Sugar buzz...

My roommate's birthday was yesterday so we decided to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while eating Wonka candy. There was actually even more candy than you see here - we barely made a dent in it!

In addition we had fries, homemade chicken fingers, and chocolate hemp milk pudding (the best chocolate pudding you've ever tasted!) prepared by my good friend Charlotte, and a caramel turtle treat pie from Cold Stone Creamery. We hung out with our friends/neighbours, and managed to squeeze in an episode of Firefly. All in all it was a good evening - I think Carrie agrees. Happy Birthday Carrie!

Thanksgiving...take two

I think I could get used to celebrating Thanksgiving twice every year. On Wednesday evening we had a Thanksgiving potluck with a few students who are here on campus, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings. Ironically enough, half of us were Canadian! Then my roommate and I were invited to a fellow student's home to celebrate thanksgiving with her and her family. Once again, we had a great big meal, then we went for a walk and saw people putting up their Christmas lights and came back to play a few games. We had a really great time and felt honoured to have been invited to share in another family's traditions.

Today is Black Friday and I am a little wary of heading to the store but I need to go out and pick up a few things for my roommate's birthday celebration which will be this evening. The plan is to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while eating Wonka candy. I actually found Wonka bars so I'm going to pick up a few of those and see what else I can find.

Christmas Decorating

Apparently putting up your Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving is too soon in the US. Last week I broke down and bought some Christmas decorations - one small tree for the apartment and one small tree for my office. There's just something about having your place decoarated for Christmas once it's white outside. Today a few people saw the tree in my office and said, "Christmas decorations, already?!" I didn't think the the end of November was any too soon to put up decorations, but apparently around here people decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. You learn something new every day.

Procrastination...

So it's Sunday afternoon once again and I find myself wanting to do absolutely nothing yet I have a to-do list from here to Texas. That's why I'm here writing on my blog rather than working on my Bible paper, makes sense, right? I've already started off by baking an apple loaf, falling asleep in the sun while reading a book, and now here I am procrastinating once again. I don't think I've ever been this bad at getting my work done ahead of time as I have been this semester, hence the all-nighters. Maybe I didn't truly perfect the art of procrastination in university so now I have a second chance here at seminary. I think a part of it is that by the time you graduate from university your area of study is so focused in on your specialty/interests that all those required intro classes I'm enduring now seem just a tad bit dull. When you graduate you're also so excited about completing something that when you start a new program it feels as though you're right back to where you started.... and then there's the fact that there's just so much to do that you don't know where to start... and every time you get one project done you want to reward yourself by taking a break but there's so much more to do. These things all add up to me just wanting to take my Sunday afternoon off but, alas, this paper must be written.

Winter Wonderland

This morning Carrie knocked on my door and said, it's the perfect picture-taking morning. I peaked out of the window, jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera, and was out the door in no time flat. It was too great an opportunity to miss. I love waking up this way.

First Snowfall

Isn't the first snowfall of the season the most fun?! I woke up this morning and it was white outside. I immediately felt like pulling out the Christmas CDs and putting up decorations. Unfortunately we forgot all our decorations in Manitoba, but the CDs are here. Throughout the day huge snowflakes fell and Carrie and I both noted how they actually fell straight down, not sideways like they do in Manitoba! This evening when we went out to get groceries we could barely sweep the car off before a whole new layer of snow was covering it by the time you got from the front to the back. This is something that typically annoys people in mid-January but when it's the first snowfall you just laugh. I had to take some pictures, even though it was dark outside. I couldn't believe how much snow fell in one day! Another thing that's great about the first snowfall - you can't wait to get out there and shovel. Okay, call us weird, but Carrie and I headed out at 11:00pm this evening to shovel just for fun! We also tried to build a snowman but, even though the snow is incredibly sticky (it's only -2 C), it doesn't stick to itself. Weird!

Theological Apples to Apples

Have you ever played the game Apples to Apples?

The basic idea is that you have two decks of cards: Things and Descriptions. Each turn, the current referee selects a Description and players try to pick, from the cards in their hands, the Things that best match that Description. The referee then chooses the Thing that appeals most and awards the card to the player who played it. The unusual combinations of Things and Descriptions are humorous and quickly has the entire room in an uproar.

Today at "gathering time" (i.e. morning coffee break) we played theological apples to apples. Imagine a room of about 40 seminary faculty, staff and students trying to apply theological terms to the descriptive words "mushy," "delicious" or "wormy" and then trying to argue why purgatory is the best description of wormy! Lots of laughs!

And of course apples with peanut butter and caramel for snack.

Wisdom?

I just got back from my Reading the Bible class. Today we talked about Wisdom Literature in the Old Testament and I learned some really insightful things. Here are a few of the highlights off the top of my head:

• First of all, it's amazing what's in the Bible when you actually read it, as opposed to simply assuming you know what it says.
• In the Psalms of lament, all but one goes from disorientation back to reorientation by the end of the Psalm. The one exception is Psalm 88. This is important theologically because it creates a space to be disoriented for a while.
• The book of Proverbs was written by the elite for the elite and the sayings in Proverbs are not applicable across time and space; they are context specific. Check out Proverbs 26:4-5 for example, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes." Should you answer the fool or not? The point here is that there is a time when you should keep your mouth shut and a time to speak up - true wisdom is knowing when to do which. There are numerous examples of such tensions in the book of Proverbs.
• Here's something to think about, how would our theology be different if we brought the book of Job and Ecclesiastes more toward the center of our biblical theology?
• The wisdom found in the book of Ecclesiastes has some things in common with Buddhism. Whereas Christians aren't sure what to do with Ecclesiastes, Buddhists will look at it and find that this wisdom makes sense. This could be helpful for ecumenical conversation.

I hope this gives you a little of the flavour of the type of classes I'm in and also gives you something to ponder.

The funny thing is...

You know how sometimes you find those hilarious "stupid laws" lists on the internet? Well, this week I learned of two of such said laws that are enforced here in Indiana.

1. You are not allowed to buy alcohol on a Sunday - any other day of the week you can pick up your wine or case of beer at the grocery store but not on Sundays. I had friends who went down to the local Meijers on Sunday and weren't allowed to purchase their beer. They simply won't sell it to you!
2. You are not allowed to have a fire in your yard unless you're cooking over it. I guess they want to discourage you from burning your garbage, but what some people do then is keep the hot dogs and marshmallows right next to their "campfire" so if the trooper drives buy you can quickly roast your hot dog over the siding you are burning (true story, I heard it today!).

Take a Gravol, pull up a chair, and get ready for a tour...

WARNING: IF YOU ARE PRONE TO MOTION SICKNESS AN ANTI-NAUSIANT MAY BE TO YOUR BENEFIT. This is my first attempt at video recording on my camera so I feel the need to warn you of the shaky quality of the images.

• If you'd like to try to orient yourself, a campus map is available at http://www.ambs.edu/files/documents/admissions/campus-visits/maps/Campus_map.pdf
• The library/bookstore is the newest building on campus, built in 2007.
• Waltner Hall houses administration and classrooms.
• Lambright Center houses admissions (that's where my office is), the dining hall, and classrooms.
• I live in the 50s block (not pictured in any of the videos here but on the campus map).

The main entrance to the campus off Benham Ave and a view of the library.

Campus housing, driveway to main entrance, library, Lambright Center, driveway.

Parking lot, Lambright Center, Waltner Hall, grasslands, tree by the labyrinth.

View from the South-East side of the campus - library/student lounge to chapel.

Amish Country

Yesterday my roommate and I spent the day in Shipshewana, Indiana, "The Heart of Northern Indiana Amish Country" which is about 30 minutes away from Elkhart. There are tons of shops to check out so it's a great place for window shopping or buying gifts. We ate some delicious Amish food at a lunch buffet, bought fresh cheese, and did a lot of browsing both in the gift shops where hand crafted goods are for sale and also in the stores where people living in and around Shipshewana purchase their food, clothing, household goods, and tools.

On the way home we stopped at the Essenhaus Amish Style Restaurant in Middlebury for a "family style" meal. All you have to do is sit down at a table and they bring you salad and warm bread (on which you can spread the yummiest Amish style peanut butter) to start. Then they bring out bowls of noodles, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, corn, and stuffing from which you dish up your plate just like you do around the dining room table at home. When the bowl is empty they'll fill it back up! Then when you think that you can't eat any more they ask what kind of pie you'd like for dessert - there are about 30 varieties of home-baked pies to choose from! After you are done eating you can browse their gift shop and check out their bakery where you can buy more food to take home with you.

Shipshewana and the Essenhaus are two places that you must check out if you're ever in the area!

Horses and buggies everywhere!

One of the alleys with little shops along either side of the street. What town would be complete without a General Store?

I loved the combination of the old and the new found in Yoders Department Store; for example, crocs right next to the tried and true workboots and electric crock pots right next to the eneamel cookware.

Lots of the buildings in which the shops are located resemble a barn on the outside and I noticed that inside almost all of the buildings were amazing wooden floors and grand wooden staircases.

Sunset as we were leaving Shipshewana.

For more info and pictures check out:

http://www.shipshewana.com/
http://www.essenhaus.com/