December 27, 2008

We made it to Michigan without a hitch- PTL! Here we are, and it's even 10pm so I stayed awake quite late. Poor G succummed at 9:15pm though. :) But my brain feels like lead weights are on it so I'm going to sleep. Thanks for pring for the smooth travel!

December 26, 2008

Today is St Stephens Day- the day to remember Stephen from the NT who was killed for his faith. It's also the day we've been scrambling around getting ready to head back to Michigan. A Christmas Day blog is drafted but will have to wait until we get to Michigan to be finished. :) Our flight leaves at 1pm our time, 8am Michigan time, and lands at 10pm our time, 5pm Michigan time. We will be seeing most of you in the coming week I hope! And for our Living Proof friends, we'll see you Sunday morning!

Pr for us as we travel, as we have a few tight times to make and we don't want to miss our flight. We need to catch the 9:15 train to London, the 10:12 tube train to Victoria, and the 10:30 Gatwick express. Do able, but we need a little extra grace from Gd. But if we miss one it's ok- we won't miss the flight. :)

Love you all and see you soon!

Christmas Eve 2008

Well life has been carrying on here in Cambridge. We don't have any more information about Mark's cancer, but we're pring that the father would be merciful and compassionate to his servant- we know from the bbl that Gd is that sort of person who delights in mercy and compassion. But we also know that we live in an imperfect world, and that Gd allows suffering and hardship in this world, which refine us and make us more dependent on him. Keep pring for Mark and his wife Fiona, that they'd experience Gd's mercy and gracious favor.

I spent the day today at StAG, our ch here in Cambridge. Every year there's a big Christmas lunch at StAG for people who don't have a family here to go to. That means we'll have a TON of internationals, and a few people like us who are away from home. It's a great time to tell people about the reason that we celebrate Christmas. Fiona is an expert cook, and she makes a "proper Christmas dinner" every year for about 100 people. She cooks for all sorts of things the ch has, 70-100 people each time. She's amazing. :) Anyway I helped chop potatoes, carrots, and parsnips, all of which will be roasted. I also helped roll 100 pieces of bacon into individual rolls, and put 100 sausages into pans to be cooked. And I helped mix the ground pork sausage into the stuffing. We're having 4 giant turkeys tomorrow, along with traditional English Christmas puddings. I will take some photos and post them to give you an idea. :) So I went to help chop and prepare, and as always I was blessed by serving and chatting with people as we chopped. Serving is the best way to meet people in a ch, and to be part of the heart of the ch family. After the food stuff I helped one of the international workers to decorate various things in the church, and set up for the event tomorrow. I've never had such a busy Christmas Eve before- usually we go to the Christmas eve svc at our ch in Ann Arbor, but here there are no services on Christmas Eve, just on Christmas Day. Tomorrow the service is at 10am, and since I'm serving by singing in the little band for tomorrow I have to be there at 8:30am! Gack! It's a long day tomorrow- we're on Team 1 of the service team for the day, which means we'll be helping to serve the meal, and cleaning up after it, as well as setting up the space for the food. The lunch should be done around 3 and to quote a British phrase "we'll be well and truly knackered" (worn out) by then. :)

We are off to have dinner with our Polish friend, and learn about Polish Christmas traditions along with some of our iBASE friends who stayed in town for Christmas. I'll let you know how that goes. :)

Happy Christmas from Cambridge!

December 21, 2008

It's been a hard day today for us. I have good news to share about baby C- although he's still in critical condition he's growing a bit stronger, and he's getting good treatment for this lung infection. He's been put onto sedatives, and they are giving him oxygen and a blood transfusion because of this infection. Both parents are now there, along with their 22month old daughter, and although the situation is still quite serious things are looking up. Thanks for your prs.

We had some quite bad news today at the carol srvc at our ch. Our vicar Mark announced that he had gone in for a gall bladder surgery and the doctors found out that he has liver cancer. He didn't say anything about the prognosis, but liver cancer generally has about a 1 year life expectancy if it's in a late stage, 3-5 years if they can remove or replace the liver. We don't know much except that he's quite healthy right now. All of us in leadership positions were a bit stunned by this news, and we'd appreciate prs for us and the ch family as we just deal with the shock of it all. Hearing something like this causes a bit of grieving among someone's friends, which is normal. But Mark can say with Paul that "for me, to live is Chrst and to die is gain," as can all of us who are followers of JC. Our beliefs aren't just something theoretical that make us feel better when someone gets ill or dies- they affect our everyday lives, and the hope that we have in JC and knowing that we are made right with Gd motivates us in every aspect of our lives. We have a living hope. So although Mark doesn't know how much longer he may have left, and neither do we, in a way we're happy for him to be leaving this messed up painful world, as hard as it is to watch someone leave it. That is in fact the hardest part I think.

Anyway today is one of those days where I'm feeling fed up with living in a messed up world- do you ever feel that way? Young people tend to be thoughtless actually, rarely thinking of death until tragedy strikes someone that we know. But I know from my older friends that the longer I live the more friends and loved ones I will watch go through things like cancer, car accidents, trauma, and all the variety of bad things that can happen to any one of us. I ought to consider life more seriously more often, and to remember the wise words of Solomon that "there is nothing new under the sun", and his conclusion of the purpose of life that he came to when he was quite an old man and looked back over his life and the search for meaning: "Obey Gd and keep his commandments, for this is the whole purpose of man."

Sorry that this has turned out to be a rather heavy post. But I hope that like Solomon you'll consider what is the purpose of life? And that you'll think about what will happen when you die, as none of us knows how much longer we have. We can know what will happen after death- JC says that "to all who believe in him, to those who call on his name, he gave the right to become children of Gd." If we believe in JC and the perfect life he lived, and the death he died on our behalf because of our wrong choices (including not letting him be the king of our lives which is his rightful place) then we know that not only will we be Gd's children now, but that we will be with Gd when we die, where there will be no more tears, sorrow, or sadness. I for one am looking forward to that day. But until then we'll keep slogging along here in our messed up world, doing what we can to help others to live in this fallen world, tell our friends about JC, and keep reading the bbl and pring for encouragement from the Father.

We'll be seeing many of you soon- we're heading Stateside Dec 27th, which is Saturday! We can't wait to see you in person and enjoy your company!

December 19, 2008

I've been following the updates sent on by some friends of ours who are business owners in Northwest China- they are tentmakers, working among a minority people group there. Some people on their team there had a baby 5 weeks ago, and before the baby was born they did what most expats do who live in rural areas- they flew to a more modern city to have the baby. This week they flew back to their home in northwest China with their 5 week old baby, and unfortunately the baby has developed some dire health problems. Baby C nearly died twice, but was resuscitated by my friend and the baby's dad, and after a lot of problems, including discovering that baby C had a severe lung infection that made him too weak to be flown anywhere, they managed to get the baby flown to a modern hospital with a neonatal unit. Unfortunately the doctors at the neonatal hospital have told the father some very bad news- the antibiotics that baby C was given for his serious lung infection were not strong enough, and he is now in very critical condition. The doctors have told the father, who is there alone because there was only room for 1 in the medical flight, to expect the worst. The mother and their little girl had to fly commercially to the new city.

I don't think I need to ask you to pr for this family- you can see for yourself what hardship they are experiencing. Anyone who wants to be a tentmaker in a rural city knows that these sort of medical issues are a reality, and they are willing to take the risk to enable them to reach people with the good news about JC. In fact our friends who are relaying this information are having a baby themselves in March. Please pr that Gd would be merciful to this family who are serving him in such a far away place. Besides pring for baby C, also pr for the father who is alone in this city facing the prospect of baby C's death, and for the mother and little sister who are on their way there and might possibly not make it there in time. Pr for our friends who are expecting their first baby in March, that they would be able to provide comfort for these friends, and that they would persevere in their work knowing the cost.

It's not unlikely that we too may find ourselves someday having a baby overseas, although we may not be in as remote a location. But we fully trust in Gd, knowing that his plan is perfect, despite our living in an imperfect world. We are not afraid to accept the calling Gd has given us to tell others in far corners of the world about the hope that we have in JC, although we know that the cost in some cases is high despite all the measures that we can take to reduce the risks.

Thanks for pring for this family, and I'll update as soon as I hear more.

December 16, 2008

Happily for me my flu is gone, my cough is sort of gone, and I can now hear kinda properly out of both ears. :) And it's only Tuesday! :)

Tonight is our last iBASE of the term, and we're having a social at a cute little place called Clowns. It's a sort of Italianized version of a pub- I'll take some photos to show you all. Unfortunately Clowns is a little creepy in my opinion, because who wants to eat their food while being stared at by weird looking clowns all over the place?! Sure the clowns aren't like the ones in a Stephen King movie or something, but there's still something unnerving about them staring down at you...

Now that I'm mostly better I'm back to my usual household duties- washing dishes, doing laundry, and cleaning the house. Tomorrow the international ladies study group (iLadies) is making Christmas wreaths, which is exciting. Anything involving plants is a good thing for me. :) Speaking of plants, Sunday I went out for my "I haven't been out of the house (or my bed) in 5 days" stroll into the landlord's "vegetable" garden, which to date has produced only weeds. And our landlord was out there rotating the compost pile, so we had a short chat. He expressed his desire to come out and weed the rest of the garden, which does have a lot of weeds growing in it. But the thing that was strange to me is that it's December- we're 10 days from Christmas and you can still weed stuff here! My little garden is still looking very nice- little flowers are still blooming, cone flowers are still blooming, and primroses, and lots of other stuff. It's the effect of a warm climate. But it still feels strange, and I don't think I'll feel like it's Christmas until the bracing Michigan air hits me full in the face and freezes my eyelashes together. :) I hope you don't mind my wishing for a good snowstorm while I'm in Michigan- I'm hoping to photograph Ann Arbor and snowy Ann Arbor is even better. :)

December 13, 2008

Although I'm not 100% yet I think I'm over the worst of it finally. I've gone around the house just now disinfecting the doorhandles and light switches and anything else that I might have contaminated, which is what they recommend you do after you've been sick. I try to do it regularly anyway- although typing this I just remembered that I didn't clean my keyboard! Keyboards are definitely a breeding ground for germs. :)

G is just getting back from an event that one of our iBASE coleaders holds at her house on Saturday nights. It's a sort of discussion group for people who want to talk about spiritual things, and is composed of folks who are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian. It's a good chance to make friends and share truth with people. G spent part of the day with 3 guys going out to Ely Cathedral, and strengthened some relationships there.

I hope to make it to ch tomorrow- I certainly won't be singing in the choir tomorrow evening though. :)

December 12, 2008

I am still at home in bed today. :) There are some advantages to being home sick though- it really makes me thankful for the good health that I usually have. Last evening I was stuck here in bed instead of at the Camera club meeting, and I was blessed to hear the church bells ringing for over 2 hours- Thursday is the practice for the bell ringers' society. Bell ringing is quite a to do here in the UK, and there are groups all over who do it for competitions. Anyway I enjoyed the lovely bells ringing. I also enjoyed a nice full moon, and seeing how brightly lit our neighbor's garden was by the moonlight. As my nose has stopped being stuffed up I'm enjoying anew the wonderful smells to be had around me- just opening the window it's amazing what you can smell here! Our eucalyptus tree, smoke from nearby woodburning fireplaces, and just the unique smell of English countryside. And even sounds- there are so many kinds of song birds here, many more than we have in Ann Arbor at any rate, and all day as I've been in bed I've enjoyed their beautiful songs. Here there really is a dawn chorus and an evening chorus- SO many birds are singing that I just can't believe it! So it's Day #4 and I'm still here in bed, but I'm blessed by the father above to be forced to slow down and enjoy his wonderful creation again.

I'm also thankful for modern medicine- I've been reading Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell this week and being reminded of how dangerous illnesses were 200 years ago. I never feel afraid that if a friend has the flue that they might die- I don't feel worried that this flu might kill me either. And yet influenza is in fact a dangerous illness that does still kill those on either ends of the age spectrum, and still kills people in the prime of life in 3rd world countries for lack of appropriate medicines and basic care. I'm glad that I planned ahead in bringing generic Nyquil and Dayquil with me from the States, because although they have "equivalent" things here, I don't have the benefit of knowing what will really work. Having had the flu 5 or 6 times in my grown up life I've sorted out what medicines work for me and which ones don't. But here they don't always have the same medicines.

Now for a mini language lesson. :) Did you know that here they use the word "sick" to mean vomiting? People don't say "I'm sick today" or "I don't feel good" and they don't "call in sick." Instead they say "I'm unwell" or "I'm feeling poorly." I've had loads of thoughtful texts and emails from friends here, saying "I'm sorry you're unwell" or "I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling poorly." I even hear little children say "Teddy is feeling poorly today." That sounds so very formal to an American ear. :) They don't say "I don't feel good" because they use the word good to mean good as in good and evil. So in answer to the question "How are you?" they say "I'm well thank you" and never "I'm doing good" or "I'm great" because good and great aren't words that describe your state of being here, they describe your character. :)

That's enough writing for me- time for some more rest.

December 11, 2008

I had decided that if I wasn't feeling pretty close to over this by this morning I'd have to cancel my Spain trip, and unfortunately I'm still not over it. In addition to the fever I now have a hacking cough, and there's just no way I will be able to leave early tomorrow morning for Madrid. G has been taking good care of me, getting me food and working from home so I won't be lonely, and even Nelly has been enjoying 2 full days of snuggling on the bed with me. :) I've been working on some cross stitch projects at times when my fever is lower and I can do something productive, and the Tylenol and cough medicine have both helped a lot.

I was supposed to lead a demonstration on making Christmas wreaths, but we've pushed that back till next Thursday instead, which is perfect for me. Thanks for your prs, and I'm glad that I got this now and not at Christmas when we're on our way back to the US. :)

December 10, 2008

Alas all of my fine plans have been rearranged the past 2 days- instead of being off to Oxford today, or doing useful things yesterday, I've been in bed with a fever and a chest cold. Not what I had planned of course. :) I still have a fever and it's almost 11pm here- I've had to hand off the wreath making to my lovely 2 coworkers, who are amazingly flexible and I'm so blessed to work with them in the international ladies work here.

Unfortunately since I'm still not well, I may be spending another day in bed. :( I'm very thankful for a fully functioning immune system though- I always think how amazing our bodies are whenever I get something like this. I'm feeling better overall, though still feverish if I get out of bed or walk around. That doesn't bode well for my intended visit to Madrid- it looks like I might have to cancel, which is unfortunate but at least I didn't buy advance train tickets. I can cancel the hostel and the flight, although I hate to do it, but I'd hate even more to think I'm alright and go tramping around Madrid only to find myself with a fever in a hostel in a strange country!

I'll update tomorrow so you'll all know if I'm still here in bed or off to Madrid Friday morning, but so far it doesn't seem promising.

December 9, 2008

G and I have a lot of contacts among tentmakers all over the world. As a reminder, tentmakers are people who choose to use their career or skill set as a means to secure a job in a country somewhere, so that they can meet people, form relationships, and tell people about JC so that they have the option of choosing to follow him or not. The term "tentmaker" comes from a man called Paul who was a leader in the early ch and he was trained in making tents, so he went from town to town making tents and teaching in the towns that he went to. You can read more about him in the book called Acts.

We receive update letters from tentmakers all over the world- Northwest China, North Africa, Southeast Asia, Europe, and also from the US. Today we received a letter that really surprised us from some tentmakers in Nigeria, in the city of Jos. We had no idea that there were problems there, but in fact last week there were very serious riots in Nigeria. This information didn't even hit the mainstream news, although if you search for Jos on CNN you'll find some articles buried there. The fact is that this kind of violence and rioting happens a lot in Nigeria. I've posted the letter from our friends there (I had to clean it up for security reasons) and I hope you'll read it over and pr for the people there. This couple is teaching at a university in Jos, and have lived there for 4 years now. They are in their 50s, and have children and grandchildren living Stateside.

By now many of you have likely heard some news of the Jos crisis that began early Friday morning Nov 28th (around 2 am). We trust that you have already been prompted to pr for the peace of Jos. What a difficult world for so many! Reports indicate that over 300 have been killed, many have been injured and many have fled their homes to take refuge with family, friends, at army barracks, in schools, etc. Pr especially for strength for all the care givers, patience, a forgiving spirit that will prevent taking revenge and adequate supply of water, food and medical care. Pr for wisdom and cooperation in the relief efforts being coordinated as you will read about further down.

We three couples were in our own homes at our Colleges of Education (each of us being about 1.5 - 2 hours from Jos) and so are thankful that we we were not in Jos. It was a very traumatic time for our colleagues living in North Jos on the University of Jos staff quarters, with their high school age children. They lived through the crisis in 2001 - their hearts have relived horrors again. They all had their houses full of displaced people with little running water and electricity! Our African director is continually journaling and that is giving us a little picture of what happened as we are able to receive them.

Thursday (Nov 27th) was Plateau State local government area elections and the Mslm community was not happy that their candidate lost in Jos North! Mslms were brought into the city to add to the vote!! Early Friday morning a number of chchs around Uni Jos were burned as well as other targeted buildings - well planned destruction. Many "C" homes in Mslm areas were burned. Some key people were targeted and killed. We are thankful that Governor Jang took such quick action in dispatching police and the army quickly came from Abuja the capital to try and restore order. Things have quieted down but there is a tense quiet in the city and on the Plateau. We don't know what the days ahead will bring. When we first arrived on the Plateau in 2004, we would sometimes pass through 8 police check points on our 110 km journey from Pankshin to Jos!

Relief efforts are under way by the Emergency Preparedness Response Team (EPRT) of Plateau State working together with MCC. Their plan is to target about a dozen refugee camps within Jos. They have emailed us a well laid out plan. We have yet to know how we will contribute to the efforts.

Nigerian's consider themselves either Mslm or C. But many are C in name only. Since 2001 there has been much talk of non-retaliation, but we are sorry to say that some Cs attacked Mslms - we do not know the extent. But our local ch leader along with about 100 others were taken in by one of our coworkers. His ch in the area has been burned down twice since 2001 and this is the third time!!!!! His ch people went to great efforts to do good to the Mslms around them and at some point these even discouraged damage to the ch. But millitants will do their work!

Please pr for those ch families who have lost their places of worship, some have lost their leader and many are grieving the loss of their homes and loved ones. We have heard that since the last crisis there were Mslms who decided to follow JC as a result and we are pring that many more will be turned from darkness to light - we need to pray the same for nominal Cs.

Pr for the large coworker community in Jos - love and wisdom in giving help needed. May the Ld accomplish his purposes and give us the grace to help as he prompts us.

December 8, 2008

One of my excellent friends from college got engaged yesterday! We were so blessed- her fiance asked us to do a photo with the word "Will" in it for his proposal, and he had her parents, his parents, and some other very good friends do the other words. So we knew it was coming and are so very happy for them both!

I think I've mentioned this, but I am off to Madrid this weekend. I can't believe it- my friend S and I have been planning this trip since she came to visit in September (well, if you can call intending to do it and buying tickets a few weeks back planning- we're not uberplanners I have to say) and I'm going a day earlier and staying a day later than she is. I wasn't so sure about doing that at first, but G encouraged me to take advantage of being in Madrid to see some other things around Spain, and I am intending to take a trip out to Toledo, Segovia, and maybe one other place. Madrid is considered a megacity now, and will soon overtake Shanghai in it's "megacityness" according to the guide book. :) The advantage of this is that there are fast trains going from Madrid, which is the capital of Spain, to many of the other major cities. Spain isn't a huge country, but it's slightly bigger than the UK I think. Anyway our trains here can't compare to the fast trains there- you can be on the other side of Spain in 2 hours by train, which would simply never happen here. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of their fast trains while I'm there, and if I enjoy the visit G and I might come again some weekend since it's so close.

I haven't gone travelling by myself in quite a long time- completely by myself that is. I travelled around some in Cambodia while I was there, and at least in Spain I can read the signs and understand something of what they are saying (the Spanish lisp is quite difficult for me to understand, so I hope to be able to get by). I've been polishing up the Spanish part of my brain these days with practice, but I can't keep the Cambodian words out and my brain has been suggesting sentences such as "Ot bahn ir al Sevilla" as good things to say, which any Spanish speaker would see is only half Spanish. :) I ought to be thinking "No puedo ir al Sevilla" instead. Ah the joys of being multilingual. :) Once this Spain trip is behind me I'll set to Chinese in more earnest- I just couldn't deal with 3 languages in my head before this trip. :)

So the upcoming trip to Madrid is taking up a bit of my time- being alone for parts of it means I need to plan a bit more so that I can be careful not to be out on the streets of a foreign city at night alone, or be travelling to my hostel at the wrong time of day.

Please pr for my friend "Mar" who I've been getting to know here. She's heading back to her home country next week, and we're hoping to plan a day trip to Oxford together. It looks like Wednesday might be the day. Long trips are a good way to chat with people about the good news, and since she's a photographer we share a common interest already. She is from east Berlin, and I am hoping to take a weekend to visit her in April when she's free from her studies there. I love that we can hop around Europe for $40 round trip on a plane- who could ever have imagined?

Our Christmas tree is up finally, which is exciting. We're feeling excited to visit home and see everyone! We'll be back the 27th of December. Sorry I'm a bit scatterbrained today- this week is looking a bit crazy with iBASE tomorrow night (the last one of the year), Wednesday all day in Oxford for me, Thursday a wreath making outreach of our iLadies (the international ladies study group) in which I am teaching them all how to make a Christmas wreath (which entails my collecting materials Tuesday), Thursday night last Camera club of the year, and early Friday morning I'm off to Madrid! Whew!

Please pr for G next weekend- he's planning some men's outreaches while I'm gone, and hoping to take a group of guys from work out to Wimpole, and a few guys from iBASE as well that he's been forming closer friendships with.

Let me finish this blog with an excerpt from a book that we just picked up at a thrift store called The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names. I know some of you linguophiles (I think that's a word) and would find the history of some of our town names here interesting:

Cambridge:
-Grantacaestir c 730 Bede,
-Grantacester c 890 OE Bede
-Grontabricc c 745 Felix
-Grantebrycg c 875
-Cantebruge c 1125
-Cambrugge (Chaucer)

Originally 'Roman fort on the Granta,' later 'bridge over the Granta.' The loss of the first r and the change of G to C are due to Norman influence. Cambridgeshire is Grantabrycgscir c 1010, Cantebruggescir 1142, Cambruggeschire c 1400.

Swavesey:
-Suauesheda c 1080
-Suaveshide 1203

'Swaef's landing-place.' Swaef occurs in Swaefsheale c762 and is a normal short form of names in Swaef-. In Old English ae (long a) often appears in East Saxon as 'a' (long a).

Now it makes sense why locals pronounce it SWA-ves-see instead of Sw-AH-vsy which we thought as Americans.

Dec 7, 2008- Pearl Harbor Day

Most young people might not be aware that today is Pearl Harbor Day. Not because it's not important, but because they didn't live through it. We might wonder whether we properly teach our young people if important dates aren't remembered. Here in the UK they are still remembering "remember remember the 5th of November, gun powder treason and plot" which happened in 1605. Perhaps we Americans should come up with some clever rhymes to help us remember important dates in our history- Pearl Harbor Day is one that shouldn't be forgotten (or "forgot" as they say here.) Days like the day JFK was killed are deeply impressed on the memory of those who lived through them, but 25 years from now even September 11 will be something remembered by those who were alive when it happened, but those born after or children at the time won't think of it in the same way as we do. After we're all dead and gone September 11th will pass from the relatively foggy collective consciousness of our culture into the history books.

That's all rather depressing I suppose. But suffice it to say that we're remembering Pearl Harbor Day here in our little corner of the world and thinking fondly of all our friends who served in the war. Blessings to you all who remember that day in 1941.

December 5, 2008

This Sunday is the Bounce A Round (that's the moms and preschoolers group here) carol service, and lots of my Chinese mom friends are coming along I hope. We usually go at 5pm but this week we'll go early to see people and chat. The Sundays running up until Christmas are very busy here with outreach events, both for British people and internationals. We're doing follow up on our Orientation Course still and inviting them along this Sunday. We also have a wreath making event that I'm heading (the making of door wreaths and collecting of materials that is) which should be good fun on Thursday. I'm also preparing for next weekend's trip to Madrid- a friend of mine who is serving in Northern Africa is heading to Madrid for a few days and we're meeting up there. I'm looking forward to it, though I'll be there one day early alone, and one day after she leaves alone. Don't worry though- I speak Spanish and although I don't like cities I am one of the most cautious travellers you've ever met. :) I'm looking forward to spending time with my friend and photographing some world heritage sites outside of Madrid....and of course a little sunshine. :)

The camera club meeting went well last night- I'm finally integrating myself into some relationships although they are still pretty much at the acquaintance level. But if you could lift up my acquaintances Steve, Emma, Andy, Malcolm, and Julius that would be great. The camera club is mostly men, over 50, and they aren't my target for relationships but Steve and Malcolm are club officers so if I can get to know them and their families it could help me in interacting with the club. They're all married and have children. Emma is a new member same as me although not so "forward" I think my British friends would say- she's very shy, whereas I am quite comfortable with strangers, even if they are older men. Andy has some kind of serious cancer and I invited him along to the club after meeting him and his family in a nearby village. The women in the club are hard to get to know, so I'm still working on them. :)

December 2, 2008

Today we had our iBASE meeting and we decided after some discussion to do a talk about relationships. We talked about practical things such as the importance of shared values, shared vision, and a strong friendship before deciding to date a person. We also talked about what the bbl has to say about relationships. There were so many questions that we ran over 2 hours and didn't get home until midnight! The idea that physical attraction and lovey feelings aren't the basis for a good longlasting marriage was shocking to many of them. They were also surprised to hear that living together and having sex don't help you to determine if a person is good marriagable material. Anyway it was a great talk, and they were such attentive listeners. We've not been married all that long compared to so many of our friends who have 55 or 60 years of experience, but we were able to share what little we've learned in our 4 and a half years. It was a good time and fruitful because several people were there who weren't followers of JC, and they were interested in what the bbl says about all of this just the same as everyone else.

Talk about a tiring evening though. :)

November 30, 2008

The madness on Oxford Street.

Yesterday G and I had 2 separate but very interesting days out with friends. G went with Bruno up to Hunstanton to see the sea and the cliffs, and to walk around Blakeney Point where the salt marshes are. They had their own adventures, including turning the wrong way and driving the wrong direction for 20 minutes. :) While G and Bruno were driving around, I was on my way into London to catch a friend who was passing through on her way to Zambia for work. She didn't have very long, only 3 or 4 hours, but we had a good time taking a shotgun tour of London, including the Underground (parts of said tour we could have done without if the Tube map was clearer) and a restaurant called the Texas Embassy. For those of you who perhaps don't remember this obscure little fact, Texas was indeed it's own country for 15 years, from 1830 to 1845. They had an embassy in London not far from where this restaurant is, and the British government was thoughtful enough to offer them protection from the newly formed United States if they wanted to remain a country. However they decided to join with us rather than stand alone (a point to remind our Texas friends of perhaps when they get a wee bit too "Don't mess with Texas" ) and the rest is history. :) The Texas Embassy was closed in London. We found this place because we were desperate for some food- we had seen Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, 4 Tube stations, Nelson's Monument, Buckingham Palace, The Mall, and Wellington's Arch by this point. I marked our route roughly on the map in purple. So we stopped at a pub for some food, but the wait was over an hour! So we looked for another pub, which of course stopped serving food at 2:30 as is common here. So we were forced to look for something less British, and we found the Texas Embassy. Poor Lauren had just come from the US and would have much preferred fish and chips, but the Texas Embassy definitely serves a version of tex-mex type food, closer to Mexican food than anything I've found here, and as such I was ecstatic! They had REAL tortilla chips with REAL salsa! My food was great- I just wish we could have found a pub for Lauren's sake. :)

(The purple route was where Lauren and I walked, and the
blue route was where Maria and I walked)

Anyway after I saw Lauren off at the Tube station I went on to meet up with a friend at the London Eye, which is the giant ferris wheel thingie. We're both into photography and wanted to photo the Christmas lights in London. Little did we know what we were getting ourselves into! First of all, the Christmas lights in London leave much to be desired. They are not very traditional, and not terribly interesting coming from the US. :) But the crazy thing was that we accidentally landed ourselves in the middle of the biggest Christmas shopping mob that I've ever seen. Oxford Street was packed tight- and I mean tight- with people, from the station all the way down the street. We ended up having to climb over a railing to cross the street after we stood in this mob for about 10 minutes wondering if we would ever move again. And the worst thing was there was no where to move to! All 4 corners of the intersection and all the way down the streets was nearly as bad. If I hadn't been with my friend Maria I would simply have turned around and gone back into the tube and gone elsewhere. But these sorts of things make good adventures when you're with friends. :) We walked all over the area, wandering down small little streets and all sorts of places in search of good Christmas lights. Overall the lights were disappointing, but the city exploration was great- I found places I'd heard of or been looking for and never found. So from that standpoint it was great.

Burlington Arcade

Bond Street

St Christopher's Place

Some store called House of Fraser. Never heard of it.

November 28, 2008

These attacks in India are really horrible. I'm sure that you've been hearing about them there, as we have here. Please pr for India and the people who have been affected by these horrible attacks, and the tourists and businessmen whose families have been affected.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you're all enjoying your turkeys and football and time with family. It's a bit weird celebrating an American holiday in another country- sometimes we try to get together with some American friends, sometimes we just decide to stay home. :) As you are probably aware Thanksgiving is an American holiday only- British people don't have any reason to celebrate it really. For me one of the best things about Thanksgiving is having dinner with my family, watching some football on TV, going for a walk in the countryside (with or without snow as the case may be) and eating leftovers. :) I do miss that here. I think we'll try to have dinner with some people over the weekend since today and tomorrow are normal work days for us here.

Tonight is the monochrome competition for the camera club, which I'm submitting 4 of my images for. My style is very different from anything I've seen here in the club, so I'm interested to see how they go over with everyone, and especially with the judge. If they do well that would be great for my relationships in the club, because it will give people a chance to get to know me better and provide a good conversation topic. I'm certain that I'm the most active new member that they've ever had, because they all seem surprised that I'm volunteering for things and stuff like that. Anyway pr that the competitions would be a good chance to build relationships!

I have some very exciting news- it may not strike you as all that exciting if you don't believe in Gd, or wouldn't call yourself a follower of JC. But to me it is very exciting news indeed because it reminds me of a deep truth. None of us have wanted to let JC be in charge in our lives- we want to be the king, the ruler of our own life, and because of that we're separated from Gd. No amount of work will get us into heaven, because the condition for entry isn't based on how good or bad we are. In the eyes of a holy and perfect Judge not one of us is truly good. So on to my good news, but first a story.

I first met my great uncle Odis when I was 7 and my family had just come back from being stationed in Germany. My early memories of him have always stuck with me, and even at such a young age I formed an idea of the sort of man that he was. He was from Alabama, a culture very different from Michigan and my family culture was even more different than that of our extended family. He was an alcoholic, a coarse man, at times a vulgar man- he was in some degree a racist (I'll never forget asking my mom why Uncle Odis called a black person the n-word, and didn't he know that was wrong) but mostly he was a self centered alcoholic. Not that he didn't have any good qualities at all, but as a child those things stood out to me. My perception of him didn't change as I got older and he grew older and more dramatic in his faults. I heard the stories of things he'd done when he was younger, and he wasn't the sort of person that I felt I could really respect. Well over the past 5 years his hard drinking and smoking caught up with him, and the doctors warned him that if he didn't quit it would surely be the death of him- he'd heard that for probably 25 years at least, but this time the clock was really ticking. A few months ago the doctors told him that he only had a few months left as he had terminal lung cancer.

Now when I heard that news I can't say that I was terribly surprised- the more surprising fact is that he lived to be 80 years old considering the smoking and alcoholism. But I was quite struck by the fact that he had advance warning of his impending death, not something everyone has, and I wondered what he made of that. Was he ready to die? Did he wonder what would happen when he died? He has a son who is a pastor, and I wondered if he gave any further thought to what his son had told him about JC and about Gd. Did he wonder why he'd been given advanced warning? I was strongly impressed with the idea that Gd wanted to give Odis the chance to change his mind about JC- to think again on what he'd been told in the past, and consider again whether he could face a holy Gd who has the right of a perfect Judge to ask what he'd done with his life.

So I pr-ed for Odis- everyday I thought of him and thought of that one less day he had to decide, but also that one more day he'd had to think seriously on these things. I asked Gd to be merciful to Odis, although maybe from a human perspective he'd done nothing to deserve Gd's mercy. After all, he made a mess of his life, wasted it in heavy drinking everyday, and who knows the impact he had on his wife and family. But I know that Gd IS in fact merciful- compared to Odis my life might look spotless, but the fact is I am imperfect too and that Gd provided a way for every imperfect person (which is every one of us) to be able to have a relationship with him, and have our lives made new. I knew that Odis' son was telling him about JC and I just keep pring that Odis would see what an amazing offer Gd was giving him. The offer of a great exchange- JC's perfect life in exchange for his messed up life. Being far from Gd exchanged for a relationship with him. An eternity separated from Gd for an eternity with him. But to be honest Odis seemed like an impossible case- he was so set in his ways, would he be willing to let JC be the king of whatever bit of his life was left?

A few days ago, 3 or 4, I heard that Odis had died. When I heard that news I sincerely hoped to have the chance to see Odis in heaven one day and see him as a new person. And the day after I heard the most amazing news- Odis and his wife both decided to let JC be king of their lives about 3 weeks ago! What wonderful and amazing news!! To have lived lives that were very hard toward Gd, wanting to run their own lives their own way, and at the age of 77 and 80 to agree to follow JC instead is simply an amazing thing! So now I will have that chance to talk to Odis someday and see him in a new way- as one who took JC's offer to swap lives and therefore be made right with Gd, although he took it at almost the last possible moment.

Sometimes when people hear stories like this they think, "What kind of Gd would accept a person like that? How is that fair? He was such a bad person he should have gone to hell." In fact it's natural to think that really. But the fact is that not one of us deserves to go to heaven. None of us have met Gd's standard of a perfect life lived for him where he is the King of our lives. Not all of us have messed our lives up to the same degree, and some of us have even had pretty good looking lives. But we still can't reach that standard. That's why we need JC, and that's why he came- to pay the price for our rebellion and imperfect lives, and to live a perfect life himself. So those of us who are already followers of JC don't get what we deserve either. As for me, I think Gd is truly amazing that he has provided a way for us to exchange our lives, be they in our opinion only a little bit dirty or entirely messed up.

So that is my good news- that a man with a hard heart and a messed up life decided at 80 years old to take JC's offer of an exchange instead of living the rest of his life his own way. No life is hopeless, because the bbl says "What is impossible with man is possible with Gd."

Funny cats

Ok I have to admit that there are some very funny things on the internet. Ages ago I found this site with funny cat pictures and even funnier captions. I re-found it again today and decided to post a few up here. Somehow the internet powers that be have decided that cats talk in phone text mode- thus the strangely spelled words and things. :)


more animals


more animals

(Baths are good you say?)




more animals

(5 second rule- you're gone 5 seconds, it's mine)




more animals

(I've brought you room service)


more animals




(There's no room for you in our spa)




(Rare unicorn cat)

November 24, 2008

I usually try to be sure that I've updated the blog by Saturday night each week, because I know that our Living Proof friends who are printing it off will want to take it along on Sunday mornings. This Saturday we got back quite late from a day trip up to Chatsworth with a Chinese friend of ours. We went to see the grounds, enjoy the beautiful Peak District, and see the Christmas lights and displays in the Chatsworth house itself. Despite being caught in some construction (which I discovered is called "road works" here) we made it there and had a great time. I made my first online order for groceries via Tesco, and it arrived about 10 minutes ago. It is so much nicer and saves a lot of time! He brought things in these green crates, and I unloaded them at the door, and then off he went. No agonized wandering through the gigantic store wondering where they could possibly have moved the soy milk or tomatoes or cat litter this week...no screaming babies, bratty children, or almost getting run over in the parking lot...no parking worries, dealing with traffic...overall, I'm very satisfied with this new system and I expect to keep ordering online forever. :) And the delivery guy was SO nice and helpful! We still do buy whatever is available at our local news agent, but they don't carry much except milk and bread. Please pr for the international group as we try to structure things properly given that in iBASE we're losing most of our students at Christmas. We may join in with the iHUB group (which is for graduate students and post grads) after the first of the year. The ladies outreach that we have been doing with the international moms has just wrapped up, and we're inviting everyone along for the carol services which StAG has during this time of the year. We have about 4 carol services, which are hugely popular for inviting British friends along to, and international friends who have never been to a carol service before. So please be asking that the carol services would be welcoming places for friends to hear the good news. Also G and I are singing in the service on the 30th. I'll end with a few photos from Chatsworth- I wish you all could have been there with us! With Thanksgiving this week I've been feeling that "its a major holiday that you should be spending with your family and friends at home but instead you're in a foreign country that doesn't know about your holiday" feeling. :) That's part of the cost of international work, but it doesn't mean that we miss family and friends any less! Thursday and Friday this week are normal work days here, but we'll be thinking of you all back home enjoying the break and turkeys galore. :)

The local Church of England schools always help make decorations for Chatsworth, and this year they painted scenes depicting Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem for the census.

Apparently there's a book that's famous here called The First Noel that is done in this style. They made giant versions of the scenes from the book and put them around Chatsworth.

This is the chapel at Chatsworth- it was hard to get it all in. The altar is between the 2 pine trees, the marble column looking thing.


This is the Painted Hall, which is like a grand hall entrance. It looked beautiful with the Christmas decorations.

At the end of the house tour you pass through the sculpture gallery. Napoleon's mother is the statue on the right.

November 17, 2008

You may not be aware that G has 2 cousins who are due on Thanksgiving. Which is coming up fast- next week already! Anyway we have a LOT of friends who are expecting, but when it's family you get all the inside info, maybe some that you didn't want to know. ;) Soon we'll be hearing of contractions, shows, dilation, waters breaking, and birth announcements. G has a large family (his grandmother has 7 children and something like 26 grandchildren and I've forgotten how many great grandchildren) which is overwhelmingly large for me, coming from such a small family myself. I can barely remember all his cousin's names, and I've forgotten most of the cousin's spouses names, and I'm not sure if I ever knew the cousin's children's names. :) Anyway I do know that baby River and baby X will be arriving anytime between now and next week, thanks primarily to Facebook.

After the excitement of Norway Cambridge has seemed a bit dull. It's been cloudy for days, and the sun is setting earlier and earlier and it's now dark at 3:30. If there were mountains around, or snow, like Norway, I think I'd mind the darkness less. But since the shops are closing around 4:30 these days as well, there is simply not much to do outside the house after 4pm, except walk around in the rain and get wet. :) The camera club is affording some new things to do, because I have to mount my prints for the competitions, and I hope they will fare well in the competitions. I'd love to place 1st in at least one, which would give me more exposure and a bit more acknowledgement of my presence at the club meetings. :)

Speaking of photography I'm happy to announce that I had my first purchase via my website from a person that I don't know and am in no way connected to! It was very exciting! I have also officially booked that wedding on July 4th 2009, and am looking around for other weddings to book. Weddings are good money and for me not very stressful since I photograph events all the time. I'm looking for people who don't want a lot of frills, and who are on a budget that is less than what most photographers in Cambridge charge. Most photogs here get 900-1200 pounds for a wedding. Of course with the exchange rate that doesn't seem quite so bad as it has done. :) But anyway that includes a professionally printed book, some prints, 10 hours of shooting, etc. I'm aiming for the market that would like half that price, and half the shooting time, without books or things like that. It's a lot less than I could make, but I don't have demo books or a good solid wedding portfolio to snag the higher end just yet. I will have though if I can convince another person or 2 to let me photo their weddings. :) This one promises well, because it's being held in one of the colleges, which are stunning for photography and make every person who shoots there look like a real pro. :) So business is off and running for me here, and I'm taking small jobs about once a week and continuing to grow.

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'm hoping to learn enough about the business of photography including weddings, portraits, and even running travel trips, to be able to teach that to folks overseas. I've heard that lots of expats like those sorts of things, and it could be a real blessing to them to learn a bit about photography. If I get good at organizing photo travel trips that would just rock- since we intend to live overseas we could bring in groups of photog tourists as a business. By we I mean me primarily. :)

Please keep pring for iBASE that meets Tuesdays, and for Bounce A Round on Wednesday mornings. I'm building good friendships there on Wednesday and am beginning my work on learning Chinese. I love the Chinese ladies there and I always look forward to spending time with them!

November 14, 2008

(photo courtesy of www.llama.org/new_groove.htm)

We've been adjusting well to life back in Swavesey since our visit to Norway. Although landing in the UK reminded us both strongly of a funny line from The Emperor's New Groove (which by the way is an old favorite of mine). For those who have never heard of it, it's about a spoiled bratty emperor of a vaguely Incan-like empire. He fires an evil woman who has been working for him, and so she tries to poison him to get rid of him. (Yikes- Disney movies are not for kids anymore!) Anyway her assistant accidentally puts in a potion to turn him into a llama instead. Well at some point in the movie Cuzco (the spoiled emperor) who has been a llama for the entire movie gets ahold of the evil woman's potions and is trying to turn himself back. He ends up going through about 8 different animals, a turtle, a whale, a parrot, and all sorts of things, and then he suddenly turns back into a llama. He says "Yay! I'm a llama again!!! Wait..." The idea that he'd gotten used to being a llama is really quite funny. All of that background to say that when we landed in the UK I said to George "Yay! I'm a llama again!" Going away on holiday to somewhere and then returning "home" and "home" being the UK was so much like Cuzco's experience of being turned back into a llama that I just had to laugh. :) Apparently I've become quite good at being a "llama" here- last night at the Camera Club there was a presenter who is British and was showing photos from his American Holiday out west. He and his American wife went to a family reunion there, saw Yellowstone, parts of Montana, and drove a van around and slept in it like a camper while they were there. None of that may sound strange to you if you're American, but if you could only see the hilarious perspective of a British person wondering why Americans do what we do! He took photos of the large campers that people drive around, and just all sorts of typically American things. I laughed and laughed, and I had a great chat with him after his presentation. My point in all this is that none of the Camera Club folks that I had talked to knew that I was American. :) So when I told people "I quite enjoyed the presentation today, since I'm from the States and it's very funny to see one's culture through someone else's eyes" they were surprised. Apparently I'm a good enough llama to fool most people. But on closer acquaintance I think they'd see immediately that I'm not a llama- I'm too friendly, too helpful, too interested in complete strangers, and too bold to be a British person. :) I had a lovely chat with a woman in her 80s who had come to the club- she was visiting her son Simon who is the club president, and in typical fashion no one spoke to her. It's tempting for me to think at these moments "What in the world is wrong with all you people?!!" but I keep reminding myself that it's not "wrong" it's simply "different." Anyway I had a very nice chat with her, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about her tour of the local church buildings, and her daughter who lives not too far away, and how much she's enjoyed visiting Swavesey. I was very much blessed. But I definitely blew my llama cover. :) It may seem strange to result to scheming and plotting to form friendships here, but that's sort of how it goes with international work. In our own culture we can be natural and just form friendships naturally, but in another culture we have to be intentional about forming relationships. The Camera Club lot have been a hard bunch, so I've been scheming about how to get to know them better and how to get them to let me into their circle of friends. I've been watching how the club works, and have decided a few things: #1) Come early. I came early last night and half the people were already there by 7:15. I was able to chat with my few acquaintances beforehand, which helped a ton. I may try to get there even earlier next week to help with the actual setting up of chairs and things. #2) Serve people. I've found that in every culture helping people and serving people is a sure way to gain their respect and interest, so I always stay to help with the chairs, and last night I volunteered to help with the tea break- they always struggle to find people to do it, and I blew my llama cover again by publicly volunteering (I'm such a new member that people looked at me with shock.) If I help with tea then I can talk to every member of the club as they come in to get juice or tea at the break, and they will all start to know me. Besides the benefit of having the thankfulness of the club officers who are the core members. #3) Stay late. I decided to try to be one of the last people out of the room, and just keep looking for something to do until there was nothing left to be done. This gave me a great chance to chat with some of the core members of the club, as they are the ones doing the setting up and taking down. Although these are things we have to be specific about doing here, any of you can be intentional like this in your everyday lives as well. It does take a little effort, and you shouldn't expect many thanks (or any at all) for it, but to me helping and serving people is truly it's own reward. This wonderful older lady whom I chatted with last night seemed very excited about a little Christmas bazaar that's going on tomorrow in Swavesey, and I'm going to go in hopes of seeing her again there and chatting with her some more. I'm sure I'll see other Camera Club folks there too- that's my hope at least.

About Tromso

I can't believe we were only in Norway for 4 days- it seemed like a very long time. I for one am glad to be home for at least one reason- we had to pack light due to luggage restrictions and I am so glad to have clean clothes on after wearing the same clothes for 4 days!

For Michiganders Tromso is a very comfortable place- it is very strikingly like Michigan in the winter, except Tromso is surrounded by beautiful mountains. :) The city has the feel of an old West gold rush town- most of the buildings are made from wood, and shingled in a way that is SO reminiscent of the wild west. It has a young feel, partly because in the past 30 years many people have been moving into Tromso. Some for the adventure of dog sledding and living above the Arctic Circle, but many because Norway moved the Polar Research Center from Oslo (the capital of Norway) to Tromso. Tromso University is apparently quite famous in Norway, and is a bit like UM in that it attracts top people who are very educated and cultured. There are so many concerts and loads of cultural events going on in Tromso. But it doesn't strike you as a snooty place. If anything a bit granola because of the people who have moved there who enjoy outdoor sports and living a sort of one with nature lifestyle. It isn't very surprising when you go to Tromso though- it is just the type of place to foster a spirit of adventure.

Downtown Tromso

Norwegian Kroner, 10Kroner is about 1 pound, or $1.50.

Many famous explorers came from Tromso. Think back to all those things you studied about the Northwest Passage, Polar Expeditions, the North Pole, and you have a big piece of Tromso's history right there. Most polar expeditions came from Tromso, and they went up to Svalbard to launch themselves into the Arctic Desert on their search for the north pole. The many museums in Tromso reflect this explorer history and the Polar Museum is amazing in that it has lots of the original artifacts which these famous men used on their expeditions.

An ice cutter on it's way out to sea

I learned at one of the museums that Tromso is so comparatively warm because the area is warmed by the same gulf stream which warms the UK. Tromso is definitely warmer than Michigan even in their winter. But there is a biting Arctic wind, which we often experience in Michigan as well, although the wind is stronger being at it's source. We came prepared for the cold, but frequently found ourselves (especially G) to be a bit too warm. Better too warm than too cold in my opinion. :) There was no snow in Tromso, although they're expecting snow soon. I'd have loved to try dog sledding and sleighs and snowshoeing and all that, but we'll have to save that for another trip. You might be interested to know that almost all Norwegians speak English! Norwegian is a Germanic language, similar to English and German, so we have a lot of common words.

Ships in Tromso Harbor

The mountains around Tromso are stunningly beautiful- remote, desolate, and wild, with only a very small village of 3 or 4 houses occasionally, and lovely remote farms alone on stretches of road in the fjords. The water is clear as crystal, and you can see starfish, jellyfish, and all sorts of things living in it that you'd never expect. It's also quite salty and therefore more dense up there, so it takes longer to freeze. I love wild, remote places- I always seek them out wherever we go, and since G and I are both into adventure we usually find them. :) If I enjoyed walking more we would take some serious hikes up the mountains, but truth be told I'm more interested in photographing than walking, which slows G down considerably and quite rightly is annoying to the people I'm supposed to be walking with. :) We've hiked up a few smaller mountains, less than 3000 feet anyway, which I enjoyed. But I digress.

My favorite part of our trip was renting a car to drive around near Tromso, amongst the mountains and fjords that were within an hour's drive. We went out when it was dark, and although we didn't see the aurora we were blessed with a bright moon and loads of opportunities for night photography along the deserted road that wound although the mountains. It was simply incredible.

A deserted stretch of road heading out to a teeny seaside village.

A farm on a quiet inlet of one of the fjords.

I learned something interesting about Norway from the museums we visited- hunting and trapping have formed so much a part of the history of Norway, in addition to North Pole expeditions, that their museum which is dedicated to those things is quite telling. They are quite up front about how trappers bludgeoned baby seals to death, trapped foxes and other animals in the cruelest ways, and all for their fur. They sometimes ate the meat, but they were trapping for fur, which I have always thought is just wicked. But interestingly you can buy seal fur products right in the museums! There is no way the UK or the US would allow a person to bring a seal, walrus, or whale product back into their countries, but in Norway they are commonly sold. I'm happy to say that the demand for seal products has plummeted, and there are very few people still hunting seals at all. Given their reduced numbers, I think that's a good thing. I've spared you the most gory of the photos- ones of polar bears being butchered, and seals, and animals caught in viciously inhumane traps. Suffice it to say that I'm for humane treatment and killing of animals where their death is necessary for food only- not for sport, or fashion.

An arctic circle trapper's lodge

Fancy a dead arctic fox anyone? :P

We really enjoyed Norway, the little corner of it that we were able to see anyway, and I'd love to go back during a different season to enjoy the true winter or the beautiful Arctic summer.

November 10, 2008

Flying into Tromso!

Tromso downtown

We got back very late from our outside the city excursion- we had an amazing time hiking around in the darkness and moonlight, eating dinner in a traditional Sami tent (which was very similar to a teepee) and playing with the sled dogs and their puppies. And of course watching for the aurora- we were so blessed to see an amazing aurora! It didn't last long but it was indeed beautiful. G is right now on his way to pick up a rental car (rental cars are too expensive on the weekend, but we managed to get an affordable one for a day) and our intention is to drive around the area outside of Tromso on the mainland (Tromso is an island) and see some fjords and whatever else we can manage to see in such a short time. I hope the car rental folks have a map- if not we'll be looking for one so we don't get lost. :) We would love to see the aurora again tonight, and since we can drive wherever we want we are hoping for some good backgrounds as well. Here are a few photos from last night:

Tromso city lights in orange, aurora in green. :)

Tromso Arctic Cathedral- the northernmost Cathedral in the world.

November 9, 2008

We made it to Tromso yesterday, and so far we've really enjoyed this quiet little town. It reminds me a lot of Parry Sound, in Georgian Bay, Canada. It's a quaint town, on an island in the sea but protected by some other larger islands from the fierceness of the Arctic Sea. If you've ever watched Most Dangerous Catch, which is a live documentary of the crab boats that operate up here in the Arctic you'll be interested to know that we saw some of those crab boats here in Tromso! I say boats, but they are ships actually- larger than you'd think, and many are in between seasonal runs so they have all the crab boxes with them, and the ships have been hauled out to be repainted and such.

It rained yesterday all day and night, so no chance at seeing the aurora. But we did see the Arctic Cathedral, and we took some night photos of the town and the boats and things. We just got back from walking around and photographing along the water front. We also went to a small museum called Polaria, which was very interesting. We've booked a aurora sightseeing visit out to a farm 13km south of Tromso which has 200 huskies that they use as sled dogs, and they have all sorts of interesting things. The native people of Norway are called Sami, and they are a bit like the native people of all cold places in that they have a sort of yurt, or hut, that they lived in. This farm has one of those, and they start a nice warm bonfire that you can sit around while you wait to see the aurora. You can also play with their cute puppies and other things which any of you who know me well would know I'd be into. I could play with puppies all day- the main problem is not sneaking one back with me to Swavesey. :)

It is fully dark now- the sun set at 2:30pm and came up at 9am. During the day it's like one long sunset- the sun is low on the horizon and makes everything look beautiful. Since it's Sunday many shops and things are closed. By the way, we're getting around just fine without speaking Norwegian as everyone here speaks English. Norwegian sounds a bit like German and English smooshed together, with a bit of Spanish thrown in. It's a beautiful sounding language in my opinion.

We're off to do some other things in town before it closes- we are meeting our transport for tonight at 6:15 near our hotel, and I really hope there's a good aurora tonight! The weather is very reminiscent of Michigan actually- I had a sort of "at home" feel when we got off the plane, and although the wind is quite biting here it's nothing like January in Michigan. :)