining which set of presuppositions we should align with, and consider persuading others to accept, is the real location of social, economic, moral, and political debate.

second, nicholas wade has an interesting piece on work by dr. john haidt (mostly his new book the happiness hypothesis) where he discusses the fundamental drivers of moral decision making. here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/science/18mora.html?ex=1190779200&en=7e843a8b7643ae35&ei=5070&emc=eta1

haidt proposes this scheme:

"Of the moral systems that protect individuals, one is concerned with preventing harm to the person and the other with reciprocity and fairness. Less familiar are the three systems that promote behaviors developed for strengthening the group. These are loyalty to the in-group, respect for authority and hierarchy, and a sense of purity or sanctity."

haidt goes on to note how many of the current "morality debates" can be traced to those who emphasize systems 1 and 2 (focusing on individuals) and those who emphasize the final three systems (stressing the communal concerns).

i don't have a profound conclusion to draw from haidt's proposal. however, i think his scheme has potential as a productive way to think and speak about morals and ethics. moreover, i found the idea that there is always an individual v. communal consideration in moral decision making an idea with which i could resonate.

(excursus: haidt theorizes an evolutionary development for morality. i can't see the need for me to rehearse here all the reasons i object to this portion of haidt's thesis. suffice it to say, i think he's wrong , and if you want to know why i'm happy to answer offline.)

well, that's all i have for th3 this week. very much hoping there will be comments, questions, and further analysis by those reading this post.

cheers, casey

wheels...

2007-09-19T15:47:00.000-04:00

wheels: the delta 98; the maroon honda civic; the mitsubishi e-collapse; the jetta; stinky pete.

these are the cars that i have owned in my lifetime. i - like most others - have fond memories and funny stories about each of them.

last week mandy and i sold our jetta. we are both happy about this situation; we didn't want to keep it while we were in england and we needed the money to pay for other stuff. but, now we are without wheels.

like everyone else in america, i spent the first 16 years of my life without a car. i survived just fine 'back then'. then, i got my drivers license and my first car in the summer of '91. since then - 16 uninterrupted years - i've owned a car. now i'm back on the other side, like some odd human version of the 17-year cicada cycle has moved into its next stage (and yes, if that sentence made you laugh, you're both odd and from the midwest).

i guess, in many ways, growing up and growing older brings you back to your youth. i just never expected this would be one of those ways. borrowing cars; waiting for rides; promising not to be gone too long or out too late. it all has a familiarity that i never expected to face again first hand.

in england, we'll be just another couple without a car, avoiding the $8/gallon gas costs. in america, we're something of a cultural oddity. imagine that... i'm odd. i know, you're all shocked.

we leave in 7 days. hard to believe; harder to prepare.

increase the peace... casey

The Classical Swing

2007-09-14T14:40:00.001-04:00

Casey's favorite commerical

hopping the pond...

2007-08-28T19:38:00.000-04:00

mandy and i know you are all interested in our plans for heading overseas. god has been gracious in the past few weeks and things are really coming together.

we finally have a flat. it's a one bedroom flat on the west side of oxford's city centre. it should be great. but, we don't get in until 6 october, the day before i start school. so, we managed to get a guest room at christ church (my college) for the previous week... meaning we'll arrive in oxford on 29 september.

we fly to heathrow on 26 september and we'll spend our first two nights in london. "look kids, parliament, big ben..." you know the drill. but, obligatory nonetheless for an american getting acclimated to our 'old ally.'

the first week of michaelmas term in oxford is generally known as "freshers week." freshers are oxford's version of freshmen - and yes, even when you come to do a doctorate they call you a fresher your first year. lots of informational sessions, meetings, lunches, formal dinners and probably a few parties to learn our way around and meet some folks that week - and yes, it feels a little bit like fraternity rush again... at least i don't have to get a bid this time around.

the trip will be here before we know it... but we are both really looking forward to the beginning of this journey.

lots more information to follow on our place and how to stay in touch with us in england.

summer tour, part 3...

2007-08-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

well, i've been terribly delinquent not to post something since we returned from the last leg of our summer tour. on the other hand, i wake up every morning feeling like i should pack a bag and drive four hours or more. i think the stability of being in one place for more than 4 days has finally sunk in over the weekend.

our week in atlanta was outstanding. mandy got to spend the first weekend with her college girlfriends. if you want details.... well, you'll have to convince my wife to make her maiden blog post. any helpers out there? meanwhile, i spent some time with my fraternity brothers; trust me, it was a very laid back time. we're too old to get into any real trouble anymore. nonetheless, good to see them.

mandy and i managed to spend six nights and seven days in a row in houses with children under the age of 5. first was halle hamirck (oh yeah, and her rockin' parents). then a few days with our godsons', ian and trevor reyes; mauro, contrary to popular opinion, does not qualify as a five year old boy (by the way, kris is excellent). finally, we spent the weekend with the drew johnsons'; #2, drew, and #3, his son trip. we also got to spend the weekend with erin johnson and the second johnson baby boy. though we valiantly attempted to persuade drew and erin to use one of our name suggestions, we had no success. however, since the baby boy still does not have a name, we've agreed he can simply go by fabio until they decide! i know all you parents to be can't wait for mandy and i to help you make a similar decision.

back in lynchburg, where we're working on wrapping up all our summer projects and getting details in place for our move to england. school starts in 32 days.

strinetime summer tour, part 2: back in mousetown...

2007-08-06T19:45:00.000-04:00

i greet you in jesus joy..... did you know that gaaaawwwd loves you?

if you were with mandy and i at beta theta pi's 168th general convention last week in orlando, our friend paul would have greeted you this way at least once, channeling his inner southern gospel preacher.

the convention was a fantastic time for me to reconnect with brothers and friends i haven't seen for 5 years. for mandy, it was a chance to figure out exactly what beta was all about. on both accounts, the convention was enjoyable and encouraging.

we also had a few brief moments with some of the friends we made in orlando. it was great to see them all and to find out what we've been missing.

the highlight... and excuse for the whole trip... was my opportunity to deliver the keynote address at the sunday morning prayer breakfast. and the highlight of my address was the attendance of u.s. senator richard lugar (r - indiana). the senator, a beta from denison, is the spokesman for our flagship program, the men of principle initiative. sen. lugar also happens to have been a rhodes scholar who studied at oxford (pembroke college). so, having him in the audience was a combination of nasuea inducing pressure and a pride embellishing opportunity of a lifetime.

in case you're curious, here is the text of my address (about 2200 words):
http://homepage.mac.com/caseystrine/FileSharing19.html

tomorrow we leave for the final leg of the strinetime summer tour: lynchburg to atlanta and back with a few side trips. more stories and photos to come...

casey

strinetime summer tour, part 1...

2007-07-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

14 days. 5 states. 4 cities. our summer tour is in full force.

yesterday, mandy and i returned from two weeks on the road. washington dc, cincinnati, lexington ky, cincinnati, akron, and dc again in a fully packed 2000 vw jetta... and yes, we're still happily married.

we visited our friends jill and bill fullilove in dc (whom, for those who know them, are doing very well). in cincinnati, part 1, we visited my mom. lexington was a quick detour to visit the family brandstetter and a humbling spin around the links at idle hour. back to cincy for a few days with my dad and step-mother, highlighted by an extra-inning, come from behind, walk-off reds victory. akron beckoned with our friend lisa benton's (now leeman) wedding and some time with our friends the reyes'. dc again to break up the return leg of the journey and into lynchburg last evening. whew... i'm road weary again just writing about it.

here are the places we went that we recommend everyone visit if they get a chance:
d.c.: we went to the new ww2 memorial and found it to be really excellent. a great place to go on any visit to the nations capital. if you go, don't skip out on walking around the mall to the fdr memorial, which is also worth the time. finally, we spent some time touring the national portrait gallery; another great place to get spend a few hours.

cincy: the best part of our touring in cincinnati was clearly the national underground railraod freedom center (http://www.freedomcenter.org/) . the building is a wonderful piece of architecture and a fantastic space on the inside for the exhibits. the exhibits themselves are very well done, informative, and a great primer on a fundamental part of american history. mandy and i both highly recommend stopping if you can.

lex, ky: the brandstetter's were nice enough to lead me on the death march called idle hour country club. a 1924 donald ross design, it kicked my... let's just say i know all the places not to hit it very well. at least it was a stellar day of sunny and 80 degrees. meanwhile, mandy and karen took a drive through the local horse farms. yes, it is true that hm "queen lizzy" (as mandy likes to call her) keeps some of her horses there.

akron: anywhere but the volkswagen dealership... where we had to stop on saturday to have our engine coolant flushed and checked so we could make the drive home. needless to say, i'll be pleased to move to the uk where i don't need to own a car.

even though mandy and i are exhausted from the time on the road, we both had a great time and wouldn't have traded a minute of the trip. it was fantastic to see old friends and make new ones. check out this link for a few photos from the trip:
http://homepage.mac.com/caseystrine/PhotoAlbum17.html

the strinetime summer tour continues this week with a trip to orlando (beta convention and visiting friends) and moves to its final leg in atlanta, ga, the following week. sorry, t-shirt printing is still in design stages, but it's not too early to pre-order for christmas gifts!

cas

European vacation photos...

2007-06-26T11:08:00.000-04:00

if you're interested, here is a link to a photo album from our recent trip to france, england, scotland and ireland. hope you enjoy the pictures.

http://homepage.mac.com/caseystrine/PhotoAlbum16.html

casey

in the beginning...

2007-06-24T20:27:00.000-04:00

well, i can't say that i really know anything about blogging. rumor is you just write about whatever is happpening in your life or is on your mind. guess they'll be a lot of posts like the following: "spent the day in the library; dead german theologians make no more sense now than they did a day ago." riveting, i know.

at any rate, since mandy (or amanda, depending on where you know her from) and i will be moving around and harder to contact, we thought we'd use the wonders of modern technology to update our friends around the world on what is new in our lives.

as for the title of this blog, we owe the catchy name to mel webb, a friend from orlando. consider yourself warned: the mind of strine - either one - can be a frightening place! welcome to our world... we live here everyday.

casey