Watching too much Iron Chef lately...

...the challenger, Chef Katie, is marinating pieces of lean chicken breast in low-sodium soy sauce, pineapple juice, and minced garlic... she is also cooking up some white fluffy rice with chunks of green bell pepper and yellow onion... now she's throwing in pineapple chunks with her cooked chicken... this is going to be a tough competition...

Starbucks...

(I'm only telling this for the sake of L.B.)

I was at Starbucks the other day standing in a horrendously long line and felt someone tap me on the shoulder. This man, at least in his mid-40s said, "I just wanted to say that you have really beautiful hair." I was a little surprised by this stranger's compliment. He then asked, "It is natural, isn't it?" "Oh, yes. The color of my hair is one thing about myself that I wouldn't change."

So... it must just be the camera and/or the light... but I do have my natural color hair.

Another interesting thing is that someone else told me that they were sitting a few rows behind me in chapel a couple days ago and she thought to herself, "Who is that girl with the beautiful strawberry blonde hair?" She later realized it was me. But I told her, "It's really golden blonde but some light brings more of the red out."

And here's one more picture (a hilarious picture, I might add) of my new glasses that I've had lots of compliments on including "hip" and "posh" two words I would have never used to describe myself.

What do you think?

Columbia International University

The prayer towers and one of the grad. buildings.

The New River

Here Ya Go

Go to the bottom for the Fall 2007 Charles Price ones. Adrian Despres is really good too.
http://www.ciuonline.com/modules/workspaces/files/chapel/

Amigas

Donna – My boss, my pastor’s wife, my counselor, my friend.

Heather – Counseling MA, met at orientation, lives in the grad. houses, invited me to a Bible study, adorable.

Robyn – Leading the Bible study at the grad. house that Heather invited me to, hilarious.

Jennie – Met at work, use to live in Encinitas, awesome testimony, worked in Costa Rica, speaks to me in Spanish, came over for chicken teriyaki and we talked non-stop for five hours!

Karen – Fellow TEFLer MA, use to teach elementary in Galax, sits next to me in classes, had me over to her adorable home for dinner and a movie with her family.

Angela – Works the opposite hours as me with Donna, great, loves Mexican.

Thank you, Lord!

Singing, "La la blah"... But Starbucks is good medecine.

Finally…. Starbucks. Yummy…

Is your life a theology or a theocracy?

If you don’t have iTunes on your computer, get it. Then download the podcasts from Columbia International University. They’re free and there are some great chapel messages to listen to. If you do listen, make sure you go in order for the Charles Price ones. At first I didn’t really like his style but keep listening… really good stuff.

I had to go see the nurse on Thursday. I’m not feeling too well lately and honestly I don’t have time to not feel well. I have too many things to do. Too many group projects, papers, THINKING. I hope to see a doctor next week. Please, pray for me.

I need to try and take some pictures of campus, work, and friends to post.

Interested in beautiful, awesome photographs and/or cards? Check out: http://www.studioemily.com

And the ethnography continues...

Christian (my partner for this project) and I will be working with Derrell and Stevin at Temple Zion Church and be a part of a new after school program that reaches out to Eau Claire High School students. There will be a time of tutoring, Bible study, and fun. Every other Friday, we will take the group out on a field trip (i.e. bowling).

Here are the midterm exam questions for the class:
1. Biblical Contextualization (30 minutes) (Four of these six will be listed and the student will write on three):

a. Define contextualization. According to Hesselgrave and Rommen, why must it be both authentic and relevant?

b. Ontology: Compare and contrast the content and means of communication (source) of General and Special Revelation. Substantiate your answer from Scripture.

c. Epistemology: Compare the biblical view of truth and its componants with typical aspects of post-modern relativism. Mention at least four areas of contrast. Include elements of the Oprah interview as examples if you like.

d. Briefly describe the three steps of contextualization as laid out in “Folk Religion”

e. Contextualizing Ethics: What is the relationship between form and meaning in a cultural behavior pattern? Illustrate from a Biblical example of one kind of "strength of tie" between the two.


2. Worldview and Ethnography

a. Describe three key components of epistemology and show how any one effects two other quadrants of Worldview.

b. Define four principles for the identification of universal moral norms.

c. Briefly describe four components of a team strategy for doing ethnography amongst a particular (any) community using the paradigm of the “FOQUS” cycle.

d. What is “the problem of the neglected middle” and what are two factors in a missionary’s worldview and behavior that create this problem.

e. Select two different creation “myths” and briefly compare and contrast their conceptions of origins, God, humans, power and destiny that emerge from them.

Pray for me, please.

As Time Goes By...

Throughout the day I think of things or something happens and I think, “Dude, I totally need to blog that.”

But then I forget.

…

I was talking to a friend last night – yes, a friend! PRAISE GOD! …and we were talking about how it feels like we’re not doing that much (working 10 hours a week, 9 units of graduate classes) and yet it feels like we’re pushing for TIME! It’s crazy.

The thing is that it’s not just work and class. There’s chapel three times a week, small groups, meetings with people for group projects (this is a HUGE time chunk), church, and, of course, homework. They say that homework for grad. classes is supposed to take twice as long as the class. So that would be 18 hours of homework a week. So 18 + 9 + 10 + 3 for chapel = 40 hours basically for school and work. That should be normal and fine, right? A perfect load.

What’s the problem? If I was working 40 hours a week at the jobs that I’ve been a part of, not that the jobs were brainless, but that the input wasn’t even close to the amount or “scholar” (I don’t know what to say there but I think you know what I mean) of the input that I’m getting now.

In my undergrad I remember a few times where my brain physically hurt. A few times for finals and then especially my HUGE exit exam.

Here’s the thing – MY BRAIN HURTS ALL THE TIME NOW!

Don’t get me wrong. I love my classes and am seriously fascinated by the things that I’ve been reading and studying. In fact, after my Tuesday class I walked out with my partner for my ethnography and we were, uh, discussing about polygamy and, since I had other questions that the class had brought up, we went into Dr. Cashin’s office and talked to him for 45 minutes – not about homework or the project we were working on or about understanding the material for a test but to gain more insight, ask questions, to think! It was great. And although I walked away totally glad and even more interested …my brain hurt.

So, please, pray for my brain. :o)

…

Since my life is basically homework-filled, I thought I would share with you some of the really, really, really cool things I get to do:

For my linguistics class we’re studying “Words and Their Parts: Lexicon and Morphology”

Here was one of the questions assigned:
2-20. Examine the following sentences of Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin English) to identify the morphemes needed to translate the seven English sentences given at the end of this exercise.

So I looked at different sentences that were translated in the book, 6 in total, and I had to figure out different affixes and so forth for different parts of speech depending on their use in the sentence (i.e. subject, object, etc.)

So I translated these sentences from English into Tok Pisin.
1) These people like my speech. – dispela manmeri ol laikim toktok bilong mi.
2) I am strolling on the road. – mi wokabaut long rot.
3) I like my friend’s speech. – mi laikim dispela toktok bilong pred bilong mi.
4) I like my brother and these people. – mi laikim brata bilong mi no dispela manmeri.
5) These people on the road and my friend like his speech. – dispela manmeri long rot no prend bilong mi ol laikim toktok bilong em.
6) You (sing.) and my brother like the speech of these people. – yu no brata bilong mi yupela laikim toktok bilong dispela manmeri.
7) These people listen to my friend’s and my brother’s speech. – dispela manmeri ol harim toktok bilong prend bilong mi no bilong brata bilong mi.

NEAT, HUH?

Contextualization and Polygamy

Is polygamy a sin? Why or why not?

"Picking" a Church

Church #1
Friendliness: Not one person said hello.
Music: Style good, songs so-so.
Sermon: Read bits and pieces of Scripture, no exposition, lots and lots of stories.

Church #2
Friendliness: Everybody introduced themselves and their families, asked me questions.
Music: Hymns are great but how they’re sung just seems so ho-hum.
Sermon: Excellent.

Church #3
Friendliness: Most people were very friendly, many grateful I was there.
Music: Completely out of my comfort zone but excellent.
Sermon: Excellent doctrine and application, overwhelming communication of it.

Church #4 (This is the one I thought would be the “right” church for me.)
Friendliness: Only one person said hello.
Music: What I expected.
Sermon: Five minutes of truth, completely disappointed.