Anyone up for a swim

On Friday, we spent the day with Brad and Abi Matthew's in North Sheilds and Newcastle. Evidently, the middle of winter is a good time to go surfing. I think the logic is that once it gets below 40, you can't feel yourself anymore. That is at least what these guys thought.

True Friendship: A Litmus Test

I have decided that a good way to determine who your true friends are is by 1) moving overseas, 2) providing and easy and absolutely free way for them to communicate (verbally with visual possibilities) with you called "skype" and then 3) waiting to see who responds.

I have determined that skype is like the gospel in that it is absolutely free, provides a chance for relationship, and yet relatively few people accept it. Maybe it is that people really don't believe that something so good could be free? Maybe it is the commitment, relational, or the two mins. it takes to download and set up? I just don't know.

To Drew, David, Russ, and Jeff, Stan and Renee, I say, "thanks." To the rest of you, well, the free offer is still available.

And yes, after having offered grace, i am resorting to guilt.

So this is Christmas

Christmas, Durham style. The photographs are complements of Brad Matthews. Yes, he has skills. The bottle of wine is a display of his ability to photo shop. Looks real doesn't it kids?

We're not tourist!

It's christmas and and what could make a better substitute to going home than going to Newcastle. Little art, little wagamama's, and a little night out on the town. After finding out that we needed to kill a couple of hours before our train returned to take us home, we went sought shelter in a warm pub. Unfortuantely, Newcastle has more clubs than pubs. So we asked a bouncer where we might could find an old-time pub with some good cask ales--somewhere to kill a couple of hours. They told us they knew a place called The Yard, not to far. So we went. Once we arrived, we looked around and it was pretty low key, but no cask ales and definitely not a traditional pub. "Are you lost?" a fat jolly beatneak bluejean wearing man says to us. Pam responds, "We are just on the wrong side of the Atlantic." "What were you looking for?" the guy responds. "I was looking for some cask ales," i said. "Well you found a gay bar," the responds. "I think you're in the wrong place." Yeah, I wondered why the bar tenders weren't paying us too much attention. The jolly man told us that he thinks someone was having a joke with the tourist. "But we live here" i thought. Oh well.

December the Twenty-Second

I think yesterday was the shortest day of sunlight in the year. I've been enjoying beautiful sunrises as I get ready to leave for work at 8:00am. And it is usually dark by 3:30pm, two hours before I get home from work. The sun also rises at a very low angle--at it's peak it is only at about 45 degrees in the sky, instead of being 90 degrees straight overhead like it is in the summer in the US. So the sun always looks like it is setting. I've noticed that some areas, if they happen to be on the wrong side of a big hill, never get any direct sunlight in the winter, because the sun never rises high enough. It's also been very cold, with temperatures in the 20's and 30's this week. It's interesting, because Durham gets a thick coating of frost on cold nights--so thick that it almost looks like a dusting of snow. I guess it's because there is so much moisture in the air.

Winter is pretty bleak around here, so it's nice that Christmas makes things a bit more cheery. So Merry Christmas, and here's to springtime and longer days coming soon!

Birthday Bash

Happy Birthday to Kyle! This weekend has been one long birthday extravaganza. It all started on Friday night. As far as throwing house parties, I had some big making up to do in order to regain Kyle's faith in my party-planning skills. Last year, for Kyle's 25th, I attempted to have a little get-together at our appartment in St. Louis. Unfortunately, out of 15-20 invites, only my faithful brother and sister-in-law showed (and, again, thanks Scott and Megan!!). But this year, in a great feat of cunning, along with some well-planned marketing strategies, we more than quintupled our guest count and had a Mexican dinner party for twelve. We had to borrow 2 extra dinner tables, 9 chairs, 8 sets of silverware, and 5 plates to pull it off. We also had to move the party out of our flat and into the hallway to accomodate every one. It turned out great, and with bellies full of enchiladas and margaritas, we finished day 1 of Kyle's brithday weekend. Unfortunately, in typical fashion, we forgot to take any photos, so sorry we don't have any pictures of Friday night.

On Saturday, we kept the party rolling on down to York. Kyle and I spent the day wandering the streets, taking in all of the sights and Starbucks the city has to offer. This was my first visit to York, but it definitely jumped to the top spot on my list of favorite towns in Britain. It's charming and historical, but also has lots of great stuff to do. Kyle and I took a free walking tour in the morning, then did some exploring on our own. Then we went on a brewary tour, walked a bit along the Roman/Medieval wall surrounding the town (in the photo above), and had some good traditional pub food for supper (Kyle had roasted lamb in a giant Yorkshire pudding, which isn't actually pudding, but a big puff pastry). We finished off our meal with some tea and sweets from Betty's, York's famous tea shop, which had a queue outside of its door nearly all day. Then we went to a service in Yorkminster, the big cathedral in the center of town.





We finished the day in York at one of the city's most highly-recommended pubs called the Maltings. It was "chock-a-block" (read: packed out) with patrons, so we ended up sharing a table with another couple. They really kept to themselves, but Kyle and I noticed the girl started wimpering, and yes, it appears that they were breaking up right there in front of us. To break the awkwardness, we decided to ask them to take a picture of us, so here it is! And, well, that's it--we took the train back down to York, bringing with us a precious bag of Starbuck's Christmas Blend, and happy to have had a much more successful turn at celebrating Kyle's birthday this year.

It's official

Pam got the job! She starts a week from Monday.

Pam's Job

Two days ago, Pam had an interview at a nearby vocational school. As long as her references check out, it appears she will get the job. If you know that you could be one of her references, then expect to be getting a call soon; maybe today. Thanks for your prayers!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

A Room With A View

This room didn't come with much. But it did come with a view.










Just so you know that we are healthy and still have relatively good teeth.

Retreat

So a friend of mine (Taylor Worley, in the picture above with his wife Anna) and I were called in last min. to speak on a retreat this past weekend. We decided to talk about the holistic nature of redemption and what that means for Christian mission. Well, I don't think it went off so great. Taylor had planned to do a bunch of cultural analysis, but upon arriving, we didn't think that they were ready for that quite yet. Hopefully, we chipped away at some dualistic thinking and at least gave them something to chew on. I just wanted one student to say, "Oh, I get it, my work is important and work is part of what God came to redeem." Didn't happen. Time will tell.

Pam's British Vocab Lesson

If any of you are planning on visiting us over here in the UK, which I hope you are, I'll give you a little foretaste of the language barrier. Think you've seen enough Bridget Jones and Monty Python to make your way around without any problems? Well, Northeast England ain't no Hugh Grant movie. The "Geordies" (read: true-blood Newcastle/Gateshead natives) in my office get just tickled pink at teaching me their colloquialisms, so here are some of my class notes:

(Note that this is my phonetical spelling of these phrases. I don't know if anyone really knows how to spell them properly.)

"Ai'm gan yam" = "I'm going home."
"Ai'm gan yami beet" = "I'm going to lunch" (maybe literally, "I'm going to have my bit--of food.")
"Hows yasel?" = "How are you?"
Mesel = Myself
Quar-er Fou = 3:45 (quarter to four)
Fil-um = Film (movie)
Ben = Bearn (I think) = baby
"Am a bovvered?" = "Like I care" (literally "Am I bothered?" assuming the answer is no)
Sciving = goofing off
mingin= bad or gross
minger= an ugly person
"Ah Terah" = a way of saying "goodbye"
"Ta" = Thanks
Champion, Bril, Brilliant, Fab, Lovely = great

For more Geordie resources click HERE

British Names

How do they come up with this stuff?







Mr. Brains 6 Faggots In Rich Sauce 564g

IN A RICH WEST COUNTRY Sauce.
TRADITIONAL PORK RECIPE.

More Pictures

Is She English?
What a handsome young Scholar.

Pictures

Garnacha

The best wine i have ever had; 2005 Vineyard X Garnacha, Campo de Borja. It is a Spanish red, just like i remember it. A superb red wine that is made form extra ripe Garnacha grapes and delivers wild berry and juicy summer fruit flavors. Got to love it.

Find it and buy it. You won't be disappointed.

Sunrise

There some downfalls to being in Northern England. It rains every day, and there is hardly any daylight in the winter. But, every morning we get to watch the sunrise over the english hills; a beautiful thing. Pictures to come in the future.

Beautiful Durham

Crisp air, soft breeze, leaves floating, colors variagated, sun shining--a few reasons I love fall days.

At present, Durham is beautiful. Of course, in England, present only lasts for about ten minutes. Today, however, time stood still. It was gorgeous, absolutly gorgeous. We look forward to posting some pictures. When we get a cable that will upload our pictures from our camera to the computer, you can share in our delight. For now, just imagine.

Update on Interview

Pam didn't get the job. This isn't such a bad thing though. There is now a girl from her temp agency who works with her, and used to work at the place that she interviewed. That girl told Pam that the boss at the other place wouldn't have been good to work for. So, it sounds like this is for the best.

Keep praying as she has sent off several more applications in the last week.

Interview

Pam is interviewing for a real estate job on Friday. We are hoping that she gets it as it will be a perminant position and in Durham. This will cut out 2.5 hours commuting time for her and will also save us $100 per month travel expenses.

The Benefits of Walking

Apparently walking covers over a great multitude of sins. That is the only reason I can think of as to how the British stay, in general, within a moderate to low weight range. Many Americans eat too much and exercise too little, and that is why they become over weight. So I figure all the walking people do over here must make up for the English diet, which can really be quite bad, even compared to the "Supersize" American one. I mean, you can order something called a "chip buttie" over here, which is basically a bunch of extra-greasy fries stuffed into a buttered sandwich bun. Yeah, a french fry sandwich with extra butter--the lunch of champions. For breakfast you can get a bacon buttie. And you can get "chips" with everything--Mexican, Chinese, Thai, probably Italian. From the magnitude of their availabilty, I'd guess the average British person might eat approximately 1-2 servings of chips every day. "Yes, I'd like the Kung Pao Chicken with chips instead of rice please. And could I get a deep fried Mars bar on the side? And maybe a pint of double cream mixed with bacon grease while I'm at it. No problem--I'll walk it off."

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

I was warned about moving abroad that I would go through stages of adjustment--like initial enchantment, to feeling like everything and everyone was backwards, to finally feeling at home. Well, I feel like, lately, I've been going through the "Proud to be an American" stage where I remember with fondness many of the culturally "American" things that they don't have here. You know, it's like that feeling you have when you've been away from your hometown for a long time, and upon your return, you notice with vividness all the charms that you usually pass over. So anyway, here is a list of some of the American things I've been missing.

1. African American culture---Ok, now hear me out. I know I am not personally African American, nor was I constantly immersed in that culture in the states. However, there is beauty to African American arts and music and people that is lacking over here. I miss their friendliness and their gospel and their hip hop and their colloquialisms. The other night I heard this totally white English girl say in her whitest, most British, most Princess-Di-ish accent...(imagine it with me)..."I'm a gangster, yo, yo, yo." (She was tipsy, and why she was saying this is beyond me.) I was like, "please, honey, don't even try it." The other day I heard "Mo Money, Mo Problems" blaring out of someone's car and I wondered if folks over here can even understand what is being said.

2. Simplistic English---It seems the British like to stylize phrases that would otherwise be quite plain, and call me simple-minded, but I prefer the straight-forwardness of American English. For instance, I spent a couple of days at work last week trying to figure out if the time "half eight" means 7:30 or 8:30 (it's the latter). However, "quarter ten" means 9:45. Why can't they just say 8:30 and 9:45? I am also having to learn to spell and give numbers like this: My surname is spelled W-E-double L-S; or my phone number is 6-treble 8 (for triple)-7-treble 4-double "not" (for 0)-and so on. Those Brits, they like to say it fancy. Its too easy to just say W-E-L-L-S.

3. Big bags of chips---The other day I bought some tortilla chips in a bag that holds approximately 2 servings. Who ever needs just 2 servings of tortilla chips? If there were a superbowl here to watch, I'd need at least 10 of those small bags to go with the guacemole for the party.

Speaking of tortilla chips and guacemole....

4. MEXICAN FOOD---Seriously, we need some Mexican immigrants over here! I don't want to pay the equivalent of $12 for one enchilada made with meat that is far too high-quality, a side of rice (or "chips"/fries if you prefer), and a garnish of cole slaw. And if I have to pay for my appetizer of chips and salsa, please give me more than 2 tablespoons of salsa. And have they never heard of sweet and sour mix? Its about as hard to find margarita ingredients here as it is to find authentic Thai ingredients in Clanton, Alabama. Oh how I long for some El Maguey or Panchos or even Taco Bell. And the white cheese dip, oh the white cheese dip.... Give me the good, cheap, sloppy Mexican with lots of refried beans, and Grade B ground beef, and $2 margaritas, and no cole slaw, and I'm one happy camper. Yes, they definitely needs some Mexican immigrants over here.

Infestations?

So Pam started her job today. It mainly centered on taking complaints from people in the community related to "Environmental Health." There were the usual type of complaints and some were a little more unusual. Some of these were so good that I have decided that i am going to have to arrange them into a top ten.

10. A burglar alarm has been going off since 5 am, somewhere down the street.
9. My neighbor's car is too noisy.
8. There is a wasp's nest in my air ducts.
7. I found a rat in my garden.
6. There is too much dog "foul" in the park. Can someone please put up a sign?
5. There has been a fire burning in the lot next to me for three weeks. Can someone please put it out?
4. I break out in a rash if i touch any surface that a bug has touched. I need someone to spray my house.
3. My neighbor's trailer is starting to stink. I suspect that they do not have a septic tank and are burying their waste in the yard.
2. There are fleas in my house and all over my son.
1. The lady downstairs is making a lot of banging. It is because she is a prostitute. (She proceeded to explain) No, like she has lots of different men coming over for sex.

There you have it folks. Dave, eat your heart out.

Do we really speak the same language?

I was told before coming over that Americans and Brits share a common language known as English. And so naturally, I assumed that when i told them that i was coming with my wife, and they told me that the apartment was furnished, it would have been understood that we aren't dwarfs! Thats right, those are pictures of our couch, where most of you will be sleeping should you decide to stay with us.

Classes

I started classes on Thursday and though technically, i don't have that many hours of class time, the work load is going to be difficult. The majority of the load will be in my Septuagint class (Septuagint is the Greek version of the OT). In this class i will be looking at different versions of the Septuagint, as well as reading Tobit in Greek. Considering that the only Greek that i have looked at is the New Testament, and considering that this is quite a slow read for me, I envision the class taking up a lot of hours. Beyond that class, much of my time will be spent on things that i don't have to take for credit, but will need. These classes include an introduction to theological German and a Dead Sea Scrolls course. Please pray as i try to balance all this.

KW

Nappies

Right off the plane, lost in wonder and confusion, while eating at a pub we hear a little boy say, “But I don’t want ya to change me nappie.” “But ya nappie needs changin” his grandmother replied as she took him by the hand and walked him into the women’s WC.

Pam got a Job!

We received a call this morning and Pam was offered a job. You will never guess what she will be doing, "working for the Gateshead City Council in the department that deals with infestations." In plain speak, she will be the 911 for when you have a bug problem. If you know Pam, this is a perfect fit. Gateshead city council can be assured that she will be richly invested in ridding their houses of bugs. From now on, you can refer to her as "Spider-Woman."