Woo Hoo It’s Cold!
Hey there. It’s officially freezing: 30 degrees (even though today’s low still says 36, you’d think they’d change it once it gets colder). This morning as we walked to church there was frost all over the ground and I had fun sliding around like a kid. I’m surprised at how well we are adjusting to the cold weather, it’s not half as bad as I expected it to be. I’m holding out hope that it will snow, even though it apparently hasn’t snowed in Edinburgh for at least 3 years.
We got some Christmas shopping done after church, aren’t we ahead of the game? They start getting ready for Christmas even earlier here than they do in the States. I was surprised when I first noticed this happening, but after many hours of thought dedicated to the subject, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is the result of not having Thanksgiving to hold them back. On November 5th they celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (a holiday which celebrates an unsuccessful attempt to blow up Parliament, a strange thing to celebrate in my opinion), after which point the Christmas decorations that have slowly been invading stores take full force.
Last Friday I turned in my last paper for the semester: “The Effect of the Rise of Islam on Christianity.” I have 2 more weeks of class, then 2 weeks of finals, and then I’m 1/6 of the way done. Crazy, in some ways it still feels like we just got here. This Thursday I am preaching for my homiletics class (yes, that’s Thanksgiving, and of course the only 2 Americans in the class are scheduled to preach that day) on Exodus 3:1-4:17. Obviously the majority of my week will be focused on preparation for that.
Ok, so, my last trivia question caused a small amount opposition, let’s see if I can keep myself out of trouble this time. Here it is…A number of the feast in Old Testament Israel begin on the 15th of the month. What is the significance of this? Ready….Set….GO(ogle)!
And finally, today’s cultural idiosyncrasy:
The word “pants” refers to underwear in the UK. What we think of as pants are known as “trousers.” Forgetting that can get you into a sticky situation.