January 31, 2009

This week G and I have had lots of separate things going on in the evenings. It makes it hard to spend time together when we're both going different directions, and we're careful not to let that happen for more than a week. Tomorrow I have an all day photo workshop about an hour from here that 9 other people from the camera club are going on. Please pr for me- this Thursday was an uphill battle getting people to talk to me at all, and after 2 hours I was exhausted from mostly fruitless attempts to start conversations or enter other people's conversations. I don't want to spend all day tomorrow doing the same- I don't think I have the energy for it! With only 10 of us, it could go one of 2 ways. Everyone else knows each other, so they could just leave me out of their conversations which would make it difficult to chat at all for the entire day. I'm getting a ride with 2 of the people going, but remember too that all of these people are at least 10 years, if not 20 or 30 years older than me, and only 3 of us in the 10 are women. Pr for some conversations with these women, as I plan to "target" them especially for chatting and getting to know them. I'm hoping for some sort of chat at least or it'll be a very exhausting day.

I'll let you know how it goes. At the very least I'll be able to get some good photos out of the day I hope. :)

January 27, 2009

As many of you know, I've been attending the Swavesey Camera Club, for some professional and personal development, and to meet people in the community and get involved with community events. Well our camera club is a force to be reckoned with- I thought I was joining a teeny rural club, but this club is in fact well known! It turns out that Swavesey is quite a posh village- many wealthy people who work in Cambridge live here, and many of these guys are at quite a professional level.

The camera club system in the UK is unique- it's set up like a school sport almost, so that most villages have a camera club, and there are regular in house competitions and competitions between clubs. In Cambridgeshire there are something like 30 camera clubs. There was a recent Digital Image competition in Cambs, which meant that every club had to submit 5 digital images, and there were matches between clubs, and a sort of bracket system. Anyway, our club quickly rose to the top of the bracket, and we won the match with Cambridge, which is a pretty amazing thing. The Cambridge camera club is quite famous, and very very good, so our having won was quite an honor. Swavesey camera club won a grant 2 years ago for $10,000 to purchase digital projector equipment and programs for competitions, so we have the best projector in the county. :)

Anyway I've been learning the ropes of the competition system. I submitted an image to the last competition which was given a "highly commended," and one that won 2nd place. This Thursday is a 5 image set competition called the Bamber Trophy, and the images were to show a variety of skills, subjects, and techniques. Since people on facebook were interested, I thought I'd pop my 5 images up here and let you know how they do. I chose to do all of mine in black and white, because that's my strongest area and it's a weak point in the club- not many people can do successful black and white photos or conversions these days. I hope you like them.

A horse's eye and eyelashes

A mountain pass in Norway, at night.

My friend Jen suggested a great name for this one- Water Cooler Craic.
Craic is the Irish for gossip.

My good friend's son turned 4 and this is one of the photos I took at his birthday party.

A local pub in Cambridge.

This Sunday about 10 of us from the camera club are attending a little workshop given especially for us by a guy who came in and spoke at one of our meetings. His name is John Foley, and his photo style is very similar to Old Masters paintings. It should be a good workshop (we're shooting in a Tudor barn with re-enactors) and I hope a good chance to get to know some of the club members better. And of course for them to get to know me. Everyone going on the workshop is an experienced photographer, and they are the set that I'm particularly trying to get to know. Please be pr-ing for good conversations, that would lead to deeper topics.

January 25, 2009

Clara and I making dumplings with a Korean friend (r)

Today was our Spring Festival party- Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year as it's called outside of China. Today is like New Year's eve, where people if they were at home would go to family members houses, make jao-tse (dumplings) together, and spend time together. It's a day of celebrating, eating good food, and spending time with family. Many Chinese who are from rural areas are on their way home from places like Beijing, some will stand on the train for 24 hours before they reach their destination, because there are not enough seats and the trains are packed full. This year, there are fewer and fewer jobs in China because of the global recession, so many rural workers will be staying home and not returning to the city. That will have a large impact on China's available workforce. The international team at StAG had this party today, and I made the jao-tse filling, and my Chinese friend from the ladies' group brought the dough for the wrappers. It was good fun. :) There were laods of people there, some members of StAG and many not, who came along with friends. There was lots of excellent food, and it was good fun, though tiring. Celebrating important holidays from other countries and cultures is an essential part of the work of an international worker. Holidays that you've never heard of. :) Holidays, food, and family are all important to people across cultures, and that's an important aspect of communicating JC's love for people. Gd loves variety, and the cultures of the world are unique and special, each and every one of them. Some may seem weird to us- when I first began to work with Chinese students at UM I didn't know anything about their culture or their country, and some things seemed strange to me. But over time, as we make friends and share in each other's lives, what used to be strange becomes comfortable, and over even longer time what was comfortable becomes important to us as we accept the aspects of the formerly new culture into our own lives and value them deeply. So if you see a Chinese friend, this week you can say "Xin nian kuai le!" (sheen nee-ahn qwaie luh) Which means happy new year, and conveys the idea of a prosperous and blessed new year. And if you can't remember that, no worries- just wish them a happy new year anyway! This is the year of the Ox, year 4707 in the Chinese calendar. Most Chinese friends use skype to call their families back home- imagine if you were away from home on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day. It can be a lonely time for those who are not married, so a friendly chat is a good way to show that you care.

Potluck!

Some of our lovely Korean friends, dressed in traditional Korean clothing. People in Korea also celebrate Lunar New Year.

George sharing the Good News with a Chinese friend over lunch.

Cleaning up the dishes!!

January 24, 2009

This week has a been a busy one of playing catch up on a lot of projects, writing our term papers for the class we took in Kansas, getting settled back into UK life, and catching up with friends here after our 3 week absence. I wish I could say that the fatigue of traveling made me want to stay quietly at home, but after a day or 2 of quiet resting at home I'm ready for some adventure again. :) A friend is coming at the end of February, and I have high expectations for adventure when she comes, but until then I'm looking closer to home for interesting things to do.

Today we visited the village of Holywell- it is indeed the location of a holy well, as the name implies. :) I love the names of places here- the names are often 1000 or 1500 years old. Holywell's pub traces it's history back to 560 AD as a matter of fact! I don't know how old the well is, but it's fed by an underground spring. Anyway it's a cute little village with it's fair share of ancient houses, and seems to have quite a few wealthy residents with all the mazdas and other rich person cars we saw driving around. We had a very good lunch at the pub, which is interesting in it's own right. Apparently the pub is built over top of the grave of a Juliet someone or other, who committed suicide and per the custom of the time was buried at the crossroads, where the pub now stands. The stone covering her supposed grave is visible inside the pub, and people have claimed to see her ghost there.

One of the most amusing things about Holywell is how close it is to our house, yet it takes 30 minutes to get there! Holywell is on the opposite side of the River Great Ouse from Swavesey- we can bike to the point across the river from the pub in like 10 minutes. But there's no bridge- there is only one road bridge across the river, and it's in St Ives. There's a new bridge for the guided busway to use that cyclists will be able to use (if it ever gets done) which means more tasty lunches at the The Old Ferry Inn. :)

Tomorrow the international team is throwing a Lunar New Year party for our asian friends. We expect about 40 people to be there, and a Chinese friend and I are assembling the ingredients for jao-tse (Chinese dumplings) and will get our Chinese friends there to make them with us. It just doesn't seem like a New Year celebration without making jaotse together! I'm happy to celebrate the holiday with Chinese friends- I always miss my Chinese friends who are scattered around the world on this holiday. It's a bit like Thanksgiving I guess- people travel 2 or 3 days from their work in the cities into the countryside to spend the holiday with their families, and sometimes it's the only visit they'll make all year. The phone lines will be busy with people calling home to China from the US and UK. If you have a Chinese friend you can wish them Happy Spring Festival- the official holiday is January 26th, which is Monday. Monday begins the Chinese year 4707, and is the year of the ox. To my Chinese friends, 新年快乐! (Xin Nian Kuai Le for everyone else. :D )

January 23, 2009

G and I both read a very interesting article on the UM main website recently. It's titled Elderspeak, and it's about how people subtly talk down to elders, and was written by a UM professor emeritus from the English department. Some of you who are elders may have experienced this yourself. He makes it clear that he doesn't think people are doing this intentionally, but talking to older people using a tone that implies they're decrepit, don't understand what's going on, or are fragile isn't ok. Just because a person is older doesn't mean they aren't sharp- we have a classful of Living Proof friends who are sharp as tacks. :)

How many 29 year olds can count octogenarians as their friends? I mean good friends- people you laugh with, cry with, live life with, sharing struggles and joys. Some of you may have been blessed with a grandparent or great aunt or uncle who you could also call a friend, but I'm willing to bet that most Americans under 30, or heck even under 40, do not have friends like these who are 80. We even have a friend who just turned 90- we are so very blessed. Until we as a nation learn to give greater value to friendships of all ages, and people of all ages, we will continue to misunderstand such a valuable part of our society. Perhaps we can add "eliminate ageism and grow a society which values elders" to Obama's to do list. :)

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In 2007 I spent a long time in the hospital, and during much of it I could not speak because of what is elegantly called intubation—a nineteenth-century word for sticking a tube down your throat. Not being able to talk put me at a rhetorical disadvantage.

Crowds of doctors visited every day, and most of the talking was done by the attending who called me Mr. Bailey. When it got so I could talk too, I called the attending Doctor. This lent an attractive symmetry to our conversations.

A gaggle of other doctors—fellows and residents—accompanied, and their way of dealing with me was to use no term of address at all. They didn't consider many other of my possible honorifics—like, say, Professor.

There are a good many choices. One of my former students calls me sensei, a word borrowed from Japanese and used especially to address teachers—not to mention most female members of the Imperial family. (Here's a place to learn about honorific terms in Japanese.)

Still, Mr. Bailey was OK with me.

Lots of other people crowded into the room to administer medications, take vitals, draw blood, and all sorts of other housekeeping. Their terms of address were rather different, especially when I was mute. Women liked to slip into honey and sweetie. Men went in for big guy, fella, buddy, pal, and sport. I think one called me bucky. This was less OK.

Turns out there's a name for this condescending stuff: elderspeak.

Most of the words formed with –speak are about how people talk: Jackspeak "how people use English in the British navy;" girlspeak "how young women communicate with each other," geekspeak "how computer zealots exchange ideas." As you can see by clicking on the links, you can get a dictionary explaining them all.

Elderspeak is different from these, though, since it describes not how old people (or seniors) talk but how people talk to them. Or perhaps more accurate to say, talk down to them.

Research into elderspeak has produced some remarkable results through clinical studies: "When younger adults talk with elders, they simplify speech and alter emotional tone…. The implicit message of incompetence then begins a negative downward spiral for older persons, who react with decreased self-esteem, depression, withdrawal, and the assumption of negative behaviors." (You can connect to an article about this research here.) Elderspeak can even reduce your life expectancy. Forthcoming research from Becca Levy (of the Yale School of Public Health) says that the "downward spiral" begun by elderspeak may take 7.5 years off your life expectancy.

Of course the people calling me fella or sweetie didn't intend to knock years off my life: they wanted to be informal, friendly, sympathetic. Mostly they managed to avoid the hospital we: "How are we this morning?" Or tag-questions: "That hurts, doesn't it?" They were after rapport but they seldom got past patronizing.

Like most Americans, the hospital staff were suspicious of titles and wary of formality. A democracy should have no need of such things. After all, the US Constitution forbids them: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

These matters are not simple.

So much of our self is concocted from language. Demeaning terms make people feel demeaned and may shorten lives.

Taking care often involves talking care.

byRichard Bailey

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January 20, 2009

Did you know that you can watch the Inauguration ceremony live on CNN over the internet? It's a little bit weird actually- very weird I guess. :) But they also have a facebook connection to CNN so you can chat with people (friends) who are watching the event at the same time. I can't believe how many people are there-something like 4 million? It's a good thing our country is mostly ruly, otherwise there could be serious potential for rioting. :) Those of you who are into this sort of thing, I hope you enjoyed watching it. The announcer guy sounds like someone who is announcing for WWF wrestling though. :)

I've finished watching the inaugeration- it was very interesting, and Obama's speech was very good. I've only heard 4 presidential speeches, but I was impressed by his repetition of values, and principles- few presidents in recent memory focused on values and principles like this. The calling on people to be responsible, to play a role, is pretty interesting, and the harkening back to what was valuable to the founding fathers and foundational in our country's founding was very interesting. It reminded me a bit of the WWII mantras, and the mentality of serving, being responsible, and holding traditional values. I don't think other presidents have commented to other peoples, other faiths, in the same way either. I'm not a presidential expert, but I was impressed by the speech- but like many Americans I'm holding the position that "Time will tell." Although I certainly don't agree with some of his policies, but I am interested in seeing how his policies will play out. Like many Americans I am ready for change- and ready for an era of responsibility among Americans, and an improvement in some important policies in our country. Whether we agree with his policies or not, it's Gd who puts our leaders into place, and it's our responsibility to pr for him. He will be held responsible before Gd for his decisions, the same as all of us will be when we face him after we die, and Gd has put him into office for a reason.

It's 6pm here, and I took an hour and a half to watch the proceedings and such, but now it's back to work, back to photo editing, term paper writing (for the class we took in KS), laundry, and making dinner- the things that make up our everyday lives. :)

January 19, 2009

All of this traveling has left me wondering where January has gone to. It's a new year, and the new year came whizzing past me at warp speed! Here we are back in Swavesey, with Nelly sitting here on the couch, the suitcases are unpacked, and there is food in the fridge- not bad for 2 days work combined with jet lag. But I'm a little surprised that it's the 20th tomorrow- past Januaries (except last year which we spent in Australia) have been the start of a new semester, new classes, new expectations, and new friends. This year there wasn't much new about the new year- more like a return to the familiar. Familiar Michigan, home, family, friends...and then a return to the now familiar UK home, friends, car, and countryside. It felt eerily familiar going for a walk yesterday out toward the Fen Drayton lakes, with a beautiful sun, and 55F weather. Ah the joys of culture adjustment.

We aren't back to a normal sleep pattern yet- we did manage to get out of bed by 10:30am this morning, a 1 hour improvement over yesterday. :) Over the next few days we'll get back to a normal routine I think. My travel photos are all processed, and I have a to do list about a mile long related to things here in the UK- some photo business related, some not.

Once things slowed down and I had a chance to think about this new year, I decided that this year I will try to read the entire bbl through. I've done that many times, but purposing to do it systematically really helps, and I haven't done that in a while. I've been so blessed already actually-my little iPod Touch has a bbl program that you can use, so I can read anywhere I happen to be. But I've been blessed reading some of the psalms that King David wrote, and thinking again about Gd's great goodness to us despite our own ignoring of him.

Please pr for us as we get back into the swing of things here- I'm teaching the ladies' study on Thursday, and catching up with my Chinese friends at Bounce A Round on Wednesday. iBASE has moved to Wednesday nights now. I'm hoping to contact one of the National Trust properties and see if they would like some grounds help during the week- I really miss being outside, and it's better for my physical and mental health to be out working outside, so I hope that will work out. Pr for G too as he readjusts to the work environment, catches up with the guys over lunch, and especially for his friendship with GL.

January 17, 2009 Back in the UK

Here we are safe and sound in Swavesey after a more flexible travel experience than we were hoping for. :) We now have the phone numbers for 3 major airlines programmed into our cell phones. The poor British Airways agent that we were finally able to talk to in person (the desk didn't open until 2pm and we had to wait until then after checking out from our hotel) couldn't seem to get our tickets sorted because of all the crazyness, and it took her a good half an hour I think to do it. But that was fine with me- I was just happy to get on the plane. :) I felt a little less happy when I got seated next to an older gentleman from India who was humming the same tune VERY loudly for at least the first hour of our flight. Aside from the humming he pretty much never acknowledged by presence though I sat next to him for 7 hours. There was at least one ill behaved toddler, and one ill behaved 4 year old who were noisy during various parts of the flight. I have to say that whining kids of any age really push my buttons- everyone has their pet peeves, and whining kids in public places is mine. :) I happen to have quite a few friends with very well behaved children, so I know that it isn't impossible. :)

We landed safely at Heathrow's now infamous new Terminal 5 (T5 as it's known by here) but the kinks of the system seem to be worked out- we got through passport control in record time because they set up a special line for UK residents. What an unexpected bonus! We pretty much shot right through, grabbed our bags, and were out of the airport in like 30 or 40 minutes. Our flight landed at 6:30am and by 10 we were getting off the train in Cambridge. I love traveling Saturday morning- it's so much more peaceful. :) We made it to the cattery by 11 to pick up Nelly, who has developed some new skills in avoiding being put into the cat carrier- she's got a new technique of sprawling her back legs in a particular way so as to not have to go in it. But Lisa the wonderful cattery person (whom Nelly loves by the way) managed to get her in after all. Nelly is happily resettled here at home in her favorite chair.

We did take a nap this afternoon- I know it's against the cardinal rule of getting over jet lag, but it does seem to have helped us be able to stay awake longer. We're running out of things to do now- the mail is all sorted, we've unpacked, and now we need to stay awake for another 4 hours or so. :) I hope you are all well in Michigan!

January 15, 2009 Flight delay

Right now we’re supposed to be on our flight to Heathrow. Obviously, that didn’t happen. J It was not our fault though- our flight to Chicago was delayed, and then we sat on the runway for 40 minutes because there wasn’t a gate for our plane to dock at. We weren’t worried though because the woman at the gate in Detroit told us that our flight was delayed until 10:35pm. Well it turns out she was wrong- the AA Heathrow flight was delayed, not the British Airways flight. Our flight left just as we got to the gate- they had already pushed back. It took us 15 minutes just to get there and we had to leave security to do it. We were told that an American gate agent could help us, but there were no counter agents and we couldn’t get to a gate. The AA flight was still delayed, still at the gate, and we couldn’t get to it without a boarding pass. We called AA, and they were very friendly, and tried to be helpful, but she couldn’t issue a boarding pass over the phone and without one we couldn’t get past security to get to this other flight. Very frustrating yes, and annoying, and aggravating. We couldn’t even get them to give us a hotel voucher because they can’t do that over the phone either. Apparently O Hare shuts down at 9pm, maybe earlier. Anyway here we are at the Hilton hotel at O Hare, which we were afraid we’d have to pay about $500 for, but which the guy at the desk told us was $200- we were like “Uh…well, maybe we should look around” and G asked if we could be reimbursed if the airline gave us a voucher the next day. At which point I felt like we entered 3^rd world negotiation stage, where he mysteriously wrote down another price (half of that almost) and showed it to us, and gave us that rate instead! So, although we weren’t planning on having to pay for a hotel, and heaven knows where our luggage is right now and if it’ll get to Heathrow in time for us to take it with us or if it’s been zapped into outerspace or something else, we have been abundantly blessed in not having to sleep on the floor in the airport (if we even could- the cleaners were already out cleaning the floors and there was nowhere for us to go). Our hotel room has soap, and towels, and is pretty nice really- it has a 40 inch plasma screen TV even. But best of all, it has a bed and a shower. J We’re hoping that they’ll put us on the 9am flight out to Heathrow, if not it’s British Airways at 9:30pm tomorrow night.

January 13, 2009

It's hard to believe that we're heading back the UK in 2 days! Our flight leaves Thursday night, so pr for decent weather for us. We've been spending a lot of time having lunch/dinner with friends and family, hanging out with people who aren't working during the day, eating at some favorite restaurants, and trying to get various errands done. Unfortunately about this time of every trip back I start feeling guilty about the 10 people that I wanted to see and couldn't squeeze in! And feeling the pressure to start packing, make sure I have everything I need to bring back with us, getting last minute eye appointments and dental appointments, and wondering if everything really is going to fit into the suitcases without going overweight.

There are some things we want to bring back with us that are in the storage unit, which unfortunately isn't heated, and now that it's 7F during the day or whatever it's been we're going to be cold trying to get this stuff out. I think tomorrow I'll be picking up one of those rubbermaid action packers to bring back some things. If I knew we'd be in the UK this long we'd have shipped all of our stuff over in the first place.

I spent the morning today catching up on email (I've been reading but not responding to any), updating things on facebook, and just getting ready to go back Thursday. G has been working today and has tons of work to do. Tonight we're heading up to have dinner with some friends.

January 10, 2009

We made it to Michigan safely and smoothly, thank Gd. The roads were a mess, and it took us awhile to get home. We took a pit stop for lunch in Ann Arbor and wandered around in the blizzard laughing like crazy and taking pictures all over Ann Arbor. It was good fun. :) But a day of travel and exposure to the elements will sure make you tired! It's a good night to go to bed early. :)

January 9, 2009

Well tonight was the final exam for our class, so we are officially done. It's hard to believe that we've been here a week so far- the time has just flown by, and we have had such sweet times with great friends here. It's been encouraging to us both, reminded us why we had originally planned to move here until Gd directed us to Cambridge, and moving here is still on our radar. We're looking for Gd to provide an opportunity for G to work here so that we can continue to get training before we go farther afield overseas and to live in community with our friends here who are also aiming to go.

I know that a huge snow storm is moving in over SE Michigan- don't worry about us, we have a place to stay here if we get delayed overnight, and even if it's an all day delay we have a place to hang out here and won't be stuck at the airport. The forecast is changing but they're expecting the worst of it between Detroit and the Ohio border, 4-8 inches, and snow all day Saturday. I looked into flights back today to try to miss this storm but there weren't many options. So there's a possibility unfortunately that we'll miss you Living Proof friends on Sunday due to flight delay (or you not being able to get to CCBC yourselves!) Do please be careful in all this snow- watch out for ice, take care of yourselves, and don't be shoveling any snow (I happen to know some of you ladies like to shovel!) :) We'll be thinking of you even if we can't see you in person Sunday!

Our flight back to London leaves Thursday night. Good thing I didn't try to book it for Saturday or Sunday. :) Hang tight everyone in Michigan, enjoy the snow!

January 7, 2008

Update from Wichita! We are really enjoying the Philosophy of Ministry class that we're taking here. We're learning a ton about what drives various businesses, chs, and organizations, and how to determine if their values are in line with yours. Very interesting, and applicable for us as we try to determine what Gd has for us next ministry-wise.

We've been so blessed to spend time with our many friends here that we usually only get to see once a year (at O Week in Salina) and to catch up with them in person. We're enjoying getting to know Wichita as well, and all the good ethnic restaurants there are here. Yesterday we went to the Great Plains Nature Center which is a cool place to enjoy real praries and to learn about the plains as they used to be.

We've been staying up late chatting with our friends whose house we're staying in, and really enjoying the chance to catch up with them and spend time with them! Sometimes it feels like I'm in a time warp- like I don't really live in the UK, as if I dreamed that up or something. All part of the culture stuff I think.

I usually blog in the evenings so I'm finding it hard to get caught up here. :)

January 2, 2009

Here it is 2009 and I'm writing a blog from a device called an iPod Touch. I'm not even on a computer! It's pretty amazing. But also slow for typing. I have some inbetween blogs drafted but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it ok to Wichita, we're loving the class, and the seeing friends, and we'll update more later.