TheLionRampant.net

Bryce always makes me write the re-cap posts. So here I go:
Our first few days are accounted for below, but most of these I was reading the chapter on research in The College Writer, a great textbook co-written by one of my profs from Westmont, in preparation for the class I taught at Providence Christian College as a part of the interview process.

On Sunday night, we took part in a Bible study of a group considering starting a church plant in Ontario. It was great to be so warmly welcomed and to meet believers excited about the gospel. We had a lovely supper with them all as well. Monday we spent the day with my aunt and cousin and I found a fabulous pair of heels to wear to my interview for just $12.57! We met Bryce and my dad for dinner that night (after stopping for girlie makeovers) at the Yard House and then Bryce and I drove to Ontario to meet with the church plant folks. Here we found out more about their vision for the group and for several reasons, we are thinking that we need some more experience first and are more called to urban ministry. So we spent the rest of the week dreaming about possibilities in downtown LA. (This included meeting our friends Ken and G and discussing the benefits of free trade, starting a coffee shop or pub downtown, and being a part of the revitalisation process that’s going on downtown).

Tuesday I was able to have a coffee date with a good girlfriend, Katie (and her 10-month-old son), which was a lot of fun, minus the cappuccino on the stove boiling over twice. After prepping for interviews all day on Tuesday and planning my class, we drove up to Ontario early Wednesday morning for my first round of interviews. I attended chapel, met with the Dean, had lunch with faculty members, interviews with faculty members and taught a sample class. The students were surprisingly responsive and seemed attentive during the class. It was actually quite fun although tiring of course! Bryce joined me in the afternoon and had the chance to spend the morning with our pastor in Pasadena and discussed church planting and ministry options. After my interviews, we headed over to Pasadena and had a quick pizza supper with Ken and Gillian and drove back to OC.

Thursday I had a theological interview that wasn’t as rough as I thought it might be — although I did get grilled on an exception I’d taken to the College’s list of stipulations (that in itself is not truly a big deal to me…) — then we met our friends from chuch for dinner at their house. We enjoyed being with their kids (one of whom hadn’t been born when we left for Scotland) and had a great time catching up and hearing about their vision for Uganda. I then had yet another hour-long interview with the Academic Affairs Committee (profs, staff, board members, etc etc) that went well, although I kept wondering if I was making any sense after talking so much. Bryce was great, driving me all around, and sitting on the couch in the admin building reading while waiting for me. When finished, they chatted about me for a bit while I waited with Bryce. I was then told that they’d recommended me for a full-time position as an English professor there for this fall pending funding. I should know in a few weeks’ time how that is going to end up on their end and we’ll take it from there.

The rest of the week we spent with family; Bryce’s sister and family drove down from Santa Barbara to be with us. We spent Friday at Bryce’s parents’ and spent the night there. Saturday everyone came on over to my parents’ for a taco fiesta and family games that were fun from all in attendance, age 7 to 90! Sunday we were back in Pasadena to go to Christ Church and be with friends there: we went out to lunch with an elder and his wife and had coffee in downtown LA with Ken and G. Monday we relished sleeping in in our big bed and I did some work while my mom stocked us up on bad-for-you American food.

So that’s the short story! If you want the longer one, just let us know.

After being advised to only take “Night Nurse” at night and without any other paracetemol products, we hopped on the plane and promptly took some Night Nurse for double duty: help with our colds and to help us get some sleep on the plane. Success at least on the last account as we slept for about half the time on our 10+ hour flight from London to LA. I saw two movies, “Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang” (which although crude is hysterical) and “The Family Stone” (which I’d missed at Christmas and wanted to see). We flew BA, our favourite airline, and I had a killer chicken curry in flight and I even scored 2 new pairs of navy airplane socks.

We were warmly greeted by our mothers at LAX and enjoyed the sunshine rather than the rain greeting us. We made it until about 8 pm last night before crashing (although we were awoken at midnight by a terrific crash of thunder) and waking up 11 hours later. I still feel tired, though and my sinuses are still clogged. We had a lovely soak in my parents’ jacuzzi and went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Tonight we’ll be visiting Bryce’s folks and watching “Walk the Line”. Meanwhile I’m doing some work preparing for the class I’m teaching this week and Bryce is working on some design work for the church back in Scotland. To friends here in CA, we’ll hopefully see you amidst our busy schedule and those back in Scotland: we’ll be back soon!

First off, we’re back from our weekend away in London. It was wonderfully fabulous and if you’re not interested in hearing more, I suggest you come back another day to read other things we’ve written (or take a browse through our archives). A few pictures are located here for your enjoyment.

We hired a car for our trip and left early Friday morning. We drove over to Glasgow and south on the M6 and rather than spending a few short hours in London before we had to arrive at the peoples’ home at which we were staying, we decided to spend those few hours in Oxford. This is exciting for me on so many levels and caused me to clap for excitement when we made the decision. For those not in the know, I spent three months there on an exchange programee (the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies), and had the time of my life; I still keep in touch with the 6 women with whom I lived, who now live in the States, UK and South America. I guess the travel bug bit us all! Anyway, we had a lovely time although I had to feel my way around the city, not having a map with me. And as Bryce says, neither of us had a ’staging area’. Whenever travelling, I need to mental prepare (or stage) myself for the experience and since we made the decision last-minute, I didn’t have the opportunity. He also didn’t have the opportunity to be led slowly up to all of these Oxfordian monuments (the Bodleian library for instance as you quite regularly round a corner and find it in front of you). We had pasties in the covered market followed by Ben’s cookies, which are heavenly. We also enjoyed the 2nd hand floor of Blackwell’s Bookshop. It was fabulous.

We then drove down to Ealing, a borough in west London, to stay with some lovely people, Graham and Katie Weeks. They graciously put us up for the weekend and fed us some lovely food! It was great to meet and be with Christians and find an instantaneous ‘comfortability’ with them. Saturday, Bryce went off to a presbytery meeting with Graham and I went into London. Having forgotten my tourist book, I acted even more touristy by asking everyone where certain things were! My first stop was Portobello Road Market, where I picked up a fabulous silver candelabra, a funky skirt and a cute silver sugar spoon for my mom. I then went to the Victoria and Albert Museum; I loved the feel for the time that you get when there and enjoyed the flattened musical instrument decorations. I then found my way to a Wagamama’s where I immersed myself with my ramen and a book, to avoid looking like a complete loner eating by myself. I then went to the National Gallery, where I’d spent some time before. I love their collection of Dutch master and impressionist painters. Van Gogh’s Farms near Avers is one of my favourite pieces there, by far and I was disappointed the gift shop didn’t have a print of it. My feet aching, I enjoyed a cup of tea until meeting up with Bryce for a fab dinner in China Town.

Sunday, we went to IPC Ealing, which both Bryce and I found extremely refreshing. The congregation was so very welcoming and they had a lovely service. We particularly enjoyed the strength of the singing and speaking with people from all over the world who attend there. It was great to meet the pastor, Paul Levy, as well and hear more about the IPC. We had another lovely meal after the service with the Weeks and then headed back to Edinburgh; we then decided last-minute that it’d be nice to visit Grace Church Hackney as we had heard good things about it. It, too, had a lovely service and we again were encouraged. We left London around 7 pm and rolled into Edinburgh in the wee hours of the morning, with several stops for caffeine, sugar and cat naps. All in all, a fabulous weekend and I hope we can quickly get back into the swing of classes and studying!

*I realise of course that our Scottish readers will probably never read this blog entry due to its title. It comes from a hilarious song that Graham Weeks played for us called ‘a song of patriotic prejudice’, whose chorus begins with the title of this blog entry. It of course was as tongue-in-cheek as most good English humour and we quite enjoyed it. This, of course, does not mean that we necessarily agree with Flanders and Swann’s song, but being that we were in the south of England this weekend, it seems only fitting to use it as our title. (End of disclaimer).

We had a terrific time in Skye. We packed our wee rented car full of food and stuff and headed up to Skye on Friday afternoon. I’m surprised the Urminskys’ long legs could squish so easily. We arrived at the MacDonald’s cottage on the northern peninsula of Skye around 8 pm and threw together dinner. Saturday we slept in and did some walking around the Old Man of Storr (a huge rock formation that looks like it’s about to totter over) and drove around the island. Sunday Bryce preached a sermon on Philippians 2:1-11 at the Kilmuir Church of Scotland and he spent the afternoon reviewing for his evening sermon and relaxing. Neyir and I took a walk around the croft. We went over the the minister’s house and enjoyed a light meal with the minister’s wife and their children (the minister was off teaching Bible classes in Thailand). They were extremely welcoming and lovely people. We popped on over to the church (next door) and Bryce preached on the parable of the Prodigal Sons; everyone seemed to enjoy his preaching and we had some time visiting with the congregation afterwards. Monday we cleaned up and had a drive through Skye on our way out; we stopped off at Glencoe and scurried up the hill to get a view of the valley and then stopped in Glasgow at Ashoka for some fabulous curry. All was splendid.

Now we’re adjusting to being back and getting back to work and I can’t seem to remember what day it is. Our internet conked out on us at home and so I’m sitting here at the library madly trying to catch up on emails. We don’t know when it’ll be up and running again, but did want to give you a quick update on how things are. More thoughtful posts when the internet is up!

I think it’s so great that smaller islands off this big island are called ‘isles’; it just sounds so much better than Skye Island. The British sure know how to name things. Wynds and closes, it’s all very cool.

Well our flat is still messy and we haven’t begun to pack for our weekend away. Oh well, all in good time. I’ll be home in the morning to tidy up and do last-minute packing as well as receive our Tesco delivery for our weekend food. We’ll be renting a car and spending a solid few hours in the car with David and Neyir en route to Skye. We plan on going hill walking, drive around and have some time to relax. Well, I’ll be relaxing; Bryce will be preaching.

We went to Skye this week last year actually; that time with the Hays. They however are off to sunny California and eating In N Out burgers now while we will be in Scottish drizzle and making our own food. Ah well, I’m very much looking forward to going back to Skye. The topography seems like it’s straight out of some fairy tale. Last year it snowed one night in the mountains which would be very cool if that repeated itself (except it might stiffle our walking plans).

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and we’ll be back with you Monday evening or thereabouts (gotta get back in time to be rested for my tutorials on Tuesday morning!). Pictures will soon follow. Cheers!

We arrived back in Edinburgh safe and sound yesterday afternoon. We had a great couple of weeks seeing the sites and hanging out with Ashley’s parents. I dropped off 10 (yes, 10!) rolls of film to be printed yesterday. I won’t post them all, don’t worry.

Here are some highlights from the trip.

Rome is a great city. The Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s were cool, and kinda strange at the same time. My favourite painting at the Vatican Museum is Rafael’s School of Athens. I like the architecture of St. Peter’s, but I can’t get over the fact that it was built with money raised from the sale of indulgences. We went to all the other standard Rome sites; I think my favourite was the Trevi Fountain. I have a new appreciation for the Baroque style and Bernini. The food was amazing, I’d go back just to eat. We also saw this really cool statue in Rome:

After 3 days in Rome we got on the cruise ship and were pampered for the next week. The Cinque Terre was incredibly cool, and I want to go back. I got a new pair of sunglasses in Corsica. We went to Napolean’s house on Elba (not a bad place to be exiled, I must say). We rubbed elbows with some really rich folks in Portofino and St. Tropez (where we also experienced my mad moped skills).

Monte Carlo deserves a paragraph of its own. What a strangely intriguing place. I have more questions than answers. For example: Why is this place so rich? What’s the difference between a country and a principality? Why is it ruled by a prince instead of a king? I think these are legitimate questions. I read an entire book on Monaco and have no answers. I’ll have to spend some time with Google.
Anyway, we went to Casino Royale and didn’t lose too much money. This place was completely unlike a Vegas casino. It’s small (probably only 15 tables at the most) and filled with people who can actually afford to lose all the money that they are betting. Playing roulette required a knowledge of French that surpassed my ability (which is non-existent) and the two blackjack tables had minimums of 25 and 200 Euros, so we didn’t play. Just to get the full James Bond experience we had martinis, but they were so expensive that we had to share 2 between the 4 of us. All in all, Monaco/Monte Carlo is an interesting place that I probably wouldn’t feel the need to revisit were it no so strangely mysterious.

We got of the ship in Nice in the pouring rain. Our day of trying to see some sights was made difficult not only b/c of the rain, but also b/c nothing’s open on Sunday. I have no idea why nothing is open on Sunday, it’s not like everyone’s at church–it’s France!. Weird.

After a couple hours of flights and a sprint through the airport in London we made it home yesterday afternoon, but our bags didn’t join us until this morning. I’ve read all the spam I received while away and Ash has started the laundry. Carolyn is staying with us for about a week, which will be fun.

That’s about it. For now it’s back to the land of dodgy weather and poor customer service. I’ll have a few more highlight pictures up in a few days.

Dear friends, we’re off tomorrow morning for 12 days with my parents. We’ll be taking in the sites of Rome before hopping on a cruise (!) for a week in the Italian and French Mediterranean. I’m debating about bringing work along and if so, what kind. We are very excited to be getting sun (it’s raining right this instant) and a chance to relax as well as seeing my family once again (saw them last in January).

We’ll take loads of pictures and will eat lots of good food. The Hays are being so nice as to water our tomato plants (or trees as we affectionately call them) and are filling in for us with church stuff — very nice. Now it’s just time for some last-minute work, last-minute cleaning (my mom’s coming back to Edinburgh with us), and last-minute packing. Have a good two weeks without us, our (few) loyal readers and generic lurkers on the blogosphere!

are here and on the following page. Enjoy.

First off, Thessaloniki.

We took the Megabus down to London overnight to make our morning flight to Greece. I don’t recommend the bus for long journeys, yet when it’s 36 pounds from Edinburgh to London (for two) return, I really can’t complain. I can however, complain about Mr Bus-Enforcer-I-have-a-little-power-and-I’m-running-with-it who made a girl cry thinking there wasn’t going to be enough room on the bus. We arrived in Thessaloniki, Greece, with little event on the 28th of June; don’t worry they didn’t want to take me in to the police station this time. Since the conference didn’t start until the evening of the 30th, we spent our first day familairising ourselves with the city, trying to stay cool amidst the heat, and reading by the pool. We found a yummy restaurant right off the main square and I tried some retsina (a white wine aged in cedar casks and so tastes slightly sweet) based on Neyir’s recommendation. All was fine and dandy until they wouldn’t leave and kept bringing us more and more retsina! Needless to say, I had my retsina fix for the week.

Bryce wandered around the city, did a bunch of reading, and visited some Greek Orthodox churches. We also climbed the White Tower — a sort of Thessalonikian iconic image. It’s part of the ancient (13th c) Roman walls and has been camoflauged during WWII, whitewashed by the Turks and when Thessaloniki was freed from Turkish rule back in 1913, it became a symbol of the people’s solidarity. We also climbed up a few hills to see what was left of the “Turkish quarter”, which was mainly little lanes and houses from the 19th c and which were much more picturesque than the rest of the city. I’ll let Bryce tell you more about his wanderings if he feels so inclined.

The conference was great. I met lots of academics who were all very interesting and surprisingly easy to talk to. One guy brought his parents, next to whom we sat at dinner. It was great to hear his mother yelling (as her husband is a bit hard of hearing) to her husband and son about the Tunisian eggplant on the menu and her son, stopping his literary conversation to kindly tell his mother it could be found on page 3. I gave my paper on 1 July in the evening. The room was very packed — probably 50 or so people. I do need to work on my delivery skills and remember to bring my water glass to the podium, but the paper went very well. I received a few good questions and one of which (according to my supervisor who was also at the conference) was “more or less idiocy”. A number of people told me how much they enjoyed the paper and one man who is on the advisory board for the journal told me he thinks I should submit it for publication, which is very encouraging and also, means a bunch more work for this summer.

We flew back to London on the 4th of July and stayed overnight with my parents’ friends before taking the bus back to Edinburgh. The following morning, we got the keys to our new flat and began the move-in process. Neyir kindly took off work and helped Bryce paint our living room from the baby-poo yellow to what we like to call Wedgewood blue, while I cleaned the flat and scrubed windowsills. We’re still unpacking but we’re mostly there. Tomorrow, the Crocketts (Bryce’s sis and fam) are coming to spend the weekend with us which will be great fun. I hope the sunny weather holds. We should be back into the blogging game by next week. Pictures coming soon as well.

I’m sitting in the Hays’ living room perspiring. Yes, it is positively *hot* in Scotland. Oddly, this California girl is finding the heat a bit uncomfortable. Yahoo Weather says it is approximately 68 F, but I don’t believe it; it’s got to be at least 70. The sky is a bright blue (after a major cloud cover this morning) and walking “home” from the Uni today was rather tiring wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, bad move on my part (wearing black) not expecting the weather to change drastically hour by hour. Today is glorious; there are tons of students sitting on the grass in the Meadows and all the pubs on the Grassmarket are choc full of business people, tourists and the like enjoying a cold pint out in the sunshine. Edinburgh is a marvelous place to be when the sun is shining (please do note my dependent clause in that sentence, for it is quite an important clarification).

Besides the miracle that is the sun here in Scotland, I am wondering if I will be too hot in Greece; sadly, with all my excitement about summer holidays to warmer climes, I do fear that indeed I will be too hot. This of course, coming from a woman who grew up in the sunshine, is a bit disconcerting, not the least of all, to me. Will my body temperature re-acclimate when we move back to the USA? Or will I be trapped in a Scottish weather mentality forever? Will my skin burn immediately upon the sun shining or will I one day not have visible blue veins on my legs throughout the year?

And if any of you were wondering where Thessaloniki is, here is a map. We’re off tonight, taking the night bus down to London from Glasgow and fly out of London to Thessaloniki in the morning. Here’s to fabulous food, hot weather, and a great conference!