Garden State of G

2 weeks of silence must mean that something has been happening. Correct!
I've been graduating, travelling, saying goodbye and moving on slowly back home towards Afrique du Sud.

The long way home:
Today finds me enjoying the gracious hospitality of Pomo Adam and Serene Sarah in Princeton, New Jersey. Sometimes NJ is called the Garden State... other times it is called the Armpit State. Anyway, Princeton is pretty. Today I took a tour of the famous campus, saw some pop art, took some pics, cycled on a great pathway next to a river, and finished it off with a Guinness and a braai. I didn't meet anyone famous, but i did see the place where A Beautiful Mind was filmed (John Nash still lives in the town.)
Tomorrow I'm catching a train into NYC baby! I'm going to run around there for a bit, take a walking tour of Wall street, see the sights and meet a high school friend, Eben, for lunch. It seems like he has been making the most of our solid Boys' High education and causing a stir in the big apple. I'm intrigued as to what he's been up to.
Friday I fly to London, and Sunday I go up to Scotland to visit the Iona community for a few days to see if that is a place I could spend a year or two at. Then back to London town for a few days to see my aunt, Charles, Nikki, Bi and some school friends I've reunited with through facebook. Phew! Wed 13th i finally fly home to cold wintery South Africa!

Rock Star:
To tell you the truth, all this traveling, the big names and places, make me feel like a bit of a rock star. I need to get home somehow, so why not the glitzy way? Nah, in a sense it's actually bitter-sweet. I'm enjoying the sightseeing, and every new place means that I'm one step closer to home. But it also means that a season has ended. I had a great time studying at CTS and living in Atlanta. The year was restful, surprising and grounding, and it was really sad to say my goodbyes. I'll miss the student life, friends so close by, cycling through beautiful neighbourhoods, the AFDC Ultimate etc. Even the safety was great. I guess it can't carry on forever. I have a calling, family and girlfriend to get back to. So... here's to a great year that has been, two exciting weeks of travel to come, and happy reunions back home! Cheers!

Oh yes, that two week silence:
I managed to cram quite a bit of exciting adventures into my last few weeks in Georgia - hence the silence here. First of all I graduated on Saturday the 19th. The ceremony was rather neat - all the professors in their 'religious super-hero' capes and colours, the bus loads of family members, and, of course, getting a degree! I even had two of my own fans who came from Huntsville to be there for me. Warner and Linda - you are amazing! Thank you!
After graduation, and the necessary celebrations and formalities, I got a granny car (NOT the 2007 model though) from my host family to borrow and drove to Huntsville for two days to say goodbye and thanks to my friends there. It was a brief visit but needed to happen.
I couldn't leave the US without a last game of Ultimate. So, on Friday i woke up early and went with some friends to Savannah, GA for the SUDS Memorial Day hat tournament. The weekend was great! Camping near the beach, great weather, super frisbee and, to top it all off, a really fancy dinner at The Olde Pink House in Savannah. Saturday we played in town, and Sunday was Beach Ultimate on Tybee Island. It was great to spend the day at the ocean, getting a bit of a tan/sunburn before I return to my third winter in a row.

Monday was the last day left to pack, clean the house, pay an exorbitant amount to ship my books back home, and to say the last goodbyes. All which I did before jumping on a plane yesterday and flying to NYC. It was sad to see the city of Atlanta disappearing through the window. It did. Who knows when I'll be back there. And that all finds me back here in Princeton, which is where this tome started. So I'll stop! Good night.

signs of the times

moving out...

the pics say it all... people are moving out and away. It's rather sad to be in a house that is all boxes. Eliz and Sarah's rooms are almost all empty. Desks are gone, bookshelves empty and (worst of all) the contents of the fridge are downright depressing. I guess it is that time of year though... goodbyes and new beginnings. Although i wish i were home tomorrow, i also wish i weren't leaving. Get your head around that one. I'll miss the student life, the friends I've made, cycling through the leafy 'burbs, Ultimate... etc. I guess i just don't like transitional times and spaces.

that's just great!

New UN report: Africa hardest hit by climate change.

That's just great! (sarcastic tone)
Why does the continent with the richest resources and the least carbon emissions always have to get the worst deal?

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."

FINITO!

Finito! Finished! Klaar! Kaput!

Yes, you heard it! I'm done! Final paper turned in, thesis printed and approved, house for rent, bills paid... now all that is left is graduation.

Finished!
I can't wait to be home, but i don't want to leave.
Bitter-sweet is life.

big names

One of the cool things about studying here is that Columbia has some rather big names. Today I got the chance to interact with two of the biggest - Brian Wren and Walter Brueggemann.

First off, Brian Wren is retiring, and today he preached his last sermon in chapel. He had a stroke last year, and that has forced him to take things slowly. The sermon was pretty much on death, but said far more beautifully and eloquently than i will ever manage. For Brian, God has not chosen to give him the gift of certainty and full assurance about life (and death). Some people he knows are so certain of their faith. But, if God had gifted him in that way, then the only hymn he would ever be able to write is
"Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine."
before he would have to shut the book and put down his pen. However, without this faith, his gift is to question, and think, and search, and lament. He has this become one of the most published and prolific of modern hymn writers, with his work published in hymnals all over the world. It was a moving, honest and hopeful sermon, and i saw him at coffee hour and thanked him for it. He also made an interesting remark about resurrection. Whatever the next world is to be, it won't be full of 'individualistic North Americans walking in the heavenly mall looking for fashion accessories.' He is who he is because of so many people, and in the resurrected life people will be just as intertwined and connected as they are today. I like that!

Community Softball and picnic on the seminary fields

I saw Walter Brueggemann (or 'Wally' as some students affectionately call him) at the community softball game last week, and asked him if i could come by and chat. He agreed, and today i popped into his office armed with a bunch of questions. I can't remember all that i asked, or all that he answered. A lot of it was over my head, and with no shared stories it felt a bit like an interview. Anyway, I liked what i understood, and think it will be a good idea to read some of his 55 books (correction: the count is up to 80 books now!), especially considering he is widely regarded as the foremost Old Testament theologian in the world! His name is more widely known than Columbia TS itself.

So, what did he say?
I asked him about where he sees the church going, and, after saying it's direction has to change, he directed me to his latest book on the contemporary church. A burning question of mine was how (and why) he reads the Bible. Social-historical criticism reading of the Bible has made it very tasteless for me, to the point that i hardly read anymore. Walter rather uses rhetorical criticism, and situates the text in our experiences. The really neat switch is that he sees God as a developing character in the text. When i brought up the problem of violence in the Old Testament, his reply is that God is a 'recovering violent-person' (as in 'recovering alcoholic.') This means that God did sanction violence in the past, but is 'recovering' and becoming more fully God. The 'fully-God' characteristics are the words we often see in the Bible such as mercy, steadfast love, grace etc. Those then are the attributes we are to try live into too, as we (also characters in the story) become more fully human. As to why he reads the Bible? It is the only text of its kind that explicitly speaks of the Divine. And it is our text. Finally, to answer 'What is the point of this all?' he used a Jewish phrase and says we are to 'mend the world'. Hooray for old, clever professors!

tea time

Tomorrow there is a special "international students" coffee hour in the refectory at 10. They have asked us to address the student body and say how our year has been here, and what we find peculiar about US culture. Should be interesting! BUT, more importantly, they asked us (the internationals) to bring a dessert from our country. Yummy! There will be desserts from Korea, Mexico, England, Czech Republic, Kenya, Hungary and... yes! you guessed it - South Africa!

Koeksusters were just way out of my league, so... I got all patriotic (and Afrikaans) and, armed with a recipe from Allrecipes.com, I stayed up past midnight to create...
...two big, fat, tasty Melkterts! (That's 'Milktart' for all the English folks.) Aren't you proud of me? I have a headache from licking two bowls clean. Good night. (oh, and these are real live pictures from our kitchen an hour ago.)

people going places

Lately I've reconnected (via Facebook and other such procrastination tools) with people from long ago. From ambitious high-school friends to neighbours in Midrand, and even some primary school names I'd almost forgotten. It's great to see how they are making their way in life. From business people in NYC, band members in SA to way too many folks eeking out a living in grey London, life goes on for all of us.

Criss, one of my youth leaders in Jo'burg, is becoming quite a deviant photographer (with some deep poetry on the side). Michael, my best friend from high school is running around Japan doing the Jesus-thing. Our neighbours, Greg and Chris Carlin are being rather creative. Chris does some awesome graphic work, and Greg is releasing his first solo album as Zebra&Giraffe. He even won an award for "Single of the Year" in the experimental category at the 2006 Los Angeles Music Awards. Nice, guy! Listen here. As for bloggers, i found another student at CTS, Marissa, who seems to be getting the scribe thing down. Benji from Bedfordview is doing some midnight rantings too.
My how we have grown!

a lightbulb at the .bE alt worship experience, Grandma Luke's, Little 5.
I'm uploading some pics on Flikr here.

No. 3

Number 3.
It is coming ... soon!
I'm going to watch it tomorrow, at 23h59, at an IMAX theatre!
Sneak peek?

UPDATE:
Number 3.
It came.
Despite all the efforts of fandango.com and the cinema trying to stall the program, it happened.
'Twas fun (and long and large and loud and late).
Adam has a better story here.
Over and out.

Baseball Birthday

Today was Sarah's 26th birthday. We had a 'lekker bring&braai' (or as they say here - a cookout) for her on Sat, because she is an uber-cool housemate and other people like her too! But, what is a birthday without a Brave's Baseball game? So, today a few of us trekked off in Phil and Kara's very nice new Subaru Outback to Turner field. We learnt on the way there that the Grand Master of the KKKlan lives in Harrison - the town Sarah's dad works in. There was a very humorous conversation between her and her dad. We also learnt that Subarus were called "Lesbarus" in the NY Times. Apparently a certain orientation of people find them aesthetically pleasing. So did most of us in the car.
We parked at the Holiday Inn and walked to Turner Field. Sarah, as the ever prepared travel warrior princess had our tickets ready, so we went inside, climbed too many stairs and sat down to 9 innings of Braves vs the Phillies. And guess what? At the bottom of the ninth it was 2-2, Braves to bat. 1 out, 2 bases full. Andruw Jones steps up and hits a home-run! Game over, Braves win. Happy Birthday! Woohooo!
I sound like a local! Haha, good times. I even bought some boiled peanuts. Tasty. The seats were high up and the sunset was cool. All in all a good evening.

On a side note, i still think that cricket is cooler and more entertaining. I kept on feeling sorry for the batters who try so hard but hardly ever get a run. The excitement felt with the homerun is similar to when someone hits a six in cricket, except that in a good ODI game, there are plenty of sixes. Anyhow, i guess the sport you grow up with you tend to appreciate more. Phil does want me to explain cricket to him sometime. Will do!