The first two weeks...

Hello Everyone!

I apologize for the distinct lack of blogage on this site. The thought of describing everything that has happened in the past two weeks has been overwhelming me, but I realized that the longer that I wait, the more there will be to tell, so I’m going to do my best to just jump in!

I arrived two weeks ago Friday to a house full of British girls – Lucy, Helen, Louise and Rachel. They have been amazing – so friendly and welcoming – plus they all love to hug, so what more could I ask for? Our house began to feel like a home almost immediately and we are now all functioning well in our all funny all-female family. I am the chief dishwasher – because I actually like doing it. And I usually make the lunches in the morning because I am the first one up and I figure it will atone for my general lack of cooking skills (although I did make a nice potato soup the other night and then baked a loaf of bread). My most important role is that of bug catcher/killer. You see, three of my housemates scream bloody murder when they see a spider and the other one doesn’t like touching them herself, but also won’t let me kill anything. So I generally run around with a plastic cup and then release the insects back into the wild of our front yard. If nothing else, it keeps things lively!

We just finished up our first week of classes and it has already been really good. We have been working through what the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture actually means. I love wrestling through the more difficult aspects of this in our class discussions. And then we usually eat lunch together, so the discussions continue – textual criticism, the legitimacy of revivals, casting out demons, modernism vs. postmodernism, whether or not angels actually had children with humans in the book of Genesis – you name it, we’ll talk about it! One thing I love is how the intellectual side is combined with seeking God and listening to the Holy Spirit.

I have also really enjoyed Oxford. The couple of times that I have been into the center of town, I have been struck by how old and beautiful it is. The amount of history that has taken place here is just staggering. I live in a suburb called Botley. On the way to school every morning, we walk along a path with giant old trees over us and fields on either side. Sometimes there are horses in one of the fields. Parents and children pass us, riding their bikes or walking to school. Their inevitably seems to be one little four or five year old toddling along behind the group with a panic stricken look on his face. Yesterday was beautiful – sunny and in the 80’s – so a group of us took our lunches and walked along the river until we found a freshly mown open field to have a picnic in. (Trivia note: The river we were walking along is technically the Thames, but only in Oxford it is called the Isis.)

Today (Saturday) is what our college has decided will be our Sabbath or day of rest because we will usually be very busy on Sundays. So this morning I woke up, stuck my clothes in the washer machine, and went for a run. When I came back, my clothes were done, so I took them out in a basket and hung them on our clothesline (because it was another beautiful sunny day – not common in Oxford). Then I climbed one of our apple trees to try and reach the ripe ones and discovered that I could spy on the neighbors who live behind us. (Well they were burning things in their garden and I wanted to see where all the smoke was coming from!) I then ate an apple from one of our trees (one tree’s apples are only good for cooking, but I just discovered that the other ones are much smaller and sweeter). I then went inside and cleaned up the kitchen. I just felt so domestic!

Later in the day, a group of us went to a big nearby field, complete with a football (soccer) field and a playground. There was a guy there kicking a football by himself, so we asked if we could play with him. It turns out that he is a 17 year old kid from Philadelphia who just moved over a couple of months ago because his dad got a teaching job here. Later, while everyone else was taking a break, we kicked the ball around and had a nice chat. I think it was good for both of us. I’m really not having a hard time at all with the cultural adjustment, but it is nice to talk to an American every so often.

So now I really need to go to bed. Tomorrow should be nice. Church at 10:30 and then I am invited to one staff member's house for lunch and to another one for tea. I am dreading all the walking a little though because I hurt my toe playing football today and my foot is now kind of swollen and tender and bruised. Hopefully it will be better by tomorrow!

Well there is my massive update!